Homemade Whole Wheat Thins

So yummy!

One of my cousins asked me on facebook today how I make my crackers.
Funny she should ask, as I had recently taken pictures to do this little post & share my favorite cracker recipe!

This is adapted and tweaked from the "More Food that Really Schmecks" cookbook by Edna Staebler. ( I love this cookbook series by the way. I own both "Food that Really Schmecks" and this one, and they read like a letter from an old friend.)

Here is the original ingredient:

4 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt, (optional)
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 cup shortening
2/3 cup water or milk, more or less

I made a batch of these the other day for David- he had been complaining that we were all out of savory snacks, and we are doing our best to not buy pre-made anything if we can help it. These crackers are great for snacking on plain, or eating with cheese- I  plan on making more whenever we run out so we can always have them on hand. Today I made a batch of hummus... and hummus + these crackers made a very yummy lunch!

Edna recommends adding various seasoning to the top of the crackers while you roll them out, but this time I decided to try adding some herbs and garlic straight to the dough itself. Play around with whatever you feel like adding. That's the best part of her recipes and cookbooks- They are very chill and free- a happy framework in which you can play around with to suit your personal tastes.

Here are all of my ingredients & tools sitting out (You have to include on of those staged ingredients photos when you're blogging right? ;) )

You start by measuring out your dry ingredients- flour, herbs, salt, etc. (I didn't add any sugar to mine, and I honestly like them better this way) I used:
4 cups ofhome ground whole wheat flour
Approx. 1 Tablespoon parsley
Approx. 1 Tablespoon Oregano
Approx. 1/2 Tablespoon Basil
Approx 1 teaspoon Garlic powder
Approx. 1 teaspoon dill
Sea salt (not pictured- I didn't measure mine, but in the future I plan on a) putting in at least the recommended teaspon, and b) grinding it first- the stuff I have is a little course)

Cutest little kitchen helper ever!

Anyway, give that all a stir, and then when it is well blended, you can start working in your 3/4 cup of shortening.

If you have a food processor, you can use it to wiz the shortening and flour mixture together. If you're like me and have yet to invest in one, you can build your muscles and use a pastry blender:

Well blended dry ingredients

Next step is to add water. Edna says to add 2/3 cup of your liquid, more or less... and at least with this batch I needed to add more. I was probably closer to a 1/2 a cup. I dumped the full 2/3 of a cup to start, started mixing it with a fork, and quickly realized it needed more liquid, so I added in water a tablespoon at a time. (I always try to dump it on the flour that hadn't yet incorporated into the dough, rather than the dough itself- you end up with a more even dough that way)

This could still use a wee bit more water

Again, if you've got a food processor, this whole mixing thing should be pretty easy. If not, you might eventually give up on the fork and just use your hands for the last little bit- that's fine too.

Edna says to divide the dough into 4 parts and roll each one out as thin as parchment. I divide mine into 5 parts- my cookie sheets aren't big enough to hold 1/4th of the dough rolled out that thin. You might have to experiment with yours.

How thin?

As thin as you can manage. You should be able to see light through the dough very easily: I find it helpful to pick up the dough and flip it over frequently while rolling to prevent it from sticking, which also helps me roll it thinner too.

See all the light?

Transfer your super thin dough to your ungreased cookie sheet. If you've got random peninsulas of dough that are too wide or too long, just cut them off and use them to fill any empty spaces on the cookie sheet. Since they are all going to end up in cracker sized pieces anyway this isn't too big of a deal. Speaking of cracker sized pieces, go ahead and score them now, before they bake. I like to use a pizza cutter, and I am SO not OCD about the size and shape of the pieces. :)

One last thing that has to happen before you put them in the oven- they need to be pricked! Edna says "To prevent bubbling, prick the dough all over with the tines of a fork- let it bounce." I didn't really realize there was such a thing as a "bouncing fork technique" until I tried it thanks to this recipe- just hold your fork loosely at the end to control the bounce and let the fork fall semi-horizontally onto the dough. It's pretty fun!

Scored and Pricked!

Finally. Bake for about 10 minutes in a 400 degree F oven. They should look crispy, but not too brown on top. D Slide them off onto a cookie sheet to cool. Once they are cool, break them along your score marks and toss them into a tin or other storage container.

Or just eat them for a snack right away.

 Enjoy! Let me know if you make them- or if you have another favorite cracker recipe!

Jumping in...

I never know how to re-start something, so I'm just going to jump right in.

We're in a new house.
David has a new job as a neurology resident in Minneapolis, MN
We've got two kids now (DJ and Aniline)
Lulu has moved on to a new home, due to allergies (not her allergies, ours)
I said goodbye to the formal dyeing side of Our Humble Castle as an etsy business. I may still use the shop to sell the odd skein of handspun yarn.

