i asked God for a ministry. i told Him i want to make a difference in people's lives...

and He answered me.

because that's what He does.

so i listened?!?! and said, "ok"?!?!?!

{shakes head}

here's what happened:

so, i woke up this morning, totally not feeling it. i don't quite know how to explain "it," but i wasn't feeling it. gosh, mornings like that are just swell, aren't they? {rolls eyes}

but i got girlie off to the bus (the boys had spent the night with their dad) and i sat down on the couch with my handy-dandy notebook. (the power chord for my laptop is dead - at least i hope it's just the power chord :S )and i turned on the tv. i decided to watch a christian show that i never watch, but for some reason, i watched today. the guest was a man who rescues children from the sex trade in cambodia. and then i started thinking/praying, God, i want a ministry. doesn't have to be something like that, but i want something. just give me something to do. and the man made a really good point that we often think we need all kinds of education and training and what-not to do something for God, but we really don't. He'll put us where He wants us.

so i turned off the tv, and i actually found a great verse for this morning. i took it as my theme verse o' the day:

i cry out to God Most High,
to God who will fulfill His purpose for me.
Psalm 57:2

and then i pulled out my journal and prayed (yes, i write out my prayers. otherwise, i get too distracted and ooh! look! something shiny!!!..... k, i'm back, what was i talking about? ah, yes. i get distracted easily. why was i telling you that?? right. i was praying).

so, i ask, God Most High, give me a purpose. give me a ministry. give me something to do that will make a difference in people's lives.


He answers... wait for it..., clean the house.


i'm not even joking.

when i complained rolled my eyes argued asked piously for some clarification, i said, no, i wanted something that would make a difference. who would this possibly minister to?


He replied, the kids.


sigh. totally not what i was hoping for. i'll be honest, i wanted something glamourous like a call to india or working with street kids in a big city or something...

nope.

clean the house.

nice.

well, i bargained replied graciously and with the piety of mother theresa, because i know it's what You want me to do, i'll do it. just... give me joy while i do it. thanks.


sigh.

so right now, there's a load of bedding in the washer, and another waiting to go. i'm about to fold some laundry i did yesterday, load up the dishwasher, collect the garbage, and then try to find the play room floor. and maybe the end of the couch. and maybe, while i'm making a pot of coffee, i'll find at least some of the kitchen counter.

and you know... i'm actually feeling pretty good about this. like God actually has given me joy to do this job. cool! :)

Philippians 2: 5-11

getting myself un-dis-organized

so, over the last few months, like, since i started working in november, i've gotten a little disorganized.

ok, a lot disorganized.

well! that all stops today.

i'm working on a filing system for bills. a binder with two sections:

1. paid
2. awaiting $$

because i can't pay a bill if i don't have money... see how that works?

the other thing i'm working on is re-instating the weekly menu. and when i plan the menu, i don't just plan suppers. nope. i plan everything we eat for the week.

• breakfast
• lunch (including school lunches)
• snack
• supper

this way, if i need to make, say, muffins for breakfast or bread for sandwiches, i know ahead of time and i can make it the night before.

the other thing this allows is for budgeting and variety in our meals. i always find that spend at least half again as much on groceries when i don't plan the menu, and we end up eating the same things over and over. which isn't always a bad thing, since i am a pretty good cook, but i am capable of making a lot of different things, and most of those... never get made. :( so this way, i can make more of the foods we enjoy for a lot less money. 

and let's not forget the calendar!!

for christmas i got the Cake Wrecks calendar (SQUEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!), and it's got plenty of room for writing down, well, everything!!!!

• my work schedule
• school project due dates
• library book return dates
• appointments
• pay day
• bills due
• play dates

you get the idea, i'm sure. basically, if we're doing it, or we should be doing it, it goes on the calendar.

i may also include specific tasks to be done around the house. things like, "wash bedding and towels" or "baking day" or "organize so-and-so's bedroom."

and yes, i'm going to have a baking/cooking day. i figure, if i do it on saturdays, then we'll have good snacks for the week and the kidley-winks can help me! muffins for breakfasts, cookies or granola bars for snacks, and any suppers i can make ahead of time for thursdays or other busy days.

