Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Gratituesday: New School Year

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It’s official. We have a 7th grader, a 4th grader, a 2nd grader and a pre-schooler. We began school this week. At exactly one day into it, I can say…so far, so good!

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Here we are at our traditional “take your list, get a basket and pick out your school supplies” day. We try to do this the Friday before school starts to keep the excitement alive!

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I spread out all of our books and organized them for the year…

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See that USA puzzle up there in the picture? Last week when we were putting the final touches on the school room and getting supplies put away…I was getting SO frustrated. I was trying to get the boys to put their folders and notebooks away, but instead they grabbed the USA puzzle, dumped it out all over the floor and started working on it. They were up and down looking at the big wall map, talking about which state went where in the puzzle. I couldn’t get anyone to listen to what I was trying to say!

Just about the time I started to scold them…it occurred to me:  Hello Laura! They are learning and loving every minute of it. They can put their glue sticks away later! 

The instant they finished putting all fifty states back into the puzzle, they dumped it out again and started over. Then they started looking at all of their new books on the shelves and getting SO excited. They could hardly wait for Monday to come. (Actually, I saw Elias sneaking into his math book that day and writing in the first three answers and grinning at me like he’d really pulled a big one over on me!)

I love that the boys get so excited about school and learning! We have our moments...trust me.  If the boys really, really had a choice, they’d play computer games all day long. But I wish you could have heard them this morning as we sat on the living room floor with the globe and maps and colored pencils. You would have thought I was throwing them a party. (A loud party.)

Many of you commented or emailed that you couldn’t believe I was starting school on my birthday. It really was the best way to spend my day:  On the floor…surrounded by boys and books. It doesn’t get much better than that!
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What are you grateful for this Gratituesday? Write about it on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, please leave a comment letting us know how God is working in your life!

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Menu Plan for the Week

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We’re all set and ready to start school Monday! I’ve been working hard this weekend to get ahead in the kitchen so that I can focus on establishing a good school routine for the boys. I made four loaves of bread (two regular, two cinnamon swirl), a double batch of tortillas, whole wheat graham crackers, crispy cheese crackers, pizza casserole, bagels and mudballs. I sliced carrots into sticks and dug potatoes from the garden (enough to last us this week).

Books are ready, lesson plans are made, house is clean, and everyone is excited! I’ll share more about gearing up for school on Gratituesday!

Here’s what we’re eating this week:

Sunday, August 2
Cinnamon swirl bread, fruit
Roast, carrots, potatoes, gravy
Nachos, watermelon

Monday, August 3 (Happy Birthday to me!)
Honey whole wheat bagels, clementines
Pizza casserole, sweet corn
Out to dinner, cheesecake made by boys

Tuesday, August 4
Scrambled eggs, oranges
Sloppy joes on homemade buns, potato salad, sweet peppers
Roasted chicken, rice and veggie stir-fry

Wednesday, August 5
Sourdough biscuits with butter and honey, applesauce
Spanish rice with chicken, grapes
Spaghetti, tossed salad

Thursday, August 6
Crepes with jelly
Creamy mac and cheese, steamed carrots, strawberry-peach slushies
Beans and rice on tortillas with tomatoes and spicy avocado dip

Friday, August 7
Peanut butter honey toast, pears
Quesadillas, apples, carrots
Hamburgers, onion rings, tomatos

Saturday, August 8
Homemade donuts
Leftovers
Grilled chicken, okra, yellow squash 

Menu Plan Monday is being hosted this week at The Happy Housewife…go check it out for more menu planning ideas!

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Becoming One with the Airport

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Monday I flew all by myself to California for a few days to be with my CA sisters-in-law. Every other year we work pretty hard to make this trip happen. I’m so thankful that I have sisters-in-law who are my friends.

Matt and the boys dropped me off early so that I’d have plenty of time before my first flight. I had two hours to wait…but no problem…I had books to read and no boys to chase. Then the flight got delayed. And then it was delayed some more. And then I realized that I’d miss my connecting flight in Dallas.

