Waffle Wednesday was a thing in our household for quite sometime. I didn’t make a whole ton of waffles until last year when I was working with a personal trainer who sent me this FANTASTIC recipe! It is SOOO yummy. And I can honestly say I like them more than regular waffles. The origin of the recipe is hard to find, but I got it on heidipowell.net. I always double it for our big Belgian waffle maker, so these are the things I do:
1 cup Cottage Cheese 1 cup Water 4 Eggs 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract 2 teaspoons Baking Powder 4 teaspoon Olive Oil 2 2/3 cup Oats (quick or traditional)
The best part about this: THROW IT ALL IN A BLENDER! It mixes quickly and is all ready to pour.
Also, my husband and children just love to dip their waffles. Less dishes to do! Healthy meal, and OH SO YUMMY!
The first panic attack I ever had started because my niece fell and hit her head on my mom’s piano bench. That’s right– hyperventilating, tears, a had-to-hide-in-another-room panic attack because a toddler tumbled over.
I should’ve known then that the journey to heal emotionally was going to be much longer than my physical journey.
Within a year my cast was removed, I could lay down again without my ribs or back hurting and even had a living baby. My physical body had done a great job healing. But here I am, 5+ YEARS later and only a couple months past my last panic moment (I say moment because when compared to those first ones, it was much less severe).
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is something I never thought I would have. I live a fairly normal, boring life. But I was in the right (wrong) place at the right (wrong) time and my life was changed forever.
There have been SO MANY TIMES that I thought I was “over it.” I have even gone months without incident.
Then, what seemed to be out of the blue, I would have one episode, then another and another. This would spark feelings of despair: would I ever be better? Why is this happening AGAIN? IT HAS BEEN 5 YEARS. I shouldn’t be dealing with this. What is my problem?
But what I have learned is that PTSD doesn’t just go away because my experiences don’t just go away. Living a life, coping with PTSD is a journey. I will always be a different distance from the accident and the way I deal with the PTSD will change with that distance. Sometimes it doesn’t affect the way I live at all! Referring to my previous post: that book is on the shelf where it should be.
But no one who struggles with PTSD should be surprised, discouraged, or feel like a failure if it comes back out again. It’s the name of the game, and even just acknowledging that can help us cope.
A couple weeks ago, when I first ordered the purse storage, I received a notification saying that it had been “delivered” but the package I received was NOT what was ordered, but some small electronic box thing. (I still doing really know what it was). So I filled out all of the important papers to return it and get what I had actually ordered on its way.
Well, the next day I got a package! Yay! The right thing came!
NOT. As we opened it ONCE AGAIN, it was the wrong package.
At least, that is what we thought…until we saw a gift receipt in the box! My wonderful sister had sent us a package! She found this game and bought it for her almost 4 year old and she wanted to share it with us.
This is Spout & Spell, by Fisher Price. (Link is at end of this post or in the shop) To play this game, you roll the die, push the gold star on the whale the number you rolled, and then with the tiles he spouts out of his mouth you try and spell the letters on your cards. There are both three and four letter words on these cards.
WE LOVE THIS GAME SO MUCH! It is great for kids of all ages. It is perfect for those who are learning to count, learning their letters, or learning to spell, but also fun for older kids. I enjoy playing it probably as much as my 4 year old! The rules are simple enough and the only skills required are counting and letter recognition, or even just matching.
Since I don’t put my daughter in preschool, I am always on the look out for ways to teach her letters and numbers. We have loved using this to help solidify the letter names. I can’t wait to use this when she begins to read and spell. This is a great tool to have!
I am one of those people who cooks the same 5 things on repeat. This recipe is one of my family FAVORITES! And I made it at least once a week for half of 2019. Of course, no two times were exactly the same (I have problems with consistency) but every way I have made it has been a hit. Once again I will list some amounts, but you can change up the proportions until it looks good.
Sometimes we eat this with rice, however if you are trying to limit carbs, this can stand on its own too.
Shopping List: -Chicken Breast (1 or 2 for our family of 4) -Sweet potatoes 4ish -Apple (gala) 1/2-1 -Onion 1/2-1 -Garlic Salt -Olive Oil -Poultry seasoning
Start by cutting the sweet potatoes apples and onions into bite sized sizes. Coat them in a little bit of olive oil and season with garlic salt and parsley. Mix it ALL (yes, the apples too) on a sheet pan and bake in a preheated oven at 415 degrees fahrenheit for 20-ish minutes or until the sweet potatoes are tender.
