Food for Thought Friday: Tomato and Herb Feta Pasta

A while ago I saw this new movement called Meatless Monday. Well, I'm pretty bad at remembering what day of the week it is but I have been working on making sure at least one day of the week we have a dinner that is meet-free. The cool thing about the Meatless Monday movement is that they actually have a website up with tons of good recipes. This is a recipe that I tried from their list and everyone loves. Personally I thought it was super yummy and I love the fact that I'm actually getting my kids to try something with artichoke in it. Even my husband who is totally a meat and potatoes kind of guy when it comes to food enjoys it so I think that says something.

Tomato & Herbed Feta Pasta

Ingredients: 8oz linguine, 1 T olive oil, 1 ½ tsp minced garlic, 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, drained, 12 oz jar marinated artichoke hearts, ¼ c water, 4 oz crumbled herbed feta cheese

Directions:

1. Cook linguine according to package directions. Drain.

2. Meanwhile, heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Add tomatoes. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Drain artichokes and reserve ¼ c marinade. Optionally, cut artichoke hearts in half. Add artichokes to skillet and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in water and reserved marinade. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes until hot and bubbly.

 4. Stir in drained pasta and feta crumbles. Stir to combine and serve.

Kid Logic

Can I start by saying how much I love my kids. Seriously, I do, I can’t imagine where I would be without them. I think they’re amazingly creative, smart, and talented… after all I’m their mom, I think it’s in the contract somewhere with nature that we’re all just a tad biased when it comes to our kids. Still, have you ever tried to reason with a half-pint ankle-biter? Sometimes it makes me want to pull my hair out… other times it just cracks me up.

They think they have all the answers. Life would make perfect sense, it’s only us crazy parents getting in the way and messing it up… well, sometimes other adults too. If only they could just be in charge and run the world things would work the way they should, right? EC came up with a name for those moments - kid logic.

It used to drive Monkey nuts when he would she was in the middle of a kid logic rant and he would call her on it. Recently she got to turn the tide just a little as Tiger started in on one. Yesterday driving around doing errands Tiger informed me that he didn’t need to do reading as part of school.

When I asked him why he thought that he didn’t need to read any more he put on his very best in charge voice and started listing his reasons - he didn’t have to read when he was at real school (ummm…. I don’t think so), reading was just too boring, and he already knew how to read.

The funny part of this that had me cracking up was that he’s also stated recently that his life’s ambition is to be a famous author. I asked him how he thought he could do that if he stopped reading books now. He matter-of-factly told me that he already wrote books and he would be fine. I tried hard to keep myself at least somewhat serious sounding as I told him it was practically impossible to know everything at just 7 years old that he would need to know about story telling to be able to be an author. Monkey smiled and called him out on his kid logic.

To give him some credit, he amended his statements today and says that he does like reading science books and he plans on being some kind of scientist now instead. I told him to go for it. :-)

What are some of your favorite kid logic stories?

Conquering Finances: Some Ways to Save

If you’ve been following along with my posts about learning to take control over our finances so we’ve talked about creating a budget and why it’s important, we’ve talked about distinguishing between needs and wants, and understanding just who really owns our money. Today I wanted to start digging in a little deeper on some ways that we can start trimming costs so that we can still meet our needs without burdening ourselves and families with debt.

I don’t know if I’d be considered frugal, stingy, o.c.d, or what but I love finding ideas for ways to save money. I will say that because everyone’s needs are different what works for someone isn’t going to work for someone else. Here are some of my favorite ideas that I’ve found.

- Grow as much of your own food as you can. Not only will this save you lots of money but it encourages healthy eating and tastes better. Gardening/Farming also just helps develop lots of good skills and for me at least helps me focus and destress.

- Don’t always assume that cheaper is better for finances. A lot of times we end up paying much more for cheaper items that need to be replaced or fixed more often then if we just saved up enough to get something practical but of good quality. One example of this that we’ve done was to start with cloth diapering. It’s a big upfront cost that can be intimidating but if you break it down and add up what it would cost to use and dispose of disposables all the time it just makes sense. (a qualifier on this one would be families who have to pay to do their laundry at a laundromat)

- Make things that you have last as long as possible. I’ve had my cell phone for around 7 years now and I haven’t exactly been nice to it. Even so, taking care of what you have just makes financial sense as well as being good for the environment. It almost made me angry to see recent commercials that just expect phones or other devices to only last 1 year. Yes things happen, but those should be the exceptions, not the rule.