anyway, that's the plan for now. the way i see it, if i work on one disorganized part of my life at a time, i should be completely organized by the time i'm 80 or so. that's my goal, at least. {wink}

i'm making up another soup "recipe" :)

last night for supper, we had perogies with bacon. i would have fried up some onions, too, but i thought i was all out. {tears}

i only used about 2/3 of the package of bacon last night. the rest i threw into the freezer, to be used later for some as-yet-unspecified culinary concoction.

well, gentle readers, that "unspecified culinary concoction" is now specified.

huzzah!!!

it's cold, it's snowy, it's a day at home. and i wanted to cook. but i find that i run out of ideas for supper by late afternoon, and i end up staring into the fridge, freezer, pantry, and contemplating take-out. (last night i dreamed little caesar's closed and we were unable to get cheap pizza!! the horror...) so i have decided to go back to weekly menu planning and slow cooking (er...cooking slowly? blerg!). so this afternoon, when i started working on lunch...

i came up with supper.

i ran over to the freezer and pulled out the leftover bacon from last night. after a little cheer, i tossed it into the pan with... you guessed it... bacon fat!!! what was food like before some genius mind realized that bacon fat is amazing?!?!? couldn't have been very good, i don't think. but that's just me. and i love bacon. a lot. it's just so... so... bacony... {drools all over keyboard}

{puts out drool-induced electrical fire on keyboard}

and... we're back.

where were we? ah, yes. bacon.

so, i began frying up the remaining bacon, which i had actually cut into smaller pieces last night. so that's going on the stove, and i decided to go potato hunting in my kitchen. and in the process, i found...

onions!!!!


again, i heart onions. they just fill a dish with flavour, and yet they're so simple and easy and versatile and yum-tastic.

especially when they're fried in bacon fat. {wink}

i was going to use them for a soup creation, but as i was looking at the bacon and onions there in the pan, i started thinking... stew? pasta? a different soup?

in the end, i went with my original idea. and here's what i threw together:

Mexican Lentil and Bacon Soup


so, like i said, i used 1/3 lb of bacon, cut into smaller pieces, and fried in bacon fat with 1 diced onion. while cooking, i added a little bit of mexican flavour. el yum!

i poured the bacon and onion into the slow cooker, being (somewhat) careful to not dump in copious amounts of liquid beauty fat. i then added some diced tomatoes, and mixed it all together.

pour in some lentils. the amount? um... i don't know... a cup... ish??? till it looked right. let's go with that.

mix it all together.

at this point, i threw in some mexican seasoning and a touch of cumin.

throw in some frozen spinach, and some chicken broth, and a little bit of water, and...

voila!!

i'll post later with the results... but it smells pretty good already!

UPDATE #1: i just sampled the broth. if it tastes this good when it's done cooking, i would take a bullet for this soup. it's just. that. good. will update with final results later. :)

perfect imperfection

what an incredible morning!

this morning, i got up at 7:00. i only hit snooze twice (i've set it for 6:42 to allow me to do just that... yes, i know, i'm a genius). i came downstairs and made myself a small pot of coffee and got dressed. then blithe got up, then the boys got up. ok, granted, blithe woke bram up because she wanted to play with his charlie stuffie, and i suspect asher woke up from the ensuing shrieking, but they quickly decided to get along and play nicely. blithe reminded bram about the "no tv in the morning" rule, and miraculously, he didn't complain.

my coffee was ready, so i poured some into my favourite (read: biggest) mug, which i then placed on the (ahem) clear and clean kitchen counter.

and i asked the kids to bring me their lunchbags.

blithe? check. bram? check. (and quickly, which is shocking, when you consider they have the combined attention span of a doorknob. haha ah, ADHD, how you make our lives interesting!) asher?... asher??... asher, sweetie, where's your lunchbag?? ok, blithe and bram, can you please help asher find his backpack? thank-you.

they divided up the house, each kid getting a zone to search. blithe took the upstairs (i'm choosing to ignore the fact that his backpack is never upstairs... but all her justin bieber stuff is... and again, attention span? what's that???). long story short, i found asher's backpack... on the couch. in the open. right there. but, when i gave it to him, he thanked me so sweetly, and he insisted on getting out his lunchbag himself.

and i stood there, watching him, as he unzipped the bag and pulled out his lunchbag and took it to the kitchen and put it on the chair.

and i was amazed.

