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One of the biggest “secrets” to a simple Christmas is planning to not over-plan. (It’s not really a secret, because I talk about it in my book; if it were a secret, like where I keep my chocolate stash, I would only tell a long-distance bestie. Long-distance because it’s chocolate, and if my bestie were close by and knew…well, chocolate, people. Moving on.)
When you have inserted all your obligations and faves, insert blank days. That doesn’t mean you leave the day blank. It means you fill it with something like “Blank Day.” I hope you would be more creative, like “Regulating the Chocolate Stash Day” or “Replenishing Brain Cells Day” or “Staring Into Space Day” or “Intentionally Accomplish Nothing Day.”
Since it is the Christmas season, you could get a little more festive with your day naming. How about “Listening to Christmas Music Day” or “Savoring the Season Day.” Then, when you get invited to your thirteenth Christmas party of the season, you can honestly look at your calendar, see “Wearing Jingle Bell Socks and Going Nowhere Day” and say, “Oh, I’m sorry. I’m booked.”
In all seriousness…
Schedule days to do nothing. Those “nothing” days could actualy contain things like “Watch White Christmas” or “Make an Advent Calendar” or “Look at Christmas Lights With the Hubby.” Whatever your family most wants to do this Christmas should be on that calendar, with all the fun little “nothings” that make life so special written in on the blank days. That way, nothing worthwhile (the fun little nothings) will get bumped for, say, an eggnog party with your dog groomer’s neighbor’s manicurist’s bird.
Also in all seriousness…
When people call, conscientiously check your calendar and see if whatever they are asking you to do is worth sacrificing a blank day. It is on the blank days when the most family bonding takes place. After all, isn’t that why we’re simplifying Christmas—to focus on what matters most?
Do not sacrifice the blank days!
Are we on the same page here? Good.
By the way, I need your opinion. What are your thoughts on a “Running Through the Snow in Our Undies Day?” When people call and ask me to volunteer for this, that, and the other, I tell them I can’t because we’re obligated to run through the snow in our undies. They don’t call back. It’s far more effective than the Do Not Call List, although neither one works on politicians.
How do you keep from overbooking Christmas?
Thank you Dafne Cholet for the image. (Alterations mine)
Children love to make things grow. Parents, grandparents, teachers, and anyone who is responsible for watching children could and should take advantage of this natural fascination for the botanical kingdom.
I’m not going to give you any hidden secrets or amazing tips for how to garden with children. In fact, most of my gardening attempts have been failures, but my gardening with my children has been memorable and fun. There are no how-to lessons here, merely a little guidance about the philosophy behind creating garden lovers of all ages.
Five Real Life Tips for Gardening With Children
1. Please don’t wait for the perfect scenario in life to start gardening with your children. If you wait until they can have their own plot of land, it may never happen. You don’t need acreage to start a garden. Our first child had a small garden on the balcony of our micro-apartment, and watered it every day, much to the chagrin of the downstairs neighbors. Sorry, Mr. Hernandez! It was nothing fancy, but it was ours.
2. Please do not be afraid of dirt. Dirt is uber-important (what does uber mean?) to the development of healthy immune systems. In fact, our daughter’s doctor prescribed her soil-based supplements to help manage her autoimmune disease. Interesting, eh? Wash their hands before dinner, but otherwise, chill out!
3. Keep it simple. Some lima beans and a washed-out pickle jar would be a nice start. Chia seeds–fun! A cheap bag of flower seeds from an end of season sale and a tray full of dirt–awesomeness! Simple is excellent. Just do something!
4. Don’t hover. Let your child pick the seeds, scoop the dirt, plant, water, and harvest. It won’t be perfect. So your daughter picks every flower she planted and puts them in her pocket to save for the sweet lady in church. That’s wonderful! So your son eats every pea pod and cherry tomato as soon as they appear. Okay! So they over-water and prune a little exuberantly. It’s a learning experience you can use to teach, but don’t ruin the enthusiasm in the process.
5. Celebrate the successes. Sometimes things don’t turn out the way we intended, but find something positive about the experience and celebrate the seeds that sprouted or the one strawberry that grew.
These are little steps for little hands in little gardens, but they can be applied to many ages and situations. Most importantly, make it a positive experience.
What are your experiences and best tips for gardening with kids?
While I am involved with the music mission, I don’t do enough. My time is split between writing magazine articles, writing for The Simple Homemaker, and working for the mission (never mind changing diapers, homeschooling the kids, parenting eight children, wifing one husband, cooking, cleaning, reading whatever 1800s book my teens are excited about, and eating cookies.)