So much change! So much potential!
So little time!

I've grown and changed so much over the last year, and I am excited to see where God is leading me. It's been a little crazy over the last day or so as I've been re-reading old posts on this blog as I attempted to give it a little micro-facelift before publishing this post... Who was that girl anyway? I know it was me, and I'm super glad I was so open & honest, cause now I can look back & see exactly what God has done for me!

Excuse me while I go try to get some sleep, so I can be better prepared for our family day tomorrow. I'll leave you with this picture of our kids:

 Aniline & DJ. Yes, my baby girl is wearing her big brother's hand-me downs, and no, I don't put anything in DJ's hair to make it do that. It is spiky and crazy all by itself.

Canada

Well. Look at me blog!

I know it's been a while. Summer happened. I thought I was doing pretty good at developing a schedule & sticking with it... and then it all went flying out the window.

DJ and I are in Canada now. We were being very distracting to D as he was studying for his exam, so my mom & dad flew the two of us up to Canada for a while. We're loving our time here- DJ is getting play dates with cousins, Mommy is getting some "me" time, and I'm getting inspired & invigorated to go home & work... which can get mildly frustrating at times, especially when I can't actually do anything about it right then. :(

It's also June 1st today. It's half way through the year, and a perfect point to totally start over. That's what I think anyway. Week (whatever it is, I've lost count) will end up being week one again (ish) for me. How about it? We could all use fresh starts every once and a while, right?

Right. I'm off to have devos & journal some thoughts. :)

Week 14!

This is going to be brief.  And pictureless. :(

Last week DJ caught a cold after the funeral, so he was rather sick, clingy, and an all around big mamma's boy all week.

Around Wednesday, I caught whatever he had- and if he felt as horrible as I did, I totally understand why he was so fussy.

I almost managed to keep my HBZ tidy, although it could use a vacuuming... Other than that my weekly goals were a bust-  no working out happened, and no father progress on the HTCI system. Looks like I get to repeat week 13 this week. :)

My mentor and her husband took DJ yesterday afternoon, and I spent the afternoon resting and re-cooperating after the long week. I have to say it's amazing what a few hours break can do! I feel totally refreshed and ready to get lots accomplished this week.

Week 13- HTCI Home Base Zone done!

Well, today (Saturday) is the official calendar based first day of week 13 of 2011. My main focus goal for this week is still on working through the HTCI book. I do have progress to report! It may have taken me all week, but I cleaned out my HBZ (home base zone- hereafter referred to as "HBZ").

My HBZ is the living room. In the book the three examples she gives of HBZs are 1) the kitchen sink, 2) the upstairs bathroom 3) under the master bedroom bed and the floor of the closets in the master bedroom. I really wish I had taken before pictures. I sure had a cluttered, messy living room at the beginning of week 12. But has it ever been transformed! Let me give you a guided tour:

This wall is where I started. Not too much was cluttered over here- a few things on the trunk, but it wasn't to bad:

Working clockwise we come to the piano. She talks about how easy it is to set things on anything with a horizontal surface- the piano was no exception.

She suggested hanging signs so that you don't feel badly when people come over and find your house torn apart as you are working through cleaning and organizing:

The rest of the wall:

DJ's toys aren't quite as neat as I'd like- I'm hoping to get one of those toy trunks eventually- something with a lid that we can close and have completely out of sight. The wires for the TV need some work too... but that's more David's department. We need to brainstorm together to find a solution for those.

The fireplace wall. I rearranged the pictures on top of the mantle- I painted them with the idea that they would get switched around every so often. I particularly like the way they look now!

Couch wall:

My knitting. This was the biggest source of clutter. I took a huge bag of yarn and fiber upstairs, and left only my project back sitting in my Janet basket, along with all my interchangeable needles and a stack of patterns.

One more picture and we're back where we started!

See- there isn't even anything hiding behind the couch!

And the floor is even clear of everything but DJ's play mats:

How I got here:
1) moved everything out of the room that didn't belong.
2) moved everything off of each wall, and dusted the wall from floor to ceiling, one wall at a time. I put things back as I finished a wall.
3) Moved everything off each piece of furniture- dusted all the objects and the furniture, then put everything back.
4) Moved all the furniture and vacuumed the whole floor.
5) Put the room back together.

I'm really happy with the result! The plan is to keep this room tidy and clean as I work through the rest of the house. If something has to give as far as house cleaning, that something won't be this room. I really do feel better with this one room clean.

This week's goal: continue with the HTCI book and exercise 5 days a week.  We'll see how far I can get this week with the HTCI: up next is a prayer walk through the house, photographing everything how it is right now, evaluating the house, set up a devotional station, and then start working through the house room by room.

I leave you with one last picture of our family, taken at David's Grandma Ortiz's funeral.

Week 11/12

Hah.

