I did it again.  I was late to pick up the babysitter from school, so I was in a hurry.  And of course I ended up behind 2 cautious… slow… snail-like drivers, right before coming to a stoplight.  And I did it.  I drove like a crazy idiot, speeding up and swerving around them to make the light, because after all, I had someplace to be!! 

Just as I was to the intersection, I realized an oncoming car was turning left in front of the 2 slow drivers.  I had to slam on my brakes so hard that my vehicle lurched and shook and made a terrible grinding noise!  While I seethed, I watched the first slow car mosey through the yellow light.  And while I ranted about incompetent drivers, I looked over at Slow Car #2 and saw a college-age boy shake his head sorrowfully at my terrible driving!  I was livid, so I did what I always do:  I laughed bitterly, looking straight at him, waiting for him to look at me so that I could then smile and act like “Oops, silly me, ha-ha!”  … He never looked.

What bothers me is this:

• I endangered the safety of myself, my children, and others.
• Any driver in the vicinity wouldn’t have believed a Christian word from my mouth after seeing how I acted.
• My kids witnessed my driving and my reaction.
• My kids then listened to my justification of my driving.

Yes, I drove the rest of the way to the school “explaining” why the other drivers were wrong and I was right!!  I went about the rest of the afternoon retelling myself those lies, smugly reassuring myself that I was right.  And good.  And an excellent driver.

It honestly didn’t hit me until much later, when I overheard Kyra telling the boys, “When I learn to drive, I’m going to make it a habit to drive nice and never get mad.  That way I’ll never have a problem with it.”

*SHAAAAAAAAAAME*

At that moment I could see how crazed, how unsafe, and how ridiculous I had been, trying to explain to my kids that I was actually a good driver.  I couldn’t even fool an 8 year-old; how was I able to fool myself?!?! 

I tell my kids all the time how Satan whispers lies to us, that we need to always check our beliefs against truths we know, truths from God and family and people we trust; especially beliefs that give us that uncomfortable feeling, like something isn’t right.

I tell my kids all the time… yet I ignored that bad feeling in my own heart, and whole-heartedly joined Satan in the lies of my spectacular driving skills and experience on the road, the lies that all the other bad drivers put me in a dangerous situation.

I’m ashamed that it took the innocent wisdom of an 8 year-old to force me to recognize my sin, but I’m also thankful.  Gary L. Thomas, in his book Sacred Parenting, says, “The process of parenting is one of the the most spiritually formative journeys a man and woman can ever undertake… Spiritually speaking, we need to raise children every bit as much as they need us to raise them.”

Without my daughter’s words, I would have continued on my hostile way, waving aside horn-honking and middle fingers, ignoring why I was reluctant to place a Jesus fish on my bumper (that would do more harm than good for His name…) and nurturing a hatefulness in my heart, justifying an unreasonable sense of entitlement.

Oh, how I wish I could say that I’m now cured of my road rage.  In reality, each time I got behind the wheel these past 2 days I’ve had to keep patience, peace, and self-control at the forefront of my mind and on the tip of my tongue, and it hasn’t been easy.  I expect this to take quite a while; after all, I’ve had ugly driving habits for over 20 years.  But I am committed to change, for the sake of everyone’s safety, for the sake of example to my children and others, and for my own sake; my heart’s sake.  And someday I will, without hesitation, permanently attach a Jesus fish to my bumper.

Kyra’s having a Cowgirl birthday party Saturday, and I’ve been searching for an activity to do with girls around the age of 8.  I thought of friendship bracelets, since this age is capable of more than stringing beads on yarn.  What a nice thought… friendship bracelets… the problem is, I’m apparently knot-impaired. 

I searched online and spent far too much time repeatedly tangling my fingers in hemp and embroidery thread.  So I spent more time searching online, and found this helpful site that you can use, too, to teach your kids (and yourself!) how to make cute, inexpensive bracelets for both boys and girls.

This You-Tube video has an 11-year-old girl explaining and demonstrating a very simple 5-string braid.  It’s all about hooking your fingers through the thread, which is by far the simplest way to teach a child (… or a knot-impaired mother.)  Kyra (almost 8) and Josiah (9) watched me make one, tried it themselves with my guidance, and have spent much of this afternoon making more on their own.  I’m sure kids younger than mine could learn to make these.  Levi (5) just had no interest, so I can’t tell you how a 5-year-old would do.

I couldn’t find a better way to knot the bracelet other than a basic knot.  All of the instructional sites and videos I found were either too difficult for my understanding or didn’t really hold well, so I ended up just tying a strong knot. 

