Posted in Holiday Bits

"We three Kings of Orient are,
Bearing gifts we traverse afar,
Field and fountain, moor and mountain,
Following Yonder Star..."

Today is the celebration of Epiphany, also known as the Three Kings' Day or the Twelfth Day.  Today is the day set aside to mark the arrival of the three wise men/kings to the birth place of Jesus.  Imagine seeing a sign in the heavens, a sign you had been watching for, and the feeling that must have washed over them as they realized their hopes and dreams.  Each step along that long journey wouldn't have been hardly noticed, I would imagine, as each step brought them closer to salvation and redemption.  How far would you walk to kneel at the foot of your King?  Would you count those steps, or would you fairly float?  They had to have journeyed hundreds, maybe even thousands of miles, to shower the Christ child with gifts and to pay homage to their King of Kings.  And so we honor their blind faith and their journey made on behalf of all mankind with this 12th day of Christmas.

As an aside here, several years ago I got fed up with the rush, rush, rush of Christmas, only to have it "done" on Christmas Day.  All that work and stress, and I didn't even get to slow down and enjoy it.  I decided a change was in order, but wasn't sure how to go about it, or even what it would look like when I was done.  At the time, I was reading Sarah ban Breathnach's "Mrs. Sharp's Traditions," (a book I highly recommend) and I came across the history of the Victorians (who 'invented' most of our modern day Christmas traditions), who actually carried the Christmas season over to Candlemas (February 2nd)!  That one historical fact got me thinking, and I pondered my Christmas woes for a long time.  By the time the next Christmas rolled around, I had a plan.  We would work right up to Christmas, as usual, but on Christmas day, OUR Christmas season would BEGIN.  NOT end.  So, we have been keeping the tradition of the 12 days of Christmas for the last few years, and it has made such a difference.  We now have 12 days of enjoyment, relaxation, and celebration, instead of just the one (and one where we're all exhausted, at that).  So today is the final day of Christmas for us, and our tree will come down tomorrow.  We are so very blessed, and to set aside 12 days to honor and appreciate that is so little to do.  I whined a little yesterday about not feeling the Christmas spirit, but have realized upon writing this that I feel it now - not as strongly as I would wish to, perhaps, but a glimmer of it shines within me still.  That is the season's gift to me.  So, if you find yourself tired, stressed, and lost at the Christmas holiday anymore, don't stand idly by while one year bleeds into five bleeds into 10 - take control, focus on what you want for your family, and make it happen.  You don't have to follow the Christmas mandates passed around; make your own traditions and start thinking outside the box.

As for Epiphany, it matters not how you celebrate - do not traditions begin somewhere?  All that matters is that you recognize the importance of the day.  In the past, we have attended Mass, or not.  We have had long drawn-out celebrations, or quick recognition moments.  Out of these different years I have pulled the following for our family:  We keep a candle burning all day by statues of the wise men with the Baby Jesus (see above picture).  We hold back three gifts from Christmas (one for the family, one for Piper, and one for Jigger; again, see pic above) to be unwrapped after dinner (to symbolize the gifts from the Three Kings).  We have a Three Kings Cake (I don't use a traditional Three Kings Cake recipe, but a spice cake that I save only for this occasion) after dinner, and during dinner we light all the Advent wreath candles one final time.  We pray, and if I can find some book related to today, we read it.  If I am totally together, I find Epiphany related word puzzles, etc., for the boys to do in place of their school work.  It's just kind of morphed into this wonderful day here, but it didn't start out that way.  So pace yourself and build your traditions your way.  They will mean so much to your children when they have children of their own.

Whatever you do, may the faith, trust, and joy of this day find its way into your hearts.

Posted in Tightwad Tuesdays

Today is Tightwad Tuesday with Canadagirl once again!  If you have a money-saving tip to share with all of us, please do go visit my dear friend Mary to learn how to join in on the fun.

Today's tip is a deviation from my normal food-related tips, but if you have come to enjoy my food-related tips, don't worry - they'll be back.  *Ü*  I'm just taking a break from them as I prepare a different sort of TWT theme for myself.  It's a work in progress, and I'll share it as soon as it's ready.

Today's tip comes to us from our local libraries.  How many times have you walked by, seemingly blindly, the used book store in your neighborhood library?  We seem to have focus issues at times, don't we?  We go to the library for free books, the book store for books for purchase, etc.  Well, we're missing out.