I attempted to start this bog post at the beginning of last week, but I never had the time to finish it. Yikes!

For the record:
Week 10's goal: To bed by 11:00 and menu plan. I modified my bed time to 12:00, mostly cause it fits better with David's schedule... I made a menu plan, but I'm still struggling with that one.

Week 11's goal: (This last week) I focused both on having devotions first thing in the morning (This was my first goal when I started at the beginning of the year, but I haven't been taking the time for it lately, and so that meant that it was back on the table for being worked on again.) and working out 5-6 times a week. I think I only missed one day of Devotions this week, which was good, and I put in two formal work outs, with "running up and down the stairs a million times today" counting for aerobic training once, and "winding 2,000+ yards of yarn on the re-skeiner" counting as strength training once... for a total of 4ish workouts- it could have gone better.

This coming week, Week 12, my plan is to do spring cleaning. The last time my parents were here, my mom bought me a book called "The House That Cleans Itself". The big idea behind the book is changing the house to fit the behavior, rather than changing the behavior when it comes to cleaning. I'm reading it today, and I plan to start working through it over the next 2- 4 weeks as my main focus. While I'm working through that, I'll be going back and revisiting some of my old goals to make sure I'm still on top of them- like working out, devos, drinking tea (I didn't at all last week cause I was so busy and didn't have the time, and boy, did I ever miss my cuppa tea!)  and wake up/bed time etc. I'm excited.

I'll try to keep you updated with how this deep cleaning/streamlining of my house goes. To give you a little taste of how the book is set up let me share with you how the author Mindy has you CONVERT a room into the HTCI system:
C-clear out the clutter
O- open up and clean
N-neaten, organize, and solve problem spots
V- verify and set up Stations as needed
E-examine Sight Zones
R record future improvements needed
T take steps now for ongoing maintenance

So far I've read up to the "V" chapter. It's the most unique book on organization/cleaning systems that I've read. Not like there have been that many that I have read.... She talks about the different personalities of people who clutter and have disorganized lives, and how different reasons for clutter need to be approached in different ways.  She also talked about Home base zones (that one place in the house that if you've got it clean/clutter free you feel peace even if the rest of the house is a disaster) and setting up a devotion "station" with your bible, journal, pen, devotional books etc before you jump into working through cleaning out the rest of the house. I'm pretty excited! I'd like to finish reading the book tonight so that I can start working through it tomorrow morning.

Rather than leave you with a picture of DJ- here is a link to videos from the Church services at Trinity. By tomorrow afternoon (Monday, March 21st) the video from today should be up. Trinity just started a choir, and I'm in it! Not only that, but last night right before practice the director asked me to be on the "front line"- she has two people from each part sing with mics to make it easier to make sure the parts are balanced through the sound system. We really had a good time and God really showed up. It was awesome.

The link:
http://trinitywired.com/media/service  The whole service is about an hour, but the music portion is probably only 15 minutes or so. I hope you enjoy it!

Teething time!

That's the first name that jumped into my head for this post. DJ has been teething really badly today- super clingy, doesn't want to do anything but eat and snuggle. Awesome for mommy baby time, not so awesome for getting things done. He's working on his 8th tooth in 8 months! Crazy kid...

My main goal for this week was going to be getting to bed by 11:00. Last night should have been the first night for that- but I forgot to eat supper somehow, and then David made us awesome cappuccino blender drinks around 8:30 (right after DJ went to bed last night) and I had one. Caffeine on an empty stomach- bad bad idea.11:00 rolled around and David and I were in the middle of watching The Biggest Loser. I decided I'd stay up until that was done, or was it till I finished my round on my knitting? Either way, it was 1:00 before I started to head to bed, and I don't think I fell asleep until 2:30 in the morning. And once I did fall asleep, I had the weirdest knitting combined Biggest Loser dreams... very very odd.

I'm still going to try to get to bed by 11:00 the rest of the week- but I've switched my "official" weekly goal to having a menu plan.

Monday- We had Pork stew tonight, and I made bread for sandwiches to go along with the lunch meat David bought. That will be lunch for some of the week. We've got eggs for breakfasts (did you know that 2 eggs provides your minimum daily requirement for protein- in the perfect proportions?) and we've still got left overs for some lunches as well.

Tuesday night I'm making pizza,

Wednesday night we'll have LO (Left over) stew and I'll make corn bread to go with it

Thursday will be LO pizza

Friday is Friday nights (we host a knit group and one of the gals cooks for everyone)

Saturday we're having pancakes for breakfast, and mac & cheese, and any other left overs we've still got. 

Sunday officially starts a new week- I hope to go grocery shopping on Sunday, as well as make sure my next menu plan is figured out. :)

I tend to cook large portions, and it takes us a while to eat through them. The stew we had tonight probably could last us a good portion of the week if we ate it every day. I'd freeze some, but our little fridge freezer freezer burns left overs in 2 weeks time, and it gets really frustrating. We are looking at getting a chest freezer, but it might be a while before we get it... we'll see.

