A Resolution

I've heard some people say that making resolutions at the beginning of the new year is a bad idea because you can reevaluate your life and set new goals any time, and it's silly to make yourself wait till the new year. I wholeheartedly agree. But, we have Christmas and Easter to remind us of Christ EXTRA, Valentine's Day to help us focus on ones we love, and Mothers Day and Fathers Day to help us remember to honor our parents even though we should remember to do these things all the time. Also, I have time off around the new year, so this is the only time I can really set aside to focus on goal-setting.

I spilled a cup of tea on myself, the couch, the ground, and a file organizer as was writing the paragraph above. Maybe it was the Lord chastising me for my opinion. More likely, I'm just not coordinated enough to handle coasters.

Whenever I sit down at my computer, I sigh and think, "I want to blog." But then all my thoughts and emotions start moving toward the front of my mind and all my eloquence starts heading for the hills. If I muster up the courage to start typing anyway, I end up with a really boring, sentimental, disappointing story and think, "I would take me off my blog reader if I wrote something boring like this. At least they won't take me off if they just forget about me."

If I had fewer things going on outside of work, or if I didn't care so much about trying to unpack, spend time with Dexter, getting enough exercise, eating remotely healthy meals, or other time-consuming things like that, I would have started a blog about my first year teaching. I thought it would be my "niche" where I could start a "successful" blog. But, since my first year is half over, it seems a little late to start something like that.

Before that, I wanted to start a blog about cooking with ethical ingredients while living on a budget. There were a plethora of problems with that idea. 1: No time to write or research. 2: The title I chose sounded suspiciously like Eat. Pray. Love. I didn't like that book, nor do I want to get sued. 3: Cooking with ethical ingredients while living on a budget is HARD and it takes a lot of planning. I am totally unqualified to write this blog.

So, my blogging related resolution is this:
Blog sometimes. Shoot for once a week. Don't worry about whether anybody is reading. If nothing else, you're developing your writing skills and you like to write.

Leftover coupons

This has got to be the most boring re-introduction into the blogging world that I've ever heard of. But at least it's a post. Maybe this will get the ball rolling again. Or, maybe next summer when I am no longer a first-year teacher.

I went through all my coupons today and cut out all the ones I want. If you would like whatever is left, you are welcome to them. There are a lot from earlier this summer that will expire at the end of September. Most are in full pages, and there are several expired ones. But, I only included a page in the "keep pile" if there was at least one good coupon. I didn't judge what you might want to buy. I left in coupons for stuff I thought was weird, just in case you're feeling adventurous.

Let me know if you'd like them.

Poor Fitz!

Fitz has had weird toenails ever since we got him. I worried about them breaking, but the vets never said anything, so I just told myself I was worrying too much.

Today, Dexter and I were getting ready to leave on our anniversary trip to Chicago when Fitz yelped and we saw that one of his nails had broken off and the "quick" (inside) was exposed. We took him to a vet and helped hold him while the vet tech clipped the nail super short. He gave a miserable howl through the muzzle they put on him. I was thankful to be holding his back end because apparently it was not pretty up front.

Now he has a bandaged foot, pain medication, anti-biotics, and a mommy and daddy who are leaving him for 2 days. His mommy feels really bad about that. I'm hoping that his pain pills make him sleepy so he'll sleep away the time that Keriann is at work. Poor Fitz!

Consignment

I love a good deal. Usually, I find my good deals here by eying the aisles for those beautiful little orange stickers. I'd been to Stuff Etc. a few times before the spring semester, but always had a hard time finding anything high quality or that would be useful. But, after a few trips this Spring, I'm sold on consignment shopping.


My FAVORITE part of the store is the housewares section, (There are dishes galore, mismatched and full sets, charmingly ugly and completely beautiful. I recently read an article about a couple who registered for discontinued glassware when they got married and replaced each glass they broke with a random glass from a thrift store. I LOVE this idea, so if you come over to my house, please break my glassware if you can do so safely so that I don't have to break all of it myself. This may be a big job because I registered for an extra set of glasses when we got married in case of breakage.)

In May, Keriann and I planned to make a quick stop by Stuff on a stormy night, partly to see if they had any cute, cheap raincoats. They didn't. However, they did have a navy belt for 60 cents (Keriann needed one to complete an outfit), a super cute set of dishes for $25, an antique dresser with a mirror for $50, and a beautiful, designer, Victorian style couch for $300 (which ended up being only $225 after some unexplainable discount). You can read more about Keriann's jackpot here. I just bought a Banana Republic shirt which is super cute but is made for someone with skinnier arms than me.

In June, Dexter and I were having on of our signature stuck-in-a-rut-date-nights where we were wasting time not knowing what to do and not wanting to make the other person doing something they didn't want to do. Then, Dexter made a smart move and suggested we go to Stuff. My wonderful husband held my hand and looked at all the dishes with me, didn't act like I was silly to want all the dishes I didn't need, and even seemed intrigued by my mismatched glass story. He had already looked at the electronics, and I was going to suggest we leave so he didn't have to stand there while I dug through the racks and racks of color-coded clothes. But no, he wanted to look at clothes and shoes too. (What a man!) Then, right before we decided to leave empty-handed, we headed over to the book section and spent $8 on these beauties.

Then, (this has nothing to do with consignment but it was very exciting) Barnes & Noble had a $1 table where I found 2 books that were textbooks options for me at school and are pertinent to my new job. I also bought Cooking as Courtship, which has its hokey bits but has some entertaining tidbits.

I'm hoping to find some furniture to fill up some of the empty space in our new condo at one of the half-off sales Stuff is having this month.

Toast

"Life as we know it and perhaps love itself is virtually impossible without the toaster. Toast, which is to say warm, delicious bread, slightly crisp where it wasn't to begin with, is more than anything the food of deep affection. Symbolic and simple. Unassuming, unpretentious, unbearably kind. The last thing one can eat before they cannot stand food at all. The first thing one considers when hunger returns. It requires almost no attention on the part of the person offering it, and is, for many people, the stuff life is made of."

-Susan Wiegand, Cooking as Courtship

Recent Events

October 2008: Started looking for a job.

December 2008: Graduated from college.

January 2009: Started subbing.

January - May 2009: Scoured the internet for ESL jobs in Iowa.

March - April 2009: Applied for ESL jobs around Des Moines and Iowa City.

May 4, 2009: Got a call to interview at West in IC. Was shocked to get this interview and no others since I have more elementary experience.

May 8, 2009: Interviewed at West with 4 fantastic teachers/administrators. Wore my fabulous interview suit thanks to mom and dad. Slouched. Wondered, "Why did I just say that?" as I answered questions. Was told the hiring process should be wrapped up by next week. Told friends and family, "If I am offered this job, it's all God working."

May 14, 2009: Missed a call from the West administrator while subbing. Called her back and told her all the times my kids would be out of the room. Called her afterschool. Called Dexter. Called my dad to learn about what one does when one is offered a fancy grown-up job. Convinced myself that she might just have a follow-up questions or be polite enough to tell me the position had been filled. Felt like puking.

May 15, 2009: Missed a call from the same West administrator while subbing in the same classroom. Breathed deeply and prayed I'd figure out what she wanted before the weekend. Called her back. Was offered the job. Tried not to pee my pants or seem to excited. Asked for the weekend to give her a final answer.

May 15-18, 2009: Prayed like a maniac.

May 18, 2009: Accepted the job. Thought, "Maybe we should move over there."

May 18-June 8, 2009: Thought about moving. Weighed rent vs. buy. Thought, "There is no way we would get approved for a mortgage."