By the time I finally got to Dallas and rescheduled my continuing flight to CA, I was super bummed to know that I’d have to be at the airport waiting for FIVE hours since there was simply no other flight that could get me there. Sigh. I mean…we had plans to go to Cheesecake Factory that night. I spent quite a bit of time feeling sorry for myself and missing my boys and husband. 

Oh…and I was freezing cold in the airport. 

I decided that I could not possibly be freezing and miserable for five hours, so I set out to look in the airport shops for a sweatshirt. I didn’t really care what it said and I almost didn’t care how much it cost because I was THAT cold.

I quickly changed my mind about the “I don’t care what it says” idea when the one and only sweatshirt I could find in the entire DFW airport said, “Texas Brewing Co.” And then it had this handy little pocket pouch in the front to keep your beer bottle in (no I’m not kidding) with a little insert that said, “Keep your hands free…and your beer cold!”

Okay…maybe not.

I finally found a simple long sleeved t-shirt that said TEXAS across the front…for only $10…and snatched it up. If only I could find some long johns and wool socks, then I’d be set.

Once I got my long sleeved shirt on, I set off to figure out how I was going to kill the other 4 1/2 hours of my lay-over. I thought about getting my shoes shined…but no…I was wearing flip flops. I thought about sitting down for a nice meal…but didn’t want to spend my entire CA budget on one burger. 

I had no cell phone and I hadn’t brought my lap-top (was kicking myself over that one). Funny how you can be surrounded by thousands of people for hours, yet feel very lonely.  It made me wonder who else in the airport was feeling lonely.

I started “people watching”. I saw someone with her zipper down. I saw people wearing some very interesting clothes. I saw people wearing hardly any clothes. I thought at one point that I saw my cousin. But no…it was someone else’s cousin.

Hmmm. I got out my journal and a Bible study book and enjoyed that for quite a while. I was feeling much more refreshed and less sorry for myself after that.

Then came the highlight of my day.

I met a couple (who had grandchildren my age) who had been delayed all day like I had been. We were waiting for the same flight (which, by the way, was by then delayed yet another hour and a half). I can’t tell you how this sweet couple refreshed my spirit. They were believers. They were frustrated by the delays like I was, yet trying to be patient. They were on the way to his brother’s funeral. They got me through the last few hours with cheerful conversation and talk about our families. We laughed. We shared. We made the most of our bad situation.

I knew I would be okay when at one point the grandmother lady (why didn’t I even ask her name?) started singing, “This is the day the Lord has made…” 

Seems I found a sister before I was able to make it to CA to meet my sisters.

Isn’t God good?

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Zucchini Recipes: Cheeseburger Zucchini Boats

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You’ve gotta try this fun zucchini recipe! Little boats that you can eat…how cool is that? What a perfect way to get your kids to eat zucchini!

Cheeseburger Zucchini BoatsYum

3 small zucchini
1 pound ground beef
1 small onion, chopped tiny
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. chili powder
sea salt
1/2 cup cheddar cheese (I use raw white cheddar)

Cut off the ends of the zucchini and boil them for about 10 minutes. In the meantime brown hamburger meat, onion, garlic powder and chili powder. Salt to taste.

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Slice cooked zucchini lengthwise.

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Use a fork and spoon to scrape out the “zucchini guts”  (sorry, I live with boys) and add it to cooked hamburger meat.

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Scoop equal amounts of hamburger mixture into each “boat”. Top with shredded cheese.

Cheeseburger Zucchini Boats
Put in oven broiler for a couple of minutes until cheese is melted then serve right away.

Now you can eat them while singing, “Great green globs of slicky, slimy zucchini guts…”

Or…you can skip the sing-along and just eat them.

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Say It Out Loud

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Ever have conversations with people in your head? You know…after you visit with them and you aren’t entirely happy with how you responded? 

