Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

  • Home
    • About
    • FAQs
  • Recipes
    • Bread and Breakfast
    • Condiments
    • Dairy
    • Main Dishes
    • Side Dishes and Snacks
    • Desserts
    • Gluten Free
    • Instant Pot
    • Crock Pot
    • Heavenly Homemaker’s Weekly Menus
  • Homemaking
    • Real Food Sources
  • Store
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Disclosure
    • Privacy Policy
  • Simple Meals
  • Club Members!

Recipe for Survival in the Midst of Challenge

March 18, 2020 by Tasha Hackett 10 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Struggling with all the changes happening right now? Tasha shares a recipe for survivial in the midst of challenge!

Recipe for Survival in the Midst of Challenge

by Tasha Hackett

Life as we know it has changed and is changing. Seasons come and go. School is out, kids are restless, store shelves are bare. What should we be doing? To give us some tips for survival I’ve interviewed a retired Air Force Officer who went through extensive survival training. He gave me a clear recipe for survival. But first, a story.

In Honor of Popeye

“Just eat it,” he said. “It’s not going to kill you.” Dad scraped canned spinach onto his fork. “Mmmmm.” He washed it down with water from his green Tupperware cup, then flexed his bicep, Popeye style. “Anybody need more?” Sarcasm at his core, he offered up the can of mackerel to his three daughters. “More for me.” He put his fork into the can for another bite; apparently a father’s way of showing off to teenage girls. 

The girls did not honor him with an answer. Robin, at 11, teeth biting down on curled-in lips, sat in silent defiance. Her entire body challenged, “Just try to make me eat this.” Michelle, 14, kept her head down as the tears slowly dripped down her face. Tasha, 13, simply stared at him. Her attention kept straying to the pantry full of other, more desirable, things to eat. 

Mom was out for the day and it was Dad’s chance to teach his children how to do hard things. Hard things like eating lunch. A can of each: Mackerel, Diced Tomatoes, and Spinach, scooped onto the plates in three sloppy, wet, juicy piles. 

Tasha knew how to work this system. Stay under the radar. Take a tiny nibble. Fiddle with her water. Keep her face even, her mouth shut. Just waiting for him to leave the room so she could dump the rest in the trash and go on with her day. A missed lunch wouldn’t ruin her.

Mom would be home before dinner. 

Hallelujah. 

Except he didn’t leave. He sat. And waited. “Eat it.” His blue eyes focused on her. All sarcasm removed. 

A sob escaped Michelle. Robin did take a bite and audibly gagged. “Ew, Ew, Ew!” frantically chugging water. Gagging, with a heavy dose of complaining, she ate more of the cold, mushy, slimy spinach. 

Tasha rolled her eyes. “Good grief,” she thought. Her sisters were so dramatic. Mixing together a bit of the spinach, tomato, and mackerel, she ate it. Slowly, systematically, the whole plate. Yes, it was gross. Disgusting even. It was cold and wet. 

Chew, chew, swallow. The mackerel wasn’t so bad, though nothing about it was appealing. Something about scales and backbone still clinging to your lunch is unnerving, but it was at least fish. Tasha didn’t care for tomatoes on a good day, much less a soggy pile of them from a can. That spinach though… Lord have mercy. It is nearly impossible to swallow without gagging. When her dad wasn’t looking she released a shiver from head to toe. She wouldn’t award him with a reaction, but she sent a nasty face at his retreating back. Her younger sister looked at her, shocked at her audacity! Dad now stood at the sink, rinsing his plate. 

Lunch was a wrap, he went back to his home office to finish grading papers for his University courses. 

The three girls looked at each other. Michelle still cried at the injustice. Robin was scared he might come back and see Tasha making fun of him. Tasha spit her last bite into the trash. Carefully, quietly. She covered the evidence. 

“Come on, Robin. Let’s go.” The two younger girls took care of their now empty dishes, dumped the cans in the trash and fled the house to run free. It is rumored Michelle sat at the table for the rest of the afternoon. At least until Mom returned. 

Robin would be hungry. Tasha would survive.

At Least, That’s How I Remember It

The year was 2000 and we were slowly using up our over abundant supply of canned food. I could ask Dad and find out what was going on in his head at the time, but I’d rather keep my childhood spirit alive. Probably had something to do with the fact he had better things to do than fuss over lunch, “Here’s some food, eat it.” Perhaps he thought his daughters would learn a thing or two about First World Problems and be grateful for what was offered. Maybe it’s because we had a case of canned spinach expiring. Nobody wants to eat canned spinach, ever, unless it’s the end of times; even then I’ll take my chances.

