Please don't grow...

I measured the kids yesterday.

We have a wooden slab that we have to measure them on.

I felt sick and sad when I saw that they had grown about 3-4inches since last year.

NOOOOOO!!

I know, I know.

I yell at you guys to "grow up" during the day, and here I am, crying you wouldn't.

but....but....

People told me you'd grow up in no time...

Wasn't I immuned to that though?

After all, it feels that day after day, I'm still yelling at you two to do or NOT do the same things!

But honestly.

please don't grow up...

You are my two little babies...

I can't imagine not holding you or picking you up anymore.

Oh, a mama's heartaches...

NEW US

Ronny and I've been reading and listening to Dave Ramsey. We'd heard of him before, or at least I had, but didn't really get into it until recently.

Can I just say that our lives have changed since listening to him ?! CHANGED.

I'm all about penny pinching and saving, while Ronny has always been the spender.

When we got married though, I slowly learned to spend. Not crazy, but spend enough.

Still, I tried to keep the budget up by myself, while Ronny "supported me". I tried and tried to keep up the budget by myself, but to no avail.

YOU CAN'T BUDGET FOR THE "FAMILY" AND STICK TO A "FAMILY BUDGET" BY YOURSELF! duh.

So, 5 years into our marriage, we have very little saved, and some debt on our credit cards.

I HATE CREDIT CARDS...

but,

over the 5 years of being married, we got into the habit of saying

"okay, that's it! No more credit cards! we'll just buy this, then pay it off and that's it!"

come December each year, there was always some debt on our card.

"okay, let's try again. let's pay it off and never use it again!"

January always started good and we were off to a good start saving, but then by the time March or April hit, we found ourselves using the credit card again for "emergencies."

Overwhelmed and tired of this vicious cycle, I finally decided to pick up Dave Ramsey's books a couple of months ago.

I read a few pages, and was immediately sucked into it.

I booked marked (sticky noted) the pages I wanted Ronny to look through, and to my surprise, he did.

"I read the pages you wanted me to read and all I gotta say is; count me in."

is the text message I got from him a few days after I gave him the book.

Since then, we've borrowed Dave Ramsey's "financial peace" (something like that) audio CDs and have been listening to it in the car when we go places together, AND we have since been BUDGETING TOGETHER bi-weekly.

The changes have been NIGHT AND DAY. I still can't even believe it.

What's even more amazing (okay, budgeting together is HUGE), is that Ronny has become my number one supporter in helping me not spend, and he in turn, has really changed his spending habits.

I'll write more about this later, but these are a few things that's changed in our home since Dave Ramsey.

1. we budget together as all couples should

2. Ronny doesn't even like to spend on him eating out at work anymore (major!)

3. We use the cash system

4. we consult each other before spending--in most cases, as crazy as this may sound, even for "$10" purchases (really guys, it's not bad--)

5. we have been sticking to our budget SO WELL.

6. we always have LEFT OVER--in three digit numbers at the end of a pay period

7. we will pay off both our credit cards this month and have already cut up all credit cards--

AND WE'LL KEEP IT OFF THIS TIME TOO! ;)

8. our spending mentality has changed SO SO MUCH, that WE have lost desire to buy things at full price

9. we've realized that the less we spend, the less we see something is a "necessity", while before, everything seemed like a "necessity" and we wanted everything and anything. We loved spending and buying!

10. we're talking about investing and have begun to research mutual funds, retirement funds, roth IRAs, etc etc.

Oh my goodness, I can't even tell you how happy I am.

We have our emergency fund in place, will have our credit cards paid off, and we will soon begin to invest.

I'm confident that as we grow together and become financially wiser, we will be able to offer them one of the greatest gift of all to our children- financial peace!

I'm so happy!

Menu for the week 1/23-30

Menu for this week (just dinners)

{1/23-30}

(will post recipes for anything you want)

Again, I'm a firm believer of creating a menu list each week

(usually on my "P-day" see http://themojoidea.blogspot.com/2009/11/p-day.html )

so that I don't sit in the kitchen 5 minutes to dinner time and wonder what on earth I'm going to make (which most of the time resorts to meat still frozen, kids screaming at me because I never feed them anything(ha-ha), eating unhealthy, or eating out--trust me, nothing good comes of it.)

