Monday, August 25, 2008

Going for the Gold

I wanted to quit the first day.

But I said to myself, "Jeanette, just stick with it. You can do this! You have to do it!"

It was messy. But I persevered.

And then...it happened. My three-year-old got the concept, and now she pees in the potty!

I had been procrastinating potty training. For some reason, I was hoping that she would just pick up on the whole idea and do it herself.

Nothing doing.

So after some tips from a friend, I made up my mind that it was going to happen.

And I really wanted to quit that first day. Scrubbing the carpet all day did not do much for my mood.

But, I kept at it. The second day, I only scrubbed the carpet twice.

The third day, she got it.

"More pee! More pee!" she cries, running to Mommy. So we run to the little wooden potty chair I got out of the attic from my parents' house, and she does her thing. "I did it! I did it!" she proclaims afterwards.

Very cute. Very gratifying.

I have noticed that this type of change tends to takes place when I decide to do it and not quit. It takes that kind of determined decision to follow through and complete a hard task. A good lesson to learn.

I'm going to need it, for now we move on to the "second half" of potty training!

Till next time,
Jeanette

Monday, August 18, 2008

The Absolute Best Granola Bar

A few of us women-into-organic-natural-cooking recently took a road trip to some Amish stores known for their bulk items and organic items. Wow. I could have used a lot more cash than I had budgeted for.

With a few hundred more I could have gotten that gallon of local raw honey, a gallon of my absolutely favorite soap/cleaner, and a lot more raw, organic nuts! Not to mention my son's favorite hot dogs.

Ah well. As it was, I came away with some organic pecans, organic raisins, organic sunflower seeds, unsweetened and unsulphured coconut, a quart of local raw honey, organic potatoes, some organic granola cereal...and an interesting-looking, homemade granola bar.

My goal this weekend was to re-create this granola bar. So, going online, I found a recipe that had similar ingredients, modified it, and made my pan of no-bake granola bars yesterday.

Oh...my...goodness.

These are the absolute best granola bars I have ever eaten, beating even the best store-bought. They are SOO good.

Unfortunately I can't give you an entire recipe, because I didn't measure everything. I just dumped!

But if you're adventurous, here's what I did.

I toasted 4 cups of organic quick rolled oats, 1/4 cup pecans, 1/4 cup almonds, and 1/4 cup sunflower seeds.

Once they were cool, I put them all in huge bowl and added a bunch of coconut and a bunch of raisins.

Then you take equal parts of peanut butter (I used organic, of course) and honey, add 1-2 teaspoons of vanilla, and heat it on the stove. Do not boil; just heat enough to mix it together. Then pour over your granola mixture and stir, stir, stir. How much peanut butter and honey? Well, I didn't measure. But I'm guessing I used close to 1 and 1/3 cup of each. You can start with a smaller amount and keep making the peanut butter/honey mixture until your granola is the consistency you want. I like softer granola bars!

Take a 9 x 13 pan, grease it (I used organic coconut oil), pour in your granola, pat it down, and refrigerate. Once it's cool and ready to eat, cut into bars and wrap them individually. (Makes 24 bars.)

You won't be disappointed!

My husband took one bit and said, "Ohh, these are good. They are the best I've ever eaten." High praise!

A very profitable road trip.

Till next time,
Jeanette

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Food Fights

No, I don't mean the kind where you throw food. Although that could happen.

Rather, I am referring to the battles that parents MUST win...the kind that go like this:

"I want you to eat one bite of that pancake."

"Waaah!"

"No. You must sit there till you eat one bite."

"Aagggh!"

"One bite. That's it. Then you can get up."

"No! No! No!"

"Too bad. One bite."

I had this kind of battle two times in the past week. One with the three-year-old, which lasted an hour and forty-five minutes. The second one was today with the five-year-old who is almost six. That lasted only forty minutes.

Ever have one of those battles?

I won both of these particular battles because I was more stubborn. I just decided that the particular child I was dealing with was going to sit there until whenever. No limits. Till bedtime if necessary. (Both these battles took place at lunchtime...while Daddy was at work!)

I had to decide, I told my husband later, that I meant what I said. If I said "Eat two bites," then I had to stick that. Otherwise, later on, my children would not believe me when I said something. So that is one of my goals. Mean what I say, and say what I mean.

Would that we would take God at His Word like that! If God is always true, then He means what He says and does not say anything that He does not mean. With that perspective, reading the Bible opens up a whole new level.

Hopefully it doesn't take us as long to obey.

Till next time,
Jeanette