Why I stopped Blogging

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Back in October of 2017 I went to 2 blogging conferences. One was in Ohio and the other in Texas. I was convinced that the reason why I wasn’t successful in blogging was because successful bloggers went to conferences and made connections. I hadn’t gone before because conferences are expensive and I’m terrified to travel alone. I get lost easily, am afraid of crowds, and enjoy being at home.

I thought it would help my family so I went to these conferences anyway. I met a lot of lovely people and really stretched my comfort zone. I learned a lot. Mostly what I learned is that making a full time living blogging requires more than full time hours. It requires hiring staff and creating a real company that feeds a lot more people than just us. Blogging was more than writing encouraging or educational articles. It was professional photography, script writing, filming, editing, scheduling social media posts, running chat groups, a constant presence on social media, SEO optimization, production calendars, scripts, affiliate marketing, recruiting sponsors, buying and selling advertising and a whole lot more.

I met lots of people who were successful, but they all had something in common: sacrifice. Some of them lost marriages, some of them lost themselves to drugs or alcoholism, some of them lost their kids to the world, some lost their friends. Their brand depended on Looking happy and successful on the outside while life was crumbling around all about them. They talked about the people they lost like you would talk about a cancer that was removed. Oof….I wasn’t down for any of that. I also met some people who truly kept it together but the blog became a family affair. Husbands became photographers, video editors, computer programmers, or social media experts. It was hard to determine when the work day began and ended. It was never ending. My husband emotionally supported all my goals, but didn’t have an interest in personally getting involved.

I was trying to build my blog business to save my husband from his accounting career that he chose for reasons that no longer applied to us and didn’t really enjoy. But when I really looked at our situation it became clear to me that he didn’t WANT or NEED me to save him. In fact, he was much happier going to work and having clear production and end of work day boundaries then he ever could working from home as my assistant.  When or if he decides he’s ready for a career change, he is more than capable of making that change himself. I will be right behind him cheering him on in whatever his goals become.

Going to the conferences was supposed to help me to build a successful business  in blogging, but instead it convinced me that I didn’t want to do it at all. I tried to hang on for another year for the sake of my meal planning service. I even enrolled in personal training school thinking the certification would help me grow my recipe service. But then something really scary happened.

I was fixing dinner one evening in December just before Christmas 2018 and called my kids to the table. My 2nd son was in 7th grade and usually came home from school and went straight to his room for a nap. When he didn’t come to the table, I went up to his bedroom in the attic to wake him. He wasn’t there. He wasn’t anywhere. I PANICKED. I asked everyone in the house if he had come home from school and no one knew. I called every friend he had to see if he had gone to their house. I called his bus driver, his school principal…everyone I could think of. I sent my oldest son up to school to look for clues while I waited at home in case he showed up.  I posted on my personal facebook page asking for community help to look for him. Eventually we exhausted all our own resources and called 911.

The 911 dispatcher asked me if my son would hurt himself. “NO!” I insisted. But then I realized every parent must feel that way. What if I didn’t really know my son? What if he was hurting and I was too busy chasing my dreams to notice? What if he was dead? I leaned over the side of my front porch and said, “I’m going to throw up.”

The dispatcher said, “Ma’am, Ma’am…stay calm. Stay with me.” He told me to stay home and he would send a police car over to take my report. Except he didn’t. He never called it in. I stayed at home waiting for a police officer that would never come wasting precious hours that I could have spent looking for my child. I find that part hard to forgive, but through the grace of God I have forgiven him.

Soon, friends were on my porch organizing a search party. Another friend called a police officer that attended church with me and knew our son. He happened to be on duty near my neighborhood, so even though he wasn’t officially dispatched he used his skills to begin searching. I didn’t know he was on the job and was still home waiting for a officer.

The police friend started at the main road and drove back and forth across every neighborhood street between there and our house. In the darkness, a block from my house, he spotted my son. He pulled his patrol car up beside him and rolled down his window. In his stern voice he said, “Dub, where are you supposed to be right now?” Dub looked up and burst into tears. Dub got into his car and the officer called my cellphone. “I have your son; I’m bringing him home.” Those are the sweetest words I will ever hear. I still cry when I think about that moment. It is forever seared on my heart. I am aware that not every son comes home, that he was at high risk, and that it was my fault.

Dub had stayed after school for Christian Club. He woke me up that morning to remind me, because the club doesn’t meet every week. I wasn’t quite awake and even though I responded to him, I didn’t register what he said. After club, I didn’t come. I was taking another son Christmas shopping without a thought that I was supposed to be there for him. Everyone left school, even the staff went home, leaving my son there alone. He didn’t have a phone and we lived 6 miles from school. He waited 2 hours for me. It got dark. He had a full backpack, his clarinet and a heavy coat under his arm and he started walking home.