Ramble much? ;)

Finally, the picture you've all been waiting for: DJ kept grabbing at my knitting yesterday, so I gave him some waste yarn of his own to play with. He was concentrating so hard, trying to figure out what it is about yarn that mommy likes so much! He was even sort of making little "knitting" motions too- copy cat. ;)

Weeks 8 & 9

I went into week 8 without a specific goal- I had been doing well at getting up by 8 the previous week, (and I'm still rockin that one out!) but when I realized that I didn't have a plan yet a couple of days into the week, I was a little discouraged. I was thinking about it last Wednesday, and I didn't want to start working on a new goal half way through the week. As I looked back over the week so far- I realized that there was one thing I had been doing every day that was on my list of goals- drinking tea everyday! Week 8 became my tea drinking week. I love tea. I might have to do a blog post about my favorites at some point, but I'm going to stick with telling you about my weekly goals in this post.

Feb 27-Mar 5 is week 9. My goal for this week is to read to DJ a bed time story every night. I know reading to him is important, and I think bedtime stories are the perfect way to incorporate reading into our schedule. I didn't get to read to him last night though- he fell asleep at 7:30, which is half an hour before his bedtime routine starts. Tired little guy! I think he slept until ~6:30 this morning too... I'm not totally sure what time he woke up. I could hear him making happy little noises in his crib while my alarm was going off, but it took me a little longer to wake myself up and get me out of bed (closer to 7:50 :P) .

If there is one thing I learned from week 8, it is to pick my goal early enough that when the first day of the next week comes, I can start right into it. Week 10 eh? I wonder what my goal should be... Getting to bed by 11:00 at the latest? Putting Menu plans in place? ooh. I like that last one. Well, both of them. I guess I've got the next two weeks planned out in advance. :D

Quick picture: A shawl I finished knitting last week, and DJ being my very cute model.

What a day.

You should see the snow outside.

It's been a crazy day, and I'm about to go upstairs and crash. Let me tell you the story:

It started snowing last night, after a couple days where we could see the green grass. David had an exam at 8:00 this morning, so I told him I would get up and shovel for him in the morning so he wouldn't have to worry about it, and so I could get him to his exam on time.

DJ woke up at 5:30 this morning, I fed him, and then soon it was 6:00- and I was up and out the door by about 20 after. I literally just threw on a sweater and pants over my PJs... put on my boots, gloves and jacket and stepped out into 6+ inches of white. It took me about an hour to get the shoveling done, but I did it!

I came back inside, David had woken up because poor DJ had been crying the whole hour- he didn't go back to sleep once I left- poor babe. I changed his diaper and snuggled him a bit before throwing together breakfast and lunch for David. I was debating whether or not I would go out and get my grocery shopping done after taking D to school, or if I'd come back and do a few things that needed to be done at home before I headed out again. With 15 minutes to get D to his exam, it was decided that I'd probably come home first before going out shopping- so I popped DJ in his car seat, grabbed my jacket, wallet & keys, and got the car running. David followed me with his backpack, and we were off!

Or so we thought. I tried to pick up enough speed with the Jetta to get out into the street where it had been driven on a bit, but on first try, I didn't succeed. It took a little bit of rocking and a push from D to get me back into the drive way for a second try. Both David and I figured once I was moving and in the tracks that were already there, we'd be golden.











Wrong.











Very wrong.











20 minutes later, we were only a block and a half from our house. David was freaking out as he was already late at this point, and it seemed like we were stuck for good. He was trying to call the school, wondering if he should just run to the main road and try to hitch a ride, go back and ask our neighbors to drive him, or get out and try pushing again. DJ could tell that daddy was upset, and so he started fussing and crying, which I'm sure didn't help daddy's stress level either.

A nice couple in a Land Rover showed up at that point- asked us if we needed a push. We explained the situation and the lady offered to drive David if we needed. The husband wanted to try pushing us out, so we did. I backed up way to far the first time. The good thing about that was it got the attention of one of the other neighbors who was out shoveling, and he came over to help push us too.

Between the three of them- a man on his way to work, David in his summer shoes and no gloves, and the neighbor who had been shoveling, we did get the car to the main road- a full 45 minutes after we backed out of our driveway.

