Yummy Frames!

I think of all my crafts today, these were my very FAVORITE...AND the cheapest too!! I bought an unfinished wood frame for .99 cents at the thrift store a long time ago...found them in the closest and pulled them out to think of what I could do with them. Got a few spray paints out and ripped out a few pages from magazines on hand...the result? LOVE. They will look so darn cute and colorful in my lemon yellow kitchen!!

Hurricane Vases

I found this hideous candle stand at the dollar store...

and these crystal candle stand too...

Oh and the vases

Spray painted the candle sticks (in first picture) and voila. They are fall ready with filled vases of candy corn, pine cones and other fall decor found in the dollar section in Target!

Thanks for the idea: http://myblessedlife.net/2010/09/hurricane-vases-frugal-diy-tutorial.html

Cupcake Stands

I found these ugly candle stand at the thrift store...

And added these plates I had at home-just glued them (gorilla glue) on to make cupcake stands!

Of course, the idea was borrowed from somewhere! I'm not that creative!

They turned out so cute, I'm ready to find a YUMMY cupcake recipe and put them to use!

Beulah

My heart is full so I had to write.

I wanted to write about someone very special to me.

Her name is Beulah and she's in my branch.

I don't know how old she really is, but she's pretty old.

She loves to serve and she loves to give.

Her favorite thing to say when asked; "how are you today?" is: "Oh, I'm blessed."

She's an African American lady, not so small in frame either and has that southern accent that's hard to understand.

She beams as she says how the Lord has blessed her and her family each time we talk.

This past Saturday, I gave her and her granddaughter a ride to the stake Relief Society conference we had. She couldn't stop smiling. She sat at a small table and cut coupons for the soldiers for two hours until her hand was sore, but she didn't complain.

A nice dinner was provided by the stake, and she gratefully ate every last bite.

When conference was about to begin, I noticed she was no where to be found (along with the whole branch--maybe 5 other sisters). When I finally found her, she, along with our other branch sisters were huddled in the kitchen where our lovely meal had just come out of.

Together in a line, they were all scraping the bottoms of the pots for any left overs to take home to their families.

After the conference, I took Beulah and a few other sisters home. Happy with the leftovers in her hands and spirit spoken words from our prophet in her heart, Beulah dreamily said to me,

"this was a great night, thank you so much" and gave me a big grand-motherly hug.

As she slowly moved each leg out of the car, insisting that she was capable of getting out herself, she rummaged through her beat-up blue bag and pulled something out.

"Here, this is for my boy." she said, meaning Kai who she knew was sick.

The wrinkled old grocery sac was warm in my hand, perhaps from the heat of the Texas night, or maybe because it was filled with love.

When I got home, I gave it to little Kai who was sick in his bed.

With excitement in his face, he opened the bag.

A tiny packet of green lime jello from the church store house and a peach.

My eyes filled with tears as I looked down at this little gift from Beulah.

God knows she has so little, yet her big heart knows no end.

What you might have guessed by now, is that these are special sisters.

What you don't see, is that they live in broken down homes where roaches roam and the streets are dark. Cops patrol their streets and punks rule the neighborhoods.

They truly do not have much, but what you won't believe is how much they will give to you.

Old and crippled, most of our sisters do not have much at all, but what they do have, they give willingly.

I love Beulah and I love my branch.

To be "Mamma"

Kai's sick today.

I didn't know he has sick until I picked him up from preschool and took the boys to the park. I sensed something was wrong when he just wasn't playing as much.

The runner, the bug finder, the climber, was just slowly walking around and even came to lay on my lap a few times as I sat on the bench enjoying the beautiful day.

When we got home, I realized that his body was HOT. I took his temperature, and it was 103.

Oh dear.

I couldn't tell from the Texas heat...we were ALL hot, but 103 is a bit much...

And soon after that came the vomit. All over my just-showered-butt and all over the couches, pillows, blankets I had out for Kai and of course, the floor. ALL OVER. As I rushed to take Kai to the bathroom, clean the vomit, wash it out of things, ran to get a bowl, a cup of water, and other things for Kai, yell at Jaiden to NOT TOUCH OR PLAY IN THE VOMIT, rushed around to get things situated and taken care of, something strange overcame me.

I felt a profound gratitude for my simple life.

Most days, I feel pretty useless around the here. I rarely ever get recognized, or acknowledged for my work and my labors don't always bare immediate fruit. I get lonely, bored, and even fall in the occasional trap of wallowing in self-pitty for what my life is at this moment. But in all the hustling and bustling just moments ago, I realized that this is what it is to be "mamma."

