My Peacefully Chaotic Life

I have had the question posed "When do you find the time to blog?" Well, my usual time is late evening after the children go to bed. Unless Husband unknowingly gives them Dr. Pepper instead of the caffeine-free Root Beer he thought he picked up. In which case, children going to bed is pretty much unheard of and I just blog. :o) Obviously the baby went to bed on time. He's not quite ready for soda! (Although I once knew a woman who regularly put Mountain Dew in her baby's bottle. She had a 4.0 GPA but was a little slow in the parenting skills.) LadyBug finally gave it up at 10:00 PM. The FlowerChild is on the couch with her dolls rambling incoherently! Not really but she is a hoot when she gets going in her own little world with them! My day was busy as usual. We got in quite a bit of homeschooling today with extra lessons in Math and Reading. So maybe the breakfast is helping! I got some daily cleaning done. Considered doing laundry but decided tomorrow would be a mu...

Meet Jack. He is our sweet elderly black lab and the FisherMan's devoted companion. We have had him since the day someone dropped him off on our dirt road when he was just a little bitty adorable puppy. That was back when The GuitarMan was still little and adorable (yes, you are still adorable but not so little :o) So we could not resist that cute little furball or our son's pleas of "Can we keep him?" Jack has had a rough week. He injured his foot somehow and has been in a lot of pain with it. Good thing he has all of us to cater to him and spoil him until he felt better! We have given him pain medicine, wrapped his leg in a heating pad, and he has slept with the girls under the covers, no less all week. Think that is something? You should have seen us in the Spring when his leg was broken and casted after he was run over (he was asleep under the vehicle, which is something he has never done!). The vet wasn't so sure that he would make it at his age. I was big,...

I mentioned yesterday that I was trying to prepare a family breakfast each day. I have wanted to start doing this for a while for several reasons. It is such a nice way to start the day together. It also helps us to establish more of a concrete routine. It is an easy way to flow into family devotions and homeschool time. The children are more cooperative and settled when their tummies are full. A light breakfast means constant requests for snacks and a bad case of the grumps. Well, my children were not really on board with it yesterday. They did not eat very well and they kept looking at each other with this hesitant expression ( what's up with Mama? why are we all at the table? ) LOL I am great about lunch and supper but a family breakfast just isn't something we normally do on a regular basis. I have my cappuccino, the children have their breakfast and The FisherMan takes a snack or egg sandwich or something with him to work. Well, not to be deterred I tried again today. It ...

Today was a busy one! But I managed to have a lot to show for it. I cooked a nice breakfast for the family. I don't usually do all that. I just normally feed the children. But The FlowerChild is staying hungry and it is affecting her attention span so I am trying heavier meals. We had eggs, hashbrowns, sausage and biscuits. I think I could get used to that! Afterwards I cut The Fisherman's hair before he headed to work. Then I cleaned up the kitchen and did some laundry. I also got a loaf of bread in the machine to bake. While that was going we started school time. School was finished by early afternoon. The washroom is about halfway cleaned up now. I still have a PILE of clothes to do something with. Some are maternity and the rest are the children's clothes they have outgrown. Lunch was soup and sandwiches. Afterwards we read aloud for a while. The FisherMan braved the cold for a few minutes when he got home and took the girls out. It was just too cold to take little Smi...

Chuck Wagon Beans 1 lb dried navy beans 6 cups water 1/4 lb salt pork diced 1 large onion 1-3 garlic clove (your taste) 1 large green bell pepper 1 1/2 lbs meat (cubed chuck steak, ground beef, even hot dogs) 1 1/2 t salt 1/2 t oregano 1/4 t red pepper 1/4 t ground cumin 8 oz tomato sauce Soak beans overnight. In the morning rinse beans. Brown salt pork and add to slow cooker along with beans. Saute onion, garlic, and pepper in drippings. Add to slow cooker. Brown beef and add to slow cooker. Add spices and tomato sauce. Add more water if needed just make sure to cover beans. Cook until tender.

Well, another quiet Sunday afternoon. Ok, this is our house I'm talking about so maybe not exactly "quiet" but relaxed, we'll say. The GuitarMan came home for a quick visit yesterday. After his dad helped him change his oil he went up to town and visited with friends. After church we had lunch and he has headed back to college now as classes begin tomorrow. His schedule looks to be about the same times as last semester. So he will be up bright and early for 8:00 AM class tomorrow! I'll have to be sure and stock him up with coffee and energy drinks to get him going in the mornings! He is more of a night owl. It was a good morning at church despite low numbers due to the cold and the rain. We knew many of our older folks would not be able to battle the bad weather. Then we had others who were out for various reasons. We always have fellowship and prayer at church before Sunday School and I cooked today. It was so cozy in the kitchen this morning even with it dark a...

The cutest thing I've seen today is my little man waving bye-bye! Precious! He had been experimenting this week, watching his hand as he went. The last couple of days you could tell he started understanding what he was doing. Today he has waved at everybody! Of course, he is smiling when he waves. If that isn't cute enough, just wait til he starts blowing kisses!