I even like cooking my dinners in the morning/around lunch time so that I can enjoy my time when Ronny gets home, instead of slaving in the kitchen. This also saves time come dinner time when I'm usually already exhausted from the day and I'm so hungry I am biting everyone's heads off. Simply reheat and voila, dinner's served.

So for this week, this is what I have planned.

Sun: Cafe Rio burritos

Mon: Japanese fried chicken (kara-age), rice, miso soup, cucumber & seaweed salad, egg plant with chinese dressing

Tues: Baked Tilapia (or panko fried), New Orleans veggie rice, broccoli with cheese

Wed: Meatloaf (I have one frozen in the freezer--and yes, it's homemade), sweet honey-glazed cinnamon carrots, mashed potatoes

Thus: Homemade Chili, homemade sweet cornbread, corn chips

(I keep putting this on there but never getting to it--it's just sitting in my freezer)

Friday: Nachos (homemade and so yummy!)

Sat: Japanese Ramen

Sunday: left overs (hawaiian haystacks I made last week and froze?)

Also--I love FREEZING my meals!!! Make a big batch one week and freeze! (this week, I really only have to cook Sun, Mon, and Tues. The rest (Nacho meat, chili and meatloaf are already madeup and frozen, so all I have to make are the sides)

Ok--kids screaming--must go! Till next week!

Curry Chicken Salad

For you Marnie :)

Curry Chicken Salad

Make chicken salad as you would:

(chicken salad recipe below)

cooked and shredded chicken breast

salt and pepper

diced celery, cranberries, grapes, apples, green onions

whatever you have on hand is just fine.

in a small bowl, mix mayonnaise and curry powder well:

(this way, you don't get one mouthful of curry powder)

start with a pinch of curry powder

(I used "S&B Oriental Curry Powder" that I got from an Asian store)

how much curry powder you put in is determined by how much chicken/salad you make and or how strong/little you want to taste the curry.

shred and dice up the ingredients, then add the mayonnaise & curry powder mixture until it's all mixed and coated.

eat with sandwich bun/bread/rolls

"thank you for finding me" ...your mommy

My life.

This is an email that I woke up to this morning:

"You've probably heard about the news of a kidnapped daughter reuniting with her real mom? I remeber of this when it occured back twenty some years ago. The whole country was shocked at the news because the baby was stolen from a hospital. Anyway, this girl knew something was odd as she was growing up and did research and finally found her real parents. When I heard this I thought of you instantly.
Monika, thank you for finding me. Every morning as I start to drive, I say thanks to my guardian angels for you."

What if you came home one day and you didn't find your mommy?

What if you never saw your mommy again from age four?

That's what happened to me. I didn't know where my mommy was, she was just GONE.

She was replaced by a "new" mommy, and that was it.

I wasn't allowed to talk of my "old" mommy ever again.

After about 15 long years, at age 19, I made up my mind and secretly went about looking for her and made plans to meet. As nervous as I was that she wouldn't want anything to do with me, we met.

It was a wonderful reunion.

We were then blessed with the opportunity to go back to Japan together last fall, and

THAT WAS EVEN MORE AMAZING. I finally felt like I was able to get to know my real mother for the first time.

Time was lost and although I never had the chance to be loved by her growing up, I know Heavenly Father has something special in store, like me receiving such an email from her this morning.

Life can be full of trials, but it's what we make of it, and how we look at it that makes it great.

I don't know who the baby is.

I've had many 'fun' or 'interesting' experiences at this branch of ours so far, but this one was pretty shocking to me!

I took the boys to go see my visiting sisters the other day.

I don't have a companion who is able to come with me every month, so I usually go alone.

The boys and I baked cookies in the morning, stuck a nice message on a notecard in there, and headed out. We visited sister M, and sister A., then sister E. last.

She invited us in. She looked better than usual (I think she's got a few mental issues), but complained all the while about her health anyway. Then I hear a baby. This is a 60-70 year old lady's house, mind you, and the rest of the house is dead silent.

There should NOT be a baby in there.

"who's baby is that?" I ask, innocently, hoping there was someone else in the house, like the baby's mom or dad.

"Oh, well, you know, it's my grandson's sister's boyfr........'s baby...."

I failed to mention that most of our members in our branch are African American. I love them, but they've got their own lingos and terms and slurs...and it's hard to understand them.