This is a great hobby to teach your kids to help keep them busy during the summer months, or as a rainy-day activity.  It’s also a cool craft that they can make for their friends, and is light enough to tuck into an envelope to send to a distant friend who’s moved away.  Plus it’s inexpensive; an 8.7 yard length of embroidery thread costs only 35 cents, and it takes less than 5 yards to make one adult-sized bracelet.  Happy bracelet-making!

Oh, the issues with snacking.  Sometimes my kids want to eat because they’re bored or they know there’s some treat in the pantry that sounds good; but a lot of the time it’s true hunger that drives them into the kitchen.  Kids are constantly growing, and they really do need more than 3 square meals a day.

There’s 2 issues, though: 

1. Eating between meals may make them so full that they aren’t hungry at mealtime. 
2. Snack foods are often not-so-healthy.

If my kids eat a couple of graham crackers and then aren’t hungry for the chicken stir-fry at supper, their growing bodies just aren’t getting what’s best for them.  I wouldn’t serve my family a plate of graham crackers for supper, but if I let them get full on empty carbs so that they end up not interested in supper, then that’s exactly what I’ve done: served them a plate of graham crackers for supper.  It’s not like the graham crackers are terrible for them, but when a kid’s stomach is full, it’s full, so you have to be a little choosy about what goes in that belly.

What works best for our family is a basic rule: Anyone can have a snack any time (outside of an hour from mealtime or bedtime,) with the understanding that a snack is fruit, vegetables, seeds/nuts, or cheese.  Fruit, vegetables, seeds/nuts, and cheese are all very healthy foods, so if my kids don’t eat much at a meal, I know they still got valuable nutrients throughout the day.  And to be honest, they don’t get too full from these snacks very often.  Fruit digests pretty quickly, and vegetables, seeds/nuts and cheese are hard to eat a whole lot of at one sitting.     

Setting this snack rule has been great for our family.  The kids aren’t tempted by sugary treats, so they only eat a snack if they’re truly hungry; this means they’re rarely too full for meals, and they’re able to satisfy their hunger pangs when they need to. 

Now if someone could just invent a chocolate vegetable for me…

Living out the 10 Plagues of Egypt was fun and impactful.  Each morning I’d hear the kids talking about what the plague would be that day, and their conversation was a mix of anticipation and dread.  I was getting to fear it a little, myself, with the mess and irritation that came with each plague. 

We learned so much, though, by experiencing (in a small way) all that the Egyptians went through when Moses was asking for the Israelites to be free to worship God.  Each day we talked about how the plague made our life difficult or frustrating, and then what it must’ve been like when the plague was real. 

Here’s a short run-down on each day:

Day 1- water to blood; I put red food coloring in their water cups, their toilet, their sinks.  The kids had fun with it, thought it was cool.

Day 2- frogs everywhere; I made little paper frogs (square, nothing fancy) and put them in the fridge, their beds, everywhere.  The kids had the frogs die (just like in the Bible story!) and asked to be set free (go outside.) 

Day 3- gnats and lice; I put stickers (envelope labels that I cut really tiney) on their skin.  The kids got tired of the itching; Kyra asked to be an Israelite instead of an Egyptian.

Day 4- flies everywhere; I tore construction paper into tiny pieces and crunched them up; I decided to keep this mess in their bathroom, and it was plenty.  The kids thought it was funny but annoying.

Day 5- animals and livestock died; I set out their stuffed animals in the living room after making them ‘dead’, and read the story from the Bible as they came into the room.  The kids were silent silent… then asked if they could take off the x-eyes… then all 3 totally started crying!  I was unprepared for this, completely.  But what a moment of comprehension for them!  While they peeled off the x-eyes (and brought their stuffed animals back to life!) we talked about how terrible it would have been for the Egyptians to have all their animals that they loved and that they used for food suddenly die– and that Pharoah still refused to let the Israelites go.  Very impactful lesson.  Oh, the hearts of my sweet children!

Day 6-  festering boils; I showed them pictures online of boils (ew!) after reading the story to them.  Then I glued red hole-punches onto their skin.  This was a lot like the gnats; the kids were irritated.

Day 7- hail; I had them go onto the deck, and then I threw out all the ice from our freezer’s ice bin at their feet.  They tried to throw ice into the air to hit their heads (yikes!) and one time was enough. 

Day 8-  locusts everywhere; I made little paper locusts like the frogs, and put them everywhere.  The annoyance was winning out at this point for the kids as well as me…

Day 9- darkness; It was really overcast that day, so I pulled curtains closed and kept the lights off.  The kids kept wanting to turn on the lights, and got pretty whiny.  Imagine how whiny the Egyptians probably were with 3 days of total darkness!

