5 Signs of Christmas Craziness

aka 5 Signs That Mommy is Trying To Do Too Many Projects All At Once This Christmas...

{Okay guys, swallowing my pride on this one & giving you all a glimpse of the mayhem & foolishness that has descended upon my house today. At least it is fairly well contained to the kitchen & office...for now!}

Sign #5::I can no longer feed my kids any meals because all of the regular feeding spots are covered with stuff...craft supplies, mail, packages, craft supplies, glitter (see #3), and more craft supplies. 

Sign #4::I have reheated my mug of tea in the microwave at least 5 times & it is still sitting on the counter half full!

Sign #3::There.is.glitter.everywhere! 
(Have I ever told you how much my husband just loves glitter? I believe his sentiments usually involve the word "UN-invented!")

Sign #2::My desk looks like this...

...and my other desk looks like this...

and Sign #1::I stopped working on all of said projects, did not start fixing dinner (see #5), and let my kids play outside until past dark (without having started their homework!) just so I could take photos of the mess & start writing this blog post! (And now it's well past midnight & I am finally finishing this post up, & also a few of those projects!) If that's not a wee bit of craziness, then I don't know what is!

At least the high chair is clean & uncluttered, so I can still feed someone!

Merry Christmas-time everybody! This is my favorite time of year, but today it is wearing me out!

May we all find extra minutes in our days to be still & quiet & reflect on what is true, what is pure & what is lovely...

It's Now or Never...

I've had the refrain from that Elvis song floating through my head all weekend in regards to my blog...It's now or never...It's really not now or never, certainly the fate of nothing hangs in the balance over whether or not I get to churn out a few blog posts. But I do have this feeling of really missing writing, really missing recording our life, really missing having this little creative outlet. I am also a bit crazy though & like things to be all chronological & I realize at this point a good 9-12 months of life has gone by unrecorded & that bugs me. I'm not sure I'm able to just pick up now & leave that time unaccounted for. So I waver, I waffle, I wonder where to begin. I've had several false-starts, as the half-finished drafts saved in the queue will bear witness to. A whole lot of life & living & fun times & everyday times has happened. And this has been the constant greeting/reminder/thorn in my day planner for the last few weeks months...

This time last year I jumped on the 31 Days challenge that so many bloggers do & I actually posted a blog every day for the month of October! Whew, it was hard work, but it was great & I felt such a sense of accomplishment (which is a nice wonderful feeling for a mom who always has so many things "in progress.") I don't know if I can post 31 blogs in October this year, actually, in my mind I haven't even solidified if I am really going to try. Some things have been a little nicer without blogging...like the laundry stays done better, the house stays a bit neater, I've been going to bed a little earlier, we have actually finished a couple of little home improvement/organization projects, & I hope I've been a little more devoted to my kids. But I think there is a balance in there waiting to be reached, that ever elusive balance, and that's where I find the now or never feeling coming into play. The life stuff will only keep happening, I will only get further behind, the need to "catch-up" will only grow stronger, so for me it's now or never...once again I'm going to give it a try...hoping to find that balance.

And I still don't know where I'm going to start...with today or make up for lost time? Your guess right now is as good as mine! But hopefully I will find some balance there, between memories old & new, as well.

For now, here are a few random pics from the last few weeks...

 Digging in the dirt!

Playing with chalk 

(We have done this more in the last 2 weeks than all summer, 

thank you cooler fall temps!)

 End of summer lake fun

 The many faces of Lucy

Back to the fields

 Just the girls!

 Me & the kids on my birthday last week!

 And I'll close with this one, a rare sweet moment of sibling love!

What's for Dinner?

