Sometimes you just have to post *something* to get back in the game.

It's been months since I've written anything here - I have so much to say, and catch up on, and yet only have about five minutes free, so I can't really do any actual catching up.  But, in order to get over the paralyzing "I haven't written in months" feeling, and be able to get on to some real posting sometime soon, I thought I'd better just say something, anything, to start back up.

Life has been going, per usual, at a crazy pace.  It was busy with a two-year-old and working, but somehow moving into our house brought about ten times more craziness.  We've had re-grading and landscaping to do, gutters to install, a new boiler is coming, lots of painting on the horizon; in short, the usual with any house, but our daily cup of activities surely runneth over. And then of course our state got slammed by a hurricane on Sunday.  We were very fortunate in that we had no ill effects from the storm - our leak prone basement didn't even have more than a few wet patches on the walls (which is remarkable, given that when we moved in every storm brought huge puddles on the floor; go gutters!)

It's hard to believe that the summer is nearly over, but every morning now brings a chill that quickly reminds me of how few weeks are left before it is truly cold.  Since for so long my year revolved to the 4-H calendar, our weather now is what I immediately think of as "Rutland Fair" weather; rapidly cooling, but with still warm days, still shorts and t-shirts most of the time, even if the morning is cool enough for jeans and a sweater.  It stands in sharp contrast to "Addison Field Days" weather, though, which is generally blazingly hot, tank tops, sweat, icy drinks, and the promise of a drenching evening thunderstorm.  We're not yet at "Eastern States Expo" weather yet, though, when you open your door early in the morning to a frosty smell in the air that hints of snow, and when modeling a woolen outfit suddenly sounds like an awesome, rather than tortuous, idea.

I haven't done much in the way of preserving this summer: see the rant above about being so busy, but I have found the time to start putting away the bounty of (intentionally planted, this year) cherry tomatoes that has begun to come in.  Aside from the tomatoes, and my herbs, which have done extraordinarily well, the garden was mostly a bust this year.  I don't know if it was the weather, the soil, when I planted, or just that I didn't choose varieties carefully enough, but almost everything "got" something.  The tomatoes have blight (though cherry tomatoes grow fast enough to stay ahead of it for most of the season).  The zucchinis were taken out by vine borers (after a good harvest of about six fruits).  The summer squash succumbed to powdery mildew (smaller harvest than the zucchini), and so did the pumpkins (which have yet to set any fruit, and most likely won't at this point).  Since it was too late in the season to plant much else when we moved in, it felt a bit like a failure.  But I've decided to turn it into a learning experience, and I definitely know what to look out for next year when choosing plants and seeds.

Overall though I'm really sad to see summer end this year.  For some reason fall this year is bringing all sorts of thoughts of mortality, and the shortness of life.  I'm excited about apple picking, Halloween, and walks in crisp fallen foliage, but I'm really, really not ready for the months of winter.  Not ready to be stuck inside all winter with an extremely energetic two-year-old (though fortunately, we've made a friend across the street); not ready to give up weekly walks to the library, my newly rediscovered love of running (but it's oh so hard to keep going once the snow builds up on the sidewalks), or frankly, to pack away my capris for jeans and wool socks.  But being inevitable, I'm trying to accept the season change gracefully, and find good in whatever comes my way.

Anyway, my five minutes has come and gone, so I'll wrap it up.  Soon to come, though, if I can find another spare minute here or there: yarn along updates, pictures of our house (and house progress), and other random ramblings!   I hope you all are well, and haven't completely given up on me.

Truly, I haven't died...

An update in bullet-point form, just to summarize the last month or so:

• We found, and made an offer on, a house at the beginning of May
• The offer was accepted, but we had to scramble to meet some requirements for our mortgage loan, due to using the VA option (such as getting carpet installed in the property, and scraping and painting peeling window and roof trim)
• This rather unbalanced my work schedule, mental health, housework, and of course, LW's finally-tuned schedule
• We closed on the house the second weekend in June, and proceeded to move.
• Moving with a two year old, even two towns over, is a major hassle.
• Did I mention that LW turned two in the midst of this chaos?  We're bad parents.  We didn't do much to celebrate.  I gave her chocolate icecream with a candle on top and called it good.  But we're planning a dual house-warming/two year birthday party for next month.
• After being in the house about a week, we discovered a section of mold in the basement.
• Panic ensued, but it looks like it'll be ok with some fairly limited cleanup.
• My mind is also full of all sorts of quotes and such for other projects that need to happen.
• Also, I managed to plant our rather minimal garden.  I will take pictures of many things soon!
• Not much knitting lately.  I finished a baby shower present for a friend of mine, but then the house saga began.  However I now have a dedicated office/craft room, so that will help. 
• Of course, there's little time to knit, what with hanging blinds and needing to paint, and still unpacking, and such.
• I look forward to a time six months from now when I'm no longer freaking out about the possibility of mold in our walls, or an unknown pest invasion, or that my daughter is slowly being poisoned by lead paint.  Seriously - I think it would have been easier to live at a time when we weren't so well educated... a little lack of knowledge can actually be good for you...

Anyway, that's what's going on here.  I want to get back to writing more regularly, I really do, but my to-do-list is seriously a mile long!  When I get caught up, though, I'll post some pictures as well as share the story of how we found our house (and the ups and downs and all arounds of the process).  It's a compromise - it doesn't have the couple of acres of "room for a horse", rather is in a suburban village and has about 1/6 of an acre little tiny lot.  But there is a big enough back yard, and we have a small garden, and the neighbors so far seem nice, and we're walking distance to lots of good things (yarn shop, great library with fabulous kids section, shopping complex, parks, a church, etc), so it's not a bad compromise all and all.  And, my husband only has to drive 15 minutes to work, instead of the 45 it would have taken from anywhere that did have room for a horse.  Evidently a horse isn't a part of the current "blessing-package" :)

Hope you all are well!  Pray for us, in this transition, please!

Meanwhile...

While life continues at the aforementioned hectic pace, here's a little something to tide all my readers over: I've got a guest post up over at Catholic Mothers Online today.  Go on over and read about 4-H: is it 4-U?

I should of course mention that I could have written so much more about 4-H.  We're supposed to keep it under 900 words, so I did, but I had to trim like crazy to even meet that.  How do you sum up something that shaped your life so dramatically?  Something that has given you a substantial number of the skills you are proud of, many of the friends you hold dear, and the lion's share of memories from your childhood?  We, of course, were probably a more-than-typically involved 4-H family.  We didn't "do" team sports, and 4-H was our substitute.  The year turned according to the 4-H calendar: monthly meetings, Sheep Camp, Addison Field Days, VT State Fair, Eastern States Exposition... events that I attended nearly every year for almost 20 years, and that now, several years later, I still miss, and yet can picture with incredible clarity in my mind.

Anyway, check out the post.  Yes, the photos are vintage shots of me, circa... 1998, from actual sheep show events (reason enough to check it out!).  But seriously, if you have 4-H-age children, or even if you don't (it's never too early to start planning ahead!), I encourage you to think about whether this is a program that might fit into your family's life.  We loved it, and I bet you would, too.