Strange, and yet, Beautiful.

I gave thanks to my Heavenly Father that I have a wonderful husband, who has a good job. It doesn't bring in extra income for all the things we want, nor is the pay phenomenal. And yet, it allows me to be home for when the kids NEED me.

It somehow meant everything to me to be there to catch Kai's upchuck (all over me). It meant a lot to gently rush him into the bathroom and wash him off. It meant a lot to me that I was the one who was here and that I was the one who could love and take care of him, not someone else. In the moment of trial and hardships (exaggeration here), I saw the blessings of the simple, and yet IRREPLACEABLE life I have.

I am a "Mamma".

Christmas

As Christmas season quickly approaches, I am forced to ponder about what Christmas really means. What does Christmas mean to me, and more importantly, what does Christ's gospel mean to me?

As strange as this may sound, having been raised a Christian all my life, I still have need to think about all that it signifies to me.

I've decided to put together a Christmas program for the branch I attend this year and it's got me thinking about what message I want to present to the audience. Is it that Christ was born and crucified, then resurrected again to save all mankind? Or is it something more like...what we, as His children can do to give back and give to others?

The question has been raised to me, as often as Christmas comes each year;

"What's your family tradition at Christmas?"

I don't really have an answer, except that we opened presents.

Now that my boys are starting to get older, I have decided that I want a Christmas family tradition. After much thought of what it might be, (I'm not usually one to LET traditions naturally form) I have decided that we will serve one another. At least ONE gift to each other should be a "service ticket." I want us to learn to give thought to what Christmas really is about. Ponder about what it might be that the person most would appreciate, even if it's just washing the dishes or giving a back rub. I also want to encourage GIVING service to others, whether it is to family or friends, rather than running to the store to buy something frivolous (and trust me, I have NO bad feelings towards a nice store bought gift!!)

For example, as mothers and women, we could offer to do things for each other such as:

Babysitting

Cleaning

Cooking a meal

etc.

Who, and I speak for women, who wouldn't LOVE to have something like this, rather than something BOUGHT from the store which you probably won't like anyway?

Or for our Children, how about:

TIME

(what child wouldn't LOVE to have some time from you?!)

a date

etc.

For our husbands?

well, that's for you to think of! lol

So, what is Christmas, and what does it mean to you?

Cream Cheese & Chocolate double deckers

Crumbly cookies filled with a sweet cream cheese filling--simply DELICIOUS

{These cookies have always been a hit at any party for me. You're sure to get multiple "WHOAS!" from everyone!}

Cookies:

1 C. flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 C. (4oz) cream cheese

1/4 C (1/2 stick) sweet butter

3/4 C superfine sugar

1 egg

3 1/2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted (I use however much I have on hand and usually lessen the amount, but it all turns out just fine)

Filling:

1/2 C. (4oz) cream cheese

1 C confectioners' sugar (I cut this in half to 1/2 C.)

350 degrees for 10-12 min. makes 2 dozen, store in fridge for up to 3 days

*******

Sift flour and baking soda and set aside.

Beat half of the cream cheese and butter until soft and smooth.

Add sugar and the egg to the butter mixture and beat until light and fluffy.

Stir in melted chocolate and then the flour mixture and Mix to a smooth dough.

Drop spoonfuls of dough onto baking sheet and bake for 10-12min until firm at edges.

Beat the filling (cream cheese and conf. sugar) until soft and smooth and spread onto cooled cookies. Press another cookie on the other side and make a sandwich.

(from the book 500 cookies)

Aunt Mae's Bean Dip Recipe

No fail Hit at any party/pot luck!

{I had a few requests for the recipe, so here it is!}

Aunt Mae's Bean Dip

{trust me, the name doesn't do it justice}

Ingredients:

1 can of Black Beans

1 can of White Beans

1 can of Black Eyed Peas

1 can White Corn (also known as shoe ped corn)

1/2 C. Chopped Red Onion (more or less as liked)

Handful of Cilantro, chopped

Sauce:

3/4 C. Sugar

1/2 C. White Vinegar

1/2 C. Vegetable Oil

1 Tbsp. Hot sauce (Tiger sauce is best, but you can use whatever hot sauce you have in your fridge, or can even be omitted--the hot sauce WILL NOT make this dish spicy...)

Salt and pepper

Directions:

Drain all bean liquid. Mix together in large bowl.

Add red onion and cilantro in with beans.

