Laura, Author at Heavenly Homemakers

Gratituesday: Great Decision

May 25, 2009 by Laura 35 Comments

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Well…here I am in Kansas. I have no regrets about my quick decision to come. What a blessing to be here and spend time with lots of family and friends.

It has been a glorious day. Perfect weather…wonderful conversation…a few tears shed.

Oh, and all those family hugs I’d been needing? Got ’em. Lots of ’em. I’m sure we’ll get a few more in while I’m here.

I’m so grateful that God put it on my heart to come. I’m so glad Matt was kind enough to make do without me for a few days this week (and oh my word I hope he finds enough food in the fridge to eat while I’m gone). I’m thankful for a safe trip and that the boys traveled so well.

And I’m so thankful for this special time with people I love.

Join us for Gratituesday! Read the details here, then come link up with us. If you don’t have a blog, leave a comment letting us know what you’re thankful for!

**Mr. Linky ate too much at his Memorial Day cookout. Please leave your link in the comments section. I’ll try to continue to add your links as I can. :)

1. Amy @ Finer Things
2. Mother Hen
3. Hannah
4. It Feels Like Chaos
5. Patti
6. Gigi
7. Josette
8. The Happy Housewife
9. Jenn @ Beautiful Calling
10. Angie
11. Snow White
12. Jennifer
13. Kerry
14. Holly
15. Jody
16. A Simple Walk (family, freedom, food)
17. Myra
18. Mominin
19. Brianna @ Heart(h) Management (Unplugged and Plugged In)
20. Beth @ Not a Bow in Sight
21. Sarah
22. Jill Roper
23. Auntie Q
24. Alison at Hospitality Haven
25. Penny
26. Carrie at Blessed Chaos
27. Kelly
28. Emily at Barefoot in the Rain
29. Elizabeth at Heartfelt Homemaking
30. Elizabeth at Small Town Blessings
31. Jamie
32. Meg

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Menu Plan for the Week

May 24, 2009 by Laura 12 Comments

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Here’s what we’ll be eating this week…

Sunday, May 24
Sliced bananas and cream, toast
Lasagna casserole, tossed salad
Big cookout with friends at our house: Grilled chicken, hot dogs, angeled eggs, cream cheese salsa dip with chips…and whatever our friends bring

Monday, May 25
Scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, cantaloupe
Grilled cheese sandwiches, watermelon, sliced sweet peppers
Beefy enchilada bake, tossed salad, grapes

Tuesday, May 26
Whole wheat waffles
Cheeseburger mac (using this recipe, just with ground beef and chili powder added), steamed carrots
Chicken and rice, mixed veggies

Wednesday, May 27
Fruit-kefir smoothies, homemade oat cereal
Hummus on crispy cheese crackers, strawberry-peach slushies
BBQ meatballs, baked potatoes, green beans

Thursday, May 28
Breakfast cake
Chicken tostadas, fruit salad
Black bean taco salad, apple slices with strawberry yogurt dip

Friday, May 29
Fried eggs, hashbrowns
Sloppy joes on homemade buns, potato salad, raw veggies
Calzones, tossed salad

Saturday, May 30
Barbara’s puffy pancake
Homemade pizza pockets, grapes, carrot sticks
Salmon patties, Justus’ shaved ice

At least…this is what I had planned to eat this week. Here’s the thing…

A bunch of my aunts and uncles and cousins…and my brother and his family are all meeting in Kansas at my Dad’s tomorrow. Matt had work all weekend and starts on someone’s roof tomorrow, so we just didn’t make plans to join them. (Work has been sporadic…if only Memorial Day would have been last Monday…)

BUT…now that I keep hearing from people saying, “We’ll sure miss you tomorrow”…I can hardly stand it. I’ve been weepy all weekend anyway. It’s been exactly one year since my cousins’ deaths…and well…I just need to hug some family.

I may do something really spontaneous and hop in the van with the kids early in the morning to be in KS by lunchtime. Am I crazy?

Yeah, I think I’ll go talk to Matt…

Stay tuned.

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Gardening 101: Q & A UPDATED

May 20, 2009 by Laura 13 Comments

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I thought I’d better take some time (before it’s time to put up the Christmas tree or whatever) to answer some of your gardening questions from my previous gardening posts. Sorry that by now it’s a little late for some of them to be relevant for this year’s garden. Here are some of your questions, in no particular order:

Where do you buy heirloom seeds?

I order them from Azure Standard. You can also find heirloom seeds in a Gurney’s catalog.

