End-of-the-Year Note

Just a note for the end of the year, since I haven't been too consistent lately...

I'm starting to think of my New Year's resolutions. Last year I had about 5 resolutions. I wrote them down and put them above my desk in the office. Do you know, that made a difference? I actually worked on each one of them. Some I did better with than others, but I made an effort on all of them.

So I am going to do that again this year--write them down.

One of them is to consistently write once a week on my blog!

Stay tuned, beginning in 2009!

Jeanette

My Life in a Month

Okay. I'm still here!

Have you ever experienced the moment when you have something to say, or in this case write, but don't have the time? Then time slips away from you and, lo and behold, a month has passed.

Well, that's what happened here.

What have I been doing in a month? Let's see. I am learning more about homeschooling. I have joined with a few other friends to begin a new organization to help women learn about homemaking skills. And we finally got another vehicle! Yea! Having two vehicles instead of just one is so much more convenient.

Our church hosted a conference, I started officially working again as a freelance editor and proofreader, and I lost a total of 18 pounds since May!

And now it's almost Christmas!

Wow. I think time flies faster around the holidays because there's so much anticipation.

Hopefully I'll get a few more posts in before the year turns into 2009.

Till next time,
Jeanette

A New Fan of Cayenne

Cayenne pepper and apple cider vinegar are my two newest favorites.

It all started with researching information for my six-year-old. One of the websites that I found and now love to peruse is earthclinic.com. It's a great collections of folk remedies that people have used and found to work (or not, as the case may be).

(Disclaimer: This is for informational purposes only. Make your own judgments and remember to consult your doctor!)

So this past week my husband and I both got sniffles and snorts...and we both decided to use apple cider vinegar and cayenne pepper. (You can go to earthclinic.com to read the particulars.) We added a tablespoon of one and a shake or two of the other to a glass of apple cider and drank it twice a day for about four to five days.

It worked for us!

No long-drawn out cold with sneezing and hoarseness for my husband; and no coughing or sneezing for me! (And believe me, in the past enduring a cold with my husband was no party.)

So now I'm a fan of cayenne.

Next I think I'm going to try a remedy for gray hair........

Till next time,
Jeanette

Sisters' Fun

Today was our second annual sisters' day.

What is a sisters' day? Well, it all started after our mother passed away a few years ago. We realized that our family was pretty much anchored around our mother. We all called her, and she would pass on everybody's news. When she was no longer here, we decided it was worth the effort to keep in touch and do what it takes to keep up the relationships our family had enjoyed for so long through our parents.

So today was a laid back sisters' day; just hanging out and eating and talking. And LOTS of laughing.

Telling stories about kids and grandkids (some of my siblings are older!) and husbands and friends. And laughing about our own idiosyncrasies. I'm sure no one else has ever dealt with such things... Did no one else but me, when growing up, claim certain possessions of their grandparents for when they were gone? That was one of our favorite pastimes! We would go through our grandmother's kitchen, put our names on slips of paper, and stick them in her dishes! (She told us we could!)

The thing was, when she did pass away years later, sometimes those slips of paper were still there, and whether we wanted that item anymore or not, we got them!

"No, Mom! I don't want that old glass jar!"

"Too bad--your name is in it!"

Of course, this made for some fun stories.

But in going through some items of my mother's this morning, and remembering other items we have from grandparents, we were making guesses at where some things came from. And it's sort of sad, in a way, that we no longer have the ability to ask and find out the history of these things. For instance, where did that pin come from? It says 50 years of Lion's Club, but neither of our parents were involved in the Lions. So how did that pin end up in my mother's jewelry box? We had to guess.

I would encourage you to write those things down. It will help those left behind to have a sense of personal history.

Till next time,
Jeanette

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

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

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