he's growing up so fast. he's getting to be so independent. he's more mature every day. he's so quickly becoming his own little person.

it's so beautiful.

then i made the kids' lunches as litter-less-ly as possible (they have a competition at school this week: the class that has the most litterless lunches gets a pizza party. hey, whatever works, right?), using some of the containers i picked up at the superstore for $2 a pack ($2 for a pack of 6, and i got 3 different sized sets). i gave the kids their choice of fruit; blithe and bram each wanted an apple, asher chose a banana.

but while we were discussing the fruit, they all stood together in the kitchen, in their little cluster of three... and i looked and them, and i just thought,

wow. they really are amazing people. they're so beautiful and sweet and perfectly imperfect.

it's amazing what you find in your kitchen in seven minutes...

it's no secret that i hate housework. and i mean,

i.

hate.

housework.

well, it's not so much doing it that bothers me. it's the unendingness of it all. i can clean off the counters right now, but by tonight, they'll be covered with stuff again. and laundry. seriously, when is someone going to invent perma-clean clothes????????

ugh.

a few years ago, i gave FlyLady a whirl (the link is on the sidebar). and found it to be just as overwhelming as the mess in my house. so that was a no-go.

but, a friend suggested it again a few weeks ago, so i decided to sign up again. and yes, it took me a while to figure out how to wade through all those emails (and WOW! there are a lot!), which ones to read and which ones to delete unread. but now that i've figured that out, i'm actually not so overwhelmed by it all.

(and please ignore the irony that i can tackle the clutter in my inbox but want to cry when i look at my coffee table.)

anyhoo...

the other day, she issued a challenge: clean up. do it all, toss stuff, put stuff away, wipe stuff down. everything.

for seven minutes.

that's right.

seven minutes.

"bah!" i thought, trapped in some semi-dickensian (time-)warped frame of mind, "seven minutes! i can't clean the house in seven minutes!! humbug!!"

but then i thought... you know... it's only seven minutes... maybe i'll try it...

and prove FlyLady wrong...

because we all know you can't get anything accomplished in seven minutes.

and so, i set off to the black hole pile of clutter kitchen to do some tidying and cleaning. again, thinking, "seriously, seven minutes?? bah! humbug!!" and i set the timer on the stove.

and do you want to know what i did in that seven minutes??

i put away the remaining pantry stuff from christmas that had not previously fit in the pantry. but it fits now... other than the case of KD, so, admittedly, that's still on the floor.

i put all kinds of stuff into recycling.

i almost threw up a bit when i looked in my mini compostainer.

i found several forks.

i found a couple spoons.

i found parts of the floor i'd forgotten were there.

i found out what colour my counter is.

i found my breadmaker.

ok, the breadmaker wasn't lost. i knew where it was. but i couldn't get to it. but now i can!!!

turns out, you can accomplish quite a bit in seven minutes! who knew!!!

ok, probably a lot of you. i'm sure this is some centuries-old strategy and i'm just ridiculously slow in learning it.

and now i have a new housework mantra:

it doesn't need to be perfect; it just needs to be done.

so my plan for today is:

• seven minutes cleaning the kitchen.
• seven minutes tidying the living room.
• seven minutes looking for the dining room table.
• seven minutes in the bathroom.

and i may, perhaps, if i have time (i have to work at 3:30), do the challenge from one day last week: the 27-item fling. basically, you get a garbage bag (or item from your declutter kit, haha), and get rid of 27 things. could be 27 flyers. could be 27 pieces of clothing that are too small. could be 27 toys the kids don't play with anymore. could be 27 mini chocolate bar wrappers. could be 27 miscellaneous items of various shapes and sizes and degrees of decomposition. just get rid of 27 things from the house. if they're donate-able, then toss them in your vehicle and take them straight to the nearest Goodwill or BFM or whatever. if they're garbage, take them outside. if they're recyclable, recycle them. but just get rid of them.

who knows?? by the end of this week, i just might find my floor... at least, i hope so. 

well, i don't know about yours, but our christmas was... wow.

back in early november, i received an email from a dear, dear friend:

Dear Heather

The Christmas season is fast approaching and while the season is one of love, joy, peace and hope, it can also be a season of stress when you have children and want to give them that magical Christmas morning experience.

