I Don't Want My Children to be Happy

Living in a country and culture where the title of this post is far from true for most parents, I challenge you to read what this lady has to say in an excellent post here . Is your desire and prayer for your child that they be happy? Or do you desire and pray that your child would be content and holy?

Better than paper towels and a lot less expensive...

I read the following email recently and thought it was interesting:

COFFEE FILTERS

Coffee filters ..... Who knew! And you can buy 1,000 at the Dollar Tree for almost nothing, even the large ones.

1. Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave. Coffee filters make excellent covers.

2. Clean windows, mirrors, and chrome... Coffee filters are lint-free so they'll leave windows sparkling.

3. Protect China by separating your good dishes with a coffee filter between each dish.

4. Filter broken cork from wine. If you break the cork when opening a wine bottle, filter the wine through a coffee filter.

5. Protect a cast-iron skillet. Place a coffee filter in the skillet to absorb moisture and prevent rust.

6. Apply shoe polish. Ball up a lint-free coffee filter.

7. Recycle frying oil. After frying, strain oil through a sieve lined with a coffee filter.

8. Weigh chopped foods. Place chopped ingredients in a coffee filter on a kitchen scale.

9. Hold tacos. Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods.

10. Stop the soil from leaking out of a plant pot. Line a plant pot with a coffee filter to prevent the soil from going through the drainage holes.

11. Prevent a Popsicle from dripping. Poke one or two holes as needed in a coffee filter..

12. Do you think we used expensive strips to wax eyebrows? Use strips of coffee filters..

13. Put a few in a plate and put your fried bacon, French fries, chicken fingers, etc on them. It soaks out all the grease.

14. Keep in the bathroom. They make great "razor nick fixers."

15. As a sewing backing. Use a filter as an easy-to-tear backing for embroidering or appliquéing soft fabrics.

16. Put baking soda into a coffee filter and insert into shoes or a closet to absorb or prevent odors.

17. Use them to strain soup stock and to tie fresh herbs in to put in soups and stews.

18.. Use a coffee filter to prevent spilling when you add fluids to your car.

19. Use them as a spoon rest while cooking and clean up small counter spills.

20. Can use to hold dry ingredients when baking or when cutting a piece of fruit or veggies.. Saves on having extra bowls to wash.

21.. Use them to wrap Christmas ornaments for storage.

22. Use them to remove fingernail polish when out of cotton balls.

23.. Use them to sprout seeds.. Simply dampen the coffee filter, place seeds inside, fold it and place it into a plastic baggie until they sprout.

24. Use coffee filters as blotting paper for pressed flowers. Place the flowers between two coffee filters and put the coffee filters in phone book..

25. Use as a disposable "snack bowl" for popcorn, chips, etc.

How I help Mommy Make the Bed

First I lay in the middle of the bed on Daddy's favorite, super soft, fuzzy blanket. Then I smile real big to let Mommy know how much I like it. So she scoops up both me and the blanket and deposits us on the floor.

When she asks if I want to help her put the sheets on the bed, I look at her with an expression that says, "What, you want me to get up off this super soft blanket? No thanks, I will stay here in my comfy seat and just watch."

I wiggle around a little and make a few noises to get Mommy's attention so she'll roll me onto my belly. Then I look up every now and then to make sure she still paying attention to me.

Yep, she is!
I chew on the fuzzy softness for a little while.

Then I realize she has the camera out, so I cut a few cute smiles.

Boiled Eggs

I am very excited to announce, "I now know how to boil eggs!" Don't get me wrong, I have boiled eggs in the past, but now I REALLY know how to boil them. I enjoy eating boiled eggs, but have never made them regularly, because the process has always frustrated me - isn't that ironic, how hard can it be to boil an egg? I have googled "how to boil eggs" before, and discovered that EVERYONE has an opinion on how it should be done. Some say use old eggs, or cold water, this long, or that long, cover the pot, put them under cold water, etc. Sometimes mine would turn out great and be easy to peel, while other times they would be maddeningly hard to peel and the yolks would be a grayish green. With boiled eggs being on the menu for this morning's breakfast, I once again turned to Google - and this time, let's just say, "Google, my dear friend, you did me right!"
So I now introduce you to the method I will now and forever more use to boil my eggs. Our eggs this morning were easy to peel, and the yolks were fully cooked and beautifully yellow :-)

February Birthday Shout Out!

Three of our very dear family members had birthday's this month! Here's a great big "HAPPY BIRTHDAY"
to Grandpa Dave, Neeley Anne, and Gramma Wedding!

