This leaves me no choice but to go to my happy place.  Between the mess and the stress and the crying; the constant, constant tell-tale heartesque crying, I’ve spent a lot of time in happy places.

When Littlbit arrived at school today, one of my favoritist things had happened.

It was Scholastic Book Order Day!  Not only did the books I ordered last time arrive, but the new book orders had arrived.  BLISS.  FREAKING BLISS!

I love Scholastic Book Club.  It really is a nice way for families to acquire affordable books and I believe strongly in the benefit of a child having books of their own.  Libraries are great.  FANTASTIC.  I LOVE libraries, but the books that hold a place in my heart from my childhood was the dog eared copies I owned myself.  Read over and over and memorized out of love.  Beezus and Ramona.  Little Women.  LIttle House in the Prairie.  The Princess and Littlbit have favorites of their own.  Picture books read lovingly over and over.  No, David.  Skippyjohn Jones. Chrysanthemum.  Pinkilicious. I also love that Scholastic provides books for the classroom.

Books.  Books.  Books.  Books.

So, dear readers, today when I was paging through the book order flyers I decided that I was gong to share some book love with you.  And your little people. 

The Details:

Leave a comment making sure to include your name and e-mail address.  Tell me what your kiddos favorite books are.  Next Thursday, I’ll randomly choose a name to win brand new copies of:

Welcome Spring by Little Scholastic

Duck at the Door by Jackie Urbanovic

The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn

and

Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up her Wash by Sarah Weeks

We are going to return to OAMC using www.onceamonthmom.com and her off the hook, easy peasy OAMC (once a month cooking plans).  We divide the amounts in half and it will create for us 16 dinners, four different lunches and two different breakfast options.  Totally worth the effort.  However, we aren’t going to be doing one large cooking session.  I’ll be doing several small sessions over the course of the next week  We’re quite busy this month and Idon’t have an 8 hour span of time to devote to it.

ANYHOW….

Monday

Homemade corned beef hash, corn bread and fruit

(another easy peasy recipe if you have leftover corned beef and potatoes.  Dice them up and fry them until brown.  Delish!)

Tuesday

Catalina chicken, oven fries and veggies

Wednesday

Chicken pot pie and salad (veering away from once a month mom’s recipe on this one and recreating a dish from last week that we all loved and that should freeze well.

Thursday

Ravioli Lasagna, garlic bread and salad

Friday

Typically out

Saturday

Usually on the go.

Have you taken time to put together your menu plan for the week?  It’s a time and money saver!

So, I’ve been rocking this planet for eight months now.  I have to say, it’s pretty good.  Except for peas.  That’s some nasty stuff.

Anyway, I decided to start crawling.  That’s pretty fun.  I can get into all kinds of stuff.  I like eating, in no particular order, fuzz, paper, money and the occasional used dryer sheet.  THose might actually be my favorite.  They taste a lot better than the peas.

Another great thing to do is to scratch your nails on things.    And also to pull yourself up and stand.  That’s cool.  It makes my Mom unhappy, but she’s all  “hey, when you get bigger you can play with your sisters” and then she’s all  “STOP GROWING SO FAST!”

Make up your mind, lady.

But, she pretty consistently says she thinks I’m the cutest baby EVAH (she says it just like that) and I’m not stuck up or anything? But she’s probably right.  I’m super cute.  Don’t you think?

Anyhow, I’m going to keep working on this getting bigger thing (while trying to keep my Mom off my back.  You can’t give me shrinking formula!  It’s illegal! or Something!  Plus, I don’t think it exists).

But really, I am cute.  Mom says jowls are totally in.

1) I understand your house is vacant and that you want to save money on your heating bills but walking into a house in the middle of February that is minimally heated is uncomfortable. It’s not welcoming.  It’s particularly unpleasant if I have to take off my shoes.  It is worse if you don’t heat your house, want me to take off my shoes AND have tile floors.  Your house?  It doesn’t make me want to stay.  Or linger.  It makes me want to get back in my shoes and go back to my warm car.

We saw two occupied houses that were, of course, comfortable but all the vacant or semi-vacant houses?  Freezing.  Causing me to want to make my exit.  The bank owned home we viewed (and loved) was warmer than the vacant houses we visited.  And, since it was a comfortable temperature it encouraged us to linger.

oh hai house in a blizzard

2) If it’s been snowing, find a way to clear your walks.  Trudging through knee deep snow with Baby Bee really didn’t put me into a very positive mindset.  Even just shoveling the walk would have made a huge difference.  If you couple a lot of snow with a cold house I really REALLY want to go back to the car.

3) If you live in someplace where it snows and if your home is for sale during that snowy time and if you don’t want to shovel your driveway or walk at least put the lockbox on the door you intend it to open.    Having to trudge through said snow from door to door to remove the key to trudge back to the front door to unlock the door is maddening in bad weather.

4) Take your barking dog with you.  Or crate her.  Being trailed around the house being barked at is another unpleasant encounter and, again, not lingering.  But the house?  Lovely.  Would have liked to linger.  Dog?  I don’t care if you say she’s friendly, her hair was standing up on her back and that=not that friendly to me.