Sounds like an adventure right? Wait- there's more:


I dropped off a 40 minute late David off, and weighed my options. There was pretty much zero chance of me being able to get the car all the way back home until either the roads were plowed, or at least more cars had driven over it to "plow" the snow that my car didn't clear. Oh how I wished I had brought my knitting! Selfish me. Not only did I not have my knitting to occupy myself for however many hours I would be stuck away from home, but I didn't have a diaper bag for DJ either. Neither of us had eaten breakfast, brushed our teeth, or gotten dressed for the day. I didn't have my coupons or grocery list for shopping- but that didn't stop me from going to Meijer. Prepared baby food, spoons, bananas, sposies (diapers), wipes, and blueberry turnovers for me. I did manage to remember a couple of the things that were on my list, but not many.

Outside to the car for a cold, odd breakfast, inside to the Meijer's bathroom for a diaper change, outside to the car to drive back towards home to see if the roads were cleared. They weren't. They didn't look that drivable either.

I kept making loops around the city- over to my local yarn shop, which thankfully wasn't open or I might have bought myself a new project to work on while I was waiting, down to where my church is to the McDonald's for a sweet tea cause I didn't grab myself a drink in Meijers... each time circling by my neighborhood to check on the progress. DJ eventually fell asleep, but he only got about 1.5 hours of sleep between his 5:30 AM original wake up and when he woke up at 12:15.

It was around noon when I decided that one of the roads looked like it might be clear enough to attempt. I approached it at a running start to get over the initial snow plow hump, and proceeded fairly smoothly down the street. With no cars around anywhere (but with plenty of neighborly witnesses) I made a nice "rolling stop" through the 4 way, (read: slowed to 18mph from 20- any slower and I would have been stopped permanently) and bravely took the curve towards my house. For every inch of ground I covered, I lost momentum, and by the time I was at the base of my driveway, I was at a stand still. Totally stuck. Luckily, it was my driveway, with my shovel nearby, and it didn't take too long for me to dig myself out. With only two cars behind the Jetta waiting for me to get out of the way, I rocked and edged my way closer until my tires caught the cement of the bare driveway from my amazing shovel job that morning, and I soared up to the garage.

We didn't take the car out the rest of the day, and I am so hoping that the roads will be plowed before tomorrow when I have to take D to school at 8:00. Today he got a ride back to the edge of the neighborhood with a classmate, and he walked from there.

Well, I'm going to go crash now. I hope you enjoyed hearing my crazy story about my crazy day.

Wake up! (week 7)

I know I'm a few days into the week with this post. (strictly, the weeks this year start on Saturday, but I have always used Sunday as my first day of the week) Oh well.

First- let me report back on last week. My goal was to "have a time for everything, and everything in it's time." I definitely didn't follow my schedule exactly. I tried hard, but I wonder if I didn't bite of more than I could chew. I'm trying to lay a foundation for a life-long routine, so I'm not giving up on this one. I'm just breaking it into smaller, more manageable parts.

This week my goal is to wake up on time. Small & simple. I had hoped for a wake up time of between 6 and 7 on week days, and 7 and 8 on weekends. I've quickly realized that I need to modify that a bit. Not every day has the same schedule, so it is a little easier with a two our wake up window than a one hour one. So now I need to get up between 6-8 on week days and 7-9 on weekends.

Yesterday I did well. Today... well, I got up, but I'm tired. I sure didn't want to get up. I try to encourage others on this blog, and now I need your encouragement. What do you do to help yourself wake up in the morning? Caffeine? Music? Do you do something the night before?  Once you're awake, what is your motivation for getting ready for the day? (especially when you've gotten up earlier than you "have to"- a big problem for those of us who don't have external appointments.) It's really easy for me to wake up, look at the clock, talk myself into a few more minutes of sleep and hit the snooze button.

Thoughts?

DJ is a good morning person. His secret is eating a banana every morning. See:

My what a big bite you have son. :)

A New Week (week 6)

Last week (week 5) wasn't the best week as far as working on a new habit. In fact, I may have even forgotten to keep up a couple of the things I had already started working on in previous weeks. Let's just call week 5 a "lapse week" 

Lucky for me, this week is a new week, and a chance to start over. 

Week 6 goal: A time for everything.

My goal for this week is to follow my schedule as closely as I can. That means bedtimes, rising times, devotions in the morning- suppers ready when they are supposed to etc. David and I are both working at getting to bed at a more reasonable hour- and getting up earlier too. I woke up a little bit later than my schedule this morning, but we're trying to ease into things. I'll let you know how it goes. 

Oh ya- Today is David's birthday, so if you know him, wish him a happy one eh?

Laundry

Tuesday is Laundry day. I know it's not anywhere near Tuesday now, but I started writing this post while doing laundry...

Laundry is really hard for me to get done in one day. While I start on Tuesday, but often it's Saturday before all the laundry is washed. And putting them away? Let's just say there have been many weeks where I've had to dig the laundry baskets out of clean clothes so I can pick up the dirty ones off the floor for wash day.

Not a pretty picture at all! Not at all where I want to be as far as taking care of my castle.


