7 Quick Takes (Vol. 12), Epic "Fail" Edition

1. What? People with blogs are supposed to update them? Huh? I have to occasionally write stuff? That people might want to read? Who knew?

2. So, I've been busy. Doing what, you ask? Well, let's start with swim lessons for little C. Actually, she's not so little-- she's growing like a weed these days. The first 3 (of 8) swim lessons were roughly akin to having someone pull out all of my hair, strand by strand, then hot-glue each one back on. I know... it was THAT fun. To illustrate what I'm talking about, there was actually one day where my dear, sweet daughter ran out of the ENTIRE pool facility, through two gates, and across a bridge that goes to the parking lot, pursued by her swim instructor. Lessons 4-7 actually made moms ask me what I did to my child to inspire such a positive turn-around (I left H with a sitter, took C to the pool for an hour, and made her do everything her class had been learning in the first 3 lessons. Oh, and I bribed her with M&M's). I've chosen to block lesson 8 out of my memory, because we has a slight (ha!) regression in the progress we'd been making.

3. I should know by now, but if I'm going to get big expectations about how wonderful an anniversary dinner will be with my hubby (Happy 5 years several weeks ago, M!), I should probably not: bring the kids, who will try to crawl under the table; plan to use a gift card loaded with tons of money that apparently expired TWO years ago (how did I miss that? Oh yeah... I had a newborn BABY and a toddler); make the plans to go out over the phone with my hubby as he's driving home in terrible traffic after he's had a rough day; do this on a Friday after a rough week when I'm exhausted and cranky myself. We're planning a romantic do-over at some point soon, without the kiddos.

4. These "Quick Takes" are anything BUT quick. FAIL on my part. :-)

5. Suddenly, I'm having diaper rash issues with our cloth diapers. Out of nowhere. H's diet? Too much acid from orange juice (not that he's drinking any more than he used to)? His bladder control is increasing, so when he does pee, it's in greater quantities and therefore more soaking occurs? Gotta get a handle on this, because the past 10+ months of using these having been successful, and I'd like to continue with them for the next few months before I start potty-training with him.

6. I've started making homemade salsa on a regular basis. I'll have to type up the recipe because it's soooooo easy and delicious. The other day I was cleaning the fridge and threw out a few containers of old homemade marinara sauce (I went through a phrase where I experimented daily with making marinara sauce differently each time to find a perfect one, since M and I have different opinions on what a good marinara sauce tastes like). I dumped a HUGE container down the drain and then realized... what I was smelling wasn't basil and oregano, but cilantro. Yep, I tossed my best batch of salsa yet. Ugh. And since it's hubby's favorite snack when he gets home from work, and I have no cilantro or peppers in the fridge now, I can't make more until I hit the grocery store.

7. The biggest FAIL is that I've let these disappointments get me down-- I've focused on the things that have gone wrong lately and missed all of the amazing things going on. More about the good things next week! Back to playing with kids and cleaning for the weekend.

7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 10)

1. Ring status: still stuck on finger. I tried once yesterday (with Windex again), but decided to wait it out a bit longer. The first time that the swelling in my finger really appears to go down, I'm going full-force. I figure that I'll give it a week, then get it cut off my hand (the ring, not my finger).

2. I have a new pumpkin pie plate that I found on sale at Kohls,  and I LOVE it. I made a pumpkin pie in it already, and it looks just as fabulous with a pie in it as it does empty. For all of you GF (gluten-free) people, you should know that I made it GF... I just made it crustless, like my mother-in-law does. It tastes just as great, without the extra crust-calories! I love this season so much, pie being a primary reason!

3. Speaking of delicious GF food, you've got to try the Amy's frozen meals. I haven't had a frozen meal since M and I got married. The meals were on sale at HEB today for... get this... $1.88/meal. So I bought a few for me and the kids (since H is still GF and is pretty hesitant regarding solids, but likes rice, beans, and cheese enchiladas!). Here's the story behind why I went ahead with frozen meals instead of cooking like usual: my mother-in-law always tells me about how whenever her husband would go out of town on business, she and the boys would go to the store and pick out frozen dinners. The boys would always get the "Hungry Man" dinners, which makes me laugh, picturing these young boys eating Hungry Man meals. Since M had to go out of town for the night, I decided to try out the frozen dinner plan! Anyway, the meals we tried and loved were the Cheese Tamale Verde, the Cheese Enchilada Whole Meal, and the Cheese Enchilada Entree. Yum to ALL of them!

4. Cloth-diapering mamas, I have a question for you. What sort of bag do you use at home to store your wet/used diapers before washing them? And how do you deal with the wipes? When I was using disposable diapers, I used a Diaper Champ pail and tucked the wipes into the used diapers then threw them away. Now, I'm not sure if I should just throw the wipes in the trash or put them in something with a lid, like the Diaper Champ (but I can't just drop them in there with the flip lid because they'd get stuck and it'd get all gross...). I'd love to hear about your diaper storage plan!

5. On the cloth diaper subject, I had a glorious revelation the other day. I had been drying the diapers outside when it rained on them. I already had clothes in the dryer and some in the washer that had to get dried, since I consider it fairly important that M wear pants to work. I have (more than) several disposables left from H and C, so I just used the disposables. I realized that I don't HAVE to commit to cloth diapering when it's inconvenient for me, and that I can go back and forth. I'm doing this (cloth diapering) to save money, but since I already OWN a box full of disposable diapers, there's no monetary problem with using whichever ones work for me at a particular time and place. I love the cloth diapers, but don't need to feel guilty about the times that they're not convenient for me.

