Here we come! / Merry Christmas!

Here we come, Grandpa, Grandma N, Grandma J, and family! See you soon!

To everyone else who may read this, Merry Christmas! God bless you, friends.

Now a few photos from yesterday, our present-opening day. Three of our cute little Santa, and three of the whole quiver. The robes & pillow & blanket were my homemade gifts to them. My favorite part is how little Boy Four's blanket is made from the leftovers of each other child's gift. He's so blessed with of the love of each of them, it just seemed right.

'Twas the week (or so) before Christmas

Girl One, Boy Four, Grandma J, Friend M, and I had Tea with our church ladies.

Girl Two and Boy Four lookin' classy & Christmasy.

Girl One wearing the tops from those little things you get out of gumball machines.

The kids begged me to take a picture of the extra bad bed-head hair. Somehow, it seems to suit him, doesn't it?

Girl Two peeks at Boy Four, who finds himself in a box yet again.

Boys in vests.

Brotherly pride wells up over the five-month-old standing alone.

Better than the last time we got our picture in green.

Boy One's first fencing injury. Good thing the swords aren't actually sharp!

Attack of the ferocious fire-breathing daddy.

Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008

The internet is abuzz with the news. On February 10, 2009 most small businesses, stay-at-home-moms, and grandpas who sell hand-made toys or home-sewn children's clothing will be out of business. Unless there is a change to this new law, safety certification requirements will force them to shut down. I know Congress passed this law to protect children, but when you mix in their hatred of freedom and their sheer stupidity, the end result looks to be worse than the original problem.

Here are a couple of sites that tell you how you can help. The first one is regarding homemade children's clothing, and the second one for handmade toys.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/economicimpactsofCPSIA/?e

http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org/Home

I know there have been attacks on our freedom for a long time now, but somehow this one just makes me feel panicky. May the Lord have mercy on us as the walls close in.

Scandalously Easy Meal Planning

I really do not enjoy planning out the main dishes I'll cook each night. When that meal planning day comes, I think, "Oh no, not again," and it just makes me want to hide.

BUT--I have finally solved this dilemna. And I like my solution so much it makes me giddy. I've been doing this for about three months now, and I actually love this kind of meal planning! I look forward to it.

I'll tell you what I do. (Even though I am a little embarrassed about how easy it is.) Each week, just plan ONE main dish for that week. Yes, one. Choose something that can be prepared/assembled and then frozen, or something that stores dry and takes basically no work to throw together. And buy SEVEN days' worth of that food. (Or six days or however many days per week you cook a supper meal.)

After few weeks (yes, you have to wait a few weeks for this method to work--no, you don't eat the same thing every night!), your freezer and pantry will be stocked with something you can just pull out and use for supper. And you only have to think of ONE meal to add to your stockpile each week.

I've found this method also helps me get a good perspective on how economical a particular meal is, and if it's worth the money. When you're making six or seven times the quantity, you can really see if it fits in your budget or not.

If you want an example of a main dish that I've done, I'll tell you one of the most shockingly simple and cheap ones: 13 bean soup. I bought 7 days' worth of dried beans. I soaked them all overnight and then froze each meal's worth, along with seasonings, in gallon bags. Then just throw them in the crockpot with some water (and anything else you feel like) on the day you want to eat them. They even seem to cook quicker because they have been frozen. Add some homemade bread or muffins. Now that is one cheap and easy meal! Later that night, be sure to peek in the freezer and see the six other bags of bean soup waiting to be used in subsequent weeks. Smile and sigh contentedly.

Thanksgiving and other days of late