It's a question that I ask myself every day...What's for dinner?? I wish I was one of those super-duper meal planners who could churn out our menu several weeks in advance, but I'm a little more spontaneous when it comes to dinner. Truth be told, I'm often driven by my moods, taste buds or what I've seen most recently on Pinterest! This year though, I have tried to plan at least a day or two in advance (baby steps!) & keep a mental inventory of what we have on hand that needs to be used up. I recently purchased some lean ground beef at a good price because I thought we were out. I cooked it up one night when I was cooking something else for dinner & packaged it in 1 pound bags. When I went to put it in the freezer, turns out that I already had 3 one-pound bags of cooked ground beef waiting to be used. (So much for that mental inventory!) So, I moved dishes with ground beef to the head of my mental menu list!
I was putting something away this morning in the cabinet where I keep my crock pot & it occurred to me that I should dust that puppy off & use it for dinner tonight. The temps are already in the 80s here, so it is nice to keep the oven off if possible. (I'm thinking now that this post should be subtitled: A study into the way Melanie's brain works!)
A couple of hours later, I got around to searching "ground beef crock pot" on Pinterest. It yielded this yummy looking Crock Pot Enchiladas recipe. I had most of the ingredients on hand, except for the Ranch Style Beans. A quick Internet search provided the info that Ranch Style Beans are pinto beans with extra seasonings. I had pintos on hand & decided I could wing the seasonings.
A huge plus, this crock pot recipe cooks in 2 to 2 1/2 hours on LOW! So it's essentially a quick cooking slow-cooker recipe. This is absolutely perfect for me since, despite my best efforts, there are still many days when I'm first asking myself the What's for Dinner? question mid-to-late afternoon...long past the slow-cooker time frame window. As it was, the recipe was perfect for today...the kids played outside all afternoon & I was in & out...In folding laundry & Out settling disputes or In picking up toys & Out sweeping out the garage...so even with a plan in mind, I didn't end up starting on our dinner until almost 5:00pm! Ordinarily, that would be waaaay too late for a crock pot dinner, but this one worked perfectly!

I guess you were wondering if I would ever get to it. So without further ado, here is my adaptation of the Crock Pot Enchiladas recipe...it is really a lot like a Mexican lasagna.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef, browned & drained
1 can diced tomatoes (I used the ones seasoned with garlic & oregano, but the chili seasoned would be good, too.)
1 can pinto beans, drained & rinsed
1 package (approx 8 oz.) Madras Lentils (I buy these at Costco & use them for everything from chili to tacos)
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
Cumin
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Chili powder
2 cups (8 oz) colby jack and/or cheddar cheese, shredded
5 large (burrito grande) flour tortillas
1 can (15 oz) red enchilada sauce

**If you are cooking your ground beef, you can add in diced onions or green pepper if you like. Since I needed to use up some frozen ground beef, I just thawed it in the microwave for 30 or so seconds.

Mix together the ground beef, diced tomatoes, pinto beans, minced garlic & Madras lentils. (I actually had made a package of the lentils a couple of nights ago to use as chili on hot dogs. I was the only one to use it, so I had almost a whole package left over. When I was getting something out of the fridge, I noticed the container & it was the perfect addition to the recipe!)

Stir in seasonings (cumin, onion powder, garlic powder & chili powder) to taste...I probably added about 1 tsp of each (probably a little less chili powder because my family isn't big on spicy dishes.)

Line bottom of crock pot with one large flour tortilla (The large burrito grande size fit my round crockpot perfectly, but you could easily use two smaller ones, overlapping.)

Spoon 1/4 of meat mixture on top of tortilla. Top with 1/4 shredded cheese.

Repeat layers 3 more times, ending with the ground beef mixture sprinkled with cheese on top.

Pour can of enchilada sauce over the top. (I also sprinkled a little more shredded cheese on top.)

Cook on low for 2-2.5 hours. (Since I started so late, I cooked it on high for about an hour & then switched to low...it worked out well because my husband came home over an hour later than normal, so it was fine to keep warm on low.)

We served it over jasmine rice, with a side of corn & it was a delicious meal! Finished it off with yogurt & fruit parfaits, sprinkled with granola.

Here is where I would show you a picture of the finished product...but this was also where life intervened...As I mentioned, Jeff was really late getting home this evening...and the kids played outside all afternoon, which is a great thing, until it is time to stop playing & clean-up & come inside for dinner...Usually Jeff helps get everyone inside & cleaned up for dinner, but I was trying to do that & finish up the side dishes. (Another reason I was thankful to have a crockpot dinner tonight, no worries that it would burn!) I finally got everyone inside & was over-seeing a couple of the kids setting the table. Drew kept pulling out toys & making messes & screaming when one of the bigger kids would try to clean them up (at my direction.) Lucy was in her high chair waiting for some dinner, but beginning to get impatient. Chaos was the word of the moment. I had taken the lid off of the crock pot to let the dish cool a bit. The kids were needing the next things for setting the table so I reached up to get some glasses down...someone was fussing & I turned to say something to one of the kids & another glass fell off of the shelf, hit my Kitchenaid stand mixer, exploded into a million-bazillion little pieces (I love IKEA, but their glasses are made of thin, cheap glass that splinters like the dickens!) A huge chunk of glass landed right smack in the middle of the crock pot! Arrrggggh! 