It was going to be more of a surprise (initially) but after a few conversations with your mom, we decided that perhaps we should share our plans with you in order to alleviate some of the holiday stresses you are feeling.   So here it is:   This year Christmas is on us.   My family, including my parents,  would like to give you guys Christmas.   The plan right now is new pajamas for each child, a new outfit for each child, warm hats and mittens for each, and some new toys for each child.   Plus a bin of dry goods for your cupboards, a gift card for the grocery store (and a few things for you but those can be kept secret!).   Your mom has given me some great ideas for each kiddo (she was my spy on the weekend lol), but if you know something special they are "asking Santa for" or a specific request please let me know.   We were planning to drop the gifts off at your moms (either wrapped or unwrapped depending on if you wanted to see them first or not) and then you can give them to the kids from you.   My children know they are helping shop for some fabulous kids to help them have a great Christmas, but they don't know it's your kids (because they do play once in a while and I didn't want my kids to mention something, albeit innocently and make yours uncomfortable).

Let me know if I'm on the right track.   I'm sorry to blow the secret, and I was planning to just be "santa's elf" but after talking to your mom I didn't want you to be stressed out leading up to Christmas.   I hope that this helps!   I can't think of a family who deserves a little love more than you guys.   You are an amazing mom and you've raised three wonderful, loving, happy children.   And I couldn't be more proud to be your friend.

Merry Christmas! xo

can you believe that?!?! when i read that email, i bawled. an amazing gift from a wonderful friend for my incredible children.

i didn't have to worry about a single gift for the kids. (mind you, i went along thinking for over a month that i didn't have to buy anything, la dee dah, i have no shopping to do so yes, i'm ready for christmas, are you?, and then it occurred to me a couple weeks ago that i needed to buy stuff for my parents, brother, his girlfriend, my grandmother... yeah. insert mad dash to the mall in london and voila! most of that shopping done under budget and in a couple hours. yes, i'm just. that. good. HAHA!!)

christmas morning was, well, unbelievable. the kids got everything on their wishlists. blithe got all things justin bieber, bram got all things lego, and asher got all things elmo. blithe also got an easy bake oven and a lalaloopsy doll, and the boys got some transformers, too.

and the thing is... they were so grateful!! that afternoon, bram was playing with his lego while i wrote a note to my aunt, and he looked up at me and said,

"mommy, i'm really thankful for everything i have."

have you ever heard something so wonderful???

well, i have. that night, as blithe was saying her prayers, she thanked God for all the gifts we got, "because I know they came from you. how did you know i wanted a singing justin bieber doll and an easy bake oven?? well, i suppose you know everything, so of course you would know that, right?"

yesterday, we were driving home from church, and blithe said to me,

"mommy, i'm really thankful for everything you and nana and bampa bought us."

i said, "sweetie, i only gave you a couple things. nana and bampa only gave you a few things. most of those gifts you received yesterday weren't from me or nana and bampa."

and her jaw dropped.

she's been a bit unsure about santa this year, not sure if she still believes or not. but yeah. i'm pretty sure she believes now.

(in case you haven't realized, the kids don't know about this gift to us. i had told blithe that santa is the spirit of giving at christmas, and that's what i'm sticking with. all this stuff... yeah. it's from santa.)

surprise, surprise, i've taken up a new hobby

so, yesterday, asher and i went a-shopping. we were in search of a scarf for him, because, well, it's cold out now, and well, he doesn't have a scarf.

seems logical enough.

did you know that wal-mart doesn't have scarves for wee lads???

or at least none that i could find.

but what i did find...

was yarn!!

and knitting needles!!!

now, i used to knit a little bit, way back when blithe was a baby. and i've been wanting to get back to it lately, because, you know... i don't have enough on my plate lately. haha

anyway, asher loved the idea of a handmade scarf, so he helped me to pick out some yarn for himself and for bram (blithe already has a scarf), and i grabbed some needles, and off we went.

when i came home, i looked up knitting instructions on youtube. so now i've learned to tie a slip know (haha, yes, i needed to start there, apparently), cast on, and do the basic knit stitch. awesome!!!

so far, i am 5 or 6 rows into the scarf, and i'm loving every second of it!! it's very soothing and calming, since it's so repetitive and quiet. i'd forgotten how much i love knitting!!

when i'm done the scarf, i'll post a picture of it so you can marvel at my knitty genius. :)