Day 10- death of firstborn; I gave them the choice to be Egyptian or Israelite that day (they all chose Israelite!) and so we put red crepe paper on the doorpost in our kitchen since it was rainy outside.  Josiah caught the connection between the lamb’s blood on the doorposts “saving” the firstborn of each family and Jesus as the Lamb that saves us today.  Bingo!

Throughout these 10 days we talked about how Pharoah’s heart must’ve been so rotten to let his people go through so much.  This led to the discussion of how important it is for us to keep our hearts close to God, to always listen for His voice, so that we don’t become hardened to Him or His will for us.

My mom asked me what the next project would be now that we’re done with the 10 plagues.  Whew!  I think it’ll be a while before I tackle another Bible story in this way… but I know the lessons from this one will last a long time.

Ugh.  Easter is one of those get-togethers that is focused on the ‘big meal’ and I always end the day feeling like I ate way too much.  Which I did.  Delicious ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, steamed vegetables with cheese sauce, fruit salad, potato salad, and rolls… plus the sweets: bird’s nests, chocolate-peanut butter eggs, candy, candy, candy…  I also made a light elegant dessert I found on Delish.com: Tulipes with Raspberry Sorbet.  The little cookie-cups look like they take a lot of time and effort to make, but they were super easy and I made them the day before in a jiffy.  Aren’t they pretty? 

Although I’m not eating today, I made an appetizer supper for the family with yesterday’s leftovers of ham, cheese sauce, eggs, and mashed potatoes:  Cheesy Potato Pancakes, Deviled Eggs, and Ham-n-Cheese Tortes, all of which I found on AllRecipes and Recipezaar. 

Now for the rest of the week:

• Tuesday:      The traditional post-Easter beans and cornbread;  gotta make good use of that ham bone!
• Wednesday:  Sloppy Joes with sweet potato chips
• Thursday:    Parmesan Chicken with spinach noodles and salad
• Friday:         Leftovers
• Saturday:     Walnut Chicken Skillet with rice and salad

In case you haven’t made your own potato chips, they’re easy and soo tasty.  I use sweet potatoes because they’re higher in fiber and have a unique flavor. 

Sweet Potato Chips:  Wash 2 sweet potatoes well and slice thin.  Heat half-inch olive oil in a skillet over med-high heat.  Carefully add the potato slices and allow to cook until slightly brown, turning over to get both sides done.  When chips are lightly browned, use a slotted spoon and set on paper towel-covered plate; salt immediately.  Allow to cool; the chips will get crispier as they sit.    *These can also be baked in a low-temperature oven or even in the microwave for an even healthier version!

To-Do List on Tuesday: Clean out bathroom cupboard.  To-Do List Wednesday: Clean out bathroom cupboard.  To-Do List on Thursday: Clean out bathroom cupboard.  To-Do List Friday: Forget the cupboard, there’s too much going on with Easter.

No, it wasn’t the only thing on my to-do list, but it was one of the things that kept NOT being crossed off, NOT getting done… didn’t I just have this same situation with a drawer in the bathroom?!  But look at this mess; can you blame me for just shutting the door and trying to forget about it?

Today I determined to clean it out, and it took me ALL OF FIVE MINUTES.  For real!  Most of it didn’t even belong in that cupboard, and a lot of it was trash. 

Now look how nice.  In the back are new towels that are always clean, to hang prettily when we have a house showing.  In front are my travel bags, filled with plastic baggies and product lids for quick packing.  And yes, that’s my basket-o-pads-n-tampons.  Even the mundane can look nice, set on the back of the toilet.  It’s also a more gracious way of telling my hubby: no sex this week.  :)

What job has been on your to-do list lately?  Set the timer and spend 15 minutes on it TODAY!

I'm so proud *sniff*

I get very excited over little things, I admit.  When I received an email about a video showing how to fold fitted sheets, my computer just couldn’t work fast enough!

I subscribe to an enewsletter, ”Living on a Dime.”  There’s tidbits that help with living frugally, and always lots of recipes.  Today they sent me to YouTube to show how to fold those annoying fitted sheets, and hers looked so even and flat…

I gave it a try immediately (I know, I’m a little pathetic) and even used a thick flannel sheet…  It turned out totally flat and square and so easy to fit into the linen cupboard!  If you are remotely as excited by this as me, check it out:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z5k9nWcuFc

I’m guilty of serving a lot of the same meals, partly because I like to stick to the easy-to-fix meals that I know everyone likes, and partly because I forget about other options.  I realize I’ve fallen into a rut, and with warm weather around the corner (meaning we’ll use the grill more!) I’ve decided that now is a good time to make some changes.