Long story short, she didn't even know who's baby it was. As the baby cried out from the corner it was in (in a car seat), sister E. went and picked it up. It was a little girl, not more than 4-6 months old. I asked sister E. her age, then her name. She shook her head, "I don't know."

There was NO ONE else around.

This is the life style of our branch and where the members live. I don't have anything against anyone or their neighborhoods, but I'd be lying to you if I told you I'm not afraid to go do visiting teaching or do other RS visits. It's a crime filled dingy place most of them are in, and you've got to guard your life at all times. Cops roam the places, and roaches scurry in their homes. Gangs and thugs rule the streets and well, you just don't want to be there at the wrong place.

My heart went out to both sister E and the baby, but more for the baby. My guess is that someone just came in and dropped the baby off at sister E's house, knowing that she'd be home all day while they roamed the streets smoking who knows what.

It's a real reality check sometimes to be in this branch.

Spiderman with Santa

I'm catching up...Kai and Jaiden sits with Santa at Bass Pro.

Santa: "so little boy, what do you want this Christmas?"

Kai: "Umm, nothing. I already have everything I want."

Santa: really!

(unfortunately, after this conversation with Santa, Kai realizes that Christmas might just be about a wish list and began listing everything he wanted for "christmas")

Hanten/Jinbe

I got the boys some "jinbe" when I went to Japan last fall.

They look soooo cute in them!!!! (aww, why are they not right side up?!) oh well, still cute. :)

Happy New Year's

This is how we spent our New Year's Eve.

With "grill" (greg and Jill) playing cash flow!

We've really met some neat people. The kind you'd call "friends forever" ... :)

Thanks Grill!

ps. Hey! Why does Ronny look like he's annoyed!? lol

Japanese Ramen

One of my very favorite foods is RAMEN!!

I buy my ramen from oriental stores, which comes as "nama" noodles, which are noodles that aren't DRIED up like you'd buy at your local grocery store.

Ramen's a huge staple food in Japan. Really, noodles are.

Ramen comes from China. did you know that?

If you go anywhere in Japan, you'll see little stands to large chains of ramen restaurants filled with people. Steaming HOT noodles are pulled out of the big pot of boiling water and tossed into a big brothy bowl of soup, then topped with colorful vegetables and thinly sliced meat.

OH. Heaven.

However you buy ramen here in America though, RULE NUMBER ONE FOR MAKING RAMEN.

always put some type of meat in there, along with lots of variety of vegetables!!

It's about the colors and presentation in Asia!

corn, egg, bamboo shoots, asparagus, thinly sliced green onions (scallions), thinly sliced carrots, cabbage, maybe some chicken or steak, turkey left over, ham, whatever you've got on hand, use it! I always use left over meats and veggies in my ramen!

In the picture above, I chucked in some salmon, asparagus, bean sprout, half an egg, and some bamboo shoots and lots of pepper!!! (i love spicy!) They were all leftovers from some other meals I had on hand at the time.

Also--NEVER OVERCOOK THE NOODLES!! NEVER!! :)

And now you've got yourself a very authentic bowl of ramen!

Today's lunch: Chicken Katsu

I love a good wholesome Japanese meal!

I try to make Japanese meals for lunches each day so that the boys will grow up eating what I did. It's important to me that they grow up with Japanese foods too, so that when we go back to Japan, they won't starve :) As of now, they would rather eat rice over most other foods...they don't even eat mac & cheese!!

Anyway, this is what we had for lunch today:

from left top:

Miso soup

korean bean sprout salad

"Nikujaga" (stewed sweet potato, carrots, onions and chicken)

rice

Chicken katsu

grape tomato and cucumbers

How to make Chicken Katsu:

I used 2 chicken breasts and cut them into 6 smaller pieces.

(if chicken is thick, slice in half and cut into smaller pieces so that they cook faster and better)

pound chicken.

salt and pepper.

prepare three bowls.

dip chicken in order:

flour, 1 beaten egg, and "panko"

(panko=japanese bread crumbs you can buy at any grocery store in the international/Asian section)

fry in oil

It's ready when it's golden brown.

For the sauce:

mix about 5 tbsp. to 2-3 tbsp. of worcestershire sauce.

