MY NEW SNACK

Feast your eyes on this spoonful of goodness.

That, my friends, is something you need to try. Unless you have a peanut allergy, of course. It's what I recently came up when I needed a little snack late one night and have enjoyed a couple times a week ever since.

One spoonful of fresh ground peanut butter, a few dried cranberries, a pinch of toasted coconut, and a sprinkling of cinnamon. Oh my! It's delicious.

MENU: 9/25/14 - 10/1/14

Once again I have no new recipes, but I have a lot of things I've made or will be making ahead of time. We'll also be incorporating a lot of food that we've been given recently - broccoli, tomatoes, beef, bacon, pumpkin, and onions.

Recipe links are in green, in case you're interested in trying some of these foods.

ADVANCED COOKING 
* cracked wheat & honey bread - I realized one day that someone had taken the last loaf from our Franz stash in the freezer without telling me, so I made some of this bread two days ago - one loaf that got added to an improvised dinner and one for sandwiches at lunch. I'll make some more in the next few days for sandwiches.
* no-knead bread - I made one loaf just for fun and we ate it over two meals, then made another loaf yesterday for some of the dinners in this menu.
* peanut butter - I make at least one batch a week from peanuts I buy in Winco's bulk department.
* spinach - I had a part of a big bag from Costco that was wasn't rotten, but was getting past its prime. I chopped it all up and popped it in the freezer for adding to scrambled eggs and smoothies.
* crockpot beans - I make one or two batches of this pinto/black bean combo each week and freeze some of the beans.
* garbanazos - I made up a crockpot full of beans, made green hummus with some, then froze the rest for later use.
* pumpkin puree - We picked five pumpkins from a friend's garden, so I'm roasting, pureeing, and freezing them. I usually stock up on canned pumpkin for the year when it's on sale during the holiday season, but this time I'll have a stockpile in my freezer instead.

BREAKFASTS
* doughnuts (we have these at church, though we always have some dry roasted almonds, fruit, and/or cottage cheese at home or on the road first)
* oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon, milk, peanut butter, maple almond butter, raisins, dried cranberries, fresh or frozen fruit, huh-koe-pee milk, and/or energy mix as optional toppings/fruit & spinach smoothies x5

* pumpkin pancakes  

DINNERS

* leftovers

* tacos - seasoned meat, crockpot beans from the freezer, and some other toppings served in a tortilla, bowl, or over a pile of greens
* rice, kale (summer harvest from the freezer), and eggs
* BLT salad/toasted no-knead bread
* super simple carrot soup/ricotta & apricot toast made with no-knead bread
* six layer casserole (crockpot)/balsamic roasted brussels sprouts
* sesame noodles/roasted broccoli 

SNACKS & DESSERTS

* produce 

* popcorn (kernels from the Winco bulk department that get popped in my Lodge Dutch oven)

* snickerdoodles

(This post contains affiliate links.)

9/25/14 - THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful that in the two years Tim's been without a full-time job we've neither missed or been late on a single bill nor skipped a single meal.

What is one thing that you're thankful for?

BLESSED BY BOOKS

A friend stopped by on August 23rd and dropped off about 30 boxes of books, which came to somewhere around 1,000 books. They were books that her family had used for homeschooling or just read for fun, but they were no longer being read or used. She wanted them out of her home, so she offered them to me with the hopes that we could sell some and put the cash toward living expenses when we have gaps in the budget from days Tim can't sub.

I spent some time that evening arranging the books all over our living room, then held some open houses for friends and acquaintances to drop in and take the books they liked, then drop whatever money they wanted to in the money jar over the next few days. The following weeks were filled with request from friends after I posted pictures of all the remaining titles on Facebook. I was also able to donate some books to a few worthy causes. Then, once everything died down, I sold the remaining boxes for dirt cheap to a man down the road who is collecting books for an online book store.

It started like this.

And it ended like this.