Things and Stuff

Wow.  I know I've been really quiet lately, but I promise, I've got a good reason!  Life has been so very busy this month.  All the usual chaos has been present, plus - drum roll please - it looks like, Lord willing, we're probably going to be purchasing and moving into a house early next month!

That, of course, is a story in and of itself.  Nothing is for certain yet, so I won't tell the whole story until it is, but suffice it to say that we're cautiously optimistic, and as long as the various inspections and appraisals and legal stuff goes according to plan, we'll soon be homeowners.  It's been a long time coming.  We're pretty excited about it all; of course, with the state of the world these days, and the economy and all that, no home purchase (unless you're quite well off, which we are not) comes without compromise, and this is no exception.  We had to give up or put on hold some dreams in order to move forward with others, but all in all, I think we'll be happy with it.  And, there is a neighbor across the road with a daughter only two weeks older than LW, and who is expecting another baby girl in July, so I'm hopeful that we'll even be able to make some new friends in the neighborhood.

Incidentally, I've decided that the process of home searching, home buying, and moving is far, far more complicated than the process of planning a wedding and getting married was.  And that is saying something, because I really thought that was the biggest "planning" ordeal I'd ever have to go through.  Maybe it's just because it all happens in a much shorter time frame, though.

In other news, LW turns *two* in just a couple of weeks, as well.  I can't believe how the time has flown.  It seems like the first year of her life went by so much slower.  I think in the first year I was so focused on her: her needs, her growth and development, that I didn't have any time or energy (or truth be told, any interest) in my pre-baby activities or interests.  This year, that interest and energy returned, even if time remained limited, and at the same time, she grew more a tiny bit more independent, and more able to be a part of activities.  Thus, this year it feels like our family is back to "normal" - but a new normal, of which she is a crucial part, if that makes any sense!  I can't wait to see what this year of her life will bring, as she becomes more verbal, and even more capable.  It's hard to remember what life was like before her...

As a complication of life being so up in the air (in that we don't actually 100% know where we'll be a month from now), I haven't been able to start a garden yet this year, and I really miss it.  I'm hoping to at least get tomatoes and such in; if we manage to move by early June it should be possible, since I think I didn't put them in until at least Memorial Day last year.  My green thumb is positively itching though, especially last week when it was lovely and warm out.  This week promises to make me happy to stay inside, unfortunately, with rain and cooler temps.

It seems like it's a year of big transitions and changes for almost everyone I know.  Friends are getting married, friends are having babies, friends are moving and buying houses, friends are making important and far-reaching decisions about their lives; on the one hand, I'm glad to be a part of the general, dynamic, changing process, but on the other hand, the part of me that resists change is saying, "But we were happy here, we were comfortable, why oh why does it all have to change."  Even though I was desperately desiring the change, it is still oh so hard to have to actually go through it.  Upheaval is never easy, even when it is positive upheaval!

Anyway, that's the general explanation for my blog silence.  I'm hoping to get back into posting more regularly as the weeks go by, and after (if?) we move, life will settle down a good bit.  I've got a huge stash of yarn sitting and waiting for me to have a bit more time to knit (although I've been plugging away on projects even with the busyness; the great thing about knitting is I can bring it with me, and knit while my husband drives), and I also have quite a few things I'd love to write and share about.  In the meantime, please don't go away just because it's quiet here!  I promise I'll be back, more regularly, before too much longer, and if you've got any tips on moving, especially moving with a little one in tow, I'd absolutely love to hear them.  Please pray that the remaining hurdles are overcome, and that our move goes smoothly!

Fun for a Monday

I've recently altered my work schedule so that I do the bulk of my workload (about 12 of the 15 hours) on Monday and Tuesday, in order to have a four day weekend.  This is great, once I hit Wednesday or Thursday, but it does make starting the week back up a little bit rough.  I have to work mostly when LW is napping, or Jim is home, which means mostly in the afternoon, evening, and after she goes to bed at night (9-11 pm - ugh!).  This week, though, I decided to try to make the mornings as fun as possible: I did most of the housework on the weekend, so I'm telling myself to let things slide as much as possible, and just have a good time playing with LW.

At this time of year, mostly she just keeps saying "Awk, Awk," i.e. she wants to go for a walk.  But, unlike yesterday's balmy temperatures in the 70's, today is a brisk 55, warm enough for her to want to stay out all day, but cold enough to have me shivering in a few minutes (for some reason, she's always warmer than me; the "dress your baby one layer warmer than you would be comfortable in" was always backwards for her).  Thus, I needed a good indoors activity.  Fortunately, I intentionally got some alum at the grocery store yesterday: the last ingredient I needed to make some homemade playdough!  I found a good recipe at Skip to my Lou.  I expected this to be a lot more difficult than it was; all I had to do was boil and stir.  I added some food coloring and orange essence for scent, and voila! playdough, minus the scary chemicals and "don't let your child eat" warning.

Although she only ended up playing with it for a few minutes (so far), there's something really cathartic about molding dough.  It's a great stress-reliever, which is exactly what I needed today (we're supposed to hear about an offer we made on a house today; hence, I'm a little more stressed even than usual!).

How would you conquer a case of "The Mondays"?

Yarn Along #5

I'm not sure why these Yarn Along posts seem to be the only kind of writing I can handle at the moment.  For some reason, there always seems to be something more pressing in the queue of things I need to do than to write a post here.  And yet I have so many things that I'd like to talk about!  Thoughts about trusting God when life is tough and the way is unclear; about "spring blues" and this curious feeling of apathy that's been dogging me lately; about the challenges and joys that an almost two-year-old is bringing to my life every day.  But the only thing I manage to do somewhat regularly is document my knitting.  I'm hoping that as the weather warms up (it's still in the 40's most days here, and I feel like it's been raining non-stop), it'll be easier to get my work done (because my husband will be able to take our daughter out for walks when he gets home from work), and thus I'll have more time.  I hope.  In the meantime, I try to remind myself that I am taking care of the more important things, and that if writing here is truly important, from an eternal perspective, God will give me the time to do so.

Now: what's on my needles!

I'm still working on my Shalom sweater from last time around.  However, it's mostly done: probably less than six inches of stockinette and then an inch of garter stitch left to go, which shouldn't take me long at all.  I think I'll have it done by the end of the weekend, if not before, since we'll be traveling (this gives me a chance to knit in the car).  Then I just have to pick out a good button, and also fudge close the two extra buttonholes that I worked in and have now decide I won't need or want.

I have to say, I've been loving this revival of my passion for knitting.  I just ordered yarn for a couple more projects, which should keep me busy for at least the next several weeks.  The best part of rediscovering this particular hobby is that it's so wonderfully portable; I can pop my latest project in a bag and bring it to the doctor's office (if my daughter isn't coming, anyway), or knit in the car, or when we visit either set of grandparents.  I'm enjoying the process, and also enjoying the end results.  The next step is for me to branch out into different types of yarn; I've mostly been a "wool only" person (I raised sheep - go figure), but I'm intrigued by the variety of other natural fibers (cotton, modal, cashmere, etc).  And I've really been enjoying learning some new techniques, as well.  It's all made me very thankful for the solid skills that I learned as a child and teenager (thank you, Mom and 4-H), because it's now pretty easy for me to attempt fairly complex patterns.