By getting rid of the first two, I can concentrate more time on eating cookies the music mission. Ideally, that will take some of the weight off my husband’s shoulders. Isn’t that, after all, the definition of a helpmeet?
helpmeet
[help-meet] noun
definition: helpmate
Origin of “help·meet”:
from the phrase “an help meet for him” i.e., a help suitable for him, in the Authorized Version of the Bible (1611)
That was a lot of words to say “helper.”
I want to be a better helper, and to do that I need to be heading in fewer directions on my own. I need to be more of a team player. My team deserves it.
The Team handling the “team lift” box.
TWO: I’m tired of being part of the noise.
People like me have come to be known as “mommy bloggers.” There’s nothing wrong with mommy bloggers. But have you noticed how many of us there are? Seriously, I can’t count that high. There’s a lot of good in the mommy blogger world, and there’s some amazing encouragement and support, but there is also a lot of un-good.
There are too many “experts” where nobody is an expert, too many false fronts, too many idols, too many selfies, too much guilt, too much time-wasting, too many readers drooling over other people’s lives, too much noise.
I’m just another voice in the noise, and all that noise is hurting my sensibilities. I don’t want to add to the noise.
I don’t want to be part of the noise. I want to focus on this noise instead.
Plus, to succeed in this crowded mommy blogger region of the universe, you have to compete, and compete hard. Unless magic happens (which doesn’t in my world–you can tell by my hair), you have to punch the numbers, track the clicks, study your analytics, make yourself shareable, and on and on it goes. I can’t spend that much time on mommy blogging when I have “mommy being” and the mission calling my name. Nor do I want to.
Also, I’m bored of all the repetition–there’s nothing new under the mommy blogger sun. There’s nothing I can tell you that someone else already hasn’t. There’s just another social media outlet to suck up my time and yours, another recipe, another how-to, another parenting approach, another chemical threat to the lives of your children. I’m getting overwhelmed and, worse, I’m getting bored! I’m too aware of the value of a minute to waste my time being bored, boring, or bore-able…which is a word I just made up and which has absolutely no meaning, so don’t look it up.
Life is too short to be bore-able.
Therefore, while the motivated mommy bloggers are pushing harder, getting book deals, increasing their numbers, and “hustling,” all of which is great, I’m heading in the other direction. I’m stepping out of the crowd, shamelessly stopping at the cookie table for a little stash for the road, and retreating to my own little world.
My world–home, sweet home.
Why?
Because other mommy bloggers can tell you how to fry an egg or bake a ham or ditch a closetful of clutter, probably better than I can and without the cheesy jokes. They can review a book or tell you how to save money at the grocery store, and their pictures will be prettier and more pinnable. They can promote a curriculum or a diet plan or an affiliate program, and they can do it with style. They can share a recipe or tell you how to do your laundry, and their hair will look better in the process.
They can tell you you’re valuable (because you are) or your job is important (which it is) or comparison is a trap (a mighty truth) or to slow down and spend more time with your family (do that, okay?).
Forget smelling roses. Take time to kiss the babies!
They can do that stuff…and they are probably willing to get off their backsides and grab a thesaurus to think of a better way to say “do that stuff.” Some of them are really good at being mommy bloggers. (Some stink and don’t use commas wisely–I caution you.) Therefore, you will be no worse off if I step out of the mommy blogger crowd, because you can go to one of them and hear many of the same things I would be telling you if I were still here.
So if all you want is a how-to on using natural cleaners and tips on simplifying Christmas, you will not miss me one crumb. They’ve got you well in hand. I salute them.
But…
If you want to see how my family handles toys, toddlers, teens, books, Crohn’s disease, roadschooling, college, restricted diets, storage, chores, clothing, cleaning, a gluten issue, family conflict in tight quarters, full-time RV living, Christmas, screens, road trips (we’re the masters), repairs, culinary disasters (and some successes), and a Christian music mission in a 30-foot travel trailer, correct me if I’m wrong, I believe we’re your only option.
The boys on laundry duty.
THREE: It’s time to show instead of tell.
Here at The Simple Homemaker, I talk about simplifying, but wouldn’t it be more effective to see that in action.
As you know, there are ten people in our family, plus a fluffy bipolar cat living in a 30-foot travel trailer. That’s roughly 250 square feet of living space. To thrive in that environment, you have to simplify…a lot…a lot a lot. (Where is that thesaurus?) Because I’ve been busy putting out a post or two a week at The Simple Homemaker this year, I didn’t put up a single post in 2016 at our family blog, The Travel Bags, and haven’t shown anybody in two years how it’s done.