- Think differently about things you need. One example of this might be hair cuts. A kit for cutting hair costs something like $40. For most people I know that’s a trip or two at the salon. If you practice while the kids are young and don’t care, by the time that they’re older you’ll be a semi-pro! Another option would be going to a style school. The services there are still quality (they have teachers that monitor the students-in-training carefully) and it costs much less than getting it done “professionally”. The point is to look around and see if there’s another way to meet your need just as well (or well enough that you’re willing to part with the quality for the money) and be creative.

- Rediscover bartering and trade. Instead of hiring out everything look for friends that might be willing to trade hobby services like cake-making, babysitting, car repair, etc. It not only helps out both parties but can help to build fun memories and friendships.

- Get rid of unhealthy habits. If it’s smoking, drinking, shopping. Look at habits and lifestyle changes that can help you out financially as well. For example - a pack of cigarettes a week runs anywhere from about $4.00-$12.50. If you take the average at about $8 a pack by the end of the year you save $412 dollars. Doesn’t seem like a whole lot but it would probably cover some bills for a month. That also doesn’t even begin to cover the health costs associated with it.

- Turn off the electronics and get outside. Another area that there are lots of benefits. I may be a gadget geek but I’ve noticed that getting outside makes everyone feel better and you spend a lot less money by cutting the electrical bill for the lights and battery charges etc. Little things add up.

- Learn to cook and make things further from scratch. Eating out is expensive. Eating meals in a bag from the freezer aisle isn’t much better. Learning to make a few basic things in the kitchen from scratch saves budgets. Even Monkey is hooked on this one. She loves to help me come up with homemade recipes and copy-cats of our favorites. The key to this one is to not give up and keep fiddling until you get the food the way you like it. Not only does cooking from scratch can be fun, encourages healthy eating (okay so not necessarily I guess, depends on how often I get in the mood to make cookies!) and creates fun family traditions and memories, I really can’t say enough for it and I definitely wasn’t someone who knew how to cook growing up.

All in all the internet is full of ideas and ways to cut costs, search around and try some out. Like I said, not everything works for everyone, but a lot of the ideas are beneficial in more ways then one.

So, what are some things that you’ve learned or done to help trim around the edges of finances without sacrificing needs?

Monday Gospel Musings: My Testimony of the Resurrection

picture from www.lds.org

Last Monday in correlation with Easter I wrote my testimony of the atonement of Christ. The atonement was just half of Easter though. Today I'll share my thoughts and testimony of the resurrection of Christ.

My testimony of the resurrection actually began about 18 years before I was born. 20 years before I was born my mother had a little boy. He was very ill though and when he was 2 years old his little body could take no more. My mother was devastated.  Not only had her marriage been ruined by the stresses of it all but now she lost her little one. To make matters worse she was berated by her clergy for her failure as a mother to have her son baptized and told that it was all her fault that her little boy would be damned forever. I'm sure I can only begin to imagine what pain she must have felt.

Eventually she was led to the gospel. I'm sure it was a sweet and holy experience as she felt the Spirit testify that what she was learning was true. Christ loves His little ones and would never condemn someone in such a cruel and unjust manner.  She would see her little boy again in Heaven.

It was her unflinching and unfailing testimony of the power of the resurrection in reuniting us as families in the world to come that made it possible for me to put my own sorrow in perspective just a few years ago as it became time for her and my father-in-law to leave us and rejoin those who had gone before them within weeks of each other and then lose the baby that I'd been carrying only about two months later.

One of the things I was guided by the spirit to find in that time of personal grief talked about the true meaning of hope. Hope seems like such an abstract and somewhat fickle concept because often hopes don't work out the way we wish. When we speak of true hope though - it's not a dream that everything will be sunshine and flowers - true hope is hope given through the atonement and resurrection of Christ that through our Savior we will live again in Heaven where we can be with our friends and family and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ through eternity and every promise they've made will be fulfilled.That hope will never fail.

That bleak and empty tomb in Jerusalem stands as a holy beacon to all the world of hope everlasting - that great blessing  that I heard someone call "life after life".

I know I will see my mother again. I know I'll see my grandparents and great-grandparents. I know I'll get to meet my big brother. I know that whatever may happen in this life still to come that I will have my husband and my children there too. There is no sweeter thought that I can think of then to imagine someday sitting at the feet of Christ and Heavenly Father with all my loved ones gathered around me.

As the prophet Isaiah said, "He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces" (Isaiah 25:8)

Homeschool?

