The Manifesto

Manifesto: Noun. A declaration of one's intentions.

Starting December first, I will keep a Christmas journal. In it, I will write something every day to reflect on the holidays of my past, enjoy the holidays of the present and dream
about the holidays of my future. To some, this will be a stack of papers and trivial scribbles, but not to me. I am taking back my Christmas, I am letting it be something I relish and, most importantly, I am giving at least fifteen minutes every day to myself no matter how crazy this season becomes. I hope you will share, encourage and understand
as I make something with my own hands, my own words and my own memories.

I may post some or all of my entries here. Other artists are doing this with me, and you can see there work here. Or you may join us.

Above all: enjoy the season. I will.

New Ventures

Some new things coming our way, both personally and as a family right now. Some easy and some challenging, but since they are all from the hand of God ... who am I to complain, right? (Or at least, I'm trying not to). :) We are undergoing serious budget crunching right now. Things are tight and looking to stay that way for some time ... bills are getting paid and that's good, but the cupboards are pretty bare right now. We did get to go to the store today for a few things for which I am very thankful. :) I recently read a FABULOUS ebook called Thriving on One Income, well worth the few dollars it cost me to download it. She starts with heart issues towards living on a tighter budget and then gets into some strategies on how to do it and do it well. Two thumbs up. :) She talks over and over again about how wonderful it was to see God provide for their family when things got tight ... I love stories like that.

Another new thing coming up is that I am going to participate in Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas class this year. I know, I know ... why am I taking this class when the budget is tight? Well, mainly because I signed up some time ago before things shifted on the home front; and I was paid for making some invitations for someone and I really try hard to use the money I make from creative projects to either go back into supplies or some thing to help me have a creative outlet. I still need to figure out what album that I'm going to be using and praying that I have one here on my shelves that will be perfect.

Of course, the most obvious of the new things is our new family member joining us next year. We had our 16 week appointment last Tuesday (before Thanksgiving) and heard the little heartbeat again. I haven't felt any significant movement at all from this little one ... not like I did with the girls. They were both so busy early on, that's it's unusual to have one so quiet into the 17th week. Sometimes I get a little anxious about it, but I haven't had any indications that things aren't going okay, and there's nothing I can do about it anyway so working on patience and trust here in a big way. Our ultrasound is set now for December 19th in the afternoon to find out if this will be a little he or she. We really aren't anywhere on names, although Travis threw out Reginald (or was it Rupert) last night in jest. Um, I don't think so. It's been kinda funny ... the question that we've been asked the most concerning this new baby is WHERE are we going to put it?? Our house is only 2 bedrooms, and the girls already share ... there are some that seem very concerned about us having room for one tiny new little baby. :) I'm not too worried. We have a Moses basket that he/she will stay in for the first 2-3 months, or until they get strong enough that I'm worried they will flip out of it. Then, we either have the bassinet insert for the pack-n-play when he/she needs more room or could get my nephew's crib. Lots o' options.

Back in the Swing

We're back from a few days away for Thanksgiving and are working on our re-entry into home life ... mostly for the girls who have had 5 other adults to cater to them for 4-5 days and they are now stuck with just me. :) Life is rough! I'm under piles o' laundry, catch-up on work, and other various and sundry tasks. A few pics from our time away to share ...

Me and Travis on Clingman's Dome - the highest peak in the Smoky Mountains. (And, yes, I was nuts to climb it at 17 weeks pregnant!)



At the Gatlinburg Aquarium ... N1 & Daddy waiting for the sting ray's to swing by so they could touch them.



The little one hugging on Daddy. :)



Tennessee Thanksgiving

To clarify...

For the lovely Debs:

Biscuits and gravy is a breakfast staple if you live in the southern United States. You can make the gravy several different ways, but this is how I make it. Take a pound of ground pork sausage (breakfast sausage, not links or patties) and fry it up in a skillet. Then, I sprinkle the whole pan with flour (for a pound of sausage, I probably use 1/2 cup of flour), and then fill my frying pan with milk. Taking my spatula, I continually stir the flour/milk/sausage mixture until the flour is completely dissolved. Then you keep stirring as the milk starts to thicken and then it turns into gravy with yummy lovey chunks of sausage in it. Ladle that over a warm biscuit, and presto! Biscuits and gravy. I don't use a recipe to make it so it's a little sketchy as I'm typing from memory. My paternal Grandma was THE gravy maker in the family, and she passed that skill on to my Dad, who then passed the gravy-gene on to me. One of the family genes that I was thrilled to get. LOL This is just ONE way of, I'm sure, many to make biscuits and gravy. I believe if you use ham as your base (instead of sausage) it's called red-eye gravy, but I've never attempted that one.

A One-Weigh-or-Another disclaimer: this is definitely not something that I eat regularly because it is fairly fattening. But I splurged ... it was a Saturday morning, my husband was going out to breakfast with my Dad and brother-in-law and I was envious. :) So I tried to recreate that Cracker Barrel feeling at home.

Swonderings

Taking the Swonderings challenge from Women @ Home for this week.

The author points out that no matter how much or how little you put on your blog, there are things that your readers still don't know about you. "They wouldn't recognize your handwriting on a note, be able to discern your laughter in a group, or even know how tall you are. Take a photo of your handwriting, show readers your wardrobe, or record a short clip of yourself humming a tune. You've covered the big topics [in your blog], now get to the details."