Regardless, it has turned into a great family story I enjoy bringing up, “Hey Dad, remember that one time you made us eat canned spinach?” And then we all groan and laugh and shiver and poke fun at each other while he shakes his head and mumbles something about ungrateful children.

My Dad was a Prepper.

You may remember the drama of Y2K? We had a basement full of supplies. By October of 1999 our pantry was ready for whatever may come after New Year’s Eve. We’d been stocking up on canned foods from Aldi for months. There was no need for a last minute dash to the stores for us! We were prepared.

As a 13 year old Daddy’s girl, I was on-board with this preparation business. (Not the canned spinach and tomato business.) Excitment coursed through me and I felt this grand sense of adventure just waiting to happen. I had read all the I Survived books, as well as Hatchet, Brian’s Winter, The Long Winter, and My Side of the Mountain. I was READY to experience a true disaster.

Thankfully, nothing happened, at least not in my little world. We didn’t even get to experience the rush to buy toilet paper! Because we were already prepared.

Some think Dad was overreacting, overcautious, paranoid even.

Spoiler: He Wasn’t Worried

He wasn’t paranoid; he was preparing; he was wise; he was forward thinking. Y2K was another opportunity to teach his family how to be ready. We always had a pair of shoes under the bed, we knew where to meet in case of an emergency, and there was a blanket, gallon of water and jar of peanut butter in the back of the car in winter.

Incidentally, why store 5 lbs of wheat when you can store 50? Or 150? The national problem right now is because most people AREN’T prepared. They rushed out at the last minute to buy ALL THE TOILET PAPER. Hey World… if the end is near, toilet paper is going to be the least of your worries.

So what now?

Let’s say you weren’t prepared. Let’s say you weren’t prepared and you weren’t the one to buy all the toilet paper.

I called my dad. You’re welcome. As a retired Air Force Officer, he also went through Marine’s and extensive survival training covering survival in the ocean, forests, and enemy territory, etc. I didn’t ask him about the canned spinach incident, I asked what should people be doing RIGHT NOW. The people who are anxious, and worried, and scared. The ones who feel like the world has stopped and life as we know it is going to change forever.

WHAT SHOULD WE DO RIGHT NOW?

Should I go and see if there’s any toilet paper left!?!?!? When I asked him that, he literally became exasperated and began to lecture me until I told him I was kidding. KIDDING. I’m going with, “No,” in answer to that one. Here’s the gist of his advice for you.

Recipe for Survival

  1. Remain calm.
  2. Find someone who knows more than you about the situation and ask what to do. [Stop watching fear promoting news.]
  3. Understand that your standard of living will change and likely decrease. [See #1]
  4. Things will seem much easier when you accept #3. [See #1]
  5. Assess what you need for life:
    1. Air [See #1. When you panic, your oxygen intake decreases which dramatically impairs thinking and rate of survival.]
    2. Protection from the elements [Sub-zero or extreme heat]
      1. Can you make it through the next 8 hours? [YES]
    3. Sleep [See #1. Sleep is higher on the list than either food, water, and especially toilet paper.]
      1. Can you survive the next 24 hours? [YES]
    4. Water
    5. Food
      1. Can you make it through the next 2 days? [YES]
  6. Start drafting a plan for short-term and long-term survival. If you need practical step-by-step guidelines, this would be a good time to go through your home and take note of what you have. See #1 and #3
    1. Now you get to MacGyver your way out of any situation. [He says this is the fun part.]
  7. Review steps 1-6 and realize that the current situation is not cause for much drama.

Too Much?

Do these steps seem extreme to you? I hope they do. I doubt any of us are in a situation where oxygen, the elements, sleep, and clean water are even on our radar. For me, taking stock of the basics helps me realize the interruption of our daily routine isn’t cause for alarm.

Be wise, be calm, go to bed on time, and drink water.

Thanks, Dad.


father sleeping with baby on chestTasha, friend of Laura, was born on a military base in Maine, lived in nine different places before college, four homes and three towns to date since marriage in 2007. She currently lives in the middle of the USA where God has blessed the earth with extreme versions of all four seasons. When she is not feeding her family of six, including her middle-school-science-teaching husband, three sons and daughter, she can be found sewing, painting, sneaking Jalapeno Cheetos, dreaming of forests, staying out of debt, Instagramming for Laura at @heavenlyhomemaker and looking snazzy in a vintage tweed blazer while attempting to write an encouraging article with a baby on her lap.

