Doh. DOH. DOH!

So…get this…YEARS ago, I bought a food saver vacuum sealer. It was awesome. It had an attachment on it that would seal wide mouth jars. Except, I didn't have very many wide mouth jars, and I wanted to get the other attachment that would allow for regular mouthed jars so I could seal up the old spaghetti sauce jars I was using to store bulk spices. Flash forward a few years….in the interest of getting rid of plastics in my home, I bought bunches of wide mouth canning jars. I stored all sorts of things in them. Dried fruit. Nuts. Flours. Seeds. Leftovers. The attachment never occurred to me because it wasn't the one I needed. This summer: vacuum sealer just won't seem to seal the bags anymore. Ben votes for a new one from Costco. An awesome one. He says, we should get the jar attachment. I have one, I tell him, but it only does regular jars, not wide mouth. You should order it. I do. Amazon for $10.56 including shipping. Still awaiting its arrival. Yesterday, I clean out the cabinets and find the jar sealer. Jody, this is for wide mouth jars. No, it's not. Look. Ben sticks it on a wide mouth jar.

Top o' the mornin'

"St. Patrick's Breastplate," a Christian hymn translated from Old Irish lyrics, originally attributed to St. Patrick:

I bind to myself today
the strong virtue of the invocation of the Trinity:
I believe in the Trinity in the Unity,
the Creator of the universe.

I bind to myself today
the virtue of the Incarnation of Christ with his Baptism,
the virtue of his crucifixion with his burial,
the virtue of his Resurrection with his Ascension
the virtue of his coming on the Judgment Day.

I bind myself today
the virtue of the love of seraphim,
in the obedience of angels,
in the hope of resurrection unto reward,
in prayers of patriarchs,
in predictions of prophets,
in preaching of apostles,
in faith of confessors,
in purity of holy virgins,
in deeds of righteous men.

I bind to myself today
the power of heaven,
the light of the sun,
the brightness of the moon,
the splendor of fire,
the flashing of lightining,
the swiftness of wind,
the depth of sea,
the stability of earth,
the compactness of rocks.

I bind to myself today
God's power to guide me,
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to teach me,
God's eye to watch over me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to give me speech,
God's hand to guide me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to shelter me,

God's host to secure me,
against the snares of demons,
against the seductions of vices,
against the lusts of nature,
against everyone who meditates injury to me,
whether far or near,
whether few or with many.

I invoke today all these virtues
against every hostile merciless power
which may assail my body and my soul.

Christ, protect me today
against every poison, against burning,
against drowning, against death-wound,
that I may receive abundant reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ within me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ at my right, Christ at my left,
Christ in the fort,
Christ in the chariot seat,
Christ in the poop deck,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I bind to myself today
the strong virtue of an invocation of the Trinity,
I believe the Trinity in the Unity,
the Creator of the universe.

Valentine Hearts

Once the Christmas decorations came down, things looked empty, and I realized I really didn't have any Valentines decor. (I think it's happened that we don't get the Christmas down until Feb. 2, so it seems silly to put up anything Valentine-y then).

Anyway, this year, I decided to craft a few things. I was inspired by my friend Val's Christmas hearts. Molly even sewed up one side and stuffed the one pictured above. I was thinking I would make these into a garland or a wreath, but wound up just filling a jar with them. Later, I may add ribbons for hanging or put them on a wreath, but for now, I like them in the jar.

These lovely pictures are thanks to my husband, Ben.

Fall Snacking!

It's October, folks! And what better way to celebrate that fact (and the fact that I have, like, a dozen cans of pumpkin in my cupboard--no, I can't explain it) than have some pumpkin-y snacks? We already baked up some yummy pumpkin muffins. Last weekend, the kids enjoyed some pumpkin pie smoothies for breakfast, and on Monday, I mixed up another batch and poured them into popsicle molds. Pumpkin Pie Popsicles!

My friend Val, must have been on the same wavelength, because she posted a recipe for some yummy Pumpkin Milkshakes last week (Look! We're not the only ones who use canning jars for drinks!).