Shame on li’l ol’ me.
Up until now, The Travel Bags has mostly been about our adventures. Good news: we are revamping it to include more how-tos.
Our first four beauties!
How do ten people (including four teenage girls) manage one bathroom? How do we cook with a single burner? How do we keep enough clothes for every season for ten people, when our living space is pretty much equivalent to the combined square footage of some people’s closets?
What about toys? What about homeschooling? What about Hannah’s restricted diet? What about college at home? What about friends? How do we make it all flow?
How do we make it all flow?
We will resume regularly fielding questions, because holy curiosity, Batman, people have a lot of great questions. Not only is what we do unique, it also exemplifies what The Simple Homemaker is all about–finding joy and meaning in a simple life.
FOUR: It’s more fun over there.
Wheeeee!
My kids love to read that blog. They don’t care quite as much about this one. They think I’m too serious here, if you can imagine that. Plus they already know how to fry an egg, because I teach them stuff…like to not write “stuff.”
I have to keep the fans happy, because, well, they’re going to take care of me in my old(er) age. That’s reason enough, don’t you agree?
Ya gotta keep the kids and the jackelope happy–if the jackelope ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.
FIVE: It’s also because of books, cookies, and the cat that hates me.
Life keeps moving. I have a book waiting to be edited. I have cookies needing to be worked off my thighs. I have a psychotic cat I’m trying to transform into a dog to take the place of Jedi who died this summer (sniff sniff), and it isn’t working. In other words, I’m a busy woman, and these things cannot wait any longer. (Maybe the cat can wait…and the thighs…but not the book, hubby, or kids.)
That cat is not a dog.
I’m mostly kidding about the cat. She’s a great kitty. It’s not her fault she’s not a dog.
SIX: Mostly I want to enjoy my people.
I want to be able to look at my people without my eyes crossing because I was staring at a screen for two hours. I want to play a rousing, top-of-your-lungs game of Pit without thinking I should be writing about biscuits. I want to read the novels my daughters wrote instead of snoozing through “How to make your post go viral.” Who cares about viral?! Really, I try to avoid anything contagious anyway.
Something “went viral” and someone tossed his cookies in the van. Let’s just say nobody will turn that aroma into an air freshener.
I want to write more letters to people. I want to call my mom more often. I want to laugh more with this guy.
Oh, wait…he’s the only one laughing here. That’s because he got carded the same day I was asked if I qualified for a senior citizen discount. The stinker.
I want to live more, think less, and avoid using or hearing all the abstract, overused-and-consequently-annoying-to-me words like intentional, authentic, present, and organic. Instead I want merely to be a better, more Christ-like version of me…which is some days super authentic and other days super just-trying-to-remember-that-I-love-my-life-on-the-other-days-so-I-shouldn’t-drown-myself-in-a-vat-of-chocolate-today.
That last sentence. That sums it all up. Let’s just stop here.
Where is the vat of chocolate? And, yes, this is my real hair, thanks for noticing.
Plus I’ll be back here from time to time with my ramblings.
Hooray! It will be fun. Trust me. And sometimes it won’t be fun. Trust me. And I’ll try not to talk about cookies so much. That last part might have been a lie. Yes, I think it was.
See–its fun!
In summary:
I am leaving The Simple Homemaker blog and moving over to The Travel Bags. It will be fun. Come with me.
Because this is a controversial topic, please read it thoroughly and carefully before respectfully commenting. If your comment can be answered by the article itself, I will simply point you back to the article or the resource list.
Why am I speaking up?
I was warned that taking on a topic like this could lose me half my followers, possibly all. It is blogger suicide. Plus it will likely further alienate a few friends and family members. Do I care? Of course I do! Being “unfriended” by relatives on Facebook and in real life because I’m passionate and open about babies’ right to life is hurtful, I admit.
Then why am I bringing this up? Why don’t I just keep quiet? After all, resistance is dangerous to my blog, to my business, to my family’s income, to my relationships, to family peace. As much as I dislike it, that’s a small price to pay when you consider that resistance in Hitler’s time often cost the stalwart their lives…and this issue is bigger.
Silence today is more expensive even than resistance in Hitler’s day. Babies in America are being killed at a rate of around a million a year, give or take a few hundred thousand individual lives. Can you even fathom those numbers? I can’t, but I know that is a lot of blood. If I am silent, their blood is on my hands.