He crossed the HIGHWAY on foot and walked down main roads. He passed gas stations, fast food restaurants, lots of businesses, but never went in to ask to use the phone. He said it was “too scary.” Many of my friends saw him on the road but didn’t recognize who he was. It took 3 hours of physical walking to make it to the place where the officer found him and all the while I can imagine he was thinking that we forgot him, didn’t love him, didn’t care.

The next month, we did the end of the year books for my meal plan business. There was good money potential in it I knew, but I had trouble with the advertising side of things and would need to hire more help to make it profitable. Darren showed me that I was earning less than $1 an hour after expenses and explained the sacrifice the family was making so I could chase that dream. I instantly let it go. I refunded every subscriber their remaining balance and closed the service.  Without the meal plan business there was no income to pay for the blog tools, email services etc…so I canceled them too. For the first time in years, I felt free.

Update on the Zone Cleaning for Kids

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We’re two thirds through the summer so I feel like I can safely update on how our zone cleaning is going.  If you missed the first post describing our system, find it here. First of all, it’s still going!  That’s a win in my book since most of my efforts at chore charts have ended by the 2nd week.

Here are a few photos of zones in action:

I show these photos as they are because I want to be transparent that our house isn’t magazine ready at all times just because we’re doing zone cleaning.  It’s not perfect for sure, illustrated by the boy practicing the piano in pajamas (and my clutter all over) even though getting dressed is higher up on his list.  I’m focusing on the fact that the boy is PRACTICING.  The amount of music progress we’ve made since the charts came out is staggering and worth the whole effort by itself.

So what’s working?

  1.  The fact that we have a consistent plan. The boys are thriving on the consistency and are helping to hold each other accountable in a mostly good natured way.
  2. I have passcodes on all the devices (except for the shared chrome book they use for school.)  Even the ones they bought with their own money.  So they have to bring it to me before they can get on it, which means I have the chance to ask if they are done with their zones.
  3. The boys are getting a lot of pride out of their zones. Check out this facebook post:

5.  We had a fail one day where I caught all the brothers in a dark room under a blanket watching a video on the Chromebook. The video was on my approved list but nobody had done anything on their list. They were all still in PAJAMAS!  It was 9am and I gathered up every electrical device in the house and locked them in my room.  I was like, “Bummer.  I’m so sorry this happened. Don’t worry, tomorrow we start again.  You can have everything back tomorrow, after your zones are done, as long as you get today’s zone work done too.”   There was weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.  It’s the kind of day that you PRAY for when you are doing a system like this, because they knew I meant business and that I WOULD follow through.  We’ve never had a problem like this again.

6.  I’ve had the opportunity to teach them how to do some new chores that they hadn’t done before.  Like secrets about getting the pink mold out of the bathroom, how to clean the shower without getting your hands dirty, and what it means to be truly clean.  Plus they’ve finally learned where all the dishes go in the kitchen! I try really hard not to be too picky, but after we’d been going several weeks, I started doing inspections and sending kids back to redo sub-par work.

7.  This is the most consistent we’ve ever been with reading and music practice!!!

What’s not working?

  1. I can’t remember the order of the zones and the boys often can’t find their paper on Sunday when it’s time to trade.  I’m constantly asking, “Who’s in this zone?” It would help if I had a row of nails for them to hang their clipboards on when not in use. Then we could find them easily and I could see who goes where.  It would also help if I made up a file with all the zone assignments for the year.
  2. The list is pretty overwhelming for Grant (he’s 7 with some sensory issues.)  Some days it makes him want to curl up in a fetal position and never get out of bed.  I often work his zones with him, teaching him how to do things along the way.  He does help and as long as he’s working too, I’m fine with it.  I’m thinking about making separate, shorter zone sheets for him to rotate through that are different from his older siblings.
  3. Since the kids are able to pick and choose what to work on in their zones, several items never get done….like cleaning around the base of the toilets, scrubbing the bath tub or wiping down the cabinet fronts.
  4. Sometimes the work is just poorly done and I have to send them back to do a decent job.  This definitely takes more management than it seems.  The boys will get lazy and not set a timer, do a 5 minutes job in their zone and think they are done.  I have to be consistent with accountability on spending a good quality 20 minutes in their zones.  The more consistently I check on them the less likely they are to try to get away with stuff.  In the beginning I had to check every time, and I used it for a chance to give them atta-boys as often as I can.  Now I only have to check a few times a week. Because they never know when an inspection will pop up, they do good work most of the time.
  5. Sometimes I need help later in the day with emptying the dishwasher or setting the table.  Invariably the boy asked to help says, “That’s not my zone.” or “I already did my 20 minutes.”  They are not allowed to respond to me that way when given a direct request and in the scheme of the amount of work required to run our house 20 minute is NOTHING.  So we’ve had a lot of correction to do in this area and it’s still a work in progress.

What do you think?  Do you have any chore tips or stories for us?