5.0 from 3 reviews
How To Survive Anything
 
Save Print
Prep time
5 mins
Total time
5 mins
 
Author: Tasha's Dad
Ingredients
  • 1. Remain calm.
  • 2. Find someone who knows more than you and ask what to do. [Not news stations that cause more fear.]
  • 3. Understand your standard of living will change and likely decrease. [See #1]
  • 4. Things will seem much easier when you accept #3. [See #1]
  • 5. Assess what you need for life:
  • a. Air [See #1. When you panic, your oxygen intake decreases which dramatically impairs thinking and rate of survival.]
  • b. Protection from the elements [sub-zero or extreme heat]
  • Can you make it through the next 8 hours? [YES]
  • c. Sleep [See #1. Sleep is higher on the list than either food, water, and especially toilet paper.]
  • Can you survive the next 24 hours? [YES]
  • d. Water
  • e. Food
  • Can you make it through the next 2 days? [YES]
  • 6. Start drafting a plan for short-term and long-term survival. If you need practical step-by-step guidelines, this would be a good time to go through your home and take note of what you have. See #1 and #3
  • 7. This is when you get to MacGyver your way out of any situation. [He says this is the fun part.]
Instructions
  1. Print recipe and review steps 1-6 as often as necessary and realize that the current situation is not cause for much drama.
3.5.3229

 

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

It’s About Time I Went Random On You

October 13, 2010 by Laura 19 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

It has been ages since I wrote a random post so tonight since I have a wide variety of thoughts running through my head, I thought I’d break out some randomness. 

~Malachi (5 1/2) has been having SUCH a hard time going to his Bible classes for the past several weeks. I know this is a normal phase – all my kids have gone through it at one time or another and all of them have gotten over it and have happily gone back to class without fear (and without kicking the teacher) eventually. But Malachi seems to be having a tougher time and nothing I’ve tried is helping. He said he wants to be with me forever and he’s too sad when he’s not with me and he’s never going to get married or go to Bible class ever again. You’d think after four kids I’d have this parenting thing all figured out.  If only.

~Just when we thought we got Asa’s shoes figured out (you remember that awesome deal we got right?)…we need to turn around and buy another pair of shoes. He’s decided to join our local Home school Basketball team this year and we’re excited to branch out of our soccer thing for a season…but shock upon shock, you are not allowed to wear soccer cleats on the basketball court. And so, on our way to the pumpkin patch field trip this week, we will be basketball shoe shopping. We’re making him pay half. I’m not sure if he’s buying the left shoe or the right shoe…I guess I’ll ask him which one he prefers. (That may have been one of the dorkiest jokes I’ve ever tried to write.)

~Never, ever, ever try to sort and reorganize your summer clothes and winter clothes in the middle of having company and putting insulation in your living room. I started the big clothing switch out (you know, that one you do every fall when you realize your kids need a sweatshirt instead of a swimsuit?), but then got busy getting ready for company and tearing apart our living room and all my organized piles got trampled. Then Legos got dumped into the piles. Yesterday, I decided to just close the door and walk away. I’ll figure it out eventually but for now I’m going to choose to be in denial about the insanity of that room.

I can’t even look at it.

~After I posted the initial pictures of our big living room insulation project, several of you commented about our beautiful window. You’re right…it’s old and antique and beautiful! But, Matt and I decided that maybe you’d better have a closer-up picture:

Nice huh?

One day several years ago, one of our boys was whacking a wooden sword on the couch directly in front of the window. The handle suddenly detached from the “blade”. The handle stayed in his hand. The blade flew up and banged against the window. I’m not sure if he was upset that he broke the window, but he sure was sad about the sword.

Yesterday, Matt finally took out the spider web window and took it in to be replaced.  I know…we should have done it long ago, but it was a part of that whole antique beveled glass window and we had a hard time doing it (we were able to leave the top part – the pretty part). Plus, it’s been a great conversation starter. You can never have enough broken window conversation starters, right?

The weird/sentimental part of me had a bit of a hard time parting with the broken window. I never got around to putting together baby books for my kids, so that window was a part of some baby boy memories for me. Really Laura, just get out the photo albums already.

It’s okay, I’m over it.

More pictures of the living room project to come, but let’s just say that I would not be surprised if some of the dust from our plastered walls (that are now all over our floor) may have reached as far as your home and settled there. If so, please accept my humble apologies. One hundred year old plaster really does stir up the dust.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

My Random Christmas Food Post

December 20, 2009 by Laura 16 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

I’ve had several posts lately about gifts of food. Obviously I have more of a fondness for food than I have for Snuggies. Although…we could always give the gift of food…with a Snuggie. Hmm, I might be on to something there.