{You can use panko for other things like fried zucchini or fried anything!}

This is something most people order at Japanese restaurants and pay $10-15 for, but really, you can make it so easy at home and it's so good!

The kid's lunch

Jaiden LOVES rice!

Kai loves Japanese food too!

Menu: Dinners this week

For those who don't know, I don't cook everyday.

I cook in bulk, so I really only cook about 2-3 times a week.

This week's menu was: (just dinner)

Homemade meatball and veggie Spaghetti, handmade rolls, pork milanesa

Crock pot BBQ pulled pork, curly fries

Asian yakisoba--stir fry

Homemade crock pot chili with sweet corn bread

Asian creamy white vegetable and meat stew

Grilled Hamburgers curly fries

So this week, I actually cooked 3 times, but most of the things were already made up and frozen from the last time I had made them in bulk, so it was another easy week. I just added a few things as sides.

For example,

the spaghetti sauce was frozen.

the Chili was frozen.

I then made a big batch (about 3 meals worth) of the BBQ pulled pork and divided them up and froze them. Now, I can have that on a bun another time, or even on a baked potato! Some even like it wrapped up in a tortilla as a burrito!

Cooking in Bulk is absolutely a time and energy saver. At any given time, I have about 5 different types of meals/meats frozen and ready to thaw and eat!

I will blog next about what types of things you can make and freeze!

Happy smart cooking!

BBQ PULLED PORK

BBQ PULLED PORK

(homemade coleslaw and or fries goes great with this meal!)

Ingredients

• 1 (2 pound) pork tenderloin
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle root beer
• 1 (18 ounce) bottle your favorite barbecue sauce
• 8 hamburger buns, split and lightly toasted

Directions

1. Place the pork tenderloin in a slow cooker; pour the root beer over the meat. Cover and cook on low until well cooked and the pork shreds easily, 6 to 7 hours. Note: the actual length of time may vary according to individual slow cooker. Drain well. Stir in barbecue sauce. Serve over hamburger buns.

Thanks, http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/slow-cooker-pulled-pork/Detail.aspx

Reading Japanese

Ok, so this is so cool I had to blog about it.

Kai's been learning the English alphabets in Preschool, right?

I've also been teaching him the Japanese "alphabets" at home.

Well, Japanese alphabets work so that you don't have to spell, they work as they're own "sounds," if that makes sense.

It's like "spelling" "ABC". you don't, and you wouldn't spell "A.B.C."

Alright, we've been starting a routine for him that we'll help him lay out some clothes AND some breakfast food out on the table the night before, so that when he wakes up, he can get ready himself (while I get Jaiden or myself ready).

He's been loving the independence, and so have I.

Anyway, I had put some milk in the fridge last night for him to drink in the morning, but obviously, I couldn't keep it out on the table overnight, so I thought...

AHA!

I got a piece of paper out, and wrote out "MILK" (mi-ru-ku) in Japanese.

This morning, I went downstairs and lo and behold, he had found his milk! He had read the piece of paper and got the milk out of the fridge!

HOORAY!

I'm so proud of him!

That was a really long blog to say that he can read in Japanese!

I loved it!

Hard day

I don't read enough about other mother's 'bad' days...

I wonder if I'm the only one who feels this way at times...

It's been a hard week, and it's only Tuesday.

I know.

I seem to be yelling a lot at the kids.

After all, it's the same things over and over again.

The spill-ings, the accidents, the poop on the walls, crayon and marker marks in the carpet, the changing of the diapers (a million times), wiping feces off the bathroom floors.

When I take the kids outside to get on their bikes, the little one goes "ding dong ditching" at random neighbor's homes so I have to run after him each time and set him back on his little red tricycle.

"No this, no that. No, not ever, no not never!"

That's all I feel I ever say anymore.

Then it's the "owee!! owee!"

the little one just stomped on and played in a mud hill. Or an ant hill, he couldn't decipher between the two.

While I frantically slap off the fire-y beasts and strip my toddler down in plain public's view, the older one and his friends are riding down someone's driveway at 50m/hr while a truck is heading towards us.

Who signed up for this? I sometimes think while I lay on the couch, just tired from the day.

Did I really understand what I was getting myself into?!

Ronny's been working long hours at the Coast Guard and not home to see the kids until they're in bed. "They're so cute" he says. :I

Yes, they're sure cute when they're SLEEPING! ha.

