Meal Planning Etc.

Man, life goes so much more smoothly when I menu plan. I was laughing the other night as I was going back over Jodi's menu plans (cheating) - on one of her first menu plan posts she said that she had read somewhere that if you want your blog to be interesting, you shouldn't post about what you're having for dinner. She wrote how she likes reading about what other people are eating. And well, I do too! It helps me, gives me inspiration, ideas... and we all need that every once in a while.

I rarely plan for just one week. I usually plan from pay period to pay period but I've been a little off in the meal planning area for a while. We also don't have a lot of outside commitments (actually any) that dictate our evenings (we do this on purpose) so we're home most nights. Because of this I don't have to take into account where we'll be, what time we'll have to be there, etc. It makes meal planning a little easier. The only thing I do consider is what types of activities we might be doing during the day - skiing, farmer's market, church, possible guests... I am also very similar to Stacy in that, while I like to plan meals, I enjoy the freedom to be able to change them up based on my mood, the weather, my hormones, etc. I usually buy the ingredients for the entire week and then I have them on hand for when I want them. It works for me.

So here you go:

Thursday: PW's Spicy Shredded Pork, Cabbage Slaw with the Leftoverist's creamy lime dressing

Friday: Trader Joe's Hotdogs (thanks to Jodi), melon and kettle chips

Saturday: Pepperoni pizza with TJ's dough, fruit

Sunday: Tostadas (using my refrieds, although I like Martster's post-up on them better)

Monday: Pork Verde, Green Rice

Tuesday: Burritos (using leftover beans)

Wednesday: Stacy's Seafood Chowder and homemade bread from this book

Thursday: Sticky Ribs from Fix, Freeze, Feast (not my fave but we have them in the freezer) baked beans, cornbread (will probably use Bob's Red Mill GF mix - super yum)

Friday: Grilled fish, roasted vegetables

Saturday: BBQ'd hamburgers, potato salad with chives from Katie Brown's Weekends

Sunday: I am SO excited! Remember my Mexican friends down the street? They invited us to their older sons' first communion and celebration. I'm hoping for lots of yummy Mexican food!

Monday: Tortilla Soup

Tuesday: Orange Chicken from Renee, rice, vegetable (I decided last time that I don't need to bread the chicken. Less calories, less work... and just as yummy)

Wednesday: Oven Ham Sandwiches (cheated from Jodi's menu plans)


To finish up, let me just say a word about the Weekends Book. I cannot for the life of me remember where I read about it, but I checked it out from the library and I absolutely love it. So much so, that I ordered it from Amazon (along with 8 or 9 other books) with some birthday money I got. I cannot figure out what it is, but everything about this book is beautiful and inspiring to me. Around here, because of Justin's schedule, we never have normal "weekends. But I love her idea of making the most of our days. Every recipe looks yummy. Every craft looks do-able and fun. I can't wait for it to arrive on my doorstep.

Him, In Me

It's been a hard week and half. Without getting into every. single. detail - I'll just tell you it started off with three extremely sick children and two pretty sick parents, it included 3 trips to the doctor, 1 trip to the E.R., 2 trips to the pharmacy, no less than 10 different medications on my counter top, 6 required doses of medication to be given each day, red jello-o vomit, dehydration worries, sleepless nights lying awake to make sure Xochi was breathing and more scary-ness than I want to recall... and ended with Adia being bitten by a pet rat at the feed store, 3 new baby chicks, 1 walk-in clinic trip, 1 3-hour long urgent care visit, 3 phone calls to the doctor's office, 2 phone calls to the health department, 1 phone call to the feed store, 1 phone call to the vet's office, one more trip to our doctor's office and 2 Diptheria/Tetanus shots. I guess that actually was a lot of details - but in fast forward.

But you get it - exhausting.

So tonight, around 9:45, as I was bending over picking up Xochi's toys off the kitchen floor, I evaluated my day. I thought about my children and each of their needs. I thought about Steele and how he often needs me to be firm with him, just so he can turn off his brain that goes a million miles a minute and listen to my instruction. I am not kidding you - that boy talks non-stop and when I tell him to stop and listen for a moment and then instruct him, he doesn't miss a beat and launches right back in to where he had left off before I started talking. About tools and work and the rat that bit Adia and the grass plugs he picked up off the neighbor's lawn and how we really need to get some kale for our garden so that mama can make kale chips or how he will be more kind if he can go outside and get some fresh air.... Whew! It's non-stop.