This week my father-in-law is here…Adam is hanging out while he gets in a few more days of work in before heading home for Christmas…plus my friend Shannen is here for a couple of days! I feel like making my food festive.

Out come the cookie cutters.

cookiecutters2sm

I just put them in a basket and left them on the counter so that they’re easy to grab (and so that I don’t have to sort through the Easter bunny and pumpkin cookie cutters every time I want to make a stocking shaped biscuit).

Here’s a post from last year about how I used my Christmas cookie cutters to make Christmas Biscuits, Christmas Donuts, Christmas Graham Crackers and Christmas Pizzas.

I’ll be making some of the same this week…plus I experimented cutting out star shaped Peanut Butter Honey Fudge. 

pbhoneyfudgestarssm

It worked great. Except for the fact that Malachi was helping me cut out the stars. Then he went to go play and came back with hives all over his neck. We’ve been suspicious, but this confirmed to us that yes…he has an allergy to peanuts. Poor guy.

So, I experimented with Lindsey’s coconut oil/cocoa/honey fudge for Malachi. I’d been wanting to try it for a while and…YUM! It’s super good!

coconutfudgesm

This fudge was a little gooey and therefore harder to cut into stars…so I left most of it as little squares. I love how healthy this fudge is!

Now…talking about fudge always makes me think about salad dressing.

Okay, not really. Talking about fudge always makes me think about fudge.

But now I’m going to talk about salad dressing.

Hey, I didn’t call this a random post for nothin’.

Anyway, I was putting together Anne’s stocking stuff which surprise, surprise consists largely this year of food. I made a jar of Ranch Dressing Mix and a jar of Italian Dressing Mix for her, which I know she will adore and appreciate.

dressingmixessmI’ll attach a little card explaining how to make each of the dressings.

Okay, last but certainly not least because I am VERY excited to tell you this next piece of foody news! I finally took the time to create lists on each of my Recipe Pages containing each recipe in that particular category. This will make it SO MUCH EASIER for all of us to navigate and find the recipes on my site.

To understand what I’m talking about…go up to the menu bar across the top of my site. Put your cursor over the RECIPES link. See the drop down menu? Click on any one of those links…Main Dishes, Desserts, whatever. Scroll down on the page you click on and you’ll see a section called “Recipe Quick Click“. Under that you’ll see an entire list complete with links to EVERY RECIPE in that particular category. And it’s alphabetized. 

I’ve been wanting to do that forever…but knew it would take forever to do. It did. It took me about four and a half hours to create those lists with links. But…WOW…is it easy to find Swiss Steak and Homemade Soft Pretzels and ANY recipe you want on my site. Hoorah!

So…have any random food news you’d like to share? Does talking about fudge also make you think of salad dressing?

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

What is UP With the Snuggie? and other random thoughts

December 10, 2009 by Laura 37 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

It’s high time I wrote another random post, don’t you think?

And what better way to start than by asking the question I’ve been giving oh so much thought to lately:

What in the world is UP with the Snuggie?

Snuggies are everywhere I look. In every store. In every color imaginable. Even printed with the mascot of your favorite sports team. 

I hear you can go to a football game and it looks like a regular Snuggie convention. Just think, if you’re wearing a Snuggie at a game, with the convenience of having this blanket with arm holes, you can still wear a foam finger. Rock on.

Snuggie owners…speak up! Are they as wonderful as all the advertisements make them out to be? What color do you have? Did you know you can buy Snuggies for your pets? Yep, saw them the other day at Wal-mart.

Moving right along…

We’ve had over a foot of snow dumped on us this week. It’s beautiful. It’s cold.

We’ve had two extra boys with us a good part of the week because their school has been closed as a result of all the snow. Little did those boys know that we, as homeschoolers, don’t have snow days. SO, to celebrate their days off from school, they got to come to our house and do schoolwork.

I don’t think they minded at all.

In fact…Tuesday I told Ethan, one of the boys staying with us, that he could work with Elias on his math assignment if he wanted to. A few minutes later, Elias came into the kitchen…alone. 

I said, “Where is Ethan?” and Elias said, “Oh, he’s upstairs finishing my math.” Is that so?

Before I could turn around, Ethan came proudly into the kitchen holding up Elias’ math assignment saying, “I’m done!!”

Wednesday, I gave them separate math assignments. Both boys just grinned.