Today's snack will be some almond-flour ginger snaps and pumpkin dip. Yum.

Oh, wait, I think this is a better way to have them!

This dip will be tasty with apple slices, too, so I'll probably slice up some of the apples Ben picked up at the orchard this week! Yeah for fall in Michigan!

Recipes:

Pumpkin Muffins (from The Healthy Cooking Coach)

I doubled this to use a whole (15 oz.) can of pumpkin

Ingredients:
1½ cup almond flour
1/3 cup arrowroot
1 teaspoon – non aluminum baking powder
1 teaspoon – baking soda
1½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/8 teaspoon – salt
1/2 cup raisins or dried cranberries, optional (I did a few with cranberries just for me)
3 large – whole eggs
3/4 cup – canned pumpkin
1/4 maple syrup

1. Liberally grease 8 muffin tins with ghee, palm shortening, or virgin coconut oil. If you have empty muffin tins you will need to fill them half way up the sides with water to prevent warping during baking. Be careful when removing the pan from the oven to avoid getting burned by the hot water!
2. Combine the almond flour, arrowroot, baking powder, baking soda, spice, sea salt, and optional raisins in a medium bowl. Whisk the eggs in another bowl or the workbowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade or in a blender. Add the pumpkin or squash and maple syrup or honey. Mix to combine. Add the dry ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined.
3. Pour mix into the 6 tins.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 25 minutes on the middle rack in the oven until muffins pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
5. Allow muffins to cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then run a knife around the sides and invert over a cooling rack. When cool, cover and store at room temperature for up to 3 days or refrigerate for longer storage. They also freeze well.My note: To moisten and bring back that fresh made taste, you can wrap a muffin in a white cotton or linen towel. Place it on a steamer basket or rack over boiling water, cover the pot, and steam for 3 minutes, then serve.

Calories for entire recipe: 1499 Calories per muffin: 187

Note: Maple syrup has a lower carb and calorie count per tablespoon compared to honey.

I used cupcake liners instead of dealing with greasing the pan.

Pumpkin Pie Smoothies/Popsicles

2 bananas

1/2-3/4 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

1 T (more or less to taste) pumpkin pie spice

4 droppers Sweetleaf Vanilla Stevia Liquid

about 4 cups raw milk (I just fill up the blender). You can use regular milk. Adding some heavy cream would make this extra yummy, though. For popsicles, pour into popsicle molds. These are Williams-Sonoma molds I bought off of E-bay a long time ago. My favorite popsicle molds are Tupperware. We have several sets of those I bought from E-bay at the same time, and another I actually bought from Tupperware.;)

Pumpkin Dip

8 oz. cream cheese

1 15 oz. can pumpkin

2 droppers Sweetleaf Vanilla Stevia Liquid

1/2 t. vanilla

1 T. pumpkin pie spice

1/2 T. cinnamon (again, the spices are to taste--I like to be able to taste that cinnamon!)

A pinch of salt

I whipped this up in my food processor, but it could easily be done in a blender, too. I topped this with roasted pecans.

Gingersnaps (From The Complete Idiot's Guide to Low Carb Meals)

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar (I used palm sugar bought on the cheap at an Asian market near here; it has a lower glycemic index than agave nectar).

1T. Molasses

1 egg

2 t. freshly grated ginger or 1 t. ground ginger

1t. cinnamon

1/4 t. nutmeg

1/4 t. cloves

1/2 t. salt

2 cups almond flour

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Cream butter with sugar and molasses. Beat in egg. Add ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Mix. Gradually add almond flour, and mix to a stiff dough. Form int 24 small balls and place on a greased cookie sheet about 1 inch apart. Bake for 20 minutes

A few notes on this recipe: If you are a gingersnap fan, you're not going to get quite the same texture with this cookie, but it is a tasty spice cookie. When working with almond flour, it is good to let the cookies cool completely in the pan before lifting (or they'll fall apart). Use parchment! Also, you may wish to smoosh them down a bit. This dough won't really spread (and that might help with the texture, as I did not do this).