Since a monthly menu can equal less time spent on menu-planning and grocery lists, I wrote down every supper I make on a semi-consistent basis.  This was harder than I expected!  I left my list out and added to it for about 3 days, coming up with almost 40 meals.  40 meals!?  We can go a long time without repeating a meal with 40 different meals to choose from, and here I’ve been rotating every 3 weeks! 

Now I have my list typed, printed, and ready-to-use when I make my menu for the week.  This gives me a mass of meals to choose from so that my family doesn’t get tired of the same old, same old.  And by checking off when I make a meal, I’ll be sure to get to the more time-consuming (yet oh, so tasty) meals that are too often forgotten, like Chicken Walnut Skillet.

Just to help get your mind going for generating a Supper Master List of your own, I’ll share my list with you.  But first, here’s my menu for this week.  We’ve got a ton going on, so I planned very light cooking for me:

• Monday–  pizza with the sitter; Date Night with Nate! 
• Tuesday–  soup & chili from my frozen stash
• Wednesday– pumpkin pancakes; sausage
• Thursday– deli sandwiches for a mini-trip out of town
• Friday–  grill brats; ginger carrots
• Saturday–  grill fish; rice; salad
• Sunday– Easter!  Ham and potatoes for me; the grandmas are bringing the rest.

Supper Menu Master List

• Chicken stir-fry
• Fish broil
• Kabobs
• Salsa chicken
• Chicken/rice casserole
• Teriyaki chicken
• Walnut chicken skillet
• Fried chicken
• Meatloaf
• Grill burgers
• Steak
• Baked potato meal
• Roast turkey
• Chili
• Autumn soup
• Potato soup
• Chicken & dumplings
• Beans & cornbread
• Lentil soup
• Multi-bean soup
• Spaghetti
• Lasagna
• Parmesan chicken
• Manicotti/tortellini
• Chicken pot pie
• Taco salad
• Nachos
• Enchiladas
• Ham roll sandwiches
• Deli sandwiches
• Meatball sandwiches
• Brats
• Sloppy joes
• Biscuits & gravy
• Pancakes & bacon/sausage
• Snack supper
• Shakespeares pizza
• Peachy chicken

 Ok, hopefully my list helped jog your memory; get started on your own!

Oh, you know it’s a good recipe when the recipe card is torn, wrinkled, and has various spill-spots on it.  I found it in an old cooking magazine; have no idea which magazine, but we’ve been enjoying this meal for at least 10 years.  It’s a family favorite that is best served with rice and a salad.  I double or triple the walnuts and the sauce so it’s almost a gravy… yum.

Walnut Chicken Skillet

• 2 teaspoons cornstarch, divided
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce, divided
• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/4-inch strips
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vinegar
• 1-1/2 teaspoons sugar
• Dash hot pepper sauce
• 1/2 cup walnut halves
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 medium green pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

In a bowl, combine 1 teaspoon of cornstarch and 1 tablespoon soy sauce until smooth; add chicken and toss to coat.  Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine water, vinegar, sugar, hot pepper sauce, and remaining cornstarch and soy sauce; set aside.  In a skillet, saute walnuts in oil until toasted; remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.  In the same skillet, stir-fry chicken until juices run clear.  Remove and keep warm.  Add green pepper and ginger to skillet; cook and stir for 3 minutes or until pepper is crisp-tender.  Stir cornstarch mixture; add to skillet.  Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened and bubbly.  Return chicken and walnuts to pan.

I heard of a longitudinal study some time ago that talked about violence in children’s shows and the impact it had on the kids when they became young adults.  It said that kids exposed to violent shows were more violent as adults, including being convicted of crimes and beating other adults at 3-4 times the rate of other adults.  Oh, and the violent shows they referred to in the study?  Road Runner and Starsky and Hutch.  You can read a summary of the study here. 

Movies and television shows for kids these days cross more moral lines than Road Runner ever did.  We’re no longer having to screen for ‘just’ sex and violence, but other messages as well: disrespect for authority, scorn of the ‘dummy’ dad, mockery of obedience to God, the only-happy ending of when you find your true love, manipulation or lying for ‘good reasons’… and I don’t know what the deal is with Disney– why does every princess have no mom? 

My stance on movies is this: the World’s rating is more… liberal than mine.  So if the World rates it as PG-13, then my kids will have to be a good 5 years older than 13 to watch it.  If it’s rated PG, I’m surely going to use my parental guidance to nix it until I’ve checked it out thoroughly.   

We use dove.org for getting previewed information on any movies we are considering watching.  Dove monitors things like profanity and nudity (yes, people, cleavage is nudity!) but also looks into themes and sub-messages that we may want to be wary of or things that would be good topics of discussion with our kids.

Be purposeful in this area of parenting; it takes diligence, but if we don’t work to protect our children’s innocence, who will?