Thanks to a generous friend's donation and the support of lots of people who bought books from us, we now have hundreds of dollars that we didn't have a month ago.  My friend's family acquired more space in their home. People we know were able to get books they wanted, often for less than they would have paid elsewhere. Some people received free books. The man down the road got a screamin' deal on some inventory, which also meant I didn't have to haul the leftovers to a local thrift store. What a blessing!

OUR IMAGINARY KIDS

I've been purging some totes filled with various memorabilia and came across these pictures. They were an activity at one of the baby showers I had when I was pregnant with Silas, a small group of family and close friends who lived in another town. The group split into into pairs and each pair was given an 8x10 photo of my face and of one of Tim's. We all had to take those pictures and mix them together to predict what the little Ws would look like. Here's what happened.

Karen and Marnie, two friends of mine, predicted Tim's hair.

Linda and Monica, my MIL and SIL, zeroed in on my love of food. (Oops, just realized the blonde eyebrow got loose and went over to the black eyebrow side.)

I somehow managed to make our black and white baby look Asian.

Monica, a friend who organized the game, took the "mixed baby" thing down to one black ear and one white ear.

Tiffany and Sonja, two friends who hosted the shower, let the baby have my head hair and Tim's facial hair.

Linda and Amy, my psuedo-MIL and SIL, gave the baby some truly mixed hair.

Oh, I love these pictures! Aren't they funny?! I think this was one of the best baby shower activities I've ever participated in ... and I've been to countless baby showers.

I showed them to the little Ws yesterday and they were all cracking up. Needless to say, these won't be getting tossed any time soon.

MENU: 9/18/14 - 9/24/14

There aren't any new recipes this time around, but there were enough last week that it all balances out. Ready? Here's what's on tap, links in green.

ADVANCED COOKING - I actually did the first two last week, but hadn't mentioned them in the last menu.
*  cashew cream - I made up a double batch, then took what was left after one night and froze it in an ice cube tray for easy access on Taco Tuesday or other times Teebs needs a sour cream sub.
* peanut butter - I don't know if this really counts because I do it once every week or two, but I made a batch of peanut butter.
* zucchini bread - I'll have one of the kids make 2-3 loaves for the freezer.

BREAKFASTS
* doughnuts (we have these at church, though we always have some dry roasted almonds, fruit, and/or cottage cheese at home or on the road first)
* oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon, milk, peanut butter, maple almond butter, raisins, dried cranberries, fresh or frozen fruit, huh-koe-pee milk, and/or energy mix as optional toppings/yogurt, fruit, & spinach smoothies x3
* egg, potato (I often bake an oven rack's worth once a week and pop them in the fridge for breakfasts,other times I dice them right before cooking), & spinach or kale scramble x2

* nutty fruity granola  

DINNERS

* leftovers

* tacos - seasoned meat, crockpot beans from the freezer, and some other toppings served in a tortilla, bowl, or over a pile of greens
* roasted broccoli/teriyaki chicken (crockpot)/rice
* lentil bean chili/rice
* chicken tortellini with kale
* creamy zuke soup (from the freezer)/e-z drop biscuits
* balsamic roasted brussels sprouts/garlic quinoa with parmesan

SNACKS & DESSERTS

* produce 

* nuts - pistachios & dry roasted almonds

* popcorn (kernels from the Winco bulk department that get popped in my Lodge Dutch oven)

* blueberry oat muffins (still haven't done these, so we'll make a DF version)
* chocolate chip peanut butter bars

(This post contains affiliate links.)

9/18/14 - THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful that having everyone home again this year means we can stay late on Wednesday nights and sleep in on Thursday mornings.

What's something that you're thankful for?

I'M CRABBY

I like order. I don't mind the messes that are created by a family living in their home, but we always tidy up mid-day and in the evening.

I've been royally crabby for two days. My tolerance for humanity is pretty much non-existent and short fuses are a thing of the past. I don't even have a fuse anymore. Why? Well, I started shampooing carpets on Friday night. I'm so thankful that I was able to do that, but it's taken a while for the carpets to get completely dry and the areas that have taken the longest are the places where furniture goes. Of course.