Jeff's dad - GRANDPA DAVE

Granny Sharon and Grandpa Dave at our wedding

The Ogans

Three generations of Ogan men - who all share the middle name "Lewis"

Grandpa Dave and 3 week old Jonathan!

My cousin - NEELEY ANNE
Neeley is 11 months older than me, and we were great friends growing up. We lived about 5 hours away and loved getting to visit each other. My dad has a lot of pictures (I couldn't find any of them on my computer) of us sitting together bawling our eyes out when it was time for one or the other of us to leave for home.

We loved to match when we were together - notice the matching sweatshirts in the above picture and the matching outfits in this picture too!

We had so much fun together! Oh how I wish she didn't live WAY WAY WAY NORTH, so we could see each other more often!

I was a bridesmaid in her wedding (that's me on the far right), where...

she married this wonderful man - whom she met on eHarmony!

And she was a bridesmaid 14 months later in my wedding (Neeley is on the far left), when I married my wonderful eHarmony man! And in this picture, she was VERY ...
...pregnant with this adorable fella! Then 11 months after her little guy was born, my little fella arrived. Neeley is now due to deliver their second child, a GIRL, in July! Neely, I hope you don't mind that I borrowed this photo from your Facebook :-)

Jeff's Mom - GRAMMA WEDDING
Gramma Wedding and Jeff, at our wedding

Christmas 2008

All fancied up and beautiful for a special dinner!
Grampa and Gramma Wedding on a hike
Gramma Wedding with 1 1/2 month old Jonathan!

Our favorite Tilapia Recipe

Oh my, oh my - can we say, "SUPER DUPER EASY AND SCRUMPTIOUS?"
That is what this recipe is my friends. It is soooo super duper easy and scrumptious that I fix it once a week! It is my hubby's very favorite; he especially likes it paired with steamed broccoli and baked sweet potato fries (Slice, spray with a little olive oil, dip in a little whole wheat flour and seasoned salt mixture, bake at 400 degrees until done *I haven't a clue how long, as I just pop them in and check them every now and then until they are no longer hard*, and then dip them in a little organic ketchup and enjoy!).

TILAPIA WITH BUTTERY CRUMB TOPPING

• 6 tilapia fillets, about 1 1/2 lbs (I buy mine frozen in a blue box from Walmart)
  
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs (I use Italian bread crumbs, and Whole Foods/Wild Oats is the only place I can find them HFCS free )
• 1-2 Tablespoons melted butter
• 1/4 tsp dried leaf basil

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a large shallow baking dish. Arrange fish fillets on the prepared baking pan and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Combine butter with remaining seasonings. Sprinkle the crumbs over the tilapia fillets. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until fish is cooked through. Broil for 1 minutes to brown the topping. Fish will flake easily with a fork when done.

Disclaimer: I do not buy many organic foods - not that I wouldn't like too - organics and my budget just aren't exactly best friends :-) But ketchup and bread crumbs are two items that I do splurge on and buy organic, because that is the only way I can find them without HFCS, and I am just not quite ready to start making my own yet (maybe someday, but not today!).

Scheduling - Part 1

DISCLAIMER: The following post is long, contains quite a bit of rambling, and may be considered boring by many. But I am posting it at my mother's request :-) P. S. I haven't a clue as to why the text in the last paragraph is so small.

In our Equipping Hour (Sunday School) class we have been talking about stewardship - it was brought up that we are not to just be wise stewards of the financial and material possessions God entrusts us with, but also our time. I was convicted that I often do not use my time wisely and efficiently. Jeff and I have discussed scheduling and how it is something we need to do and that we think would benefit our family. We both prefer for things to be neat and organized, and are striving to be more organized in all areas of our lives. This past Sunday afternoon, I sat down for an hour or so and worked on schedules. I made 2 schedules; a weekly meal schedule and a weekly/bi-monthly/monthly laundry and household cleaning/chore schedule.

Here is my first attempt at meal scheduling, I will re evaluate in a few weeks and make changes as needed. I chose to start with a very simple schedule, so I just opened a Word document and started thinking and typing. I tried to attach my word file, but I couldn't figure out how to make it work on here. So here is my copied and pasted schedule. My Word document has 2 columns so that it all fits on one page, and all of the "... of the week:" options have check boxes before them. So as I choose my meat for the week (whatever I bought on sale the previous week and stuck in the freezer), I check that box. Then as I choose my veggies to go with it, I check those boxes. I do the same for the "soup/bean/snack" of the week. I do my grocery shopping every Friday. I can now print my schedule on Thursday, check the appropriate boxes, and make my shopping list accordingly. Many of my items will be the same each week - 1 loaf bread, 1 bag pitas, 2 bags of apples, etc. - this will make my shopping much easier :-)

Although I enjoy cooking and baking, I don't like to spend a lot of time in the kitchen cooking and cleaning. So most of our meats, soups, and beans will be prepared in the crock pot. We have a rice cooker that makes cooking rice a breeze. And we love lightly steamed vegetables and baked potatoes and sweet potatoes - none of which take extensive time to fix or clean up.

