Wonderful

A simple word that sums up Doctor Who. Seriously. From the first episode I ever watched ("Rose" with Chris Eccleston, Doctor #9), I fell in love with its kitschiness, its power, its sweetness. The writing, direction, everything has improved immensely until it lost a bit of its uniqueness but gained a bit of brilliance. I love it. You should watch it. Unless you dislike crummy sci-fi, interesting timey wimey mind games and a brilliant title character to fall in love with, you'll like it as much as I do.

"He's like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun. He's ancient and forever. He burns at the center of time and he can see the turn of the universe. And... he's wonderful." (Tim Latimer, The Family of Blood, 10th Doctor, 2007)

A Lovely Refuge

A Lovely Refuge: This is my goal for my home. And my life. I'll confess that I too think the words are cheesy. I have to refrain from rolling my eyes (and am embarrassed to use this phrase to others). But they mean something to me. They represent a desire inside of me for beauty and safety. For peace and quiet. To create this space lovely, a haven, to bring this feeling to others. Beginning with my home, my family and extending into my actions and my mind and my heart.

So that's that. This little blog is just about my attempts to accomplish this goal. From the wordy and (attempts at) philosophical to the functional and basic to the merely entertaining. Allons-y!

One Thousand Gifts

Have you read it yet? You need to. I'm planning to write a review... one of these days. When I get to it.

1. Frost tipped leaves coating the lawn.

2. A ridiculously large container of Feta cheese.

3. A little baby lisping "Mama".

4. A bite of cream cheese frosting, savored.

5. Swells of music echoing in the empty concert hall.

6. Stars piercing a frosty Christmas night.

7. Sliding under warm covers on a cold night.

8. Droopy eyes and sleepy voices calling out "I love you mommy."

9. Christmas lights in a dark room.

10. A great call to do something more, to clamor on to the great movement of God, to cling to the motion of grace and compassion and CHANGE.

Menu Plan Monday

Greetings! I'm linking up my occasional blog with Menu Plan Monday at Org Junkie. Last week's menu plan was a bit off, well, it kind of went to- who knows where. It disappeared. So we'll be moving several items to this week. I'm also working on doing small main dishes and filling up with vegetables.

Tuesday: Stuffed Green Peppers, Roasted Sweet-Potato Cubes with Cilantro-Jalapeno Aioli Dip, Green Beans

Wednesday: Spicy Lime and Honey Chicken, Corn on the Cob, Salad, Spelt Rolls

Thursday: Crockpot Roast (still looking for a recipe) with potatoes and veggies, Salad, Spelt Rolls (leftover)

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday: Quick and Easy

Sunday: Small Group at Our House (Brunch Theme)- bringing Mango Fruit Salad with Sugar and Spice Tortilla Chips

And that's it, folks. Exciting, aren't we?

Menu Plan Monday. Er. Wednesday.

So I'm a bit late. Much too late to link up, but here is my menu plan anyway.

Thursday

Breakfast: Leftover homemade turkey sausage and blueberry pancakes

Lunch: Picnic lunch at the park- Sandwiches, Fruit, Pea skewers (M's favorite way to eat peas)

Dinner: Pizza Pockets (plus extra to freeze), Undressed salad (using ripe avocado in place of dressing), Sweet Potato Skewers with Cilantro-Jalapeno Aioli

Friday

Breakfast: Steel cut oats with pear, raisins and cinnamon

Lunch: Leftovers

Dinner: Shepherd's Pie (plus extra to freeze), Apple Braid Bread

Saturday

Breakfast: Quick and Easy

Lunch: OUT

Dinner: BBQ'ed something- sausages?, Corn on the cob, Ranch Potato Wedges, Undressed salad, Homemade spelt rolls, Vanilla ice cream with cherries and peaches (coconut milk ice cream for me)

Sunday

Breakfast: Quick and Easy

Lunch: Leftovers

Dinner: Wild Rice and Chicken Salad, Homemade spelt rolls, Chips and salsa, Fruit salad

Something is Enough

Haiti. I saw a picture of a child after the earthquake. His face was wet with tears. Although his hair and eyes and face were different, he looked like my son. And suddenly I saw my baby surrounded by rubble, looking for me, afraid and alone. And I could see him but I couldn’t go to him.

