How to Get Yardwork Done While Parenting a Toddler

Life is Good: we accomplished a lot!

Seedlings did not get planted. Mulch was not spread. The outdoor furniture is not clean nor is the paint touched up. The patio is a mess. A. Mess.
But there were smiles. And giggles. And bursts of laughter. Joy was accomplished. Fun was achieved. The morning was a success.

"Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time." -Marthe Troly-Curtin

Keeping Things Pleasant

Life is Good: be grateful for it!

Each day, I wake up and I thank God that I woke up and then I turn and look at our video monitor (quite possibly the greatest invention ever known to parents) and I thank God for our two little ones and that they are so very sweet and healthy. Part of that gratitude for waking up includes thanks for getting another day, another chance to try to live the way God wants for me, another opportunity to be the person who I am intended to be, who pleases Him, to make the most of the blessings bestowed upon me, and to let that light that shines within me spill out all over everyone I encounter.

Life is all about love and it's all about attitude. Sure, there will be certain kinds of days and certain kinds of people who will test you, but when you begin the day with gratitude and you focus on the goodness in everyone and everything, I believe it cloaks you with happiness and that utter joy shields you against any grimness that comes your way. Here's a "pleasant thought" for your day... 

"When we focus on what is good and beautiful in someone, whether or not we think that they "deserve" it, the good and beautiful are strengthened merely by the light of our attention." -Katrina Kenison

 

  

DIY Alien Cups for a Space-themed Party

Life is Good: I channeled MacGuyver's mom!

Yep, more birthday talk! Recently, our big kid turned five and we celebrated with a space-themed party.

We had a ton of fun planning all of the activities and games for his friends together. We made decorations and conceptualized the goody bags. I loved watching his creative wheels turning and I cherished the time we spent together prepping for the party. It was a great way to teach him to plan ahead and talk about hospitality, sharing & generosity, and enjoying the experience of a birthday rather than focusing on the gift giving part.

As the party date got closer, we talked about our decorate-your-own cupcakes activity and he requested apple juice (a treat in our house...the rest of the time, it is water or milk). Fine. In "alien cups". Okay...

That seemed benign enough. Until a trip to Party City and Target proved that unless you are into Toy Story, alien/space/robot/planets cups are not gonna happen. So I put my creative problem-solving cape on and asked myself, "What would MacGuyver's mom do?".

The answer involved "alien green" paper cups from Party City...

Silver circle stickers that are supposed to be used with my monogram embosser...

A hole punch...

 And a green chenille stem (pipe cleaner to you old schoolers).

 I considered drawing black slits for "eyes" or adding googly eyes, but Coco Chanel once said that you should get dressed and then take one accessory off, so I likened skipping the "eyes" to that.



Take us to your leader!

Giving Respects on Memorial Day

Today, on this Memorial Day, I am thinking about all of those who have passed on. My sister, my grandparents, relatives, some dear friends.

I'm also thinking about all of the US soldiers who died in the line of duty. Whatever your opinion is about our military or government, those soldiers gave their lives because they thought they were protecting our freedoms or they were fighting for others to have the freedoms that we Americans often take for granted. Today, I am also grateful to their families who lost their loved ones.

On days like this, I always think of my Grandma and a story she told me about her brother, Bob. He was drafted into World War II, barely 18 years old. His country called and he couldn't refuse. He went off to basic training and left his family for the first time in his life.

Time passed and Bob wrote to my Grandma and her family that he would be on a train passing through their town on his way to the war. So my Grandma, her parents and her siblings went to meet the train. Half of the family was on one side of the train and half were on the other so that could guarantee that at least half of them would see him. My Grandma was on the wrong side of the train that day.

For a while, my Grandma said that they would receive letters regularly from her brother. He wrote eloquently and always soothed their worries about his safety. But soon, the letters stopped. See, her brother had been changing the middle initial in his name with each letter's signature in an effort to let his family know where he was so that they could keep track of him through the news. How thoughtful and crafty. But someone obviously discovered his trick and after that, no letters were delivered.

My Grandma said the family was so excited to get a visit from a local boy who had come back from the war on leave. He told them stories of seeing Bob in battle. Bob had wanted to be a doctor and was chosen to be a medic in the Army. The young soldier told my Grandma's family that Bob had grown even taller. He was now quite possibly 6'2" or 6'3". He was still very blonde. And still very gentle. In fact, he had found a lost kitten and was carrying it around with him in his pocket amidst the battleground.

The day that half of my Grandma's family saw her brother Bob on the train leaving for the war was the last time they would see him alive. He died in battle on the island of Cebu in the Phillipines. He never went to college. Never married. Never had children of his own. Never...

When I think back to my Grandma's telling of this story, my heart aches. It aches for my Grandma, for her parents, for everyone who loved Bob, for those of us in the family who never got to know him. And my heart aches for every other solider's family who gave their life because their country asked for their service and they did not refuse.

For me, Memorial Day is not a day to discuss politics or opinions about wars, occupations, matters of diplomacy, or foreign policy. Memorial Day is about people. People who should be honored for their sacrifice. People who have passed on and need to be remembered for the mark they made on the world; the mark they made on our hearts.

Be Serious About What You Do, But Don't Take Yourself Too Seriously!