Any tips for a “garden” on an apartment balcony? I’m interested in growing a few veggies in pots — are there particular veggies that work better than others for pot-gardening?

I’ve heard that tomatoes and peppers grow well in pots. And of course, growing potatoes in a container is a blast. Otherwise, I don’t have much experience in this area. I saw a post over at Passionate Homemaking that has great information about growing veggies when you have limited gardening space. Check it out!

Do you have your own tiller?

Yes, but do you mean a working tiller? No. My dad gave us his old one a couple of years ago but it never worked great for us. Then it stopped working at all. This year we borrowed one from our friends. Yay for friends with tillers!

What type of fertilizers do you use?

We’ve done a variety of things through the years. One year we got some from someone who had horses. Thus…horsey fertilizer. Another year, we got some from someone who had chickens. This year, we’re pretty much using our compost pile since we’ve been working on it for a few years now.

Do you use anything for pests?

Yes. I screen my phone calls.

Oh, but for garden pests…no not really. Grasshoppers really like my green beans, but I’d just really rather not use any chemicals in my garden. As I mentioned before, planting marigolds is helpful for some pests. I’m researching other ways to keep away buggies.

Once when I planted a bunch of potatoes with a friend of mine we had a terrible problem with “potato beetles“. We finally just started going from plant to plant finding the bugs, grabbing them off, and squishing them with our fingers. After saying, “Eew…eeew…eeeeeeew” for the first seven or eight bugs, I got over it and started squishing (their guts out) gleefully. When you know they’re ruining your crop, the gross factor isn’t so gross anymore. It’s war.

Do the boys like to help?

Eh, sort of. At first it’s all fun and games, then it gets tiresome for them. They like planting…especially potatoes. And they like digging up potatoes. Asa’s really good about bagging the grass when he mows…then he puts it down as mulch.

How do you work around the boys when they don’t want to be out there?

If they don’t want to be out there, sometimes I make them anyway…because I’m fun like that. Or, I’ll leave them in the house doing some of MY other jobs so that I won’t have to work double time when I come back in.

They are very good at snapping green beans and washing and tearing lettuce…some of the jobs that have to be done after the outside garden work is done.

Do you know if you HAVE to use seed potatoes?

No, you don’t have to. You can use some of your potatoes that you grew last year. You can use regular potatoes from the store…although they have probably been treated with chemicals to keep them from sprouting…and if you’re planting a potato…you want it to sprout. I’ve usually stuck with seed potatoes, or some of my scrawny sprouting potatoes from last year’s garden.

**UPDATE** Did you see Candace’s comment? She said, “FYI- We tried potatoes from the grocery store last year, organic ones. They grew great above ground and flowered and all. But, alas, no potaoes underground!”

So, maybe not potatoes from the store? Anyone else have any experiences with regular potatoes?

How do you store your potatoes and how long do they last?

I put my potatoes in covered boxes in a dark, cool room in my basement. They keep until about March before sprouting.

How much sun/heat can potatoes take? I live in the desert and am not sure where they would best be placed.

They need lots of sun. Bring on the sun.

Any other questions? How’s your garden growing?

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Gratituesday: Honey…I’m Home!

May 18, 2009 by Laura 19 Comments

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I know that not everyone “gets” to be a stay-at-home-mom. I know that not everyone wants to be one. I know that some women want to be home and for some reason or another, it isn’t working for them. I know.

But I still feel the need to express how thankful I am to have the honor of staying home to take care of my family.

I mentioned here that we spent all day Friday at a track meet…then turned right around when we got home and left for a birthday party. We left the house at 7:30 am and got back home after 9 pm. It was a full, fun day and oh my goodness the boys slept like rocks that night!

After getting the boys to bed that night, I looked around at the piles all over our house. Piles of clothes both from the track meet and from swimming at the party. Piles of dirty dishes. Piles of trash and etc. from the cooler we’d taken to the meet. Piles of jackets. Piles of mail. Piles of soccer shoes, shin guards, socks and shirts from the day before when we arrived home late from game and needed to head straight to bed.

Piles that I was too tired to mess with.

I was once again reminded: Being away from home – even for one day – makes keeping up with housekeeping quite difficult.

I was tempted to listen to lies about what a terrible job I sometimes do with keeping up with things around the house. But, no. It really was simply that being away from home and on the run all day had put me behind.

And again, I was reminded of what a blessing it is that I am able to be a stay-at-home-mom. It’s a blessing that I take for granted.

I’m thankful that my husband agrees with my desire to be home. I’m thankful that we’ve found a way to make it work financially. I’m thankful that most of the time, the kids and I are able to hang around our house together making messes…and then cleaning them up!