As for the book accompanying the sweater: this is the book that I would be reading, if I could just find the time to read.  Actually, I have found time here and there (i.e. when LW will let me, while nursing) to flip through it at least.  It's called Honey for a Child's Heart, and is an absolutely lovely annotated list of children's books, which includes a lovely dose of Great Books philosophy.  I've been looking through it to see what books I might want to get for LW for her upcoming birthday; she's finally hit an age where she just loves to be read to, and it's time to expand her library a bit more.

Anyway, that's all for today, folks!  Have a blessed and holy Triduum, and a most joyful Easter!

As always, be sure to check out all the other Yarn Along links over at Small Things.

Trials and Tribulations

My soon-to-be two year old is not content, it seems, to partake in the typical childhood bumps and bruises.  Yes, she falls off from things regularly, and bangs her head, or drops things on her toes, or squashes a finger.  But she also has to take everything one step further.  Like yesterday, when she managed to sprinkle black pepper in her eye.  In case anyone ever wondered - a two year old with pepper in their eye is not a happy camper, and if their fingernails happen to be long at the same time, the bloody scratched mess that will result is enough to result in an instantaneous lifetime's worth of Mom-guilt.

Oh yes, and it was dinnertime, too.  In the flurry of activity, our pasta got pretty gummy.  But, the good news is that LW is fine, now (albeit scratched), and we've learned better than to let her play with spices until she's at least 25.

Ever had a toddler spice catastrophe?  Please share, and let me know I'm not the worst Mom alive.

Yarn Along # 4

What a crazy busy day it has been. All three of us were scheduled to have doctor's appointments today, although my husband eventually canceled his chiropractic one so that he could take our daughter to the dentist instead.  Dental visits are a huge trauma for both her *and* me - and I think it went easier, this time, because I didn't go.  All day, though, I've been thinking "it's Wednesday!  I've been knitting!  I want to post my Yarn Along!"  I'm sliding it in, just under the wire, and in the five minutes I have before my computer battery dies.

Anyway.  Picture time!

Here's what's currently on my needles, and on the side table being read:

It doesn't look like much yet, but it's the beginning of a Shalom sweater for me.  I liked the one I made for my daughter so much that I had to start one for myself.  The yarn is Cascade Yarns Eco Wool (in a natural chocolate brown), and the pattern can be found on Ravelry, or at Involving the Senses.  The yarn is pretty soft for being bulky and non-Merino, and I'm loving the lofty feel of it (and already imagining how nice the finished sweater will feel).  I also loved that one skein, which is almost 500 yards, should be enough for the whole project, and only cost $15.

Actually, I had the sweater completed all the way through the yoke yesterday, before trying it on and deciding to rip it all out and go up a needle size.  What you see here is what I was able to redo while waiting, and waiting, and waiting some more at the doctor's office today.

The book is one of my very favorites: Friends for the Journey, containing thoughts and dialogue on friendship by Madeleine L'Engle and Luci Shaw.  Love it, for more reasons than I can count, and it's hitting the spot right now.  It's making me realize, though, that I need to start being more proactive and try to find more friends.  Friends really do make the world go 'round...

Also, an update on my last project: I finished LW's Bloom dress!

I absolutely love how it turned out.  The K1P1 ribbing in the bodice has a ton of give, and I can tell it will fit LW for a long time to come.

The diamond lace pattern is just so perfectly pretty.  Plus, this project has definitely gotten me over my intimidation about lace knitting.  I'll be doing more projects like it in the near future, I'm sure!

Best of all, it fits LW well - lots of room to grow in to, but should be perfect for Easter.  I just need to decide on a ribbon color - white or darker purple - to finish it.  And she even (when she's not trying to take it off, that is) likes the dress (don't mind the trash can and recycling bin in the background.  When trying to catch a very active toddler on camera, you have to take whatever shot you can get).

That's all for today, folks - the battery is about to go.  Be sure to check out the Yarn Along roundup over at Small Things.

Lesson for a Tuesday

Today's science lesson:

If you happen to be making grits for breakfast, and you just happen to drop the whole, steaming, still slightly soupy bowl of grits on the floor... you will receive an awesome lesson in physics.

That's right: your grits will splash eight feet in every direction, onto every surface imaginable.  Daughter's kitchen toys?  Check.  Throw rug that doesn't fit in the washing machine?  Check.  Laundry basket eight feet away in the living room?  Check, check, and double check (side note: when I went to spell check my post, double check initially turned into diabolic; coincidence? I don't think so).  And by the time you finish cleaning up what can only be described as grit shrapnel, you probably won't want grits for breakfast anymore.

Don't ask me how I know this.

I would include pictures for illustration, but it's far too early in the week for anything that demoralizing.  Take it from me, though: it might be wise to choose something less explosive for breakfast.  Like toast.

That's all for now.  May your Tuesday be less sticky and gritty than mine.

Yarn Along #3

What with one thing or another (illness, busyness) I didn't have a chance to post my "Yarn Along" the last two weeks.  However, that doesn't mean I wasn't knitting! 

Currently In Progress:

I stole an idea from Josee at Through the Thorns to the Stars and started an Easter dress for my daughter.  I'm using the "Bloom" pattern on Ravelry, by Georgie Hallam.  I love her patterns - they are so clearly and cleverly written, and so girly and pretty!  The yarn is Knit Picks Swish DK in Sugarplum.  I started this about a week ago, and it is knitting up quite quickly.

Other Projects I've Completed Recently:

Remember the fingerless gloves to match my hat?  All done, and I'm getting great use out of them as spring lingers late in the northeast (in fact, it's rumored we're going to get hit with another snowstorm on Friday).  I'm sick of the cold, but at least my hands will be warm!  It's amazing how comfy fingerless gloves are; I find that I want to leave them all the time, and I can, because my fingers are still free.

Also, in the interim, I made a toddler-sized Shalom Cardigan.  Sizing was a stab in the dark, because I couldn't/didn't want to figure out the math for what gauge I should be shooting for, and really didn't want to adjust the number of stitches.  The adult-size pattern called for US 10.75 (7 mm) needles and bulky weight yarn; I subbed DK weight yarn (Knit Picks Swish DK in the discontinued color Periwinkle) and used US size 6 (4.25 mm).  I didn't adjust the stitch count at all, although I did add two extra button holes and slightly reduce the number of stitches cast off into the sleeves, thus increasing the bodice size slightly so that the cardigan could close for those two extra buttons.  It turned out so perfect!  My next project, after I finish LW's dress, will be to make one of these for myself.

Here's LW modeling it (actually, I distracted her with bubbles so that she'd hold still for pictures)



"Bubbles!"