One more random thing to tell you: 

Matt’s restaurant (okay, it’s not really Matt’s…but you know what I mean) is finally, FINALLY going to open in the next few days!!!! The one last major item on the agenda (which happened to be a motor for one of the pieces of equipment that was on it’s way to town on a truck and the truck rolled and destroyed the motor and it had to be completely rebuilt…) is finally being taken care of so that they can open!!!

We are both so excited about this. I’ll try to get down there and take some pics. Hopefully our family will be heading there in a couple of days so the cooks and wait staff can “practice” on us. Hey, I’m always willing to help. :)

Although, I do have to say that as much as possible right now, I want to stay at home by my fireplace. At the time I’m writing this post…it is 5°. But with wind chill, it feels like -16°. Brr.

Somebody hand me a Snuggie.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Menu Plan for the Week…mixed with Randomness

October 18, 2009 by Laura 19 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

I have a few different things to share, which is turning this menu plan post into a random post. Wow…starting the week off with a bang, aren’t we? :)

First, I know a lot of you have been waiting to hear how our Potato Container Garden experience went. I was SO excited to dump out the container last week and see how many (hundreds of) pounds of potatoes we grew in that one little space. I KNOW this idea works because I’ve read many testimonies from people who say that it does. But ours? Nope. We got enough potatoes for about a meal and a half. Such a bummer! We will try again next year. 

potatoesfromcontainer09sm
Feel free to feel sorry for me if you want to and say things like, “Awww, Laura…after you worked so hard…that’s all the potatoes you got? Bless your heart.” And then I will nod pitifully at you.

On a much happier note, we planted lots of potatoes elsewhere, so we still have tons of potatoes for the year! We will not be potato-less. Not even close. :)

Second, last week my oven broke. Wanna know how I discovered that it was broken?

I put a chicken and some veggies in a roaster, stuck it in the oven, turned it on, then left for soccer games. Came home at 7:15 from soccer games hungry, cold and ready to eat a hot dinner…and found a raw chicken and hard vegetables in the oven. :(  I quickly made my “fall back meal” of salmon patties, creamy mac and cheese and peas…and put the chicken and veggies in the crock pot for the next day!

It was just the heating element and Matt was able to get it fixed for me three days later…but that was three days without my oven. SO if any of last week’s meals look a lot like this week’s meals…it’s because I couldn’t bake last week and I had to change my meal plan!

Third, well…I have a LOT of extra things going on right now in my home that I’m trying to get organized for (details coming later), and so I feel a bit short on time to write out a detailed menu for this week. THIS WEEK, I’m just going to “jot down” meal suggestions for me to reference through the week because I don’t have time right now to organize it all. A random post deserves a random menu, right?

Breakfasts:  Sweet potato streusel muffins, scrambled eggs, whole wheat waffles, homemade whole wheat donuts, smoothies, peanut butter honey toast, chocolate chip muffins

Lunches or Dinners:  Sweet beans and hot dogs, Alphabet soup with homemade soft pretzels, Chicken and noodles, Lamb burgers, Spaghetti, BBQ chicken with ranch potato wedges, Meatloaf, Grilled cheese sandwiches, Sourdough pancakes, Taco potatoes, Chicken enchiladas, Deer steak

(Meals will be served with lots of fruits and veggies…yada, yada.)

Oh, and Tuesday night I’m feeding the YC Women’s soccer team a lasagna dinner. Ever since I fed them the first week of practice back in August, they’ve been asking for my lasanga again. How sweet are they?

Bless YOUR heart if you kept up with these ramblings. Thanks for allowing me some crazy, unorganized writing this time. I’ll try to write normal posts this week. We’ll talk more about grain mills, have a giveaway, talk about Christmas budgets, Gratituesday, and hopefully little boys hair cuts!!!
——————————————–

Visit Organizing Junkie for more menu planning inspiration!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

That’s So Random

August 12, 2009 by Laura 30 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

I don’t know why I don’t do these random posts more often. Random is often how I think and have conversations. Sometimes I wonder how people (on and offline) can keep up with me. Brace yourselves. Here we go:

