Wordless Wednesday

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Menu Plan Monday

Ok, I'm going to try this. I've seen it all over the blog world. Most of the time when I plan out a menu I do a whole month. I like it that way- and I really like planning breakfasts, lunches and dinners. But I haven't done alot of things since Titus was born...
So this week I'm trying to menu plan. For those of you who don't know me- the recipes are linked to my cooking blog.

Monday: Pizza Rolls

Tuesday: Creamed Tuna & Peas

Wednesday: Stroganoff

Thrusday: Lentil Chili

Friday: Chicken Chili Roll Ups

Saturday: Homemade Pizza

For more menus visit I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Early Morning

Woke up this morning with Titus crying at 5:30 AM, fed him and put him back to bed. He normally gets up at 6 AM, but doesn't stay up long. I could have kept him up, but I really wanted that next 1 1/2 hours of sleep if I put him back to bed.
So I put him back to bed. And then I laid there. Awake. My mind started going a mile a minute. All the things I am going to do today. Our friend Sean is coming over to help us rewire a couple light switches in our kitchen.
I have a bag of apples to make pie with (already made apple butter and 2 pies yesterday).
Need to practice my song for church (doing special music tomorrow night).
I ground a bunch of wheat yesterday so I can make bread today.
Brian and Luke need to go running early this morning before
Brian goes to work at the church, then reloading ammo for his hunting rifle at a friends house this after noon.
I need to go to the Farmer's Market.
And I have a hutch that doesn't fit into the spot I have for it in the kitchen, so I need to saw off 1/2" of the overhang at the top and then sand in down and then I can put the MAC in the kitchen because it's my recipe book and it's old and slower so we don't use it too often anyway.
I made an apple pie for breakfast yesterday (did you know pies were first a breakfast food?) and we've been getting fresh eggs from a family at church, so this morning we'll have scrambled eggs and apple pie for breakfast. Sounds tasty doesn't it? :-)

Projects

This morning I made a batch of oatmeal pancakes. I've been trying to perfect a recipe. These were pretty good, so I need to try it one more time just to make sure and then I can post it on my recipe blog. My mom got me started on using leftover cooked oatmeal in bread, so I thought I would try it in pancakes. Getting the thickness is difficult because cooked oatmeal is moist, so not as much milk is needed.

Last night we tore down the lath and plaster on the wall between the kitchen and dining/living room. My cabinets have been moving around for the last 1 1/2 years, the way they are today makes the kitchen feel big and open. I look forward to when it's done! Today I have a thin layer of dust all over the living room that I need to clean up.

Our Bedroom Floor

The other week I decided to tear out the carpet in the master bedroom. We found this really cool old linoleum. Our house was built in 1882, so I was really curious how old it was. It's 9'x12' and tacked down. I was able to get ahold of someone from Second Hand Rose, who believed it was from the 1950s. There isn't really a market for used linoleum, so sadly, no big chunk of $$. Brian is not exactly excited about having a circus on our floor. So I covered it back up, and in 10 years when we finally have our attic finished, we can put it up there. :-)

There are 6 repeating scenes- so here they are:

Wordless Wednesday

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Missing my games

So I am attempting to write blog posts instead of play Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook. I get lost in Bejeweled. It's somewhat mindless and it's only a minute. So if I have a minute between putting kids to bed, feeding them, taking them to the potty, picking them up from school, cleaning the house, doing the laundry and dishes, cooking breakfast, lunch, dinner and anything else... well, I play bejeweled.
I'm a really competitive person and it's a good outlet for that.
So I started this blog to make money, which, yes, isn't happening yet. I've got it marked on my phone so I reminder will go off- Oct. 17 I can post a money making post. I can post 3 a day- but have to have actual blog posts inbetween them- who wants to read that "you could buy this" junk anyway? so I am trying to build up my posts so I have something to put in between. I figure all that time I sit down for a couple minutes to play bejeweled could be used in typing.
It's not easy. Typing takes thought. It's not mindless and then when I get up and come back to it I have to remember where I was. I really don't like doing recipe post like that, which is why I don't update Rachel's Cooking very often. But I'm trying. Yesterday I didn't turn on the game computer at all. I blog on the MAC, it's a little older and can't handle Bejeweled Blitz. Probably a good thing.

