Gypsy Blood

Moving?  Yes, we are moving again!  We have already received a plethora of questions and statements, so hopefully this post will answer a few of those.

"You just moved!"

- Actually we moved into this home over four years ago.  Even the five of us have a hard time believing that it's been that long.

"You just finished your downstairs!"

- It's been over a year since it's been completed and we have loved it!  My large school room away from the rest of the house has really been a blessing!  Marty did such an amazing job with the help of friends and family (and a good chunk of tax money.)  Honestly, the only reason we could afford to live in this neighborhood was due to the unfinished downstairs.  God blessed us immensely by providing this house at just the right time.

"You live in such a great area!"

- We have loved our neighborhood, especially our neighbors right around us!  Smores & movie nights, special friends for our girls, the pool, the list could go on...  We have loved the proximity to our church, extra curricular school activities, and Target.  Let's be honest.

                              

"Why are you moving back to Willow Spring?"

- We weren't looking in Willow Spring specifically.  We always try to live as close to the church as possible, but ultimately, we desired more land and less house (the opposite of the American dream).  We didn't want to put our current house on the market until we found just the right house.  And we all truly believe that we did!

"How are the girls coping?"

- Amazingly!!  Marty and I have said again and again how resilient they are.  After we had another dream house fall through a month ago, I promised to never take them house hunting again.  But without much choice, they came to see the house we are buying and we all fell in love with it!  They have been faithfully packing, each in their own way.  They have helped clean, do school work in random places, and watched many belongings be given away, sold, or tossed without complaint.  I simply couldn't ask for sweeter children.  

"Why move at all?"

- We have asked ourselves this question many times.  But we have several reasons why we are: 

1) More land and less house, as mentioned earlier. 

2) Gypsy blood.  Not really, but we'll claim it as both of us grew up moving often throughout our childhood.  

3) We want to put down roots.  To be honest, the last 18 months have been stressful.  Without a pastor, my associate pastor husband carried a little extra and we can only claim God's strength and His grace to have gotten us through it.  We had prayed over our future. Would overseas be an option? Should we move to another state for a job with more focus? Will we be able to blend well with our new pastor and his family? God has clearly answered no to the first two questions and has brought such peace to the last.  We are so excited for the ministry to come at Fairview and feel very blessed to have our pastor!  So, with that said, we feel that God has called us to stay in this area and we want to live in a house for the long-haul.    

We knew that our current home was not our dream house.  Never would be.  But even with all the wishful thinking, this place has seen a lot of dreams come true.  Our littlest learned to walk in this house, cartwheels and handstands were perfected throughout the living room, each of our girls became confident swimmers in our neighborhood pool, and our home was available to family on their way to Japan and Ghana. 

So in less than two weeks, when we pull out of the driveway for the very last time, I'll hold back the tears.  "Tears for all the dreams brought to life here.  Tears for all the dreams waiting ahead.  But mostly, tears for the God that never abandons this fixer upper, no matter what kind of flooring she's living on."

What I'm reading, still reading, and want to read...

Some of these books I'm still trying to finish reading (Love & Respect, Own Your Life).  Both really good books, just not something I can pick up, snuggle down and read for extended period of time (without falling asleep).  The Antelope in the Living Room is a friend's copy that I'm trying to save for bedtime reading since I could probably finish it in a day or two, especially after reading Sparkly Green Earrings.

The Fringe Hours and The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up came via Amazon last week, both books that I've seen sprinkled all over social media and many of my favorite blogs. The Fringe Hours I'm saving till I finish some of the other books I'm currently reading. But I'm excited to dive into a book designed to show women how "to take back the fringe hours - those little pockets of time you already have in your day - in order to make time for your passions and practice self-care." The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up (the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing) is already scaring the living daylights out of me and I'm only in the third chapter.  The thought of gathering every single piece of clothing in my house, placing them on the floor, and sorting through them one by one. My worst nightmare!  No promises yet, but I'm eager to finish reading it.  We'll see...

Quinoa, Gyoza, and Other Weird Vegetarian Ideas...

My spring/summer menu plan is finally completed (now that spring is over, of course).  But hopefully, it may be something worth using next year as well.  I have loved menu planning since our early years of marriage, but have found using a monthly/seasonal menu plan to be even more beneficial in this time of my life.  Being a vegetarian, I'm already viewed as a little weird, so why not add to that weirdness by adding things like quinoa (pronouced "keen-wha") and gyoza (what I learned to make in 8th grade Home Ec class)  I tried to lessen our carb intake, since that's the easy option when eating vegetarian, but not necessarily the healthiest.  I may try to substitute lentils instead of quinoa on some Mondays for the cost issue.  We've tried some of these recipes, while others are still a guessing game.  Some (esp the salad ones) may have to be accompanied by Annie's Mac n Cheese for the sake of my non-salad lovers.