 

 

Clothing Budgets for Teenage Girls

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Something came up this weekend and made me change the way I parent.  It wasn’t something new, but it was the final straw.  I’d had enough and things were going to be different.

My oldest daughter was having trouble finding something to wear for church, and she was searching in a closet full of beautiful dresses.  Dresses, she picked out, and I purchased for her with a very limited family clothing budget.  She was close to melting down and yes, it was about more than a dress.  It was also about cooking the perfect Mother’s day meal and making the perfect Mother’s day surprise.  Plus knowing that her boyfriend’s parents were coming over to join our Mother’s day celebration and wanting to make a good impression.  It was about singing in the choir loft where the whole congregation could see her, and taking on the stress of trying to be an adult when she isn’t quite there yet.  (I feel like I need to tell you that I was helping her with the meal and everything else, which just seemed to make her more upset, because she WANTED to do it all by herself to make a very special day for me.)  It all added up and equaled “nothing to wear.” I hope other Moms of teenage daughters can verify that this is normal.

It wasn’t an isolated situation and it wasn’t limited to her.  Her sister a few weeks ago, begged for a reasonably priced pair of jeans at Costco.  You can’t try things on there, but their return policy is excellent as long as you leave the tags on.  She cut the tags before trying them on only to discover they didn’t fit.  I was panicked. “Let your sister try them on.” They didn’t fit her either.

“Calm down, Mom.” They said.  “We’ll sell them. It will be fine.”

“What do you think you could get for them?”

“$1-2.”  They looked happy.  “Then we’ll use the money to buy jeans that do fit.”

I said, “I bought brand new jeans for $12 and you are going to turn around and sell them for $2?”  They were cheap jeans from the get-go….but still.  This is bad math.  I had to leave the room before I said anything more.  The air was thick with my frustration.

I’ve noticed a pattern that when I buy their clothes for them, the items end up in the garage sale pile much too soon.  Or relegated to the “nothing to wear” section of the closet.   Or just tossed on the floor and trampled on. I tried to prevent it by asking them lots of questions in the store: “Is it too tight?” “Is it comfortable?”  “Do you like the way it looks from the back?” “Are you SURE you are going to wear this?”  They promise they will, but then don’t.  Sometimes I think all my questions just sowed seeds of doubt that blossomed into full grown confidence busters once the clothing gets home.  Parenting is so hard. Being a teenager is hard too.

The best solution I could find is to turn it all over to them.  I handed them each an envelope with their portion of the monthly clothing budget in it.  It’s $20.  In June they will get $20 more and so on. That $20 will make the $12 pair of jeans look a lot different in a few months.  Right now, they feel rich.  They said, “Oh Thank you!  That’s so generous of you!”

I didn’t feel very generous.  I reminded them, “That will have to cover your underwear, bras and socks. Swimwear, school clothes, formal wear, shoes.”

“Yes! We understand.”

“You can save it from month to month until you have enough to do something with.”

“Yes, Mama.”

They know the glories of thrift stores and garage sales, and we recently discovered a lovely consignment store near us as well. Perhaps they will discover the joys of selling to the stores as well as shopping there.  Perhaps they will learn about Ebay or Craigslist.  Perhaps they will learn to sew.  I’m not sure.  It’s up to them now, and I’m kind of excited to see what they do with it.

P.S. While this feels like the perfect solution right now, it was really hard for me to do, because I’ve never divided the budget evenly among the family members.  I always used the money in a lump sum for the people who have immediate needs, like athletic shoes or longer pants, and fill in the gaps with hand-me-downs from brother to brother.  Now my lump sum is $40 smaller each month, but I think the educational experience will be worth any kind of adjusting I need to do on my end. 

The Secret to Great Energy and Well-Being

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Back before we moved into this giant project house, I made homemade bread, had a garden, and sewed our own clothes. I cooked a meal every night and we sat around the table as a family.  Since we moved (6 years ago — aak!) I just haven’t had the energy for it. It might have coincided with adding our 6th child, plus all the extra work from DIYing the house. Plus I took a part time job outside the home and then my health fell apart.

This picture is awful and I was definitely miserable, but it’s not the sickest part of my journey.  Just a year or two before this, I couldn’t walk unassisted because my blood pressure was so low.  If I tried to stand, I would sometimes black out and the room was spinning so fast, I couldn’t keep my balance. It was hard to even lift my arms off the bed.  Some days I was afraid my heart might stop beating in the night.

All that time in bed, I spent reading and researching.  I found a doctor who could help me. Traditional doctors scratched their head and wrote prescriptions for prednisone and other immunosuppresants. Some even suggested it was all in my head, but she guided me through nutritional healing.  The details of that process is a book all in itself, but it has motivated me to help others.  It’s why I’m in school right now to become a personal trainer and going on to become a health coach and fitness nutritional specialist.