I'm typing this up on Tuesday night and I realized a couple hours ago that my house has looked like this for the last four days.

The laundry room has a mound of slipcovers on the floor. I haven't washed them because they need to air dry and it's been incredibly smoky here from forest fires the last few days and there's nowhere inside for them to dry. The sheet hanging in the doorway is probably dry now and I'll go take it down when I'm done with this post, but it's inside for the same reason.

This area, which we call the pit, has had the big boys' mattresses on it because their bedroom floor isn't dry. Teebs thinks their mattresses are trampolines.The rocking chair, which should be in the corner, migrates around the room, depending on where we need space at the moment. The big drawers on the right are infringing on the space of the laundry room door and can't go back under the train table until Teebs and Naomi's floor is dry.

This is a view of the kitchen from the pit. Stuff from Silas and Devon's room and their dresser are strewn all around our table in major walkway through our house.

My counters are overflowing with stuff that goes in bedrooms, things other people need to deal with, and a dinner mess.

We can open our front door about a foot before it bangs into our TV cabinet, which still can't go back on the carpet yet.

My living room is filled with laundry that's drying (I should have just tossed it in the dryer for the sake of my sanity, but am so used to air drying everything that I didn't think of it), a coffee table that still can't go on the carpet, furniture that's missing slipcovers and in random places to allow for damp spots in the carpet to dry, and boxes of books I had to go through,

The living room from the vantage point of the dresser in the previous picture shows all the books and the Uno game a particular little W tossed all over the small bit of clear floor space.

Oh. my. word.

Four days of a house that's torn apart with just a narrow path to get from room to room.

I'm done.

I know there are communities that have been wiped out by wildfires in the last two days, people who are being evacuated from their homes near other fires, friends facing hard medical issues and deaths in the family, and a gazillion other things that are far more tragic than my chaotic house. In the scheme of things, this is not a problem. We have a home. We have furniture. We have clothes. We have a friend who shared their carpet shampooer with us. We have a friend who gave us at least a thousand books to sell so that we could put money toward living expenses. We have kids who are healthy enough to jump and throw things.

That being said, I need my home in order. Pronto. I just don't handle extended chaos very well. At all. Just ask the other Ws.

My goal for tomorrow, which will be today when you read this, is to do a quick message check in the morning, then stay off the computer and not leave the house until furniture is where it belongs, slipcovers have been washed, and I've contacted someone about the books that are left from my sale.

If you don't see proof of life by dinner time, then it may be time to stage an intervention.

9/16/14 - TEN ON TUESDAY

Blood - I donated blood during college and in the first few years after graduation, but stopped when I got pregnant with Silas. In the years since then I've either been pregnant or just forgotten about it. A year or two ago I tried to donate again, but my iron was too low. I take iron supplements now and was able to donate a couple Fridays ago. I'm excited to get back in the donation routine! Here I am with my stylish proof of donating.

Budgets - I mentioned a while back that we voluntarily went off food stamps in the spring, but a month later realized we weren't going to be able to eat during the summer if we kept that up. So we opted not to reapply, but did use up the remaining balance on our account. We were getting an absolutely ridiculous amount of money each month, so we had a lot of unused money that had accumulated over time and we ate off of it for a while. This month we're back to fully supporting ourselves and it feels good. And a little bit scary. We've always had a very small grocery budget, which is fine because I'm a frugal shopper and am home full-time to cook for my family, but things get more expensive as the years go by, kids grow up and eat more, and so on. Needless to say, I've been a little apprehensive about how this is going to play out, but I'm determined not to go back on food stamps, even if that means eating beans and rice five nights a week. I'm incredibly grateful that help was there when we needed it, but I'm ready to  move on.

