What should a family room look like?

I thought you might like a peek at our family room (aka the den).

Every family is different.

Frugal gardening!

Remember we talked about winter sown seeds? This idea of putting the seeds right out there in their own mini environments really appeals to me. It appeals to the part of me that loves to grow things, and it appeals to the part of me that's really, really cheap. I hope it works.
I don't like how hard and expensive it is to grow things from seed the usual way. I mean, buying plants is obviously expensive, but even though seeds themselves are a good deal, the means with which to get them to the garden are not. Grow lights, shelving, peat pots, warming mats, insulating towers, blah blah blah... you could spend a fortune trying to save money growing veggies!
Also, my house has FIFTY-TWO windows, and no good southern exposure!! Why does the universe hate me so??Some things seem to do great planted "as is". I have good luck with beets, swiss chard, lettuce, and other cool weather seeds. But some are a problem, especially because the time to plant them -- mid-May -- is an extremely busy time with family activities -- and promises to be even more so this year with Rosie's wedding, Suzanne's graduation, Will's graduation...oof!

With winter sown seeds, you use recycled containers, soil (cheap soil, not super special soil, although I didn't hunt for a bargain here because I was, as usual, in a rush), and that's it. There is a forum on planting seeds early outdoors with a lot of people posting helpful pictures -- pictures that make you drool and want to get out there right now!

I ransacked the recycling bin for materials. This leftover box with its plastic covering (not my purchase, I promise you!) seemed ideal for a mini-greenhouse, with a little tweaking.
I had been stockpiling a few cartons...and one thing that will be very handy is an enormously long roll of packaging plastic (the kind that's cells with air blown in -- this is after the kids popped them all, of course :)
I'm just getting started, but I'm excited. Can you see in the first picture that the milk jugs have been sliced and then put back together?
I got one of those large sturdy re-usable grocery bags (this one was free from the store!) and put my big bag of soil, my clear plastic, and my seeds in there to keep handy for the next planting session.
I hope that you will do this along with me if you are interested! I'd like to know how it works for you. I'm a little worried that it won't work for me, but if it doesn't, I won't be out that much.

Thanks to Ann Kroeker for the link!

Proclaim a fast, or, Ask for the old paths.

Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart...Joel 2:12

I had two good titles for this post, so I used them both :)

If the Good God thought that a day was enough for our sanctification, I suppose He might have limited our perception of time to that span. Every day would be enough -- we'd wake up with a renewed spirit, go along experiencing all the challenges each twenty-four hours brings, and in the evening we'd ask for forgiveness for what we'd done.

I'm not suggesting that Mardi Gras doughnuts are the worst sin :)

There would be no need for the seven days of a week, with its uphill climb of work and then the mercy of rest on Sunday. There would be no need for the four seasons of the year, with their rhythm of growth, bounty, fading glory, and cold death. There would be no mirror of our spiritual life in the nature we see all around us.

I'm not sure what mirror bunnies hold up to our nature. But they are our bunnies.

We go along with our hearts more -- and often less -- fixed on the things that matter; we see those in our family getting closer -- or perhaps not so close -- to the Lord.

It occurs to us mothers that we should do something about it -- sweep out the debris, find the tender buds under the snow, look for purification.
Can we do this on our own? What if a long time goes by before we are reminded? What if we get wearied by having so many things to think about all the time? What if we are too ground down by routine to listen to Jesus?What if families have faced just these same questions for ever?

Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. Jer 6:16

The old paths suggest that we can't rely on ourselves for this renewal. And so the Church has given us this time to prepare in a specific way for the unspeakable glory of Easter. All of Christendom turns a waiting ear to hear more. We don't have to go on our efforts: our Mother the Church opens her arms with what we need, just at this moment.Does it not make sense -- Biblical sense -- to allot forty days (with all that forty days means, right from Noah to Jesus fasting in the wilderness) to prepare for the great Feast that comes all too soon for our poor natures to quite grasp?

(Funny -- we are getting ready for a wedding, we mothers and daughters. We are considered borderline insane for not budgeting an entire year for the preparations necessary for this feast!)

These are the crosses I could muster this morning.

Even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting...
Blow the trumpet in Zion! proclaim a fast, call an assembly;
Gather the people, notify the congregation;
Assemble the elders, gather the children and the infants at the breast;
Let the bridegroom quit his room and the bride her chamber.

In an acceptable time I heard you,
and on the day of salvation I helped you.

