Gifts and Talents.

I've joked to friends how in our little neighborhood that we've hit the "neighbor jackpot," but really, it's not a joke. To all of my friends (myself included) who have had less than ideal neighborhoods which involve dangerous children, calls to the police, sketchy renters, and up-all-night antics, we definitely realize the importance of a harmonious neighborhood.

Shortly after we moved into our new house in January, we received homemade bread and baked good from several of our neighbors.Now, when we walk down the road, we are always met with friendly smiles and greetings from neighbors driving by. Feeling safe, with delightful children nearby as playmates, we are incredibly blessed.

One set of neighbors hasn't stopped the hospitality. Hot-Crossed Buns during Lent was met with St. Patrick's Day Shamrock cookies a few weeks later. No sooner had we finished those when Easter cookies came, then Spring cupcakes, cupcakes to celebrate the Feast of St. Mathias, and on, and on, and on! I don't think we've had more than two weeks go by since we've moved where we haven't been gifted something by our generous neighbors!

This is a small sampling of the type of baked goods we've received from our perpetual gifters. If you look closely, they are butterfly cupcakes, with a black head, green body, and pretzel wings. Impressive!

 Last week, the lovely couple brought over one Monarch caterpillar, and one cocooned Monarch.  The caterpillar, after only a day was found in a cocoon at the top of our jar before I had a chance to catch a photograph, but still, it is amazing for both the boys and me to witness.

This one is almost ready to emerge from the cocoon! 

This guy was a black and orange caterpillar when we got him. It only took a day for him to attach himself to the lid of this jar. 

Each time we've received one of these gifts, it has been a learning experience for our whole family. Included with our baked goods are often scripture verses relevant to the Feast we're celebrating, and in the case of the butterflies, we're learning just by witnessing a metamorphosis.

For me, with so much to do and keep up with, it's difficult for me to think of a stage in life where I can take so much time to bring others around me joy. It's a good lesson, and one that I hope sticks with our family and children, to use our gifts and talents to bless those around us, whether or talent be cupcakes or caterpillars.

Things I Love.

I love bread. Who doesn't love bread?

We leave the house one morning a week for a sizable drive for piano lessons. On this drive, we pass a bakery outlet which happens to have a 10% discount the same day we drive in.

Coincidence? I think not.

Because we eat so much bread, I try my best to buy the healthiest bread I can. My requirements are 1)Whole Grain 2) No enriched/bleach flour 3) No High Fructose Corn Syrup.

My kids eat this healthy bread because it's all they know. I tell you, white bread is something along the lines of chocolate cake around here, especially since it only makes the rare appearance for French Toast or garlic bread.

And so, I love to buy bread in bulk. Often I can buy loaves for only $1.00, and bagel and English muffins as well. The same loaf at the grocery store costs $3.49. Other treasures I've found at our bread outlet include spices, bakery buns, cereal, cookies, and specialty applesauce.

It seems likely that nearly every city should have something similar, and they are definitely worth the time and effort to reach if your family like bread as much as ours does. If you have a deep freezer, freeze the bread and it won't mold or stale.

For years to come, I have a feeling our "Bread Store" expeditions will be a weekly tradition.

Any other discount stores worth noting? Anything I'm missing?

Things I Love/Penance.

I go into writing this post with my head sunk low. There is a little known secret about me that only those who have actually ever lived with me know.

And that is???

I love potato chips. LUUUUV them.

(These are the chips I eat. My favorites. The kids call these "Mom's Chips" when they see them in the store. They are melt-in-your-mouth Amazing.)

I could eat an entire bag right here and now. I would, I could, it's been done. 

When Mark goes on a snack run, he doesn't even ask me what I want. He just knows. And the reason Mark is the one that goes on snack runs, is that I don't buy chips. Ever. If I buy them at the store, I am more than likely going to open them in the car and eat them on the way home. If a bag makes it home, it will be gone the next day.

No kidding.

I have so many stories about eating momentous quantities of junk  food, but I'll spare you. I mean, I eat my fruits and veggies, and I try extra hard to cook healthy foods for my family. But still, there are some guilty pleasures that can't be broken.

