A Sweeping Change

As some (most?) of my family and friends know, my sister and I are starting our own little cleaning business using natural and toxin-free cleaning supplies.  We've done our homework (thanks Caroline, Al, Trina, Mom, and anyone else that's helped us out), made our flyer, registered our business name (YEAH!) and now I'm making a Facebook page so that you can like us and I can cheer like Sally Field when she won an Oscar. 

So now I have to fiddle with code.  I don't do code.  So I may experiment on this blog for the next post or two, trying to figure out what this code does.  In theory, I should be putting a "Like" button on this post for the Facebook page. 

I'm sure I'll end up bugging my coding friends in about three minutes when I get fed up with being dumb.  Until I get it sorted out, please bear with me.  In the meantime, please look for us on Facebook (The Cleaner Sweep, http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Cleaner-Sweep/174666169250756) and please Like us!

Midnight Math

A common game in our house is to ask math questions at supper.  We've recently started extending this game into the night-time on those rare occasions when the kids need night-time attention.  The other night the eight year-old was up so my hubby decided to drill him. 

Hubby: What's 6x8?

Boy:  I don't know.

Hubby: What's 2x8?

Boy: I don't know.

Hubby What's 2x2?

Boy: 48.

It was a little delayed, but he got there.

Tonight, it was the seven year-old's turn.

Hubby: Hey, what's 3x4?

Girl: I don't know.  Ask me an addition math question.

Hubby: What's 4 +4?

Girl:  Eight.  Easy-peasy.

The best part is that the kids never remember these conversations in the morning.  We like our midnight math fun.

Finding blessing in the "No"

Every time the phone rings today, we all jump to see who it is.  At lunch it was my husband.  Then I got a beep on call waiting and I jumped over to see that it was my friend across town.  The adults in this house are all anxiously waiting for the phone call.

My sister and her family are still here.  They move out next weekend.  This will be good for all nine of us.  In the meantime, we are waiting to hear if my brother-in-law was the one out of three candidates that was chosen for the dream job.

I've been praying about this a lot over the weekend, but especially today.  As I walked home from school this afternoon, praying about it, I found myself telling God that He knew the good that this job would bring to my sis's family, and to please just let it happen.

And then I realized that God knows exactly what He's doing, and we don't need to be so selfish as to assume that the blessing in something is for us.  Who knows but that this job is going to be a lifesaver for someone else.  Maybe someone will even come to know Jesus because of this job.  Or maybe there's another job lined up for my brother-in law that will allow him to be a blessing to others.  We just can't know what God has in store.

Don't get me wrong...  I'm not giving up on the job yet.  We still have time before the end of the day to get that phone call.  (Those that are not chosen will not get a phone call, just a letter later in the week.)  And I'm still expectant that my brother-in-law will get this job.  But if he doesn't, I will know that someone else will receive a greater blessing because of it.

Ch-Ch-Changes

Wow...  I turned my head for just a minute sometime back in January and suddenly March is here!  I am amazed at how quickly the time has flown from January until now.  I'll let you in on a little secret.  We have a semi-legitimate reason for our distraction.

On January 14, my baby sister, her husband, and their two adorable girls came for a visit.  They liked hanging out with us so much that they decided to stay. 

Okay, maybe that's not exactly how it happened, but I like to think about it that way.  Truth be told, they prayed and waited and watched and realized that God was leading them out of the west and into the mid-east.  We had offered our home to them as a place to stay until they could get on their feet with jobs and a place to live.  Needless to say, I was ecstatic to get the phone call back in December (or was it November?) that they had decided to move out here.

To be quite honest with you, it doesn't feel like they've been here six weeks.  The time has really just flown by.  I think it has something to do with the munchkins that I get to play with every day.  They look like this:

The best thing about this whole experience is that my kids are changing as a result of their live-in cousins. 