It's been rough.

I love my kids, but it's been tough.

I can't clean and my house is a disaster-or so I feel.

I can't cook--the meals become "peanut butter and jelly" sandwiches day in and day out.

It's all about learning to find the balance...

Then I run into a friend outside who had to endure me venting.

I promise that wasn't planned, it just spilled out, sorry Jill.

Then she took the kids.

Told me "go do something for yourself, something fun."

So what did I do?

cooked dinner.

And cleaned the kitchen.

I had to laugh.

I was happy.

Again,

I cleaned and cooked.

That made me happy.

Oh and I listened to music.

I guess it's the simple things in life.

It's writing in my blog,

it's listening to music.

It's bumping into a friend who's nice enough to know that I've reached my limits.

Dear children, know that I love you dearly.

It's just been a rough few days.

I wouldn't trade you or even sell you like I joke on facebook,

but I sure would like to strangle you two sometimes, oh and your father too.

:-)

I like venting.

If I were a man, this is how I looked all week so far.

Thanks Jill.

Count on me too.

Where Faith Lives

This is one of my very favorite songs that's gotten me through so much in this life.

{Cherie Call}

Where Faith Lives

It doesn't live at the end of a rainbow,
It doesn't sleep at the edge of your bed
And sometimes it doesn't fit so well
With the plans you're making in your head
But just before you reach the service station,
Right before the car runs out of gas
In the eye of the tornado
With all the strong winds blowing past

That's where faith lives
That's where fear tries to go
That's where everybody guesses
And you're the one who knows
And it may take the most that you can give
To find the place where faith lives

It lives in the fiery furnace, and it lives in the lion's den
And sometimes in the wilderness where it lives and dies and lives again
It lives where the doors fly open, it lives where the sun comes out
It lives in the window where you throw away all your doubts

You can't find it any easy way
Because it's all about the things that you can't see
But all the same it's right before you
Every time you get down on your knees

Testimony of the month-

For those who don't know, in the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, we have an opportunity to share our "testimony" (our feelings and beliefs about the gospel) each month. We have the first hour to share our testimonies with each other during our sacrament hour (first hour of church after being passed the sacrament).

A friend of mine shared her testimony and I thought I'd share it.

She recently lost her little niece who would have been turning THREE this month.

As tears filled her eyes, she shared with us the experience she had while flying up to her sister's place to help her cope with this traumatic event of losing a daughter.

While she thought she would be greeted by a depressed household, filled with despair in the air, she was quickly finding out that this home which had just gone through such a terrible event was filled with a feeling of hope, forgiveness and love.

The little blond girl with big eyes who was waiting to turn three had been hit and killed by a truck. One minute alive and happy, the very next gone.

My friend continued to share that she saw this mother and her family all kneel down together to pray for this unfortunate driver who had to endure such a thing.

Yes, you read right.

Not only did this family quickly find courage to stand still in such a catastrophic event, they even found the strength to pray for the driver who had been in the wrong place in the wrong time.

What a family.

This family obviously understood the power of Christ's atonement.

Not only was it to take away the sins of the world, it was there to succor and to comfort.

They didn't find peace in hating and they didn't even search for answers.

They simply TRUSTED in the Lord and put things in His hands.

I hope, and although I would never pray for such a trial to prove my faithfulness to my Heavenly Father, I hope that my faith and trust is big enough in the Lord Jesus Christ that if I had to endure such a thing, I could withstand the blow and understand life in the way that this family, this mother did.

Spiritual goal 2011

I decided what my "spiritual" goal will be this year!

Study the Sunday School lessons each week BEFORE Sunday!

We're studying the New Testament this year in Sunday School.

I've been thinking of how to better my scripture studies, and I think this will be perfect. It'll give me a topic/lesson each week and I could be better prepared when I attend the class each Sunday.

YAY!

What are your goals?

Oreo Covered Brownies!

These were so easy to make....but, I'd use Muffin tins next time and only bake for about 10-12min to avoid 1. separating the oreos from brownie, and 2. getting too hard. (which they did both things at 13-15min baking time.)

{ under-baked brownies will be the perfect texture for this treat!}

Serve warm with ice cream!

Thanks,

http://picky-palate.com/2010/12/06/brownie-covered-oreos/