So I speak up, and I ask you to speak up for those who cannot.
Why am I speaking up? Because silence is murder.
“I’ve noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born.”
~Ronald Reagan
These numbers blow my mind.
Prior to the 2008 election, I was conversing with a dear teacher-friend who was voting for Obama. Why? Obama was black, and if a black man could become President, the little black boy in this teacher’s class would have hope–he too could be anything.
I find voting according to race to be racist by definition, but I see that friend’s heart was in the right place. Yes, that one boy could someday become President. Why? Because he was allowed to live. In the year 2013 alone, the number of black babies that were aborted in New York City surpassed the number of black babies that were born–over 60%. In fact, nearly one-third of all black babies in New York State are aborted. Where is the hope in that? Black lives matter?
If you want the hard-nosed, black-and-white, ugly imagery that I’ve heard before but which I generally avoid, I ask you and me both this question: Would it bother us more if they lined up black babies and shot every third one with a handgun…licensed, of course? Would it bother us more if we could see it? Would we open our mouths? Black lives matter–all of them.
While blacks lead the way in voluntary abortions, other races contribute to the over 3,000 babies who die in America every day. Every stinkin’ day while we’re sipping lattes and doing yoga and voting for pro-choice candidates and stressing over breast versus bottle, over 3,000 babies are dying and our government is saying that’s okay.
It’s not okay!
“If you care about the slaughter of the innocent, then for God’s sake, speak up!”
~R.C. Sproul
I’m sick.
I’m literally sick to my stomach. I can’t comprehend the sheer number of unborn babies that have been killed in my lifetime. It’s heart-wrenching. It’s a sucker punch to the gut. And it’s all done for the woman.
I hurt for the woman. For all the women. All the women that have believed the lies they were told, that this was a way out, that there was no other option, that they were doing what was best, that it was just a bunch of cells, perhaps a life, but not a person, to die is better than to live in poverty or in a single-parent home–the pain those women have to live with is unimaginable.
I hurt for women as a whole, to think that by giving ourselves the right to kill what only we can protect, we have somehow become greater, broken free, having risen above the “miraculous curse” of being able to create life within us. I hurt that we must be “nasty” and hurtful to be “great.”
I’ve listened to them–to both sides. They hurt! Not all of them, no. Some claim they would do it again and many, many, many women have multiple abortions. Why not! It’s legal, so it must be okay. Rather than being the last resort that it was intended as, many women are turning to it too quickly.
These babies are “the least of these.” These are the unseen who cry out and are not heard. They cannot stand up for themselves. They need us to stand up for them.
But what about…?
Yes, I know there are many who are already born and need to be cared for. (My desire to save some does not preclude or undermine the desire to save the rest.) I know there are gray areas where the mother’s life is at risk or “health is jeopardized”–a loose 12%. I know that 1% of pregnancies resulting in abortions are claimed as rape or incest. I know the abortion rate has decreased in recent years.
I know the arguments about religious intolerance, increased contraception, decreased shame, decreasing the toll on the poor, limiting danger to the mother through legality, decreasing child abuse, lowering the burden on society…I know the arguments from the opposition, and why most of them fall flat, because I study this topic. And no, thank you, I don’t get my information from FoxNews as I have been accused.
There is nothing anyone can say to change the black and white fact that a baby–a real living human person–is “legally” killed with every abortion.
I for one am ashamed for what little I’ve done and how slowly I’ve spoken up.
Are you silent?
Please don’t be silent on this issue. If you don’t speak out for the unborn babies, the least of these, who will?
We must ask ourselves this: What have I done to save them? Is it more important to me to be non-confrontational and non-offensive than it is to save these innocent lives? Is it more important to me to vote my party lines than to save these babies? Am I contributing to their deaths by standing sheepishly in my safe zone? Am I contributing to their deaths by voting for those who would continue to offer abortions on demand? Would I rather keep peace than save lives?
The answer: If I am not for them…
To each of us who says, “I wouldn’t do it, but what other women do to their bodies is their choice,” I ask this question: if she were holding that baby in her arms instead of her womb, would we let her kill that child? Would we stand by and say nothing as she ended that life, either of her own free will or under pressure from others? Would we let her poison or physically maul that baby? Would we shoot every third black baby in the state of New York?
Well, would we?
No, it’s not different. Science is proving what Christians have been saying all along–an unborn baby is a life, a person…just like you…just like your own child…the child who had a chance to live.
“I am putting pro-life justices on the court,”
~Donald Trump
Let’s get political.