I like my coffee, I like my chips. Who doesn't?

I gave up chips for Lent. I've never done this before, and I'm thinking it's pretty courageous. I used to give up pop (diet coke) for Lent, but since I've long broken the habit of drinking pop as an afternoon pick-me-up, I thought pop was too easy.

And, since giving up coffee would be CA-RA-A-ZEE, chips it is.

This is my Lenten Penance. Along with some great reading (which I will share later...) this Lent is bound to improve my spiritual and physical health. ;-) .

Any takers want to share their Lenten penance?

Rio.

After a bit of reluctance, I relented and watched Rio with Mark and the kids. Mark had already taken Luke to see it in the theater last winter, and then we watched together as a family when it came out on DVD a few weeks ago. I have to admit that I absolutely LOVED it.

The majority of the movie takes place in Rio, but I have to give props to Minnesota, because some of the characters are from Moose Lake, MN, which is a real, live, small town in MN (wouldn't you know it, I used to run track against Moose Lake). 

After watching Rio with the kids, I bought the music and put it on my iPod. OH MY GOODNESS. I know I'm going to lose all my street credit by writing this, but I really like percussion. Seriously, love percussion. And since Rio is famous for Samba, there is percussion a-plenty. The boys and I have had a blast dancing around the living room to the bird-laden beats. 

I love it. I'm probably a little bit 'gangsta.  

Coffee's On!

Yesterday Mark accepted an offer for a new job. There it is! Those of us who know us (me) intimately know that this is the fulfillment of a deeply held desire for so many reasons. The primary one?

WE'RE GOING HOME!

The field of law is competitive, and I've always been up for the ride. So, even last year when we reluctantly packed up our house and moved from a community we loved, we did so with the intention that the time away would open doors and provide greater opportunities for our family. We knew it would be tough, we knew it wouldn't be forever, but we still didn't know how long our trek in The Great White North would last. 

And, as eager as we were to return to our family and friends, we certainly wouldn't do it unless it was the right thing for our family, in the long and short term, which is why this news is so remarkable. See, we were preparing for at least another year here, maybe longer, with the prayer that we'd be back in time for our children to receive their religious education and First Communion in our diocese. 

I prayed. I prayed every.single.day. The kids prayed with me, and every quiet moment we had on the way to the library or Wal-Mart was spent in short, pleading prayers that we would know what opportunity to grab for, that we would be prudent in the decision to move our family, and that our wants were in line with the will of God. 

We also had a plan; a nice little plan with a bow wrapped around it, a plan that was practical...to us. But this particular opportunity was not a part of our plan. It's much different, yet, when we looked at how it literally fell into our lap out of nowhere, when everything Mark has done up to this point not only qualified him, but made him an ideal candidate for this opportunity, it made all of the moving around, the loneliness and uncertainty all of a sudden make perfect sense.

We've lived in many cities and states in the past few years. Anyone with a family knows how special it is for young children to have their close family around, and for our kids, this was particularly significant. All summer the kids would cry as we left home and had to head back to our house two hours away. During the week they'd cry for their cousins, their grandparents, and aunts and uncles.

Giving our boys back the wonder of a childhood filled with their loved-ones, wrapped in the security of extended family and friends in their daily lives, is what I am excited for most. My heart is full knowing that we'll now be able to provide that, above all else, for our boys. I'm humbled with joy.

Things I Love: Organizational Tools

I want to share an organizational tool that I've implemented in the past few months that has helped our household out tremendously. Not being able to find what I needed out of a traditional daily planner, I sought out to create my own. With weekly calendar fill pages, loose-leafed paper, sheet covers and colored tabs, I've been able to use a durable, and functional planner. 

 My planner functions include: to do lists, grocery lists, long and short term goals, a collection of funny things the children have said that I need to write down somewhere before I forget, books I want to buy, things for the house I want to buy, meal planning, and on and on and on.

 I have tabs in here for different topics, i.e Household, Read-Alouds. If I'm looking through Pottery Barn Kids and see a great idea I'd like to implement for less money, I can tear it out, put it in a plastic sleeve, and keep it safely in my folder until the day comes for a project. If I'm reading a blog and someone is using books I'd like to check out for myself, I have a tab for that, too! I have multiple online tutorials for sewing, knitting, and preserving food that I've printed out and keep in my notebook for reference.

