It's Just Not The Same Between Us...

I have a confession to make.  As I crawled into my bed to lay next to my wonderful husband in the wee hours of the night, I had a thought of unfaithfulness.  But, wait...it's not what you think.  My thought wasn't about being unfaithful to my man.  It was about cheating on my bed.  You see we have a history...

When I was about 12 or 13 years old I begged and pleaded for a waterbed.  I loved my super-single, full-motion waterbed.  Oh, how, I loved it with all the love you could give a bed.  But, for some moment of insanity later in my teenage years, I allowed my parents to talk me into switching to a regular twin bed.  I don't even remember the particulars about why it would be best.  All I know is that I missed my waterbed.  Then, during my second year of college when I met my sweetheart and we married - fate stepped in.

When my man was 12 years old he took a paper route so he could save money to buy....you guessed it! A full-motion waterbed!  Our love was destiny, the sheer hand of God - for I had met a mate who would love to sleep in the comfort of the waves with me...(sigh)...  Naturally, when we got married and bought our bed we went for a king sized, full-motion waterbed.  We're old school, baby!  None of that waterbed disguised as a real bed crap for us.  Go full-motion or stay home!  Sorry.

We've been married nearly 15 years now.  That bed has served us well.  It has moved 6 times with us.  It's always warm and cozy when we crawl into it at night.  A gentle flick of my foot and it rocks me to sleep.  Mmmm...  But lately... well, let's pretend it were a person.  Here's what I would say.

Dear Waterbed,

I know we have a great history together.  We've had some good times, too.  I love how you've always been there for me, comforting me when I was sick, warming me when I was cold, rocking me gently to sleep every night.  But, lately, things just aren't the same.  I don't feel that you support me like you used to.  This is hard because, well, support is a big part of our relationship. 

I have a confession to make to you.  I've been having thoughts about other beds.  Like tonight, when I went to get back into your warmth after a brief trip to the lavoratory.  I had that old familiar feeling in my lower back.  It wasn't a good one, either.  My mind immediately went to Amanda's (my sister) new Tempurpedic.  I've been fantasizing about those beds a lot for about a year or more now.  They promise no pressure points - that would be good since you don't seem to keep my hands from going numb at night.  They claim perfect support - I've already told you my beef about that.

It's not you.  It's me.  I've changed.  I'm not the same woman that I was 15 years ago.  You've been a good and faithful bed.  But, I think I need more than you can offer me now.  I just wonder if I could ever love another bed as much as I've loved you.  Could Chris ever love another?  These are some of the things that we need to work out.  But, no matter what happens in the future always know that I really, truly loved you - and a part of me always will.

Pam

HAITI

Picture from the Boston Globe

I know that there is information flying all over Blogland and the internet right now about the devastation in Haiti and how you can help.  But, in light of the latest 5.9 magnitude aftershock that has crumbled more buildings - well, I feel the need to share one more, and this is where it gets a little personal for me.

Several years ago, while we were living in Florida, my husband and I had the priviledge of meeting a wonderful Haitian couple, Dr. Joel and Rev. Doris Jeune.

Picture from Grace International.Org

The Jeune's oversee 200 churches, 66 Christian schools, 3 orphanages, and feed over 3,000 street children daily in Haiti.  They are one of the most awesome couples I have every had the privilege of knowing - yet, very meek and unassuming.  I can attest to the uprightness and character of these two.  And, along with so many others right now, they need help.  LOTS of help.

Picture from the Boston Globe

Their ministry, Grace International, is based in Carrefour, which was the epicenter of the major quake.  Most of the help that has been sent to Haiti has been unable to reach Carrefour.  Thank God, the mission campuses that they run were unharmed, so they have become refuge centers for between 15,000 and 20,000 of the hurt and displaced.  However, they have no food, no bathroom,  no shelter...

Picture from Grace International.Org

Haiti needs help...in the form of doctors, nurses and volunteers to go there and help with the devastation, in the form of supplies, in the form of host families/facilities to house displaced Haitians until their land is once again habitable, in the form of money (for all of the above and more), and in the form of prayers.

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?  Can such faith save him?  Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.  If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?  In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. ~ James 2:14-17

I believe that we should help those in need when we can.  I also believe that no act of kindness is too small.  Don't let the thinking of 'it's not enough' stiffle you from doing something, anything.  If we all do something, much will be accomplished.  Maybe you're not in a position to go to Haiti and help, but you could host a family or a child.  Maybe you can't host a family or child, but can send monetary help.  Maybe you're not in a position to even squeeze an extra $5 out of your finances right now, but you can offer up prayers.  Every act of kindness is a seed that will reap a harvest.