I thought about Adia and how the more firm I am with her, the more inward she goes and the harder her heart turns toward me. She needs relationship and shared activity and responsibility and inclusion. She needs me to cook with her and teach her to clean and show her how to fold laundry - and then her heart is soft and humble and she will receive my instruction. She needs me to explain to her how her actions affect other people in a way she can understand and then she will reconcile where needed.

I also thought of Xochi and how, right now, she just needs me. Or Papa - as long as someone is with her and interacting with her. She's so social and curious and likes to be in on all the action. She is not content to miss out on anything.

And then I thought about how I am doing as their mother. Not as well as I'd like to be, unfortunately. As I bent down to pick up those toys I literally breathed deep prayers of confession about my impatience and my often harsh tone with them. I exhaled out loud and sighed, "Lord, help me be a better mama."

And in that moment, clear and sharp in my mind, a verse came to me. It was the Holy Spirit. I know it - because this is what the Holy Spirit does. (1 Cor. 2:11-16) He instructed me:

Remain in me and I will remain in you.... (John 15:4)

This verse has never made so much sense to me in all my life. If I remain in Him (in His word, in His fellowship of believers, in His teaching) then He will remain in me. And He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. (Psalm 103:8) Him in me means more of His character in me - as a woman, as a wife, as a friend....as a mama. And that is exactly what I need.

Isn't the Lord gracious to bring us along? - to weave together simple, timely principles in order to make us into people who bring glory to Him in the things He has set before us.

Even as I type, I am realizing how faithful God has been to bring me to this moment. In our adult Sunday school class this last week, we started a new video series taught by Paul Tripp. It is about relationships - mainly marital relationships - but it's principles can really be applied to any relationship. There were a couple key points that impacted me. Specifically, these things:

• Everything you do and say is caused by what is inside of you

• What comes out of us is what was already inside our hearts. The heart is the source of your person-hood - your thoughts, feelings, desires and motivations.

Paul gave a visual example of a water bottle. With the cap off, he shook it from side to side and water spilled out of it. He asked the question: why did water come out of the bottle? Why did water come out of the bottle?

The answer: because the bottle was full of water.

Essentially: What comes out of us is what is already inside us. When life shakes you, what comes out of you is what is inside you. You can't change what comes out unless you change what's inside.

It wasn't necessarily this week that shook me. Let's just face it, being a mama pretty much shakes you up every day. At every turn in my day there is opportunity for the things inside me to be revealed. Every 6 am wake-up call, every misbehavior, each unkind word to a sibling, every cup of spilled drink at the breakfast table, every poopy diaper that makes me 5 minutes later than I already am, every mind-bogglingly unique character trait - presents me with a choice of how I will respond.

And so, I continue to pray that I would remain in Him.... and I wait anxiously for Sunday School next week to find out what to do next! ;-)

Xochi in her pneumonia bed


Sick Adia

Sick Steele

Finally, toward the end of the week, we got some sunshine
so we all went outside for a little vitamin D.
Adia's the blob under the blanket getting her full dose.

Join Me?

If you've ever wanted to learn to knit or are just looking for a fun little project - you might consider joining me for this Knit-a-Long.

I recently found the Kris Knits blog and cast on this morning for her April KAL.

The deal is, she posts new instructions every so often for her latest seasonal washcloth and you knit right along with her. Kinda fun, huh? You can check out other cute patterns on her blog.

Join me - it'll be fun!

Today Pretty Much Sucks

Some days are just like that.

We have two very sick kiddos here today and one on the mend. When I look at it from the outside - it is definitely not fun, but the reality is that we're managing just fine and doing what we need to do. I'm thankful for sunshine and rest and doctors and grammies and elderberry syrup and concerned friends who call and pray and suggest remedies and husbands who drive 2 hours home from work to meet you in the E.R. only to be sent home with a happy, healthy-seeming baby.

Xochi has a little bit of pneumonia and is feeling pretty crummy. Adia woke up with a fever of 103 and, after requesting to go back to bed, has been asleep for the last 3 hours. Poor things. We're doing ok though and I am glad to know health will come again soon - with the help of sleep, antibiotics and cuddles.

We had a great time on our vacation. I didn't take near enough pictures - which seems to happen a lot lately. Something about a baby, a diaper bag, a purse, jackets, keys, a camera etc. just don't seem to work very well together. But here are a few sweet ones.

Tillamook Cheese Factory

Hangin' at the vacation rental

Adia got her ears pierced!