I know for a fact that the friend I mentioned earlier has a very tender heart, and that it bleeds for the babies that have died, yet that person voted for a party that now has only two remaining pro-life members. I know that party seeks to reduce abortions while maintaining woman’s rights, and their “intent” is female freedom, not murder, but millions are dying in the meantime. Their focus on prioritizing the woman’s right to not be pregnant over the child’s right to not be killed is frustrating even those Democrats who are pro-life.
There are many issues being debated in the current political election in America–economic, social, environmental, foreign, and more. There are hard topics out there–illegals, feeding the poor, gun-control, and many, many, many more. Many of these issues fall predominately into gray areas, where we can optimistically hope that all citizens and politicians believe their opposing views are in the best interest of our nation and her people. Every successful abortion, however, results in a child’s death; there is no gray area there. Abortion equals death.
There are many problems with both candidates; anyone who says otherwise is in denial, and I don’t mean the river. One is portrayed as uncouth and chauvinistic. The other is said to be deceitful and promote gender wars. You pick which is which. There is one thing, however, that both sides agree on.
The next president will be offering up nominations for the Supreme Court. Both sides have said that with the nomination of the next Supreme Court Justice, the legality of abortion on demand is at stake.
Don’t throw your vote away. Don’t stay home because neither candidate is ideal. Don’t vote death because you “can’t vote Trump.” If you care about life, help America get her feet back under her with a Supreme Court Justice who will offer justice to all Americans.
I don’t know if abortion on demand will ever be illegal. We won’t be able to save all lives before they’re born any more than we can save all lives after. But maybe we can do a little. Maybe, just maybe your voice, your vote, your stalwart determination to step into the firing range for the least of these will save a life…or a million.
Hillary Clinton has assured us that her nominees for the Supreme Court Justice seat will have to undergo a litmus test to prove they are strongly pro-choice. Her smoothly serpentine and emotional appeal to allow women to choose completely undermines the black and white truth that a life is being ended with every single abortion. Her confessed hope to keep abortions “rare” would be best met if she herself were to vote for the opposition. Her desire to not “rip families apart” in regard to illegals is completely contradictory to her voting to allow the closest possible bond between two family members to be torn asunder at a woman’s choosing. She is unapologetically “respectful of the woman’s right to choose.”
Let’s be unapologetically respectful of those who have no choice. Vote life.
“More than a decade ago, a Supreme Court decision literally wiped off the books of fifty states statutes protecting the rights of unborn children. Abortion on demand now takes the lives of up to 1.5 million unborn children a year. Human life legislation ending this tragedy will some day pass the Congress, and you and I must never rest until it does. Unless and until it can be proven that the unborn child is not a living entity, then its right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness must be protected.”
~Ronald Reagan
Fact Checker and Other Articles of Interest from Both Sides (As you read quotes in the articles below, please remember that Hillary Clinton is a practiced politician and a smooth talker, and Trump is a blunderer and a poor debater. Look at what this issue means to the little ones hidden in wombs; don’t just look at the people in the spotlight.)
Please note: MyFreezEasy gave us a free MyFreezEasy.com Freezer Meal Plan Membership for the purposes of this review. I told them all about our situation and how brutally honest I would have to be, but they gave it to us anyway. They’re either super brave, or they’re super confident about their subscription. Specifically, we are using the Premium Annual Membership. Also, this contains affiliate links (see my note at the bottom about becoming an affiliate after I reviewed the product and loved it).
If you’re a totally normal person, you might prefer to watch the video on the bottom of the FAQ Page or read what other reviewers have to say by clicking on this banner:
If, however, you are restrained by dietary issues, budgets tighter than my waistband on Thanksgiving, or a kitchen so small your kids think an apartment is a mansion, you’re in the right place.
First, a brief description:
MyFreezEasy is a menu planning subscription service that offers meal plans designed to be frozen for later.
Was that brief enough for you?
Now, some details:
There are a variety of different meal plan options, as you can see on this self-explanatory graphic below…which I will not explain:
Each meal plan gives you two each of five different meals, except, obviously, the 20-meal plan, which doubles it. You can do that math yourself if you don’t believe me. So, if you follow a meal plan exactly, you will end up with, for example, two chicken taco meals, two Italian chicken meals, two whatever-else-is-on-your-plan meals, for a total of 10. Get it?
The premium plan allows you to swap out meals, essentially building your own plan according to your needs. Of course, if you’re like me, and you subscribe to a meal plan because you don’t want to have to build your own plan, the many options above encompass quite a few needs and preferences. And the meal plans themselves offer gluten-free and dairy-free options to further meet your needs.