Friend, your health is everything. While I was laying in bed, the only thing I had was God. (Which was huge!  I can’t imagine walking this journey without Him.)  I had no family life.  I missed sports games, music concerts, birthday parties, Christmas.  The world kept going with me trapped in bed on the sidelines. The kids did so much growing up in the years that I was sick. Those lost moments are my biggest regret.

I have energy to bake again! No more additives in bread for my family.

Even after I was well enough to get up off the bed, I had a long road of recovery ahead. I’m still on it and sometimes take a step back.  While each regression is frustrating, it also teaches me a lot about my body.

Sheet Pan Suppers make healthy food prep easy

The cause of my illness can be summed up in one word, STRESS.  I used to think about stress as worry, money problems, or a calendar full of too many events, and while that’s definitely part of it, stress is much more than that.  It can be physical stress from exposure to toxic chemicals, like ammonia and bleach or even paint fumes. It can be from toxic load from food additives. Stress can even come from light sensitivity or undiagnosed allergies.  Whether stress comes from internal or external sources, it creates a perfect storm that is the root of ALL disease. Even when we have a genetic disposition to disease, it takes a trigger to turn those genes on.  That trigger is some form of stress.

Research scientists are now discovering that the deadly diseases of aging adults began in their childhood.  This link is specific to heart disease, but I strongly believe that cancers and brain diseases also begin in childhood with root nutritional stress causes.

I’m hosting a free live class through zoom on May 3rd, telling some of the tricks I use, including how to use essential oils to support the thyroid, adrenals and good sleep. How I ensure proper nutrition and reduce oxidative stress. I’ll also show my favorite snack that boosts gut health, encourages fat loss, increases metabolism, boosts detoxification, and is super filling. Plus I’ll be showing my favorite non-toxic cleaners and skin care routine.  Just pop in your email address above to get an invitation. (Plus it’s live, so you can ask questions like “But what about picky eaters? And how can I afford it?”)

Sometimes I still feel discouraged about how far I have left to go in my health journey, then I look back on my progress photos and realize how far I’ve come.

I put these photos side by side yesterday and shared them on instagram. I still have a long way to go in fitness and the scale has actually gone UP instead of DOWN! So frustrating when I’ve been working so hard and if all I had to go on was the scale, I would have given up long before now. Some days I ask myself how I think I can be a personal trainer and health coach when I’m so overweight. “Who do you think you are?” Then I see the progress here and realize the scale can’t tell the whole story, and I keep going.

Even progress pictures can’t show everything.  Remember when I told you a few years ago I couldn’t lift my arms off the bed? This is last weekend, me hiking with my family.  ME!  I’m crying with joy because I was there, participating, living an energy filled abundant life.  If I can do it, anyone can.

I’m excited to share more of my story with you live.  See you May 3rd!

 

 

How to Take a Family Cruise on a Budget

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We just got back from our Spring Break cruise to Mexico and even though it was full of luxury and pampering it was a fairly low cost vacation.  Here’s how we kept the prices low.

1. Choose a port that you can drive to, eliminating flight costs.  The more people in your family the bigger the savings!  We drove 14 hours to Galveston, TX and it was great fun to watch movies and talk in the car.  We took some healthy snacks so we only ate out one meal on the way down.  We could have packed a lunch but I was maxed out on time getting us ready to go and since we never eat out it was a super big treat for the kids. On the way back the kids were so tired, they giggled slap happy style until they fell asleep in a pile like puppies (but with seat belts.)  There are also ports in California, Florida, New Orleans, Washington State, and along the East Coast, so you can choose the closest one to you.

2. Choose the ship and cruise line you want, then watch prices at Vacations to Go. Buy the deal when the prices drop. This is even easier if you are very flexible on the destination and sailing dates.  We had to be more specific since we didn’t want to take the kids out of school, but still found a deal for $300 a person.  It’s not an exact science to know when prices are the lowest.  Just decide ahead of time what your buy zone is and call immediately when you see it. Deals like that sell out FAST. I sat on the deal for a few hours and when I finally called it was sold out.  They did have a slight upgrade for $50 more (still a great deal!) which gave us a window in each room.  We’d never had a window before and it was great!  It’s not worth the extra money for a window though if you can get an inside cabin.

Remember, no matter which room you’re in, you still get the same great service with folded towel animals, twice daily maid service, and meals included.  We don’t spend much time in our rooms with all the things to do on the ship, so as long as it had a bed we were happy.

3.  Ships want to sail FULL.  So if you are super flexible on the price, watch the 90 day ticker.  You can get a really great deal if you can leave in a few days.  If they aren’t full they start slashing prices just to get bodies on there.  Once you’re there they’re hoping you’ll buy alcohol and other things so they’ll make a killing off of you, (but don’t.)

(The main dining hall requires formal dress at least one night of the trip and business casual the rest of the time. We had fun shopping thrift stores for several months before we left to get everyones wardrobe in shape.)