6. Marilyn-- this one is for you. If you're reading this, please e-mail me your address. I need to send the cookbook, and am missing all of my addresses. And stamps. It's starting to become a problem. If anyone sees a bag that has Simpsons and lighthouse stamps in it, and a typed address list with tons of cross-outs and handwritten addresses, please let me know. It needs to find its way home again. And if anyone happens to find it wandering out in the world, it will be easy to send back to me-- there are a TON of old stamps in there!

7. I'm going to turn my computer off all weekend. I think I need to practice better internet restraint, and weekends may be where I need to start.

7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 9)

1. This will likely get a post unto itself at some point, but if you smell dog mess, even if you can't see it, NEVER assume that it's a dog toot. You WILL step in it. With BOTH feet. On the 100% wool authentic ORIENTAL RUG.

2. I'm always surprised by the anti-Catholic hatred that is spewed around the time of papal visits. In this case, our Pope is in the UK now. Their newspaper comment sections are filled with absolute disgust for this man, and for our faith in general. I honestly can't comprehend the hatred of the Church and one of her servants.

3. My brother-in-law just clued us in to Arrested Development, which we're able to watch on our streaming Netflix. It's soooo funny! It's been a nice kids-are-in-bed-and-we-can-snuggle show to watch. Since it only lasts about 22 minutes, we can watch one or two easily without staying up too late.

4. This probably should have been #1, but... LAUREN AND HER HUSBAND HAVE A BABY! Welcome, Abigail Chiara! We all love you, precious girl! Please continue to pray for this new family and the birth family.

5. Cloth diapering has, thus far, gone pretty well. H was soaking last night, though, at a 1 am feeding. I'm not sure what happened. The thing I have to remind myself when I get discouraged by leaks, is that they used to happen with disposable diapers, too. They've rarely happened with cloth diapers at night when I have a hemp insert in there with the regular insert, though, so I really have no idea what went wrong... it didn't even seem very soaked in the diaper itself! Maybe I didn't do a good job adjusting it just right???

6. While I would rather have been outside with my family under more pleasant circumstances, I had a great time last night on the driveway, washing the Oriental rug (see #1). I pressure-washed the driveway and garage, laid the rug on the driveway, shampooed the rug with Woolite and rinsed it, then laid it on the clean garage floor to dry. M finished building the gate for our fence (he's so handy, that husband of mine! He built an entire fence himself for our huge yard... 2/3 of an acre!), C skipped up and down the driveway, and H sat in his highchair and ate. It was fun to all be outside together, even if it meant the kids were up later than I would have liked.

7. I foresee a busy, outdoor weekend as we try to restore order to our backyard after havoc wreaked by the torrential rain and the broken water main (oh yes... adding insult to injury) that re-flooded our backyard. On a happy note, my tomatoes are finally turning red, and I even have a few new (very small) green ones on the bush. I may have enough for all of us to eat 1 pizza. Drat those deer!

Homeschooling discernment series: Next up, Lisa lives in a tree

If for no other reason than THIS article, I feel almost compelled to homeschool, despite any other reservations. I may not sleep for a week after reading it.

I had fully intended to delve into the world of homeschooling, but due to unforeseen occurrences this post is going to be less-than-thorough in the way of homeschooling. As in, not related to homeschooling except tangentially. While I had hoped to spend my free time this week doing some researching and writing, the sick baby, active toddler, and other life circumstances have thrown me a bit of a curveball.

It would be ironic if I ignored my children to write about homeschooling, no?

Thus, I'm linking to the article from the Ruth Institute and going ahead and running a post I'd planned to do next week. It's a cop-out, but I need a momentary break to sort out life. If not, it will be completely chaotic and not the least bit cheerful.

So... onto the other post!

I am going to move my family to a redwood forest and live in a tree.

Not really.

But I'm pretty sure that is what M thinks is coming down the tracks.

It started with the "Greener" Household Cleaning Products Engine. Mmm... Grapefruit-scented Method cleanser makes my days happier.

Then the Eating Locally and Growing More of Our Own Food trains rolled into the station. The second part of that was temporarily postponed by vicious beasts foraging deer and the epic fence project. My tomato plants are finally flowering again, but I have no idea if I'll get more tomatoes out of them after the trauma they sustained. I've barely recovered myself. All other veggie and fruit projects were put on hold until next season.

Next the Homeschooling Express thundered down the tracks. Just as it started to lose steam, it rounded a major bend in the road and regained momentum.

And NOW, after all this railway action, the Cloth Diaper Caboose showed up, unexpectedly. You'll be hearing much more about this one, later. Any excuse to post about poop, I always say.

Yes, M is, I'm afraid, very worried about what ideas I'll be cooking up next. I think he's convinced I'm becoming a tree-hugging, hemp-wearing, tattoo-sporting liberal.

Not much to worry about there.

(Although I will say that I think liberals have highjacked the environment for their own purposes, and as people who espouse pro-life beliefs, conservatives need to stand up and take back a sense of environmental guardianship. This post makes some very valid points for all Christians.)

Anyway, don't worry, husband. I don't think I'll be trying to move our family up into a tree any time soon. Unless it can get really good cell reception and internet service. And if it has flushable toilets.