This one's for my sister

My sister is an amazing woman who happens to be terribly busy right now. We had a recent conversation about how hard it is to get dinner on the table during the work week when she's working 10 hour days and commute time is a couple hours round trip. Since she has Fridays off and her kiddos are both in school, I suggested taking a bit of time on Fridays to prepare some meals in advance and freeze them. I tried an experiment today to see how long it would take me to turn 7.5 lbs of ground meat into several dinners. It went so well! I started at 11:20 am and by 12:30 pm I had everything ready to go into the freezer. I made enough for 6 meals in less than an hour and a half.

I started with 3 lbs of lean ground turkey (7% fat) and 4.5 lbs of 85/15 ground beef. The first thing I did was start browning 2 lbs of ground turkey for taco/burrito meat. While that was browning, I mixed up a meatloaf/meatball mix:
1 lb ground turkey
3 lb ground beef
2 cups of frozen chopped onion seasoning blend that I ran through the food processor
2 cups Gluten Free Oats
1 cup Ketchup
1 cup tomato sauce
4 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp of salt
3/4 tsp of pepper

For the record, I'm lousy at measuring things in the kitchen. I just toss things in most of the time, so this may or may not be enough salt and pepper for most people, but for meatloaf a sprinkle of salt at the dinner table would work okay. I just estimated how much I thought would be sufficient.

I mixed all the meatloaf/meatball ingredients in my stand mixer. That was one full mixer bowl! About half of this mix was used for a meatloaf and the other half was formed into balls. Meatballs are so versatile. They can be tossed into a crockpot frozen and let cook on low all day, then before you add sauce to them, drain the fat off, top with sauce, allow to warm,  and serve with noodles and a veggie.

After I formed the meatballs, I put them on a cookie sheet in the freezer to freeze individually. When they are completely frozen, I'll pop those little guys into a freezer bag until I'm ready to use them.

The last thing I made was ground beef with barbecue sauce. These are something that can be eaten like a sloppy joe or, my favorite, in a biscuit cup. I use Gluten Free Bisquick or a homemade biscuit recipe to make biscuit dough, line muffin tins with dough, fill with meat and sauce and bake until the dough is fully cooked and browning.

Here's a good tip: When filling zipper bags with food, fold the top of the bag down and it will save you a lot of hassle when you try to zip the bag after filling.

Here's what my 6 days of entrees looked like before going into the freezer:

Doesn't that look wonderful?! I'm so excited. The only thing that would make this better for my sister would be if I would package it up and deliver. Maybe we'll have a cooking day soon and I'll give her a hand. 

It's Seldom as Easy as it Sounds

I'm a fan of Pinterest. It's a fun way to find new ideas for a wide variety of topics. I recently came across a tutorial for no sew Roman shades (http://involvingcolor.com/involvinghome/no-sew-roman-shade-from-mini-blinds/) and thought I'd give it a try today.

When we moved into our house, it had metal mini blinds in every window. While I'm thankful that I didn't have to run out and buy window coverings right away, I'm not the biggest fan of mini blinds. So this tutorial seemed pretty genius to me. But, of course, I thought I needed to modify it for myself. This is going in my girls' bedroom which faces the street, so I wanted to add a liner to pretty it up on the street side. I decided to use black out fabric for the liner and a pretty Asian inspired pink satin for the front side. Some things I didn't take into account for my version of this project are: the weight of my fabric, the time it would take, and the fact that I have an innately curious two year old that wants to "help". Oh, my.

I was a little overly optimistic that I would be able to whip this out and have it back in place ready for nap time. So, here it is nap time and I have 1/3 of the project done. At first, I was really discouraged because I wasn't going to meet my self-imposed deadline and it's been challenging to get this far with the "help" I have. But, as it stands, (or hangs!) I was able to get the liner attached at the top and the window is fully covered for a nice rest. So, I'm calling it a success for now. I hope the weight of the fabric doesn't ruin the project. I'll find out tomorrow :) Success or failure, I'll post pictures, too.

If Children were Puppies...

This morning my toddler and I were sitting on the couch watching a little morning television when she piped up, "Ewww, nasty," then she proceeded to wipe poo on the belly of my shirt. Yes, my sweet little girl stuck her finger in her diaper and wiped it on me! So, it started me thinking, if children were puppies, there are days I would seriously consider finding her a "better" home.