June 9, 2009: Realized most leases begin in less than 2 months and decided to act. Went to the bank to find out about mortgage possibilities. Almost started laughing when banker told us we were preapproved. Noticed banker seemed much more at ease after finding this out. Celebrated by taking Fitz to Dairy Queen. (We celebrate EVERYTHING with DQ this summer. Things like, "It's nice out," or "Yay, we're not at work anymore.") Drove around westside IC and looked at homes from the car window. Picked up fliers for homes and threw them in the backseat when we realized how much they were. Called about an FSBO condo. Saw it that day. It was beautiful, but didn't have a good place for puppy potties.

June 14, 2009: Got a tip about an almost-on-the-market condo! Thanks, SV!

June 15, 2009: Saw the condo. Wasn't big on the light pergo floors or the white painted cabinets. Wasn't big on it being much more expensive than others in the neighborhood. Realized it was actually a bargain since it was uncommonly large for the neighborhood. Thought, "What do we do?!"

June 16, 2009: Decided we needed a realtor.

June 18, 2009: Met realtor. Chose homes to see.

June 18-22, 2009: Nearly hyperventilated in anticipation of seeing houses. Saw them. Some were easily rejected. Was faced with the decision: like-it/cheaper/smaller vs. like-it/expensiver/bigger. Made an offer on Bigger. Spent the evening upstairs where our phones get reception waiting for a call. Realized at 9:45 that we'd missed a call at 8:30. Nearly hyperventilated again.

June 23, 2009: Received counter offer. Was irritated. Calmed down. Made counter-counter offer. Received and accepted counter-counter-counter offer.

June 23, 2009 - Present: Doubted decision. Didn't matter since acceptance was legally binding! Regained faith in decision. Repeat. Thought, "Something must be done about those white cabinets!" Thought, "Our lovely walkout basement will be so empty!" Thought, "DISHWASHER!" Thought, "My rug will look nice on the light pergo." Started pondering how to decorate in all my (mental) freetime.

Tomorrow: Inspection and radon test.

Pedal for Nepal

A friend of mine has an uncle riding RAGBRAI for a good cause. "Uncle John" and his two friends are raising money for the Nepal Home for Children, a Christian missionary organization that provides vocational training for children in Nepal. They hope to find 2,000 people to donate a penny per mile ($.01 x 500 = $5) so that they can raise a total of $10,000.

If you're interested in giving and/or praying, here is a link to my friend's blog where you can find more information. Here's the link to the actual site of Pedal for Nepal.

The Dating Game

Dexter and I have decided to try to make "dating" a bigger priority in our marriage. Otherwise, we end up feeling like we're living together out of convenience and we forget how much we like each other. However, there's always the challenge of what to do, and I'm looking for suggestions.

To Dexter, a date is going out somewhere--to a restaurant, a movie, a bookstore. To me, a date could be going out, but it could be snacks and a movie or board game at home as long as it's time set aside to spend together for fun. To me, a date could also be cooking a meal together at home. For Dexter, that is pretty boring for a date, although he's happy to cut or stir things on the stove (knives and fire--the manly parts) to help me with dinner on a normal night. I think part of the turn-off for him is that it leaves a mess in our dishwasherless kitchen that I might want to clean.

Our typical dates are as follows:
1. Netflix or Redbox and popcorn, fancy cheese, wine, or other good snacks
2. Eat out (I have banned things like Village Inn from being "dates" because we always get eggs and pancakes--so the food is really cheap to make at home and it doesn't feel like a date to go there)
3. Go shopping, usually to Target (this is not such a great idea because I think Dexter gets bored and it also might result in buying things just for the sake of calling it "shopping")
4. Dairy Queen

Do you and your man-of-choice have different ideas of what constitutes a date? What are your favorites and what are his? I'm looking for low-budget ideas as well as things that cost a little more to do every once in a while.

Delicious Dinner!

When I suggested foregoing the peanutbutter-chocolate stuffed french toast that was on the meal schedule for last night so that we could make strawberry-rhubarb crisp for dessert, I just about had a mutiny on my hands. And the mutineers had a point--it was pretty good. You do need a tall glass of milk/tea/something else to go along with it, otherwise you may choke every few bites because your esophogas is coated in peanutbutter. We didn't make the jam syrup because I'm not a fruit-chocolate person (except about these), we left off the whip, and used smashed up full sized chocolate chips.

What surprised me most about dinner, however, was how good the "good-for-you huevos rancheros" were. Depending on how crisp you get your tortillas (the crispness of mine was determined by how many other things I was doing at the time that each particular tortilla was on the pan), you can eat it like a taco or like you're eating the plate your meal came on. I think we probably put on more cheese than the recipe called for, but we didn't use sour cream, so I think it was still pretty healthy. I didn't make the salsa from scratch like the recipe said because I was tired and because I bought a large vat of salsa the other day that I need to use up before it goes bad.

Here's what our huevos rancheros looked like--not as pretty as Rachael's, but this is actually food and not food-photo props. (Seriously, my cooked canned black beans never look shiny and cute. Maybe it's because I overcook them or because I bought them at ALDI.)

Meal Planning Wednedsay (except today is Friday)

Since I graduated, I've been doing a really bad job of meal planning. This has resulted in too many trips to the store, too much money spent, too much eating out, too much convenience food, and too little nutrition. We joined a CSA with another couple, and since I'll need to plan meals that include whatever comes in my box each week. I follow this blog:

and every Monday, or Sunday night, she posts her meal plan for the week and uses a widget (am I using that word correctly) so that her readers can upload links to their own blogs. So, her website is a source of about 300 (or more) meal plans every week.

We get our box from the CSA on Wednesday nights, and since grocery ads come out on Wednesdays, I decided that I'll be participating in Menu Planning Wednesday throughout the summer. This was my first week, and this is what I came up with. I'm not planning to post all the recipes, but if something looks interesting, let me know!

Thursday: Stir-fry bok choi (from CSA), carrots, onion, edamame, soba noodles; canned pineapple

Friday: Boca burgers, salad (lettuce from CSA) with homemade vegetarian caesar dressing (no anchovies), beer bread

Saturday & Sunday: Eating on the road on the way to Des Moines--probably Subway or PB&honey sandwiches

Monday: Tofu nuggets, scalloped potatoes, salad

Tuesday: Peanutbutter-chocolate stuffed french toast, eggs, fruit

Wednesday: Leftovers OR if there aren't enough, we'll make what I planned for Saturday before I knew we were leaving (a healthified version of huevos rancheros, iced raisin biscuits, and a veggie purchased from the farmer's market)

We're also making yogurt in the crockpot for breakfast, "healthy" oatmeal cookies for snacks, and some quinoa and black bean salad for lunches.

Did I mention that my little sister is staying with us for a few weeks and she does dishes? That's awesome.

Who likes carob chips? Fitz likes carob chips.

Fitz ate the bag of carob chips off the counter today. I think there were two pounds in the bag.

Dexter took him on a walk. Fitz pooped. Dexter tells me it was like Hershey's syrup. My apologies to the person whose yard that was.

(He pooped between the sidewalk and the street. I searched for the name of the term for that area and found that many other people wonder what it is called and that no one knows. "Tree lawn," "inferno strip," and "verge" are possibilities from an "urban dictionary.")

Fitz also just puked up his dog food on the carpet as I researched the name for the section of grass. I apologize to queasy readers. At least this is a picture-free post.