I LOVE being home. It is my favorite place to be in the whole world.
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Join us for Gratituesday! Read the details here, then come link up with us. If you don’t have a blog, leave a comment letting us know what you’re thankful for!

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Well, That Was Brilliant

May 18, 2009 by Laura 23 Comments

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Every once in a while (often) I say something that is perfectly ridiculous. Two Sundays in a row, I’ve proven myself to sound less than brilliant talking to people at church. Just in case you ever do something similar (although I’m sure you never, ever do)…I thought I’d share these stories with you. I’d hate for you to ever think that you were alone in saying something ridiculous.

Let’s begin with a story from last Sunday.

If you recall, last Sunday was Mother’s Day. From the moment we arrived at church, everyone was wishing all the mothers a happy Mother’s Day. Much of our service was centered around motherhood and celebrating women. The children got to get up at the end of the service and get a flower to bring back to their mothers. It was lovely. I was feeling loved, appreciated and cheerful.

The service ended and we all began greeting each other. The person sitting in the pew in front of us turned around and said to me, “Happy Mother’s Day, Laura!”

Out of habit (because I had been saying it all morning), I returned the greeting with, “Thanks!! You too!”

Which was so, so kind of me. Except for the fact that the person who greeted me and wished me a happy Mother’s Day was a MAN. And also he was not a mother.

We had a nice chuckle together. At my expense. Hey, it’s easy to do. You know…like when you’re going on a vacation and your friend says to you, “Goodbye! Have a great time on your trip!” And you say, “Thanks! You too!”, even though they aren’t going on a trip. You know you’ve done it. (Please say you’ve done it!)

Skip ahead now to this Sunday.

We had just finished our Bible study time. We were visiting with people in the foyer before going into the auditorium for worship. I went to the “great meeting place for women”. You know…the bathroom. Really, if you want to be sure to greet the womenfolk at church, just go to the bathroom between class and worship. You’ll find them there.

Anyhoo.

I greeted all the ladies that I always see about one time a week in the uh…same place each week. Then, I saw Ruth, whom I don’t normally see in the bathroom on a Sunday morning. Delighted because it was such a surprise to see her there, I brilliantly said, “Oh! Are you here today?!”

This brought a nice laugh from all those who heard because…yes, of course she was there today. See? There she was, right there. Today.

Hey. She knew what I meant. Her husband preaches each Sunday in a town several miles away and she usually goes with him. I don’t usually have the pleasure of seeing her at church on Sundays. And there she was! Right there. Today.

Ah, fun times.

It just occurred to me that I’ve never shared the story of my sleeves. Brilliant conversation, it was. You know you want to hear that one now don’t you?

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Menu Plan for the Week

May 17, 2009 by Laura 12 Comments

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Shew. We partied all weekend. Matt performed a wedding ceremony on Saturday and of course there was cake. Then we went to a graduation reception that afternoon…where there was cake.

Sunday afternoon we were invited to about five more graduation receptions. Five parties…five cakes. You’d think instead of the Eat More Fruits and Veggies Challenge…I’d put my family up to the Eat More Cake and Also More Cake Challenge.

No, we didn’t eat cake at every reception…not that the boys didn’t ask. Actually, by the end of the day, I don’t think their little punch stained faces wanted to see another piece of cake either. :)

Here’s our very cakeless yet very fruit and veggie full menu for the week:

Sunday, May 17
Pumpkin muffins, bananas
Roasted chicken, potatoes, carrots
Graduation parties (cake for dinner?)

Monday, May 18
Simple sourdough pancakes, fruit
Skillet meatballs, stir fried asparagus, fresh pineapple
Tuna casserole, peas

Tuesday, May 19
Scrambled eggs, toast, oranges
Quesadillas, fruit-kefir smoothies
Lamb chops, baked potatoes, green beans

Wednesday, May 20
Baked oatmeal, apples
Hummus on crispy cheese crackers, fruit salad
Popcorn chicken to go, carrot sticks, apples (Hershey Track meet day…anyone else participating in a Hershey Track meet in your area?!)

Thursday, May 21
Potato, egg and pepper scramble, clementines
Homemade pizza, raw veggies
Lamb burgers, creamy scalloped potatoes, steamed mixed veggies

Friday, May 22
Apricot breakfast bars, applesauce
Chicken chef salad, garlic toast
Cheesy beef and rice, green beans

Saturday, May 23
Biscuits and gravy
Grilled burgers, baked beans, fruit salad
Spaghetti, tossed salad

I hope you’re going a little crazy with all the wonderful fruits and veggies available this time of year!