If children were puppies, we could try them out for a while and if they weren't a good fit, we could put them in a box in front of the grocery store with a FREE sign scribbled in Magic Marker on the front. When we weary of the extreme volume of self-expression, we could put them outside with a bowl of water and a chew toy. On a REALLY bad streak, they could be dropped off at the animal shelter, and hope someone comes along and thinks they're cute. No kill, of course!

Like many other (I hope) stay at home moms, I sometimes fantasize about what it would be like to have no, or maybe just one, kid. Life seems so much simpler with just one. Or, if none, I could have a nice office (or even lettuce picking) job. I could go to work every day and the house would be just as tidy as I left it, grocery shopping would be faster (and quieter), I'd have a hundred less loads of laundry every week, and the only butt I'd have to wipe would be my own!

But, oh the things I would have missed by not having children. What a privilege it is to watch my three girls grow into lovely young ladies. I know that I know that even the poo smearer is going to be a dynamic force to be reckoned with in her adult years. She has a world to conquer and I'm pretty sure she'll do it with style!

Back from the Deep End

Have you ever lost your mind temporarily? I sure feel like I have for the last couple months. I've been hesitating to blog about it. While I haven't been fighting an uncommon problem, it is a problem that I'd rather ignore than address. I've been fighting the deepest depression I've ever experienced.

Depression is a preposterous condition to find myself in. We recently moved from Wyoming to California, and while Wyoming was our home for 10 years, CA was our home for all the other years of our lives. It's a wonderful feeling to come "home" after all these years, so the depression I've been in for a few months is all tangled up with guilt. Not a good combination...

On the surface, I have no reason to be sad. It would appear that we've gained what we've been longing for, and we have to a degree, but that doesn't mean life's easy from here on out. There's always an ebb and flow to life, a give and take, so all our gains are tempered by our losses.

The past 3 years of our lives have been pretty frenetic. We found out we were expecting a very unexpected baby, subsequently remodeled and added on to the tiny house that didn't feel big enough for a family of 5, I returned to work with baby in tow after a 6 week maternity leave, juggled work and family for a year before resigning, and then we started our own business last summer. Whew! It was a challenging business, too, physically demanding and time consuming. But, it was the profits from that business that enabled us to move and be near our families again.

Ebb and flow. Sacrifice and reward.

Needless to say, I've been running on an intense adrenaline high for 3 years. I've become a junkie. Bummer. It kind of snuck up on me. Since our move, I've been a full time stay at home mom (which is an adjustment all by itself even outside of the 40% income reduction). I have been (subconsciously) frantically trying to recreate the adrenaline rushes I've become used to by excessive craftiness. It feels so lame, to say "Hi, my name's Mariah, and I'm a psychotic crafter because I can't stand to be alone with my thoughts." It took me a while to realize what I was doing. I started realizing that I had a problem when I noticed how many projects I had started without finishing the previous ones. I was masking the void I was feeling by engulfing myself in busy-ness. The list of creations I've made and baked is pretty extensive, almost shameful.

So, here's the bottom line, I've been fighting the shadow that is depression. I'm giving myself permission to be still and save time for reflection. I'm putting off my return to school until next year. I'm taking care of myself: good food, vitamins, some supplements specific to hormonal balance, exercise, feeding the spiritual side, too. It's okay to have quiet seasons in life. I think I've been needing one. I'm on the verge of kicking this depression in the butt, so I won't be an absent blogger anymore :)

I'm looking forward to finishing the other projects I've started, in a nice orderly manner.

Remember, it's not possible to see the light while looking in the shadows, look up from where you are.

Mariah

Be Flexible

These words were in a caption on an exercise video I did yesterday: Be flexible. They apply to a lot more things in life than stretching you body. Two small words. Seems so simple. But, oh my goodness, it is so hard for me.  There's nothing else that makes it stand out so much as homeschooling my daughter. She struggles a lot in school and I'm coming to realize she's dyslexic. It's more noticeable in some areas than others. Most recently we've started multiplying multiple digit numbers. This is one of the areas that she just didn't "get" when she was younger. I noticed that she was having difficulty getting her columns lined up. I had a stroke of genius (or, so I thought), and had her turn her paper sideways so the lines could help her form her columns. 