My 7 year-old girl has turned into a little mother, right on down to lifting and buckling girls into high chairs, wiping little hands and mouths, and finding toys to occupy bored pre-schooler brains.  She adores her little cousins, and I think the feeling is mutual.

I have watched the boys change too.  The 8 year-old has continued to be a big helper and he's becoming more involved in the meal-making process.  He made oatmeal for seven people this past Sunday and he's constantly sorting, folding and putting away laundry, emptying the dishwasher, and begging for more chores to do to help.  The 8 year-old pretty much just rocks these days.

And the 5 year-old, the baby...  He really has been the baby up until about a month ago.  It's not that we treated him like a baby, but he was just always the youngest and relied on others to entertain him.  Now, he's got two younger housemates and he ends up comforting a sad little girl or finding fun games to play with the two cousins, or speaking with that sing-song voice grown-ups use when they're speaking to a 2 year-old.  It's been miraculous to watch him change so swiftly over the last month.  I've never treated him like he's my baby, (well at least not since he started school!) so it's nice to see him growing into a big boy version of himself on a more full-time basis.

Wait a minute.  That wasn't what I meant by big-boy help!

There he is, helping the girls play Connect Four. 

That's more like it.

I think the biggest surprise/relief for me has been the way Hubby and I have interacted with each other over the last six weeks.  I must admit that I was a little concerned that we would get snippy with each other and have shorter fuses with the added "stress" of having four more people in our house.  I am certain it is one part "good marriage" and many parts "Divine intervention" that has caused us to grow closer as a result of our shared living quarters. 

It really has been awesome to see our individual responses to the changes in our house.  I'm looking forward to seeing what our new and improved selves do next!

(And just an FYI for those who are curious...  My sister and her hubby both have full-time jobs now and are hoping to have a place of their own by April.  I know they will love having their own space and privacy, but we plan to see lots of them after they've moved out.  So they'd better not get any ideas of being too far away!)

Another Reading Binge

I know I don't talk about reading too much, at least not on here, but I can get heavily into reading and forget that I have responsibilities at home/school/church/etc.  So I tend to have seasons of reading and seasons of no reading.

One of my best friends has been reading Beth Moore's books for a while.  Okay, several of my friends have been reading Beth Moore's books for a while.  But this one particular friend actually made me look at the books and read a portion, which of course got me hooked.  So I immediately ordered the books and waited and waited and waited until they finally came in.  (Yes, the wait was that dramatic.)

While I waited, I also won a free copy of Dannah Gresh's book, "What Are You Waiting For" which recently came in the mail.  So now I have three books that I am anxious to get through.  I'm half way through "Waiting" and loving it.  The other two are "Get Out of That Pit: Straight Talk about God's Deliverance" and "So Long Insecurity: You've Been a Bad Friend to Us."

While I get through these books, I'd love to hear from you about good books you've read lately, fiction or non-fiction.  And I'd love to hear what you thought of any of these three books if you've had the chance to read them.

Gourmet Group Goodies

I have a very dear group of ladies that I hang out with about once a month. They're my “Gourmet Group.” Don't get weirded out by the word “gourmet” though. We aren't all hoity-toity. We've just decided to try new things together! So once a month, we meet at one of our houses, our hostess has chosen the menu, and we've each brought our assigned dish.

As someone who loves to be in the kitchen, attempting delicious foods for my family, I love having the menu from these evenings to draw on. Many dishes from these nights have been added to my nutritional repertoire. I was reminded of this as I was about to post a meatless meal idea to Green Grandma's Facebook wall. One night we had this amazing veggie lasagna that I have since made a few times. It is quite different from your typical Italian lasagna, but if you enjoy good food and want to add some veggies to your life, I think you'll enjoy this one.

I wish I had a picture to show you, but you'll just have to make it to find out what it looks like. Pair this with a salad and you've got a great dinner, meat-free!

