October Devotions

October is so rich in devotions. The Month of the Rosary, but even before October starts we have the feast of St. Michael, the Feast of the Guardian Angels - the we have St. Therese, St. Francis, name feast days of so many people I know....

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="359" caption="Crocheted Rosary on our Lent prayer table from 2 years ago (and last year)"][/caption]

And I intended to write about some of our devotionals this year. 10 months have quickly come to a close and this past month has been worse than any of the previous months - even morehan writing about them - DOING them.

For those of you following me online, respectfully or otherwise, you will notice there have been several blog posts - almost all of these were scheduled well in advance of their publication date. This one I write today and have re-scheduled today's for sometime next month.

In September, I spent 2 weeks prepping for a semi-last minute trip I didn't know for sure I was signed up for and thought it was a month later than it was. Garden of Francis orders were already tight, what with shipping delays, shipping damage, missing e-mails. My son's homeschooling was behind; I hadn't (and still haven't started our co-op this year yet. I spent so much pulling together childcare details and figuring out where the money was going to come from (they charged me more than I was anticipating). Then gone for a week - a WONDERFUL week mind you, but the stress before and after... well. I won't complain. Just state the facts.

I spent the last 2 days of that week with an extreme sore throat - not strep (thank goodness), but nasty nonetheless. It tasted like something rotting in my mouth most of the time.

By the time I drove the 8 hours home and reunited with my son, I was whipped. Over the course of the last month, I, who never get sick except for the monthly stuff, have been laid low with what feels like everything. (feels like it, not really everything).  And the only meds I could take for anything had high fructose corn syrup in them (a poison to my body) - taking away one symptom and giving me 10 others.

I have had the fortunate blessing of particular friends to be of fantastic assistance, taking over areas that I have been weak in. I have been blessed to not have had to miss an atrium session yet this month - yay! But that is all I have been consistent with.

And as October draws to a close, I realize that our spiritual lives this month, if not for atrium, are just BLECK. My son asks to pray the rosary and I am falling asleep before the end of the introductory prayers... We sit down to read the Bible together and I am sick to my stomach and head and have to lay down.

I appreciate everyone 's prayers through this ordeal and I look forward to things looking up for a while. Please keep the prayers coming!

Homemade Vanilla

The resident child (hehe) has been studying a bit about herbs of late. And it has been on our plans to make homemade vanilla extract for quite some time.

Obviously, not something he can do on his own... He can cut the beans, he can drain the extra fluid, he can drop in the beans, label it all and seal it up, he can store it.

But I had to make purchase. My first alcohol purchase of my life! The things we do for our children! It does seem ironic I just purchased an alcohol for my son, though!

(for the record, I am not opposed to alcohol, I just don't tout it or drink very much, and I have not had a reason to purchase it before now.... wait.... when I lived in Belgium, I bought some wine to bring home to family, but that was a different culture - alcohol was out with the sodas!).

Grandma was given this kind of rum/vanilla; and we were so happy to find it stocked at Kroger. It has fantastic flavor, so we are excited!

The beans we purchased from Mountain Rose Herbs:

http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/search/search.php?refine=y&keywords=vanilla&x=0&y=0

We have the "1oz Vanilla Bean organic and fair trade" and it smells right! ;) I do wonder if we got quite the driest beans (apparently you are supposed to use grade B beans - but I also wanted fair trade, etc). These seemed more most than I anticipated. So we'll see. Either way, it will work from what all sources say - it's just a nuance ;)

He has been looking at the history of the use of vanilla - and true to Montessori style, we want to look at the PEOPLE involved. Most fascinating is that a 12 year old child worked out how to hand-pollinate the vanilla so that it could be grown outside of the Latin America countries.

Forget gold and corn and other such things - the greatest gift that the Europeans found in the Americas: VANILLA!

Ever had chocolate without it?

We did! Never again, thank you!

Vanilla brought chocolate to the impoverished Europeans! And now they make the best chocolate in the world. One plant changed the world! One little boy's discovery!