I was cleaning broken glass off of the counter when Jeff got home. Of course the first words out of the kids' mouths' were, "Mommy broke a glass & it landed in our dinner!!!" Everyone wanted to see, everyone wanted to ask questions. After a few tense moments, we decided the top layer of the food could be removed & the rest eaten. There was no way to tell if there might be tiny specks of glass in the top layer, but everything below was fine. So we scooped off all of the enchilada sauce, and all that meat & cheesy goodness on the top! Oh, I hate to waste food, but there was just no reason to risk ingesting glass. Regardless, the dish was still quite delicious & enjoyed by kids & parents, alike. It will go on my short list to make again sometime soon, only next time we hope to enjoy the top layer along with the rest of it!

Little slice of life

I see the cat peer around the corner of the garage, so I know that the door into the house stands wide open. At least it's only 47 out. Or so the car tells me. It is cozy & quiet in here where Lucy is napping & I'm enjoying a moment of calm before entering the after-school chaos inside the house. Drew is puttering around in & out of the garage "fixing" things & raiding his daddy's work bench.

Oh, there goes the cat back inside. Not much to see out here, I suppose. Now Drew is licking a baseball & I can see a wet spot on the back of his pant leg. He wanted to wear training underpants today. Potty training is not going well. He can go in the potty, but generally chooses not to. He can keep his diaper dry for long stretches, but tells me in a matter of fact voice, "Mommy, it's too hard," when I suggest sitting on the little potty. This from a boy who I discovered today knows his right from his left!

I jump, now Darcy is banging on my car door. I push the button & the window goes down...2 guesses, but you only need one..."Mom, can I have something to eat??" I ask what she wants & cereal it is, so I say okay. I get a quick status update on the state of things inside & decide I can stay put a few more minutes. Besides, I am watching Drew & it is so warm & cozy here.

Drew updates me on the status of his car repairs, "Mom, I fixed my car with Daddy's hammer. And with his triangle." And so he did. And he goes back & forth between his car & the tool bench talking to himself the whole time. Good thing we have a nearly endless supply of wood pieces. I'm not sure exactly what they are fixing, but the pile on the car keeps growing.

Darcy is back again. Bowl of cereal finished & a good report that Jack has started his homework. He didn't get to watch the Super Bowl last night, so it is on the docket for the afternoon if he gets his work finished quickly & with no complaints. He is actually pretty good at that, especially with football as a motivator!

Inside, I know there are folders waiting to be signed, Sophie will need to read to me, and Drew still has that wet spot needing to be changed. Then laundry to fold & put away, and dinner to be started.
Oh, now here's Jack wanting me to check his geometry problems in math...reflection, rotation & translation. And he tells me he's going to work ahead to finish the all the homework in this unit (he enjoys geometry just like his mama.) After a few minutes, he wants to get in the car to work, so I know the gig is up. I convince him to go inside to finish his work for tomorrow, so he can watch the game.

Almost immediately Darcy comes out screaming because she says Jack hit her because she was sitting where he wanted to sit. Yes, the gig is definitely up. Lucy is awake from the crying, but at least she's content.

It was nice while it lasted...back to reality!

(And this is who greeted me in the kitchen...Sophie-Fixit-Man! Complete with taped on brown moustache & beard!)

Blog Anything

I am tired & I am fighting a cold/cough. I am frustrated that I have not written a blog post in 25 days & have pretty much stunk it up at keeping that lovely list of "resolutions" that I last wrote about (25 days ago!) I have thought of countless clever blog titles & things that I'd like to post. I have spent many hours at the computer editing photos & trying to update my blog header. (I love the new Mac my hubby so wonderfully surprised me with at Christmas, but I realized that we have not purchased any software for it, so I can't do simple Word documents & such right now.) I have a busy, fun day tomorrow volunteering at the kids' school, so I really need to get to bed now...but as each day passes by, the thought of getting back into blogging, of catching up on everything, well it gets more & more overwhelming.
So here I am, outside the window, boom box held high singing In Your Eyes and hoping this time I can make it work...that I can stick with it!
One of these days I'll get my header updated (or I could just be really early for next Christmas, ha!!) One of these days, I am going to post pictures from our Christmas, not because you want to see them at this point, but because I want to post them.
So there, I blogged something, anything!  Nope, it's not pretty & it's definitely not perfect...I just hope you all get the Say Anything reference & no one thinks I'm actually standing outside a window somewhere. ;-)

Oh, and because Say Anything makes me think of great love stories, here is a real life one for you...my dear & wonderful in-laws celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last week!