Piper dragged me into the used book store in our library awhile ago (literally dragged me) to point out a portion of a collection that had been released for sale.  These were books that were required for our home education, but that I hadn't purchased yet.  The odd one that I needed I borrowed from the library, or was on a wait list elsewhere.  Take a look for yourself:

These are hardcover tomes with a copyright date of 1952 on them.  If this book were published now and sold in today's market, I presume to assign a value of no less than $15 per hard cover volume.  Having looked this specific book up, I can tell you that the Tolstoy edition alone is selling for $5.99 + s&h on Abebooks.com.  I purchased the entire set of books, all 21 volumes, for $10.  That is less than 50¢ a book.  I was flabbergasted.  These are some of the greatest minds of all time, at a low bargain price of less than a can of soda.  Archimedes, Tolstoy, Plutarch, Virgil, the list goes on.  It's staggering to realize that these books have been turned over due to no circulation.  And we wonder why each generation seems to be growing dimmer.  Sorry, soap box issue.

Anyway, assume that each volume would go for roughly $6 on the open market, and you get a grand total of $126, which means a savings of $116 for me, because I would have had to purchase them sooner or later.

So, the next time you go to your local library, make sure you have a couple of extra dollars in your purse, for you never know what will reach out and grab you.  Just be sure you grab back!

Posted in Around the House

photo courtesy of allposters.com; Ring in the New by Elizabeth Mumford

Here we are again, the beginning of a new year and the restful time of another Christmas season.  While I hope you all had lovely holidays, I must confess that the spark that makes Christmas special was sorely lacking for me this year in spite of my intentions to make it otherwise.  I don't credit the economy or the state of world politics as significant enough in my day-to-day life to have that profound of an effect, but something was.  For the first time ever, at least half of our gifts were homemade, so money spent wasn't an issue.  Treats were made, family was visited and received, and all of the usual occurrences that make Christmas CHRISTMAS were present.  So I must therefore conclude that the something missing was within me.  *sigh*  Don't you just hate it when that happens?

I think, in all honesty, that a simplification of life is in order.  Everything that we do and have done is to be scrutinized, because truth be told, this isn't the first, or even second, Christmas I've felt this way.  I'm gathering a plan of attack on our way of life, and we are preparing for good, new, and simple things to guide us.  A decluttering of our home, our minds, and our schedule are at the top of the list of things to begin changing immediately.  Life is so good; we need to not get caught up in the semantics of life.

As for the immediate present, we are back to our school lessons tomorrow.  Tomorrow we will also be celebrating Epiphany, so a Three Kings Cake is on the menu for dinner tomorrow night.  We are currently knee-deep in preparations for our dance school's feis in two weeks, and then we have plans to head north to the snow for a long weekend.  That weekend is my carrot to get through the next two weeks; I'm not ashamed to say I need one.  We are winding down on all of the extracurricular activities we are currently involved in, but I digress.  That will be a subject best breached after the fact.  *Ü*

Have a lovely first-week-of-2009, and remember to be kind to yourselves and your children as you struggle to get back into the swing of things.  Take it easy, breathe, and smile along the way.

Posted in Holiday Bits

I wish you all nothing but the most peaceful and joy-filled Christmas holiday.  May your nights be warm, your days full of love, and your spirit refreshed in this most holy of seasons.

I will return to visit with you all after the first of the year.  May God bless us, everyone.

poster courtesy of allposters.com; Season of Peace by Bill Breedon

Posted in The Daily Grind

In an attempt to ascertain why Jigger has been avoiding practicing dance, the following conversation took place:

Mom:  If you don't practice, you won't get better.  If you don't get better, you won't move up.
Jigger (pouting):  I know.  But maybe I will get better.
Mom:  Without practicing?
Jigger (defiantly):  Yeah.
Mom (snort):  Really?  How?
Jigger:  I don't know.  Maybe there are 1 or 2 ways I could get better.
Mom:  Yeah?  Name them.
Jigger (in all seriousness):  I don't know.  The first is a miracle, the second is maybe I practice.
Mom (dissolved into laughter)

Posted in Tightwad Tuesdays

Welcome to Tightwad Tuesday's with Canadagirl!  If you have a tightwaddy tip to share with the group, please do go visit my friend Mary for more information.