Drying Mint

We are trying to be good stewards of the earth, while not letting the earth get in the way of the most important gift of human beings: relationship.

It is even better when the two are the same thing :)

In this case, we are growing mint in our living room. As it grows long, we trim it, hang it to dry, grind it up and make tea... and more... While it is drying (upside down so the oils flow back into the leaves, maximizing their potential), we have a beautiful decoration that makes our home, truly homey. Comforting. And there is a natural inclination towards being with one another in a cozy, homey home ;)

Once it is fully dried, we spend time together pulling the leaves off into a large bowl (easier to collect everything then, transfer in small quantities to the mortar and pestle). I bought a set of 3 of these on Amazon years back (affiliate link there) that have been simply fantastic!

The mint leaves are stored in a jar to use for making tea, or to add to our homemade toothpaste or anywhere else we need some mint flavoring.

That leaves the stems - which are fine for adding to the composting, but well, we have an interesting set up with our apartment management and mouse-traps get pricey when management does little to alleviate the issue. But fresh mint keeps them away.

My mother will cringe when she reads that I tuck these stems in all the places where the mice have been spotted. Despite her cringing, I can confidently report success (so far!) - ice-free and my home smells so nice! We freshen them up when we harvest new mint and THEN we compost the stems. There may be other purposes for them, but that is what we do for now :)

mint, dried, laying on the stove because our counters were full at the time.

grinding mint leaves with mortar and pestle

Canning - woohoo!

I finally got to do some canning this summer!

Lots of jam at great-Grandma's house; and lots of applesauce at home.

It's SO pretty!

I did not use the smaller jars that are typically used, but wanted the larger pint size with wide mouths, so they have not "lip" inside to catch all that good yumminess!

I then got a few quart size jars to get the starter going for REAL sourdough bread. It is supposed to be healthier and maybe it won't make my abdomen bloat like store-bought yeast does! We'll see! (photos to come later!)

[gallery link="file" order="DESC" columns="2"]

Holy Order, Eucharist and the Child

[caption id="attachment_931" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="At a dear friend's ordination as a priest. Spending time with his godfather and another man special in his life. "][/caption]

Once a Month Cooking - October

I have been serving as test cook for http://onceamonthmom.com - and we LOVE so many of the foods.

I like having the recipes all laid out for me, with instructions and a complete shopping list.

As a user of the site, I can just follow along and at the end of the day, I have more than a months' worth of food in my freezer and fridge (we make 4 servings, thus doubling up - 1 month of cooking usually lasts us 3 months, with our typical fill ins of peanut butter and jelly, other favorite foods, visiting elsewhere, and our other favorites).

As a test cook every few months, I get to make sure all amounts and instructions are correct for YOU the end-user.

I never do take as many photos as I intend to. The cooking is pretty intense - and so satisfying when it is done!

[caption id="attachment_923" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="breakfast cooking - these sausages were SO YUMMY! Definitely a "do 'em again, Mom!""][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_925" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="MMMMMMM........ (ok not so mmmm when raw; but they turned out fantastic!)"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_924" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="In-progress"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_926" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Peanut Butter Hummus - my son pointed out the layers, just like the layers of the earth and the density of liquids - so we had to take a photo!"][/caption]

Mean Mommy ;)

Yep. I'm a mean mommy.

If by "mean mommy", one uses the definition: a mother who holds true to her personal principles and strives to raise a child into an independent adult.

Note that this definition does not pass judgment on any other mother, or father for that matter, in any way, shape or form. This definition simply says that in this fallen world of imperfect human beings, each parent strives to their best job raising the child(ren) entrusted to said parent, in the best way that they can.

I personally would not want to raise a child based on principles I don't believe in. And I would RARELY judge another parent for choosing to raise a child according to their own principles, which may be wildly different from mine. The exceptions: physical and emotional safety. If you're going to beat your child and lock him in a closet for days on end - yeah, I'll judge. I can be totally honest about that.