If you would like to find out more about what is needed and how you can help, then please take a moment to visit Grace International.  Actually, please take a moment and visit anyway... (Keep scrolling down - there are many pictures and much information).  There is also a way to give on that page.  The funds will go right to Grace International and provide assistance to places that haven't been able to be reached much, yet.

Thanks for listening,

Pam

Weekend Tidbits and Stick People

Well, I'm 35 years old and have lived in the Midwest for all but 9 years of my life.  This morning I heard the weather man discuss something that I can honestly say that I have never heard of before; freezing fog.   Really?  What the heck?  Anyone else ever heard of freezing fog before?

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I learned that rice gets mushy and breaks apart if you cook it all night long in the Crock Pot.  Just in case you couldn't live without that piece of information.

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Friday, I went back to Trader Joe's.  While there looking at the yogurt, another woman who was next to me grabbed some.  Then she moved on - I thought.  After taking another minute or so to weigh my options (no pun intended), I grabbed a container of full-fat, plain Greek yogurt.  She must have been lingering close enough to watch and see what I would grab because, when I put it in my cart she backed up and asked me what I was going to be using it for - baking or eating.  I told her I planned on eating it (without going into details about my considering also using it as a starter to make my own yogurt).  Then she asked me if I had looked at the calories in it. "No."  I was thinking, "Do I look like the kind of woman who looks at calorie content?".  But, I refrained.  She then proceeded to give me a whole lecture about taste versus fat versus calories versus nutritional content and what she heard a dietitian say about it, blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada.  In case you can't live without knowing what she eats; she likes the plain fat free yogurt, with fruit and honey added to it.  I know, you'll sleep better tonight now.  You're welcome. 

I got really tickled in addition to my shock that this whole scenario was taking place to begin with.  I was only laughing on the inside, though.  It would have been rude to laugh out loud.  I try really hard not to be rude on purpose.  It might be helpful to paint a visual picture for you of what all of the Trader Joe's customers look like, though.  Stick people.  They all look like stick people.  Except for me.  I am definitely not stick people.  I must have stuck out like a sore thumb while shopping at Trader Joe's.  I must have looked like a fish out of water.  I must have looked like a cow staring at a new gate.  I must have looked like a deer caught in headlights.  I must have...well, you get the point.  So, anyhoo...I think it's super funny.  I have this scenario playing in my head now of this nice, compassionate, stick woman with a heart of gold getting to tell all of her stick family and stick friends how she was able to reach out to a poor lost soul in Trader Joe's and help rescue her from the evil of excessive fat and calories.  May the Good Lord bless her with health and prosperity for all of eternity.  Amen.

So, this morning for breakfast I ate 2% fat Greek yogurt with raw honey and an organic banana sliced up in it.  Maybe, if I keep shopping at Trader Joe's long enough I'll be stick people, too, one day.  I hope that stick people-ness just happens like osmosis through the air in there or something.  Wouln't that be awesome?  Ok, I'm gonna go think about excercising now.

Lord, thank you for sending us stick angels from time to time.  And, bless all the little pygmies in Africa.  Amen

Peace out!

Pam

P.S.  My blogger format has changed and I can't find my spell checker on here for the life of me.  Please forgive if I look like I cain't spell.  There's a good chance I cain't.

Monday in the Kitchen

Monday was sooooo busy for me. I was in the kitchen for the. entire. day. Seriously. I needed to make some multi-grain bread. Then, I got a wild hair and decided to try my hand at baking French Baguette while I was at it. Six loaves of French Baguette to be exact. I know, what was I thinking? I cleaned the house, I helped Isaac with his school work.

Then it was time to make dinner - homemade pizza. So, after baking seven loaves of bread I had to make pizza crust, caramelize onions, and cook the meat for our pizza toppings. By the time we were done with dinner that night - I was done myself. D.O.N.E. But...I still needed to clean the kitchen. UGH! It was the very last thing I wanted to do. I thought about NOT cleaning the kitchen and just letting it all wait until Tuesday morning. After all, my back was screaming and my dogs were barking - that means my feet hurt in Hillbilly vernacular. But there's something about waking up to a clean kitchen. I used to let it wait 'till the next morning all the time. I used to always feel like I was behind before I ever got started, too. So, I dug in and cleaned the kitchen. Come Tuesday morning I was glad that I did!