A couple of weeks ago, I gave myself a challenge. On my way to bed that Monday night, I hadn't cleaned the bathroom (That day's task) and I realized that I hadn't been using my time very efficiently that day. I decided that $50 said I could get both Monday & Tuesday's chores done in one day.  I got it done though- and learned a few things on the way.

I thought I'd share a few of the laundry tips that I've got floating around in my head while I'm working on it... and if you've got any to add, please let me know! This is a work in progress, and my one success a couple of weeks ago does not make me anywhere near close to having mastered this beast.

The tips:

             1) Start with the loads that have small stuff.
 This way, the first loads to come out are the most painstaking of them all- you can get them out of the way while you've still got your head in the game. I like to start with the whites (Lots of little things to fold- it takes some time) and end with sheets or towels (big items = not as many things to fold. :D )
             2) Fold & put them away right away. I really struggle with this part. Clothes are easiest to deal with while they are still warm from the dryer. At least take them out, dump them on a chair/bed and pull out the things that wrinkle easily.
            3) Make a list
This is what I did the day I completed my challenge. It helped to have a list of things I want to get done in between the loads of clothes. I get more things done that way, and the laundry is more like a timer for my other work. A 30 min wash is the perfect amount of time to tidy a room up, or start supper, or wash the dishes...
            4) Fold small towels lengthwise first
While this doesn't have anything to do with making Laundry day go faster, I find that folding hand towels and dish towels/tea towels lengthwise first saves me a step when I get them out to use them- they are ready to hang over the towel rack, with no re-folding necessary
            5) Wait until the very end to match socks
I know- this sort of contradicts the first point of ordering the loads so that all the small things are out of the way first. If you're always really careful with your socks, this probably won't help you any. But if you're like me, somehow those socks get their mates thrown in a different load of laundry than they are- so waiting until all the laundry is done to fold all the socks increases their chances of finding each other again (how romantic)
.

I'm sure there are many more laundry tips than the ones I've just shared, but these are the ones that were floating around in my head while I was working on the laundry. To be perfectly honest, I didn't get all the laundry done in one day this week- like I said, I'm still a work in progress.

Anyone have more ideas for me?

It is a New Year

It's a New year, with new goals, new hopes, and new dreams.

I'll admit, I'm a little slow getting some things started this year. Budgeting and record keeping one of them- I really need to work on that soon.

But let me tell you a little bit about what my plans & goals are for this year. Let me share how I am approaching things.

I have four main areas that I am focusing on this year, with the most important listed first:

1) Grow in the Lord
    a) Daily devotions- reading His word & praying.
    b) Get plugged in at our church
2) Care for my Family
    a) David- make sure his needs are taken care of (meals, rides to school, etc)
    b) DJ- Make sure his needs are taken care of (feeding, changing, loving him. Hard job eh?)
    c) Keep our home as a castle- Be a good steward of what God has given us- keep it clean & tidy
3) My body as a temple
    a) Eat healthfully
    b) Exercise regularly
    c) personal upkeep - Even if I'm not going anywhere or doing anything that day, still get ready just in case
    d) Music
4) Etsy
    a) weekly updates
    b) keep good records
    c) keep everyone up-to-date via Ravelry, facebook, twitter, and my new blog.
    d) Other mis. business goals.

I'm approaching things backwards from the way New Years Resolutions often go. Instead of making a huge list of resolutions, implementing them all at once, and then watching them swirl down the drain, I'm starting slow. I've got one thing I focus on each week. The rest of them, if they happen, great. If not, no biggie- I'll get to them one of these weeks. If I mess up on one week, I'll repeat it- not always the following week, but probably within a month. (P.S.- this is inspired by Benjamin Franklin's 13 virtues and how he approached self-improvement. More info here.)

To show you what I mean:
In the back of my journal, I've got 52 lines set aside. 52 weeks in a year right? Well, so far,
1) Daily devotions
2) Get into a daily schedule, including preparing 3 meals/day, on time
3) Better dental hygiene (Start using a water pic, etc) [I failed at this one- it'll be a re-do in a couple of weeks]
4) (this week:) Smoothie or fresh fruit + a cup of tea every day

As I think of things, I add them to a list of things I'd like to work on this year. Some goals I've already got in place fairly well, without having a specific week to work on it. Some goals wouldn't fit into the one week system since they are once/month goals- like reading 2 books/month, knitting a pair of socks a month, participating in monthly spinning challenges.

What were your new year resolutions? How are you approaching the hope that this new year brings? If you feel like you've failed already, may I encourage you with a phrase I used last year: "February is my new January" Hey- for that matter, ever day is a new day! A new chance to start working on something good. Why does it have to only be once a year that we evaluate where our lives are headed?

If you've read this far, you deserve a little treat:

Goodnight all!

Why hello!

Hello Blog world.

Its been a while.

