Thanksgiving @ my House!

I call it cooking all day for one meal. We ate our Thanksgiving meal for dinner this year. We usually have it around noon. That means I stay up almost all night to cook and then pass out from a turkey induced coma and lack of sleep. I like sleep, so cooking in the day helped. I do want to make our Thanksgiving easier and faster. Every year we end up with a lot of left overs. Don’t get me wrong, I love Thanksgiving leftovers. As I am getting older I am becoming more health cautious. This year I ate turkey instead of ham. I been swelling up pretty bad so I am staying away from the very salty food. I found that taking a bath in epsom salt is helping out with my swelling at night. This year I went on youtube and got the recipe for the turkey. I made it with fresh rosemary and sage. I also found out that rosemary and sage is good for inflammation. I am proud to say that my turkey came out very moist. It made me very happy. Though, I shouldn’t of made the turkey gravy from scratch. It was very good and flavorful, but don’t know if making it at home is better for me than the instant powder I buy every year at the store. I am hooked on it now.

I have an interest in vegan recipes. That night I went on kindle an bought a vegan recipe book. I found some good recipes in it that I can cook to take the place of some bad foods that I want to get out of my families diet. Like, banana pancakes, pizza, and vegan chicken recipes. Last year, I feel in love with almond milk. I love the taste, but it can get expensive for a family of four on a tight grocery budget.

This Thanksgiving was very fulfilling!

Crossroads

Homeshool up-date

The past few months have been busy for me. I have been researching just about anything and everything I can think of on homeschooling. My husband and I have researched a lot of homeschooling options and learned quiet a lot of information and the different types of homeschooling that is out there. There are un-schoolers, religious homeschooling, freelance homeschooling, free online public schools and co-ops that cost money. We went over or finances to find where we can cut, clip, and crimp to fit more happiness into our household. We did end up selling the Xbox and the devil games as I call them and we decided to get the boys more involved in the finances in hopes that it will give them some sense of control and learn more about money. We had to sit the boys down and explain what homeschool is and that we can only afford to do it when they get home from school. My oldest didn’t like it one bit. We told them we will give public school another year and work on homeschooling after and on school breaks so they can get used to it. It was a win-win situation for us. The school ended up getting a new counselor and a “bully-free zone” tactics in place. I was pleased. I knew that this year would be different.

The boys and Sports

The boys did not want to do any sports this year so we are taking a break. Next year my oldest son will be in sixth grade and can play football at school. I asked him about it the other day he said that he is wanting to play next year. I ended up with a big smile across my momma face. I love football. I hate the dangers of it. My momma brain tells me to push band and keep them safe from harm, but my Sparta mom part of my brain tells me to let him play. My youngest loves soccer, but I heard the soccer leagues aren’t doing so well in getting recruits. I would love to be a coach, but I don’t know much about soccer. When I get the guts I will tell you and keep you posted on how well I’m doing or not.

Spiritual Me and Religion

Now, for the spiritual part. I have been going through some rough times. With all my Bible research it only leads me to more deeper and some times it feels taboo. I need them answered so the search continues. It started last Christmas when I was first learning about Minimalism. (FYI: Minimalism is when you live with less material possessions so you can have more freedom to just- live.) I love the feel of freedom and less cleaning is good too. I remember getting my tree out and asking myself,”If Christmas is about Jesus, why are we decorating trees?” I Googled it and found a lot of information. I was surprised that it came from paganism. I read on and on, it was very interesting. I tried to tell others that would listen, but to no avail they didn’t believe me. After that I didn’t feel like putting up a Christmas tree. I told my husband that I feel like buying a “HUGE” nativity set and putting it up in our living room and surrounding it with only three presents. I told my husband that it would help us with the stress of Christmas shopping. He didn’t like that to much. My husband is traditional in that aspect. Then I told him about the money we would be able to save. I only won a smile and lost the argument.

That is only one story, I will have to type more later and give my fingers some rest. This last part is going to be about my health. I am going to end this night with an Epson salt bath that I have been looking forward to all day. Goodnight everyone!

Today, Ta-da!

Today was an exciting day to put it simply. Exciting as in me trying to explain all the emotions that can fit to the definition of exciting. The day was filled with surprises. It was my youngest son’s ninth birthday, I still can’t believe it. Momma’s little baby is getting older and more handsome by the day. The surprises all happened during the party and not for or from my youngest son, the birthday boy. It was for me and my husband from my oldest ten year old son. The surprise came when he had the yearly ritual birthday, not for me, jealous tantrum followed by the shifting of the spotlight to him when he told me and his dad and everyone here that he hated his family and then stomped off to his bedroom to seek solitude and sulk for the second time today. What happened next will change my life forever. I went back to his room to investigate the damage and talk. During these times I am so glad I had encountered incidents like this and know what to do. I see myself as a very understanding mother more than half the time and would give myself at least an A-. We started talking about what is going on and what he is so upset about. Then he said the most scariest, most hurtful thing a parent could ever hear. A cry for help. He said that,” all the things that are bothering him makes him want to kill himself.” Now, I take things like this very seriously. I asked what he needed from me and he said attention. He has told me this before when I was working a lot so I stepped down from a house manager position that I once had. It helped. But, this summer I was off all summer since I work at the school. So It got me to ponder. As I was pondering he started to talk more seriously about how he wished he were never born and asked me why we were all here and why God would let people suffer? Of course, I started to cry at this point and his back was facing me as he put himself in a corner. I asked him what he asked God for and he said it didn’t matter cause he never answers anyway and so I said sometimes God don’t give you an answer, sometimes he sends people to answer your question. I said I was here and God is here. He then turned around and looked at me. I told him that if God didn’t care and if I didn’t care I wouldn’t be in there talking to him. I asked him what he meant by more attention since I figured out that our definitions are quite different now. He talked about the bullies at school and his brother making fun of him and getting their friends to join in on it and asked if he can be home schooled so he don’t have to be around it. I told him that bullies will be around everywhere and about all his friends that he will miss from school and everything else but someone can’t miss what they can’t see now. I didn’t think the bullying was that bad til now. Days like this I say Screw the dollar I am going to give my son what he needs, me!

Well, there is more to this story but this is basically what we came up with. He didn’t want to play the Xbox anymore and I agreed. Me and my husband talked and decided to sell it and plan on getting up all in his space to cover him in more hugs and kisses. Homeschooling is in progress. Only time and love will tell what is going to happen next, but I can guarantee that the result will be better than doing nothing. In my book there is no contest between the working mom and the needed mom.