Boy, when my head hit the pillow that night - I was gone. I don't remember anything! I slept like a rock all night long. It was one of the best night's sleep I've had in a while.

If you'd like to take a peek at my French Baguette making escapades - visit Adventures in Homemaking. Also, I'd like to invite you sign up for that blog as well. You can click on the 'subscribe to' button on that page. I'll be posting there more frequently because I run a household every day and only do fun stuff outside the house some days. :0) Plus, my brain can get pretty fried in regards to anything not to do with the house. :0) So, I hope you choose to join me at my other blog, too!

Happy Wednesday!

Pam

WHAT STYLE ARE YOU?

Feel like having a little design fun today? Then take a short design quiz at Sproost and see what your decorating style is!

My style came up equal parts Nantucket and Mountain Lodge -with a little Wine Country or Cottage Chic thrown in for good measure. How's that for variety? LOL! I never really thought of myself as a beach lover - I'm more of a mountain girl. But, when they explained the feel of beach style - well, I do love pale colors, wood and comfort. Incidentally, those two styles have a lot in common; no frills, bring nature in, cozy, comfortable... This was a little surprising to me, but amazingly accurate.

This is one example of what could be considered Nantucket or beach style. I love the pale colors, bead board and wood floors. Check out that wicker trash can by the pedestal sink. It's all about light and texture. Love it!

This would be another example. More bead board on the cabinets, light colors, painted floor. Are we seeing a theme here? Both of these photos came out of my inspiration file. I don't remember where I got them from. If anyone knows and wants to tell me, I'll happily post the source.

Picture from Sproost

Then there is the Mountain Lodge. Look at that fireplace! I can't even begin to tell you how much it love it! Then there is all that wood and the built-in book cases. I love this room even though a couple of the sofas and the ottoman are a little dark for my taste. Lighten the fabric up some and white wash some of that wood and I think it would be a happy mix with the Nantucket style!

If you want to take the short quiz to find out where your design style fits in, head on over and visit Sproost.

Have a great weekend!
Pam

P.S. Check out Adventures in Homemaking to find out how to make a great herbal shampoo!

Trader Joe's Rocks!

I went to a really cool store the other day. Have you ever heard of Trader Joe's? It's sort of like a Whole Foods Market - but, waaaaaayyyyyyy cheaper!

I have been out of Castile Soap for a while. The last time I bought it I was able to get it at Meijer. They don't seem to have it anymore. Neither does anyone else in these here parts. I read somewhere that Trader Joe's carried it - and at very reasonable prices. We have one on the north side of Indy. Not a trip I'd like to make every week - but close enough for a once a month trek if needed.

I was SUPER impressed. They have tons of natural and organic foods for not much more than the prices I pay for the antibiotic riddled, pesticide ridden junk I buy at the regular stores. For instance they had antibiotic free whole chickens for $1.29 lb. I pay $.88 ON SALE for the regular kind. So, that's probably about the same as the non-sale price for Purdue chickens. They also had free-range, hormone free, antibiotic free whole chickens for $2.39 lb. I was checking out prices online at Costco a few days ago. They were glad to sell me 2 of the latter chickens for forty bucks. FORTY BUCKS!!! You have GOT to be kidding me! I'd have to sell my son, my right leg and my left kidney to shop there for very long with those prices! Puh-lease!

Check out the size of the Trader Joe's EVOO. I paid $5.99 for over a quart of it. That little 8.5 oz bottle was $2.00. The Trader Joe's olive oil is 4 times larger than the cheap little bottle I bought at Dollar General Market, yet, it's not 4 times as expensive. I'm anxious to see if the quality is better, too. It was recommended as a customer favorite.

Here's the Castile Soap with the huge bottle of EVOO. I'm not sure of the ounces at the moment and I'm too lazy busy to go downstairs and look. But, it's huge. I paid $7.99 for this bottle and it will last me until my 14th grandchild is born. The last bottle I bought was the same brand but about 1/2 the size. I paid at least ten bucks for it. So, needless to say, I was pretty pleased.

So, if you're looking for a good, wholesome place to shop - check out Trader Joe's website and see if there's a store near you. I'll definitely be a return customer.

Pam

P.S. Check out Adventures in Homemaking to find out a cheap, easy way to stay healthy this winter.