Monday - Quinoa
1.  Quinoa, Black Beans, and Corn Tacos
2.  Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
3.  One Pan Mexican Quinoa
4.  Sesame Ginger Quinoa Salad

Tuesday - Fish
1.  Salmon Cakes
2.  Tuna Lunch Bites
3.  Baked Salmon with Garlic & Dijon
4.  Fish Tacos

Wednesday - Beans
1.  Baked Southwestern Egg Rolls
2.  Black Bean Soup
3.  Tempeh Chili with corn chips
4.  Bean & Cheese Burritos






Thursday - Salads
1.  Grilled Summer Vegetable Salad
2.  Quick Asian Noodle Salad
3.  Broccoli, Tomato, & Tortellini Salad
4.  Easy Greek Salad

Friday - Family Favorites
1.  Chipotle Black Bean Burger
2.  Pizza (homemade or take-out)
3.  Japanese (gyoza, edamame, yakisoba)
4.  Hot Dogs, cole slaw, chili

Saturday & Sunday - Whatever...
1.  Spinach Quiche
2.  Waffles & smoothies
3.  Grilled Sandwiches
4.  Baked Potatoes

For the days when I just want to throw the menu out the window, there is always take-out pizza!  Mommy's life-saver!

Five for February...

January's Simple Five:

1.  Organize our school room.  (almost done...)

2.  Finish A Chance to Die by Elisabeth Elliot

3.  Find and try 2 new, healthy recipes. 

     - Homemade Overnight Cinnamon Rolls (for our snow day)

     - Wholegrain Pumpkin Banana Nut Bread (w/o the nuts)

4.  Run up to 3 miles again.  (ok... it only happened once, but with the cold & rainy weather we've had, it wasn't as easy as I thought.)

5.  Devotions daily with my girls. (Nothing fancy.  Two to three days a week we'd review our Family Journal that follows what they are learning on Sundays.  The other days we'd either read through Chloe's devotional or You Can Change the World.

Obviously, my simple five were not completely accomplished. But I'm ok with that.  Instead, I want to strive for progress, not perfection.  More boxes were sorted through in the school room, another trash bag filled... I'm further along in my book, convicted and challenged.  Running is definitely a matter of progress, one step at a time.

Five for February:

1.  Finish organizing the school room and hang pictures.  No more clutter!

2.  Finish A Chance to Die by Elisabeth Elliot & read half of Cleaning House by Kay Wills Wyma (A Mom's 12-month experiment to rid her home of youth entitlement).

3.  Write 5 letters (real ones with stamps) to other women who may need encouragement.

4.  Take portraits of each of my girls (plus valentine pics).

5.  Focus on words of grace for my family.  

"Today, I will pray to speak words that are only STRONG words, words that make these children feel strong.  Grace words.  Grace is the only non-toxic air. All other words words I breathe are death words." - Ann Voskamp  

Click for the link to this free chalkboard printable

Day 13 - Homeschooler or Hoarder

I never considered myself a pack-rat by nature, but with each year of homeschooling, I find our house getting a little tighter, especially our classroom.  Obviously with each grade we accumulate more and more books.  We are blessed to be able to borrow many of our history books from friends who use the Sonlight curriculum, so those books are returned each year.  But with every consignment sale or Goodwill trip, a few more books get added to our shelves.  It’s just too tempting!  

All this extra though adds up to overly full bookshelves, bins so full that I’m not sure what is really in them anymore, and boxes in our garage that I’ve forgotten about.  Organization, that’s the key, right?  I’m slowly trying to weed out more. 

- Take twaddle books to the used bookstore (Mike's Used Books) and get credit for future books (a treat when going to Trader Joes or holiday gifts)

- Only hold on to curriculum that we love using!  If I do not enjoy teaching it, then it's certainly not going to be enjoyable for my girls. 

- Take a list to the homeschool store or homeschool consignment sales.  This might help curb the excessive ooh's and aah's of seeing other books that interest me.

- Order the majority of my curriculum online.  I just discovered that CBD sells homeschool curriculum, almost everything I needed this year, for cheaper than Amazon!  Why has no one told me this before now?

- Make sure that everything has a place.

Day 25 - Simplifying Christmas

For those of you who are friends with me on Facebook, you probably already know that my hubbie and I were given a last minute opportunity for a date night.  What a blessing it was!  Our girls were thrilled, and we were able to enjoy some delicious Japanese food in peace, and even get a jump start on our Christmas shopping.  So it was actually my husband, Marty, who gave me the idea for this post to share a little bit of what we do to prepare and simplify Christmas.  

One idea (inspired by my friend, April) that has really helped me to stay organized and a little less stressed in preparing for Christmas is to have a gift journal (not sure if that is the right name, but it’s the only thing I can come up with at 9 pm).  She showed me hers back in 2006 and I have loved it!  It’s simply a small 5 x 7 scrapbook/art pad with a little Christmas paper on the front and divided into four sections.  