Having a Baby and Going to Heaven

Last night we had our first YAMS (Young Adults Married & Single) Bible study of the year. We take a break during summer, just because everyone is so busy.
Last year we started studying the book of Romans. This week we were in Romans chapter 8. There is alot in that chapter! But one thing stuck out for me.

I'm a midwife at heart. I'm trained to be one, but I have never actually helped my own client before. I am a doula and have helped alot of women that way. And I've given birth to 5 kids myself- with no pain meds. 4 were at home, Naomi was born in the hospital because of marginal placenta previa. Labor was hardest with Naomi. Pushing was hardest with Titus- he came out forehead first. It down right HURT to push. It was horrible. But with all of them I am happy with their births. I really believe that the mom not having any medications gives the baby a better start in this world. I can understand why women want something to help, because it's difficult, it hurts, it's exhausting.

Anyway, back to Romans 8.
Romans 8:22-25
For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?
But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

It goes on, but the thing that stuck out to me is how they compared it to childbirth. Childbirth is difficult. It's not pleasant. It's the most difficult and trying thing I have ever gone through- emotional, physically and spiritually challenging. I could not have made it without God. I could not have made it without the hope of seeing a baby.
That's what life is like too. It's difficult, unpleasant and trying. It's taxing- physically, emotionally and spiritually. I can't get through this without God and I think it would be horrible to not have the hope of heaven at the end. So many times in my life I have groaned with agony and thought "I wish Christ would return now, so I wouldn't have to go through this anymore."

I have hope to be with Christ one day. Not hope like "I hope I get there"- but hope like when I have a baby. I know I'm pregnant. I know when I'm in labor and I know that a baby will come of it. It's the hope of seeing a baby- no, I have never actually laid eyes on my child, but I know it's there and I know it's coming.
I know Christ is coming and I know I belong to him. I also know that I'm going to be with Him in heaven- it's my hope.

Just like seeing my baby is my hope in labor. Seeing Christ is my hope in life.

Warning- Gross out factor ahead

Ok, so depending on how light of a stomach you have, you might not want to look at the 3rd picture down.


After the toilet overflowed in the house we had to call in a plumber to snake the sewage line. We have a root problem. We don't have access to the line on the outside of the house, the time before we had it down it cost close to $700. Not something I wanted to repeat. So we had to dig outside the house and get the pipe exposed so they could put an outside cleanout on. I dug all day long. The palms of my hands were bruised and blistered.



Thankfully Brian's bosses let him go early so he finished the digging/supervising the plumber. We started digging under the smaller pipe and it had a huge crack in it and "liquid" started oozing out. Oh it smelled bad. I think it was finally fished about 6 pm that night. There was so many roots in the line I can't believe anything got through it!



This is a 6" pipe- I think that "space" is about 2". The roots were packed so tight they were actually dry.

Tearing up the Basement

In July we had the upstairs toilet overflow. The water ran down into the basement getting (thankfully) only a bunch of blankets and clothes wet. But the carpet was wet too. We have been planning on tearing it all out and putting in a bedroom. Which means we need to remove the subfloor, remove the concrete, dig out more dirt, lay down some kind of blocking material, pour new concrete... etc, etc.

The basement had been FULL of stuff. Just stuff. Stuff from grandparents that have passed away, stuff from parents that they feel guilty getting rid of so give to us, stuff from childhood, stuff from collage, misc. craft supplies, clothes kids have grown out of, clothes kids will grow into, clothes for winter, and the list goes on and on. I've been trying to get rid of stuff. So this was a great motivator.

I have a couple friend who are downright ruthless in getting rid of stuff. And I mean RUTHLESS. Everyone needs friends like these- seriously, they're the ones that really love you.

So here's the groovy carpet I had to take pictures of before I threw it out. I think it's pretty cool, and they were both in good shape. But there was some mold there under the carpet, so there is no way we could keep it.

So, yes, another blog

ok- so I friend of mine was visiting this morning and was talking about how she made money with paid blog posts. Something I had thought about, but really couldn't bring myself to do. But she made somewhere around $200/mo by doing this. I have to say, I really want a new couch. 2 actually. So I started thinking, maybe I could just make the money online. So here's my attempt. I have 2 other blogs: Rachel's Cooking and Aside From Food. I really do have alot of rambling thoughts though and I didn't want to "sell" stuff on those blogs. AND I waste entirely too much time playing Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook. So I figured I could waste my time babbling about life and make some money in the process.
Sadly, the blog has to be going for a month before I start, so here's my first post on this blog.