BIg plus?  If you’re retro?  Rock it.

Handmade Charlotte? The entire thing?  BEAUTIFUL

Adore this one hour sundress from From an Igloo.  (and, as an aside, I am so stinking ready for spring and summer.  Seriously snow.  DONE WITH YOU!)

The Written Word has new uses for old books.  Some of them are quite stunning.

I love the upcycling possibilities with the Place Mat purse from Little Birdie secrets.

Thinking about whipping up a batch of homemade sugar scrub from petit elefant

This little Refashioned ruffle skirt from Sew Much Ado is to die for.

Caramel Turgle Sugar “Brookies”. ZOMG.  I can say no more.  That says enough.

The Flat Emelie and Matt dolls from Moda Bake Shop are going right onto my to-make list.  LIttlebit would love them to pieces.  Of course, we’ll call them Flat LIttlebit or something instead.

I’m using this shirring tutorial from Pretty Ditty to make sundresses this summer.  Yes summer.  GO AWAY SNOW!

And, last but really REALLY not least Knock Off Wood serioulsy blew my mind.  Love Pottery barn, but you don’t love the prices OR the MDF.  Knock off wood shows you how to make it yourself. Let that sink in, people.  Because WOW.

A lot of people say that the Internet is depersonalizing us.  That it stops basic human interaction.  That it changes us.  I agree that it changes us, but I don’t agree with the rest.

In 1998 I logged on for the first time and in May I found Big Daddy.  Like he was waiting for me, wrapped up like a present.  After nearly 12 years and three beautiful girls, also wrapped up like presents, I can say that for me, the Internet isn’t an impersonal place.  How can it be?  It added, to my life, all of these PEOPLE.

“You play game with me?  Pease?”, Littlebit thrusts the wii controller and the game at me.  My to-do list is long.  I sit down on the floor and gather her into my lap.  I hold her hand in mine over the controller and help her point.

“Yes”, I say.

The Internet brought me Big Daddy and our resulting little people.  It’s done more than that.  It’s changing the kind of person I am.  It’s changing the kind of wife I am.  It’s changing the kind of mother I am.  The Internet stands up every day and reminds me that right now?  Right now? Is a gift.

I look down into Baby Bee’s big eyes.  They’re still muddy, changing color.  Blue today, green yesterday, brown tomorrow.  There’s so much to do, as always, and Littlebit is jumping on the bed like a wild woman.

“I can only rock for five more minutes”, I say.  Baby Bee looks at me, considering.   She calls my bluff.

I rock for another twenty minutes until she’s asleep in my arms.

Last year, I was introduced to a grieving mother who lost her toddler.  And they changed me.  When my patience was wavering I thought of Heather and Maddie.  I thought about how Heather would love to be up to her elbows in poop or the day to day messes caused by little people and I took a deep breath and regrouped and decided it wasn’t worth being mad.  I spoke softer when I was angry.  I hugged when I was ready to scream.  I gave in when I wanted to fight.

The year before last I was introduced to another mother, grieving her lost son.  And so, I counted kicks and prayed and were thankful for every etra day I keep Baby Bee inside me, growing stronger with each day.  Even though my pregnancy with her wasn’t easy, at times it was down right hard, I never wished her out.  Because I learned that every single one of those days is precious.  I prayed for her health, for her to be full term, for her to be born well.

The Princess struggled with hours of homework some nights.  She misses milld winter weather and fluffy snow man snow.

“I wish I could play outside”, she says wistfully from the dining room table from behind her stack of paper and books.

“Go”, I say.  “The homework will wait.”

And now, I’m privy to the sorrow of another family.  It is crushing to consider their pain.  HER pain.  The quiet that is soon to overcome their house.  How they will stop being an earthly family of five. How awful it is to consider not being an earthly family of five.

How I am now a part of an earthly family that used to be five.

And so,  I work on sweating the small stuff even less.  I take the long way because it brings someone small a little more happiness.  I commit to cooking taking an extra fifteen minutes.  I wipe up water off of the kitchen floor from my dishwashing help.

I say Yes.

“What’s that?”, Littlebit asks the Princess as the snowplow thumps down the street.

“Snowplow”, the Princess answers.

“Snowcow?”, Littlebit repeats. “I see snowcow?”

The Princess opens the front door and sits cross-legged in front of the glass.  LIttlebit dances behind her. Waiting for the snowcow.  The heat is leaking out of the house.  It’s bedtime.  Baby Bee is passed out in my lap instead of in her crib.

I don’t move.  In my stillness, I say yes.

This is my steamer. See?  It’s not pretty.  It’s kind of scuffed up, but that’s because it’s useful.  I use it.  For what?  What don’t I use it for.

Ugly, but good.

1) Cleaning glass.  Super easy.  Hose that glass down with steam and use the squeegee.   Your glass will be sparkling clean in minutes AND no chemicals.

2) All natural soap leave….um…chunks in your shower?  Steam if off.