And everything within me cries out. WHY? Why must a child suffer so deeply? Weren’t we created by a God who is good and loving? Isn’t there something good holding this world together? There must be something better than this. Every part of my being longs for something that I don’t have. Something I don’t see in the dirt and rocks of this world.

And I feel alone. Because I feel that this God I’ve always claimed to know could have stopped this. But He didn’t. And this child that could have been mine is desperate and afraid and alone. And I don’t know why.

And I have been silent, too overwhelmed with bits and ends of thoughts to try to piece things together. Pain. Suffering. Frail humanity pretending to be strong. Longing for meaning and purpose. Fighting against death yet knowing that death will find us anyway. Mourning the loss of loved ones. To what end? We miss them, we want them with us. They fill our lives with meaning and joy. But we all die, we all become dust. Why would God spare my child over yours?

I don’t understand this God. I can’t comprehend His place in this muddle of our tiny existence. He seems too vast and our lives too simple, solid celled organisms that pretend to be infinite.

Yet in the midst of these thoughts and questions I can feel something beating within me. Stronger. My heart beats. And as it pumps out its rhythm my core- my gut- the very depth of me- longs for something greater. Something bigger. Something eternal. Something within me calls to the infinite God. And I know. I call to the infinite God. I long for Him. And this very desire is evidence to me that HE IS.

And that is something.

And for now, that is enough.

Baby Step 1: Reduce Waste

We put out a full can of garbage every week. There are four people in our family. How could we possibly generate so much trash? Ugh. No wonder this picture exists:

Stephanie suggests finding three practical ways to reduce waste. She gives a great list of ideas. Here are the three I will start with:

1. Learn what can be recycled in our curbside program and develop an easy system for recycling.

Here is what can be recycled in my area:

#1 Plastic, #2 Plastic (clear), #2 Plastic (colored) #3 Plastic, #4 Plastic, #5 Plastic, #7 (Other), Aerosol cans, aluminum cans, aluminum foil, bi-metal cans, book recycling, brown glass, brown paper bags, cardboard, catalogs, chipboard, clear glass, computer paper, cookware, gift boxes, green glass, greeting cards, magazines, mixed paper, newspaper, paperboard, phonebooks, plastic bags, scrap metal, shredded paper, tin or steel cans, toys, white office paper. (Source: earth911.com)

We have a recycling container in our kitchen; I need to add one to our bathroom in the back part of the house for toiletry items. So I put a box under our bathroom cupboard. Voila.

2. Utilize cloth rags and cloth napkins instead of paper towels. Make this easily accessible. I bought a large glass jar and filled it with pretty white washcloths (I bought both new- is that irony? Oh well, baby steps.). I keep this on my kitchen counter right next to the paper towels. It looks pretty and is an easy replacement for paper towels.

3. Reduce/Reuse ziploc bags, tin foil, etc. Every time I throw away a ziploc bag I think "oh I could wash this and reuse it" but I don't. I'm just "plain old" lazy. Gah. Well, this is easy to change. I'm going to start reusing ziplocs. Not only will this help reduce waste but it will also save money. I'm also going to use tupperware, glass jars and other reusable food storage more frequently.

Ooh. Here is an idea. We often use ziploc bags for kid snacks. Usually these snacks are crackers or nuts or some other dry type of food. At the end of the day I will take the empty bags and refill them with snack-sized portions of the same snack. That way, I will have easy "on the go" snacks for the kids and will be less likely to buy something while we are out. Many birds. One stone.

That's all for now.

This is the first in a series of posts about my journey through the ebook "Healthy Homemaking: One Step at a Time".