There are also a number of printables…like these:
That includes the following:
printable labels with directions on how to prep those beauties you just tucked into your freezer.
shopping lists arranged per recipe and per store section.
instructions for freezing the meal
instructions for making the meal right away (so you can make one and freeze one–you do need to eat on freezer cooking day after all)
prep instructions
assembly instructions by the recipe or everything at once
There is also a video for each of the meal plans.
Time for our limitations:
We have the following issues which make using a meal plan made by anybody but us difficult at best:
We have a daughter with Crohn’s disease who is on a restricted diet, and no, that doesn’t just mean dairy-free or gluten-free, and no you don’t know what we’re going through just because you’re lactose intolerance or your cat has ulcerative colitis. (Did I just sound off? Sorry.)
We are a family of 10. We eat more food than a family of four. You’re welcome for sharing that obviousness.
We live in a travel trailer and have roughly 250 square feet.
We cook with a single burner and have limited use of ovens and other modern conveniences.
We live on a music missionary’s salary. (Just so you know, music missionaries don’t get a salary–we live off the donations of those who listen to our music and CD purchases.)
See that Clean Eating Plan? We used it. In September, it was great! Hannah can’t eat potatoes, so I cooked those separately, but otherwise we could all eat every meal exactly as written. Those of you who have to cook a variety of foods for a variety of conditions are in tears of joy with me right now, aren’t you?
In October, I was super excited to check out the Clean Eating plan, but alas, the spinach burgers had bread crumbs in–two cups! That ain’t clean eatin’ in our book, so I had to swap that out. Another recipe used taco seasoning and yet another used vinaigrette dressing. Because I don’t have any of those things on hand and can’t easily find them, I have to look up another recipe or (as I do) make something up. I was bummed to have to resort to that again.
That said, it wasn’t a huge deal, since I’m used to it. I still would have so much preferred they used real, clean ingredients instead of blends and bottles. With the premium membership, of course, you can swap out, but I don’t want to do that. I want to open, shop, prep, and cook. Probably not an issue for most of you. So, five stars in September, four in October.
2. Lots of mouths to feed.
The plans are adjustable. Feed as many or as few people as you want. I used the plans as written for four people and simply fed both bags of food to my hordes, with a few extra veggies, taters, or meat pieces.
3. Space.
Prepping really didn’t take up that much space. I had my chopper set up at the table and I worked at the counter in my “red zone.” (My red zone is where I work with raw meat. I set out a red cutting board and everyone knows the cooties will be flying in that space. All raw meat action happens on that cutting board. When I’m finished, I disinfect whatever I used.) It worked great.
What kind of chopper do I use, you ask? This kind:
An eight-year-old with a good knife and an even better attitude. Works for me! If you have a power chopper, it’s probably faster, but less fun.
4. Limited cooking appliances.
We did not cook all the meals exactly as we were instructed. If you’ve been living like us, however, and someone says roast this or grill that or bury this in the ground and unearth it three months later, you are accustomed to adapting. We popped things in the pressure cooker instead of a crock pot or oven and threw everything else in a pot o nthe burner. It worked.
Would it have been better roasted, for example, probably. Was it bad not roasted? Not at all.
5. Budget.
Here’s where the rubber meets the road and why I have never before told you guys to follow an already prescribed meal plan instead of making your own. I buy food that’s on sale and build my menu according to sales and what I already have on hand. Buying the food for the September meal plan was more expensive than my approach. Fact. For October, however, I switched things up a little and substituted meats and other ingredients based on sales. So, whereas the menu called for ground chicken, I found a good deal on ground beef, and whereas another recipe called for chicken breasts, I found manager’s special beef steaks for less. So, I swapped out.
Plus, MyFreezEasy offers three plans based on whatever’s on sale–the chicken, beef, and pork plans. That right there is going to save you a lot of money, since you probably have many or most of the other ingredients in your pantry already–there’s nothing out of the ordinary on these plans, no squid eyeball ink.
6. Freezer space.
I told you my freezer isn’t much taller than my head. See:
Okay, so that picture is from the outside of the freezer. The inside is much, much smaller. I didn’t show you the inside, because I’m embarrassed by the sheer quantity of frozen chocolate in there. Mmmmm…chocolate. (As an aside, this is Hannah’s homemade chocolate–so good! No sugar. Yum!) It also contains frozen veggies and fruit, which takes up pretty much all the space. So, with the chocolate and produce, there isn’t a ton of room for freezer meals.