 Isn't this wedding photo beautiful!

  God has blessed their marriage in many ways, including 3 children & 8 grandchildren...but the real blessing is the wonderful example they have set for all of us! 

Happy Golden Anniversary Pop & Nana! 

We love you & are so thankful for all you do for us!
(I will share more photos from our celebration dinner when I get back into a better blogging routine!)

Christmas Imperfection

Whew, I last left you right after Thanksgiving & as we were preparing for Jack's 10th birthday celebration...and here I sit the night after Christmas.

A whole lot of life has happened in this last month...birthday parties, Christmas teas, concerts, programs & parties (yes, all plural!), Cookie Exchanges, outings with friends & all sorts of merriment & festivities! We decorated the house real purty, oh & there was the shopping, the laundry, the cooking & all the preparations for the aforementioned parties, programs, presents & the like.

There was a whole lot of picture taking going on...2500 photos taken in November & December alone! And, sadly, what was not happening during that time was blogging. I had the best of intentions & lots of ideas & blog-worthy events rolling around in my head, but they never made it to the screen. Partly because our PC has been dying a slow & painful death...at least that's what it feels like any time I try to do something. So photos didn't get edited or uploaded & blogs did not get written.

But {squeals of delight!!!} my dear & wonderful & thoughtful husband surprised me on Christmas & he surprised me good! For now I sit in my familiar office chair at the same desk I've used for at least 10 years, but there is a nice, new, shiny, pretty, awesome & fast iMac smiling back at me!!! My dinosaur PC is still hanging on for a bit longer while I figure out how to get all of my stuff (mainly 100 GB of photos from the last 10 years!) transferred over as quickly & efficiently as possible...so far it is somewhat challenging, but I am sure we will prevail! And once I'm up to speed on the new operating system, I am hoping to gain some efficiency blogging. My goal for the New Year is 2-3 posts a week...but that's a post for another day!

So tonight I just want to say that I hope you all had a blessed Merry Christmas. I do LOVE Christmastime & can't wait to share all of our fun things with you in upcoming blog posts. This time of year literally sparkles & that just makes me happy. But as the song says, "All the presents & lights make the holiday nice, but the real gift is you...Happy Birthday, Jesus...Jesus, I love you!"

These pictures are from our Christmas Eve...everyone so cute in their new Christmas PJs, but the night was fraught with imperfection.

Our church has three beautiful candle-light services on Christmas Eve. We were scheduled to serve in the nursery at church for the 4:00pm service & planned to meet family at the 6:00pm service. We needed to be at church at 3:00pm. At about 2:30 we woke Drew from his nap only to discover he had a fever of 103.5...so quick change of plans. Jeff took the big 3 to church to serve & attend the service, and I stayed home with a pitiful Drew & a perky Lucy!

I had visions of finishing up the present wrapping & snapping some pics of Lucy looking oh-so-adorable! in her pretty Christmas Eve outfit...

But, alas, I forgot what it is like to stay home with a sick little one...for he was a bit hyper & then a whole lot of needy. So we snuggled & had some together time & then I got both kids down for a nap...

And I wrapped about three presents before everyone was home from church & kids were up & the excitement of Christmas EVE had set in!!

 So we got the kids into their cute Christmas PJs & steered everyone towards the tree...

 Someone was moving, jumping, squinting or wiggling in every shot!

 Can you tell that Drew is feverish?!! Poor thing, he really was a champ!

 Christmas Eve Cuteness!!

Oh, the imperfection of it all!

 The loud, messy, blurry, painful imperfection.

 But it made me think & reminded me of the first sacrifice Jesus made when He who IS perfection took on flesh. He was born a lowly birth & laid {ever so lovingly} in a cold, hard feeding trough.

 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One & Only, who came from the Father, full of grace & truth. John 1:14

And so, He not only bore our sins, but he lived in this imperfect world & experienced the pain of living inside a mortal, human body. He remained perfect in spirit, yet was fully man & fully God. Amazing, amazing love!

 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. Galatians 4:4-5 

 Wow, I've realized my own views of imperfection are so small when I think on the perfection of Jesus wrapped in imperfect cloth, imperfect skin...when I try to picture in my mind Jesus in Heaven amid utter splendor & perfection saying to the Father, "Okay, I will go. I will trade this for them."

Truly, truly! a weary world rejoices at this unfathomable display of love! 

And so I celebrate our imperfection this Christmas because Jesus came to redeem the imperfection of this world...and that's the best gift I could ever imagine!