Fall Film Festival!

This year, rather than just focusing on October, I'm collecting some movies for us to watch up through Thanksgiving(after Thanksgiving, it's all Christmas movies!!!) . This is always a preliminary list, though I have checked out some reviews in making up this list. What we actually view is always subject to interest and mood at the time.

October picks:
Back to the Future 1 and 3--Er, we've watched 2, LOL.
Fairy Tale, A True Story
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
Matilda
Goosebumps (from the TV series)
Wallace and Grommit Curse of the Were Rabbit
Harry Potter 1 and 2
Mad Monster Party (1967 Rankin Bass stop-action production!)
Scooby Doo and the Monster of Mexico
Forbidden Planet

November Picks:
Fly Away Home
Second Hand Lions
Swiss Family Robinson


Whatcha think?
Still considering...

Last week's snacks!

Monday--Ben came home early to take Liam for a foot check-up (appears to be healing nicely). Keeping the boot for another two weeks and soaking it nightly to prevent infection in the still open part of the wound. (Ready for a snack now?)

Ben popped popcorn for the kids for an afterschool snack. He makes the best popcorn.

Tuesday-- apple and carrot butterflies. The last of the carrots from our garden had spindly ends, perfect for antennae.

Wednesday--almond flour pumpkin muffins sweetened with a little maple syrup. I didn't take a picture, though I should have, I suppose. They don't look impressive, but they're yummy. I made a double batch, so they've been breakfasts and snacks and gone into lunch boxes all week.

Thursday--Orange Julius. 1 cup oj concentrate, 1 cup raw milk from the farm, vanilla stevia, 6 ice cubes whirred in the blender, whipped cream on top and some bat and pumpkin sprinkles. A second batch (minus one popsicle worth that I dumped on my feet) went into popsicle molds and was Friday's snack!

Fall Film Festival!

Before I post this year's preliminary list, a re-cap of last year's festival:

We listened briefly to The Witch Family, but no one really took interest.
Wallace and Gromit A Matter of Loaf and Death--We enjoyed this one, but we watched it again recently.

Wallace and Gromit The Curse of the WereRabbit--Still Good
Shaun the Sheep Little Sheep of Horrors--These are all good.
Earnest Scared Stupid (OK, this may be a huge mistake).--we didn't venture this one
Monsters, Inc. (we haven't watched this one in awhile)--I don't think we watched this in October, but we did watch it again recently. It is good.
Young Frankenstein--Decided against this one
Disney's Witches--We like this one, but it is a bit creepy.
Disney's Mickey's House of Villains--Good
Disney's The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (this includes Legend of Sleepy Hallow)--Good, and a little creepy.
Wizard of Oz--I think you know this one. We did not watch this last year, but maybe we will this year.
Clifford Halloween--Didn't watch
Little Monsters--um, watched part of this this summer, and do not recommend. Fred Savage and lots of curse words.
The Mummy (1932)-didn't watch
Dracula (1931)-didn't watch
Frankenweenie-didn't watch
Harry Potter (1&2)-I think we watched these when they were broadcast on cable TV around
Halloween. Always good.
Escape to Witch Mountain--The kids balked at watching an "old" movie, but liked it.

This year, I'm off to a late start. I posted on Facebook looking for ideas. I'm feeling like we've pretty well exhausted the family-friendly Halloween movie options. In the past, I've focused on October and Halloween-type movies, but I have always liked the idea of including some other Fall-ish movies on into November. I think this year's list will be good!

Snacks

Apples and Peanut Butter today. Reagan said, "Mom, that's cool."

Frozen grapes yesterday. I highly recommend.

Snack

Today's slightly creepy after school snack.

After school snacks.

Today's snack. Taken from http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/after-school-snacks-photo-gallery-872859/

On the side: dill dip (1/2 cup mayo, 1/2 cup sour cream, 1 t. garlic powder, 1/2 t. salt, about 3 T. dill--this is an estimate--start low and add until it looks right. ;) ).