"Done with the bubbles.  Take this sweater off NOW"

and what it looks like from behind (pardon the dark shot)

What I'm Reading:

A couple of random books arrived in the mail earlier this week.  They were addressed to me, but I hadn't ordered them, and was baffled as to where they had come from.  Turns out my cousin was sending me birthday gifts from afar.  One of those books was a volume of poetry: Red Bird, by Mary Oliver.  I'm very much enjoying it (as I could have guessed I would - my cousin has excellent taste in books).  I'm also finding myself reaching for Perelandra lately, to re-read it for about the hundredth time.  It's a great book for Lent, because it explores the nature of sin, grace, paradise lost and paradise retained; it's also a great book for any time when the future is a little bit unclear.  I'll leave you with my very favorite quote:

"He gave me no assurance.  No fixed land.  Always one must throw oneself into the wave." - C.S. Lewis, Perelandra

Happy knitting, everyone!  As always, be sure to head over to Small Things for the Yarn Along roundup.

Guest Post at CMO Today!

My grandiose plans to blog more this month were pretty completely derailed by coming down with something akin to the flu nearly two weeks ago (actually, LW came down with it first, then me, then my husband).  I'm still recuperating, and since I don't get vacation days from work, being part-time, it's going to be a little while before I dig myself out of the pile of "mandatory" things that need to be done.  In the meantime, though, please check out my guest post over at Catholic Mothers Online today: Tips for Avoiding Mommy Meltdowns.

And, lest I unintentionally come across as some sort of transcendentally calm guru-mama - believe me when I say that I've sorely needed to take my own advice the last few weeks!

I'll (hopefully) be back soon with more thoughts, if I can just stop coughing long enough to type.

Yarn Along # 2

Time for another Yarn Along!  Find a ton more Yarn Along posts over at Small Things.

Wow, the week flew by.  But I was right, thinking about Yarn Alongs did prompt me to start another project right away.  It also started me searching through the endless archives at Ravelry, and making many plans for projects to come.

Currently on my needles:

One finished fingerless glove, and a mate for it just started.  I made these using the Vancouver Fog pattern on Ravelry, in the same yarn to match my hat from last week.  I did tweak the pattern slightly - first, using smaller needles, because I knew I'd need to in order to get gauge, and second, to add "fingerless fingers."  I prefer that to having just the "sleeve" around my hand, because I think the short little finger tubes keep the whole thing in place better.  Anyway, I'm pleased with how the first turned out, and being a quick knit, should have the second one done in time to use them a bit before spring arrives.  Given Monday's snowstorm, I guess it may be awhile anyway.

Currently in my head:

Kitten's First Full Moon.  My daughter LOVES cats.  She really, really adores them.  We can't wait to be able to get her one of her own, but in the meantime, we keep a steady stream of cat-themed books coming into the house.  This is her latest favorite.  The illustrations are lovely (black and white), although I am personally more partial to the sing-song rhythms of her last favorite, So Many Cats ("we had a cat, an only cat, it was a sad and lonely cat...")

Take Three Tenses.  I've been on a Rumer Godden kick for awhile now, and am enjoying this novel that I hadn't previously read before.  Not quite as much as I enjoyed China Court and In This House of Brede and Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy, but still thoroughly enjoying.  She wrote such lovely novels, and as a literary geek and T.S. Eliot fan, this one has extra appeal, because she weaves portions of Eliot's poem East Coker throughout.

Currently on my heart:

Lent starts today.  Actually, I'm writing this Tuesday, which when I post it will be yesterday ("time present and time past"!), so that I can just log in, post my draft, and go back to observing a quiet day.  I don't have grand plans for this Lent, just little ones, but I'm hoping that through little things God's grace might make big changes in me.  As such, I'm turning my heart thoughts towards the transforming power of His spirit, and delving into a book that my mom bought me awhile back, which I hadn't really worked my way through yet: Choosing Beauty.  I'll let you know how I like it, after I've read a bit more.

That's it for today!  Stay tuned for upcoming thoughts on 1) thinking about starting a Mom's group, and 2) learning to trust God's plan in whatever circumstances your life is currently offering.

May you have a blessed Ash Wednesday, and a holy journey this Lent, finding Christ through His Cross, so as to merit the glory of His Resurrection!

Snowed In!

Yesterday, our driveway was clear, our vehicles dry, and patches of bare ground had appeared.

Today:

I'd like to point out that yes, that snowdrift IS completely covering the front of our second car, and yes, the pathway to our car (note, as I said, yesterday you could see bare ground) is completely gone, buried between at least three feet of snow.

But I'm not complaining, because 1) my husband got the day off from work, and 2) it's pretty lovely to curl up with hot soup, hot cocoa, my warm toddler, and watch the snow from a warm house.  A perfect day to read and knit and help LW "cook" things on her new stove.

What about you?  What's the weather like in your part of the world?

A Toddler Kitchen from (Mostly) Repurposed Items

Finally!  It's done.  Or at least, done enough to blog about.  There's one final detail that can't be done for a couple of weeks, but I've basically finished LW's stove!

I got the idea for this back around Christmas.  LW was just starting to get the idea of "cooking," and it seemed like something she'd really enjoy.  Our Christmas visit to my mother-in-law's house confirmed it: she'd found a toddler kitchen somewhere, and my daughter really went crazy playing with it for the two days we were there.  One of my mom and dad's presents to her was some toddler cookware, so when we got home, I started looking around for something that could function as a stove.

Now, truth be told, I really have my heart set on either buying or building something like this one by Camden Rose.  But we didn't, don't, and won't have that kind of cash kicking around anytime soon, and until my father gets his real woodshop up and running (he has the tools, but needs to build the shop to house them and move it all out of their basement), building won't be happening, so I needed a good interim solution.

While looking around our own basement for inspiration, I uncovered and remembered this:

(I know the picture is dark.  I took this photo right before we started working on it, we were at my parents' and I didn't have my good camera, so had to settle for my husband's phone)

This ugly, beat-up TV stand has been in my family for nearly my whole life.  My grandmother picked it up at a yard sale when I was maybe 7 or 8, I think she used it briefly (or maybe not?), and then it was my parents' TV stand for years.  Around the time I was 18, my brother and I got them an entertainment center as an anniversary gift, and the TV stand was retired, only to then go off to college with me.  It followed me to my first apartment, back home again, then to our apartment when we got married.  Shortly after LW was born, our landlords gave us their old stand, which was much nicer, so this one again was retired.  Really, I was planning on junking it, but fortunately hadn't gotten around to it yet.

Pictures don't really do adequate justice to how junky this thing was.  Made of that wood veneer particle board, which had gotten water damaged and was all bubbly across the top, it probably wasn't worth much when brand new, and I think my grandmother got it for for around $5, over twenty years ago; suffice it to say, it had seen better days.  This picture was actually taken after the first modification: whoever put it together in the beginning, put the bottom shelf at a weird sloping angle (perhaps it was supposed to be that way, to hold VHS tapes?), so I removed two of the screws and put it back on flat.

We (my journeyman carpenter earlier in life, father and I) removed the top piece, and I sanded it down.  Then we cut a circular hole on the right hand side, cut a new backpiece as the existing one was broken, and put everything back together.  I painted, painted, and painted some more - four coats in all - and here it is.  As my husband said, "Wow, who knew it could look that good.  We should have painted it a long time ago!"