It wound up looking like this:

Hmmmm. That didn't work out like I hoped. So, I went to the store and bought some graph paper. I searched high and low for it, too! I finally found it on the bottom shelf with other notebook paper stacked on top of it. Apparently, someone else could use a lesson in organization.

I did draw lines on the paper to give structure to the problem working area.

Not bad, huh? The most amazing part is, she went from about 50% accuracy to nearly 80%. What a relief!

I really do enjoy homeschooling, but I do have a rigid mind set and an idealized notion of the way things should go. It's a little hard for me to accept that just because things go imperfectly, it doesn't mean that it's an epic failure.

It's been a struggle this past week. I've been second guessing myself left and right and wondering if maybe I should just enroll her in public school. But, oh my, she's in 7th grade. That's a crappy year in school for most kids, especially kids with learning difficulties.

Soooo, here's me taking a deep breath and carrying on. I'm stretching myself to continue the good work we're doing and to think outside the box when necessary. I thank God, that He is a creative God and He blessed me with a creative mind. Now to exercise it!

Wee ones have so much to teach us

Anabelle is my 3rd daughter, my "I'm older, wiser and more capable than I was with the first two girls, so this should be a breeze" baby. When she was born, Staci was 11 and Katelyn was 8. That's a lot of years for "in the trenches" parenting. They're really good girls, so I must be a really good mom. Right?

Wrong! Not much has been easy with this child. The pregnancy was my most difficult. Morning sickness, modified bed rest, you name it. My labor with the first baby was only 8 hours, the second baby was 4 hours. I was not prepared for the 22 hours of labor with Anabelle. I never saw that coming! And then, she was so horribly tangled in the umbilical cord, it was almost not a happy ending. Childbirth is a miracle. There is so much that can go terribly wrong even at the last minute, that any delivery with a happy ending is nothing short of miraculous.

I was working part-time and had to go back to work when she was 6 weeks old. I was so blessed to be able to bring her to work with me, because we really needed that paycheck for a while. She was so sweet. I had a little nursery area set up for her in my office. I'd close the door to my office and she'd take nice long naps so I could get lots of work done.

Man! Those days are over! She's 22 months old now. She operates at full speed and full volume every waking moment. It's a struggle every day to get her to sleep for her much needed naps. She is such a tactile child and she wants to experience everything. She distracts herself from sleep with everything she can touch. The other day, I took all her toys away during her nap time. So what does she do? She sticks out her tongue and plays with it!! She's a clever one.

Today, I worked very diligently before her nap to put away anything that would be a visual distraction. Shortly after I put her to bed, I heard her playing in her room. When I peeked in at her, she had put on a princess hat and was reading a book all while talking on the play cell phone. I guess she couldn't sleep knowing those awesome things were in the drawer.

I wound up feeding her a snack then sitting on her bed and rocking her to sleep (like I've been doing a lot lately). In some ways, that annoys me to death. When it was nap time for my older girls, I told them to go to bed and they did. The end. This little one has been teaching me so much, the same old thing doesn't work for every child. If I have to rock her to sleep for every nap for the next year or so, I sure won't be sorry I did at the end of my life. So, instead of getting grouchy about it, I'm just going to pencil her nap rocking time in to my daily schedule. This time is so fleeting, I'm going to be thankful for these extra snuggle moments.

Hug your kiddos while you can!

Mariah

What does 13 years feel like? I can't describe in words. But, I can show it, partially, in pictures.


Whew, look how young I was!

Ferguson's Fhotos

Today my first baby girl turns 13. How can it be? I remember wondering when she turned ten, did we spend enough time at the park, on the swings, doing childish things? Has she enjoyed these early years of her childhood? And now, as she embarks on young adulthood, I wonder how best can I prepare her for all the challenges that are ahead? Is 5 years enough time to teach her how to balance a checkbook, discern integrity in fellow humans and possible future spouses, how to guard her heart yet love much (but, not too freely), how to love God and serve as she's called without getting trampled? Oh the joys and burdens of parenthood. What a privilege to birth this amazing child and do my best to train her in the way she should go. I should say "our" best. We wouldn't be where we are without my amazing husband :) It takes a special strength to live in a house full of girls (one wife and three daughters) without losing sanity.


Ah well, it's celebration time today!


Mariah