If you are anything like me you’re likely to spend several days after a conversation with someone re-hashing the conversation over and over in your head saying what you wish you would have said to them.

I can come up with some wonderful come-backs to say to people two days after I actually talk to them. My head can sometimes be filled with amazing and brilliant conversations in which I totally put the other person in his/her place and make tremendous points and prove how right I am.

Too bad it’s IMAGINARY.

It’s a complete and total waste of brain time.  Satan loves to get in our head and help us waste our thought time on things that are completely pointless and meaningless. Just think of all the time we could be talking to God either in praise or petition…but instead we’re thinking about and worrying about a conversation we had with someone and wishing we would have said this or that instead. Oh yeah, Satan loves that.

While we’re on the subject of wasted brain time…how about all time spent inside our heads comparing ourselves to others? Or criticizing how others do things (because it makes us feel better about how we do things)?

It’s just another of Satan’s tools to pull us away from all the things that truly are important.

Here’s what I’ve been finding that is incredibly helpful:

  • Recognize the sin for what it is. It’s sinful to spend our time worrying about what we said or didn’t say when we can do absolutely nothing to change the situation. It’s sinful to compare ourselves to others so that we can build ourselves up. Yuck…no wonder it feels so bad when we do it.
  • Change the crummy thoughts to prayer thoughts. It sounds easier than it is…and sometimes…I just really don’t want to. But it’s one of the only sure ways to change your thought patterns. Train yourself to pray everytime your brain starts to re-think a difficult conversation or to criticize someone.
  • Say it out loud.  This may sound silly…but I can not believe how well it works. Whenever I have critical or frustrated thoughts going through my head…if I say it out loud I quickly realize how petty and ridiculous they sound. They sound so intelligent inside my head.  Out loud? Ridiculous! 

Bless my poor husband’s heart. He’s the one who usually gets to hear my ridiculous thoughts. I usually get them about half-way out of my mouth when I realize, “Good grief Laura. Are you really going to finish that sentence?” Because it just sounds that ridiculous.

Choose someone who will truly help you work through the situation and not someone who will feed into it and make the situation worse. And then say it out loud. 

It works for me every time.

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Gratituesday: Ho…Hum…

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God is so good. Each week when I think about what to write for my Gratituesday post, it’s never hard to come up with something to be thankful for. Because there is always so much to be thankful for.

And yet, I find myself trying to think of “something big” to tell you about. Some great event or situation that happened the previous week to share about how God is working in our lives.

Somehow it seems a little silly for me to write an entire Gratituesday post about how thankful I am that we have plenty of food in the house. Or that we were just given another box of hand-me-down clothes for the boys. Or that Matt has construction jobs lined up for several weeks.

Or…that we have a working toilet and running water. And electricity. And a computer. And a big kitchen. And beds–lots of them…and they are soft. And we have ceiling fans. And dishes. And soap. And shoes. And soft towels. And a washing machine. And a lawn mower.

Today’s Gratituesday is dedicated to all the little things. All the little things that are really big things when it comes right down to it. 

Because if you’ve ever not had a working toilet or running water…that suddenly becomes a big thing…right?

I’m thankful for all the comforts in life and for how God provides. He just provides.

Hooray for the little things!
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Share what you’re grateful for! Write about it on your blog then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, please leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

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

Homeschool Hubbub: Our Budget

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I’m a little bit hesitant to share about our homeschooling budget because…oh, I don’t know…I just am. I want to discuss it…I just think it can be a bit of a touchy subject. It’s a good thing all of you are so nice.

There are different ways of thinking about how much money families should spend on their homeschooling materials.

Some people look at it like:  “It’s my child’s education. I’m not going to skimp one bit and I’ll spend as much as I can to make sure my child gets the best education possible.”

Then there’s the flip side:   “I can teach my child using everyday things around the house and a pencil and a notebook and the Bible. That’s all I need.”