4. Ask about larger occupancy rooms.  Often the 3rd and 4th persons in a cabin are 1/2 price, though there is no age discount for small children (not even babies.) Our cruise was completely sold out and we got some of the last rooms, so they didn’t have any bigger rooms to offer us by the time I called. Our rooms also had several rooms in between them which made me nervous since 3 of our rooms were just unsupervised kids.  It worked out fine though.

5. Buy a motel room the night before the ship sails.  We drove all night to minimize missed work but still bought the hotel room, Beachcombers Inn in Galvaston. They offered free parking, so it was cheaper to pay for the room we only slept 4 hours in, and a taxi to the dock, than it was to pay for parking at the dock during the trip. We used hotels.com to find the best prices.  My dad booked his room a few months before we did and ours had dropped in price $5 from what he paid.  It’s ok to watch hotel prices to see if they drop.

6. If you are set on buying excursions (sight seeing trips when the ship stops at a land destination) buy them early.  Once you get on ship the price gets higher.  We chose to skip all the excursions for budget reasons and did our own sight seeing by foot and taxi at the ports.

7. Take lots of cash, but break it up into different locations.  In tropical countries they are used to haggling with the prices.  If you pull out too much money at once, they become less flexible on the price. Never take their first price offer as the final offer.  Look contemplative; use few words, and if all else fails start to walk away

8. Don’t forget to budget for tips.  Most ships add $14.50 per person per day to your final bill and if you have a lot of kids this can add up quickly. The cruise staff works super hard for you and is worth every penny of that gratuity.  You can opt out of paying it, but please don’t.  Just plan ahead so it’s not a hardship.

9. Don’t drink alcohol on the ship.  It’s crazy expensive. Some people on our trip paid an extra $1200 per person just for alcohol and sodas.

10. Watch out of other additional charges.    Upgrade restaurants, spa treatments, fitness classes, shopping, gambling, bingo.  We skipped it all so only had tips on our final bill.  There was plenty of free things to do that kept us happily engaged while we were on the ship.  Our absolute favorite was a kick boxing class.  My 2 daughters and I were the only ones that showed up for it, so we got a private training session from the coach.  It was supposed to only last 30 minutes, but we were having so much fun he coached us for an hour and 15 minutes.  It was way out of our usual thing to try and was a fun bonding experience.

Things to keep in mind:

  1.  You won’t have cell or internet service on the ship, though you can pay extra for internet if you need it for work.  This was tricky for us to keep track of 6 kids all in their own rooms, without being able to text. If you have walkie talkies, it’s a great idea.
  2. Your room doors are metal and will take a magnet.  My mom brought cute little magnet animals for each of our doors and wrote our names on them with a magic marker.  It was so helpful to be able to find our room quickly, especially with so many doors between the rooms in our party and everything in the  ship looking alike.
  3. If you pack your luggage in a way that you can carry it all yourself, you can get off the ship 30 minutes faster at the end of your journey and be on your way.  Just skip the luggage tags they leave you at the end and don’t put your luggage out the night before for pick up.
  4. You aren’t allowed to carry on your own luggage at the start of the trip, because they will let you on the ship 3 hours before you have access to your room.  It takes them awhile to deliver everyone’s luggage so I recommend a backpack or carry on bag with essentials that you might want to freshen up for dinner.
  5. If you eat dinner in the dining room (vs the buffet area) and I recommend you do! You’ll need to request either early (5:30) or late dining (8:30) when you book your trip.  There is a strict dress code for the dining room which means no flip flops, shorts, hats, or tank tops. One or two  of the nights, it will be formal only–meaning dinner jackets, ties, and cocktail dresses.
  6. I took a bunch of clothes I never wore.  I did all the free fitness activities offered and pretty much lived in workout clothes or my bathing suit and cover up while on the ship.  Then I wore sundresses or formal dresses for the dining room (the sundresses doubled for classes like napkin folding or the informational spa session) and I didn’t even touch my shorts outfits. Think about what you like to do and might not need as many clothes either.  A cute swimsuit cover up is a must if you plan to visit beaches and the onboard pools or hot tubs.  Then you can just slip it on and go to casual dining whenever you fancy.
  7. Not all cruise lines are kid friendly.  We booked our first cruise with kids on Carnival and their idea of a kid’s program is to clear out a smoke filled bar and plunk down some crayons.  Even the smaller Royal Caribbean ships have dedicated kids and teen areas with quality programs that will have your kids begging to go.  My teens loved the teen center too, but it was on the 10th deck and they could feel the sway of the ship way too much to stay up there.  We’re now super loyal to Royal Caribbean and don’t plan on sailing with anyone else ever again.
  8. Plan ahead for sea sickness.  My kids were helped by the acupressure sea bands, and we had essential oils (ginger) and dramamine for emergencies. I packed my diffuser which floated around the kids rooms as various ones felt seasick. Since colds and flu can travel around the ship quickly, I also packed my fast acting natural remedies just in case.
  9. The ship goes quickly and even in tropical climates the breeze at night can get chilly in the fall or spring.  Take a comfy jacket or sweatshirt just in case, if you like walking around outdoors.
  10. The tropical sun is different than the sun in Missouri.  We used 50 SPF sunscreen and applied often and still got burned.  If you have fair skin, take protective clothing as well.
  11. Think outside the box.  We wanted to go snorkeling as a family, but just renting the gear was going to be over $100.  We paired up and rented gear for half the people.  They snorkeled while the rest played on the beach, then we swapped gear and the 2nd group went snorkeling.  Everyone had a blast and we saved 50%.

