grabbing 10

Yesterday was busy. After getting my oldest off to school, my youngest and I ran some errands. I also had a dentist appointment around noon which lasted 3 hours! (okay, it was closer to 1.5 hours, but it felt like 3). I taught piano lessons in the afternoon and after a quick dinner, got my already-exhausted oldest child ready for her Open House and music program at school (which was so delightful, by the way).

So amidst the busy-ness of my Tuesday, I still manages to get a small variety of chores done around the house using a technique that I call "Grabbing 10". I'm pretty sure that I read about this concept on a blog somewhere once upon a time, but I've tweaked it to make it mine.

Today's gift of survival: The day is full of bits of time that you can make work for you. If I've got a spare 10 minutes before my dentist appointment, I'm going to do something with it. Yesterday I grabbed those minutes throughout the day and accomplished the following (each is about 5-15 minutes, so I average it out to 10):
-Swept and mopped the entryway
-Put away clean dishes from the dishwasher and drying rack
-Straightened up the playroom
-Straightened up the pantry
-Scaled down on my daughter's kept schoolwork (I keep it all when it comes home from school and then go through it regularly to keep just a few precious and memorable items in her "keep" box)
-Did a quick vacuum of the downstairs
-Ran through of downstairs picking up odds and ends and deposited them in appropriate rooms
-Raked the leaves that had been bugging me out of one of our planters

So I only got a picture of one of the accomplished chores. I was busy doing all the others!

And when we got home from the program that evening and my children instantly fell asleep, I felt like I could actually sit and relax in the quietness. But I didn't. I stressed out about the fact that my face was still numb! (I was fine by morning. Phew!)

The most important 10 that I grabbed yesterday was the time I spent in devotions. (I'm using "10" figuratively here. The amount of devotional time varies for each person and varies for me each morning!) It doesn't matter what else I get done in the day, if I don't grab my time with God, I feel like I'm doing everything by myself. (Not that He won't hang out with me if I don't do devotions, it's just that I feel like something's missing). So even if it is just 10 minutes that I can grab over a cup of coffee and toast, I take it, because it's the most important time in my day.

What can you accomplish in 10 minutes?

dentistry and distraction

I have always liked my dentists, even my endodontist is great! (For those of you who have never had the pleasure, an endodontist is the special guy/gal who gets to perform root canals). Each one has been friendly, feeling more like a friend than an acquaintance. But I certainly do not like their job. I know it is an important job, an extremely valuable job, but I do not like it. If you've ever seen the inside of my mouth, you'd understand.

(I know, not the most attractive picture,
but these are the teeth I was blessed with - no braces.)

You know how Paul had a thorn in his flesh? My teeth are my thorn.

I can even remember as a 2nd grader losing a partial filling on a baby tooth because I had gnawed off the head of one of those sticky red cinnamon bears. It was replaced with a silver cap. (Imagine the tooth fairy's surprise when it fell out!) I remember another time when I was approximately middle school aged, coming out of the dentist with the news of needing 9 fillings. WHAT?! Are you KIDDING me?! (How come no one told me that cavities could form in between the teeth? I might have taken flossing a bit more seriously!) Then when it was time to pull my wisdom teeth, my amazing dentist did the work for me. Now, mind you, he did this as a huge favor to save my parents some money because we did not have dental insurance. And I have never held it against anyone because I knew it was necessary, BUT the only anesthesia that I was given for the pulling of four wisdom teeth was local. That's right, lots of needles, but awake the entire crunching time. (I take a little pride in surviving that one.) I have had 3 root canals with crowns. Those are my best looking teeth, especially the gold one (gave myself a little bling, I did!)

I had a dentist appointment today. To repair a cracked filling that had a cavity forming beneath it. Why, oh why can these fillings not last until I die? Somedays I think I would just like all my teeth pulled so that I can wear dentures the rest of my life and not have to worry about fillings, root canals, crowns, and all that stuff. My dentist just shakes her head at me and says, "No, you wouldn't want that!" I'm not sure why I wouldn't. They would be nice and straight and white and I could take them out and scare little kids - that'd be fun, right?! Anyway, the numbing alone took an hour. My stinkin' mouth does not cooperate with the whole numbing process.

Today's gift of survival: I have found a number of ways to make this whole dentistry process work a little better for me. First of all, my current dentist is about 4 minutes away from my house. This means that I don't have the anxiety of a 30 minute drive, waiting in the waiting room, and then waiting in the chair. That used to kill me!