Good Boy, Fitz

We've finally realized that it isn't just that Fitz is too naughty or too stupid to use his dog bed. It's just that we haven't put it in the right spot before. Look at what a good boy he is on his bed in front of the sliding glass doors, keeping an eye on the birds.

Blood Chocolate OR Carob < Chocolate

A while ago I read an article in Relevant Magazine about things we buy without realizing how they affect others in the world. One of those things is chocolate. About 70% of the chocolate grown in the world is grown in Western Africa, and 40% of that is grown in just one country, Ivory Coast. Working conditions on these plantations are awful, and most families are so poverty-stricken that their children are pulled from school (if they could have afforded school) and made to work on chocolate plantations. Children even younger than 10 years old wield machetes and cover fields in pesticides. You can read more about this issue here. Note that our own senator, Tom Harkin, regardless of whether you agree with most of his policies, is one of two senators spearheading legislation to reduce and eliminate the child labor on chocolate plantations.

I love chocolate, but I value human rights. I can't watch CSI or other crime shows if they have to do with children being mistreated because then that's all I can think about for days and it makes me sick. So, how can I go on eating chocolate that has been harvested by a starving West African child? I know that my not buying that chocolate won't solve the problem entirely. I can't rebuild a war torn nation's economy by boycotting its exports. I can, however, show my financial support for the type of labor I want to continue so that current conditions don't last into the future.

I made the flimsy decision not to buy chocolate unless it had been fairly traded and harvested without child labor. However, because of labelling laws, it can be difficult to discern where the chocolate comes from. New Pi sells Guittard semi-sweet mini chocolate chips in bulk, but I can't get a straightforward answer from the website about whether children harvested the chocolate or if it was fairly traded. They seem like an upstanding company and purchase their chocolate from a variety of places, but I want to be sure.

I thought one way to solve my chocolate dilemma would be to buy carob chips, sold in bulk next to the chocolate chips at New Pi. I had a dessert in mind, so I bought a lot. Tonight, I decided to make chocolate chip cookies to try out the carob chips.

FAIL.

The carob chips didn't make it into the cookies. Thank goodness the cookies will be edible. The chips might have been okay if I hadn't been expecting something that tasted like chocolate. They tasted a little like dark chocolate, but in the grossest way possible. These are no longer a part of the solution for me. My cookies now contain Hershey's chocolate chips. They were my brand of choice before I discovered the slavery issue because they are cruelty-free in respect to animals.

Did you know about this chocolate dilemma before? If not, do you think it will change your buying habits? If so, do you have a new go-to brand that is easily accessible and doesn't break the bank?

Also, do you want a pound or two of carob chips?

My day, which was a happy one

1. Slept through the night despite my cough thanks to Tylenol PM

2. Listened to my puppy chew on his rope in bed for 15 minutes before I was supposed to wake up

3. Had a sub job

4. Talked to coworkers about their lives

5. Dexter gave me a delicious cookie from the cookie shop at the mall when I got home (and I was sooo hungry!)

6. Dexter cleaned the bathroom (without being asked or mentioning it to me)

7. Dexter did the dishes (without being asked or mentioning it to me)

8. Fitz graduated from Puppy Obedience

9. Fitz got a giant special Kong as a graduation present from Mommy and Daddy

10. Went to DQ (I got a chocolate cone dipped in sprinkles) and ate on a picnic table by the river with my husband and my puppy

11. Fitz got to eat the giant milk bone from the trainer

12. Fitz's daddy shared the last drips of his blizzard with him

13. Fitz tried out the new Kong and it's a hit

Mistakes and triumphs with Rachael

A few weeks ago, I was so proud that I made this recipe from Rachael Ray. It was her show 30 Minute Meals that got me interested in cooking--there was none of that "magic" like on other shows where they throw some veggies in a pot and open up a different pot and there's a meal. I even got a subscription to her magazine for Christmas last year. This recipe has polenta, which is Italian so it's fancy. It has kale, so it's healthy. And it has cheese, so it must be tasty, right? Unfortunately, I was not so impressed with the recipe. First, I oversalted the polenta. Second, I used white hominy grits (grits are the same things as polenta, just with a less fancy culture attached--it must be true because AB told me) instead of yellow, which made it kind of look like spinach on grey barf. I also couldn't taste the "white sauce" that made up the layer between the kale and the cheese. I dreaded eating the leftover so much that I left it in the fridge until Thursday night. It looked like this:

I made the picture small so it's less gross.

I don't want to give RR a bad rap though. So, here's a link to her garlicky bean enchilada recipe that I love and use a lot. I modify it, not because it's bad otherwise, but because the first several times I made it I didn't read it closely and I'm used to making it my way now.

We also made this delicious dinner a while ago after I learned about jicama during a "Pick a Better Snack" presentation at a school where I subbed. The carrot-jicama salad and burrito filling are inspired by this RR recipe. The couscous and black bean salad is from allrecipes.com. I love to make it with quinoa as well. Dexter wouldn't eat the jicama salad because he was freaked out by the existance of this apple-potato-food, but the black bean salad is his favorite.

Home Ec Sparknotes: Edition #1

I have a little addiction to "self-help" books. Whether it's getting organized, becoming more productive, or eating healthier, I just have to know what this "expert" thinks I should know about becoming a better me. Thankfully, I'm not at all driven to read every word of each book or to implement all the ideas. I skim and then usually put the information I find into one of two categories.

Category #1: I already knew that. Doesn't everybody?
Category #2: That's a stupid idea. Why would I do that?

If you are a self-help writer, I'm sorry to make light of your work, but usually, these are the categories that most of the information in these books fall under. However, once in a while, I do file information under Category #3.

Category #3: That's a really good idea. I wish I would have realized that earlier!

I don't know if it's pride or good judgement that keeps Category #3 sparse, but that's the way it goes. I tend to do a lot of this skimming at a table in the library and leave books there that seem, upon further inspection, to have no hope of containing #3 information. The stack of books pictured above did not go through this pre-inspection before leaving the library. I thought I'd share my findings with you in case one of these books pops up in your catalog search at the ICPL.

Organizing Idea Book by John Loecke

This book contains some #2 with photos of "organized" spaces that still look cluttered to me. Or, more often, the organizational ideas were pricey and would work much better in a beautiful, well-designed mansion. I live in a duplex with shallow pantry shelves, so I did not find many of these ideas applicable. The pictures are fabulous and could probably get your imagination going on variations that would work for your home and budget.

Get Crafty by Jean Railla

I appreciated the "quiz" at the front of this book that helps you decide what kind of crafting to get into. Because I said I like to read books in a sitting, it recommended I do short-term projects like cooking. Lots of the questions pointed to cooking, which might suggest that the quiz paints a precise picture and gives good suggestions. However, because I like math and being dirty, it suggested gardening. If you saw my garden last summer, you would know that this is not an area in which I will likely experience success. This had a few cute ideas, but more commentary than I appreciate.

Organizing for the Creative Person by Lehmkuhl and Lamping

I checked out this book for Dexter, who resists all organization projects relating to his desk. I hesitate to call it a work area, because the other day I couldn't find his keyboard under all the crap (his and mine) on the desk. I was disappointed with the content. The key message was, "You're creative! That's great! Maybe you're disorganized. That's just part of your right-brainedness and it's okay. But if it's screwing you up, here's stuff that organized left-brained people do to keep it together." So, I didn't find any great creative-person-specific tips within.