It’s interesting. Although homeschooling is becoming a bigger movement in education it’s still relatively scarce. Right now we are on our second time of homeschooling. The first was when Monkey was in 2nd grade. This year both Monkey and Tiger were in school for a little more than the first half and then we decided that it was time for us to pull in a bit and try homeschooling again.

To be honest as much as I had been frustrated with the education system that I had growing up homeschooling had never really occured to me at all. The year before Monkey was in Kindergarten I found out that two families at our church homeschooled and that another with a child the same age as Monkey had planned on beginning homeschooling for their family that following year. As I listened to them talk about some of the different activities and curriculum I thought it was interesting and there were definitely some aspects that appealed to me but overall I didn’t really think of it as something that would work for us and just put it toward the back of my brain as something interesting.

Monkey had a fabulous kindergarten year. She loved her teacher and loved school and despite the usual minor bumps she really enjoyed it. First grade was much harder for her and was complicated by some pretty intense family losses. As we considered 2nd grade it just fell into place where I felt like homeschooling was at the very least something worth trying. This year has been somewhat the same - lots of little things from multiple directions that ultimately left us pulling them from traditional schooling again.

There are definitely ups and downs to homeschool. Sometimes it’s really hard to get them to do work or get them occupied with something long enough for me to get work done. They miss friends from school and things like that. There are really awesome moments too - moments when they’re excited to learn something new or help with Bear or the housework. I’ve also noticed that they get along with each other a lot more than they used to (not perfectly but much better than they were). They can set the pace for their learning and choose to focus on things that they might not get the chance to with a typical classroom setting.

Anyways, I’m not sure what our plan will be for next year. I just know that right now choosing to homeschool has been a blessing for all of us. I’m just thankful for the people who have helped us to realize that it wasn’t as big, scary, and different as I had first thought and helped us to realize that it is possible.

Conquering Finances: Who Owns Your Money?

So to continue our thoughts on finance and how to start getting our budgets in shape. Last week I talked a bit about figuring out if something is a need or a want. This week I want to talk about something that was probably one of the hardest things for me when I started really figuring out what was going on with my budget - being able to see the big picture of who really owned my money.

For most of my life I considered myself financially savvy as long as I could keep my checkbook balanced. (and yes there were times that I made a few oopses in that department and had to pay for it - literally and figuratively). I had fallen into a trap taught from the 3rd grade when we learned to fill out the checkbook register that as long as my ones and zeros were in the right place and I never went into the negative that all was well.

That’s probably all well and good for a 3rd grader, their spending and responsibilities really aren't that complicated and it's a good place for kids to start. As we become adults though our burdens change a bit. It’s no longer deciding if we have the $10 to buy the shirt we see in the department store or not. We now have responsibilities like credit cards, mortgage payments, electric bills, etc. that are going to happen every month pretty much whether we want them to or not.

To put it simply - we don’t really own a large portion of our money. Most of our money is promised to other people before it ever lands in our checking accounts. We have to change the way that we shop and think and realize that before we can make ends meet. Even if our checkbook says we have $1,000 when we go to look at that $10 shirt we still can not just buy it. This is where having a budget really comes in handy because all of those expenses can be planned for and divided out so we know what we have left to be able to spend on that shirt regardless of what the checkbook may say.

If we don’t budget out, or don’t stick to our budget, we often find ourselves surprised by things that really shouldn’t be surprising. T-shirts, lunches out, and other hits on our bank accounts here and there seem like such small and insignificant things when we look at the big total number of what may be available to us but then when it comes time to pay all those people that we owe we ask ourselves where all the money went. At least that’s my experience.

We can have a lot more peace of mind when we expect and plan for those things from the very beginning instead of when we get the bill in the mail. Then we can buy that shirt without having to worry about if we’ll have enough at the end of the month to make ends meet.

Monday Gospel Musings: My Testimony of the Atonement of Christ

Monday Gospel Musings: My Testimony of the Atonement

picture from www.lds.org

It being the week before Easter I've been thinking a lot about what I want do to help make this Easter more meaningful. Don't get me wrong, I love dying eggs with the kids and seeing them bite the ears off their chocolate bunnies but there is so much more to it than that and I feel like I would be failing as a mother if I didn’t at least try to help my children understand that as well. Since I really don't have any profound thoughts on how to approach it I think I'll stick with my testimony of it.

I wasn't there in Jerusalem. I never met the Savior. Still I know without a doubt that a little less than 2,000 years ago in that ancient Garden in someway that is completely unfathomable He was thinking of me. He saw and felt all of my sins and all of my pains. He knelt there and made a bargain with Our Father that He would succor me through my trials and if I would repent He would wash away all of my sins so I would have the blessing of being able to return to live with Him again. I mattered to Him. I still matter to Him.