I thought this might be fun! So if you can, post a sample of your handwriting or a sound recording of your voice, or even a never-before-seen photo of yourself. Be creative! Challenge yourself.

So, I've uploaded a clip from this past Sunday at church ... I'm singing the Doxology with two friends for our Sunday morning offertory. You'll have to log into Xanga to hear it - I could't figure out how to upload it to blogger, but I could to Xanga. :) Or you can click here to download the mp3 file. I'm the high part - you have to hang in there through the 1st and 2nd verse and then I come in on the 3rd through the end. :)

Thanks, Pattie. :)

One Thousand Gifts #3

41. Saturday mornings.
42. Oldest girl sleeping in. (Past 8 a.m. is sleeping in!) :)
43. Biscuits and gravy for breakfast.
44. A fairly quiet day.
45. Getting out the Christmas tree last night.
46. Letting the 3 year old help Daddy put it up.
47. Pictures.
48. Dogs that haven't run off yet this morning.
49. An inspiring book.
50. A good verse.
51. Potluck dinner tonight at church.
52. An old family friend is in town for the weekend.
53. Travis deciding what seminary class he is going to take in the spring.
54. Having the option of doing it along side of him... (am I crazy!?)
55. A baby that ADORES her Daddy.
56. Planning for a few days out of town.
57. No computer, no email, no cell phone.
58. Lots of Skip-Bo & Uno.
59. One who stands at the door and knocks.
60.

One Thousand Gifts, #2

21. Naptime.
22. The miracle of a new baby not yet born.
23. Being pregnant alongside a good friend.
24. Warm covers on our bed.
25. Clean sheets.
26. Diapers that don't leak.
27. God's amazing colors that he brings out in the fall.
28. The smell of baking muffins.
29. And chili in the crockpot.
30. Hearing that a young woman is making wise choices in regard to her education. (That's you, Lexie). :)
31. Women's Bible study at church.
32. Making Christmas lists for others.
33. Apple cider.
34. Hot coffee.
35. Mail.
36. Catching up with an old friend & meeting her son.
37. Cough drops.
38. Mini-vans.
39. The book of Philippians.
40. Bare baby feet.

Things that make me happy

I'm pretty sure that I've mentioned how much I love grocery shopping at Aldi's. Cheap, cheap food because it's all the Aldi's brand and packaging instead of Kraft or Kellogg's. :) My only complaint with Aldi's in the past is that they don't have lots of fat-free options ... something that this die-hard Weight Watchers girl (when not pregnant) is always on the hunt for. Over the last year they have been adding to their Fit and Active line of food ... healthier salad dressings, dried fruit, granola. But on my last visit, I spotted something that made me so excited - WHOLE WHEAT PASTA! Now, granted, you don't have many options on what shapes of pasta you want. It's spaghetti or rotini and that's it, but still! Yeah! And this week, one of my all time favorites has appeared - fat free refried beans. Just little things that help me keep our family on our grocery budget, eat healthy, and make me happy. :)

Oh, and thanks to Crystal at Biblical Womanhood ... go here for a free breakfast entree at Chick-fil-a ... free to the first 1 million signups. :)

Menu Plan Monday - 11/13

A few weeks off the bandwagon and I'm back with Menu Plan Monday, hosted by Org Junkie. :) Our budget is tight this week so I'm trying to buy just a few basics and work with what we have in the freezer and pantry.

Monday: Sandwiches, chips, fruit (we're taking our 3 year old to a birthday party tonight and dinner will be on the run for Mama and Daddy)

Tuesday: Spaghetti, caesar salad, garlic bread

Wednesday: Mexican Soup/Chili (in the crockpot)

Thursday: Hay and Straw (stolen from Diary of a S@HM's food blog ... there is good stuff there!)

Friday: Homemade pizza

Saturday: Homemade pizza, again (but this time for a Mission dinner at church ... I won't be eating pizza, but the kids will like it). :)

Sunday: Family Lunch Day

1000 Gifts

1. Friday night family nights.
2. A God who is soveriegn.
3. Baby kisses.
4. Cinderella dresses.
5. Cool fall days.
6. Psalm 52.8-9
7. Playdates at McDonalds.
8. A husbands that come home from work every night.
9. Clean laundry.
10. A purple pen.
11. Women at Home
12. Scrapbook ideas.
13. Music.
14. A good book.
15. Inspiration.
16. Creativity.
17. Calendars.
18. Church.
19. Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
20. Fall leaves.

...to be continued.

We've been holed up at home for the last several days. N2 has come down with her first nasty cold (fever, green nose, the works) and amazingly, the rest of us have been spared from it thus far. I'm crediting large quantities of Purell as the reason. :) That said, I've been doing some decluterring and purging and rearranging. In some areas you can see a difference and in others, mmmm, not so much. :) Those areas just seem to have been stirred. We got out for the first time since Monday this afternoon ... N1 had her little gymnastics class and I thought she could use the time to run around and burn up some energy. Well, I needed her to burn up some energy! But we wore the little one out. She was so pooped when we got home and went right down for what I'm sure will be a long nap followed by an early bedtime.

The last few days I've been so thankful to be a S@HM. I haven't had to worry about calling in sick, getting someone to cover for me, or taking my sick girlie with me to get stuff done. I did have to get someone to cover snack for me at Bible study this morning, but thankfully, I was signed up with a dear friend who would much rather bring a little extra food that catch N2's cold. :) I owe her a Starbucks card. :)