Could You Pass the Stuffing, Please?

My plate of life is full. It’s like the world is the table at Thanksgiving, and even though my plate is already overflowing with turkey, mashed potatoes & cranberry sauce…I want to pile on the stuffing too.

Mmm…now I’m hungry.

Anywho, yeah there’s a lot going on right now. I know this is all kind of random, but I just had to share because I'm excited about all of it. (So excited that I can't seem to concentrate on just one thing for more than 10 minutes...)

Okay....now.....what was I talking about.......

*Planning G’s birthday party! I can’t believe she’ll be 1 in just two short months! Fun, but frugal ideas anyone?

*Planning/Helping with my sister’s bridal shower! YAY!!

*I already posted on how I started working on our family’s genealogy. While it’s fascinating, it’s frustrating! I had a written copy of my Grandmother’s family tree, and now I can’t find it. I tore the upstairs apart looking for it. (And my mom’s copy is in storage!) My goal was to focus on Tyson’s Dad’s branch of the tree, and I’m now stuck at a Great-Grandfather who was born in 1800. Ugh. I guess I should be pretty happy with what I have so far. Not bad for only doing this for 2 weeks.

*Perhaps my biggest project: I finally decided - I am going to do it. I am going to start taking steps for my own photography business . I’ve said that so many times, but this time I mean it! I used the baby as an excuse…and before I know it I will have another baby to use as an excuse. I can at least try, right? Before I come up with another excuse. (Which I’ve already decided would be that I’m nervous about doing so well I’d have to leave the security of my current job….but isn’t that what I want???)

All this on top of STILL switching billing systems at work, trying to take care of my household as if I didn’t work 40 hours, planning 2 weekends away on a budget – one to NYC and one to Boston and wondering why the heck I can’t make a loaf of bread.

2nd Strike...

Okay, I *tried* to make bread again today.

I messed it up again. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong!!! It didn’t rise. I just don’t know if it wasn’t warm enough, or what? I am so frustrated because I love love love the smell of freshly baked bread and I would much rather have homemade bread in the house instead of having to go buy loaves at the store. I’m beginning to wonder if a bread machine would be worth it for me? I’ve heard that cost wise…it doesn’t really save you that much. But if I keep wasting flour, sugar & yeast (not to mention wasting my time)…maybe a machine would be worth it.

I had all sorts of questions yesterday…did I mix the water & yeast to vigerously. Did I knead it too much? Or too little? Was it just too dang cold in the house, even after we set it next to the space heater?

So many questions. No answers. Anybody have any answers for me??

Recipe Time: Taco Melts!

With Tyson now being home in the evenings, I am very happy to report that I’ve been able to resume making dinners. No more scrambling trying to figure out what easy meals Tyson can make, which we can then eat quickly before he leaves for work. We both need to get a little more healthy (and I’ve got 8 pesky baby pounds still hanging on me!) so this is going to be great, eat less processed food and more home cooked goodness.

I love trying to cook new meals. I like having a variety, and my husband is a picky eater – it’s a challenge! (One that I sometimes love, and other times loathe!) As I come across some yummy ones I’ll be sure to share! This is one that we both really liked and the leftovers reheated well too! We both love tacos, but were kind of getting sick of the same old. This is a nice twist!

(I found this recipe off the Pillsbury.com website. The recipe calls for ground beef, but we used bison this time.)

Grands!® Taco Melts

INGREDIENTS
1 package taco seasoning mix

2/3 cup water
1 1/2 cups salsa
1 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef, cooked, drained
1 can (16.3 oz) Pillsbury® Grands!® refrigerated biscuits (any variety)1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese or Mexican cheese blend
1cup sour cream, if desired

DIRECTIONS
1 Preheat oven to 375°F.
2 Prepare ground beef & taco seasoning per directions on seasoning
3 Press each biscuit into 6-inch round. Fill each with taco mixture and 1 tablespoon cheese. Fold dough over filling and press to seal. Place on greased cookie sheet.
4 Bake 9 to 14 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with remaining salsa, cheese and sour cream.

In my quest to make more homemade goodness and get rid of the processed stuff, one day I’ll have mastered homemade breads & buns, and I will try this recipe minus the Grands biscuits.

What's Your Legacy?

I'm going to be honest with you all.......…I didn’t make that loaf of bread.

But I’ve got a really good excuse this time.

I got sucked into ancestry.com.

It’s absolutely fascinating, and has made me look at my parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins, husband & daughter in a complete new light. None of our lives may be extraordinary different. None of us may become a famous pop star, or a president, but we’re all part of a bigger picture. We’re all part of a legacy.

If a man & woman did not meet in the right time or place, and they were not blessed with their children when they were blessed……..everything would be so different. Everything.

Right now we all get so caught up in the here & now, and what’s best for our kids, and what’s in their food, etc. But in 100 years, all that will matter is that we met our spouses when we did, we had our babies when we did…because if we hadn’t, that generation would not exist as it is now destined to.

