I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

Snow is coming! This is good news and bad news. It means that EVERYONE and his brother is out today either finishing the Christmas shopping they were planning to do this weekend or getting "I'm going to be snowed in for a week" supplies. I had to get Lily snow boots. If it snowed every year here I would have gotten them in the fall, but I've been burned by that plan before. When you are on a budget snow boots and snow pants don't make the cut unless there is going to be snow. Most of the time I just have the kids wear their sneakers, but all Lily's shoes have an open top. I guess she likes the Mary Jane look. This is all fine and dandy most of the time, but not in the snow. We got the very last pair of boots in her size. They were completely out of boy snow boots and had a very limited amount of girl boots left. It was a good thing we got there when we did! While we were there I decided to pick up some marshmallows for hot chocolate. The lines weren't so bad and people were generally pleasant. It was crowded and the parking lot was kinda crazy, but we made it out unscathed.
I also needed a few things from the grocery store, but my very thoughtful and wonderful mother called to ask if she could pick anything up for me because she was going to the store. I know how much she hates shopping and crowded stores, so this was a true gift. I am so grateful! Thanks, Mom! I have a friend who posted on Facebook from the line at the grocery store 3 times over more than an hour. I would have had a really hard time keeping Lily (and myself) in good spirits for that long in a line that didn't end with a trip on a flying elephant.
Lily also completed her potty chart last night, so we went to Chuck E. Cheese today, as promised. Getting there was a slow process. It's probably 2 minutes from our house on a normal day, but today it took me at least 20. I sat in the left hand turn lane through 4 cycles because traffic getting into the shopping center was so thick. There is a grocery store, a department store and lots of other smaller shops in the shopping center where our Chuck E Cheese is, so you can see why it was so crazy. Once we were there we had fun. Lily wanted my parents to come celebrate with her, so they did. They even played a game or two. They are such good sports.
Now that today's craziness is behind us, I'm looking forward to tomorrow. There is something magical about Christmas time snow. It really gets you in the mood to celebrate. I'm looking forward to watching the kids sled down the hill, build snowmen and try to catch snowflakes on their tongues. After they finally realize how cold they are and come inside we'll drink hot chocolate then cuddle under cozy blankets together. Well, that's my plan anyway. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Ease of Access

I put a basket full of clean, folded clothes in Ryan's room yesterday. Usually I will just leave stacks on his bed for him to put away. This morning I asked him if he had seen the basket. With a big grin he said, "Yes!" I figured he was just really excited because the Lego Star Wars shirt he was wearing was in the basket. He loves that shirt. We went about our morning and after Ryan was done getting ready I asked him to put his clothes away. To which he replied, "Why? They are easy to get to now." He was totally serious (and only a little bit fussy.) I guess he thought it was a new system for laundry in our house. That's probably why he was so excited when I asked if he saw the basket in his room. LOL

Blessings in Disguise

There are many blessings you get and give when buying form Angel Food Ministries. Most are evident, you save money, you save time, you get good food and most importantly by buying from them you make it possible for Angel Food to have the bulk buying power to offer people who need a little assistance the chance to buy quality food at discounted prices. All that is great, but this week I discovered a blessing in disguise. One of the things we received in our box was a package of pork chops. I don't like pork chops. I'm kind of a picky eater. [Those who really know me well are snickering under their breath, "kind of?! HA!"] Aaaaaanyway, I also don't like to waste anything, especially food and money. So I went on a search for a recipe to make pork chops that I could stand eating. I found three that I thought I might be able to force down. I showed them to Jay and he picked two he thought looked good. I ended up making Caramel Apple Pork Chops. [for those taking notes I took some suggestions from the comments and quadrupled the sauce and baked at 350* for 40 minutes] It was DELICIOUS! It made me actually want to go out and buy pork chops on my own to make it again. The strangest part is I don't like cooked apples(or any warm fruit for that matter). I thought I would just take them off and eat the chops with the sauce; but I tried a piece with the apples, partly to ease my guilt of making the kids try it, and I liked it. For scientific purposes I then tried the warm apple alone- I still don't like warm fruit. Weird, huh? So if you are looking for a good pork chop recipe or just a good new dish to try I highly recommend Caramel Apple Pork Chops.
I had a similar experience when we did a CSA(community supported agriculture) program where we didn't get to pick our food. [Orange Glazed Asparagus]These programs have forced me to get out of my food routines and try new things that I've ended up liking a lot. I think we all have our own food routines. Even people who like to try new things have often have their routines- pick one new fruit every time I go to the grocery store, try one new recipe a month, etc. We are creatures of habit. I think it's good to get out of your comfort zone every once in a while and try new things. You never know what you might discover.