Hey, I have a question. As you understand it…is corn a vegetable…or a grain?

(and while you’re at it…which came first the chicken or the egg?)
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Once Upon a Day in May…

May 14, 2009 by Laura 18 Comments

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Ah, the month of May. I love, love, LOVE it!

Here’s what our Thursday looked like:

Our morning began with a nice round of light saber wars. Check out that ninja in the background with the purple light saber.

My living room is alive with this type of “violence” on a regular basis.

We spent time outside planting okra (yes I know that wasn’t on my original list, but I had a little extra space and Matt loves okra). I also put the boys to work pulling out a bunch of “sticky weed” (I’m sure that’s the official name for it) around the garden. They pulled it out and stuck it all over themselves. It was loads of fun…until the itchiness set in.

Asa with his sticky beard is the main feature of this picture…but if you would like to take a peek behind him at one of our garden areas, I can show off my little potato plants to you! And way in the back protected by milk cartons are our little broccoli plants. So far, they’ve all survived!

Here’s how our potato container looks now! Isn’t that SO EXCITING?!?!?!? Okay, maybe you aren’t a garden geek like I am…but little green plants growing out of soil makes me giddy. I added more soil from our compost area so that the “growing potatoes in a container” project could work. Notice that last time I showed you pictures of our container, it was the left side handle that was missing and this time it’s the right side handle. How did that happen?

After our time in the yard, we went in and cooked up lunch.

Here’s Chef Justus. Is that hat the greatest or what?! Here he is stirring our mac and cheese. Notice he changed out of his sticky (turned itchy) clothes after pulling weeds.

Malachi couldn’t wait for lunch. This little guy has been HUNGRY lately. I mean, more than normal.

Our last soccer games of the season were tonight, and Asa wanted a treat for his teammates. We baked these cookies into bars and put them into baggies to share.

Here we are on the way to our last games of the season. Justus decided to sit in a booster seat, which is why he’s so high up on his chair there. Silly kid!

One last event to end our evening…

Malachi has been shy about playing on the field with his teammates (he’s a little four year old guy out there with four, five and six year olds), so most of the time he just sits on the bench and shakes his head no at his coach when asked if he’s ready to go in. I REALLY wanted his season to end on a good note. Soooo…I asked Malachi, “If Mama goes onto the field with you, will you play?” And he said yes. And so I did.

There I was on the field with a bunch of little people running after a soccer ball. I was trying to stay out of the way, yet trying to push Malachi over to get the ball (which he really didn’t want to do). Other parents were waving and smiling their ~~teasing~~ encouragement (probably very happy that it was me and not them).

Malachi finally had a chance to kick the ball twice and had big grins on his face and we went and sat down again. Oh the things a mother must do (and where in the world was the daddy?) (at Justus’ game…so he had a good excuse).

I’m so sorry to report that I don’t have a picture of this part of our evening…I guess you’ll just have to picture that little event in your head.

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High Five Recipes: Justus’ Shaved Ice

May 14, 2009 by Laura 15 Comments

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High Five Recipes 2

Yum

I’m not sure how often I’ve emphasized to you how much Justus (my nine year old) LOVES cooking. He wants to be a “restaurant worker” someday…he calls himself a chef (I am sometimes privileged to be his assistant)…and he really just can’t get enough of the kitchen. He LOVES it.

Of course I love it too. While the other boys mostly love to cook so that they can lick a beater, Justus truly loves everything there is about cooking.

He got a new cookbook for Christmas and has been waiting for a warm day to make the shaved ice recipe he found in it. We adapted it to make it healthier (ah yes, I’m teaching him how to change a recipe already!) and here’s what he came up with:

Justus’ Shaved Ice

1 cup fresh or frozen peach slices
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
1 1/2 cups warm water
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup honey

If your fruit is frozen, place it in a bowl with warm water (not the water mentioned in the above list of ingredients) for about fifteen minutes to thaw. Drain.

Put fruit, water, orange juice and honey into a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Poor mixture into a 9×13 inch baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for about 6 hours.

Remove from freezer and allow it to sit on the counter about ten minutes. Use a large wooden spoon to “shave” icy mixture into serving bowls.

The “bummer” about this recipe is that we had to wait for SIX whole hours before we could eat it. Not much instant gratification there! However, it was worth the wait!

All the boys (and the parents) loved this treat! It was super refreshing on a hot afternoon.

And, of course, it’s a wonderful recipe to help you get another great serving of fruit. (Are you taking the challenge?!)

Any other recipes you’d like Justus to come up with for us?!