I bring mindless stuff to do - crossword puzzles, magazines that have good pictures, nothing too in-depth to read, and my do-almost-everything phone has made that even better! Pretty much, I like having something mindless to do that keeps my mind off of what I am waiting to have done.

I like to have the dentist or endodontist explain what they are doing. It keeps my mind busy and distracted from feeling the things in my mouth. Plus, I find it kind of interesting. I often keep something in my hands to fiddle with too. The pianist in me taps out rhythm to whatever music is playing on the sound system. Anything to keep my focus away from my fears.

I have found in the worst of all my dentistry struggles, I pray. Simple as that. I pray for myself, because I need the prayer (I am in the dentist chair, after all). I pray for my husband and kiddos. I pray for anyone and anything I can think of to pray for. Sometimes I get distracted from my praying because something falls back into my throat (I HATE that!) or my dentist asks me a question or whatever I'm praying about leads me on some thought tangent that is really more thinking to myself than praying (I know you've done that; don't deny it). But when I am praying, I am focusing on something more important that the mess that is in my mouth. When my mouth is good to go again, I have accomplished much more than surviving another trip to the dentist.

Today, I survived the dentist. Oh the relief when the paper bib comes off and I am done! When I leave the office, I always thank the ladies and tell them I hope to not see them again for quite some time, no matter how nice they are.

simple dinners

Figuring out dinner has always been a pain for me, so I have a few go-to recipes that I use pretty regularly that I wanted to share. Only problem is that once I've made a recipe a bunch of times, I tend to just dump the ingredients in. So if you find that you need exact measurements...um... I apologize and use pinches and dashes of stuff! Oh, and no pictures yet, but maybe next time I'll have a few taken!

Chicken Noodle Soup
(either simmer on stove or in crock pot)
ingredients:
1-2 cans of chicken (or leftover chicken cut into bite sized pieces
1 can chicken broth
3 cups water
chicken flavored Ramen (2-3 packages) or egg noodles (approximately half of an 8 oz. package)
seasonings (to taste)
dried onions
garlic
salt and pepper
parsley
chives
celery seed/salt


Put all the ingredients (seasonings to taste) on stove (in a pot, of course) to simmer for about 45 minutes. If in crock pot (for the afternoon on low), add the noodles during the last hour of cooking or they will get mushy. I always add carrots and celery, keeping in mind that on the stove they take longer to cook through. In the crock pot, they will cook fine. Other things that you can add in: potato chunks or rice.

I serve this with French bread (because we like to sop up the broth) and saltine crackers. Actually, the saltines get crunched up and put right in the soup as we are serving it because we like it that way!

French Dip Sandwiches
When we first were married, my hubby and I got suckered into paying monthly for a bunch of recipe cards to show up in the mail (Easy Everyday Cooking). After about 6 months or so, we started adding up the total of what we had spent on the cards and realized that we probably could have bought 6 cookbooks with the same amount of money so we cancelled the subscription. This recipe (a little bit tweaked by me) was one from that set of cards. (I will admit that we have found many yummy recipes in this set!)
ingredients:
roast beef (we buy sliced roast beef from the deli, about 1 lb)
french rolls
2 beef bouillon cubes
1.5 C water
1/8 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp dried oregano
1/8 tsp dried thyme
1 small bay leaf

And here's how I do it: I put the bouillon cubes in the water (in a large pot and I also don't measure out the water, I just make sure it's enough to cover the roast beef slices) and bring to a boil to melt the bouillon. Then I add the onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, thyme, and bay leaf to the mix. At this point, it's hot enough to put the slices of roast beef in (I do it one slice at a time so none are stuck together in the pot) and let them heat through.

Then we pull the beef out, put them on the rolls, put the juice in little bowls and pray for dinner! We sop up (hmm, guess our family is the sopping-type) the au jus with the rolls and yummy! I love the salty flavors all mixed together and that it is a simple meal to make and the fact that my whole family likes it!

Crock pot Roast Beef or Stew
This recipe is a quicky so that's why I'm sharing it. Quick is good.
ingredients:
2-3 lb roast or stew meat
jar of beef gravy
1 envelope Lipton Onion Soup mix
carrots
potatoes

Put roast/stew meat in crock pot in the morning. Cut potatoes into chunks (if I do red potatoes, I don't peel them. If I do baking potatoes, I peel and then chunk). Toss potatoes and a bunch of baby carrots (I do not buy the long ones to peel and cut; I cheat: I buy a bag of baby carrots) into the crock pot. Cover with gravy and the envelope of soup mix. Cover with water and cook on low all day, tempting your neighbors with the smell of delicious roast! I use a slotted spoon to leave the juices behind when I am plating this meal. We don't sop this one... well, I think maybe my husband does when I serve with rolls!