There is so much debate over large family vs small family vs no family….and I still don’t exactly know where I stand in that debate….but I can tell you that I wouldn’t have wanted my great, great, great, great grandparents to decide they were done having children before they were blessed with my great, great, great grandmother.

I am so in awe of this extensive history we all have, that I can’t seem to find the right words to finish out this post. Dozens of generations, and a multitude of different branches of Walraths, Hills, Maus, Mclouds, Doans, Hickoks, Quas, etc, etc, etc…..all meet together in one little girl. My little girl.

G in the 100 year old Baptismal Gown

What a fascinating legacy & journey we all have to be proud of. What an amazing lineage we have to be grateful for.

7 Things You Should Make......Not Buy

When it comes to living a simpler life it just makes sense to make things more often than buying them. With this thought of mind I am definitely of the mindset to go big, or go home.
So more often than not, I go home.

Actually…I never really LEAVE home…to get the things I would need to make. It’s that initial investment of time & money that hangs me up. (Of course once I’ve done it once, it’s easy peasy & just becomes routine.)

I actually have an entire documented list of all the simple/natural/green things I’d like to accomplish or methods I’d like to adopt. The list keeps growing; I’ve yet to cross something off.

Then I came across this article on one of my favorite websites.

Many of the things listed in this article are ones that I have already jotted down on my own list.

So that’s it, I’m going for it. I’m going to start making something of my own. This weekend.

I just can’t decide which will be first, cleaning supplies, hair gel or bread. Seeing as I just recently replenished my supply of ALL of these (minus the cleaning supplies we’re still currently using in an effort to deplete what we have, and then replenish with a homemade version, or purchase a more earth/baby friendly version).

Making some homemade bread sounds yummy, and Tyson keeps dropping hints that he likes homemade bread. So maybe I’ll go for that. (And if I mess it up, there are two recently purchased store-bought loaves in the chest freezer.) The last loaf I tried to make I royally messed up, but I am willing to try again!

On a different subject, yet not quite that different, I would like to report that I’ve been successfully reducing trash and composting for the past few weeks. I still don’t have my nifty counter top compost pail, but I don’t HAVE to have the coolest gadgets to reduce my waste. (I’ll just make Tyson walk out to the compost pile, in the snow, every other day in the mean time!) But really, we’ve seen an immediate change in how much trash we AREN’T tossing, and that makes me feel good.

Truly Grateful 2.0

It has been a couple of weeks since I posted a Truly Grateful Tuesday  - to be honest with you I was a little disenchanted with how it was going.

I didn’t like the listing. The listing of random things. The listing of random things in weirdly formatted sentences.

Well…you get the idea.

And it felt way too forced, on my part. (I don’t know if it felt that way to you?)

Don’t get me wrong, I was absolutely grateful for all that I typed about but I just couldn’t feel it in what I spoke.

My life is so full & rich right now; I want to share that with everyone. That was my point of the truly grateful Tuesday. (And also to force myself to enjoy so much more in life, and notice the little things.) I have completely accomplished that, now I just wish to express it a little better.

So now I give you a moment of Truly Grateful-ness….

G has started this phase of wanting to feed herself, it happened way too soon. I enjoy shoving heaping spoonfuls of baby food into her mouth. I’m a mom, and that’s what mom’s do. It seems to help in confirming I am…indeed…a mom. Tonight I finally decided to go with it. Instead of spooning in tastes of peaches & cottage cheese – I cut up the peaches and put them on her tray. Watching her happily scoop up handfuls and shoving them in her mouth. She has great form. Even employing the ‘tilt head sideways to get the piece that’s hanging off the back of my hand’ technique.

Then I took a deep breath as I placed the bowl of cottage cheese in front of her. I even put a spoon in the bowl. (Which I am pretty sure it was more for my need of having it there, than her need of well…needing it.) You could tell this is something I haven’t done very often, as G looked at me inquisitively when I set the bowl down. I encouraged her: ‘Go ahead, dig in. I gave you a spoon.’ (Again, the spoon was for me, not her.) She gingerly took the spoon (okay okay I admit it; I put TWO spoons in the bowl. One short one for her use and one regular baby spoon…just in case she needed me to feed her.)

Ahem…

She gingerly took the SPOONS out of the bowl, and licked one. That was it…game over…she dropped the spoonS and both hands went diving into her bowl. I am quite certain this entertained her for 20 minutes, though I did not time it. Tyson kept hearing me giggle and would catch me smiling, at first asking why I was smiling, and after the third response of ‘just watching her’, he finally stopped asking. I was completely amazed by this little girl. (Not a baby…a little girl…) And then it just became amusing as she would hold the bowl in one arm (tilted like you might hold a bowl while trying to stir a thick doughy substance) while eating with the other hand. Then finally…the bowl licking.

All of this fun led to a very strong need for a bath.

I decided to throw all caution to the wind – tonight would be her first night taking a bath in the big tub. No baby bath tub, no constrains of any kind. Just G and the tub (and about 8 rubber duckies that Tyson insisted on throwing in).