I think it's something that I really struggle with, knowing that someone as perfect and good as Christ could care anything about, much less love someone like me who was so imperfect, still I know that it's true. He's been true to those covenants that He made there. I've felt His love for me and had it confirmed in so many ways great and small. I've felt Him comfort me when I could not bear the trial I'd been given on my own. I've felt His great love as he looked down on me in all my mortal failings and said "Thy Sins are forgiven thee" "Go and Sin no more".

I know in this life I'll never really be able to understand what happened there, and I don't really have to. I just have to remember that He loves me and will always love me. No matter what happens I can trust in His redeeming love and know that it'll be okay.

The most amazing part is that even though this was such an amazingly personal experience between Christ and me that it wasn't just for me. It was for my husband, my children, my friends, my neighbors, and strangers halfway around the world that I'll never even have the chance to meet. He loves them in that same unconditional and unfathomable way too. Perhaps if we all understood this love just a little more we would have more love for one another and be able to get past some of the hate that seems to be so prevalent in the world today.

So I guess that's my goal once again this Easter, to try to love more- to love myself, to love those around me. To love as Christ did, with all that I have to give.

Schedule Schmedule.... a question for you!

So today I have a question for anyone who might have stumbled across this post. I need your stories, advice, and help!…. see here’s the thing. I know without a doubt that most people (especially children) do much better when they can stick to basic routines and schedules. Things like mealtimes and bedtimes etc. that are consistent really help in so many ways. Unfortunately, I absolutely stink at them. Stink! No matter what I do, how well I have something planned out mentally, when it comes down to it I never seem to be able to make it actually happen. It always seems like something comes up and throws everything to pieces and in reality all I’ve done is wasted a bunch of time trying to come up with a plan that just doesn’t seem to work. So for all you type A people who are organized and routine based - how do you do it?

On the Other Hand... Learning Gratitude

So yesterday was one of those days. Bear woke me up at around 4:20 and I didn’t really ever get back to sleep. Found out first thing in the morning that our washing machine mysteriously has decided that it doesn’t want to complete the spin cycle so Bear’s diapers were all sopping. I tried to do another load on another cycle just to see and it came out sopping as well, I finally decided to just do my best and wring everything out by hand as much as possible before putting them in the dryer. Monkey got stuck in math and got frustrated with me and wouldn’t talk to me for a while and wanted to just give up on it. The kids have gone through most of the snacks (today is shopping day) so I heard grumbles off and on all day of “what is there to eat?!”. It rained the night before and for a good while that day so our basement was flooding and I spent at least two hours down there trying to help get the water out. The girls I’m supposed to watch were both running late because of the rain (meaning that we were all waiting at the bus stop getting drenched), and one of them had apparently had a long day and was a little cranky. I couldn’t find my keys. Everyone was coughing all over the place. The list could really go on, like I said it was just that kind of day.

On the other hand. Bear actually slept through until he woke me up at 4:20, I don’t usually get those nights, we’re still usually up twice a night together. It felt great getting up early and starting work before the kids were up and the house was still peaceful and quiet. I at least have a washing machine and dryer and clothes to put in them. Thankfully I had just gotten a big box of disposable diapers for Bear so we weren’t in a desperate need for the cloth ones. Monkey and Tiger both made some great accomplishments in math and overall are doing really well with their lessons. The kids had fun watching a new episode of Studio C (it’s pretty much their favorite show). The rain meant that spring is actually coming and is helping to get rid of all the snow. At least the water is in the basement and not the rest of the house and we’ve actually been able to manage it fairly well. We were able to find enough snacks to make everyone at least mostly happy. I didn’t miss either of the girls from their bus stops. I found my keys. We may still be coughing but it’s gotten a lot better than it was just 2 days ago. The list could go on and on.

Even though so much of yesterday was frustrating and just plain exhausting there was also a lot that was good. Everyone has things that they can be thankful for, we just have to train ourselves to look for them. When we look only at all the bad things we get weighed down with all the negativity. If we take a moment and look on the other hand and focus on the positive it really doesn’t seem so bad. The amazing thing is that if we keep choosing to look at things in a positive way it becomes the first reaction instead of the second and we’ll end up over all being a lot more happy. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t want that!