I agree with both ideas to a certain degree. I think that it is very important to invest in the education of our children. And I also think that our children can learn a great deal by just living and experiencing life with their families…without spending a dime.

I used to skimp more than I do now when Asa and Justus were in the earlier grades. That worked fine because at that point it was really just about teaching them how to read and a few other basics. I tried to just get as many of the Sonlight recommended books at the library as I could, while spending just a little bit on their math books and a few other things.

As my kids get older (and as I’m schooling more of them) I’ve found that it’s harder and harder to get to the library to get all the books they need to read so that we can cover everything I want to cover in the school year. Having the books at our house on our shelves has been so helpful.

So while I’ve struggled with the fact that I could save quite a bit of money by going to the library everytime one of the kids finished one of the books on their list…I’ve just been unable (or yes, possibly unwilling) to make it happen. I LOVE having all the books we’ll need right on the shelf ready to grab at a moment’s notice.

And these books that Sonlight recommends? They are worth paying money for. They are worth reading over and over. They are really great books. (Sonlight is not paying me to brag on them, by the way.)

Having said all of that…I will tell you that our annual homeschool budget is $450. Total. For all the boys. For the year. That amount includes field trips and school supplies from Walmart. Sometimes it doesn’t seem like it’s enough, but that’s all there is. Some of you may see that number and be shocked that I spend that little. Some of you may be shocked that I spend that much.

I’m able to keep it at that number by doing several things. First, I combine curriculums as I mentioned in this post. I don’t buy a separate curriculum for each child.

Second, I reuse many “consumable books”. There are a few exceptions, but many of the History and Science books I ordered for Asa when he was younger, I am able to re-use with all of the boys now. If there was question-and-answer stuff in those books, we did them orally. (He got plenty of writing practice elsewhere.)

Third, once I buy a book for Asa, it is passed down and used for the other boys when they’re ready. I don’t have to buy lots of books for each boy each year.

Fourth, I look for some things on ebay. I got a pretty nice deal on ebay for a Teaching Textbook 7 for Asa this year.

Also, this year I saved up all my Swagbucks…redeemed them for Amazon cards…and ordered a whole bunch of readers for the boys. For free. If you haven’t signed up to earn Swagbucks while you’re doing online searches…you should. Their program helped us get many of the books we needed this year. They were truly a blessing. I can’t tell you how thankful I am for Swagbucks.

So there you have it. If you homeschool and care to share a bit about how you budget for it, I’d love to hear!

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Menu Plan for the MEN

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I’m going on a tiny little trip to visit a couple of my sisters-in-law for part of this week! I’ve cooked and baked ahead a little so that the men won’t have to work too hard in the kitchen figuring out what to eat while I’m gone. Matt assures me that they’ll all be fine…but I feel better knowing that at least I can make things a little bit easier by leaving food ready to warm up.

Here are some of their choices:

And of course, there are lots of frozen and fresh fruits and veggies  (Matt does a great job feeding the boys veggies when I’m gone. It’s very impressive.)

The funniest thing to me about when I have to be gone and Matt feeds the boys is that I’ll come home and the boys will say something like, “Oh Mom! Daddy made the BEST burritos for lunch today!” Uh-huh, he sure did. It’s okay, I’ll let him have the credit. They’re having a great time with their Daddy after all… :)

I’ve been writing ahead too, so posts will continue as normal this week. But let’s just get it straight that I wrote the posts…not Daddy. Although that would be fun sometime wouldn’t it? Maybe Matt could give a construction tutorial? I’m sure you would all find that fascinating. It would kind of give a new meaning to Heavenly Home-Makers.

I think we’ll stick with the other kind of Heavenly Homemaking, unless you start begging me for a “How to Install a New Toilet” post, and then I can make arrangements.
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Find tons of menu planning ideas at Organizing Junkie.

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

Zucchini Recipes: Whole Wheat and Honey Zucchini Bread and Muffins

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Here’s the recipe I’ve been promising!