Whatever You Want, I'm Going to do the Opposite

Here is an example of a typical conversation between Lily and me these days.

Lily: Can I turn off the stereo?
Me: Sure.
Lily: Well, I don't want to.
Me::shrugging:: Then don't.
Lily: Maybe I do want to.
Me: Silent...it's better than perpetuating the inevitable back and forth or picking a fight about something I don't care about at all.
Lily, turns the stereo off. Then turns it right back on.

Oy!

Between this contrary attitude of Lily's and Ryan's continuous fussing I'm about to pull my hair out.

Thanksgiving

Today I am giving thanks for a light week as far as obligations go. Of course we have Thanksgiving dinner, but that's it. I think I need a break from all the running around every once in a while to recharge. Unfortunately weekends don't usually do the trick because we usually have weekend obligations, too. It's nice to just relax. I'm also thankful that we sold our old washer and dryer. That money is going to go a long way towards our (secret) Christmas project. The storage space gained from getting those out of the basement is also going to go a long way towards helping with that project. Please do not ask about the secret project in front of the kids...it is a secret from them.

I'm very thankful to have 3 parts of our family to spend holidays with; My mom's side and my dad's side of my family and Jay's family. I didn't used to feel like I needed to qualify this, but these days I do. My mom and dad are married, but their parents, brothers and sisters all get together for holidays making two places for each holiday.We've tried to simplify this part by just saying we'd go wherever my parents go, but sometimes they go both places. Sometimes we do two places in one day, but three is pushing it. Plus holidays like Thanksgiving are all about one meal, dinner, and you can't have dinner at 2 houses in one day. Sometimes I wish holidays were 3 days long so I didn't have to choose where to go for each holiday. Of course we try to be fair, but one person's idea of fair is not always another person's idea of fair. Holidays are so complicated, but we need to remember the blessing in having so many people that love us.

I'm thankful for a home, heat in the winter and a/c in the summer, clean water and clothes (even if they are not my favorite and are not so new). I'm thankful for food on the table and full tummies at least 3 times a day. I'm thankful for Jay's job that supports us so well that I am able to stay home with our kids (which is really important to me). I'm thankful for my parents living so close and my mom's eagerness to watch the kids for me and for my brother and his wife being stationed close enough that we can visit them for a day.

I'm thankful for the variety of plants and animals we enjoy on earth and how they all do their part to make everything work. It's so simple, yet so complicated how everything has it's place in the big picture. I sure hope we humans with all our intelligence and accomplishment manage to not mess up that delicate balance too much.

I'm thankful for great kids who have their struggles, but are still the best kids I know (I might be a wee bit biased). I'm thankful for the ability to give my kids Christmas gifts, but I pray for the wisdom to teach them that's not what Christmas is really about. I'm thankful for a husband who is a God-honoring man and is always trying to be the best person he can be.

I'm thankful that our schools are always trying to get better. I'm thankful that Ryan has a teacher who seems to really get him, but pushes him beyond his comfort zone just enough. I'm thankful that it's now okay to end a sentence with a preposition; I always thought that was a stupid rule. I am sad that Pluto is no longer a planet and that all the maps I learned in school are obsolete. Though I'm really thankful that we, in our country, still have our freedom, but with enough order to maintain a relatively safe society. I'm thankful for all the men and women who make that possible, military, police, firemen and all the people that work in those places with initials, FBI, CDC, FDA, etc. The government may be flawed in many ways, but there are lots of people working to make our lives safe in many different ways. I'm grateful for that. I'm thankful I live in the USA.

I have so many blessings I couldn't begin to count. I'm thankful to be reminded of that during the holiday season.