Anyway, God has once again proven to be faithful at meeting our needs. We've been given produce from people's yards and gardens, beef from friends who gave it as a gift or as payment for books they purchased at my book sale, turkey from someone who needed to get one out of their freezer, and chicken that Tim earned (more on that below). We eat vegetarian meals three or four nights a week, so this stockpile of meat and poultry will last us a while and we're able to share a chicken with someone else. How cool is that?! I don't know why I always get nervous about stuff like this. Time after time after time we see that when each person chooses to pay kindness forward in whatever way they're able (financial help, providing free childcare, doing yard work for those who can't do their own, delivering meals to people in difficult circumstances, etc.), then everything tends to work out for everyone.

Chickens - We know the owners of Marion Acres and they recently asked if Tim would be willing to help with harvest day. He drove out to the farm early Saturday morning and spent several hours slaughtering chickens, then got to bring some home in exchange for his labor. If you're interested in local, pasture-raised chickens and turkeys, then check out the link above or visit the Marion Acres Facebook page. If you're just interested in a fun video, then spend a couple minutes watching some footage from their 2013 Ladies Chicken Harvest event.

Dairy-free - Teebs has been dairy-free for a while now and it's going pretty well. We don't really drink milk, but we use a lot of dairy products, so it's been a bit of an adjustment. Some things we make as usual, but use a non-dairy milk and/or leave cheese out of a portion of the dish and we've kept some popsicles in the freezer for him to eat when the rest of us have ice cream. Other things, like eating yogurt and cheese, have been harder. We haven't been able to find an easy way for everyone else to keep eating those things and have a comparable food for him to eat at the same time. I miss yogurt and cheese. A lot. A whole lot. I'm not sure how this is going to look over the long-term, but I think dairy is one of the easiest allergies to live with, so we'll figure it out.

Jobs - Tim is currently subbing. He was contacted a couple weeks before school started for a sub job that is for just over two weeks and started on the first day of school. Sub jobs can be hard to come by early in the year, so that was a huge blessing! Other calls have started to come in, which he's had to turn down because of the one he already committed to, and it looks like he'll be right back in the swing of full-time subbing in no time at all.

As for permanent jobs, the charter that he'd been talking to since the spring hired someone else. We had wanted clarity and closure on that job and got both, so we're totally fine with how it played out, but it was the only job he landed an interview for. He applied to countless school jobs, a totally random job that has nothing to do with education, and a job that seemed ideal at a community college, but nothing ever came from any of those applications. Another school job was recently posted and will close later this month, so he'll apply for it and we'll see what happens. Meanwhile, we're thankful for the great summer job he had and for sub jobs during the school year.

KidCheck - Our church moved from using wristbands to match kids with their guardian to an electronic check-in system called KidCheck a while ago and it's been great. However, I recently needed to update information for Teebs and was unable to do so. Attempts at home and church by both me and church staff had been unsuccessful.  I finally sent KidCheck an e-mail last Wednesday morning that explained what I needed to do and what attempts I had made to do it. Twenty minutes later I got a phone call from an employee who was ready to help me. By that time I was in the middle of lunch prep, a math meltdown, and a toddler with more energy than was good for him, so I let it go to voicemail. I called back a couple hours later, though, and got the help I needed.

As it turns out, part of it was user error (I didn't remember that I'd given myself a new username when I first created my account ... oops)  and part of it was that no one realized it's impossible to edit a child's information from the church kiosks (it's a safety precaution in the event of a security breach at the church). The woman I worked with was Nancy and she was friendly, helpful, and prompt. Excellent customer service!

Library - We go to the library a lot, participate in their activities, and frequently have items on the hold shelves. A couple of weeks ago we were attending a city anniversary celebration in the library park and I was chatting with a group of people, including John, the head librarian.

I'm pretty sure your family makes up 5-10% of our circulation.

~ John Hunter

Ha! We obviously don't make up that much, but we do love the libraries in whatever place we happen to be living.