Don't Throw It Out: Recycle, Renew, Reuse to Make Things Last by

If I owned my own home, this would be a great reference book. It includes information on how to clean things or fix things that you might think were broken or inefficient. I didn't find anything that pertained to me currently, but I kept running across things where I thought, "I'm never going to remember this, but I bet I'll want to know that someday." This might be a good reference book to check out when something goes wrong with an appliance or you're doing spring cleaning. Or, maybe it would be good to buy to have around for reference.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey

The table of contents was not very conducive to skimming. I think this book is geared toward "reading" and possibly even tries to make skimming impossible. There are subject headings and chapter titles, but all I could read was "positivity, goals, blah, blah, stuff, blah." Maybe I need to try again when I grow up a little?

Totally Organized by Bonnie McCullough

Skim-friendly! It only took me about half an hour to get through this one, and although she didn't give any specific advice that I applied, I did think of a new way to organize my files while I was reading it. It's also more family-oriented than it is poor-recent-graduates-with-no-kids-oriented, so you might find more things applicable. It was also written in the 80s, so it could use a revision. Maybe replace phone-time-management with inbox-clutter-control?

Feed Your Family for $12.00 a Day by Rhonda Barfield

Barfield offers meals that seem fairly balanced and buys plenty of fresh fruit and veggies. She also makes deals with local produce salesman to buy boxes full of slighly damaged produce for $2. Some of the things she does just aren't practical unless you are willing to be a little obnoxious about finding a good deal, but she does have a big recipe section where I've marked several pages. I would have liked it even better if I still ate meat.

The Starving Artist's Way by Nava Lubelski

I had a bad attitude about this book before I opened it up. If you're truly living like a "starving artist," sacrificing your self for your art in a desperate yet arrogant way, isn't it selling out to write a book about how to do cool starving artist stuff? Either way, I was pleasantly surprised. Did you know that some grocery stores sell canned octopus? Well, if you need a recipe to use some up, you can find it here. It has a great table of contents, so it's good for skimming. It's got sections for recipes, home decor, wearables, cosmetics, events, and gifts. Some of the ideas are kind of stupid and tacky or probably too expensive for a "starving" person to pull off, but some of the ideas are cute, creative, and unique. It could use a few more pictures for partly-arty people like me who have a really hard time picturing how to do things or how things look from descriptions. There are also lots of references to famous artists in the book--one for every project I think--so if you want to have some good art trivia and to obtain it in a way that's more fun than an art history book, this may be your source.

Blitz It Friday: After

This is the list of things to do for my blitz that I made while eating breakfast:

1. Wash comforter (Fitz...ahem...dirtied it last week)
2. Clear and wipe kitchen table (glad I did this early on--helped me when I folded my towels and set out my ziplock/gladware containers to group before putting away)
3. Put away clean dishes
4. Do dirty dishes
5. Take recycling to garage
6. Clear off and wipe down counters
7. Pick up living room
8. Fold towels and put away
9. Put comforter in dryer
10. Vacuum/sweep/mop
11. Dust

I did the list mostly in this order. I was glad I had it since after the first few tasks I looked around and started to get that overwhelmed, "What now?" feeling. The timer went off as I folded the towels. I didn't put away one towel that goes upstairs, and I didn't get to floors or dusting. However, now I am ready to clean since all the picking up is done. I do still have some books out on the couch. I have a $120 fine to pay if I don't return two of them to the university, so they need to be in sight. I need to finish "reviewing" the others for a future post and take them back to the library.

I didn't post an "after" picture of the piano because blogger kept flipping the image. There's a picture of Levi, an antique camera, our wedding album, and a piece of our coffee table that we broke off that still need to be put away. But, that will be easier when we move our beautiful Ikea shelf downstairs to join the living room furniture.

Possible projects for the rest of the day?

1. Clean out coat closet (which has a very nice, half-empty shoe rack on the door and paint supplies and shoes all over the floor)
2. Finish cabinet reorganization project (resulted in a few very organized cabinets and on set with a bunch of random crap piled up)
3. Reorganize pantry

Organizing supplies that might help:

1. A basket for Fitz's leashes, treats, and kong
2. A sturdy container for Fitz's toys that he can reach and that isn't too ugly
3. Spice organizing device (probably won't get this soon--I've been debating about what kind to get and how much to spend for a long time--any suggestions?)

Blitz It Friday

I've been on an organizing kick lately. It would be a lot easier if I was a neat and tidy person anyway, but I'm not. So, before I organize, I always have to pick up the house. One way I used to trick Dexter into helping me was to set a timer for 15 minutes and told him we only had to clean that long. Then, when it went off, I'd finish up a few odds and ends and he'd feel guilty quitting. That wasn't really intentional on my part, that's just how it always turned out.

I came across this blog the other day that takes it up a notch. She calls the "cleaning time" a "blitz" and does it for 1 hour. I have the day completely off today, which hasn't happened in a long time. We're having Easter at our house on Sunday, and today is my main preparation day since I'll be making a trip to Des Moines tomorrow to have my sister-in-law-in-law-to-be cut and color my hair. I've decided to kickstart the day with a "blitz." My goal is to get the living room and kitchen completely picked up. They're not too bad, so if I really work I might get floors clean and pianos dusted.

Here are the before pictures.

The plan?

1. Eat breakfast.
2. Take dog outside.
3. Set timer and start cleaning.

Fitz's First Outing to the Dog Park

Although we've had Fitz's dog park tag for several weeks, we hadn't gotten up the courage to go until today. I was afraid that Fitz would eat the other dogs or that the other dogs would eat Fitz or that he wouldn't come to me if he was being bad or that he'd do some other naughty dog thing that I haven't even thought of yet.

Dexter and I both had some free time in the middle of the day today, and I persuaded Dexter to go. I put on the tennis shoes that Fitz had chewed on in case of an foot-poop incident, we armed ourselves with leftover hot dog pieces to give him incentive to come when called, grabbed his water dish, and away we drove.

We were afraid to let him off the leash once in the park, and the raised fur on his back didn't encourage me to let him go either. Some people on a bench realized we were newbies and told us some soothing things to help us chill out about letting him go. Fitz was a little calmer, and I was afraid he was raising his fur because he felt like he was at a disadvantage because he was on a leash, so we took the fateful step and unclipped the leash. The first few moments were a little nervewracking as the group of dogs sniffed and growled, but soon they were running around and being friendly.

Here are some highlights from the day:

He ran, he sat and showed off the dirt on his tongue, he chased birds,

and when he was pooped, he plopped contently down in the sand.

He's been doing a lot of snuggling and curling up the rest of the day.
Fitz and his mommy and daddy like the dog park!

Flatuation or Flagellation?

When I was in seventh grade, the ELP teacher came into our class to recommend some books to us. He read a few excerpts aloud to get us hooked. In one book, he came across the word "flagellation." Giggles erupted across the room. Seventh grade boys may not know many four syllable words, but "flatulation" is one of them, and its auditory resemblence to "flagellation" was just too much to handle. Since then, the two words have always connected themselves in my mind.

The other day, when I was flipping through an issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray, I came across an amusing and possibly helpful tidbit I thought I'd share with you:

"Yep, we're going there. Look, the truth is, some of our favorite foods have gassy side effects. Add these natural remedies to the pot, and you'll save your butt.

Toss a handful of capers into tomato sauces.

Add caraway seeds to sauerkraut and coleslaw.

Boil fresh bay leaves with grains and dried beans.

Season broccoli and brussels sprouts with fresh chives."