 

The Busy Mom’s Dinner Survival Guide

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I wrote this post 3 years ago, and as I re-read it over the weekend, everything was still true. The busy season of parenting can last a long time–eek! It’s a little easier now having a teenage driver (who paid cash for her own car,) plus more kids old enough to help with food prep, but I still rely on all of these tips to keep affordable food on our table.

Today we have basketball practice for 2 teams, 2 ballet classes, Boy Scouts, Handmaidens, Lamplighters, and Trailblazers, plus practice time for 2 violin and 4 piano students.  Those are just our after school activities.  We’ve talked about limiting kid activities more, but when it’s time to choose the thing to drop, we freeze up.  Each child only plays one sport at a time and the club activities are part of our church—it’s just when you multiply it times 6, it gets a little nutty.

I was fixing a quick supper tonight in between my taxi duties and thought how my meal standards were lower on nights like these. It’s not that what I was fixing wasn’t healthy, it was just simpler–not as many dishes.  I threw some turkey burgers on the indoor grill and serve them with Whole Wheat bagel thins and a condiment bar.  Done.

When I grew up, my mom had an elaborate meal almost every night with at least 3 veggie side dishes and often fresh baked muffins too.  We sat down together and had an electronic free dinner in the dining room with good conversation.  It was awesome! On our quieter nights, I try to make meals like my mom did, but today I’m giving myself grace for the busy.

When we order at a fast food restaurant, we never order drinks and rarely order fries.  It’s more affordable that way, and realistically there are enough calories in the sandwich without the extras.  So I decided that less side dishes at home was ok too–only better.  It costs less and has whole food ingredients.  win-win!

Here are the ways I survive on busy nights:

1.  Crock Pot it–When I remember, I put something in the crock the night before (then chill in the fridge to start in the morning) or in the morning.  Especially a dump and go soup like this one or this.

2.  Breakfast for dinner–pancakes, French toast, or bacon and eggs are fast to make and everyone likes them around here.

3. One pot it–Making an all in one meal in the skillet (like Skillet Lasagna, or Stir-Fry) is not only fast, but makes clean-up easier too. Just searching “one pot” on Pinterest brings up a whole bunch of yummy ideas.

4.  Cold Cuts–If I can’t do anything else, I can throw out a sandwich bar.

5.  Baked Potato Bar–Potatoes cook really well in the slow cooker.  You don’t even need foil.  Just scrub them and toss them in.  And if you forget, 8 minutes in the microwave will save dinner. Perfect toppings:  armed up chili (out of a can or leftovers); steamed broccoli cuts; cheese, bacon bits, green onion, sour cream, ranch dressing. Baked sweet potatoes work great too.

6.  Taco Bar–I put 2 lbs of ground meat (beef or turkey) in the slow cooker (still frozen!) and 4 tablespoons of taco seasoning.   Then cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low all day.  When it’s dinner time I just break up the meat with a potato masher and set out the condiments for taco night.

7.  Rotisserie Chicken:  Costco sells these for $5 each.  They say they are all 3 lbs, but that’s just the minimum weight.  I look around for the biggest ones and have scored a 4 pounder before. The price is the same.  We eat these with warmed up canned or frozen veggies and a tossed salad from the fridge.  I throw the leftovers in the fridge to boil up for soup on a calmer day.

8.  Get a child to cook.  I’m blessed to have older kids (Aged 14, 12, 11, 9, 7, and 3.)  Tuesday is kid’s cook night.  I just print off the Tuesday dinner recipe from the GSP menu plans and hand it to the kids.  Then I work nearby in case they have questions.

9.  Have a FULL pantry.  Cooking on the fly only works if you have plenty of ingredients on hand.  If you’ve been stocking your pantry with the Grocery Shrink method, you’ll be good to go.

How do YOU manage dinner when life gets a little too busy? I’d love to hear your tips.

Homemade Pumpkin Bagels Video Tutorial

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This isn’t a new recipe to this blog, but it’s still one of my favorites. The soft inside and chewy outside make a lovely grab and go breakfast. I originally wrote this post in 2015. Grant is now in 1st grade! I don’t regret spending that last year with him, and even though the kids are all in school now, we decided my time is still best spent at home helping things run smoothly for everyone.