Behold, now is a very acceptable time;
behold, now is the day of salvation.

Jesus said to his disciples:..."When you fast,
do not look gloomy like the hypocrites.
They neglect their appearance,
so that they may appear to others to be fasting.
Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.
But when you fast,
anoint your head and wash your face,
so that you may not appear to be fasting,
except to your Father who is hidden.
And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you." [Suggesting that there is an acceptable time for fasting!]

Readings from the Mass for Ash Wednesday found here, only part of a sound Scriptural basis for Lent!

Thanks to Monday's Muse for hosting the link!

Spring cleaning for the soul: Lent

Do you keep Lent?

I recently had someone tell me, somewhat smartly, that he "doesn't keep Lent." Okee dokee. Funny that he thought he had to make that clear...





But why not keep Lent?

I think that we naturally want order in our days and in our years, and I don't mean the switching out of decorations prescribed by the "powers that be" in the mall. Problem is, if you don't want to play along, you can be left with a strange bereft feeling...

We need something. The Church has been gently guiding with that something for a couple of millenia now...

A penitential season is a little different from what you get from Hallmark: there are no decorations for it -- nothing to buy, nothing to sell, nothing to send a card about.

But it's real. Don't you feel it? Is the urge to clean starting to grow in your bosom? Don't you feel a little sick of yourself eating cookies? (I still have Christmas candy. And Valentine's candy, which was a big bag of jellybeans I forgot to put out for Christmas. I haven't eaten it all yet! That's how much there was.)





We haven't felt much in the way of spring breezes hereabouts, but every once in a while in February there's a whiff of something far off, longing to be reborn...but it requires something from us, doesn't it?

Lent in the family is an amazing time to watch one's children rise to the occasion. More is asked and more is given, without any grumbling, which hardly seems possible, because in the deep winter everyone can be awful grumblers, complainers, and snackers. And slackers. Me too.

Ash Wednesday is this week. It's time, now, to start asking ourselves and the kids, "What should we give up?" "What should we give?" "How will we pray?" When our kids were little, we'd do this on Mardi Gras, which you might think is a bit of a downer :)

But they can astonish us with their response, and maybe prick our conscience a little, too. We can do better.

“Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others, you open God’s ear to yourself.” --
Saint Peter Chrysologus

So let's talk turkey about cooking for Lent. (Later we'll talk about spring cleaning.)

We are shameless about loving ice cream in this family -- a bowl every night before bed, mmmm.....

But I find that a little something milky does help settle the stomach and provide calcium for those who don't drink much milk. So, one of the few packaged foods I buy, instant pudding (the label shows it really isn't too bad, additive-wise), will make an appearance in these thrift-store custard cups.



 

Also some thickened yogurt with a little honey goes down well as a bed-time snack.

I have been trying to stockpile Lenten supper ideas -- the tried-and-true and the new. We always have mujadara on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. The one I grew up with uses cracked wheat as often as rice (soak the cracked wheat for a couple of hours before cooking), needs some allspice and cumin, and is always served with plain yogurt on the side.

Hot cross buns are a must for a day of fasting.




One thing that observing the liturgical year does is build wonderful memories that are self-activating -- in other words, the season spurs them, rather than the burden being on you to remember on your own to bring them up.

So if year after year you do more or less the same things on the same holidays or, in this case, fast days, the memories build, until one day even the least attentive of your children will say, with joy, "We always do this on this day!" And you will realize that it's true!

But it takes a long time, so hang in there!

We'll do a lot of pasta tossed with bits of fish, like sardines, and olives and sundried tomatoes. Clam chowder. And if I can get some pastry rounds in the freezer, quiche should be a breeze. With a side of sweet potatoes, salad, and good bread, it'll make up for those meaty dishes we'll cut down on a bit. Remember to make your weekly menus, as always.

For sugar fanatics like me (never mind the kids!), gingerbread, scones, and these date cookies called ma'amoul are a must. I've been dreaming about them for years, and I think I'll get to them at last. The only sugar in them is from the dates themselves. True, they have a lot of butter, but you gotta have something...



What Lenten suppers do you make?

Bland Diet and Tray Meals: taking care of a sick one.

A big part of being a Mom is knowing how to take care of a sick person with love and skill. I actually think that training in nursing should be required of all women, just like Home Ec. used to be. We need both. Now we don't have anything, and so we have...blogs :)

VIII: Save a Step at Breakfast

{I first published this as a Google document, mainly because I wasn't going to have any pictures to go with it, and you know I like posts to have pictures. My thought was that this should be something easy for you to print out and put in your menu binder. But now Google has messed with things, so I'm just posting it.}

Go here for Worksheet I.