Popcorn - Our West Bend Stir Crazy died recently. It was our second one over the course of our marriage and it's a fantastic popper, but we're not going to replace it. I'm not spending money on something fairly frivolous right now. Even if I was, then I'd want to wait until it drops to twenty bucks around Christmas time and spend gift cards I earned through Swagbucks for it.  Not only that, I'm in purge mode around here and just want to have less stuff in our home. However, we eat a lot of popcorn. So, what's a girl to do? Learn how to make it in my cast iron Dutch oven, that's what! I tried doing that several months ago and it was a little burnt, but yesterday's batch was awesome! I can't just walk away from it while it's popping like I did with the Stir Crazy, but it tasted great, I'm able to save cupboard space by not replacing the broken popper, and I'm getting more use out of my Dutch oven. Win, win, win!

School - We have everyone back home again this year, it's going well, and I'm loving it. Deciding where Devon would be this year was actually a really hard decision. Last year there was a huge list of reasons why it was clear that sending some of our kids out for school was the best option, but many of those things are different this year. His school is K-5, so he could have gone one more year, but he didn't need to go. Last year was great and we like the school, but we weren't sure that we should send him just because we could. Either option, sending him out or keeping him home, seemed great this year, but we opted to keep him home. If we realize we chose wrongly, then the principal has told us that the fifth grade class is not full and we could probably get him back in. Meanwhile, I'm still volunteering at the library there because I love doing it.

Selfies - Brett was talking at church on Sunday about how people use Facebook. I don't even remember how he got on the subject, but he started out saying something about teens who post seductive pictures of themselves, but then mentioned people whose pages are filled with screen after screen of selfies. His words of wisdom? "Deny thy selfies." Ha! That evening I read Streams in the Desert for the day, which I hadn't had time to do before church, and the verse it was about was the one Brett referenced.

Mark 8:34 Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

I don't post seductive pictures or take lots of selfies and I make a deliberate effort to use Facebook as a way to connect with and learn more about others, but I guess hearing that verse referenced twice in one day meant I needed a reminder to think past myself. Sure enough, the last couple days have consisted of me being irritated and crabby because things aren't working out the way I'd like them to. Denying yourself is much easier to talk about than to put into practice!


(This post contains affiliate links.)

UNDERWEAR, ROUND FOUR

Teebs is about three months shy of three years old, which is about the same ages the bigs were when we started working on getting them out of diapers. He already used the toilet for pooping, but not for peeing. That means I had to run by Target on Friday night and buy two things. Underwear and Tic Tacs. Yes, I'm going to bribe him. No bribes for the big boys in rounds one and two, Smarties (we had some leftover from something) for Naomi, and now I'm paying for Tic Tacs for Teebs. I think I'm getting lazier with each kid.

The deal is that he gets a Tic Tac every time he tell us he has to use the bathroom. He was super excited about the Tic Tacs and had fun opening the underwear package, but was hesitant to actually put them on. I told him he could have one Tic Tac just for putting on a pair and he quickly complied, then proceeded to use the bathroom four or five times in less than an hour. The boy loves Tic Tacs!

We tried underwear on Saturday, but he had two accidents in the morning and the rest of the day was sorta crazy. We put him back in a diaper for the afternoon, kept him in one today because of church and other outings, but will try again tomorrow. We'll see how it goes.

Here are a couple pictures of him after I got back from the store on Friday. I love how he's showing off his new duds and rewards in the first one, but I love his smile in the second. Cute kid!

FILTHY FLOORS

Next month it will be three years that we've lived here. Six people, five of which are generally home all the time. White carpets. 

We've never cleaned our carpets. 

Gross.

We have a great vacuum, but still ... three years, six people, white carpet. 

I keep waiting for Tim to get a job so that I can rent or buy a carpet cleaner, but that hasn't happened. It occurred to me last month that I could try and borrow one. Duh. I wasn't sure who owned a carpet cleaner, so I asked on Facebook and three friends offered theirs to me. Should have asked a couple years ago! I've had one sitting in my bedroom for about three weeks now. Three weeks. That's embarrassing confession number one.

