Sunday, September 27, 2015

Tidbits and Snippets for September 27th


The Good News About Your Work Nobody Sees - "Moms and wives at home feel frazzled. And often they feel resentful or alone. It’s little wonder why the feminist movement so easily persuaded them to leave home. We all crave evidence of our hard work. We want a grand building at the end of the day, to hear the oohs and ahhs. It’s human. But according to God’s word, we are building something grand, and earthly accolades are not the prize." (Generation Cedar)

3 Reasons Why Our Family Avoids Sleepovers - Great thoughts here, also a good list of resources at the end of the post. (The Humbled Homemaker)

Why Allow Women in Combat if We Won’t Allow Them to Compete Alongside Men in Sport? - "This push for women in combat despite all the evidence also fits the weird modern determination to have sex everywhere but gender nowhere, to resent everything and see nothing when it comes to masculinity and femininity. But it’s not just an academic game." (John Robson, writing in the National Post, hat tip to Challies.com)

"[P]roponents of women in combat don’t just want male soldiers who will shrug off the violent death or torture and rape in captivity of female colleagues, which ISIL would doubtless post online. They want male soldiers willing to riddle the other side’s women with bullets, blow their heads and arms off, pick them off at long range or sneak up and bayonet them while looking into their eyes. I cannot square this desire with feminist outrage at societal indifference to male violence against women."

End of Summer Picnic - I loved this idea! We made it work this past weekend, even though summer has officially ended. It will pair perfectly with the Caramel Apple Party that we have also made an annual tradition. We paired it with a desert hike and tonight's lunar eclipse. (Raising Arrows)

At the top of the mountain. Notice that the 9yo chose to wear his Hawaiian lei and his French Louis XIV mask, and that the 3yo insisted on wearing pajamas over his day clothes. Yes, they're our children.

Dusk in the desert.

A really crummy picture of the eclipse.


Supporting a Friend Through Pregnancy Loss - "Stillbirth has show me what it means to be held, both by the Lord and by precious friends and family."  (The Humbled Homemaker)
You can read the poster's stillbirth story here: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

What Every Mother With Severe Morning Sickness Wants You to Know - Excellent material here. (Mama Gab)



The Recipe Corner

We loved this roasted cauliflower soup recipe (low-carb, GF). I added sage and butter, and reduced the amount stock from three cups to two cups. I also doubled the recipe, as one recipe doesn't make much. Definitely a keeper!

This roasted broccoli and cheddar soup (low-carb, GF) was also superb, and again, I reduced the stock from three cups to two cups (I love thick soups!).

New Mexico enchiladas (I used this enchilada sauce) - easy and delicious. We served with homemade refried beans and Mexican rice to finish off our unit study on New Mexico.




This recipe for country apple cake was superb! I split it into two 8x8 pans - one for church, one for us. On both fronts, it went quickly.

Come to think of it, I haven't yet found an apple cake that I didn't love.

With a growing family, storebought macaroni and cheese is quickly on its way out around here due to the cost. My two boys can easily put away a whole box in one sitting, and when you add a third child and my husband, two boxes aren't enough. Thus, I've been trying homemade recipes. This recipe for homemade stovetop macaroni and cheese is the winner so far!



From the Bookshelf

Stuffocation: Why We've Had Enough of Stuff and Need Experience More Than Ever

I expected another "how to declutter" book (which I love!), but this volume included much more - history, economics, trend forecasting, and all of the cultural factors involved in our culture of conspicuous consumption. Perhaps not unexpectedly, I disagreed with many of the author's points. That's just what happens when you pair a liberal-progressive author with a religious-conservative reader. But despite the fact that I often disagreed with the author's conclusions, I enjoyed this book very much - and I learned a lot. Worth a read.








The Wahl's Protocol: A Radical New Way to Treat All Chronic Autoimmune Conditions Using Paleo Principles

An amazing book. The author, herself a physician, developed a protocol of diet and lifestyle changes that she used to reverse her own case of secondary-progressive multiple sclerosis. This is amazing, especially in an age where degenerative and autoimmune diseases of all kinds are routinely managed, but not cured, with hard-hitting pharmaceuticals that cannot touch the root cause of the illness.

I am more and more interested in the ongoing development of functional medicine. Instead of prescribing drugs to manage the symptoms of a condition (conventional Western medicine), a doctor of functional medicine uses diagnostic information (diet, vitamin and mineral imbalances, gut health, stress, chronic infections, heavy metal toxicity, etc.) to investigate why a person's body is degenerating in the first place - and then works with the person to reverse the disease by addressing the underlying problems. This is a super-exciting area of medicine, and I wonder, on a personal level, how effective functional medicine would be in hyperemesis prevention. Read more about functional medicine here.


Dear readers, have a wonderful week!