Mix together liquids for sauce and add to bean mixture.

Marinate in fridge over night and serve with corn chips.

Freezer Cooking

I find myself doing some freezer cooking more and more these days, and I'm loving it.

The convenience of having already cooked meals in my freezer is both time saving, as well as comforting as I live the day to day life of being a busy-stay-at-home-mother.

Freezer cooking saves time, energy, both the electricity and the strength kind, and is so much more healthier than anything you'll find in restaurants or in your local grocerer's freezer aisle.

So what is Freezer cooking?

I talked about it a bit in my "P-day" entry

(http://themojoidea.blogspot.com/2009/11/p-day.html)

about making more than one meal's portion each time you cook something.

Today, I'll explain it in more detail.

First, here are a few meals you can cook in abundance and portion out to freeze.

Spaghetti sauce

Hawaiian Haystacks gravy

Pulled BBQ chicken

Marinated Chicken

Curry Chicken

S.O.S. (ground beef and bacon gravy for over breads and biscuits)

Pancakes

Muffins

Chicken noodle soup

soups

homemade refried beans

chicken/beef fajita meat

Taco meat

Korean BBQ

Chili

Waffles

baked cookies

Breads (even in dough form)

Fruit breads (strawberry, banana, etc)

Cooked rice

(cook rice, and tightly saran wrap into one serving packages, then put into a large ziplock bag. You can have 10-20 pouches of single serving cooked rice in there. To eat, microwave single serving rice pouch for a min-1.5min, remove saran wrap and if needed, microwave another minute or so.)

Bonus: Did you know you can freeze milk?

Here's a few items of what NOT to freeze:

Foods containing potatoes

Cream cheese

So how do I freezer cook?

Step 1: Set aside a day where you don't have to go anywhere, and you're likely not going to have visitors or playdates.

Step 2: Plan---plan plan plan what you'll make and think of what pots can go on the stove at the same time. If you're going to be baking, schedule and plan so that you can bake a few things at once, or bake things continually. Think of your family's favorite recipes and plan to make a few batches of it at once!

Step 3: Begin cooking! (assuming you've already gone grocery shopping!)

Step 4: Make double, triple or even quadruple what you'd normally make for a meal. In essence, you're going to be making 3-4 worth of meals in one setting.

Step 5: Pour into separate containers/ziplocks and let cool

Step 6: put into freezer and wait until the day you're either stumped for a meal idea, or you're desperately in need of something QUICK, or even a meal to take to someone sick or needy.

Advantages:

1. you've saved so much TIME by cooking a few meals at once

2. you've saved electricity by cooking a large pot portion at once, rather than doing the same things a few times a month (turning on the gas oven each time you want to make something can be costly in the long run)

3. You're saving yourself from stressing when you don't have time or the energy to cook a healthy meal

4. It's A LOT healthier than going out to eat.

5. Did I mention it's a MONEY SAVER to cook in bulk? It saves a ton of money when you don't have to eat out because you either don't have time to cook or don't feel like cooking

and the list goes on and on.

Here are a few recipes that I have listed above

Freezer-Friendly Marinated Chicken

http://moneysavingmom.com/page/2

(thanks, moneysavingmom!)

Pulled BBQ Chicken

http://themojoidea.blogspot.com/2009/09/zesty-bbq-pulled-chicken.html

Strawberry Bread

http://themojoidea.blogspot.com/2009/10/strawberry-bread-recipe.html

There's many other sites and blogs that talk about and live the life of freezer cooking. Many of them also list ideas and recipes for people who want to freezer cook. It's really simple, but the satisfaction you get from 1. opening your freezer and seeing all those neatly stacked tupperware with your favorite and healthy meals in them and 2. being able to set out dinner in less than 10-20min. is a total thrill, not to mention SMART. And for those who are not stay at home mothers but work or are otherwise equally busy, setting aside a day too cook might pose a challenge, but even setting aside a couple of hours to prepare a couple of meals to freeze will save you many meals of eating out, money and time in the end.

Happy Freezer cooking!

Red, green and yellow light

This is something from the books of "Monika's mission."

It's something our dear mission president taught us and one piece of wisdom Ronny and I will refer to from time to time when discussing things that require important attention and decision making.

Our mission president was a great man.

He told us, that the Lord has, in a sense, three ways of answering His children when answering is involved.

One, the "RED light."

This means a resounding NO.

Two, the "GREEN light."

Easy enough to guess, this means the answer is an exciting "YES."

Third, the "YELLOW light."

Most people would take this as the Lord not answering, but in fact, He is.

