Oops, I DIDN'T Post it.

Oops, I did NOT post the Bread Recipe I'll do that right now! Honey Whole Wheat Bread

One of my FAVORITE Recepies Ever

I just posted my FAVORITE recipe ever to Rana's Recipes for Simple Potato Soup. I use this one a whole bunch! Today is make bread day at our house. We've decided that homemade is sooo much better and cheaper than store bought. Dr. O can't even eat store bought as it causes a lot of discomfort later. I finally found a recipe that the whole family likes. I posted it not too long ago for those who want to try it. Honey Whole Wheat Bread. Today is also 'make your daughter cry' day. Poor kid. I thought that I had better check the directions that the school sent us "one more time" to make sure we are doing everything right. That's when I discovered it. A direction that I'm quite sure I have read before and I'm quite sure I told Mystery Girl before. However, we both forgot. This direction said to write the answers in the workbook in pen and in cursive. Oh, great. It's been six weeks and NOW we find it. So, poor kid, she has to rewrite all her answers again in ink. Thank God, we have a copy machine so I could copy all her work before we erased it. Now, she just has to rewrite them all in pen. Thank goodness, it's only 2 workbooks and one of them she already did this morning. Now, if she could just finish the other one before her brother gets home....Tomorrow, she has to do a book report, then she should be all caught up and ready to begin on Wed. I'm glad I scheduled enough days off for her to be able to use one for catch up. She'll still be done before Calico Kid will be this spring. In other news, hmmm... Dr. O went on a hiking trip over the weekend. He and a friend went together and said they had pretty good weather but that the fall colors were a little dissappointing. They were gone 3 days, so I got to practice the single mom thing again for a few days. Wow, it's sure different when I'm not working and can stay home! Amazing! We didn't do much at home other than to catch up on laundry and cleaning. I hardly cooked. I drove by the home of one of Mystery Girl's friends and about got sick to my stomach. They have the most beautiful, gorgeous, hugemungous house. Now, every now and then, the green worm of envy will nip me a bit, but I'm telling you, this green worm turned into a huge snake and took a huge hunk out of my hide. I came home in tears and my stomach hurt. Man, I don't think that I've ever felt envy THAT much before in my life! In fact, I've decided that this was a real attack of the enemy because of my doing the right thing about staying home with the kids. The enemy is attacking me in this area really hard it seems every day. The more that I decide to be content no matter my circumstances, the harder I fight the envy worm. And here's the kicker, I bet they are not any better off than we are. I can't imagine their debt load. So WHY am I envying that? WhooBoy! It's almost stupid, but man, I can't believe how hard it hit me! I think that Satan has found one of my weak spots in my life, that of feeling of value, and has played on it to the ultimate extreme. Of course I know that my life as a mom and wife has huge value, but at the same time, I am used to measuring value in how much I do or how much I make. It is quite a life change to measure it in other ways. So, please pray for me in this area. My true desire is to be content in all circumstances.

Chores, Chores, Chores

Have you ever wondered if it is worth the effort to make your kids do chores? Have you ever wondered why you torture yourself trying to make your kids become responsible human beings? Have you ever wondered if you might just possibly be ruining your kid's lives forever if you make them do chores? Is it worth being "mean" and "bossy"? Is it worth the fatigue of saying the same things over and over? The answer: It feels horrible to to these things to your kids. The better answer: It is very worth it. I decided this on the day that I had a 14 year old girl come babysit my kids for a few hours while I went to class. This girl did not know how to do anything. She was unable to cook Mac-N-Cheese, bake a frozen Pizza, wash dishes afterwards, or any other thing that I might possibly have wanted her to do. So, Okay, she was 14. The minimun required was to fix somthing for the kids to eat and to supervise them for the evening and put them to bed. At least on the bed. Here's what she was good at: talking on the phone and watching Will and Grace. On that day, I decided my kids were going to be good for something besides talking on the phone and watching TV. On that day, I decided the kids would first learn to cook at least enough so they wouldn't starve to death! Now, they can peel veggies like an expert and even insist of slicing them up with a (gasp) knife. They can even peel an apple in nothing flat! Let's see, oh, yes, One of them can even make Mac-N-Cheese and egg-drop soup. The other is in the realm of making toast and now wants to fry eggs by himself. They both want to learn to knead bread dough and soon I may let them even mix up the dough. I have a rule in the house that if they want dinner, they have to help make it by prepping the veggies for whatever dish I'm making. I actually got the authority of the Bible behind me in that. I make them look it up and read it for themselves. 2 Thessalonians 3:10. If a man doesn't work, then he doesn't eat. Now, my son counts his chores in how much food he's earned! Hey if it works, go for it! At first they complained a lot. But now, they compete (most of the time) for who gets to do what. They are also responsible for setting the table. Teaching them how to do that was harder than getting them to help peel veggies! They still don't understand the proper way to set a table! Of course Dr. O doesn't either, so that doesn't help! They are also learning how to wash dishes by hand. It's not that easy! The hardest part of that is the fighting while they "work". (My poor dishes!) For some reason they always think the water is too hot! Mom, does that sound familiar? Mom's must have a higher heat tolerance than kids! They also regularly dust and vaccum. Now, my house sure isn't perfect or clean all the time, but it looks better than it used to when I did everything all by myself. And because they have chores to do, they don't have time for TV until the weekend. I have to say THANKS MOM FOR TEACHING ME HOW TO DO THESE THINGS, even though I disliked you every Saturday of my life (at least until chores where done!) Now, it seems to me that they are fighting less and less about chores than they used to. It's kind of become a habit and so it's not quite so hard to make them do the work. Good grief, they even fight over who GETS to clean the BATHROOM! Who woulda thunk? My son thinks he's big enough to do it alone and my daughter doesn't want to share! Whoa! I guess she's claimed that one as hers! So, am I "ruining" their lives by making them do chores? I don't think so. I think it is an important part of keeping them too busy to fight all the time! I even have a "misbehavior chore list" of all the things that we don't ever get to that I wish we did. So, when they misbehave we have scrubbing floors (on hands and knees), hand pulling weeds around the trees and clothesline, hauling rocks to a rock pit, raking leaves, emptying the compost bucket, and other icky stuff. I figure if they have time to misbehave, they don't have enough to do! I guess that makes me a "slave driver" and my kids tell me it's illegal to make your kids work all the time. BOO HOO! Too bad, so sad! But just look at how nice the house looks and the great food you get to eat. You help make it possible! Wow! Way to go kids!

New recipe on Rana's Recipes

It's been a long time since I've posted to Rana's Recipes, but now I just did. This one is for Taco Shells. I got the recipe from my mother, who got it from a missionary, who got it from I don't know who! It is the best taco shells ever. My husband LOVES these shells and so do my kids. I rarely ever have any leftover.

New Recipe

Hello Gang, Check out the new recipe for Disaster Cake on Rana's Recipes. It is sure to be a one of a kind! Please don't forget to send recipes for all to try.