That is a problem that’s hard to work around. Fortunately, because we used two bags as one meal instead of two, we were able to store some in the freezer and some in the fridge (why does that word have a “d” in it?). We ate the fridge meals first.
Also, lucky us, our refrigerator freezes things during some times of the year, so, like lettuce becomes frozen lettuce sludge in twelve hours. That comes in handy when storing freezer meals in the fridge.
Finally, the meals in the bags take up less space than the ingredients in their separate packaging. If you get on the stick and prep the meals right away, you don’t need room to store all that meat, and that provides more room in the fridge and freezer.
7. Printer
We didn’t print. It still worked fine. Between my Sharpie marker and my sharp memory, it was just fine. (I don’t have a sharp memory. That was a leeeeetle joke. A very leeeetle joke.)
8. Internet access.
Again, this is as sketchy as my memory, so watching the videos was not always possible. Who cares! I did it without the videos. No problem!
9. Time
We are busy. We never know when we’ll be called on to be somewhere that isn’t “home” and how long arriving at our next destination will really take, since Google doesn’t know everything. Still, it took only an hour to bag these meals, and a few minutes to throw them in the pots. No biggie!
Having the shopping list ready made shopping a breeze.
Now the big question:
How was the food?
If you’re not already cooking for your family, they are going to be blown away. If you are, you might find a few meals that will be bumped into family favorites or a regular rotation–it really depends on the family preferences and the meals.
My family enjoyed all the meals (even the lentil stew I accidentally made with unlabeled split-peas, since neither my marker nor my mind were on duty the day I repackaged those). Okay, so my hubby doesn’t eat lentils, but the rest of us were good! There is one from the first month that I will be making again, and we haven’t eaten the second month’s stash yet.
My one gripe:
As you know, my one gripe is the three processed ingredients in the Clean Eating plan. If you have a source for safe processed ingredients, you’re good, but in my experience those are more expensive, so we make them ourselves. Having the single ingredients listed instead of, say, vinaigrette or taco seasoning, would make this gripe vanish like Hannah’s chocolate!
Still, five stars!
You know something–this link right here is an affiliate link to join MyFreezEasy. You know something else–I didn’t hunt down an affiliate link until after I had published this post. In other words, I like it, I want to promote it, so I found an affiliate link for it, not the other way around where people promote it whether they like it or not.
When people find out that there are seven girls in our family of nine, they often remark to my son and husband, “Oh, you poor things!” Whatever. Wink.
The one who truly deserves the pity is our poor vacuum cleaner. The beater bar on the vacuum gets so wound up with girl and golden retriever hair that the beater bar becomes more of a carpet buffer.
No problem! With a few quick passes using a stitch ripper, the beater bar is as good as new. Just insert the tip in under the hair and slide the ripper through. Voila! (That’s vwah-la, for those of you who are pronouncing that vee-oh-la. Voila is French for “see there;” a viola is a stringed instrument. Get it? Got it? Good. Back to the vacuum beater bar.) It’s like new, and you didn’t break your scissors, slice a vital artery with a kitchen knife, or take apart the whole vacuum and forget how to put it back together again. Been there!
If you don’t have a stitch ripper, you can grab one at any craft or sewing store, or in the craft and sewing section of your local discount department store. They are also available online for a reasonable price. (This is an affiliate link. If you buy something through this link, a portion of Amazon’s profits go to us…so we can make cookies for the poor outnumbered boys in the family. Wink.)
Now go rescue your vacuum cleaners!
Contact me to submit your simple tips to Christy’s Simple Tips for future publication and a link to your blog or website.
I wish you could have seen my kids’ faces when they opened the package from Heirloom Audio Productions and saw The Cat of Bubastes. You would have thought it was Christmas! Actually, I don’t wish you could have seen them, because that would have meant you were in our trailer, and there’s just no more room for any more people in our trailer. Okay, maybe a couple, but that’s it!
Here’s why this is so exciting:
The Cat of Bubastes is the first Henty book we read when we were studying ancient Egypt a decade ago. Actually, we listened to it on Librivox. There are some really excellent readers on Librivox, and there are some…faithful volunteers. Our reader was one of those faithful volunteers that really grew on us. The story line is excellent and exciting, and it was a delightful experience, but, again, our reader was a faithful volunteer. And the whole listening process took us over a month. (I don’t have a problem with that at all, by the way.)