Despite how she looks in these pictures, she is thrilled with them.
They were pierced 1 side at a time and -not joking you- Adia didn't even flinch.
She is one tough cookie.

I closed my eyes for the first one.



The beach in Oceanside.


Cannon Beach

Steele licking the snot from under his nose.

Then we tried to get a family picture, but Steele started coughing.

Which turned into him puking up phlegm. Lovely.

On that note, I'll stop.






Well, maybe I'll leave you with a little less gag-inducing photo.

Saturday Bits

• Making baby food is one of my greatest joys in life. On today's menu: spinach, roasted vegetables, squash and carrot.

• I think it's hilarious when Steele or Adia will all of a sudden exclaim, "Where's Xochi?!?!" when she's been in bed for an hour already.

• It's really hard to pack for vacation with 2 very excited preschoolers. When I woke up this morning Steele had taken food out of the fridge and was loading it into boxes.

• It's hailing. I think we'll skip Uncle Gabe's soccer game today.

• In an attempt to finish packing and leave in a timely matter tomorrow morning to pick up Justin from work, I have let my kids watch t.v. and play computer games all day.
  

• Xochi is moving from 2 naps to 1. In the mean time, her sleeping is a bit wonky. So far today she's taken a 1 hour nap this morning and just woke up after sleeping an hour this afternoon.

• Xochi is also becoming increasingly mobile. Even with my earnest attempts to keep the floor clean, every time I walk into the kitchen I have to pry open her locked jaws and dig something out. String, coffee beans, pieces of dried leaves, a cadbury mini egg... Fortunately she also has 6 teeth now.

• We got a suburban. Did I mention that? Folks around these parts call it "the rig." We're building an interesting collection of stickers for it - union stickers, a Mt. Baker sticker, an Apple sticker, a Whiskey Militia sticker. I'm also going to add this sticker very soon.

• We're leaving for vacation tomorrow with my parents to the Oregon Coast. While I'm really excited to go, I'm sad that we'll miss the Easter celebration at our church.

• I ended up going out to sushi with a few girlfriends for my birthday. We had a great time but I've been craving sushi ever since. I think I could eat it every day.

• I regularly collect home decorating photos. This is my favorite one lately. I love the lockers installed into the wall.
  

• We also got a new iMac. We've been doing a lot of this.

• I'm taking several knitting projects on our trip. I may be delusional in thinking I can get all of them done but I can dream, right?

• Shalom Cardigan
• Those Mitts
• Pom Pom Cap
• Girly Mitts
  

They Say It's My Birthday...

So let's not beat around the bush here. I'll just get right to the point.

I have come to dislike birthdays.

Now, don't get me wrong. I love celebrating people. I love enjoying my family and doing fun things. I love getting phone calls and cards with birthday greetings. This year, I'm especially loving all the birthday wishes I'm getting on facebook! And, if you've been around here for any amount of time, you know I love presents. Giving presents... getting presents. Gift giving is totally one of my love languages. I like giving people thoughtful gifts. I love getting presents that I know people have put thought into and knew I would enjoy. They don't have to be big, just a little something. All those parts of birthdays are fine and dandy. But there's this one little part that I detest. One little part that cannot seem to be escaped, no matter how much I try.

It's that part where you... get older.

I never thought I would be this type of person. I got a few grey hairs pretty young and always said I would never dye my hair. I thought grey hair looked pretty. "The Bible calls it wisdom!" When my mom would comment on getting a few wrinkles I would say, "Mom! You're beautiful! You don't look old!"

But then, it started happening to me. More grey hair - too many to keep pulling out. Mysterious lines on my face that take hours to pop back out in the morning. Thickness in my waist that never used to be there before - the red shirt dress that I wear every Christmas annoyingly bunching at the buttons. Weird spots and marks and lines and hairs and pimples in places they weren't before and in places I'm pretty sure I don't want them to be. And all of sudden, I can understand why words like dye and botox and anti-wrinkle-whatever begin to drift through peoples' thinking.

Also - I don't know what I thought 34 would be like. I guess I really thought I would be way more mature than I am now. I didn't think I would still be struggling with the same lame thoughts and attitudes that I do... sometimes on a daily basis. The reality, though, is that most of the time I still feel like I'm 21. A 21 year old brain in a 34 year old body.