Second-hand Cooking Magazines

I've just finished going through about a year's worth of Rachael Ray magazines, rereading them and cutting out the vegetarian recipes I wanted to try. I feel bad just throwing them away since there's so much meat left to them, excuse the pun, so if you'd like to look through some picked over RR recipes, let me know. Pretty soon, I'll also have some Taste of Home Simple and Delicious magazines that will still have some good recipes left in them, if you're interested in those as well.

Mansfield Park

My reading list from the past few months.

Thanks to b.a. for the idea to share it this way.

Thanks to two nice naps with Fitz, I finished Mansfield Park by Jane Austen a few weeks ago. I had read it before, sometime in high school or at the beginning of college, and I hated it. The premise is that Fanny Price goes to live with a rich uncle when she is nine years old because her own family is so poor. She is ignored and mistreated most of the time, but has a kind cousin, Edmund, who cares about her feelings and gives her good advice. She loves Edmund, but since he only thinks of a sister, she is his confidante when he falls in love with seemingly sweet Miss Crawford. She waits and waits in pain until the end which ends like a romance should. I always wondered why Jane Austen would have created such a weak-willed, pathetic heroine.

I have a knack for forgetting most of the details and part of the plot of any story I read or movie I watch. This is a little unfortunate since I love reading so much, but it works out nicely when I want to read a book and can't get to the library or bookstore. We got Mansfield Park on Netflix, because my nice husband lets me put movies I want to watch on the subscription he got for Christmas. It had lots of "scandalous" insinuations that I was sure weren't present in the book, but despite the parts I suspected weren't true, I enjoyed the movie. I decided to give the book antoher whirl.

Although it wasn't the fastest moving, most romantic love story in the world, there were a few things I liked about it. First, it was realistic. There was no unlikely match between a rich older man and a poor younger woman--just two like-minded people who are in love. And one of those people wasted time liking someone else because he let her flashy exterior distract him from her selfish heart. People aren't perfect, and even the main characters that you root for throughout this book are imperfect. Second, the book ended with repentence from some of the characters. Edmund repented of his interest in Miss Crawford and Sir Thomas Bertram (Edmund's father) repented of the way he had treated Fanny and the way he had raised his children. Beyond repentence, Sir Thomas went forward and did good, inviting Fanny's younger sister to live with them and be provided for. Lastly, I could see why Fanny was so timid this time around, and had compassion on her in her anxiety rather than disdain.

If you're interested in the movie, this version is entertaining, although it is not terribly thorough and adds some unnecessary (ie: not in the book) sexual undertones. This version, with Billie Piper, made for Masterpiece on PBS looks like it will have more undertones and be even less accurate. This mini-series version is on my Netflix instant queue, and I've watched four of the six episodes.

Are there any book-to-movie combinations you love?

Update on my goals

About a month ago, I wrote about some goals I wanted to set. My motivation to get each room in order and painted was to tell myself I could get a dog when it was done. Now, I have a dog! So, one might think that my house was clean and my walls were blue, green, and tan. Unfortunately, that's not entirely true. We haven't painted at all since my last post, and I haven't met my goals each day, even recently.

However, I realized when using a dog as a motivator, I made a mistake. "I can get a dog," doesn't keep my house clean. "I have a dog," does.

Here are some things we've learned the hard way to keep out of reach:
-Dexter's underwear
-Dexter's undershirts
-Pajama pants
-Cardigans
-Bras (these are filched from on top of the dresser--they're a great chew toy and worth the effort to get)
-Plastic cups
-Travel mugs
-Pens
-Make-up brushes
-Lip gloss
-Empty food wrappers
-Empty tupperware

One thing we DO try to leave on the floor as a distraction while we're gone is Fitz's kong. This toy is great because it's durable, and you can stuff whatever treats your dog likes best inside. At first, Fitz wasn't very good at getting the fillings out, so he'd lose interest. Then, he got better and was persistent for a really long time. Now, he's really good at getting out the big treats we've been jamming inside, so I think we're going to have to switch to filling it with peanutbutter and smashed treats to make it a little more interesting.

I have improved as a result of setting my goals, however. I (usually) don't wait as long to do the dishes, and I at least have to have few enough dirty dishes to keep out of reach down in the sink. I'm even better about picking things up off the floor and wiping surfaces off since when I cook I always have a wet-nosed helper nearby. I definitely put my clothes in the hamper or closet, especially clothes I want to wear ever again.

I've even started making my bed every day because it's one of Fitz's favorite relaxing spots, and I think that between the sheets is definitely one place I want to avoid massive amounts of puppy hair. Keriann helped me meet my goal of getting each room unpacked and picked up. She coached me as I unpacked in our office, which ended up only taking an hour and a half. If I had known it would be that quick...

My new goals:
1. Do lots of little organization projects around the house so that staying picked up is easier. And so our closet doesn't look like this:2. Post (and follow!) a weekly cleaning list.
3. Paint the rest of the house!

Pictures

For lots of picture of our first day with Fitz, view our Picasa album here.

He just killed a spider for us, and obeyed us when we told him to spit it out, so he's definitely a keeper. He's also house trained and hasn't chewed anything up at all! What a good boy!

Our Evening with Fitz

Photo by Aunt Keriann

Gustav = Fitz

After a long and painful deliberation, we finally came to the decision that our new puppy's name is Fitzwilliam. Colonel Fitzwilliam is a minor character from Pride and Prejudice that we both really like, and Fitzwilliam is Mr. Darcy's first name. We also think Fitz sounds a little bit Irish, and he's got reddish hair. We actually liked Gustav pretty well, but we wanted him to have a name from his new mom and dad and a name that was often used in Scandinavian royalty just didn't seem to fit his personality.

He's been such a good boy all night! It will be interesting to see what he's really like once he gets more comfortable here. He loves looking out our sliding glass doors at what's happening in the back yard, and he didn't beg at the table at all during supper. He just laid on the floor like this:

Now, all we need is a tag with his name, and it will be official!

Puppy Preparations

After we left the animal shelter last night, we went on a date at Graze, a restaurant on the ped mall in Iowa City. I had bought a $25 gift certificate to Graze on Restaurants.com for $4, so it was a pretty decent deal. We had the Pesto Veggie Pizza, Spinach and Three Cheese, and the unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on who you are) named Half-Ass Ice Cream Pie. We were a little too distracted by the prospect of spending Wednesday night with Gustav to enjoy much time looking into each other's eyes, but that was just fine.

Afterwards, we picked up Keriann and went to PetCo, Gordman's, and Target to get our puppy supplies, which are shown above. (I'd noticed when I went to Gordman's last week looking for something else that they had a decent puppy section.) Some of our favorite purchases were the Bear Biscuits (which are apparently also fed to bears in zoos), blueberry, yogurt, and almond flavored bite-sized treats (which may taste a little too girly), and the "tire" frisbee. We read that he doesn't get super excited about toys when they're just laying around, but we saw him bring a tennis ball in from outside last night and heard he likes fetch, so we had to get tennis balls and some other toys too, just in case.

We're going to pick him up today at 4:30, but still haven't decided on a name. Pictures of Gustav at home to come!

Our Growing Family

Don't make assumptions. I'm not joining the "She's Having A Baby" club. However, we are adopting a son of the canine variety.

Click here to see photos of Gustav (who may receive a new name) who should be joining us at home tomorrow!

Garage Sale

Are you planning on having a garage sale this spring? Or, do you have some items you'd like to sell at someone else's garage sale without the hassle of having your own?

Dexter and I have a lot of things we want to get rid of that don't quite seem like Craigslist material, so we were thinking about having a garage sale. I don't know that we have quite enough merchandise to make this worthwhile, though. So, if you're interested in making this a project with me, let me know!