Tee hee.  This video makes me giggle.  When I watch the replay and Grant (4) dumps the pumpkin on the counter, I roll on the floor laughing and then back it up and watch it again.  Maybe because I was there for the original moment, trying to balance a camera and helping Grant with the cooking at the same time.  How the pumpkin on the counter shocked us both and I got the giggles, which I tried to hold in making a weird background noise.  Grant, relieved that I wasn’t upset said, “We better clean that up.”   Which made me giggle all the more.

After we made quite a mess but got most of the stuff in the bowl, I said “What should we do now?”  I thought Grant would say, “Let’s clean up!”  but he said “SMILE.”  Which made me giggle all over again.

This boy is the joy of my days.  The sleepless nights, messes, tantrums, and battles are all worth it.  I had the option to spend this year in a classroom blessing other people’s children, while I earned money that my family needed.  I would have had to let someone else be with Grant during the day, and I just couldn’t.  It’s his last full year at home and I fought for my chance to be the one to clean up his messes and talk him down from the ledge of toddler insanity. It was selfish and selfless at the same time.  He needs me as much as I need him and there’s something priceless about that.

For those who prefer a written recipe here you go:

Pumpkin Bagels

  • 2/3 cup warm water
  • 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
  • 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 Tablespoon active dry yeast

Put all ingredients in the order listed in your bread machine.  Set for the dough cycle.  When the cycle is ended, divide the dough into 10 balls.  Poke your finger through the center and make a large hole.  Let the bagels rise for an hour or until doubled. Pour 8 cups of water into a stock pot, boil bagels for 1 1/2 minutes, turning once.  Remove to a dish towel to drain.  Place bagels on a greased baking sheet.  Brush with egg white and sprinkle with a little sugar.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden on the top.  Cool on a wire rack.

This is day 6 of 31 Days of Pumpkin Recipes

1 Pumpkin spice mix

2 Homemade pumpkin puree

3 Pumpkin Sugar Cookies

4 Pumpkin Dinner Rolls

5 Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

6 Pumpkin Bagels

7 Butternut Chicken Stew

8 Pumpkin French Toast Casserole

9 Healthy Pumpkin Pecan Scones

10 Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

11 Pumpkin Muffin/Drop Cookie Mix

12 Easy Pumpkin Cake

13 Pumpkin Dump Cake

14 Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal

15 Pumpkin Mousse

16 Pumpkin Cheesecake

17 Pumpkin Latte

18 Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

19 Pumpkin Chili

20 Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies

21 Pumpkin Biscuits

22 Maple Pumpkin Butter

23 Stuffed Sugar Baby Pumpkins

24 Pumpkin Pancakes

25 Pumpkin Waffles

26 Pumpkin English Muffins

27 Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

28 Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts

29 Pumpkin Biscotti

30 Pumpkin Caramel Monkey Bread

31 Impossible Pumpkin Pie

 

Hello there. What’s new?

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I love it when my kids are home from school for the summer. I love the no pressure, hang together, play board games, take swimming lessons, go to camp, play legos, organize a closet, and build a campfire at dusk kind of life. I hate to say this out loud, but my most favorite part is no music lessons….I want my kids to be musical, but keeping track of that many kids’ practice times and lesson times and where in the world is their book times wears on me. It’s nice to take a little break before we go at that pace again in August.

I haven’t felt like getting online much. I just want to be present with them and soak in their childhood this summer. It’s my oldest daughter’s last summer as a child…and I don’t want to miss a moment that she might give me.

My mom is doing summer reading lessons with my 6 year old. He read 70 words for his teacher in kindergarten but couldn’t read a single word for me at home. We are hoping that some time with Grandma, who is a master reading teacher, will do the trick. I know I’m a teacher too…with extra training in phonics and reading instruction….but my kids won’t work for me like they will someone else.

Two of my children and I are involved in a summer musical—Mary Poppins. I’m teaching the choral pieces and our first rehearsal was a disaster. The cast is amazingly talented and sounded amazing in spite of me…I was the disaster. Our second rehearsal is tonight and I have a better plan. Here’s to hoping I improve for all their sakes.

We are also spending the summer working on my office. We tore down the old 1970’s paneling and bought new white bead board to replace it, except we came across some ventilation/water/mold issues when we had the room opened up. So thus, our 1 week easy project has turned into months of little progress. Such has been every remodeling project in this house. I’m still not sorry we bought it, but I do wish I could snap my fingers and have the projects done like they are with the magic of television.  The only big inconvenience this time is that our guest bed is now set up in our formal living room…and I’m not really sure where to go with it from here. I might need to make a rabbit trail to organize the basement and set up a temporary guest space there.

We have a new set of foster kittens. We got them because they were so wild—hissing and spitting. It took us about 5 days to be able to get close to them and now they snuggle and purr for us. We named them Cuddles, Sunny, and Snowflake. They will be available for adoption through Great Plaines SPCA in a few weeks or as soon as they weigh 2 lbs.