And if all that stuff weren't bad enough, I find myself thinking about death and dying and life and sickness way more than I probably should. Being an adult has made me more anxious than I ever thought I would be and more than I know is right. The fact that I'm getting older also means the people around me are getting older. My mom, my grandma, my children. I take heed when people tell me to enjoy my kids because it goes so fast. I intentionally savor my moments with people and yet it still all goes whizzing by. Week after week, day after day... until Steele is skiing down the mountain by himself, until the chubby, little toddler legs Adia had last summer have disappeared, until all of a sudden Xochi is noticing and grumbling when I take something away from her, until I find myself making certain note of how my grandma cuts the Polish cookies at Christmas - the ones we've been baking together for years. So I can remember. And it keeps going. And I don't like it.

So, what do I do?

Well, I live in denial most of the time. It's true. If you understand even an inch of what I've been talking about, you probably also understand that most times, you just have to put it out of your mind - or else you'll be consumed by it.

I also try not to let my fears pollute my enjoyment of my moments. Which once again, brings me back to the denial part. I put it out of my mind.

I do fun things. I try to live spontaneously and wait for God's next adventure. Sometimes this means my laundry turns into Mt. Everest and my house isn't as tidy as it should be. Most of the time it means that actually. Actually, this could also be laziness. See the maturity at 34 part above.

And probably most importantly, I pray. I pray that God would build more and more grace and wisdom in me with each passing year, despite my anxiety. Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord shall be praised.

I pray and confess who God is and that I know what He says is true: that this life is only a vapor and that my true hope is in the reality of heaven. That the things I cling to so dearly in this life will pale in comparison to the joy of eternity.

I pray and thank Him for the joys that He has given and the ones I know He will continue to give, even alongside the hard parts of life. He is merciful to give sweet moments.

Lord, would you impress these things on my mind and heart and remind me of your truth every day, in every joy, in every trial and temptation, in every moment?

So that's it. Those are the thoughts I'm having today. I wanted to get them all out. Chew on them. Organize them. We don't have any set plans yet - I've been rolling around a few ideas but haven't decided on anything. I want a little time with my family, maybe a little time by myself or with a friend. We'll see. Right now, I'm pretty impressed with the box of gluten free cake mix Justin just pulled out. Cake sounds like a good start to a great birthday.

And to help me hold on to some moments: my first attempt at iMovie that I thought I'd share with you.

I cannot get this video to work for some reason. Here's the link

Jobes Family Ski Day

Living Room Update

I was thinking this morning about how I should really take before and and after shots of the living room and reveal them to you all at once rather than all these little mini updates. And then I thought about how long it takes me to finish anything and realized the after shot might not come for another couple of years. It's taken me quite some time to get the inspiration to decorate it. We've lived in this house since Steele was 3 months old... he'll be five in a few months.

So that said, here you go. A living room update.

My most recent success comes in the way of lighting. (I'm loving lighting lately, can you tell?) We really needed some more light toward the fireplace end of the room. Neither Justin nor I wanted to spend the time, money or headache of hard wiring lighting in. What it really needs is some canned lighting on the ceiling but I came up with a cheaper and less labor intensive solution.

I bought some jelly jar lights and some extension cords at the hardware store. Then, I picked the hardware guy's brain about how to cut and connect the cords. Came home, read a couple more web pages to make sure I wouldn't electrocute myself or burn my house down, and here's what I came up with. I'm pretty proud of myself, even though - honestly - this is pretty basic stuff here.

(oops... we forgot to touch up a piece of trim)

I split the cord and attached the separate wires to the fixture. I'm going to staple or wire cover that cord and then paint it the same color as the wall. Plugged 'em in and voila! Cute, $10 sconces!!


I also hung some more art up, including some plates from the Mexican dish set I got when I was studying in Mexico. I was determined to buy a set of dishes in Uruapan where my grandmother was from. I literally dragged that huge box of plates through the airport and onto the plane only to be scared to use them after someone mentioned a warning of lead paint. It would be easy enough to test them. You'd think I would have found a few minutes to do that in the 15 years I've had them. But I think they look great as art. And heck, I could probably pull out the ash tray that came with the set as well.

I'm also pleased with how this little arrangement is coming along. I bought the lamp at our second hand store. Check it: $10. And the table? $2. Craigslist. No joke. I tried to give the guy $5 and told him to buy himself a coffee but he wouldn't take it. I'm going to spray paint it grey. The little wire basket on top holds my knitting supplies. Right now it holds the yarn and the pattern for this little number which I'm going to add sleeves to. Shalom.

So there you have it. More on this re-do later....