  • One night last week when I was tucking the boys into bed I looked around at the mess that is their bedroom and had to ask myself, “Why in the world is there a sucked-on lemon wedge sitting on that library book?” 
  • I really need to re-paint my toenails but I have no idea when I’ll ever get around to it. I think that by the time I have a free minute, it will be winter and I’ll be wearing socks anyway.
  • Today, my friend gave birth to TWINS!! A boy and a girl. The doctor had estimated that the twins were going to be eight pounds each…but they were each just under seven pounds. STILL. I’m so proud of her. Good job Melissa!!!!
  • We’re really enjoying the okra we’re getting from our garden. Anyone else out there like okra? 
  • Speaking of garden…my tomato plants are looking pitiful. I’m getting some tomatoes, but you’d think with 23 plants I’d be overloaded. Not so. I’m mooching tomatoes from anyone who has extra so that I’ll have enough to make and can sauce this year. I’m bummed about my plants, but thankful that God is providing through others.
  • Remember how I talked about my friend who is staying with me this week? May I just reiterate how lovely it is to have another female in my home with me if only for a few days? Last night while I was putting the kids to bed (Matt was at a meeting) she noticed the stuff all over the living room and picked it all up. I live with a bunch of people who don’t SEE things that need to be picked up. They will step over it and trip over it and get a bloody nose by it without ever seeing it or thinking that it should be picked up and put away. But she saw things. And picked it all up. I love her. 
  • A few days ago, Malachi took a battery operated action figure toy into the bathtub with him. After getting wet, that toy is now acting possessed. It has pretty much been talking non-stop since it’s unfortunate dunking. It found it’s way into a pile of clothes in the bathroom and last night while switching laundry, I accidentally stepped on it. In response to being stepped on it said (I kid you not), “You want a piece of me?” Of course I answered it with a confident, “Bring it on”. Matt watched the whole woman-to-toy interchange and just shook his head. It must be fun living with possessed toys and a crazy wife. I think it’s time for that toy to go. At least the wife gets to stay.

Feel free to add a random thought of your own…

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

The Return of my Randomness

February 11, 2009 by Laura 24 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

As I’ve been working to keep up with the two new blog series (how do you say series in plural form? series-es-es?)…and of course Gratituesday…and menu plans…and new recipes…

I’m finding there’s not much time to blog about anything else. And I kinda miss it. So, I’m taking just a tiny break this week from Feeding the Family and Women with a Mission so that I can take the time to fill you in on some little tid-bits of our lives: 

  • Matt got home tonight (Wednesday). Yay and yay again. I didn’t rearrange any furniture while he was gone, but I did manage to clean out my email box so that there are only 37 unread emails waiting for me. I try to keep up, really I do! Oh, and when Matt walked in the door he held in his hand a single rose that he’d taken from Grandpa’s casket…and brought all the way back from CA for me. In his hand. Even though the rose was a bit wilted and saggy…it was the most beautiful red rose I’d ever seen. 
  • Somehow the boys have created a game in which they are never allowed to step on any part of the floor that is wood or tile. This is a problem because most of our floors are wood or tile. The simple task of “run upstairs and grab your math book” now consists of jumping onto the rug, leaning heavily onto the couch, vaulting themselves into the air and hoping to reach the steps that are carpeted. I’ve about had enough of this game and will soon have to put my foot down and insist that the wood floor is not hot lava. After all, I should know. Even after several warnings that “Mom! You’re in the hot lava! You’re gonna get burned!” I have yet to feel even a bit of heat. And besides, how am I supposed to peel potatoes in the kitchen? Stand on the countertop?
  • Remember how I mentioned that Monday night we were inviting Madge over, the woman who recently lost her husband? Our red headed friend was here too, and may I just say what a delightful evening we all had together? We enjoyed our chicken and noodles and Madge laughed at the boys jokes (even the ones that weren’t funny). Then she stayed and played Apples to Apples Jr. with us. She’d never played before…and somehow she pulled off the win! It was the most precious night and I loved it. This woman is a wonderful mentor to me.

madgecardssm.jpg

  • Sometimes the challenge of raising our boys into godly young men is so daunting to me and I feel incredibly overwhelmed. I’ve been feeling that lately. It’s good to feel this way I guess. It reminds me that I’m relying on God for help in this huge job.
  • I need to go put butter on my hands.
  • I am learning some new recipes from my friends and after I try them and like them, I’m gonna share them with you.
  • I have three dirty towels hanging in the kitchen right now. No, four. Where are all the clean ones?
  • Recently after I finished drinking all my milk, Malachi got excited and told me that now I was going to “grow up into a great big daddy!” Would you like to be the first to congratulate me?
  • We’ve had temps in the 50’s and 60’s for several days now and we are all loving it! That never happens in the middle of a Nebraska winter. If I don’t watch myself, I may go outside and start planting lettuce.