Eggless Meatloaf Recipe

Life is Good: dinner's ready!

I can remember, oh so heartily, sitting at the dinner table pleading with my mom to let me leave the meatloaf on my plate untouched because I just could not bring myself to eat it. It looked weird! It smelled funny!

Well, the recipe below is not my mother's meatloaf recipe! With all due respect to my mom, of course...she's a celebrated cook and baker to everyone who knows her. And don't worry, all of those feigned attacks of nausea and pleading served me well in high school theater class. ; )

Neither the hubs nor I have ever been fans of meatloaf, but I am always looking for something that I can double the recipe and put half in the freezer. This is one of my secrets to organized living! On those days when you have to eat especially early so that you can run out the door to a soccer lesson or you had a baby up teething the night before, pulling something out of the freezer and sticking a salad with it can be just like an answered prayer.

I found this meatloaf recipe on epicurious.com. It's from an old Gourmet magazine, so I trusted that it would be great. I have made it with and without butter as well as with and without the bacon (and when I used bacon, I used turkey bacon) and I will admit that it tastes better when you leave the butter and bacon in there! However, if you are watching your calorie/fat/cholesterol intake, you can omit these things (using olive oil for butter) and it is still yummy. Below, is my adapted version:

Eggless *Rainbow* Meatloaf
Ingredients:
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/4 cup whole organic milk
1/2 medium onion, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 carrot, minced or finely chopped (I do this with my mini Cusinart)
1 cup **vegetable pulp from juicer** (may be omitted)
2 Tablespoon unsalted butter
2 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 Tablespoon cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
quick dash of nutmeg
3 slices of turkey bacon, chopped
1/3 cup golden raisins, chopped
1 1/2 lbs. lean ground beef
1 lb. ground pork
1/3 cup natural, no sugar added organic applesauce
salt and pepper

"Spicy Sauce"
Ingredients:
Equal parts ketchup, deli mustard, and sriracha sauce
For kidlets who are really young or less adventurous, I would omit the sriracha, which is a very spicy, hot pepper sauce.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.

2. Cook onion, garlic, carrot, and vegetable pulp (if you have some) in butter (or olive oil) in a large heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. 

3. Cover skillet and reduce heat to low, then cook until carrot is tender, about 5 minutes. 

4. Remove from heat and stir in Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, cinnamon, nutmeg, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoons pepper. 

5. Finely chop turkey bacon and raisins (or prunes) in a food processor, then add to onion mixture along with beef, pork, and applesauce and mix together. Be careful not to over mix.

6. Add panko breadcrumbs and milk (one spoonful at a time as you may not need all of it. keep your mixture solid and not soupy since you don't have the egg as a binder) and mix all together with your hands (it is gentler).

7. Pack mixture into a 9- by 5-inch oval loaf in a 13- by 9-inch shallow baking dish or pan or a muffin pan (I get 10 "muffins" from this recipe.)

8. Bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted into center of meatloaf registers 155°F, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Let stand 10 minutes before plating.

9. Layer sauce over individual servings.

*Rainbow* refers to the multi-colored pulp from our juicer! For this one pictured below, I juiced 1 apple, a handful of kale, two handfuls of spinach, and a carrot.

Here are all of the veggies together...

Here is what it looks like once you have added most of the ingredients...

Then into the muffin pan (remember to oil the pan!)...

And here they are, topped with Spicy Sauce. Now that's what I call a "Pleasant Meal"!

NOTES:
I adapted this recipe to fit our family's needs. You can find the original recipe here.

I omitted eggs due to our kiddos' egg allergies. Also, I added the pulp from the "green juice" I made in our juicer. All the pulp does is add fiber and nutrition (plus color/rainbow effect). Stick it in with the veggies and butter. If you don't have a juicer, the recipe still works. You could chop other veggies in with your carrots, such as broccoli, celery, and red/orange peppers if you want to have a "rainbow" effect. (Calling it "Rainbow Meatloaf" is how I first got my 5-year old excited about trying this new entree!)

I have also substituted ground turkey for the ground beef/pork combo and it worked just great.

I haven't had prunes on hand when I made this, so I have always substituted with golden raisins.

The original recipe calls for allspice, but I am not sure my kids can have it due to their allergies, so I substituted cinnamon, which I think is a nice flavor accent for beef (it works well in the ground turkey version, too). I once read that you should always use a dash of nutmeg if you use cinnamon in a recipe, so that is where that comes from.

I have made this recipe a couple of times. I will admit that when you do a traditional loaf shape, this recipe is not attractive at all. It is not a meal I would serve to guests. However, I have put it into a muffin pan with a sauce and it looks great! The kiddos like having "meat muffins", too! Everyone in our family--adult to toddler--have been satisfied with this meal.

As with any recipe, the first time is always an experiment. It takes longer to make and you have to figure out how your oven reacts, etc. I encourage you to hang in there and try recipes a second and third time. It always gets easier. For sure, the second time around, this recipe is a breeze and it freezes and reheats well. I hope you enjoy it!

A Pleasant Thought

"Magic wasn't something I had to go in search of; it was here, within me, all the time. When hearts are open, when love is flowing, magic happens."
-Katrina Kenison