Despite sanding it flat, the bubbles reappeared once I put the paint on - probably because those areas swelled more with the moisture.  But after the fourth coat of paint, they weren't really that noticeable.

Also providentially (for me, anyway), my aunt's faucet had broken recently, and my dad went over to fix it while I was visiting.  I quickly pleaded with him to save the faucet for this project.  This was fortunate, as these faucets are quite pricey new, and I hadn't been able to find a used one.  This also added to the multi-generational and sentimental value of the piece, because my aunt lives in what was once my grandparents' house.  They both passed away years ago, but this is the faucet that they used for years and years, and which I remember using at their house whenever I visited while growing up.

Of course, it was pretty obvious that it'd been in use for years when I first got my hands on it:

That's about 30+ years of mineral accumulation.  It polished up nicely, though, as you can see in the next photo, where I've polished just one side for comparison:

My dad used a hacksaw to cut the copper wires off from the bottom; here it is all polished and ready to go.

We drilled two holes in the top of "stove" to screw it down, and after the paint finally dried, I attached it.  We also purchased a stainless steel bowl for the "sink", which I left unattached so that LW can take it in and out (I think this is her favorite part), and also so that I could fill it with water or bubbles and be able to dump it easily.  Here it is, attached:

For the "burners," I found these wide, grooved coasters on Amazon.  They are just the right width for her pots, and the grooves made them the closest thing to real that I could find. 

I spray-painted them with a glossy, "metallic black" spraypaint; it has little gold flecks in it that worked perfectly to make the finished product look real.  The bonus was that I "thrifted" the spraypaint from my parents basement, where I think it was originally purchased to make a costume for a 4-H sheep costume class, and probably hadn't been used since.

Painting:

The finished product:

I attached these to the stovetop using wood glue.  I also added a towel bar on one side, and hanging pegs on the other (these, unfortunately, were purchased, not thrifted).

Then, I used this fabric (also purchased) to make cafe curtains to cover the front (hanging on an expandable , adjustable curtain rod):

Voila!  The finished product:

Towel bar:

I also made LW a matching short apron and a coordinating potholder, which conveniently hang on the hanging hooks (I may add one more hook, if I get around to it):

Note, I am very purposefully NOT showing closeups of the potholder.  It would most certainly have earned a white ribbon, had I entered it in the fair growing up.  But I didn't have a pattern, I've never made a potholder or quilted anything before, and I was in a hurry to finish during LW's nap.  It's functional, if a bit stiff, she doesn't care if it's perfect or not.

Also, a not-too-close shot of the apron, for which the former caveat also, somewhat, applies:

It's a little crooked, not really as wide as it should be (sort of a front flap rather than a wrap around), but a good prototype for future attempts.  And, not too shabby given that I wasn't working with a pattern, and just eyeballed the pleats on the bottom. 

The only thing remaining to be done on the stove it to attach stove knobs on the front panel underneath the burners.  These too were repurposed: they were once the knobs on my parents' stove in their trailer, before my dad built our house.  This part can't be done until the next time I visit them, however, since I need my dad's drill press to make the holes.  I'll post a final picture in a couple of weeks.

The final cost tally for the project (which I'm going to call the Grandparents' Toddler Stove)

• Frame: my parents' old TV stand - a posthumous contribution from my maternal grandmother.  Free.
• Faucet: my paternal grandparents' old faucet.  Free, but priceless.
• Stove knobs: my parents' (thus LW's grandparents) old stove.  Free.
• Paint: 1/2 can @ 12.99 = $6.50
• Towel bar: $8.00
• Hooks: $4.00 for two
• Fabric for curtains: $8 (with 40% off coupon, at Jo-Ann's)
• Curtain rod: $9
• Burners: $9
• Stainless steel bowl: $5

The whole thing came to just under $50, which is less than even a plastic toddler kitchen would cost.  This one should, hopefully, last until we can make one of those lovely wooden heirloom sets.  Of course, now LW needs a refrigerator...

One of the unexpected perks, from my perspective, is a new, out-of-sight storage place for some of LW's toys.  And it looks pretty cute, sitting in the corner of our living room.

But the best part will be watching LW play with it in the months and years to come.  Already she loves moving the faucet, turning the faucet on and off, and taking the bowl in and out.  She also cooked us some of the felt ravioli I made for her.

Now, to find some good patterns for many more kinds of felt food!

Happy crafting, everyone!

Yarn Along #1

I figured it was high time I jump on the Yarn Along bandwagon.  I've actually done quite a lot knitting this winter (a lot, at least, given my current responsibilities), but I haven't documented most of it.  I'm hoping doing Yarn Alongs will motivate me to keep knitting into the summertime, when historically I tend to forget about warm, woolly projects.

Anyway, here's my latest project - I just finished it this past weekend.  Technically the second time I'd made it - I knit the whole hat over my Thanksgiving vacation (a couple of days), then tried it on and found it was a little bit too big.  I tried to rip it out from the bottom to take an inch off, but found that it's nearly impossible to rip cables out from the bottom up.  It was such a mess that I had to unravel the entire thing and start over... live and learn, I guess.  I did cast it back on (with smaller needles) and knit a couple of rows immediately, but I just didn't have the heart to go any further for awhile.  So I finished a hat and gloves for my cousin, hat and gloves for my husband, hat for my brother-in-law, and then finally picked this back up three weeks ago.

I used the "Tuppence's Aran Cloche" pattern by Danny Ouellette, found here on Ravelry.   The pattern directions were pretty easy to follow (I loved that there was both a cabling chart, and written instructions).  The yarn is Paton's Classic Merino in (I think - I can't find my yarn wrapper at the moment) Jade Heather.

Here's a closeup of the cabling pattern:

I'm such a sucker for cables.  I love all things Celtic, and Celtic knotwork is no exception.  When I was 16, I made a whole sweater out of these sorts of cables - it took me nearly a year - and like the hat, turned out just a bit too big for me.  I didn't have the heart to unravel that project, so my Mom got a nice new sweater.  You'd think I'd have learned my lesson about needing to do a gauge sample, but no... I still can't be bothered.

A gratuitous pic or two of my little hat model (it's sized for me, so definitely too big for her, but cute nonetheless)

As for what I'm currently reading: I've been switching around a lot, but A Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh is what I'm primarily reaching for, with Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy (by Rumer Godden) falling a close second. 

Find more Yarn Alongs over at Small Things.

Have a great day everyone!  May you be blessed with ample time to knit and read!

A Random Recipe Post

Since I haven't had time to write about anything interesting lately, I thought I'd at least share a couple of recipes that I'd been meaning to post about.  They are both "my own" although originally adapted or at least inspired by other sources. 

(Completely random aside: I'm writing this while I watch my daughter play contentedly in the bathtub beside me.  We got her one of these for Christmas, and it entertains her so well that now I tend to give her a bath when I just need a couple of minutes to sit and relax.  Of course I have to sit right next to the tub to keep her safe, but it still allows a few minutes respite)

Anyway.  Back to the recipes.