Friday, September 11, 2015

Some Things You Never Live Down


A few months ago, our family was out running errands. We like to keep everyone in the car and let one parent run into each store. It saves on the in-and-out-and-in-and-out time with children, strollers, etc.

On our last errand of the day, my husband was inside a shop when the troops started getting restless. Something along the lines of, "Mom, he hit me!" ("Did not!") "Did too!"

I immediately started a game of "I Spy," leading into a game of "Find the Alphabet" - the game where you look for letters to complete the alphabet. "I see an 'A' in 'Sam's Club'" and etc.

Almost immediately, my husband came out of the store and we were on our way. We hadn't gotten more than a few letters into the alphabet game.

But being that I am fond of that game, I continued playing (silently) as we drove through the parking lot, garnering letter after letter in an attempt to finish before we got on the freeway.

I didn't finish the alphabet, but I got pretty far. And I immediately announced triumphantly to the family,

"Hey, everyone! I got to "P" in the parking lot!"

I beamed at them, knowing they would all be suitably impressed with my letter-finding savvy.

Instead, there was a dead silence. Then I noticed that my husband was giving me a bemused, "Dear, WHAT did you just say?" look. And the 9yo added, "Um, Mommy?"

And then I realized just what I had said.

I have yet to live it down.

And whenever I come upon the 9yo standing in a corner, giggling wildly, I know (*sigh*) exactly what he is giggling about.

Somethings stick with you for the rest of your life.

I've just added one to my list.

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Tidbits and Snippets for September 9th


5 Ways to Fully Embrace Homeschooling - Yup, yup, yup, yup, and yup. (My Joy-Filled Life)

The Secret to Planning Menus - If you're not reading this blog, you're missing out. Just go and subscribe and save yourself from a life of painful missing out. This is another excellent post! (Like Mother, Like Daughter)
I am currently working through Auntie Leila's Menu-Making Round-Up. So much good stuff here!

My Big Take-Away From Motherhood - I can't say how much I loved this article. Read it. Love it. Revel in it. (Generation Cedar)

A Season to Gather Happiness - "As fall approaches, back-to-school busyness ramps up, activities and duties increase, and value is placed on what is urgent, rather than on what’s important. Getting distracted from what truly matters is an easy thing to do in this high-resolution, high-standard, high-pressured, picture-perfect world we live in." (Becoming Minimalist)
I'm also looking forward to reading the author's new book, "Hands Free Mama: A guide to putting down the phone, burning the to-do list, and letting go of perfection to grasp what really matters!" 

Television: The Devil's Tabernacle - Regardless of whether we watch TV or not, this is an excellent analysis of historical trends concerning the television. Check it out. (Crisis Magazine)
From the same issue, I also enjoyed the deeply thought-provoking article, The Rape Culture.

Your Home: Is It Prettier on the Inside Than the Outside? - Another that I have printed to re-read often. (Contentment Acres)

Mothering Like Moses - Oh, how I needed the encouragement of a post like this. (In the Nursery of the Nation)


Recipe Corner

This Apple Harvest Oatmeal Bread was splendid. (Raising Homemakers)

We used this chocolate whipped cream frosting on an angel food cake for the 6yo's birthday. Next time I'm planning to stabilize the frosting so that I can freeze it - the recipe made so much that I doubt the clan will be able to eat it before the frosting defrosts.





From the Bookshelf

Current read-alouds are:
  • Traitor in the Tower - This is a great series of historical biographies, and I can't wait to find more. This is going on my list of to-find-at-book-sales titles!
  • Anne of Green Gables - I thought it would be too girly for the 9yo, but he adores it and chuckles over Anne's loquaciousness. Tomorrow we will read the infamous scene with Mrs. Lynde and a certain red-headed snippet.
  • 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - This is such a wonderful boy book, and the 9yo is lapping it up. We are reading an excellent abridged version by Eyewitness.
  • The Sign of the Beaver - Always an excellent choice for all ages, and the 9yo loves it.
  • E Is for Enchantment, A New Mexico Alphabet - This is one of the "Discover America State by State" series, which are beautifully done. I don't know that the 9yo is overly enthusiastic, but I think he's picking up bits and pieces of knowledge here and there.

I've been enjoying other classic children's literature - Thimble Summer and Trouble in a Fur Coat among others.

For pleasure, I'm also reading some Agatha Christie favorites - most recently Sad Cypress and Murder in Three Acts.

In my continuing on-the-job training, I'm also enjoying What the Bible Says About Child Training and Future Men. Oh, and Simplicity Parenting.


Dear readers, I'm sorry I'm not around more! I am busy with home and homeschool, it's turning into a crazy-busy field-trip and holiday season, and a certain 3yo is occupying every second of my time with hello-I'm-three-and-I'm-going-to-cause-problems behavior. Please pray for my sanity! (And my parenting skills!)

And in the meantime, dear readers, have a wonderful week!