As G played in the bath, splashing, enjoying the freedom of movement and playing in the running water, I again just sat there, enjoying the chance to watch this little person grow up right in front of my eyes. Thinking about her first bath, and how it’s right there in my brain, like it happened yesterday – but also happened a lifetime ago. All the reminiscing and amazement was starting to bring a tear to my eye….and that’s when it happened…..

…….

She pooped in the tub.

I couldn’t stop laughing as I grabbed her out of the tub to save her clean body from needing ANOTHER bath. And as I dressed her for bed and combed her hair, thinking of how big my baby girl is…I told her…this will DEFINITELY be a story I share with her prom date.

I am grateful for having been blessed by having her in my life.

I am grateful for new experiences.

I am grateful for stories to tell prom dates.

Life Happens

Last week I had every intention of finally being on top of this blog, and
providing something deep & meaningful for you to entertain your brains with.
But…life got in the way.

Tyson stayed home from work Wednesday night, suffering from some pretty nasty
muscle spasms in his neck. So I was busy playing nurse and enjoying his, rare,
company in the evening.

Then Thursday night our world was turned upside down (or maybe just jostled a
little bit) as Tyson was let go from his job.

We both know this is a blessing in disguise, or maybe not so disguised as we're
both very aware of what doors this may have opened. We're hoping he'll now
receive unemployment and have the resources to be able to start the business
he's been talking about starting. (Fingers crossed we won't have to rely on that
unemployment for very long…)

He's nervous over the idea of his family's livelihood depending on a business
owned & run by him, but I have every faith that he can do this. Things might be
a little tight for awhile, but a happy husband and a happy home life is
absolutely worth it. His working overnights and us only seeing each other in
passing was becoming a huge stress & strain for all of us.

For now, he's home being Mr. Mom while I'm at work. I'm very thankful to have
the steady job & income (and source of insurance!). I long to be home raising
our daughter and providing for our family there, but I now understand I need to
be HERE until Tyson has his feet under him.

It's odd that I'm at peace with this, actually I'm almost excited for this new
adventure. I'm not worried about food on the table or having enough money for
bills, because I know that God will provide that for us.
So now that you're all updated….back to our regularly scheduled
programming….whatever that is.

Resolution Time

I don’t often do resolutions. I always thought it was silly to use the new year as an excuse to start something you should have been doing. But this year…I kind of understand.

2010 was quite the year for the Wally’s. What with the new baby & all. (Followed by moving with a 2 month old, into the upstairs of my grandparent’s farm house.) Since May I’ve felt like a child, being watched by my grandparents & mother. I often have to remind myself I AM a mom now. It’s been fabulous to have their help with Tyson & I working opposite shifts, but I’m looking forward to gaining some time as OUR family of 3. Now that they’ve headed to Fl for 4 ½ months and the baby is no longer a new born requiring CONSTANT attention, I feel like I might actually accomplish something in 2011.

I am working on letting go. Trusting the direction of God & my husband, will get us to where we should be. (Which is a difficult concept for me to implement). I was raised to be independent. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and I’m not really letting go of that completely. Just relinquishing a little control is difficult for me. And it’s actually causing me some emotional turmoil. But relinquishing some control, is actually allowing me to send that desire to control & plan in other areas of life. To areas where it will serve me better in daily life.

I guess in the broad sense my new years resolution is to get organized. But I’ve been trying to do that for years. So I’m going to start off a little more specifically. (Which will hopefully mean I can succeed!!)

One resolution will hopefully evolve into another. So I’m STARTING the year off with hopes & goals of composting & creating a clean, organized way to separate recyclables. (I also would like to organize so much more, but this a good start!)

I’m too sentimental for my own good

I usually am not a fan of New Year’s Eve. I prefer to sleep through it. When we rang in 2010, both Tyson & I fell asleep watching a movie and woke up around 12:20. I almost slept through the beginning of 2011 also, but woke up around 11 or so.

I am very sentimental and I almost always cry when that darn ball drops. I cry because a year was tough and look forward to new begins, or the exact opposite when a year was great and am sad to see it go. (Which will also brew up worried feelings of the next year falling short of high expectations.)

The past two New Years have been perfect examples of that. I wanted 2009 to drag out. I was excited & happy to be expecting, but was NOT ready for 2010. I knew that as soon as it was 2010 March would be here too soon and the idea of becoming a parent was daunting. Now fast forward a year later, and I did not want 2010 to end. This was the year my beautiful daughter came into my life. I will never again get to experience the first year of being a new mom, with my new baby. 2010 is G’s year. She’ll identify with that year for her entire life. That the year was ending, and a new one beginning was extremily difficult for me to accept this year. This year I really dragged my feet into 2011.

But now that I’ve had some time to let all those childish, irrational feelings settle down…I’m excited for 2011. Parenthood is such an adventure and it doesn’t matter what year it is. My baby is still a baby, we still have 2 ½ months until she’s 1. And this year could present so much more to our lives. Hopefully a new house to call our own & maybe a career change for Tyson; Something more fulfilling role for him I am excited to see my daughter grow and see what memories I’ll have when I look back and think of 2011.

And I promise, when 2012 is knocking at our door I will try to be more excepting.