Green Giant

We had a gelato order today, so I stayed at work longer than planned. I had to go to Walmart to get some frozen strawberries, so I thought I'd get something for lunch there. This was easier said than done.

I generally avoid PHOs in most things and HFCS in things that are supposed to be healthy (like bread, vegetable soups, ketchup) and have been known to gasp loudly whenever I come across a food that contains one of these ingredients, particularly if I wanted to buy it. I considered throwing a tantrum when I realized that ALL of HyVee's french toast sticks contained PHOs. (Did I need french toast sticks? No. Do I LOVE french toast sticks? YES.) Dexter and Keriann don't really like grocery shopping with me anymore.

Recently, I've realized that almost all low-priced canned soups contain HFCS (although I've only really looked at ones that don't contain meat broth). So, I skipped to the frozen foods aisle and found the Healthy Choice section. The meal I picked up had PHOs in it. So did a California Kitchen individual pizza. I'd finally settled on a potato/broccoli/cheese frozen dinner, but then I turned around and saw Green Giant's individual sized "Weight Control" mix. (I'm not super concerned about my weight, I just hoped this would indicate "healthy.") It was only $1.48, so I looked at the ingredients. Sugar snap peas, edamame, black beans, and carrots tossed in butter and salt. I went for it.

I microwaved it and eventually opened the package by pulling on the parts of it that said "pull." (My college degree which includes a reading specialization didn't serve me as I opened the package.) It was delicious! I felt healthy! I got 10 grams of fiber! I got 10 grams of protein! I felt satisfied when it was gone!

At home, I got a $.50 coupon here.

I know that prepared foods aren't the most economical thing in the world, but I was happy to find something that would meet my last-minute food needs more cheaply and healthily than fast food. And I am really tired of peanutbutter sandwiches.

I rounded out my lunch with a Kashi bar (chocolate plus 5 more grams of fiber) and an apple (3-4 grams fiber). I'm really not obsessed with fiber--I just happened to notice that they were key players on the nutrition labels of all the foods in my lunch today. I'd also been thinking about them since Leah and Alicia recently posted about fiber.

Do you have any favorite/healthy/easy/cheap food secrets?

Can I Link You?

I'm going to put up some links to the blogs I read. Can I put up a link to you? I'll give it a few days, and if you don't want me to, let me know. Email, facebook, comment...I'm happy to help you keep your anonymity if you're aiming for it.

Yogurt

One of my favorite breakfasts is yogurt and granola. It’s up there with oatmeal with pumpkin, brown sugar, cinnamon and raisins. Or with fried eggs on toast. It’s simple, but so delicious.

Unfortunately, HFCS has invaded many mainstream brands. Even in brands that don’t use it in vanilla yogurt, it shows up in fruity flavors. Other problems for people with animal cruelty concerns are the source of the milk and that much yogurt contains gelatin. What’s a health-conscious vegetarian girl to do?

One day I wondered, “Could I make yogurt in a crockpot?” I did a google search and found the. best. website. ever. Maybe not ever, but it’s awesosme. It’s got step-by-step yogurt-in-your-crockpot instructions, as well as a ton of gluten-free crockpot recipes.

LR tried making yogurt using the instructions on this website before I did. I bought my milk before she did, but I let it expire in my refrigerator. She inspired me to get serious about trying it.

The awesome thing about this yogurt? I did it wrong, and it still came out as yummy yogurt. Instead of cooking the milk in my crockpot for 2.5 hours on low, I cooked mine on high for 1.5 hours and on low for 2 hours. (I have a problem where I read directions, but not very well.) It came out fine, with only a few bits of milk skin that didn’t stir back into the milk. This is incredibly easy to do. The hardest part for me was to find a time when I’d be home at the key points, since the process takes so long.

I sweetened the batch with honey (lightly whisked it in so the yogurt wouldn’t get too runny) and ate it with granola every day. I will make this again and again. Next time I make it, I’m going to do the math and figure out how much it costs per 6 ounce serving.

The Crock Pot Lady suggested starting out with whole milk until you get the hang of it because lower fat milks may produce runnier yogurt. She suggested adding gelatin to thicken it up. In her post about making jam, she used pectin (plant-based) as a thickener. I plan to experiment to see if this helps runny yogurt.

I haven’t tried making granola yet. Does anyone know if it really ends up being cheaper than buying? Nuts and dried fruit can be expensive, so I’m wary. Also, the other day, Walmart had some Cascadian Farms granola with “$1 off if you buy 2” coupons stuck to them. Also, the banana and date flavors of Sunbelt’s granola cereals are PHO and HFCS free. (These sell for $2.50/box at Walmart and a little more at HyVee). Their other two granola flavors are polluted. I was so mad when I read the nutrition facts, I’m thinking about writing a letter.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

I saw this book at Barnes and Noble last month, and, in a moment of profound logic and self-control, decided to check it out at the library. I even remembered to renew it before being fined.

You probably already know that I love food. I love reading about it in stories and watching stories unfold around it in movies. Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver with Steven L. Hopp (husband) and Camille Kingsolver (daughter) proved to be the brilliant marriage of a good, food-based, true story with a plethora of thought-provoking information about food and the food industry. Be forewarned—Barbara Kingsolver has been named seventy-fourth on a list of one-hundred people who are destroying America.

The book takes you through Kingsolver’s family’s journey to eat only home- or locally-grown food for one year. They move to their farm in Appalachia one January, start their experiment in March, cultivate an enormous garden, harvest and preserve, and survive through the following Spring true to their challenge. They buy flour from local mills, make their own bread, yogurt, and cheese (I SO want to try this), frequent local farmers markets, and raise their own chickens and turkeys for eggs and meat. Each member of the family gets one item to cheat with on the condition that they could learn a way to obtain it that benefits the grower and the land where it grows. Kingsolver writes, “We hoped to establish that a normal-ish American family could be content on the fruits of our local foodshed.”

Kingsolver scatters humorous details throughout the book that assure the reader that things are absurd enough to be real life. For instance, she plans to make mayonnaise from a recipe she received in her high school French class that instructs one to “whip heartily for two minutes while holding only pleasant thoughts in mind” (33). She also hearkens the person who helps Thanksgiving turkeys (which are bred too stupid to reproduce on their own) reproduce as a job to add to the list of “unsavory jobs” (90) to threaten your children that they’ll be stuck with if they ditch school.

The book had a prominent serious tone at times, discussing the environmental and social issues related to conventional farming. I knew that buying local food is good for the local economy and that many local farmers grow food organically, even if they’re not certified, which is good for the environment. I’d never considered that buying locally grown food is good for the environment because of the fossil fuels that aren’t used to transport them. In one of his mini-essays, which usually appear in each chapter, Hopp tries to explain away the higher cost of local and organic foods, referencing the petroleum subsidies (paid through our taxes) that support the growing, processing, and shipping of industrial grown food. This comes to a total of about $725 per household per year. If we make the decision to buy locally, it seems that we are only paying more: subsidies through our tax dollars, plus higher priced produce. Perhaps if we begin to support local food with our pocket books, we will make enough of an impact to communicate to our legislators that this is not how we want to spend our hard earned dollars.