Dresser Re-do DONE!

Well, mostly. We don't have the mirror on yet; it needs another coat of paint. The humidity slowed us down quite a bit. Ben had a personal day to burn, so he stayed home today and helped me finish this off. I have another post cooking with some things I've learned with this project (and a few recent others), but that will be a bit.

For now, take a look!

New "crystal ball" handles...
Silver spray paint does amazing things!
I could say I lined these with "vintage" maps, but the fact of the matter is, they are from an out-of-date road atlas I pulled out of the recycling bin. ;)
Ta-Da!!!

Now to unearth the girls' room (again)...SIGH...

Dresser Re-do

I've been looking at this website for a bit now. The girls really need a dresser in their room, mostly for my own sanity, LOL.

So, I went to Craig'slist and found, not one, but two dressers for sale by some folks only a couple of miles away. When I emailed for pictures, I got these:

Er, undeterred by the photos, I ventured forth and purchased all of them for $100. It was probably rather generous on my part, but I have plans.... You may be aware that the two white pieces match a set that my mom bought years ago at an auction. I don't think she has these same pieces. And, no, my buying this is not yet another step in my plot to get my mom to give me the armoire from the set ;), it's just that due to the fact that I'd seen these before, I knew that these are decent (albeit ugly) pieces of furniture. In fact, I have a lesser quality (but still eons better than cheap-o furniture available today) dresser from the set in my bedroom. My dresser has plastic facings on the drawer fronts instead of being solid wood like the better pieces. Anyway...

So the ugly brown beast? That's the one I'm taking on for the girl's room. Yesterday, Ben lightly sanded the whole thing, took off the hardware, and popped off all of the bric-a-brac . I haven't quite primed the whole thing. I filled the top three dresser dresser handle holes with wood putty, so that we can replace some of the handles with some schmancy crystal jobbies. Then, the rest of the handles will be spray painted silver.

And, the color? We ventured to Lowe's yesterday afternoon (Sherwin William's was closed). I was feeling guilty about not buying Sherwin William's paint, when the attendant (um, not a very accurate description considering the wait to even get any help and then the wait for the paint, and then...) delivered a full gallon of "tropic sea" semi-gloss. I had asked for a quart. They marked it down to the quart price. I'm not sure what else I'll paint with this color, but I think it would likely work OK for something in the boy's "Buzz Lightyear" color scheme, too.

An aside, with regard to Lowe's paint...A few times, we have bought paint at Lowe's since we have, not one, but two brothers-in-law (one on each side!) who have worked for Sherwin-Williams for quite a long time. It seems we always get a discount at Lowe's too!

So, since I've not yet finished the primer on this baby, I'll give you just a preview of what's to come!

Lest you were wondering

who Reagan looks like. I think this pretty much says it all....

Liam

Liam turned nine almost two weeks ago. We were all sick, and so put off a gathering of neighbor kids and a few other school friends, not once, but twice. We landed on last Wednesday, a school day, but a half day. A crew of kids gathered at our house beginning at a little after 11:00 (when the middle school got out and I picked up Killian with three of his friends). When the elementary let out, four neighbors, another friend of Liam's, and another friend of Killian's arrived. My kind neighbor (whose kids were part of the gang) saved me and picked up pizza when I realized the place I had hoped would deliver did not open until three! She also helped by dishing up ice cream to go with Liam's requested angel food cake with chocolate frosting (I made whipped-cream frosting).

Liam started requesting angel food cake with chocolate frosting last year out of the blue. He says he had some at the neighbors' house, but I didn't know about it at the time, and I prefer to think that it's a genetic thing, as that is the cake that my dad always has for his birthday. ;)

I was thinking just now, remembering that when we were trying to conceive our second baby, I was so sad one month to find out that I was not pregnant. I had a dream then that I had twins, and I decided that it meant that I would have a gemini baby. And I did, my precious little Liam. Thank goodness it didn't mean I'd have twins. ;)

Grateful

I am grateful. For so many things...