The first is a granola recipe that I've adapted from the King Arthur Flour "Vermont Maple Granola" recipe that I found at The Floured Apron.  The first time I made it basically as she suggested, but I've been gradually making it my own since then; some of the alterations are for flavor, and some for cost.  I usually make a full batch at the beginning of the week, and it lasts my cereal-crazed (seriously - as a bachelor, he used to eat unbelievable amounts of cereal, and he'll still happily eat 2 or more bowls in a day) husband about a week.  Also, don't be put off by the long list of ingredients.  This is SO easy to make, and so worth it, because it lacks all those weird additives, and you can adjust the fat and sugar as need be.

Modified Maple Granola

• 7 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup coconut (just the regular sweetened, shredded stuff - no need to toast it first)
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 1 cup other chopped nuts (I use whatever I have on hand - walnuts, pecans, and hazelnuts all work equally well)
• 1 cup wheat germ (not something I generally had on hand, and pricey, but it does add flavor and more importantly, a lot of nutritional value)
• a couple good dashes of salt 
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup brown sugar (adjust to your own sweetness preference)
• 1/2 cup maple syrup (again, adjust according to your preference.  I made this adjustment primarily for budgetary reasons - I LOVE maple syrup, but until my father gets his sugaring rig up and going again and starts giving it to us for free, the $5/cup sweetener has to be used more sparingly)
• 1/2 cup or so unsweetened applesauce (this adds flavor, moisture to replace reduced syrup, and all-importantly, makes the granola clump better than in the original recipe)
• cinnamon to taste (can also add vanilla, if you so desire, but it isn't 100% necessary)
• a cup or so of dried cranberries
• a cup or so of raisins

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.  Combine all dry ingredients except for the dried fruit (raisins and cranberries) in a large bowl.  Heat the coconut oil in a small bowl (if necessary to get a liquid consistency - probably not necessary in the summer, but at this time of year mine is solid), and add the maple syrup, stir a bit, then pour over the dry ingredients in the large bowl.  Add the applesauce, and stir until well combined.  Pour the whole mixture onto two lightly greased cookie sheets, and bake (stirring every 15 minutes or so - the parts around the edge and at the bottom cook faster) until crispy and golden brown, around an hour and a half or so.  Mix in the dried fruit, cool completely, and enjoy.

The second recipe is "my own" - I put it together using trial and error, after having a very similar pumpkin soup at a restaurant in Rhode Island a couple of years ago.  We were visiting with friends at the time, and they insisted we try this "out of this world" soup - like pumpkin pie in a bowl, they said.  It was really, really good, and when I came home I tried and tried to find a recipe for it, but couldn't seem to find one anywhere.  Most of the pumpkin soup recipes on the Internet are for savory soups rather than sweet, and the one sweet one I tried (and posted about, previously) really fell short of what I was looking for.

So, here it is: it's sweet, creamy, and yes, like pumpkin pie in a bowl, but it also packs a nutritional punch with all of that yummy pumpkin.  Thus it is currently a great way to sneak veggies into my toddler, who will pack it away quite happily.  For little ones like her, I suggest adding a couple of tablespoons of oat or rice cereal, to thicken it up for better "spoonableness" (and doing so also adds iron).

Abby's Pumpkin Pie Soup

• 1 can pumpkin puree (15-16 oz)
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream, + 2 tbsp for thickening
• 2 tbsp (or a bit more) flour (for thickening)
• +/- 2 tbsp brown sugar (adjust to your sweetness preference)
• 1/8 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• dash of salt

Combine pumpkin, milk, sugar, vanilla, and spices in saucepan, stirring until well mixed.  Cook until almost simmering, then turn heat to low.  Stir in cream.  In a small bowl (a jelly jar or glass works great), combine about 2 tbsp of cream and 2 tbsp of flour.  Whisk this mixture into the soup, and heat gently until thickened (can repeat this step with more cream and flour for a thicker soup).  Serve and enjoy.

I hope you all try and enjoy these recipes.  In other news, stay tuned for an upcoming post on the re-purposed play stove top I've been making for my toddler!

What Budgets and Confession Have in Common

I have a confession to make:  while I've been the one primarily responsible for managing our finances since we got married, I'd never, until this last week, sat down and done a budget.

To some this will come as a huge shock, and others will probably think to themselves, "So what?  We don't, either, and we're fine."

I'm here to tell you today that it is actually worth it to do one, annoying and depressing as it may seem at the time.

Here's the thing.  For the first couple of years of our married life, I fooled myself into thinking I was "budgeting" adequately, because I was writing down every major bill we had to pay each month, and making sure we had enough money in the account to cover it.   Money came in, money went back out, and I told myself that I was allotting "about this much" for groceries, and "about that much" for clothing, and that since ends seemed to meet, we were doing OK.  The truth was, we were doing just fine.  We were two adults with okay paying jobs, living in an apartment, and sharing a single vehicle (that was paid off).  Our only major expense was my husband's student loans, and on a consolidated plan, we only owed about $250 a month.  Not too big a deal.

But then, time went on, and life happened.  We got pregnant, had a beautiful daughter, and I started working part time, willingly dropping half of my income to do so.  At the same time, my husband got a promotion that almost, but not quite, equaled what we were dropping.  We bought a second car, and embraced a car payment.  And at the end of that year, things were still OK.  We'd been able to buy what baby stuff we really needed, were given a lot besides, and happily embraced our newfound ability to claim good tax credits.  And still, my "budgeting" was just a list of major bills, tacked up on our fridge.

Then 2010 happened.  The year started off bright, and we even had enough extra cash in January to buy a (inexpensive) new couch.  Good thing we lived it up then, because once March rolled around, it all began to fall apart.  An unforeseen dental emergency radically bit into our savings account, and the dental insurance we were paying for out of pocket (my husband's job doesn't provide dental) didn't cover any of it, because we hadn't had the policy for a year yet.  I had a vague sense that possibly we should have been better prepared for such a contingency, but still, I didn't really change anything.

Then LW started having teeth problems in July (it was a year of tooth woes, let me tell you!).  And the chain of unfortunate events didn't stop there.  Four separate sets of family members or friends got married over the summer, and we were (happily, joyfully, and expensively) in the bridal party of half those weddings.  Both cars needed substantial brake repairs at the same time, the Christmas gift buying season... the list goes on and on of "things we didn't plan ahead for."  I tried to tackle the problem over the summer with a sudden burst of frugality, but still I didn't actually sit down and really look at the numbers.

January rolled around again, and I began to realize that (despite doing the Christmas shopping early, and being frugal in our expenditures), ends really just weren't meeting month after month.  We should have at least a couple hundred extra dollars each month, according to my "master bill list" - so where was it all going?

One of my big themes for this year has been developing a system for things, and getting more organized in my approach to life (work, cleaning, how we care for our daughter, etc). We've also been setting some real, tangible goals (such as saving X amount towards a house down payment, and towards being able to take a real vacation at some time in the future) and so it just seemed natural to perhaps begin budgeting more intentionally.  I thought that maybe if we tracked our spending for a month or two, we could get a feel for where we could make some improvements, and maybe it would help us to begin to make real progress towards our goals, instead of feeling like we were continually back-sliding.