Too long, some would say.

The funny thing is that while I haven't posted in a while, I've actually been contemplating starting a second blog. You see, I started this one to be an encouragement to others in regards to home & marriage & kids & time management, and the big stuff, or little stuff, of life. I also have a tendency to want to blog about knitting - especially since I've opened an etsy store selling my hand dyed yarns. I have this feeling in the back of my mind that many of my non-knitting friends don't really need to hear all the technical details, so I don't always include them. Then I feel badly for all my knitting friends who would love to hear my tales, full of so much knitter lingo that the average person would think I started speaking German.  It would be nice to have a blog where knitters can hear about all my projects & what's going on in the store, and that would leave this blog (for the most part) knitting (or a least knit-speak) free! I'll still post my finished products, but I won't go all knitting-ninja on you.

So what do you say...

Would you like to head on over to Ourhumblecastleyarn and follow my knitting & fiber business adventures, or would you like to stay here and be encouraged as I continue to tell you tales of being a stay at home wife & mom? Or, if you please, follow both! :)

Holiday weekend

We journeyed up to Canada for the weekend- David only had Thursday & Friday off, so it was rather short. We left Wednesday from GR and got back Sunday night.

The weather wasn't very nice when we arrived, and we had a 4 hour (in ideal conditions) trip to make- we ended up arriving on the farm at 3:00 in the morning.

Thursday was a busy day- it was both American Thanksgiving and my birthday! After sleeping in, we went out for lunch at Save Room for Dessert- I used to work there back in the day. After lunch DJ went home with Grandpa & Babi, and D & I explored the town. We had a big supper that night, and I got to see a great group of friends who I hadn't seen in almost a year. We also celebrated "Christmas" (aka opened the gifts that  D and I had brought up for everybody)

Friday we had a relaxing day, and in the evening there was a baby shower for DJ. He is so loved, and I am so blessed! We bearly had room to fly home all of the wonderful gifts we were given. The shower had a ducky theme- the auditorium was decorated so beautifully- unfortunately I don't think I have any pictures on my camera- they're all on my mom's. In fact, I think most of the pictures from the trip are either on mom's camera, or D's phone...

My dad's youngest brother & family came up for brunch on Saturday. We had a wonderful visit, and I got to meet my cousin's amazing fiancee.

A visit to Canada wouldn't be complete without tea with my best friend. I guess I can't speak for her, but I know that I feel so refreshed after catching up with her face-to-face over a nice cup of tea.  This was Saturday night- and after she left, David & I gathered up our things and packed up our bags. By that I mean I got out some music books I wanted to take with us, sat down to play through a song or two and ended up not leaving the piano, while my amazing husband played tetris with our luggage and got everything we needed to bring home packed.

We got back late Sunday night, just in time for a little bit of sleep before D's 8:00 am classes on Monday.

And there you have a summary of our weekend! I apologize that I don't have any pictures- I was letting my hubby take pictures for us, and I don't have access to them off his phone yet.

God bless!

Check in on October/November goals.

I've got a crazy day today- we're getting ready to head up to Canada tomorrow. One more sleep! (as my mom would say). DJ has his first two teeth in- the bottom two- and he's being fussy & grumpy & tired today- which just makes trying to pack & prepare for leaving all the more... fun.

I wanted to report back on my list of October goals- now that it is almost to the end of November. We'll just pretend it was the list for both October & November. (which is true- I did still have the same main goals for this month too...)
If you remember the list:

1) get a good chunk of my Christmas knitting done- particularly the gifts for my Canada family & friends, as we're going to visit in November.



2) I've been trying to do some organizing & streamlining of my life and things (Remember project 333?) and I'd like to continue with that. A closet or drawer or two a week perhaps?


3) As the leaves start to turn, I'd like to keep up with raking them.


4) I think that's about good for now! I'd rather have a few good goals that I know I can reach than a huge long list that I'll be discouraged by when I read it at the end of the month
 
Well, I did get most of my Christmas knitting finished. (I have everything done for Canada minus weaving in ends on a few things- which is a good thing cause we're leaving tomorrow)  
I am working at organizing things. In fact, that's what I've requested for my birthday- either nothing, or organizational tools (Rubbermaid's, storage drawers, labels, post it notes etc. :P) I sometimes feel like it is a never ending battle... I organize room by room, and by the time I get to the last room, the first room is a disaster again. :(
 
As for leaves... I haven't raked any... yet. I have thought about doing it a couple of days, but of course those were all extremely windy days, and it seemed a little counter intuitive to be raking leaves only to have them blow all over the yard again. When we get back from Canada...
 
To sum up: I feel like I have made good progress on my goals, but there is still much more to do. It's a work in progress!
 
P.S. I typed the web address for Etsy wrong the last time, so here it is again: http://www.etsy.com/people/ourhumblecastle 

Etsy!