So, what have you been up to?  Do you have any clean towels hanging up in your kitchen? Were you aware that stepping on uncarpeted floors meant you were stepping in hot lava? Consider yourself warned.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Randomness

November 22, 2008 by Laura 11 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Here are a few random things I thought you might need to know to help get you through the weekend  :) …

  • Last Sunday morning I was making stew to have ready for when we came home from church. I took the lid (cast iron) off the pot, set it down onto my pot holders, stirred the stew, then put the lid back on. A few minutes before leaving for church, I gave the stew one last stir. It was then that I noticed a POT HOLDER inside the stew. Yeah, it had stuck to the lid and hidden itself when I put the lid back on. Yum. Can I just say how HAPPY I was to have found it BEFORE I left the pot on the stove to simmer during church? Yum.
  • Recently, Elias asked me, “Mom, has it almost been a year yet?” And I said, “A year since what?” And he said, “Just has it almost been a year?” Ummm…probably…
  • We have six bedrooms in our house…enough for all of our boys to each have their own room if they want one. Instead, they prefer this:

fourboysoneroomsm.jpg
Not that you can tell…but there are two long lumps in sleeping bags
on the matresses, a medium sized lump on the top bunk,
and a little lump on the bottom bunk. 
Four boys, one room.

  • Now that I’ve been blogging for a year, I’m afraid I’m going to start repeating myself.
  • Now that I’ve been blogging for a year, I’m afraid I’m going to start repeating myself. 
  • ;)
  • One morning this week, Malachi told me, “Mommy, you look SOOOO cute!” Guess I’ll have to not brush my hair and wear my mismatched jammies more often.
  • I finished Austin’s quilt!! (Can’t show you pics until after I give it to him. I would hate to ruin his surprise, you know. Because I’m pretty sure he reads my blog already.)  Malachi thinks the quilt is perftic. Yeah, don’t look too close.
  • We can’t find Justus’ glasses. Anywhere.
  • Lately Justus has decided that it’s fun to pretend he’s a puppy. And his little brothers have been following suit. Which is fine most of the time since thankfully they aren’t naughty puppies. But there comes a point when I ask someone where the phone is that I’d rather not hear, “rrr..Ruff!!” in response. Am I really asking too much?
  • I have finally given in to peer pressure and am now Twittering. You can see my profile here.  Now, just because I have finally become a Twitter-er, don’t get your hopes up too much about how often I’ll Twit. I find it hard enough some days just to find time to wash the dishwater off of my glasses so that I can see. I’m not sure how good I’m going to be at this new thing I’ve just gotten myself into. 
  • Oh, and by the way…when I was setting up my Twitter profile, I couldn’t call myself “HeavenlyHomemaker” because apparently 17 letters is too many. It kept cutting me off at “HeavenlyHomemak”. I didn’t want to be the “HeavenlyHomemak”. So I decided on being the “HeavenHomemaker”, which is only slightly better, but better enough. Later, I thought, “Why didn’t I just put in Laura Coppinger?” Duh. So, I tried to change it and it wouldn’t let me (or I couldn’t figure out how). Then I tried to just start a new account, but they said that someone was already using the email address, laura @ heavenlyhomemakers.com. Yes, I told Twitter…that would be the HeavenHomemaker. We are the same person!  Ah well, HeavenHomemaker it is… (Any of the rest of you talk to your computer when it isn’t doing what you want it to?)

I’m going to go look for Justus’ glasses. I’ll try to post it on Twitter if/when we ever find them!!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

My Randomness Returns

September 25, 2008 by Laura 14 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

First, I finally put a search box on my site for you so that if you’re looking for say, my whole wheat pretzel recipe…you just type the word “whole wheat pretzels” into the box and it’ll find the recipe link for you! You’ll find it on the left hand side of my blog, right under all the categories. No, your other left. Yep, you got it. Now you can search to your heart’s content. It’s about TIME I did that, huh?

Second, after peeling 300,000 peaches (give or take) to freeze for smoothies, I finally took Lindsay’s advice and just left the peelings on. And guess what? The peelings just blend right up into the smoothie and you can’t even tell they’re there. They’re more nutritious that way of course. And, oh my word, does the freezing process ever go faster! Now if you’re canning them, you’ll need to peel them, but if you’re freezing them, for the love of all things sane, just slice ’em and flash freeze them.

Third, I have no idea what I used to do with my time before I began canning and freezing and fruit leathering. I don’t remember my life before this fall harvest. I think I remember something about cooking a meal without having to step over boxes of apples or scooting jars out of my way so I could mash some potatoes. And  I wish I had a dollar for every phone call I’ve gotten asking if I need any more apples. Ooh, better yet, I wish I had a dollar for every APPLE I’ve had in my kitchen during the last few weeks. It has been some year for apples around here. Wow.