This week, I thought I'd post this recipe for Black Bean Soft Tacos.  I actually just threw this all together one day, and it has become a lunch staple for us.  Sometimes I'll pare it with my homemade Beef Rice and a salad for dinner, but usually it winds up being a fast, easy, and filling lunch for me and the boys during the school week.  I hope you enjoy them!

Shani's Black Bean Soft Tacos

2-3 cans of black beans, drained
1-2 teaspoons homemade taco seasoning
red onion, diced
garlic, pressed
olive oil
whole wheat tortillas

In a frying pan, heat olive oil.  Add onion and garlic, and cook for a couple of minutes.  Add the beans and seasoning and cook until heated through.

In a second (non-stick) frying pan, heat on medium heat until pan is warmed.  Pop in a tortilla, spin gently (to avoid burning) for a minute or so, then flip and repeat.  Your tortilla is done when it begins 'puffing' up. 

Did you know that tortillas are *not* cooked all the way when you purchase them from the store?  Nope.  You need to finish cooking them at home.  I learned this way of finishing them from some Hispanic friends of mine back in Michigan.  We detest microwaved tortillas (smell, taste, sogginess factor), and this way makes them dry and almost crisp.  Yumm!!!

Add your bean mixture to the center of your tortilla, top with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, etc., roll up and enjoy!  The two boys and I use two cans of beans for lunch; when hubby is home we go through three.

Now, in a bid to become more aware of how much I'm spending and how much per meal is (this will all link in to a future Tightwad Tuesday post), I've figured out that this meal (tacos, rice, salad) costs my family approximately $7.44.  Here's the breakdown:

Tacos:
3 can beans, 50¢ per can (avg. sale price here)
12 whole wheat tortillas, $2.29 (I know other brands are more inexpensive, but my research has shown that the cheaper brands are that much more unhealthy for you- I will begin making my own soon)
cheese, 75¢
lettuce, 25¢
tomatoes, 25¢

Beef Rice (double recipe):
Rice*, 75¢
Seasonings, 50¢
Butter, 40¢

Salad, $1.25

*I purchase my rice (brown, long grain - NOT minute rice) at a local Farmer's Market for 99¢ a pound (79¢ on sale), because it just tastes better.  I've tried other types of rice, but the FM has a tremendous turnover, so the rice is super fresh.  We didn't like other pre-packaged types of brown rice, because they tasted greasy and unpalatable to us.  This does not.

So there's my recipe for a quick, easy, healthy, filling meal.  I hope you enjoy it!

Posted in The Daily Grind

Once upon a time, there was a home educating, blogging wife and mother.  She enjoyed blogging in her spare time, and always had dozens of posts swirling about in her mind.  Due to the busy-ness of the holidays, however, she had no time to post even one of those fascinating posts.  She was very sad.

One day, our mom finally decided to eke out a meager amount of time and sit down and post at least one of her by now hundreds of stories.  She sat down in front of her computer and stared at the screen.  Her fingers rested lightly upon the keyboard, but to her dismay, nothing happened.  Not one of those truly wonderful stories popped in to her head.  She sat in the still of the early morning, and was at a true loss for words (if you knew our mom IRL, you would fall over with shock at this).

"What could I write?" she wondered.  "What do people want to read?  Surely they don't want to read yet another excuse on why I wasn't here, or yet another recap of my time spent away.  So what do I do?  It's a bit abrupt to just jump in and act like I was never absent, isn't it?  Hmmm... maybe it's not."  And so our busy wife and mother decided to just jump in right where she was, and hope that all the other wonderful wives and mothers out in bloggyland would understand that the season, this wonderful, magical time of Christmas, has her putting home and hearth first, as it should be, and that when a less busy season of life comes along she'll be back blogging with the best of them.  Because family, that precious gift from above, must come first.  Always.

And of course, her fellow bloggers understood completely, because it was a magical time in their homes as well, and bloggyland had already begun to quiet down as it always does at this wonderful time of year.  And just as sure as the sun rises in the east, after the holidays moms will focus on starting their little home schools back up and bloggyland will be a quieter place for just a bit longer, until.....

Until bloggy moms are confident that their homes and schools are back on track, and need the company of other mothers before they lose their minds.  Such sweet cycles life has.

To be continued...