Manicotti with Three Cheeses
Another meal from the over expensive cards - this one is easy to assemble beforehand and cook later in the day (I've even frozen it; just double the cooking time if you are cooking it from frozen and keep an eye on it near the end).

ingredients:
12 manicotti shells
4 C shredded mozzarella cheese, divided (3 C and 1 C)
8 oz of soft cream cheese with onions and chives (or mix dried onions and chives into regular cream cheese, to taste, of course!)
3 C marinara sauce
1/2 C grated Parmesan cheese

Cook the manicotti according to the instructions on the box. Drain, rinse, drain again. I place them on paper towels and cut them open for easy "filling."
Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Mix the 3 C of mozzarella with the soft cream cheese. Stuff (my version of "stuff": spoon the cheese mixture into the opened manicotti and then fold over to enclose the filling; put the cut sides down in the pan). Spoon marinara sauce over the manicotti. Sprinkle the 1 C of mozzarella over the manicotti. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. Sprinkle on the Parmesan and bake for 10 minutes longer.


These four meals are meals that my kids will eat but that are also enjoyable for me and my husband to eat. (I'll admit, I still like macaroni and cheese from a box, but I just no longer feel as though that qualifies as a complete meal. I am out of college now.) I'll post more meals again, hopefully with a few pictures. If you have any questions, just ask! I have reread this about 3 times, but there is always the chance that I have made a mistake. A slim chance...

KC

(I have found that when I type my posts, then preview my posts, then actually publish my posts, each version looks different than the others! Please bear with me if my font sizes are weird or if my pictures are not where they should be. I'll keep working to figure it out!)

stuff and contentment

A few years ago we has custom organizers put into every closet in our house. There was a place for everything and everything had a place. The kids clothing was hung at the perfect length for them, there were plenty of shelves to keep toys out of sight, I even had a closet for my business items and they all fit. It was wonderful! I say "was" because we have since moved. Which is also a wonderful thing! But once you've been spoiled with custom organizers, it is certainly hard to start over again with a single shelf sitting on top of one long clothing rod. Unfortunately, putting in custom organizers is not at the top (or even near the top) of our "to do" list here yet. So I've had to get creative.

Today's gift of Survival: Creativity. That's what I do. I make things work somehow, someway, creatively. Pretty much I make do with what I've got and it tends to work out decently (usually). I have to try things about 6 different ways first to make sure I like it so it takes a while to make creative work around here. I make my baskets, suitcases, crates, and trunks do the work for me while still making these functional things look like home decor. Storing Christmas decor, toys, scrapbooking supplies, and recycling. This makes them mostly out of sight and easy to clean up!

In here you will find a bunch of Christmas decorations.

Much miscellaneous that disappears when I close the suitcase
and stack the others on top.

paper recycleables

Toys, usually this basket is
not so full but a number of our toys from upstairs
have found their way downstairs
and not back up again! Imagine that.

Ribbon and such
...and the laundry baskets.
Someday maybe these kids will have real laundry baskets,
but to be quite honest, these have held up better
than some of the plastic ones we have been through!

A few years back, my hubby and I put ourselves on a budget (eliminating numerous arguments and allowing us to do, financially, things we never thought possible - more on that later, I'm sure). That budget gave me guidelines - no expensive shopping trips unless I had saved up the money for it. It gave me a "make do" attitude. I look around my house and I have so much stuff! I can most definitely "make do" with what I've got and I usually do.

This past January, my husband went on a mission trip to Cambodia (he felt the nudge that he couldn't ignore and ended up 15 hours away for 2 weeks!) When he came back, he showed us pictures of the way the people there were living. Even the really nice homes he showed had so little, but just enough. Enough to make the people happy and content. When I look around my house and see how much stuff I have...

I know that God has blessed me with a lot of stuff, but should that really be my focus? He has blessed me with SO much more:
A husband who works hard on so many levels for our family,
Healthy and happy children,
A supportive family,
Wonderfully encouraging friends,
His word for guidance,
His peace when I can't find my own,
Comfort amidst great sadness,
The amazing gift of his son dying on the cross for all my sins,
Smiles from strangers,
Laughter,
Joy that bubbles up and runs over,
His amazing creation - spring is fantastic!
Grace,
Wisdom,
Hugs,
and, and, and...
I could go on and on with the list of blessings that have nothing to do with the "stuff" sitting in my baskets, trunks, suitcases, and such. Sometimes it takes stepping back to see the blessings that are right in front of us.