(I know, I know, at this point you may be asking when I'm going to stop telling a tale of woe, and explain what this has to do with the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  But be patient.  I am going somewhere with all of this, somewhere more than just "why everyone should have a budget").

Last week, I sat down, with the help of some nifty free software (Buddi) and set up a budget for us.  I started with what I already knew: what comes in each month, and what was going out for major bills.  Then I began filling in the categories of things I knew we needed each year, but hadn't included (somehow my mind must have been assuming that some sort of "magic money from the sky" would materialize to cover these): things like a monthly allowance for clothing, a monthly car repair fund, monthly saving towards the gifts we'll give over the course of a year.  I also included things like a little bit (which, as I tinkered with the numbers to make income and outgoing equal each other, grew smaller and smaller) of free cash for us both to do what we would in a month (perhaps coffee, or a new book).

The end result was depressing, because it turned out we didn't have anywhere near the amount of disposable income that I thought we did.  Actually, our "disposable" income is essentially zilch.  I had to really trim some things in a major manner to get it to balance at all, and it is not fun to have to tell yourself that you literally don't have the money to contribute to a category the way you thought you did, when you are used to believing that you had quite a bit of wiggle room in your "budget".

But - it was also an uplifting exercise, because finally, I could see the actual state of things.  I knew how bad things were, but also how bad they weren't - that, while we're going to have to pinch pennies to accomplish our goals, we aren't in the red, and our budget (unlike a lot of corporate and governmental budgets these days!) isn't entirely unbalanceable.  We can choose to live within our means, and now we have really good guidelines on what those are.  If we can stick to it, we'll also have the peace that comes from knowing that we're actually putting aside money towards some (if, unfortunately, not all) of the financial curve balls that will doubtless continue to come our way.  And we'll be able to make some slow progress, hopefully, towards things we really want, by choosing to be more intentional, more knowledgeable, in our financial management.

Anyway.  I tell you all of this primarily to provide the backdrop to a revelation I had in the process: that budgeting is a lot like examining one's conscience, when done thoroughly and in depth.  On the one hand, both are uncomfortable, somewhat depressing, activities.  You have to face some ugly truths about the state of your character (and bank account).  A lot of shortcomings come to light, and it's not fun to see exactly how short you may be falling of where you thought you were.  But on the other hand, honestly facing where you are and who you are brings a real sense of hope, as well.  You can toss aside the vague sense of guilt ("I know I don't measure up to what I should be, although I'm not really sure exactly where or how that is"), and its corollary in banking, the vague sense that ends aren't meeting, and replace both with an actual list of things that need to change.

Possibly why this revelation struck me so strongly is that, at the same time as I realized our financial plight, I was also dealing with a health problem that was really getting me down.  I'm generally pretty much a hypochondriac anyway, and I didn't know what was causing the problem, or what the diagnosis was going to be.  For some reason, it made me really realize my mortality in a new way, and one day the thought struck home, "if I die this year, what I've done for God will have been fallen so short of the mark."  Just like my financial planning (or lack thereof), my spiritual planning has been lackadaisical.  I do what seems necessary, and check off the list of big "bills," if you will - go to Mass on Sunday, check.  Fast on fast days, check.  Go to Confession occasionally, check.  Try to be a good mom, wife, friend, daughter, sibling, sibling-in-law, check, when I'm in the mood, and everything is going right, and my hormones/the weather/what I had for lunch allow, which is, if I'm generous, maybe 1/4 of the time.  But I know I haven't really been storing up treasures, not like I should be.  I haven't been letting God's grace do radical things in my character.  If you read back through everything I just said about money and budgets, planning and not planning, and insert the ideas of grace, good works, storing up treasures, sinning, falling short of the mark, etc, my spiritual state becomes just as clear as our financial one: I've been just as lazy and intentionally ignorant in caring for the growth of my own soul as in my stewardship of our bank account.  And this year, even more than I want our financial situation to change, I want to (or at least I want to want to, if that counts as the same thing) make spiritual strides in the right direction.  I want to become purposeful and knowledgeable, in the sense of knowing myself (especially in so far as that means knowing myself in need of God's grace and help!), in my spiritual life.

Of course, it's easier in some ways to live in the cloud of unknowing.  It's a position that doesn't demand change, or sacrifice, or hard work.  But it's also a place where you can get stuck, and stop moving towards where you really want to be.  In the short term, I'm hoping a budget can help us get into a house, a place that will be a temporal, though temporary, home.  In the long term, I know that regularly sifting through my own failings, going to confession, and putting what I promise to change into practice, will, with God's grace and mercy, bring me to the place I really want to be: my forever home, Heaven, with Him.

Retreats, Simplicity, and Ordinary Life

We're dead-smack in the middle of winter.  The Northeast just got clobbered with a boatload of the white stuff.  Cabin fever is really setting in, since I haven't stepped foot outside our house since Monday morning, and that was just to go grocery shopping.  Consequently, I have this almost overwhelming desire (maybe even need?) to jet off somewhere, preferably tropical, and go on a retreat!  Unfortunately, it's totally not practical at the moment for a number of reasons... so instead I'm thinking and writing about bringing the key parts of a retreat into my day to day, ordinary life.  See my guest post over at Catholic Mothers Online today - Bringing Retreat Simplicity into Ordinary Life. 

Hopefully more real posts to come here at some point soon.  Balancing work and toddler has suddenly gotten very difficult, and I haven't had a lot, or any, time to write!

Sunday Yum:

My husband and I have fallen, sometime since the birth of our daughter, into the habit of stopping for a "treat" on the way home from Mass.  Sometimes this means a croissant from the local bakery, more often a cup of coffee or a donut from DD.  However, with times tight, etc, we've been trying to tighten our belts just that a little bit further.  So today, instead of stopping, I said I'd make a treat once we got home.  And here it is:  a great treat for a Sunday (quick, easy, and feast-day delicious):

Cream Scones

This recipe (from the Joy of Baking) is great as is, but I do usually tweak it just a little bit.  Since I like my scones sweet, I use 1/3 cup of sugar instead of 1/4.  I also like to add in, when I have them on hand,  about 1/2 cup of chopped dried cranberries and 1/4 cup chopped dark chocolate, and sprinkle the tops with sugar after brushing with cream (before baking).

DD's, and even the local bakery, have nothing on this "treat".  It's the perfect something to accompany a cup of tea, during the luxury of one's toddler's nap.


















A blessed Sabbath rest to all!

A Morning Shortcut

Photo credit to thebittenword.com.

Anyone who knows me well, knows I am not a morning person in the least.  Left to my own devices (this essentially means pre-regular employment, and especially, pre-baby), I naturally don't emerge from the safety of my covers until past 8 am, sometimes even 9 (I make up for it, of course, by staying up till nearly midnight).  These days, though, with a bright-eyed munchkin who doesn't like to waste valuable playtime by staying in bed, I have to greet the day a bit earlier.