Go here for Worksheet II.

Go here for Worksheet III.

Go here for Worksheet IV.

Go here for Worksheet V.

Go here for Worksheet VI.

Go here for Worksheet VII.

Worksheet VIII: Save a Step at Breakfast

So now that you have mastered dinner (click on links I-V above!), let's do breakfast.

You need to be stocked up with the right things, and as I always say, each family is different.

Do the same thing with your menus that you did with dinner: Find out what everyone really wants to eat and add your special dash of common sense and practicality. Then make a shopping list based on what you eat. For breakfast it will be simpler than for dinner, because a week’s rotation is usually plenty.

Breakfast must have protein, and milk alone isn't enough. Personally, I am subject to fits of low blood sugar, and I am well aware of how I don't function unless proteined up. Do you think a kid is any less affected?

Do just what you want, but do something! At our house, the weekday breakfast selection looks like this:

~ Toasted bagels and cream cheese. (I am lucky that my cheap store sells a store brand of bagels that are tasty and don't include any soy flour or high fructose corn syrup. I stock up on good cream cheese when it goes on sale – usually around holidays – and it lasts a good while, although it doesn't have preservatives. It's the packaging, I think. Either that or I'm in la-la land!)

~ Eggs with shredded cheese and leftover breakfast meat crumbled in if I have it; toast with butter.

~ A Papa’s Special. Butter a toasted English muffin and put peanut butter on one side and honey on the other. Smush together. Technically, this is a Mama’s Special, because Papa doesn’t butter his. But it’s better my way. (Funnily, a friend to whom I was offering breakfast ideas {well, she asked!} said that her family had the same thing, calling it Daddy’s Special!)

~ Pancakes with breakfast meat on the weekends, with leftover breakfast meat crumbled into the batter during the week. (This is incredibly easy with my Pancake Mix – see the Breakfast Recipe document.)

~ Oatmeal Porridge Like Mother, Like Daughter. (Filling and yummy – see the Breakfast Recipe document.) I confess that we don't eat this super often, because I'm too spacey to get it ready the night before, but when I do, it's appreciated! Also, leftovers are easily microwaved, so one cooking bout can last a few days.

~ Cereal. Since mostly we like eggs or bagels, there isn't a lot of cereal consumption around here. But it is handy in a rush, if used cautiously and with guidelines.

#1. Mixing the cereal. At first this concept totally grossed me out. But then I saw that if you insist on a sugary cereal being mixed with granola, the child is happy and you are happy, and it's actually tasty. No eating even whole-grain Cheerios by themselves around here. And by sugary I mean what most people consider health food. A fruit-loop has never crossed my threshold!

#2. Make your own granola (recipe in the Breakfast Recipe document.) Now, Nourishing Traditions is anti-cereal and anti-granola. But I'm not sure I understand exactly why. I cook my granola at 325*. Granted, it's not soaked, but elsewhere in the book it seems clear that soaking isn't always required. So until I know more, I'm sticking with this.

#3. Also have a piece of toast, some yogurt, or a piece of cheese. My teenagers get away from me on this, but by now they know how they feel by 10 o'clock -- it's up to them. But no 6-year-old is having a bowl of cereal and calling it breakfast!

A lot of this can be done by the child himself. I let them more or less choose, although if someone is feeling wan or acting up, I make them their eggs.

So all of this goes on your grocery list. Try to figure out how many packages of bagels you use in a week. Next week adjust. Put them in your big freezer.

Get more than enough eggs. Eggs are cheap. They last. Why buy one carton at a time? With my seven at home, I bought up to six dozen at a time.

Buy good sharp shredded cheddar cheese. It's no more per pound than a brick, and it's needed to anchor those eggs. If it’s already shredded you will use it.

Stock up on oats and Wheateena. Buy a few cartons of buttermilk. (I don't hold with dry buttermilk. By my calculations it seems much more expensive, and buttermilk isn't going to spoil around here with all the pancakes and biscuits everyone likes!)

Get extra bacon on sale, cook it up on Sunday morning, shield it with your body (everyone can live with two or three pieces of bacon -- they don't need six for crying out loud), and hide it way back in the fridge to use during the week. Same with sausage.)