While those are in the oven, cut the chicken into cubes and cook in a fry pan in some olive oil and season with poultry seasoning. When they are all done, mix the chicken with the sweet potatoes, onions and apples.
Voila! Delicious sweet potato hash.
Tips: Like I said earlier, I have done it many times, different ways. To date, these are my favorites: -Red onions are the BEST when you have apples -I usually use about half a gala apple to 4 sweet potatoes HOWEVER apples are really optional -Soy sauce is not a bad addition
It has been my goal to read scriptures before doing any work and a couple days ago I had just sat down and pulled out my scriptures when my thoughts began going everywhere. Somehow, once again, they turned to my nursery (why is it always the nursery? No clue).
I looked at the bookshelf there and thought about where it had been just a couple weeks ago–up against a different wall acting as a platform for all our junk. The whole room was a disaster: garbage on the floor, boxes of things we just didn’t want to go through, and everything we didn’t want our company to see. Chaos reigned.
Then I saw it for what it is today and felt gratitude for the progress. The room is still far from where I hope to get it, but it has become such a different, new room. I can vacuum! The bookshelf is now home to important papers, pens and pencils, a sewing machine, etc. and the floor is no longer a dumping ground.
There is more order.
That order didn’t come from throwing everything away. We were able to completely remove a lot of stuff that we had been carrying around for a while: unnecessary papers, broken crayons, scented wax cubes we’ve had for five years, etc.
However, some stuff in there now was a part of the mess before but has been put in a place where it can belong without adding to chaos.
I soon caught my mind wandering and went to the task at hand: reading my scriptures. I looked down and read a verse that reminded me to “remember what the Lord hath done.”
Instantly, I saw that room as me. I remembered the awful, chaotic, full of junk state my mind was in. I thought of the panic attacks, the feelings of anger and despair and loneliness. I thought of the darkness of the depression and the suicidal thoughts.
But I don’t live in THAT room anymore. With help from some incredible family members, doctors, therapists, friends, and most of all my Savior, Jesus Christ, I have been able to organize some of that mess. I have been able to throw away unnecessary expectations that caused unneeded stress and anxiety.
There are things I cannot throw away, and will never be able to, but I’ve got a bookshelf now with some experiences put where they need to be, some forgiveness finally picked up off of the ground, tools to help me keep it organized.
There is still a LONG way to go, but I am SO grateful for that glimpse— to see light again, and to finally be able to recognize growth. I am most importantly thankful for a Savior that bought that bookshelf and takes away the garbage.
Back a few years ago, ok 7 (what?!), I served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One of the rules for this mission was to have a companion 24/7, literally. Unless you were using the bathroom or showering etc. you were supposed to be within eye and ear shot of this other human being that you JUST MET.
I’m sure you can imagine the challenges that might arise from such a situation. But as representatives of Jesus Christ we were on a mission to LOVE and that included our companions. So what do you do if you get stuck with someone you don’t like/can’t get along with? I don’t know. It didn’t happen for me. BUT! In the missionary training center we were advised: WRITE 50 THINGS YOU LOVE ABOUT YOUR COMPANION.
This advice has served me well, far beyond my mission! Having a spouse is not always the easiest, we are two separate souls determined to build a life together, but we are still different.
Sometimes our differences can blind us, and drive us apart, but not if we are always seeking out the good in each other.
So for 6 years now, I have written 50 things I love about my husband and given it to him as a gift on Valentine’s Day. I try not to use the same ones over and over and usually when I start the list it is not easy. But the more I think and dwell on the things I love about him, by the end of my list the ideas just fly into the page.
It has been such a blessing for me! And a great, romantic, Valentine’s tradition.
Alright, alright. I know I already posted about how using screens should not inflict guilt, and I stand by that 100%, BUT I want to share something AWESOME that happened in our house a couple weeks ago!!
Maybe I was feeling particularly strong, or maybe my kids had watched a little too much of a very annoying kids show which shall not be named, or I just wanted to be a #meanmom, but I decided to say no. No TV. No iPad. No old iPhone with kid apps on it.
At first the fight was frightening, the wailing and moaning and thrashing on the floor.