Whole Wheat and Honey Zucchini BreadYum

3 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup honey
2 cups shredded zucchini (I use my food processor to shred zucchini, skin and all)
1/2 cup melted butter
2 eggs

In a large mixing bowl combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, sea salt, nutmeg and baking powder. Stir in honey, zucchini, eggs and melted butter. Mix ingredients until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour into two well buttered loaf pans. Bake at 350° for 45-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

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Whole Wheat and Honey Zucchini Muffins

Prepare as above, except scoop dough into 24 paper-lined muffin tins. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes.

I’ve still got a few zucchini recipes coming up, including Zucchini Brownies, Zucchini Cake and even fun Cheeseburger Zucchini Boats! 

As you can tell…I’m baking this weekend! What are you up to?

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How to Make Sweet Pickle Relish (the healthier way)

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Your family will be so excited that I am giving you this sweet pickle relish recipe. Yes, the very strong smell of onions, cucumbers and vinegar cooking on your stove will bring them to tears and make them beg for a spoonful. (Or rather they will be like my boys and come downstairs with a disgusted look on their faces while holding their noses asking WHAT in the world you are making.)

Don’t worry…the smell in your kitchen goes away. Eventually. And then you are left with several jars of sweet pickle relish…enough to last you quite a while. (This recipe makes more than a year’s supply for our family. We don’t tend to go through pickle relish very quickly, but I really like having it on hand.)

If you have a few extra cucumbers and enjoy adding sweet pickle relish to your tuna salad, etc…you’ll like this healthier version. I cut the sugar in half compared to the other recipes I found..plus used organic sucanat (dehydrated cane sugar juice) instead of regular sugar and it is plenty sweet enough for our taste!

Homemade Sweet Pickle Relish Recipe

Sweet Pickle RelishYum

How to Make Sweet Pickle Relish (the healthier way)
 
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Ingredients
  • 8 medium sized cucumbers
  • 2 large onions
  • 2 sweet green peppers
  • 1 sweet red pepper
  • ⅓ cup sea salt
  • 3 cups rapadura or sucanat
  • 3 cups apple cider vinegar
  • 2 T. whole celery seed
  • 2 T. whole mustard seed
Instructions
  1. Begin by slicing the cucumbers, peppers and onions.
  2. Chop the vegetables into tiny pieces. I find that putting them into my food processor works best for this.
  3. Pour the chopped veggies into a large bowl.
  4. Cover them with water and let them soak for about two hours (longer won't hurt).
  5. Pour the soaked veggies through a strainer until all the water is drained out.
  6. Pour strained veggies into a bowl and add remaining ingredients.
  7. Stir well.
  8. Pour contents of bowl into a large pot.
  9. Bring to a boil.
  10. Simmer relish for ten minutes, then transfer it into pint sized jars. (I was able to make six full pints, with a little bit leftover.)
  11. Following these hot water bath canning methods, process the pickle relish for 10 minutes (from start of boiling).

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Begin by slicing the cucumbers, peppers and onions.

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Chop the vegetables into tiny pieces.
I find that putting them into my food processor works best for this.

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Pour the chopped veggies into a large bowl.
Cover them with water and let them soak for about two hours (longer won’t hurt).

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Pour the soaked veggies through a strainer until all the water is drained out.

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Pour strained veggies into a bowl and add remaining ingredients.

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Stir well.

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Pour contents of bowl into a large pot. Bring to a boil.

Simmer relish for ten minutes, then transfer it into pint sized jars. (I was able to make six full pints, with a little bit leftover.)

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Following these hot water bath canning methods,
process the pickle relish for 10 minutes (from start of boiling).

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Six beautiful jars of pickle relish all ready to go!

You’ll find more preserving help and tutorials in my Gardening and Preserving ebook!

The cost for this relish was very low, as the cucumbers were given to me for free and the other veggies came from my garden. The added ingredients were low cost as it all divided into SIX jars of pickle relish! Each jar only cost a few cents. I LOVE gardening season!

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