All Things Hold Together

I was not bored for one single second while I had the house to myself for the weekend. In fact, I could have gone a couple of more days here myself before I even came close to running out of things on my to-do list.

A neighbor ended up lending me the book, “The Irresistible Revolution,” by Shane Claiborne and I couldn’t put it down. When I finish it, I will definitely be posting about it.

It was a great relaxing weekend.

It’s a good thing, too, because we started school today. More on that later, but Blogger is about to have a scheduled outage.

Next time you skinny folks wonder why fat people can’t just stick to a diet, just click this helpful explanation.

If you listen really hard right now, here in my apartment, do you know what you will hear?

Nothing. That’s right. Nothing.

The kids are at grandma’s for the weekend. The whole weekend.

And what’s more, this just happens to be the very same weekend that my dearest husband is going camping with his buddies from college.

Oh, yeah.

The funny thing is that the response from every person who has heard about this has been the same. You’re not going to know what to do. You’ll be bored.

To which I have but one reply: Are you nuts?

The only problem I am going to have is figuring out what to do first!

Finally, I am home (and have internet access) and can do another Frugal Fridays post. In the spirit of Back to School, my tip is about homeschool supplies.

I buy all of my supplies when they are featured as the loss leaders - e.g. the 1-cent boxes of pencils, the 15-cent boxes of crayons.

What I mean is, I do not just go to the store and buy what is on sale that day, plus the rest of my supplies. I wait until each item is on sale.

This takes weeks and planning, and really only makes sense if you live near or will be near the store, but it saves a lot of money, if you can do it.

The only office supply store near me is Staples. This year, so far, I bought boxes of Crayola crayons for 15-cents each, 8-count boxes of pencils for 1-cent each, pencil sharpeners for 5-cents each, pencil cases for 5-cents each, bottles of Elmer’s glue for 9-cents each, a three-hole punch for 50-cents, and pocket folders for 1-cent each.

This week, I will stock up on loose-leaf paper (15-cents) and a few other items.

Last year, I wondered how much the gas was adding to the cost, but this year, I realized that we drive right by Staples on the way home from church. Now, I am really getting a great bargain!

You can view the current and upcoming Staples circulars online, too.

Be sure to head on over to Biblical Womanhood for links to more Frugal Fridays ideas.

Today is Little E’s fourth birthday! I can’t believe that my baby is four.

That’s a picture from this morning, in the Spiderman costume he lives in.

Last night, I was getting kind of emotional about my last baby growing up. I felt the same way when Big E was this age. But then I became pregnant with Little E late that year, so it wasn’t as bad.

This time I know that I will not be having any more children, so I think it is harder.

That got me wondering about families that have lots of babies. Does a mother ever get her baby fill to the point that when the last one gets older she does not want another one, or is it always this hard? I wonder.

Have you ever planned on making homemade rolls to go with dinner, but you get home late, or some other calamity keeps you from getting the dough made in time?

That happens to me all of the time.

And when we are at the end of our grocery budget, sometimes the rolls are the only good thing about dinner. Or at least, they make a ho-hum dinner into something wonderful.

Well, I found a solution for that problem: Sixty-minute Rolls. From mix to eat these homemade yeast rolls take only 60 minutes, instead of the usual 2-3 hours.

This recipe is written for a KitchenAid stand mixer, but if you make your dough by hand, you just mix and knead as you usually would.

Sixty-Minute Rolls

1/2 cup low-fat milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
3 packages active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water (105-115 degrees F)
5-6 cups all-purpose flour

Place milk, sugar, salt, and butter in a small sauce pan and heat until butter just begins to melt. Stir to melt butter and dissolve sugar. Allow to cool to lukewarm.

Meanwhile, in warmed mixer bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water.

Add the milk mixture and 4 1/2 cups of flour. Attach bowl and dough hook to mixer and mix on Speed 2 for 1 minute.

Add remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time, continuing on Speed 2, and mix about 2 minutes, or until dough clings to hook and cleans sides of bowl.

Knead on Speed 2 for 2 more minutes. Dough will be smooth and elastic, and slightly sticky to the touch.

Place dough in greased bowl and allow to rise, covered, in warm, draft-free place for 15 minutes.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Shape as desired into 24 rolls. (Suggestion: roll into balls and place in greased muffin cups. Optionally: Cut the tops in half, then quarters, to make a criss-cross pattern on the top.)

Cover and let rise for 15 minutes in a slightly warmed oven. (Tip: Set the oven to 400-degrees and set a timer for 1 minute. Shut off oven when timer goes off and it will be the perfect temp for rising dough.)

Bake at 425-degrees for 12 minutes, or until golden brown.

Remove immediately and cool on wire rack.

Enjoy!

Be sure to head over to Rocks in My Dryer for more Works-for-Me Wednesday tips.

The Carnival of Homeschooling can be found here this week.

I, for one, am looking forward to gleaning support from other homeschoolers over a hot cup of tea later on today.