Don't practice false economy. What you spend in bagels you will reap in snacks: no one will need a fruit roll-up if they have eaten properly to begin with. Not to mention psychiatry bills for the home-school burnout!

Roasted rutabaga, or, better call them "sweet chips" if you want anyone to eat any.

I'm such a space shot that I almost forgot to take a picture of the cooked product. Again.

It's just that I go along, hum, hum, hum, getting things ready for dinner, stopping to take a picture here and a picture there, especially trying to get one of my beloved yellow mixing bowl that's so hard to capture in its coziness, when, suddenly, it really is time for dinner and I gotta get it on the table quick.

Because I'm so seldom on time. Sigh.
A rutabaga isn't very pretty. And it isn't very easy to cut. But it's cheap and good for you, and actually very tasty!

First you have to peel it, which is a pain, but must be done due to the waxy preserving dip it's had.Then you take your sharpest heaviest knife and hack.Then you coat with oil.

Then you roast at 425* or so in a shallow pan in one layer, scraping up and turning with a spatula until very browned. Sprinkle with salt and enjoy! They really are sweet and good, lighter than an oven fry (potato), so a happy marriage with a bbq chicken calzone, say.
Now, this blue dish is very small, so don't be fooled. I just put what was left over the next day into it to show you how it looks when done, only I think yours would look hotter ;)

Check out Ann's Food on Fridays!

Thrift store finds.

Right around the corner from Bridget's violin lesson is a consignment store. It's just the right place to spend half an hour.

So far I've found three things I really love there. Want to see?

Of course, there is my plate rack, which you have seen, that I waited about 8 years for:I use everything on this rack -- it's not "for show" -- it's for storage. Well, it's a little bit "for show". ;)

What I really like is that this store prints out its labels with the dates on which the price of the item goes down. The plate rack started at something like $38 (not too bad!), and when I found it, it was at its lowest price, around $18. I figured I'd be hard pressed to get the Chief to make it for less than that, so I snatched it up. It didn't even need to be painted!

A couple of weeks ago I found this for about a buck:There is very little in the store that's actually vintage (most stuff is not interesting, really), so I was pretty happy about this! Love the aqua, love the bird, love the corn, love the size. (Teaspoon for scale.)I can't even commit to putting anything in it, because it's my only one and I don't want to hide it away! Any ideas of what I should use it for?

And yesterday I found these (I'm counting them as one). You can see on the tag that they were marked down to $3.25 for the pair as of this past December. Again, these are unique for this store, which is maybe why they had been passed over. Otherwise I just don't get it, since they are so clearly better than anything else there!We polished them up...yes, they are silver, made in Sweden! They take little slender tapers, which I hope I will be able to find after I use up these from a yard sale a few years ago (because you know I'm all about burning the candles!:)

Covering up ugly tiles the make-do way!

{I've added this post to the Nester's Mr. Linky as well as to Ann Kroeker's. I doubled up. I'm probably a very bad blogger.... but it really did take me 10 minutes to fix devastating tile problem, and it really is a pure make-do :) }

About five years ago, long before we thought we could do the big make-over of our kitchen (which in itself is a make-do project), we had to replace the stove. I was ecstatic: it was that penultimately hideous 70s color, almond (the ultimate being avocado, of course), but worse, the main burner only went on "high" and "off". So, yes, I could use it, but I had to be vigilant lest any overeager helper went near it, all unsuspecting-like. I made do then by moving the pan off and on the hot burner! Ugh.

I needed a new hood, too, almond not being in my plans and the old one not working either. What a revelation to have a light over the stove, especially as it's in a somewhat awkward place!But the new hood didn't reach down as far as the old one, so there was a gap between the tiles and the bottom of the hood. More tragedy! The Chief had the idea of putting an ordinary piece of molding there, and I painted it. So that worked!Of course, the kitchen back splash tiles are wicked ugly and should all be ripped out -- they are a sort of gray with speckles...sigh. But ugliest of all are these three, very special tiles with an herb motif. Now, why? Why? WHY???

I can't even articulate what a crime against aesthetics I think these things are. But there is no way we were re-tiling. We just had to make do! We had all sorts of elaborate ideas on how to cover them up, until I thought of this:A couple of cup hooks, and we were in business! I can't stand to look at those tiles even the short amount of time it would take to remove a tray of cookies from the oven, so the potholders on the left there are the ones I really use:
Ann Kroeker has a fun make-do linky going on...do you have a post to add to her ideas? (By the way, note the drying ziploc bag on my utensils -- do you do that too? :)