We are not very picky (other than striving for healthy eating), don't mind leftovers (actually it's more like we LOVE 'em), and don't mind repetition. Therefore, we will be following the same basic menu schedule every week.

My copied and pasted schedule is in black, my thoughts and ramblings I have added in for the post are in orange.

SUNDAY I tried to make Sunday's menu as easy as possible, with no major cooking needed. I really dislike coming home from church to a messy kitchen from breakfast, so we will be having a simple (and basically no clean up necessary) breakfast.

B: muffins - left over from Sat dinner; homemade, whole wheat of some variety, boiled eggs -boiled on Sat

S: banana - We have a 1/2 hour drive to and from church. We leave at 8:30 and typically don't get home until 1. I can't go that long without a snack :-)

L: soup left over from Sat, raw veg., cheese toast

D: tuna pita, fruit

MONDAY

B: boiled eggs and muffins - both leftovers

L: cucumber/avocado pita - I love these!!!, banana

D: beans - this week I made Paula Dean's Pintos and Rice Crockpot recipe and it was yummy, rice, steamed veg., apple sauce

TUESDAY

B: oatmeal

L: baked potato, fruit, raw veg.

D: beans rice, steamed veg., applesauce - all leftovers from Mon.

WEDNESDAY

B: toast, scrambled eggs

L: cucumber/avocado pita, fruit

D: meat - this week it's pork chops (I will be trying out another crock pot recipe) that I bought on sale per my husband's request (I have never cooked pork chops before, so well see how they turn out!) , steamed veg., baked potato, baked apples

THURSDAY

B: pancakes - homemade, whole wheat with baked apples (leftovers) on top

L: peanut butter pita, fruit, raw veggies

D: meat, veggies, sw. potato - all leftovers

FRIDAY

B: toast, scrambled eggs

L: peanut butter pita, banana, raw veg.

D: fish - we both love tilapia (I have a delicious recipe), so that is what we will have most weeks, sw. potato, steamed veg.

SATURDAY

B: oatmeal

L: tuna pita, fruit

D: soup - this week it will be potato , muffins - whole wheat, oatmeal, carrot, raisin muffins made with the pulp from our daily juicing, raw veggies

Meat of the week:

Chicken

Pork

Beef

Turkey

Soup of the Week

Potato

Vegetable

Lentil

Vegetable

Chicken Rice/Noodle

Vegetables of the week:

Green beans

Carrots

Celery

Cucumber

Broccoli

Squash

Corn

Lima beans

Peas

Snacks of the week:

Apples

Homemade whole wheat chocolate chip cookie

Homemade whole wheat oatmeal cookie

Homemade Cliff Bars

Almonds

Bean of the week:

Pinto

Navy

Kidney

Black

Here are some of the things I kept in mind when creating our meal schedule:

Health & nutrition - We strive to stick to a healthy diet, avoiding the following items as much as is practically possible (meaning I rarely buy any of the following or anything with the following ingredients) white sugar, white flour, HFCS (high fructose corn syrup), and processed or packaged foods. We don't eat out (I can count on 1 hand how many times we have eaten out in the 1 1/2 years we have been married) for both health and financial reasons. We substitute whole wheat pitas for bread quite a bit. When baking I use honey and some brown sugar, substitute applesauce for half of the fat in cookies and muffins, and buy 60% cocoa chocolate chips for cookies every now and then. We don't eat much pasta, but buy whole wheat when we do. We buy a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables. There is always an exception (or two or three) to the rule though, we do enjoy unhealthy foods every now and then - I LOVE ICE CREAM (my husband makes fantabulous homemade ice cream with our Champion juicer - tastes like Wendy's frosties), fried potatoes are yummy (with organic ketchup - HFCS free), I hit up Walgreens 2 days after Valentine's day to buy chocolate (nothing healthy about that!) :-)

Budget - I have an allotted amount of money for our groceries, and enjoy the challenge of staying within or as far under that amount as possible. If you cut out most packaged and processed foods (no cookies, crackers, cereals, sweets, snacks, drinks, etc) you will save a lot of money that can be put towards fresh produce.