The yellow light simply means that He trusts us enough to say, "you go on and make this decision yourself, I trust you."

Ronny and I have had many of these so called "yellow" lights, and we have come to appreciate them. Many times, we may not know why the Lord may give us a certain color light, but follow your gut and you will be led. Next time you feel the need to make a decision, try thinking of your answers in terms of lights. See if you can't feel what colored light He's giving to you.

I hope this helps, as it has helped us tremendously.

Boys to Men

My recent thought has been this:

How do I raise good boys who turn into good men?

I've been thinking; as any good mother, I want to raise "good boys who turn out to be good men." Men who are worthy, honest, and respectful.

A man who is a MAN, who can stand up for himself, and yet protect the weak.

A man who will honor and cherish his wife, her thoughts and feelings, but be able to lead the family as the family's patriarch.

I don't understand boys really, but I've got TWO.

So, how in the heck do I raise two boys who will be all of the above?

Well, I might not get so lucky, but I have to at least try.

I decided to look around me and scope out a few men I thought were "good."

I then asked their mothers what they did that helped these men become the people they are now.

One mother thought for a moment, and replied;

"language."

Language?!

"Yes," she replied.

"We were really careful and STRICT to not allow our kids to say words like 'hate,' 'dumb' and 'stupid'."

Sounds kind of normal and perhaps even a bit insignificant..?

I don't know too many mothers who allow their toddlers and children to talk with that sort of vocabulary, but I listened on.

"Well, it turned out without us planning it to happen, that when our children weren't allowed to say these things, they acted differently than their friends who were allowed to say them."

Hmm, interesting, but it makes sense. You are what you say.

Whatever it was, I'd have to say, IT WORKED. Her sons are righteous, god-fearing men who love and cherishes their wives.

Another thing I've been thinking of is to make a list of attributes I want my boys to have as men. Then I'll look at that list and think of a way to backtrack...meaning, treat Kai and Jaiden as if they were ALREADY those men. If I want my boys to be strong and not be a "mama's boy," for example, perhaps I need to back off a little and let them cry and lick their own wounds. I don't know, I'm just thinking (this is hard stuff). Well, in a nut shell, motherhood has got me thinking in ways I never thought I would and can I just say, that it's HARD WORK?!

I admire mothers who have fought a good fight and have stuck it through to raise their children to be good people who contribute to the world, even if that only means that he doesn't have a sword for a tongue and can watch how he acts and what he says.

Japanese Curry Apple & Potato Salad

Japanese Curry Apple & Potato Salad

2-3 peeled potatoes cut

1 peeled and thinly sliced carrot (this is for color)

quarter of an onion

one apple (peeled)

salt and pepper

curry powder

1. Dice potatoes and thinly slice carrots and dump into a pot of boiling water.

2. add salt to flavor in the water while boiling

3. Boil these two things until rather soft and potatoes are falling apart. (about 10-15min.)

4. Once it's soft, drain. Put potatoes and carrots into a bowl

5. grate a quarter of an onion (less or more depending on your liking) into the bowl.

6. peel and dice the apple into chunks and add to the potatoes.

7. add pepper and salt if it needs more

8. add a teaspoon of curry powder

9. add enough mayonnaise to potatoes to coat (less or more depending on your liking)

10. Mix it all up (the potatoes will be mushy--kind of like a mashed potato with some potato chunks, but that's how we eat it in Japan)

It's a guarantee to be a hit!

This picture isn't the curry potato salad. adding curry powder will make it slightly more yellow. You can also thinly slice cucumbers and add it to a salad and it is also very yummy!

What's Enough?

I read a book not too long ago that changed my life and wanted to share this little portion from Brad Wilcox's The Continuous Atonement.

(talking about being less than perfect in what he does, Brad explains...)

"In those anxious moments, the greatest comfort I have found is in knowing ANY effort is pleasing to God even if He and I both know it's not my all of my best. It may be far from an acceptable offering, but God accepts it nonetheless because ultimately He is more concerned with the offerer than the offering. Elder Gerald N. Lund wrote: "Remember that one of Satan's strategies, especially with good people, is to whisper in their ears: 'If you are not perfect, you are failing.' This is one of his most effective deceptions....We should recognize that God is pleased with every effort we make---no matter how faltering---to better ourselves" ("Are We Expected to Achieve Perfection in This Life?").

With this realization, I have changed the ways I live and do things. I no longer procrastinate to do what's right, but I take comfort in knowing that what I can give is just enough.