I finally had time yesterday and today to get the job done, so I've spent several hours cleaning our living room and three bedroom carpets. The only area I didn't do was under our bed. I just didn't want to waste time and cleaning solution on an area we never walk on. 

Here's embarrassing confession number two. Some floors were much dirtier than I realized. 

Think you can figure out where the beds were?

Oh. my. word.

That's repulsive and beyond embarrassing.

Teebs and Naomi don't have much on the floor in their room, so I just scooted stuff around to clean, but I hauled everything out of Silas and Devon's room and put most of the living room furniture and all the books from my book sale in the entry way and on the hearth. The couch and chair just got moved around as I cleaned. My house has looked like this all day.

That would be a mattress, night stand, and blanket box in the kitchen.

And that would be a bunch of books, a sideways coffee table, and a bunch of cushions (slipcovers are getting bleached tomorrow).

Here's what I looked like for several hours. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

I did take one break since Teebs wanted to snuggle when he woke up from his nap. Rocking chair, closed eyes, sweet little kid. Bliss.

Then I went back to work, doing each room multiple times. Here's embarrassing confession number three. My tub looked like this countless times today as I dumped gallons upon gallons of dirty water out.

That came from my carpets! The ones I vacuum regularly. The ones I sit or sprawl out on. Yuck!!!

I never reached a point where the water was staying clean, but it was definitely cleaner at the end of my night than it was when I started last night. I finally quit just because I'd used up all the cleaning solution we had. It was perfect timing, though, because I had reached the point of just needing to sit down and not hear anything loud.

I'm not sure which I want more now, a cleaner of my own or laminate extended to all the carpeted rooms. For now, I'm just grateful that I finally thought to ask to borrow a cleaner and that someone loaned me theirs. I think I need to make a point to do this again once or twice a year. Hopefully the job will go faster and be less gag-inducing if it gets done more frequently.

Since selfies with the people we love are the thing to do, here I am at the end of my date with Mr. Carpet Cleaner. Love him!

MENU: 9/11/14 - 9/17/14

I have four new recipes this time around. I love it when each recipe we try is worth making again! I already shared three of them on Facebook, so they'll be repeats for some of you, but I just added another one yesterday while I was getting this post typed up. Recipe links are in green, so click the ones that interest you!

* Dutch oven game hens with gravy - We were given some game hens and I'd never cooked them before, so I did a little online searching for what to do with them. This recipe turned out great and we'll try subbing a whole chicken next time.

* Costa Rican-style tilapia with pineapple, black beans, and rice - I had a partial bag of tilapia fillets in the freezer, along with our regular stash of crockpot beans, so I searched for recipes that used tilapia and black beans. This sounded good and we all liked it.

*  crockpot roast with peppers & tomatillos - Sammy suggested this way to cook some beef we were given, so Tim threw it all together for dinner one day and it was delicious.

* fruit & nut granola bars - I've had this recipe torn from a magazine for a few years and finally got around to trying them. Everyone thought they were good.

I don't have any advanced cooking planned this week and didn't try any DF versions of anything last week, so we'll jump right into the next menu. We'll be delivering a meal to a family where the mom's on bedrest this week, so I've made note of the things we'll be making extras of.

BREAKFASTS
* doughnuts (we have these at church, though we always have some dry roasted almonds, fruit, and/or cottage cheese at home or on the road first)
* oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon, milk, peanut butter, maple almond butter, raisins, dried cranberries, fruit, huh-koe-pee milk, and/or energy mix as optional toppings/yogurt, fruit, & spinach smoothies x3
* egg, potato (I often bake an oven rack's worth once a week and pop them in the fridge for breakfasts,other times I dice them right before cooking), & spinach or kale scramble x2

* Rebecca's granola (some will get delivered to another family)