CHRISTMAS CATCH-UP

Well, this post is slightly over-due. Here it is January 7 - and I'm just now posting about Christmas! But, it still looks like Christmas outside! We are being slammed by a heavy snow and I won't be going anywhere. We've been fortunate to miss the heavy Winter storms so many others were hammered with. I guess it's our turn now. I just thankful I don't have to get out in it.

Christmas was wonderful this year. It seemed to be extremely busy leading up to it, though. Of course, there was school. I did some baking to make gift baskets to take up to Michigan with us. Though, I didn't bake as much as last year.
We made time to make a gingerbread house. I can honestly say, I've never done that before. But, I think we'll make it a yearly tradition. I found this kit for $6.99 at Aldi. I wouldn't have been able to buy the ingredients and make it myself for that price. So, this was a good way to ease into gingerbread house making.

I read where one mom always buys these kits after Christmas when they go on clearance and puts them back with her Christmas stuff for the next year. Evidently, they keep very well. I thought it was a brilliant idea and wanted to do that myself. Unfortunately, all the stores that stocked them in my little area were sold out after Christmas.

Isaac had a great time with this. It even had ginger people and trees. But, in typical Pam fashion - I somehow only got rear shots of the house - so you can't see them.

Christmas was spent with my family in Michigan. I think it was the best Christmas we've had so far. We were able to get up there in time to actually enjoy it. Last year, we completely missed the big family gathering on Christmas Eve altogether. Chris was supposed to get off work at noon and they didn't let him out of there until 6 PM. Then our 3 1/2 - 4 hour drive somehow morphed into a 5 hour drive. Needless to say, Isaac missed the gift exchange with all of his cousins. This year we got up there the night before Christmas Eve and didn't leave until the day after Christmas. There was plenty of time to spend with family.

New Year's Eve was spent with our best friends. We don't get to hang out as often as we'd like. So, that was a lot of fun.

The Christmas decorations are finally down. I'm glad for that. They seemed to feel a little more like clutter to me this year than something to be enjoyed. The outside lights still need to come down. But, I told Chris he should just wait 'till it warms up slightly before doing that. He doesn't need to be out there when it's 20 degrees. As long as we're not those Christmas in July people, I don't really care. I know that suits some people just fine - I just don't happen to be one of them.

We're getting back into the rhythm of school. We're in for a long stretch now - no more breaks 'till March.

Hopefully, it will snow enough that we can go sledding this weekend. We've been back up here for 3 years now, and Isaac has still never gotten to go. Even when we had the big blizzard - it was melted off too much by the weekend to go. So, maybe this will be our year. He's also itching to build a snowman. I think we'll be able to do that with this snow. And when we get enough, we'll make snow ice cream. We have to. It's tradition, you know?

Well, I hope you have a wonderful day!

Pam

P.S. Don't forget to check out my new sister blog, Adventures in Homemaking for all things house and home!

New Blog Launch

I have been kind of stagnant with this blog lately. My life has been very busy with what most would see as the mundane. I haven't done anything extremely stupid to blog about lately for your pleasure (thank God). And I have felt like I have been lacking direction where the blog is concerned. I love blogging - I've just been very bad at it lately.

On the same token, I have been feeling a very strong pull lately to get back to the basics - to learn the art of simplicity. I have given myself the challenge of learning the art of homemaking like women for many generations before me knew it. I am a homemaker. I am going to fully embrace that calling. I want to learn to make things from scratch that I have thoughtlessly bought from the stores my whole life. I want to hone my sewing skills. I would like to learn to knit or crochet. I want to learn many more things in the craft of homemaking. I need to get organized and on a cleaning routine. I desire to cut spending costs in as many ways as possible. My husband and I have lofty goals of raising chickens and canning all of our own veggies. That means we'll need to learn more about gardening (and leaving a butt load of tomatoes on the vine because they ripened late and I was too busy won't be an option). One day we'd love to have a cow and a pig, and be self-sufficient. And, I'll need to do all this while homeschooling. Call me crazy. I probably am.

In light of this, I have started a new blog that will deal specifically with my quest for becoming a Domestic Diva, Adventures in Homemaking. I will still blog here about my stupid antics, family life, random ramblings and goings on. I just have a feeling that I'll be spending more time at my other blog posting about homemaking - simply because I do that every. single. day.

So, let me extend a personal invitation to you to join me over at Adventures in Homemaking. I hope you'll come by and visit me often.

Oh yeah, Happy New Year! I pray this year is filled with goodness for you!

Pam