Now I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging. My first reactions to most of yesterday were still very much focused on the negative. I alternately felt like there was no way we could take care of all that needed to be done, wanting to take a sledgehammer to something, wanting to just go disappear somewhere and take a nice long nap and ignore everyone, and wanting to shout and kick and cry. I am learning to look on the other hand though and at this point it was enough to help keep me from going off the deep end. I keep telling myself to just keep at it, keep looking for the good and things will be all right, because as frustrated as I get I know that things have a way of doing that if you can just be patient and give them some time. 

Conquering Finances: What is a Need?

So far in our look at finances and budgeting I’ve discussed a little about why budgeting is so important and about how to find out what your current income vs. expenses (or cash flow) looks like.

Today I wanted to begin to look at how perspective changes the way that we make financial decisions and can help us maintain a positive cash flow where our income exceeds our expenses.

Let’s start with the idea of needs. So what is a need? If we look at the study known as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, we can see different levels of need that are basic to pretty much everyone. We must meet the most basic needs first if we want to be able to successfully fulfill all our needs. Although psychologists have added to the original 5 levels of need, his concept that certain needs must be fulfilled before others is important.

First comes our physiological needs: air, water, food, sleep, reproduction, etc. These are the things that human life in its most basic capacity cannot survive without.

Next comes the need for safety. This encompases things such as shelter, security, order, laws, stability and anything that helps eliminate our fears.

After that are our social needs. We all need to feel like we belong and are loved. This need can be met through good relationships with people like our spouses, families, friends, co-workers, etc.

Fourth we have our self-esteem needs. This includes things like accomplishment, mastery, independence, and responsibility.

Next are cognitive needs. Most basically this is a need to learn, understand, and give meaning to things.

Next are aesthetic needs.  We need to be able to see and appreciate beauty, balance, and order.

Seventh we have what Maslow called our self-actualization needs, the need to meet our personal potential, succeed in our goals, experience growth and success.

Lastly we have the transcendent needs. This is the need to help others achieve self-actualization.

So you may be wondering now what all this has to do with money and finances. Interestingly, we can see that money isn’t on the list of needs. That’s because money in itself really isn’t a need. Money is simply a way to meet a need. We can find ways of meeting many of our needs without money. In fact many of our needs can’t be met through money. When we try to meet a need with money that can’t be, it’s like throwing it in a garbage can because all that happens is that we have less money to meet the needs that that money can be used for.

Another important part of this is an inner assessment of how effectively we use our money to meet our needs. We have to start by fulfilling the more basic needs first or the money that we spend on other needs really won’t be effective.

It’s important for wise money management to be able to honestly self-reflect and decide what need you are meeting with each purchase you make. No one can tell you how best to do this because no-one but you really knows when your needs are met, although generally the same we are all individuals.

Monday Gospel Musings: So What's the Big Deal with General Conference Anyway?!

As noted, this past weekend was the LDS General Conference. We are so blessed to be able to hear from prophets and apostles twice a year. I can't even begin to describe how much I love Conference weekends. Hearing council from our leaders (men and women) helps renew me and strengthen my faith and testimony and give me that extra push I need to choose better. And yes, I need that every six months. I would probably go every week if I could but it would  be just too overwhelming. So bit by bit, every six months we hear them and learn from them and renew ourselves again to keep trying and do a little more to be a little better.

I'll be reviewing these new conference talks as well as some of the old each week but until then here are some of my thoughts and notes.

1st - I think if anyone wonders if we are a Christian church they must not have listened to any of the talks from any of our conferences. There were so many powerful messages and testimonies of Christ that just touched my heart. After all we believe that that's the biggest responsibility of an apostle - to testify of Christ. "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins." 2 Nephi 25:26

2nd - Truth is truth. I thought it was interesting in so many areas of thought how this conference seemed unique in that it didn't leave any room for speculations - the truth will always be the truth no matter how many people believe otherwise or how many arguments are made against it. By its very nature it is and will be. End. Of. Discussion.

3rd - We need to love more. We need to love God, ourselves, our families, our neighbors, our enemies. No exceptions - whatsoever. We need to better understand love more though as well. When we love someone we want what is best for them so it doesn't mean that there won't be disagreements, it just means that we will always focus more on the person than the problem so that they know that they are loved - by us and by our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. When someone really understands how much they are loved a lot of the problems will work themselves out on their own anyways.

Well, those are the basics for now. If you're interested in seeing some of the talks check them out on www.LDS.org. For more of my thoughts just keep checking the blog!

What were your thoughts? Did you see Conference? What stood out most to you?