Beans and Cornbread finally!

And it was gooooood! I am really trying to lose the post baby pounds. It is a slow and tedious process(the 10 pounds of homemade toffee I ate at Christmas did not help my cause.) But beans and cornbread hit the spot and are very good for you! Well, mine was good for me. Matt put a half cup of butter on his cornbread. It looked like icing on a cake. Plus he put cheese in his beans. I put onions in mine. It is just not fair. He stays fit and trim while I remain (only slightly really) rounded. He gets to eat those yummy Reeces trees from Christmas and I have to grin over a cup of coffee. (For those who are not familiar with my coffee replacement diet, it is really very self-explanatory. Replace everything tempting, snacky and delish with a cup of coffee. It is very effective.) Enough about my miraculously svelte hubby.

Okay, I just have to say:


If that doesn't make your reproductive system go pitter patter I just don't know what will. Anyhow...

Today was an "I'm leaving as soon as Matt gets home" kind of day. Not that the kids were naughty or stressful, I just get that urge from time to time. I begin to feel caged. Winter is just so hard. The kids get ornery (I had to look that one up) and I get grumpy.

To fend off the crazies, I did a craft with the kids. We painted and stickered little cardboard trinket boxes. It was time-consuming and the kids really got into it. Now we have these sweet hand-painted boxes that will probably end up crushed or under the bed. How many things have we lost to crushings or the under-the-bed, time space continuum? One can only imagine. At least they had fun making them. Tomorrow we have a play date for the boys and cousins coming over. Then in the evening we have our annual Mullins/Emmitt crud we don't want anymore exchange, oh, I mean white elephant gift exchange. What should we cook for dinner? Any ideas? Post a comment with dinner or munchies we could have for our New Year bash. I want something easy. See you all in 2010!

Some new pics

So much laundry!!!!!!!!!

So from under a pile of laundry I write. At least it smells good and keeps me warm. There are worse things than having a huge pile of unfolded laundry slowly taking over the couch. Like discovering last minute that you forgot to get milk therefore could not make the cornbread to go with the beans. Yep, that was my doing. I discovered this as my husband called to say he would be very late getting home. So no hope for a run to the store. He suggested Schlotzsky's(because he is a doll and he loves me and he hates to see me cry.) I accepted. So much for nice cold-weather beans. We will have them tomorrow because I went to Braum's tonight for milk. And would't you know it, I found other things to buy! (I really wanted ice cream but thanks to P90X I have mucho motivation for not eating sweets. It's called PAIN! And I will not waste my physical suffering on goodies.) Braum's sells fancy cheeses. I got a Spanish sheep's milk cheese and a Havarti. I think I might try the Pioneer Woman's Fancy Mac this week.

Our day was a regular one. Oh, except for writing the biggest check I have ever written. We had to pay our property taxes, out of our own account. *Gulp!* It was sad. It doesn't seem as painful when it comes out of your escrow. But as we (the kids and I) went about running small errands this evening I realized how sick I was of being in the house. So I made a quick turn to the coffee shop for a dark roast (no cream or sugar like a real man!)and proceeded to drive around town with our minivan's DVD player on for the kids. The baby was quiet and I was happily sipping my coffee. I must thank coffee for making me a better mother. Okay...maybe not better...just more tolerable.
My daughter really broke my heart today. She has such a soft spot for animals. She saw the abused animal commercial on TV. You know the one with Sarah Mclachlan singing sadly in the background? That one. And that little dolly just started weeping. She couldn't stop. She then got her kitty shirt that has the word AMERICA on it. She took a marker and wrote above: Help the animals in...So now she has a homemade shirt that says Help the animals in America. And at the bottom it says PLEASE. So stinkin' cute. So for my daughter's sake, petition to have that awful commercial removed!!!! Just kidding, be kind to animals, or at least help the American ones.

Fancy Mac:

Who is crazy lady with the blog?

So how much do you all really want to know about me? Let’s see. I am 5′ 6 (almost 5′ 7!) and my weight is a secret known only to me and that stupid, nasty, evil scale. My hair is brown, eyes are blue, hiney is round! OMGosh, how boring. Okay, here is my top 10 list of things I would want you to know about me.

10. I am the mother of 4 darling babies who make my world insanely enjoyable

9. I have a stud of a husband who is right now rolling his eyes at my blogging. I love you honey.

8. I have the privilege of serving, worshiping and studying Adonai and his son Yeshua.

7. I am a first year student of the Torah, a book I have read many times but have just now started to understand.

6. I love, love, love being in the dirt. And I love even more the bounty that God allows to come from that dirt.

5. I couldn’t imagine life without chickens or fresh eggs.

4. I am a beginning homeschool mom who is trying to come to terms with the fact that the first year is the hardest.

3. I live in a small town, have no desire for the big town but am praying for my own chunk of land one day.

2. I would bake breads all day everyday if my waistline could handle it.

1. I can eat green or red chili on practically anything.

There you have it and now you know me!

So here is what I am thinking

I’m thinking I will begin each blog by telling you what we had for dinner. I am always interested in what other people eat for regular meals. So tonight I had a cranky baby. He is cutting teeth I think. Poor little guy just wants to be held. So I was holding a baby until about 5 o’clock. I had slipped some ground beef into the microwave to defrost earlier so I had to think of something to make with it. spaghetti is my ground beef default. My children would eat spaghetti every day of the week. My husband however, would boycott. So I scratched that idea. I looked in the pantry and saw a box of elbow noodles. So I settled on a homemade hamburger helper of sorts. Ground beef, tomatoes (canned fresh!), onion, celery, corn, noodles and cheese. It is easy and my family loves it. We had broccoli on the side. It was a hit. I think my hubby had 3rds! It never fails. I could cook classic french cuisine everyday and my family would want some kind of awful casserole. I am trying to expand their little taste horizons. But casseroles are comfort food I guess.

Today was kind of a blown day. I had big plans to do some reading and math activities with the kids, bake bread, and get my laundry done. I think the kids might have watched TV all day or played Wii. I was so busy with my fussy little guy that the big kids had to fend for themselves. I didn’t go anywhere near the bread. I just flaked. As for the laundry, I just now at 10:00pm put a load in the dryer that I had in the washer this morning. *sigh* Oh well. The children are fed, the dishes are done and the house is not all that bad. Maybe tomorrow will hold more productivity. We have friends coming over to play so the big kids will be entertained for the morning. I vow to make my bread! I miss my little yeasty and delicious friend. (and his best friend butter!)

So how lame am I?

This is my first blog. I started it immediately following a late-night viewing of Julie and Julia. My ambitions? I am not expecting anyone to read this. I am hoping to not flake on updating. I am planning on documenting my days with my kiddos and my grand plans to one day live on a self-sustained farm. Random? Maybe. Is that going to stop me? Heck no! I have no desire for fame. I have no need for attention. However, I think reading other people’s journeys is quiet entertaining. So if I can entertain even one person with these ditties then I have done my made-up, self-centered job as a blogger.