DINNERS

* leftovers

* tacos - seasoned meat, crockpot beans from the freezer, and some other toppings served in a tortilla, bowl, or over a pile of greens (we'll be delivering one set of taco fixings to another family)
* sesame honey chicken (crockpot)/rice/garlic green beans (we ended up skipping these last week)
* roasted broccoli/Cuban black beans and coconut rice
* new recipe
* upside down pizza (we'll use fake milk and leave cheese off one edge)/sauteed & seasoned squash
* brown rice lentil salad over spinach

SNACKS & DESSERTS

* produce 

* nuts - pistachios & dry roasted almonds

* popcorn (kernels from the Winco bulk department & learning to pop them well on the stovetop)

* Klondike bars from a friend & a popsicle for Teebs (didn't do these last week)
* blueberry oat muffins (we'll make a DF version)

9/11/14 - THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful that I am an American.

What is something that you are thankful for?

9/10/14 - WORTH REPEATING

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You probably wouldn't worry about what people think of you if you could know how seldom they do.

~ Olin Miller


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Those who make the most of this life intentionally seek out others to learn from. They embrace humility. Reject prideful arrogance. Quickly admit that they do not have all the answers. And look to others for guidance, example, and motivation.

~ Joshua Becker in Look Up to Someone at Becoming Minimalist


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I need to be patient in the short and long term, in things like the time it takes to clean a room and in the time it takes to develop character.

~ Me in my notes from something about family/marriage/parenting on 8/12/08


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You are enough. You have a story. You have a purpose.

~ Crystal Paine in Three Truths That Pulled Me Out of a Pit of Insecurity at Money Saving Mom


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But Christ doesn't do that! He drops a comma like a grenade.

He gives us the gift of the comma and then asks us to strengthen our brothers. Not beat ourselves with emotional whips. Or lay in a hole of shame. Or stay to the shadows of the church, afraid to be seen.

~ Jon Acuff in The Comma of Grace at Stuff Christians Like (Fantastic post about Luke 22:32 that I'd encourage you to take two minutes to read.)


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CONSUMABLE GIFTS

I'm playing the Minimalist Game for the second month in a row and something that's come up in both groups is that people struggle with getting rid of things they received as gifts, even if the item is no longer used. The sentimental value is still there and there's a sincere appreciation for the time and/or money that was spent by the giver, but the item itself is no longer a blessing in the recipient's life.

In my opinion, a gift (or any other item, for that matter) that is no longer earning it's space in your home needs to go. If it's simply a matter of not taking the time to use it (maybe a game you haven't played in a while or a kitchen gadget you haven't used lately), then wait a month or two and make an effort to use the gift during that time. If you already know it won't get used or if you give it a little extra time and still don't use it, then pass it on. Give it to a friend who will be thrilled to have it, donate it to a thrift store whose cause you support, or sell it and use the money for something you need.

Please understand that I'm a big fan of non-consumable gifts. I happily wrap myself in blankets people made for me, enjoy playing games I was given, have a bunch of Ws on my wall from friends and family that make me smile, and so on. The rest of my family members have also received gifts that they love wearing, playing with, reading, or using in other ways. We're not anti-stuff.

However, one type of gift that I love giving and receiving is a consumable gift. I don't have to wonder if the recipient will actually use it and they don't have to store it or feel obligated to hold onto it longer than they want to. In light of the conversations in the last two Minimalist Game groups, I'm going to list some consumable gifts that we've given or received and some that I've seen others give or receive.

* 24 hours (or however long you want) of unlimited screen time
* individual/family membership to an art museum, zoo, children's museum, gym, science museum
* gift card for a place to eat (restaurant, ice cream) or drink (coffee or tea shop)
* Netflix subscription
* sidewalk chalk (yes, you have to store it ... but not for long)
* toiletries (fun soaps and lotions, razors for someone starting to shave)
* one time pass or a gift card for an activity place (miniature golf, trampolines like Sky High, inflatables like Pump It Up, movie theater, or the places listed under memberships)
* snack pack of foods, whether healthy or treats, the person likes
* iTunes gift card
* tickets to an event (sports, concert, circus, play)
* acts of service that you do yourself or pay someone else to do (house cleaning, childcare, oil change)
* seeds to plant in a garden or pot
* outing together (day at the beach, getting manicures, hitting balls at the batting cages, hiking)
* giving to a charity in the recipient's name/honor

This list is obviously not extensive, but hopefully it will help you start thinking of some consumable gifts that would work for you to give to some of the people in your life. Bonus points for the fact that some of them are free.