Ben, coming down with the cold most of us had last week (while he was recovering from having his wisdom teeth removed), took the girls fishing today. He said it had to happen because it keeps getting put off for whatever reason, usually weather.

Plants appearing to take hold even though they weren't properly hardened off before I got them into the garden last week. Some will not make it, but we have a few extras that look better than some in the ground still in pots with which we can replace them. It will be a set-back, no doubt, but hopefully they'll recover quickly.

Soaker hoses.

Beautiful flowers growing and blooming in our yard. Some are new, and some keep coming back bigger and more beautiful every year.

Beautiful, brilliant kids.

Three weeks until summer vacation.

New cans of paint waiting to go on the walls of our downstairs bath and upstairs living room bought at a 50% off Sherwin Williams discount (and not one, but two, brothers-in-law who are employed by said company!).

Teaching again.

My I-pod.

Hanging laundry on the line.

Rain (not at the same time as laundry on the line).

Our awesome library system.

Sweet tea (with stevia, mint leaves, and lemon). Yummmm.

Killian Beckett

Killian turned twelve on Monday. No more free grocery store cookies. Officially allowed to ride shotgun. How'd that happen so fast????

Girls...

While picking up her room, Molly said that when she grows up she's going to be famous so she can have "lots of waitresses" to take care of her cleaning duties; then, she lamented, "Why, oh, why do I have to wait until I grow up to get a job?"

Told Reagan she couldn't drink my coffee because it's not good for her--it has caffeine in it. She said, "I love caffeine."

Dietary considerations...

So, I'm on a kick again. We've been low-carbing it for awhile now, since around March 1, aside from a few interruptions. It has gone well. I am thinking, though, that a slight shift in thought may be helpful. It would basically entail the same thing that I am already doing, but somehow, I am leaning in this direction. Ultimately, I think our diets need to be largely grain-free (at the very least, gluten free) and sugar-free. The paleo-diet is making a lot of sense to me right now. I am feeling so much better without grain and sugar in my diet right now. My skin is clearer. My moods do not swing to the extent they have when I am eating sugar and grain (carbs) all day. And, when I am eating those things, I am eating all day. I can't seem to eat enough. When I am eating low-carb, those serving size pictures (you know, the ones that show a serving of something circa 1950 and a serving today?) make sense to me. And, guess what? Those folks were eating real food. If you take a look at the science, you will find that consumption of fructose and wheat (white or not) cause, not only a rise in triglicerides, but turn off your body's production of the chemical that tells your brain it's full.

So, my feeling is, we need to cut out as much of the grain and sugar in our diets as possible. It is pretty much inevitable that we will have some. Molly and Liam are currently eating lunch at school, and they have sugar and grain-filled treats served to them on a ridiculously regular basis. What are our alternatives? We've done gluten-free before, and I am afraid that the way we did it quite possibly contributed to its lack of success. The key purpose was to rid Killian of yeast issues. These issues were not visible without testing, for the most part. And, we were eating lots of starchy grains--rice flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, etc.--and lots and lots of sugar. So, no more sugar. There will be treats. My goal is to focus on fruit-sweetened (not fruit juice, but full fruit), occasional small amounts of honey, maple syrup, and stevia. And, we will avoid grains as much as possible, hopefully with some substitutes using almond and coconut flour and occasional small amounts of gluten-free flours. We may include small amounts (not daily) of soaked gluten-free grains and consider sprouted wheat flours on rare occasion.

Currently, we are relying a bit on some Splenda and Nutrasweet, which absolutely are not OK on any sort of regular basis. I am also finding that when I consume these, even in small quantity my weight loss stalls, and I start craving more sweets.

I posted a paleo link here before, but here are a couple of others that I think are really good:

http://www.modernpaleo.com/principles.html

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-101/

Tooth Fairy

The Tooth Fairy visited Molly last night for the first time. She's very excited to share her news with her classmates tomorrow!

Busy Remaking Suburbia!

Check it!