(The original recipe can be found at http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Vegetable-Lasagna-232660)

Vegetable Lasagna

6-8 oz goat cheese

1/3 cup chopped pitted black olives

1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme

2 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

3 cloves garlic, chopped

4 cups prepared pasta sauce

1 lb whole-wheat lasagna

Freshly ground black pepper

2 small zucchini, diced

2 small summer squash, diced

3/4 cup bottled roasted red pepper, diced

1/4 cup grated Parmesan

Heat oven to 375°F. Mix goat cheese, olives, thyme, basil, oregano, and garlic in a bowl; season with salt and pepper. Spread 1 cup pasta sauce on the bottom of an 8" x 11" baking dish. Add one layer of lasagna and season with black pepper. Add a layer of zucchini, squash, and red pepper. Dollop spoonfuls of goat cheese mixture over vegetables and spread to cover. Repeat layers, finishing with pasta and sauce. Sprinkle Parmesan on top, cover with foil and bake 40 minutes. Uncover and bake 5 minutes or until top browns. Let stand 10 minutes. Makes 8 servings.

Nutritional analysis per serving 312 calories, 5.1 g fat (2 g saturated fat), 58 g carbohydrates, 14.9 g protein, 7.3 g fiber

A Spontaneous Date Night

If I asked people to describe my husband in one word, they might choose words like organized, planner, particular... They might also say he's funny, helpful, talented. I can't think of too many people that would automatically think “spontaneous!” But spontaneous he was, yesterday. He came home from work early, having exhausted the jobs he could accomplish for that day and went off to get his hairs cut. He came back home and said, “Hey, let's go out tonight! We could use that coupon for The Outback and then go see Dawntreader in 3D.” I asked if he had a babysitter lined up, to which he responded, “Well, no.” As soon as the babysitter got home from school we checked with her and sure enough, she was free. So we were set for our impromptu date.

We got to The Outback at around 5:00 and sat right down and ordered. I think there were about three other tables occupied. It had been a while since we'd been there so when we looked at the menu and prices we nearly keeled over and died from heart failure. After taking our pulses and discovering that neither of us had actually experienced heart failure, we ordered steaks which came with huge loaded baked potatoes and some delicious veggies.

Hubby and I settled in to enjoy our meal and some fun conversation... We thoroughly enjoyed having the chance to chat over dinner without telling the kids to use their napkins to wipe their hands or to grab a cloth to clean up the drink they spilled. As we paid the bill I realized that I have become somewhat of a food snob.

It's not that I'm a snob of all food, just of food that I have to pay an arm and a leg for. In case you didn't already know, Hubby and I are thrifty. We aren't cheap (as my good friend Moni points out) because we do value quality. We just look for the best deals. In everything. So after dinner, on the way to the movie, I expressed this discovery of my “thrifty, food snobbery” to my husband. The Dear answered me with, “That's because everything you make is better than anything you can buy at a restaurant anyway.” I think the idea of being on a date had gone to his head and he was just going for flattery, but I smiled all the same.

And I realized that I would so much rather pay $6/lb for a tenderloin (on sale, of course) and make it at home with some $1/ea baking potatoes, topped with my own toppings, and perhaps some nice Parmesan-crusted asparagus than pay $75 for the same thing at a restaurant. I don't think it's because I'm better than the restaurant chefs, nor is it entirely because of my thriftiness. It's a combination of the two.

You see, spending time away from the kids can be as simple as feeding them first, popping in a kiddie movie, and enjoying a dinner upstairs while they're vegging downstairs. And I think my cooking skills have developed to the point that I enjoy preparing food that tastes good. Not just “good” but good. And knowing that I did it and saved myself $50, that just makes it all the more satisfying. The cut of meat may not be exactly what I would get at a steakhouse, but seeing my husband stuff himself on what I've prepared is immensely more satisfying than handing $75 to a restaurant for doing the same.

I will still enjoy dates with my Best Friend, but I don't think we'll choose $75 dinners on a regular basis. I know he would rather grab a burger anyway. And I think I have some Harvey's coupons somewhere...