Kingsolver also had some interesting things to say about vegetarianism. She writes, “I find myself fundamentally allied with a vegetarian position in every way except one: however selectively, I eat meat. I’m unimpressed by arguments that condemn animal harvest while ignoring, wholesale, the animal killing that underwrites vegetal foods. Uncountable deaths by pesticide and habitat removal—the beetles and bunnies that die collaterally for our bread and veggie-burgers—are lives plumb wasted” (222). She points out that vegetarians often cite that an acre that grows crops will feed more people than an acre used to raise animals—that their choice is helping the cause of world hunger—as a reason for abstaining from meat. However, for some families, having a goat to supplement their small farm in an area where farming is difficult allows them to turn food that grows naturally in their area that is inedible to them but edible for their animal into human-edible milk and meat.

These pages didn’t contain any information so compelling that I’ve become a strict locavore (Kingsolver’s term for local-food-only-eater) or to begin eating meat responsibly again, but it did provide surprising new information that I will use as I make my food-buying decisions in the future. I will make it a priority to buy some local food and free-range or grass-finished meat may end up on my husband’s plate every once in a while. But, I’m not quite ready to stop going to the grocery store or to give up bananas altogether.

If you’ve read this book, what did you think? If not, what sources have impacted your food buying choices the most?

Bibiophilia

During college, I thought I lost my ability to read fiction. I barely had time to read anything not school-related, and when I did, I couldn’t find the right balance of focus and relaxation to allow me to plow through a mystery or novel like I could in the past. I still read the Bible and a few other books you might find in the “Christian Living” section of the bookstore, but you’d rarely find me reading for fun. I could read novels for the English classes I took, but I was always making intertextual connections and identifying premonition and analyzing things from a historical perspective, which, although I enjoyed it, was far from relaxing.

I loved to read as a kid and took pride in calling myself an avid reader. (Other people had other names for this tendency.) In college, I could usually still count on being one of the only people in a room who had read the book that the period movie we were watching was based on. But I worried that my pleasure reading days were over forever.

After graduation, when our post-graduation chaos had subsided and I was still waiting for my sub applications to go through, we began getting a lot of Hercule Poirot dvds from the library (and forgetting to return them on time, making the free library rental idea much less worthwhile). After watching a few of these dvds, I decided to venture back to the bookshelf and pulled a Poirot mystery from the shelf. I read half of it that night and finished it the next day. Whew! I was glad to find out that my fiction aversion had subsided as soon as forced reading subsided.

For a while, I thought that I was going to have abundant time to read, sitting at home in my immaculate house, waiting for the phone to ring and take me to work. This is not the case. I am still capable of making a big enough mess each day to keep me busy whenever I have free time, and I’ve been working so much that I’ve had to refuse jobs to catch up on things at home. But, I do have the luxury of deciding what to do when I get home each day, and I am confident that this will include reading.

After Poirot, I started a nonfiction book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsovler. One benefit of forgetting how to read fiction was discovering my love of nonfiction. Now, I’m on to Mansfield Park, a Jane Austen novel I’ve read before. I imagine I’ll keep alternating between fiction and nonfiction to keep my mind sharp.

What’s been on your reading list lately?

Happy Birthday Keriann!

I never would have guessed that the sister whose finger I bit when she was two (just to see if I could bite hard enough to make her bleed or for it to come off) would be my best friend as an adult? Who would have guessed she would forgive me when I confessed that the traumatic memory we both had of falling down the stairs as children was not merely an accident--but that I'd pushed her down for fear she'd beat me to the top and then rolled down the stairs myself so I wouldn't get in trouble for pushing her? (Ah, the innocence of children.)

My mom likes to attribute our friendship to the nagging (that's what she called it) she did, telling us we would want each other as friends when we were older, so we shouldn't be mean to each other now. Since nagging is a pretty effective way to get anybody to have a change of heart, this is obviously true. Our friendship could also be the result of God giving us such similar interests (vegetarianism, the environment, cooking shows, following the Lord) and neurotic tendencies. Keriann also has an urban, sophisticated sense of style that I envy. I need her to approve my apparel purchases. I have the benefit of the stereotype that older sisters exist partly to share their wisdom with younger sisters. I pray, and try to live up to the standard.

Keriann, I hope you're 20th year is great! I'm sorry for posting your picture, but I think you're beautiful! Please don't die early from the ridiculous amount of butter in your cake.

Goals

I really appreciated your advice and encouragement on my Discipline post. It makes me happy to know that even you can be lazy or unskilled or behind in your housekeeping. If you live nearby, you can also probably expect a dinner invitation in the coming months.

With the comfort of company in my imperfection and with the motivation of dinner guests in mind, I've decided to set some goals to develop good housekeeping habits. When you see the simplicity of my goals, you may then be able to imagine what my house usually looks like. I got the idea to set these goals from this blog. It has some interesting tips and advice. The most recent post right now seems a little bit like feel-good inspirational crap to me, but I love the caption underneath the picture: "Get all ninja on your actions." The/A (?) writer on this site suggested developing particular habits by choosing one, posting this goal visibly, and after conquering it for two weeks, move on to the next. I have so many bad housekeeping habits that I felt like I wouldn't make a lot of progress. So, I modified it into my own system. I have one goal for each room, plus a personal goal and a goal for the whole house. They say if you write down your goals, you will more likely achieve them. They also say that if you share your goals with other people, you will be more likely to achieve them. So, here they are, digitally written and shared with you.

Whole House Goal: Paint each room in the house (1 down, 4 to go) and unpack everything.
Motivator: I can get a dog when this is done.

Kitchen Goal: Only take on a non-essential cooking task if there is time to clean up afterward. Always clean up after dinner. If there is not time right after dinner, then dishes must be done before I go to bed. (Ideally, clean these up right away anyway and avoid a cranky, tired husband when I get home.)

Living Room and Office Goal: Dishes must be removed from these rooms and washed immediately.

Bathroom Goal: Buy another spray bottle for my vinegar cleaner to store in the bathroom. Store rags in the bathroom. Store plastic grocery bags here to use as garbage can liners. Touch up the bathroom approximately every other day.

Bedroom Goal: When I change clothes, they must immediately be hung up or folded and put away for rewearing or put into the hamper. "Deciding later" is not allowed.

Personal Goal: Wake up at 5:30 every day.
Motivator: I'm thinking of telling myself I can't do any recreational reading if I sleep in past a certain time, but I'm not sure how effective that will be. Because I can waste a lot of time on things I don't enjoy as well.

Hopefully, I will get these posted and accomplished soon. Then, when you come over for dinner, I won't look as frazzled!

Praise

As I was applying for sub jobs, I had this fear that I would never ever get called to sub and that we would have a deficit each month that would drive us deeper and deeper into credit card debt and that Dave Ramsey would come yell at me. Because, could I really trust God to provide for us? Let's take a look at his track record over the past 3 months:

November: We received a substantial anonymous gift that allowed us to get through the end of the semester, through the holiday season, and to Faithwalkers.

December: Christmas and graduation gifts galore in the form of money.

January: Tons of hours at Capanna, plus getting called in on short-staffed days when I wasn't working, plus having Mike and Joe be super flexible about when I can go in to make gelato so I can sub as much as possible.

So, all of this adds up to about a months worth of expenses in monetary gifts, plus a really flexible work schedule that allows me to work as much as possible. But really, I knew that this period of people just giving us money for nothing had to end, and the school systems couldn't be under the control of the Almightly Sovreign.

Fast forward to January 23rd. My sub applications are all in the mail or in the hands of school HR personnel. My doubts about ever subbing are consuming.

January 28: I get a call from an automated system to sub in Solon. I haven't received my password for this in the mail (they sent it yesterday) so I hang up and go back to bed, confused. Then, I get a call from a human because they need a sub so bad, and I work a half day.

January 29: Call from Lone Tree about subbing for my former cooperating teacher in a Kindergarten class in a few weeks.