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Gratituesday: My Broken Dryer

May 11, 2009 by Laura 12 Comments

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My dryer is was around 35 years old. Yes, that’s as ~~old~~ young as I am.

We bought it used and cheap when we lived in Colorado and it has served us well for around 11 years.

A couple of years ago it stopped working. But, when your old dryer breaks down, do you go buy a new one? Of course not. You have your father-in-law take it apart and fix it for you when he comes to town for a visit. And then you thank him profusely and start using your old dryer again.

But last week, ye old dryer broke again. I discovered that it was broken when I went to take the clothes out of the dryer and noticed that the clothes were still very wet. I started the dryer again (sometimes it would take two rounds anyway). An hour later…wet clothes. Wet towels and socks to be exact. Ick.

Matt called his dad (who had the nerve to be at home in California this time when our dryer broke) and talked through some of the issues and possibilities. Over the next few days, as he had time, Matt took the dryer apart and tested some of the things his dad suggested could be the problem.

I have to say…I think it was mighty considerate of my dryer to break down in May, instead of say…January. I’ve been hanging most of my laundry out on the line anyway…so a broken dryer this time of year doesn’t really bother me. Except for the fact that I’m not a big fan of crispy socks…and the idea of hanging out our thunderwear (sorry I just couldn’t bring myself to blog the real word) makes me feel a little too up close and personal with the neighbors.

Anyway, long story long…our dryer is a gonner. We could have spent $200 on a part that might have fixed it, but yeah, I don’t think so.

But guess what? We just so happened to have another dryer. (Have I ever told you that we own a few storage units in town that we rent out?) Yes, we own a few storage units in town that we rent out. About a year ago when someone moved out of their storage unit, they left their washer and dryer behind. They told us just to sell them or give them to someone who needed them. We’ve offered them a couple of times to some folks who we thought could use them, but no one took us up on the offer.

So, yay for us. We pulled the old dryer out, and put the new (to us) dryer in. Easy as that! (says the girl who had nothing to do with lugging the old dryer down the stairs and out the door and hauling the new dryer in and up the stairs and getting it set up and ready to use).

I’m so grateful for our new dryer…and I think I’ll head upstairs right this minute and go start a load of um…socks. :)
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Join us for Gratituesday! Read the details here, then come link up with us. If you don’t have a blog, leave a comment letting us know what you’re thankful for!

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Menu Plan for the Week

May 10, 2009 by Laura 5 Comments

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Happy Mother’s Day! I’ve had quite a lazy day, because my men wouldn’t let me cook all day. Or do dishes. Ah. So nice!

Instead of cooking and washing dishes, I had extra time to work on and finalize an idea that’s been brewing in my brain for a while. Wanna know what it is? You’ll have to come back Monday for that! It’s not a huge big deal. It’s just a simple something that I’ve been wanting to do for my own family…and if it helps you too, then YAY!

Here are a few hints:

Anyone can do it
It’s nothing weird
It’s the most basic, simple, easy thing I can think of to launch us all toward being healthier!

And that’s all I’ll tell you today. ;)

On that note, here’s our menu for the week….

Sunday, May 10
Cereal (because I wasn’t allowed to cook…but we wanted to be at church on time!)
Steak on the grill, ranch potato wedges, green beans, corn, cheesecake
Chicken alfredo, peas

Monday, May 11
Whole wheat waffles with strawberries and whipped cream
Sloppy joes, creamy cole slaw, sweet bell peppers
Chicken enchiladas, taco salad

Tuesday, May 12
Scrambled egg sandwiches, oranges
Homemade corn dogs (recipe experiment!), carrot sticks, strawberry-peach slushies
Roast, potatoes, carrots, gravy

Wednesday, May 13
Honey whole wheat bagels, applesauce
BBQ beef (from leftover roast), potato salad, steamed mixed veggies
Bean and rice bowls with salsa and kreme fresh, grapes

Thursday, May 14
Applesauce bread, bananas
Hamburger patties, creamy mac and cheese, raw veggies, watermelon
Honey mustard chicken, rice and veggie stir fry

Friday, May 15 (Track meet all day!)
Peanut butter honey toast sandwiches, clementines
Tortilla wraps, baby carrots, fruit leather, apples, cookie bars
Salmon patties, fried potatoes, fruit-kefir smoothies

Saturday, May 16
Homemade donuts
Tuna salad, cottage cheese and peaches, raw veggies
Chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas

I hope you’ll join us for Gratituesday! And, be sure to come back Monday to find out what this “simple, healthier” thing is all about!
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