I’m still going strong with the meal plan service. There are a little more than 200 families that use our meal plans, and 91 of them have joined us for a Summer Fitness Challenge. If you are looking for easy weight loss meal plans and a sisterhood of accountability, we’ve got you.

Prep ahead Mandarin Sesame Chicken Salad, with easy homemade dressing and seeds that stay crunchy.

Prep ahead black bean and tomato salad–we’ll add avocado at the last minute.  The chicken breast is marinating until tonight, when we’ll grill it to slice over the top.  Yummo!

I’m also growing my MomCeo team.  It’s really rewarding to help families with an extra income stream.  If you’ve been looking for extra income from home, fill out the form and I’ll give you a call and explain what we do.

In the cracks, I’m helping my kids launch their own business, CleanKids.Club. They’ve already had several clients and find the work really rewarding.

Oh and I started a little crochet project to do when I must sit and wait for something.  It’s a wheat stitch baby blanket for one of the many baby showers coming at church this autumn.  Even though the beautiful boarder wasn’t included with the pattern, our local library had the book it is in.  I’m using Hobby Lobby’s Yarn Bee Soft Secret yarn in Mist, a light silvery tone. It’s so soft and shiny and affordable too.

So that’s all I know since I last wrote. What’s new with you?

Simplifying Breakfast

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When I was a new mom I had dreams of sitting around the table every morning, with Daddy leading devotions to smiling children memorizing Bible verses set on a backdrop of a hearty home cooked breakfast. I had no idea at the time that we would welcome one baby after another and that I’d have 12 years of rough mornings. We’d be up all night taking turns with a colicky baby and Darren would peel out of bed barely rested, just in time to throw on clothes and dash to work where he had a loaf of bread stashed for breakfast toast.

Read the rest at http://www.kansascitymom.com/simplifying-breakfast/  and get the make ahead Always Ready Bran Muffin recipe that my family loves.

Meet MomCeo Ashley Finnegan

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I mentioned yesterday that Darren and I were at a conference together last week and it helped us get on the same page with our family and business plans. While I was there I met one of my colleagues at Mom Ceo, Ashley Finnegan.  What a great person!  She knows her stuff when it comes to building a successful business and I asked her to share with us some of her thoughts.

First, here’s a little facebook live I did on my MomCeo page about what to look for (and what to avoid) in a work from home situation.

Ashley is a former marketing executive turned work-from-home mom, who mentors other women to create a career that doesn’t take time from their family. I wanted to ask her about her business, MomCEO, and get her expert advice on achieving that perfect work/life balance.

Welcome to Grocery Shrink, Ashley! Can you tell us a little about yourself?

I’m a mother of two, an entrepreneur, and a proud Gainesville, Florida resident. I used to work in the corporate world, but like many professional parents, I eventually became dissatisfied with the strain that my work was putting on my family time.

Now I’m a partner with MomCEO, which makes it possible for women to build their own businesses from their homes. Through MomCEO, I help other women build fulfilling careers on their own terms.

 

MomCEO caught my eye because it allows you to boost your family’s income without losing quality family time. What’s the secret?

The big secret is that a healthy work/life balance is totally possible with a supportive team like MomCEO. In many professions, it can feel like your job and your family are competing for your time. MomCEO was created to change this.

With MomCEO, I choose and schedule my own hours. I can work from home, part-time or full-time, weekdays or weekends, morning or night—it’s all up to me. This way, I can schedule my work around my family, not the other way around. It’s also such a relief to be working with a team of other committed, entrepreneurial moms who understand that family time is just as much of a priority as work.

What type of work do MomCEO team members do?

MomCEO partners with a U.S.-based manufacturer that produces earth-conscious and affordable wellness products. Our team members educate consumers about how to avoid toxins and choose products for their home that will help them build healthy, safe, eco-friendly lifestyles.

What kind of income can MomCEO members expect?

Since MomCEO launched, it has grown to more than 100 team members across the country. About a third of those women get their primary source of income through MomCEO. The other two thirds work part-time with MomCEO, providing an additional revenue source for their families. Some women want to earn a few hundred dollars a month while others are looking to replace a six-figure income. Each mom has a different financial goal and motivation for joining our team. I help them create an individual plan to accomplish those goals.

What are the best parts of being able to work from home?

Working from home has given me incredible freedom, as a professional and as a mom. Most importantly, I don’t need to go out of my way to make time for my kids. Any time I’m not at my desk is quality time with them.

Before you joined MomCEO, you were working as a marketing executive in the corporate world. Do moms need your kind of background to join MomCEO?

Not at all! Our team members come from all different backgrounds, experiences, and education levels. What matters is that they’re self-driven and passionate about their work.

You can see more of Ashley on her YouTube channel and request a personal call from a MomCeo team member to get more information.