As for non-consumable gifts, don't stop giving them. Both consumable and non-consumable gifts can be a blessing!

NAOMI'S BIRTHDAY, PART TWO - 2014

Yes, Naomi's birthday was almost a month ago. Yes, her traditions got spread over the course of a few weeks. Yes, better late than never.

So, without further ado, here's a little glimpse at Naomi's last birthday.

The day normally starts off with a doughnut date with Tim, but he had to leave so early in the morning for his summer job that we had to bump that tradition to a later day. She and I did have our traditional ice cream date, though. We picked up a pint for her at the store, then sat and chatted in the back yard while she ate it.

That evening we at her dinner of choice - sausage balls, sour cream and cheddar Lay's, and grapes.

It wasn't until six days later that she and Tim headed out for doughnuts, but she seemed to have handled the delay just fine. Here's the savage beast attacking her doughnut.

Last, but not least, almost three and a half weeks after her birthday we finally got around to taking pictures in the birthday outfit. For some reason we just couldn't remember to do it at times when we were actually able to pick up the camera. Oh well.

And thus concludes the recap of Naomi's birthday traditions. 

FAMILY PICTURES - 2014

We went to a wedding last weekend and I asked everyone to meet on the front lawn for a few minutes before we left home. Here's what happened.

We got some  pictures of all six Ws grouped together. I know Tim's head is chopped off in the first one, but whatever.

We stood from youngest to oldest.

And from shortest to tallest.

And because we're the Ws, we struck a silly pose.

The big Ws.

The male Ws.

The female Ws.

And the little Ws.

I didn't even realize we had a blue, black, and tan color scheme (except for Naomi's pink boots, which didn't show up in any pictures)  going on until after we were all outside, but it worked well for pictures!

MENU: 9/4/14 - 9/10/14

I've been trying to use up things that are in our cupboards and freezer lately, so I think the only things I have to pick up at the store this week are produce at the store and tortillas at the local tortilleria.

Recipes are linked in green, in case you're interested.

ADVANCED COOKING
* Onions - I'm going to chop several huge onions in the food processor, then pop them in the freezer for future meals.

BREAKFASTS
* doughnuts (we have these at church, though we always have some dry roasted almonds, fruit, and/or cottage cheese at home or on the road first)
* oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon, milk, peanut butter, maple almond butter, raisins, dried cranberries, fruit, huh-koe-pee milk, and/or energy mix as optional toppings/yogurt, fruit, & spinach smoothies x3
* egg, potato (I often bake an oven rack's worth once a week and pop them in the fridge for breakfasts,other times I dice them right before cooking), & spinach or kale scramble x2
* oatmeal pancakes with peanut butter and blackberries

DINNERS

* leftovers

* tacos (seasoned meat, crockpot beans from the freezer, and some other toppings served in a tortilla, bowl, or over a pile of greens) 
* pasta with sausage & tomatoes (I'll be using kale instead of spinach, as we have a bunch in the freezer)
* new recipe/salad with pears and cranberry vinaigrette
* steak salad/no-knead bread
* death by garlic with kielbasa/garlic green beans
* garlic roasted cauliflower/new recipe/rice

SNACKS & DESSERTS

* produce 

* nuts - pistachios & dry roasted almonds

* popcorn (kernels from the Winco bulk department & a West Bend Stir Crazy to pop them in)

* Klondike bars from a friend
* new recipe

(This post contains affiliate links.)