KC

on a serious note

I watched an episode of House last night. It was quite intense. One of the main characters took his own life. By the end of the episode I was in tears (I'm sure that's what the writers intended to have me do). But the tears were not from being emotionally attached to the character (I rarely watch TV these days) but because of personal experiences and losses.

It was just a few years back that I attended a memorial service for a young man who took his life (actually, it's been closer to 7 years, but when someone dies it never seems that they have been gone as long as they really have). At this extremely moving and God glorifying service, I took home some life lessons that I immediately put into practice.

A young man spoke at this service - it was his cousin who had passed. With intensity he spoke about the casualness with which we greet people. "How you doin'?" or "Hey there, how's it going?" and how often we dismiss their responses or fail to read the deeper meaning that this person is trying to express: "I'm all right...*sigh*" or "I'm hangin' in there." We've turned that question into a greeting where we don't really care what the person's response is or what the feelings behind the response are. We just expect them to say, "fine." I know I've been guilty of this. Sure, it takes time to listen to someone who is having a tough day or has some major trial in their life, but wouldn't you rather know you did your best to give a caring shoulder than to ignore the struggles of our friends and even acquaintances? You never know where you might make a difference if you allow God to use you in that way. (And when I say "you" I mean "me" because I've got a lot of lessons to learn myself!)

When this young man's mother spoke, I was hit with a message that I am now constantly putting into practice: the expression of love to my children. Not that I forget to tell them "I love you," but there are many situations that we overlook the importance of those words. Since that day I have told my daughter numerous times, "It doesn't matter how much you mess up, how angry you make me; there is nothing you can do that will ever make me stop loving you." And I remind her of this often. My boy doesn't quite understand the implications of this yet, but my daughter certainly does! (She's a bit strong-willed which lends to learning things the hard way).

And the wonderful thing about this situation is that it leads into being able to explain to her the unconditional love that God has for her. In my imperfections, she might find reason to doubt my love, but in God's perfect love she is in a constant state of being loved. The security of that love is priceless.

KC

For I am persuaded,
that neither death,
nor life,
nor angels,
nor principalities,
nor powers,
nor things present,
nor things to come,
nor height,
nor depth,
nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us
from the love of God
which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord.
Romans 8:38-39

lemons: lemonade or lemon bars?

The backyard is a large part of the reason we bought the house we are in - it has room for my kiddos to run around! Unfortunately, 2 trees were planted smack dab in the middle of it. One is a lemon tree of sorts and the other is an avocado. We have grand plans for where those trees currently reside and so they must come out. No biggie, until I stumbled across an irresistable lemon bar recipe. These bars are dangerous and must be distributed to friends and family shortly after they are made or they will be eaten by me and my husband within 2 days. A 9x13 pan of them - gone.So now, we are looking at losing that tree with in the next month as we proceed with the plans for the backyard and I find myself saddened by the thought of it being gone! Now mind you, I only like half the tree. One half has these delicious lemons (Meyer's, I believe) and the other half has these HUGE wrinkly lemon-like thingys that don't seem to be good for much. The branches for the huge wrinkly lemons have gigantic thorns. But I don't think we will be able to salvage just half the tree so, alas, I lose it all. However, I have every intention of planting a new lemon tree in a much better location on account of the absolute delicousness of these amazing lemon bars:

Today's gift of survival: The Best Lemon Bars (you can find the original recipe here). I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and was so pleased with them that I never looked for a different recipe. Plus this recipe has real butter in it. I like butter. A lot (yes, that is two words, my high school English teacher finally got that through to me).

Ingredients:

1 C butter, softened
1/2 C white sugar
2 C flour
4 eggs
1 1/2 C white sugar
1/4 C flour
2 lemons, juiced
powdered sugar for sprinkling

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, blend together softened butter, 2 C flour, and 1/2 C sugar. Press into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 pan.
3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until firm and golden. In another bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 and 1/2 C sugar and 1/4 C flour. Whisk in the eggs and lemon juice. Pour over the baked crust.
4. Bake for an additional 20 minutes in the preheated oven. The bars will firm up as they cool. (I put them in the fridge for a bit). Sprinkle powdered sugar on top of the bars.

______________________________________________________________

I know this is just too easy of a follow up, but they say when life hands you lemons, make lemonade! I prefer to make lemon bars because the lemonade I like comes in a powdered form that I just mix with water and that's just fine with me.