Be sure to check it out for yourself.

This week, I am trying to wrap up my assessments to send into the state because I plan to start this school year on August 20 (a week from today).

This process frustrates me every year. I do not believe that the state has a right to require this reporting, which makes it even worse. As a result, I am very resentful.

My biggest problem is that The D does not like to write and I do not make him. His fine motor skills are not the best and it is a frustrating process for him. Plus, he does not have the patience to struggle with writing something down when he can just tell it to me orally.

You have to understand, this kid has been through a lot this past year and, often, it is a struggle just to get through the day. For him and for the rest of us. He has been depressed, angry, and at times, even has wished he was dead. (For real, not as an attention getter.)

I am not going to waste our time fighting to get this kid to write down something that I know he knows just to satisfy some bureaucrats in Montpelier. Not a chance.

I could probably have him classified as “special needs,” but then my reporting requirements to the state get even more invasive.

I decided today to look into having a licensed teacher evaluate him, instead of doing a portfolio of his work. I found one who would be a great fit for us, but she charges $65 per child.

There is just no way we can come up with that. We just had to have our car fixed and we have a couple other big expenses coming up that are non-negotiable.

The only subject area that I am lacking portfolio samples for him is language arts, since it is the only one that requires the kind of writing that he does not like to do.

I guess we will just continue to work together, a little bit each day, to finish the last couple of pages I need for his portfolio. We did some work today and it went okay.

This is just so frustrating for me. I had a migraine and even started crying at one point today because I am so sick of this.

There is no need for the state to put homeschooling parents under such stress.

Sometimes I wish I could fight this, but I know that I cannot afford to take time away from my family right now, especially with everything The D is going through.

The time will come, though, when I can fight this, and I will.

That time is not now, though, so I just need to get through it. And I will; I just needed to vent.

I have also planned ahead, so that I will not be in this same boat next year. I realized today that if I just remain diligent in making him do a little bit each day, within the limits of what he can tolerate, and make sure that all of the little bits put together demonstrate everything that he has learned, I will have more than enough for the portfolio next year.

I just read a really great Bible Girl column, written by guest writer Jared Binder, about the Christian church’s acceptance of gluttony, and its resultant obesity.

There’s this thing in the Bible called gluttony. The Bible says it’s a sin. But we don’t like to talk about that particular sin. We prefer to point a pudgy finger at others and decry the evils of drugs and alcohol, pornography, abortion and homosexuality. Compared to those, gluttony is just a little sin.

How timely. I have been having many of these same thoughts myself lately, but was not yet ready to share them.

I have been overweight most of my life and really struggled with it, off and on, since I was in college. It was the summer after my freshman year that it really hit me how fat I had gotten and I started doing something about it.

Thus began what has been a now 13-year-long pattern of dramatic weight gain and loss cycles.

In the first four years that I was married (2002-2006), I gained 46 pounds! I wish I could blame it on the fact that I had my third child, but I actually lost all of the weight I gained during pregnancy before putting on 33 more pounds.

Then, thanks to viewing some really bad pictures of myself, I lost about 20 in the past year.

The change came from making small dietary changes - re-learning how to eat, with healthy foods and smaller portions.

That only took me so far, though, before I hit a roadblock. Since then, I have been trying to figure out why.

Upon careful examination of my eating habits, I realized that when I am stressed out, I tend to go into the kitchen and grab something to eat. Even though most of my food choices are healthy, one can still overeat on healthy foods - and gain weight.

Then one day recently, it dawned on me that I go to God with other temptations that I struggle with, so why not this?

Last November, I attended a Living Free in Christ conference with Dr. Neil Anderson. It was absolutely the most amazing experience. I was able to find freedom from another sin that I have struggled with almost my entire life. Satan had a stronghold over my life that was influencing my thoughts to the point that it was almost torture and I learned how to find freedom in Christ and have remained free ever since. (Which requires diligent control over my thought life, I must add, and prayer. It is not a quick, one-time fix.)

Until I read this Bible Girl column, I could not figure out why it took me so long to realize that I could also find freedom in Christ from the sin of gluttony and, most importantly, that I would not be able to break free from that stronghold without His help, especially since it is such a lifelong habit.

The reason is that the Christian community turns a blind eye to this sin.

We, as Christians, are quick to identify when one is turning to other comforts instead of to God. Drugs, alcohol, sex, materialism, work, busyness, and other distractions and coping mechanisms that we substitute for God are all the subjects of countless sermons and books, but not gluttony.

Yet it is just as dangerous to our health, both physically and spiritually. It serves as a wedge between us and God; something that keeps us from fully depending on Him and Him alone in our times of need.

I’m glad to see this issue brought up. I think more people would find comfort in knowing that they can take this struggle to the cross and break free from the hold that food has over them.

I found links to some interesting free educational stuff at the NEA website.

We all know how much they love homeschooling, so I am sure they will be happy to know that their links are benefiting HS families.

The Federal Reserve comics look interesting. I just ordered some.