That being said, anything that can make my morning a little easier, is a welcome find.  And, lately I've been following a tip from one of my favorite writers on how to simplify breakfast.  Somewhere (Walking on Water?  Circle of Quiet?  I don't actually remember for sure where I saw it) I remembered Madeleine L'Engle talking about starting her day off with Irish oatmeal.  As I recall, she said she'd make a double batch once or twice a week at night, dish it into bowls, and put it in the fridge; microwaved with a splash of buttermilk, it made a healthy and delicious breakfast.

Not actually knowing what Irish oatmeal was, at the time (I assumed it was basically just regular oatmeal), I stored this tidbit of information away and didn't think much about it.  But as I was recently re-reading Troubling a Star for the several-hundredth time, Vicky's repeated references to oatmeal piqued my interest, and made me look into this stuff further.  So I did some research, discovered that it's not quite the same thing as your typical Quaker rolled oats (the oats are cut, not rolled, and the finished product has more of a chewy, nutty texture, along with the creamy oatmeal consistency - like a cross between tapioca pudding and oatmeal, sort of), and also that steel cut oats are pretty healthy for you.  Also, there aren't any crazy additives when you make it yourself in this fashion.

So that's what I've been doing lately.  I make a double batch twice a week, and pour it into about four bowls.  I then cover it with tinfoil, refrigerate, and each morning I pull out breakfast, almost ready to go.  Usually a splash of cream, a drizzle of maple syrup, and a sprinkle of dried cranberries is enough to really put my day off on the right start, but the possibilities are pretty endless; this last weekend, when we went out to breakfast for my husband's birthday, I actually tried "crispy steel cut oatmeal", which is a pan-fried, somewhat more savory version, and it was pretty good as well.

Regardless, it's quick, it's easy, it's basically mindless, but also really nutritious.  I can feel good about eating it myself, and giving some to my toddler as well (who actually really likes it).  So thanks, Madeleine, for the great suggestion.  It's not the first or the last thing I have to thank you for, if ever we meet "upon the other shore."

Using Time: Opportunism versus Intentionality

Finally a free moment to check in, say hi, and share something I've been pondering a lot lately.  Sorry it's been awhile - the holidays were hectic, getting back into a routine afterwards was a hassle, and now here I am, in the middle of January, in the middle of a snowstorm, and finally able to spare a few minutes to write.

Our Christmas was lovely and blessed, and despite being a whirlwind of activity, it was good to connect with family.  We were blessed with some really lovely gifts, as well, which are already being put to good use (like a KitchenAid stand mixer.  I didn't have a mixer, and wow is it so much easier to bake now!)

One of those gifts was the book Simplicity Parenting, which has prompted the subject of the pondering in question, at least tangentially.  I've got an upcoming post at Catholic Mothers Online where I'll talk more about the various ways in which the book is inspiring me to re-assess and re-balance our life, but in the meantime, I just thought I'd share how thinking about one very specific thing - mealtime - is helping me gain perspective on lots of different areas of my life.

In our home, mealtime has been sort of a haphazard affair.  I do plan meals, and shop for those meals, every week.  But the actual time always ends up in the air.  I haven't even had the excuse of busy evenings or conflicting family schedules to blame.  What it really comes down to is that I've been starting dinner only when I finally think of it, when a good opportunity seems to present itself, and when I am sufficiently motivated to shift my attention from whatever is currently occupying it.  Sometimes this has meant dinner at 6, but much more often 7:30 has been rolling around with an "uh oh, I'd better hurry up and make something."  This lack of attention to a schedule leads to a train wreck: LW isn't ready for bed until after 8, I try and cram in a very hurried pre-LW bedtime shower for myself, and each night it has seemed like her bedtime has been seriously delayed.  Night after night I go through the mad dash of making dinner, dinner cleanup, and the bedtime routine, and night after night I feel totally burnt out by the end of it.

Then I read Simplicity Parenting over my Christmas vacation, and the proverbial light bulb went off in my head.  I starting thinking about the importance of setting a "framework" around our day; of giving LW a sense of routine and consistency to hang onto.  I didn't think so much about the effect it would have on me, but rather sort of stumbled onto just plain setting a mealtime.  As it turned out, the first day I tried it, I decided I'd shoot for 6 "just because".  This meant I started cooking at least an hour earlier than I had been, which seemed like a bit of a hassle, not to mention a sacrifice of some prime recharge time, since I often don't wrap up my part-time job until 4:30, and don't always feel like launching right into making dinner.  But I did it anyway - and to my surprise, magic happened.  I made dinner, we ate dinner, LW ate much better than usual because she wasn't super tired, we had time to linger over the meal, we cleaned up the meal... and all before 7 pm.  At 7, I was able to curl up on the couch with a book, my husband similarly curled up with the computer, and LW happily scampered around the living room playing.  What I discovered is that, with dinner out of the way earlier, there is a happy hour before bedtime.  LW will play independently, or my husband will get down and play with her, and there is actual time to enjoy the evening; no one is hungry, there's no time crunch or pressure.  By sacrificing the earlier time, I actually end up with a better chance for recharge time than I was getting before.  And, as the days go by, I'm modifying things further so that pajamas and tooth brushing happens right after dinner, to further facilitate a quick transition to bedtime mode when the time arrives.

Now, I know this is probably a no-brainer to those of you who already think to have set times for these sorts of things.  And you're probably also wondering how dinnertime might apply to the rest of one's life.  Here's the thing:  I realized I have a very opportunistic attitude towards a lot of things: playing with my daughter, enjoying a recharge moment, dinner, bath time, bedtime, and especially, prayer.  Because I don't approach any of these things with intentionality, they happen more sporadically and irregularly than they ought.  I'm not saying that everything has to happen on a set schedule, but that I'm realizing there is a real value to planning a time and sticking to it.  It's sort of like how church was for me, growing up.  Going to church on Sunday was a non-negotiable item of the week.  We didn't wake up on Sunday morning and try to decide, spur-of-the-moment-style, whether we felt like going this week or not.  It was what we did, and we worked other things around it.  We still operate on the same principle, although being Catholic, and living in an area with at least 15 parishes within 15-20 minutes driving distance means that sometimes we can plan Mass time around other things (like nap time).  But we're very intentional in that it happens every week.

Thus, I'm wondering if, by applying this principle to other things, like prayer, I might not be able to find the time that I didn't think I had.  I'm starting small - with a big fridge calendar, setting times for the basics (mealtime, bedtime, recharge time, and soon, prayer time).  We'll see where it goes from there.  I know being flexible and opportunistic has some great advantages as well: when you have a small baby, life has to be very flexible, and everyone benefits from really going with the flow of what baby needs at any given moment.  Even with a toddler, it's still important to be able to be flexible, and to grab learning and play opportunities whenever they pop up.  But I'm beginning to see that it's also really important to cultivate intentionality, especially in those areas of life, like relationships (with God, my husband, my child, with family and friends) where things just won't happen if they aren't intentional.

Here's to living life intentionally in 2011!

Photo credit to Martin Pettitt.