But getting back to the point: It is easy to allow yourself to get frustrated, down in the dumps, grumpy and complainy (not a word, but you understand the meaning, I'm sure) when things don't go your way. But the phrase "giving thanks in all things" comes to mind. I know it's not fun to have someone tell you that the kids in Africa have it so much worse than you or that there are people which much worse diseases than the stomach flu that you are dealing with when you are in the midst of your own crisis and you should be grateful that you're not as bad off as them. And those perspectives are good to have. But I'm not sure that's what was meant by that phrase "giving thanks in all things."

I think that God is pushing us to look at the big picture. We are some fortunate folks, those of us who have been granted salvation (and by being "granted" I mean we asked and He gave). And if you are one who has accepted this incredible gift, our hearts should be FULL of gratitude ALL the time! Because some day, we aren't going to be on this earth, dealing with all the garbage that is thrown our way each day. No, the place we are headed is nothing like this old earth. And even in the midst of my hardest struggles, I have been able to smile simply knowing that this is not what God has planned for my future and I have something greater to look forward to.

(p.s. to this: Sometimes life here can really get you down. It's okay not to be happy in everything. It is a heart attitude that I am thinking of, one of gratitude despite the unhappiness of the situation. Of course, this is just my perspective...)

So, until that day, we will wade through it all, finding ways to survive the irritation of the neighbor's constantly barking dog, or that mess that appears in our child's wake in every single room, or the bird that left a gift in your hair, or the fender bender that happened in the parking lot, or... you fill in the blank. Who knows, maybe we can even find it within us to smile through it. I'm going to survive this rain that makes me grumpy by eating the best lemon bar with a great cup of coffee...


KC

stomach aches and facing fears

A month or so ago my oldest (she's 6.5) got a stomach bug. It was pretty tough on her. And the after effects lasted a week. This morning, the effects reared their ugly little heads in her and brought me back to my little kid years. This morning, my strong, confident girl had a bit of a stomach ache. That bit turned into tears as we approached school. The anxiety of going through the horribleness of that stomach bug again multiplied that little tummy ache into a gigantic monster of fear growing in her belly.

So what did I do? I took her home. Yes, I pay good money for my daughter to go to her school. I love and adore her teacher. I don't want her to miss a single thing at school. But I took her home because she was me. Anxiety and fears lived rampant in my little heart as a child. Probably stemming from my shyness. These anxieties showed themselves as stomach problems often through my elementary years. To the point where my parents took me took the doctors for tests and x-rays and such. I remember drinking chalky drinks and awful medicines. It was awful (and followed me up into my high school and college years - for many years I relied on Di-gel to cure all my stomach ailments).

So rather than force the issue with my little girl, I took her home. I fed her a couple cooked eggs (comfort food after sickness) and her very conscientious Daddy had a gentle little talk with her through her tears. Half an hour later, we hopped in the truck and drove back to school to have a belated start to a great Friday at school.

Today's gift of survival: Because of all that I went through as a child, I'm hoping that I can help my daughter avoid or at least learn how to cope with her fears. I wouldn't say that we ran away from her fears today. But we listened to them and gave them validity. I'm sure there are some who would disagree with how I handled this morning, but I can tell you this: my little girl walked into school confident and feeling good rather than nervous and sick to her stomach. And you know what? I feel okay with that decision.

There's a verse in the Bible that tells us that God is not going to give us more than we can handle here on this crazy, sometimes scary planet we live on. I think the best part is knowing that whatever it is that life throws at us, no matter how hard it is thrown at us, we don't have to handle it by ourselves. We have a heavenly Father standing right next to us with a catcher's mitt. He'll help us catch it instead of letting it hit us smack in the face (another fear as a kid playing catcher... another story).

So how, exactly, does He do that? Well, in my toughest of times, I have found myself immersed in His word. And our conversations are much more frequent. Almost constant. Even little prayers here while I'm driving and there when I'm feeling overwhelmed. Sometimes, in the evening, through my toughest trials I would step outside, stare at the stars and cry. He saw me, He knew what I was asking for, and I didn't have to say a word. And on the back side of things, my relationship with my Father has grown because we have spent so much time together walking and talking.

It has been said that wisdom is gained when you walk through the trials of this life. It's no wonder because of the amount of time spent with the Lord. So be careful when you ask for wisdom because often times you've got to walk through trials to gain it. But I guarantee that it'll be worth it on the backside.