**************************************************************

Thanksgiving was a peaceful, enjoyable day here - I hope it was for you all as well.  We had 12 in for dinner, and lots of leftovers (the best part, right?).  Life is, as usual, full, which I assume is holding true for everyone.  Gifts are being made, cards are being made out, and holiday baking is just around the corner.  Life is so good, so full, and such a blessing.

It goes without saying that while I will try to be a little better about keeping up with everyone, I will still be absent more than I am present.  I am enjoying this holiday season in spite of myself, and determined to make it a lovely memory for my family.  I expect you all have pretty much the same intentions, and look forward to catching up with everyone!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Posted in The Daily Grind

Well, I'm finally back.  I could wax poetic on how life takes over and you realize what's important and how the family misses their wife/mother, but I could just as easily type blah-blah-blah-blah-blah, and you'd get the same idea.  So, I'll spare you.  Instead, I'll regale you with stories of my adventures during my absence from, well, HERE.

Aside from the household chores that have been accomplished, life has been very busy outside of the home lately.  Jigger had a Feis (pronounced 'fesh'; meaning Irish Dance Competition) a few weeks ago, and that consumed an entire day.  Results were abysmal, and a re-thinking of purpose in this particular direction was much needed.  Improvement is gradual, but the direction is much better now, so we'll see by and by.  (Sorry, no photos of that day; would rather forget it, to be honest.)

Ummmm.... the following weekend we had Halloween.  Yes, Dear Reader, we're heathens who celebrate Halloween.  There goes half my readership.  *sigh*  LOL!  Halloween preparations included a costume-making day, a pumpkin-carving day, and a candy-shopping expedition. 

 All told, 15 bags of candy lasted the requisite two hours (thank goodness; last year we ran out at 1 hour, 20 minutes- talk about embarrassing!!), so it was a success from that aspect.  Piper decided he was done with Halloween (a decision I had always looked forward to, but when it was actually upon me made me very sad - how much do I *hate* that time won't stand still?), and that he wanted to hand out candy instead.  That he did, all night, with a chicken hat perched upon his grinning head.  Here he is with his jack-o-lantern:

Jigger decided he was going to be a Templar Knight from some Crusade to recover some thing or other (yes, I teach history as well, LOL), so I had a costume to make.  Jigger pulled out his Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, I grabbed some fabric and my sewing machine, and two hours later we had a knight worthy of service.  See for yourself (with his jack-o-lantern):

To celebrate Halloween, we also made up (a day in advance) Tina's Pumpkin Spice Bread recipe.  It was delish!  Go get it and make it for your family for Thanksgiving.  You won't be sorry.  Here are our loaves (just a memory now - but I did stock up on pumpkin last week when it was on sale, so I'm gonna make me us some more!).  We made them up, threw one in the freezer, and ate the other the next day.

The day after Halloween Piper had a competition in Tucson at a Celtic Festival.  He took 3rd out of 6 - whoop, whoop!!!  He did medal, and we were thrilled.  Here he is playing his first of three tunes that day:

If you've never gone to a Celtic Festival or Highland Games, we highly recommend that you do so when the opportunity presents itself.  Here is a (admittedly lacking in detail) photo of the games (caber toss, etc.) that were going on while I was resting in our spot. 

This is only a small portion of the games.  Tell you what.  If any of you are going to be in or around Phoenix towards the end of February, we'll take you to the Highland Games and you can experience it with us.  How's that?  *Ü*

Yesterday hubby had an unexpected day off (for Veteran's Day), so we spent an entire day geocaching, for which Mary reminded me to take pictures of - too late.  I didn't get her reminder until we were home.  So sorry.  Will take the camera next time.  The memory stick is full anyway - I've *GOT* to get those photos printed!

So, that is just a little of what has been going on around here.  I'd like to launch into a huge discussion on blogging vs. family time, what suffers, etc., but since you all probably feel guilty enough at times, I'm not going to do that to any of us.  Why end such a nice post in such a boggy fashion?  No sirree.  What I *will* say is that with the holidays coming up, gifts still needing to be made, baking to be done, etc., my blog time will be severely shortened.  I will make a much better effort to keep in touch, but I need to get on a schedule that works for me.  Just through the holidays.  Because as a dear friend reminded me, the blogging needs/time I have right now will not stay the same from season to season.  And she's 100% correct.  Just last month I was blogging almost every day; this month?  Not so much.