With an Heirloom audio adventure, you get the same story line dramatically recreated by professionals which you can listen to in under three hours. It’s time-saving and voice-saving, and your kids will not be bored.
Am I saying the audio productions should replace the books?Not at all! But I know that in my house, there is so much to read, that sometimes it’s nice just to listen…and sometimes it’s nice to listen for three hours instead of 30 hours.
I also know that it was an Heirloom audio production that turned my 10-year-old son on to historical fiction, and it was The Cat of Bubastes which made my first four girls into Henty fans. Put them together and you’ve got a mini masterpiece.
(Doesn’t that cat look evil? I’m not telling you the story-line, but it isn’t about a sweet, loveable kitty like our Tuppence…when she’s not in her black-eyed attack mode.)
As a homeschooler and a parent, I look at almost everything from an educational perspective. (Let’s assess how to make those spitballs more aerodynamic, kids!) There are three areas of education as I see it in the Henty books:
Character
History
Literature
With an audio production, number three is missing. However, in the case of an Heirloom production, it is replaced by:
Music
Drama
One thing that is a burr in my first world saddle as a Christian in the western world is the poor quality of so many Christian productions. They don’t generally measure up to what the secular world produces, but people praise them anyway because of the message. This is not the case with Heirloom!
The music composed by John Campbell is brilliantly written and beautifully performed. The dramatic production is of the same caliber as Narnia, Hobbit, Star Wars. In fact, some of the actors who lend their voices to The Cat of Bubastes can be seen in the credits of those and other major flicks. I’m not going to drop names (which you can see here), but suffice it to say this is very well done and you will not be disappointed or embarrassed to share it with others.
The audio CD comes with digital bonuses that can enhance the enjoyment and educational experience. It includes the following:
Study guide
Sound track of the music
Digital copy of the dramatic production (Heads up, roadschoolers!)
The Cat of Bubastes E-book (Be still my literary heart!)
Poster with an inspirational verse
Poster with the cast–like a promotional movie poster (Are you getting some fun ideas here? Popcorn, tickets, friends or cousins…?)
Unlimited access to the Live the Adventure newsletter (well done and down to earth)
A behind-the-scenes how-we-did-it video (great for the aspiring filmographer…or audiographer)
I want to focus on the study guide…and since I want to, I’m going to. I love not having an editor! Wink wink.
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The study guide is intended to help younger children comprehend the story better or older students to do some deeper digging. It includes the following sections:
Listening Well (comprehension questions which let you know if you need to do a re-listen)
Thinking Further (questions that require thinking deeper, drawing conclusions, or doing a little research)
Defining Word (vocabulary)
Further Reading (uh, further reading)
Bible study (three brief studies)
While the production is wonderful without the study, the guide enhances it all the more. We use it sometimes, but not always.
Again, I’m not going to share the plot with you. You can explore that yourself, or read what other reviewers have to say by clicking on the banner below:
What you do need to know is that this is set in the time of ancient Egypt during the time when the Israelites were living in Goshen. It offers an excellent picture of what life was like during the time of Moses in Egypt.
Why is this important? It helps children understand that the Bible is not a separate little aspect of life. It is a true and accurate depiction of real life–real people in real times. By incorporating children into the story, Henty helps children picture themselves in that time period and truly relate.
Enough from me. Let’s listen to the executive producer, Bill Heid, on the importance of sharing Christian history with our children:
At Heirloom Audio Productions, we are passionate about bringing Christian history to life. We are truly thankful for all God has done for us and refuse to take our precious history for granted.
The Bible also admonishes us to constantly “remember” and to teach our children to do the same. That’s why it’s so important to know where we’ve come from and who we are as Christians. If we forget our history and allow ourselves to become culturally conditioned by the world, we will lose our greatest possession.
So while we do everything we can to make our stories fun and exciting… there’s a lot at stake here… nothing less than the heart and soul of civilization itself.
It also means we feel God requires us to go the extra mile, taking our Audio Adventures to a new level of excellence. Our mission, simply stated, is to engage our listeners’ imagination by taking them back in time and immersing them in a great Christian story.
We sincerely hope that you will join us in this mission by helping us spread the word about our efforts and in so doing, ignite a passion for history and Christian character in the next generation.
Bill Heid, Executive Producer, Heirloom Audio
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With a mission like that, I’m completely sold on this company.
This is not just for us homeschoolers. It would make an excellent gift for any family. It’s a great “movie night” alternative (although there are some exciting sections that will not let your kids get to sleep), an excellent option for roadtrips, and a fantastic part of your morning time or lunch break.