I'm full speed ahead working at developing an Etsy business. My shop name is ourhumblecastle (surprise surprise... )

I'll be doing weekly updates to my shop on Mondays, so keep checking back for new products! Right now I am focusing on hand dyed yarns and hand stamped or up-cycled cards.

I just finished an update, so head on over to

www.etsy.ourhumblecastle.com to check out the goodness! Just a fair warning, some of the yarns I listed today are already spoken for.

Group photo of some of my yarns

Of course, I must leave you with a picture of little DJ- he came outside with me on one of the photo shoots-

DJ, enjoying the warm fall weather.

Grandpa M look-a-like?

 Just stopping in with a couple pictures... what I know you've all been waiting for.



DJ sitting on the couch with some of his favourite toys





hard at work pushing buttons!

Doesn't he look like his grandpa M in that first picture?

A choose your own adventure.

As promised on Facebook- to those of you who follow me both places- a choose your own adventure! Well, sort of. Let me explain a little bit of background here first.

I love lists. I lived by them in collage. Well, my whole life actually. If I don't have a list, I don't get it done. However, since the birth of my son, I find that lists can be very discouraging. When DJ was first born, I would sit down at the beginning of the week, just as I used to, and make a "master list" of all that needed to be done that week. Then I'd break it up into days... These 5 things need to be done on Monday, I'm going to do these 2 big tasks on Tuesday, run errands on Wednesday, etc. However, when you're living with the beautiful unpredicability of a small child, it becomes hard to get things done. Monday would end, and I'd only have one thing (if that!) done. Tuesday would begin and I would be determined to get both Tuesday and Monday's list done. And, once again, major fail. It got discouraging very quickly. I tried to lower my expecations and not worry about getting anything done, only... I would end up not getting anything done, even when I did have the time to do it.

The following is something that has been brewing around in my head for a while. I have been starting the day without a real list, but with the attitude of trying to get as much done that day as I am able. This "Choose your own adventure" (Us scientists like to call them dichotomous keys) has guided how I approach my non-existent to-do list. At the end of the day I find I am able to look back and have a good number of things done.

So here you have it:

A choose your own adventure in getting things done that weren’t on your list.


#1) You see or think of a task that needs to be done.   Can you do it now?    Yes - go to #2. No- go to#3

#2) Don’t delay! Do it now! ~

#3) Why can’t you do it? If something else must be done before you can tackle this particular task, then go to #4. If you don’t have time- go to #5. If you don’t feel like it, throw your feelings out the door & pick one of the other two options. 

#4) Can you do that other task now? Yes -go to #2. No- go to #3

#5) You don’t have the time because: The task takes more time than you have right now – go to #6. If you are in the middle of something else- go to # 9.

#6) Do you have your schedule or paper handy? Yes- go to #7. No- go to #8.

#7) Yes! You always carry your schedule or paper with you. Write in the task that needs to be done in an appropriate time slot. ~

#8) No! You’re not one to have paper or scheduling devices handy. You need to either get it and write down the task, or (less desirable) make a mental note.~

#9) You are in the middle of something else. Is your current activity more important than the new task? (eg. - are you entertaining a baby? Or watching a TV show?) Yes- go to #10. No- go to #12

#10) Can you pause your activity? Yes- go to #6. No- go to #11

#11) Carry on with that very important activity! ~

#12) The activity isn’t as important as the task, so the task should be your first priority. However, does your current activity really need to be done? Yes- go to #13. No- go to #16

#13) Do you have paper/schedule book? Yes- to got #14. No- go to #15

#14) Write down your activity so you can remember to do it later, and start the new task. ~

#15) Get paper & write the activity down for later, or make a mental note, and start the new task. ~

#16) Drop whatever you were wasting time on & start the new task! ~

cupboards & drawers.

There is a problem with cupboards & drawers. They are great for keeping things organized around the house (I.e. keeping messes out of sight.) However, you can perfectly organize a cupboard, and no one would ever know. The rest of your house looks just as messy, or just as tidy (however it happens to be at the time). You do feel a little bit accomplished I suppose, but it is hard to keep that feeling once you look around. I guess you could always leave the cupboard door open to see your work & remind yourself of what you've done?

Just kidding. If you're tall, like we are, you'd hit your head.

So... I'm still chugging away at organizing things in our house- part of my list of October goals.

Less is more. Thats what I'm aiming for. Streamline- organize- reduce/re-use/recycle.

Oh. Quick cool comment on that- we got single stream recycling in our area  of Lansing. I am so excited! It makes it really easy to recycle- EVERYTHING goes in one box. I know that's totally off topic, but I just reminded myself of it and had to mention it here. I just broke my only blog rule: one topic per post! Oops. Please forgive me.

Until next time:
Me.