I look forward to catching up with all of you, and am interested in seeing how the holidays are affecting your blogginess as well.  I want to enjoy this season tremendously, in spite of normal extended family angst at this time of year, and I encourage you all to begin the preparations now to have a month of Christmas without stress.  *That* is a subject that is forthcoming.  Along with many others.  Because while you can take the blogger out of bloggy-land, you can't take her posts (piling up) out of her head.  *grin*  Stay tuned....

Posted in The Daily Grind

A Happy Monday Greeting to you, my dear friends!  I took an unscheduled blogging break last week when push came to shove around my home, and I am so much the better for it.  Thank you for all of your well-wishes and warm comments while I was gone.  They were so nice to come back to today.  I have missed you all, and look forward to catching up with everyone.

While I was gone, we went to library twice (where I got a smoking good deal I'll share with you later), we went to dance and pipes lessons, we caught up on things around the house (cleaned out both freezers and took inventory, thankyouverymuch), a Halloween costume was made from scratch (no pattern, thankyouverymuch) in under two hours, we made Tina's pumpkin spice bread for the first time and drooled over the smell as it was baking (it's delicious, and we heartily recommend you go make some), we did the mundane (groceries), caught up with some wonderful friends at the park for an entire glorious day, drove down to Tucson for the Celtic Festival where Piper competed (pictures and results forthcoming), and spent a restful day yesterday gearing up for the week ahead.

I hope you all had a wonderful week last week, and that this week has begun on a cheery note for all.  I'll see you all soon!

poster courtesy of allposters.com; "The Mourne Mountains, County Down, Northern Ireland" by Kindra Clineff

Posted in Show and Tell Friday

Welcome to this latest installment of Show 'n Tell Friday with Canadagirl!  If you would like to participate, please go visit my dear friend Mary for more information.

This past Sunday, hubby and I decided to take advantage of his rare shift change.  He usually works daytime hours, but for the past week and half has been on 2nd shift hours.  Since he didn't have to leave for work until 2ish, we decided on the spur of the moment to head up north for the night.  (In the interest of telling the truth, I was going stir-crazy and he told me to "pack my bags."  LOL)

So, we threw our overnight bags in the truck and off we went.  Three hours later we were checking into our hotel, and another half an hour after that found us outside, enjoying the cooler mountain clime.  We took a favorite hike of ours along the Mogollon Rim, and the boys had a wonderful time exploring the area while hubby and I sat on a boulder and talked (and held hands and smooched, if you must know).  Here are a few pictures of our hike along the Rim:

(that's Piper above walking along the path; the path was paved for the first 0.3 mile, and then dirt for the remaining 0.7 mile)

Where's the boy?

Along the hike, we (literally) crossed paths with the original road into town; you can read more about the Rim Road here.  Here is the original road:

After our hike, we grabbed a pizza and watched the sun set, then went back to the hotel where the boys swam for hours and yours truly sat in the hot tub until I got pruny.

(sorry for picture quality - I'm still trying to figure out how to make my extremely amateur digital camera turn out high-quality photos like Alyssa's high-quality digital camera *grin*)

The next day we got up, had breakfast, and headed home.  (*sigh*)  The trip home entails driving through the Salt River Canyon, and this trip we decided to prolong our all-too-brief holiday and so stopped and enjoyed a respite from travelling.  Here is our stop about half-way down into the canyon (we're headed for the bottom, folks):

Across the canyon, you can see the road we will be taking carving its way up the moutain side:

Once down at the bottom, we stopped at the rest area, where you can buy some authentic Indian jewelry (I thought of you, Mary, the minute I saw this display; this display is only about 1/6th of what was available jewelry-wise there.  There was also a table where you could buy Indian Fry Bread... yummmm.),

or you could take the stairs down to the river and hike around:

So, that is our 24 hour trip.  Literally.  We left the house at 12.25 p.m. on Sunday and pulled into the driveway at 12.24 p.m. Monday.  But as hubby says, it was so relaxing it felt like an entire weekend.

Incidentally, this is my 200th post.  While there are many of you who have hit more than that, there are also those of you who are surprised to see me hit this - as am I.  When I took my bloggy break last year, I didn't really intend to come back.  I'm so very glad I did, but still struggle with finding that balance.  I know you all do as well, and that's what keeps me from throwing the towel in.  So, here's to 200 more!