But then it stopped! It didn’t even last that long, probably because I deliberately ignored it (woohoo! I usually am not that tough), but really, we were out of it within an hour.
The rest of the day, my kids played so well! The next day, they woke up and went straight to the Lego Duplos where the built towers and cars and, my personal favorite: Mickey Mouse Clubhouses of all shapes and sizes. They worked together and they played pretend for hours. Their “need” for the devices had disappeared!
It was such a nice break from the constant asking for one screen or another. And all it took was me to be emotionally well enough to say no and to calmly deal with the backlash for maybe an hour. It also helped me realize that kids are so resilient, and I haven’t ruined them yet! We can always change things up and improve, no one has to keep life the same day in and day out.
The babes have since gotten sick, and in an attempt to keep them in one place, I put the iPad in front of them for hours, so we are back to square one.
For some reason I find great joy in finding storage solutions that are inexpensive and unpredictable. Necessity began this quest as we moved into a home with NO storage closets, a bedroom with no room for a dresser and an incredibly small clothing closet. I really had to get creative then and I now it is almost a personal quest whenever I need a new solution.
As mentioned in an earlier post, my nursery is still in the works. Up until this last week, all of his baby blankets were “stored” in a pile on the floor. Having grown up in a home where my mother said, “nothing on the floor but the furniture,” that was not going to last.
I didn’t want to take up any more floor space, as it is pretty limited already. I had considered getting coat pegs but couldn’t decide what wall I would put that on.
Then I came across this awesome thing!
It was made to hold purses, but I really love it for blankets. There’s plenty of room, it’s off the floor, and I don’t really have to look at them. The best part? It was less than $5.
If your house is like ours, there are never enough edges to go around when German pancakes are for breakfast! But several years ago, probably because I didn’t have a clean cake pan and didn’t want to do dishes, I stumbled upon a simple solution: use a cupcake pan!
We make the recipe just the same, divide the butter between the cupcake tins and fill them 1/2 full.
Now everyone gets edges! And they are fun to dip.
The recipe we use:
• 6T butter
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup milk
• pinch of salt
• larger pinch of sugar (optional)
While preheating oven time 400 degrees Fahrenheit, place the butter in 24 individual cupcake tins (quarter tablespoon each) OR two 9” cake pans OR in a 9×13 pan. Put in the oven while you mix the rest of the ingredients.
Pull the melted butter out and fill the pans or cupcake tins 1/2 full and bake for 15-20 minutes or until peaks turn brown.
Tips:
-I let my butter get a little browned because I LOVE BROWNED BUTTER
-I like to put my ingredients in a blender, while that doesn’t make it “poof” any better, it makes the pancake as a whole more fluffy.
-Sometimes I don’t do a full 6 Tablespoons of butter in the 9×13 pan.
– If you want more peaks, pour the batter into different parts of the pan, the peaks will come up where you pour!
When things were going well, and my kids decided to behave and play well and eat their food, I thought I had figured it out!
But then the last 5 days hit. Daddy was gone a lot. Baby hit a growth spurt and was CONSTANTLY hungry. The two year old learned to hit and he does it a lot. And the 4 year old realized that mom can’t discipline while nursing the baby.
Motherhood is such a rollercoaster. Somedays I just can’t believe how truly incredible my kids are! Seriously, they have hearts of gold and just exude love and kindness and helpfulness.
And then all of a sudden (like the last few days) they are something else.
Today I crashed, emotionally. So, I took myself on a date. Just before dinnertime I handed the baby over to daddy and drove away, not really sure where to go but knowing I needed something.
Roaming the aisles of Hobby Lobby, dreaming of all the things that I would love to have, I tried to be inspired by all the sayings they have on their decor.
It didn’t take long before I realized I wasn’t actually feeling all that inspired, because when I though about what things would FIT in our house, I realized nothing did today. Do we feel “so very blessed” or do we “choose joy?”
I would love to say yes. But today I didn’t. Today I got angry. I yelled. I slept. I didn’t make breakfast or dinner. Each time I looked at one of those signs my eyes rolled just a little bit.
However! The signs that stood out to me the most said “Let’s Stay Home.”
And even after this no-good, terrible, very bad, bad day, that sentiment is one I feel in my soul!
I love my home. I know my family loves our home. Being with them is still the best place I want to be!
We make the recipe just the same, divide the butter between the cupcake tins and fill them 1/2 full.