Fourth, the past few weeks, I’ve been reading Little Britches to the boys. Have you READ that book? It is SO good. I fell in love with the family and how the daddy and the son worked so hard together…and it made me want to buy a ranch and some horses and go back in time 100 years (but I would, of course, take my computer and electricity with me). Anyway…when we got to the last two chapters…it got so sad and I could not read it anymore because tears were streaming down my face and my voice was all messy. I handed the book to Matt and he finished reading it to us. It was all I could do not to sob loudly as we sat around the table and listened. I’m still not over it. Oh, but it was a good book.

Fifth, there is a big chorus of crickets blessing my home. (Do you all have tons of crickets too, or did they all decide to move into my house?)  They are singing so loudly right now I can hardly concentrate to write. I don’t mind them too much (because I’d rather have crickets than say, termites) but I do wish I could turn their volume down.

Sixth, I’m going to start doing product reviews on my blog. Because I have a bunch of stuff that I’ve been thinking about that I want to tell you about and brag about to you and encourage you to have. (Like a blender. You should all really have a blender. Between making applesauce, fruit leather and lots of smoothies and milkshakes…I been using my blender three times a day. I highly recommend blenders.)  But seriously, I’m excited to start recommending other useful kitchen tools and homemaking helps. If you have a product from your home business or etsy shop or whatever that you’d like me to review…email me!

Seventh, I could continue to be random and write about the little lego people on my steps just asking to be stepped on or something like that, but the crickets are distracting me. And really…I should go start getting busy with those apples again. Anyone have anything random to share? Hopefully I’ll be able to hear your comment above the Cricket Sing Along…

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Today’s Randomness

August 21, 2008 by Laura 7 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Here’s a bit of my ramblings for this week…no particular theme…no particular order…

*Elias has been learning a little about sentence structure. We’ve also been learning about Ancient Egypt. Therefore, Elias keeps getting confused about that little dot that goes at the end of most sentences. When I ask him what goes at the end of a sentence he wrinkles his nose and says, “A pyramid?” (Yes, we begin a sentence with a capital letter, and always be sure to put a pyramid at the end. Oh, he’s so cute!)

*Yesterday while I was helping Justus with his math, Malachi went into the kitchen to help himself to a chocolate chip orange muffin. He was in there a long time, but I was busy with Justus and forgot to keep tabs on him. When I went into the kitchen later I saw that Malachi had dissected each of the eight muffins that had been leftover…picked out all of the chocolate chips, eaten them and left the rest of the muffins in a nice pile. Little stinker!

malachimuffinpiecessm.JPG

*Tuesday night our neighbor brought us over a big cantaloupe from his garden. It is (was) so yummy!

*Last night when we were having our family prayer time, Elias’ prayer was something like this:  “Thank you God for this wonderful day. And thank you that my birthday is coming up soon. In Jesus’ name, Amen.” (Elias’ birthday is in January. I guess that means it’s coming up….soon.)

*I made a few pints of salsa yesterday with all those tomatoes and peppers. We haven’t tried it yet, but it sure smelled good! And of my recipes…I will share any and all of them with you…except for this salsa recipe. It was my mama’s and it can’t be shared. :)  But I’ll share any of my other recipes I promise.

*We’ve had Fall-like weather here for over a week. It has been absolutely and totally refreshing. Ah, God is good.

*Yes, let’s say it again…God is good. Have a blessed day!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!
Next Page »

Join Our Community!

 Facebook Twitter RSS E-mail Instagram Pinterest

Popular Posts

~ Will All of the Real Moms Please Stand Up?
~ Easy! Stir-and-Pour Whole Wheat Bread
~ How to Make Gatorade
~ 31 Real Food Breakfast Ideas
~ Dear Teenage Girls...
~ When Mom Takes a Step Back
~ The Inexpensive Health Insurance We Love!
~ Let's Talk Real Food Grocery Budgets

Check out our latest posts!

  • Easy Chili Cheese Dip
  • How to Make 5 Meals with 1 Pork Roast
  • Easy Make-Ahead Breakfast Sandwich Ideas
  • Parmesan Chicken and Rice Recipe – $1.00/person!
  • How to Beat Inflation at the Grocery Store
Home  ~  Simple Meals  ~  Club Membership  ~  Shop  ~  Privacy Policy  ~  Disclosure  ~ Contact

Copyright © 2023 · Beautiful Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in