3) Potty training children leave pee places you don’t want it?  Steam it off! (but, it stinks.  Just thought I should point that out)

4) Gunk around the shoe molding on your baseboards?  You get what I’m saying?

5) Dirty nasty sliding door track?  You guessed it.

It really REALLY does work.  It’s not a gimmick AND best of all?  It’s chemical free and does the job.  I’m all for spending money on products that make your housework easier and this is a biggie.  It really does work for me.

What one just like it?  You can find it at amazon.com (I don’t have to tell you that I don’t make any money from that link, right?)  Want to see what’s working for other people?  Check out WFMW at We are THAT family

Six inches of sloppy, wet stuff.

My third habit was using my calendar to keep myself on track.  Prior to ordering asking Big Daddy to get me an iPhone I was using a mokeskine notebook that I hacked. It worked okay, but there was nothing that caused me to pick up the notebook if I set it aside.  Nothing compelling me to use it.  When I whined and stomped asked Big Daddy for the iPhone I had hopes that it would help with my productivity.  And it has!

I use the 2Do ap on my phone. It works great for me.

I’ve entered in my daily chores as reoccurring projects.  Every day when I complete my morning chores, for instance, I close out the project and it turns itself on the next day.  I can schedule weekly and monthly chores and can, at a glace, see what obligations we have each day.  I can set up alarms to remind me of things i tend to forget (the date of the Girl Scout meeting, when the Princess has a half day).

I also make note of dinner each day as well and if it requires early preparation, I can set up an alarm for that too.

I’ve been using the calendar religiously for a week and while I hate it a lot (I’m a free spirit, man) it works.  The house is staying clean after our cleaning blitz a week ago and I’m logging obligations the minute I learn about them so there’s no room for error on my part.

I know our schedules will conflict more and more as the girls get older, so getting into the habit of using a calendar well NOW seems to be a necessity.

Cooking for a friend who had a baby and since we haven’t had our favorite potato soup yet this window I think it’s time.  Not for those on a diet or with angsty gall bladders (I’m eating it anyhow)

Ultimate Potato Soup

Salad

Tuesday

This meatloaf comes highly recommended from another community I visit.  It’s called Beth’’s Meatloaf after the poster who, well, posted it.

Mine has been declared the best meatloaf ever by several people, I think it’s the “stuffing” but it could be the sauce. But it makes a sauce in the bottom and when you flip it out… including the recipe because someone might ask for it.

Oven: 350 degrees
Cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients

* 1/3 cup brown sugar
* 1/2 cup ketchup
* 1-1/2 pounds lean ground beef
* 3/4 cup milk
* 2 eggs
* 1-1/2 tsp salt
* 1/4 tsp black pepper
* 1 small white onion, chopped
* 1/4 tsp ground ginger (optional)
* 1 pkg Stove Top Stuffing Mix

Method

* Lightly grease 5×9 loaf pan
* Press brown sugar into the bottom and spread ketchup over sugar
* In mixing bowl, mix the remaining ingredients and shape into a loaf.
* Place on top of ketchup.
* Bake in preheated oven 1 hour or until juices are clear OR meat reaches an internal temperature of 170 degrees.
* Lift out into serving dish and pour remaining sauce over top.

I love meatloaf.  Even subpar meatloaf, so I’m totally stoked to try the best meatloaf ever!  I’m pairing it with au gratin potatoes and veggies

Wednesday

The Princess requested Chicken Pot Pie and who can tell a Princess no?

Thursday

Littlebit requested meat for dinner.  I think we’re going to try the Hot&Sweet drumsticks from the Pioneer Woman’s site.  We’ll pair them with crash hot potatoes and corn.

Friday

Pizza night!

Saturday

Typically on the run

But clothes making?  Totally my thang. I’ve made a little bit of everything.  Pants, shirts, skirts, jumpers, dresses, costumes and pajamas.  Mama-made pajamas are most favored nation status around here.

While I subscribe to Ottobre Magazine, my favorite nightgown pattern is easily found at most fabric stores and Wal-Mart (I know, I know the DEBBIL).  It’s a McCall’s  See and Sew B4005 and it runs about 2.99.  Why do I like it?  It really IS easy.  At this point, I can get this nightgown together in about thirty minutes.

Fairy Fabric from Joann's and hid in my "collection" for a couple of years.

I do want to make one point.

The problem with “Big 3″ patterns is that they’re sizing is off.  Seriously.  Littlebit is running around a 4t now.  I pulled out my measuring tape and measured her, matching her measurements to the pattern.  It reccomended I sew her a size 4.

Huge nightie plus some big cheese

Well, as you can see the nightie is falling off of Littlebit.  I could probably cut her down to a size three or maybe even a two without it being too small.  I also chopped about six inches off of the length as well.  My point? Well, it’s a great pattern, but beware of sizing even when measuring.  If your fabric is extra speical and you want a perfect fit, it might be worth it to make a practice nightie in some less special fabric first.

Overall, though, this is a great pattern for a new sewist (I like that better than sewer which can be taken more than one way).  If you have girlie little girls, she’ll probably love it too.