January 30: Call from Lone Tree to sub today.

All this equals that in my first week of subbing, I earned enough money to cover the deficit we'd have for 1 month. Since then, I've subbed 3.5 days and have 4 jobs lined up for the next three weeks, I've been called by multiple districts on the same day, I scored a job for 2 days in the same class in May, and there have consistently been openings in the evening and morning on the online sub site that I can accept at the click of a button.

Yeah, God is pretty good, especially to this doubter.

Frustration

I shopped at ALDI once after we first got married. I'd never been there before and didn't know any of the rules. Dexter and I walked around, picked out a few things (because where were the carts?!--on the side of the building I didn't see from where I parked) and then the lady at the checkout was rude to us when I touched the cart she'd put our stuff into. It was a really uncomfortable experience, and I was more than willing to sacrifice the few pennies I'd save by shopping there to show them that I wouldn't put up with that attitude.

Today, I decided to conquer my pride and try again. I came, armed with a quarter, figured out how to get my cart, and got inside. Just inside the door, I found a great deal on V8 Splash, then on spices, and was looking forward to buying some beautiful yellow bananas for $.45/lb. I was a little disappointed by the rest of the selection because it seemed like about everything I picked up was PHO-filled. And the bananas were neither beautiful nor yellow, but I put them in my cart because I assumed that the inside was still banana-y. I headed for the registers and got in line behind 9 other people at the one register they had open. Finally, someone else came out to help the poor lone woman at the open register. My items were rung up and I was just about to celebrate a triumphant trip. I swiped my Discover card, and was dismayed when it asked for my PIN. The cashier (who was at least polite this time) cancelled my order and I went over to the side to dig through my purse for my debit card, a little flustered and irritated. I couldn't find it and realized that I hadn't put it back in my purse after getting cash (which I did not have with me either) earlier in the day. I walked out of the store, frustrated and disappointed that my maturity in overcoming my ALDIsdain was not more rewarded.

So, I feel like being done with ALDI for another couple of years--or just telling myself that I don't have to try again even then. Are you a faithful ALDI shopper? Were your first attempts their as irritating as mine? And, most importantly, do you think you find great enough deals to make the trip to ALDI worthwhile?

Discipline

One thing I really admire about the women I've met at Mars Hill is that so many of them seem to be these amazing domestic whirlwinds of skill, discipline, and drive. I don't think I've ever walked into any of your homes and thought, "Oh man, what happened here?"

This has, however, lead me down some unhealthy roads of thought. In my head, you, my friend, keep your house organized and spotless all the time. If you have a slob for a husband, you catch his dirty clothes on their way to the floor and they are actually laundered and folded instantly in your hand. If you have a child, after s/he makes a mess, s/he disappears for a few minutes while you clean up the mess and that's why you are have the discipline to get it done right then.

I've been convicted about my discipline lately. Our house is not yet unpacked and gets messy in a heartbeat. I HATE being in cluttered rooms and can't relax when I am in them but I have NO natural instincts that help me keep things picked up. I grew up putting things down next to me when I was done with them, and I would pick them up when I realized that the entire room was a mess. Then, it took me a while to notice and care about the mess. Now, the mess drives me crazy, but I am still the person with empty muffin cups in 3 rooms of her house. I was so excited to have a new coat closet in our new house, but I still throw my coat on a chair half the time. I acutally have to walk farther into my house to do this.

I also have a tendency to pick up and organize every room in my house before I devote too much time to cleaning. This is why I have not vaccuumed our house or cleaned our bathroom in an embarrassing amount of time. So embarrassing, that I am not going to tell you how long.

I recently listened to a sermon about discipline from Mosaic Church. The speaker said something about how discipline is something you usually do alone and it's not usually fun. I've been using the excuse for not waking up early that if Dexter doesn't wake up early it's too hard for me. But, that's a really bad excuse, and I know that the real reason is my own laziness and lack of will power. The fact that Dexter isn't much of an exerciser is also one of my excuses for not exercising. I mean, I don't want to get too fit and fabulous and make him feel bad, right? I kind of think that if I can become disciplined in the areas of waking up and exercising, I can conquer most of the areas in my life because I hate these two so much. However, I think keeping my house in order will be a battle all its own.

I know that some of you (or maybe just one of you) enjoy cleaning your home, and maybe a few more of you are good at it despite not enjoying it. What suggestions do you have for a developing habits that will help me not be a lazy slob? (You may think this language is too harsh toward myself, but really, I can see my house right now and I know that I took a nap on accident during time I set aside to clean today.) I've told myself that not all of you are naturally good and perfect picker-uppers, organizers, and cleaners, otherwise I'd feel extra bad about myself. Have you been transformed by the renewing of your mind in the area of cleaning? Or are you a pillar of will power and cleaning acumen? Either way, if you have tips about keeping your house clutter-free or building your personal discipline, please share!

Tight Budgeting

We've been living on a tight budget ever since we got married, trying to keep our student loans to a minimum. I thought I was living in the proverbial real world while we were in school, but I realize now that the financial real world doesn't really begin until you've been contacted (before you have a real job) by the collectors and informed how much your monthly payments will be and when they're due. And at this point, nobody wants to give you a loan just because you live in a college town. (Not that I'm thinking, "Debt is so cool. I want some more.")

So, I've been contemplating different ideas to help us stay in our budget. Here's what I have so far.

1. Eat leftovers, even if it wasn't a good meal the first time and you want to forget you made it. Just eat it. It won't kill you. Eat it now before there is mold.

2. Look at grocery store ads before planning weekly meals. Then, check your pantry and fridge and ask yourself questions in the following pattern: Do you already have 8 cans of black beans that you bought for $.49/can? Do you need 8 more? Do you already have carrots in your crisper? Do you need to use them up before they get all bendy and creepy? Should you just make carrots instead of buying the fancy sale vegetable?

3. Work a lot at a job where you get paid. I plan to start doing this eventually. I'll let you know what it does to the books.

4. Rent movies from the library. Take them back on time. (This applies to books too.)

5. Don't pay your iWireless bill late, unless you have $7.50 extra. Even if you have $7.50 extra, don't give it to them. Pay off loans or buy some chocolate.

6. Don't go to places where things are sold. Particularly, don't go to places with big "clearance" signs, because you will get sucked in. If you do have to go to one of these selling stations, decide what you need before you go in. Do not look around at the other fare for sell. Get in and get out. You do not need that roasting pan on "after-Thanksgiving" clearance. You don't eat meat OR host Thanksgiving. You do not need those ugly throw pillows so you can spend more money on fabric to re-cover them, particularly when you already have a sufficient number of throw pillows. (Opinions about sufficiency may vary. I generally think I need more when I find a clearance throw pillow for less than $10.)

7. Don't buy alcohol.

8. Don't wait till the end of the month/pay period to see how much money you've spent. It's not a game where you try to match the number goal. It's money and you will be out of it if you're not careful, young lady.

9. Balance your check book. (Another option is to talk to your kids sternly about balancing their checkbooks, because they will assume you're doing this because it's something you do. You should try to avoid them seeing you catching up on balancing your check book for October when it is May.)

10. Live in a place where you don't like a lot of restaurants, because then you're not as sad when you make the "big girl" choice to stay at home. If possible, like to cook and have a dishwasher.

11. Don't pay $3/week for the newspaper because you want $2 in coupons that you will probably forget to use.

12. Budget a little money for doing fun things. Otherwise, you won't get to hang out with your friends, and then you might get sad and then shop online.

What are your best money-saving tips?