When it comes to picking out books at the library, while it may seem to be taking things a step too far, I find that have a rough "plan" for each week saves a lot of time. Sometimes the topics are narrow, such as Apples and Komodo Dragons, and other weeks they might be broad, like the seasons or farms. Having a topic to hone in on gives a little direction whilst surrounded by shelves of books. Book planning, and book requesting through the library is now a near-perfected system with my notebook. With weekly topics selected until Christmas, the boys and I are looking forward to learning more about Stealth Bombers and Tamarins, just to name a couple. 

Sometimes life when the kids are little can seem so chaotic. Having a simple but maintainable system for organizing can help keep the peace (at least in my head ;-)  ). 

Things I Love.

I love coffee, tea, and red wine (who doesn't?). Unfortunately, these things stain your teeth. In my case, my teeth get particularly stained in quite an unsightly way. Despite frequent brushing and flossing, I always seem to have black spots all over my teeth from staining (apparently this is a hereditary condition, as my husband and others who drink even more coffee than I do don't have this problem as severely).

I've been known to coupon a time or two, and one thing that I can get for free or close to free is Colgate toothpaste. If Wal-Mart has it on sale for $1.00, I often have coupons for -$0.75 or -$1.00 off. We often have four or five tubes of Colgate on hand for this reason.

The problem is that while I'm cavity-free, Colgate does nothing for the staining.

Enter Crest 3D White Vivid

We received a free sample of this new Crest product in the mail a few weeks ago. I'm not one for gimmicks, but it actually did wonders for the stains on my teeth. It worked so well that we actually forgoed our Colgate and forked over the nearly $4 a tube for this stuff. It worked that well. Perhaps we'll strike a compromise: Crest after coffee, Colgate before bed. 

Things I Love.

I am quite torn on the controversy surrounding the secretion of food proteins into breastmilk and the concept of an elimination diet. There are two sides to every story, and I'm not convinced either way.

However, one thing that has been proven, and even encouraged to me from my physician is a trial of dairy elimination for a baby struggling with fussy and painful gas. The protein from cow's milk does pass through breastmilk and can affect certain nursing infants.

My otherwise peaceful baby is not peaceful when I've eaten dairy. The difference in temperament is so drastic that I can no longer deny this aspect of my diet. And after an almost two week elimination trial, I tested it yesterday and ate a half slice of pizza for a lunch, and mashed potatoes with milk and cheese with dinner.

It was a rough night and a rough morning.

Bummer. I really, really, REALLY like pizza...and cheese....and milk...and ice cream...lasagna...

I'm not going to go on a dairy witch hunt and eliminate things like Ritz crackers or butter (gasp!), but I have been trying to replace the obvious dairy in my diet.

For starters, Almond Milk.

I was SO scared to try this, but I have to admit that it's not nearly as freaky as I thought it would be. I mix it in my eggs, stir it with protein powder, and have used it as a general milk substitute. It's not bad! And, apparently this stuff could actually be good for you?!

Drink up!

Things I Love.

I'm not big on conventional cleaning products. Yes, paper towels are helpful and those disinfecting wipes can come in handy, but I'm not big on buying them if I can make do without. And, most of the time I can.

There is one item, however, that I cannot find an alternative for and that I keep buying and buying.

I love these. Here's why. My boys ALWAYS have dirty hands. Their fingers are always full of marker, paint, dirt or food. They come in from outside, try to pry off their shoes while holding onto the wall for balance and get fingerprints all over. Their hands may not look soiled when they grab each white railing on their way up the steps, but after a day or two, oily smudges appear all over the railing and trim.

(note to any home-builder: Never, ever, ever put white trim in your home if you plan on having children. Oh boy!)

Basically, our walls and trim and doors always look filthy, and these sponges work like...you guessed it...Magic! I also use them to scrape soap scum off the bathtub, and yesterday they successfully removed oil-based paint from wallpaper.

So, while you may see me making-do with baking soda and vinegar, these I cannot do without.