- Our Family

- The Miller’s (my family)

- The Middleton’s (Marty’s family)

- Friends (neighbors, teachers, coworkers, etc)

Each section begins with the year we began and lists the family (or friends) names who we desire to give gifts to.  For example:

Christmas 2006

Marty:  frisbee, marshmallow shooter, Worship CD, Pirates of the Caribbean DVD, bedroom slippers, Handyman magazine

Amy:  scrapbook idea magazine, earrings, novel, strainer      

Chloe:  train set, Little People barn/farm set, Veggie Tales DVD, Esther, books    

Naomi:  farm yard toy, soft book, rattle toy

Maybe too simple for some, but be mindful that we were in the middle of seminary at this time.  (Still more than Laura and Mary got in Little House on the Prairie.)  After each Christmas, I’ll write down what Marty and the girls gave me for Christmas, and this has proved to be helpful to them as well to be able to look back and remember what they gave and to get ideas again.  This is also helpful throughout the year when an idea comes for a gift for someone, there is now a central location for me to keep all these ideas.  When buying gifts much earlier in the year, I love being able to write them down in order to avoid overbuying or completely forgetting about the gift altogether.  I try to write down our birthday gifts as well, but that has not been as successful in getting down on paper.    

If this sounds confusing, I’ll be happy to try to clarify.  I’ve seen some amazing Christmas organizers out there, which include the gift lists.  But I love being able to carry my little Christmas gift journal in my purse when I need to, as I did tonight.  (We bought four Christmas gifts and one December birthday gift tonight!  So excited!)  Just wanted to share something that has helped to relieve a little stress in our family as the season of Christmas soon approaches.  

This is a sneak peak for November as I hope to share more Christmas ideas from our family and from other families who seek to simply Christmas and put our Savior in His rightful place.

Day 23 - Cleaning

Cleaning!  Ugh!  This is one area that really, really causes me stress (anxiety, nervous tension, constant worry)!  Ok, maybe not that bad.  At least I never lose sleep at night because of it.  Some people clean for fun (and for that I truly admire them).  I only clean when company comes over.  Seriously!  On the occasional day when I clean just for the fun of it, my girls usually ask who is coming over for dinner.  No one!  Can’t a mama clean for her sanity sake?

When we first got married in 2000, we lived on my college campus while I finished my degree.  We had the best corner apartment in the married couples building, and I had it spick and span.  Of course, it was only about 600 square feet (I think?).  Then, we bought our first home, a cute little 3 bed/2 bath ranch about 1200 square feet.  Even then, I spent every Saturday cleaning each room in our sweet starter home.  Still not too hard… With each house, they’ve gotten a little larger though (besides our townhouse in seminary).  

Now, as a home school mother of three, cleaning is not my priority, and why should it be?  I’ll spend hours cleaning and organizing a room and two days later, it looks like a tornado went through it.  In all seriousness though, I really want to do a better job at keeping a tidy (and a little cleaner) home for my family.  It’s amazing how much better I feel when my house is picked up and not full of clutter.  

I have searched other blogs, talked to other wives and mothers, pinned pins to try to find a cleaning schedule that will work for me to make my life a little easier (and cleaner).  Here is what I hope to try:

     Monday - Laundry (change sheets, wash & dry)

     Tuesday - Fold & put away laundry

     Wednesday - Vacuum & dust

     Thursday - Kitchen: floors, fridge & microwave

     Friday - Bathrooms

     Saturday - Work outside, garage, clean out cars.

This obviously doesn’t include everything, but it’s a start.  

I’ve compiled a list of other women who have it a little more together when it comes to cleaning.  

o Iheartorganizing – lists for daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and             annual cleaning (I love her site for organizing too!)

o Designfinch – lots of weekly cleaning printables (and other                         printables too!)

o Macheesmo – 4 basic homemade cleaners, recipes easy to read and           understand

o Passionatehomemaking – Cleaning your home in 30 minutes a day

o Keeper of the Home – 10 homemade kitchen cleaners (non-toxic)

Day 13 - A Wall of Daily Do's

 

Being a recovering perfectionist, organization is an area that I am instantly attracted to.   The Container Store, purses with lots of pockets, and organization boards on Pinterest are just a few of my weaknesses.   For months now, I’ve been wanting to put together a wall of frames and pictures that will encompass our family’s daily do’s.  Some call it their family command center, and I’m sure there are other names for it as well.  But, despite buying frames, an adorable letter “M,” and printing schedules and such, I have yet to put our wall together.  So instead of putting it off until I have ours completed, I am going to post some the inspirational ideas that have helped me to one day put ours together.

The transitional Pottery Barn look…

Southern Living’s take on the Family Command Center:  Done in a day!

The newest Pottery Barn system

Black & white wall full of organizational bliss

10 tips/ideas from the TipJunkie

I'm hoping to finish our wall this week in an effort to help our daily schedule run smoother.  I'll try to post a picture when it's completed.