If you raise your child eating ice cream for breakfast - I'll buy the ice cream on my way to your house for a morning play date! Because that is YOUR choice as a parent! (ok, in that case, it happens to be mine too - Saturday morning ice cream is something of a tradition around here - but let's see... if you choose to raise your child in a home where all the children have the same first name (Foreman family comes to mind) or the same first initial (Duggars) - that's up to you!  I won't be going there, because that's not my place.

You want to send your child to a particular school, or not, or unschool or not, or homeschool or not - or do some funky combination of all sorts of schooling. Have at it!

But I am a mean mommy. Why? Because of an arrangement my son and I agreed upon. I shared this agreement on Facebook and received some borderline hate mail. All private thus far, but really!? Why!?

It comes down to finances. On principle, I do not believe in a free-ride in life, despite anything a particular extended family member might have to say about me. I do believe in love/charity and making oneself a gift to others - but a gift to others does not equal a doormat, and when children are involved, the best time to learn responsibility is from a young age. That does NOT mean slave labor, folks! It does not mean "no fun!"

It means that I provide all the necessities (true necessities!) of life, plus a lot of the "wants" (some Americans consider these "wants" as "necessities" and that is where the "mean mommy" syndrome comes in):

Necessities:

• routine healthy meals, appropriate clothing to the season and age, suitable shelter


• education and educational supplies for core subjects, which includes basic art

Wants/Extras:

• enrollment in "electives" - extra educational options that are directly related to the core subjects or ones that I deem as "required" in our household - more art is included here


• lots and lots of books - reading material for the fun of it, as well as educational options


• Netflix and similar services - both for fun and for education


• daily desserts and treats that are not so healthy ;)


• transportation to/from scheduled events (tae-kwon-do class 2-4 times a week, speech class, tournaments, belt tests, playdates, museum trips, lego store monthly builds, home depot kids workshop monthly - just to name a very scant few)


• use of digital camera and video camera


• use of the computer to play a browser-based history game

So the rest of the mean mommy???? My son and I have agreed that HE has to pay for the following:

• any and all treats above and beyond what I would ordinarily provide - we do a lot of food-related mystery shopping and I like my treats too - so it's not like he is deprived in *any* way of routine junk food!


• he pays for almost all lego purchases from his own money (he also receives gifts from me and from others on birthdays and christmases) - this "gift" and "earn" mentality has led to him being quite generous with gift-giving. He saves his money and initiates conversations with people - "So if you could have anything for Christmas, what would it be?" and he does what he can to make it happen! You should see his gift-giving list just for this year alone! It is HUGE. Much longer than what he is asking for!


• Desired purchases that do not fit our household budget. His first big purchase? Lord of the Rings Extended Edition DVDs. At $75, we couldn't afford them, when we had a perfectly good set of widescreen editions. So he saved up his money; and bought them. When we went to order them online, the price had dropped to $49 - so he had an extra $26 to put towards his next purchase: Kingdom Lego sets. That was 2 years ago. Those are still valued items for him and he has set up longer and longer term goals for himself.


• Tae-kwon-do tournaments. Half the tae-kwon-do belt test fees. Keep in mind, I pay for a uniform each year (all he needs, although this year joining STORM team, means an extra uniform due to the change in color); I drive him to every event; I provide services for the fundraisers and make sure all is in place for his continued practice and growth. I pay for his YMCA membership and his godfather covered the tae-kwon-do class fee itself. So the extra fees are not all bad for a young man to cover.

And we still have a house full of STUFF. Yick. So he's not lacking in good old American consumerism! Despite my mad attempts to the contrary!

He takes on odd jobs with family and neighbors; he works on projects for me; he receives birthday and Christmas money; he helps to sell items that are useful to someone else but not needed here.

He just seems to be growing into a strong spirit of working hard and sharing the fruits of his work with others - because he CAN; because the work and therefore the fruits are truly HIS to *truly* give to others. Yes, he comes to me for guidance (he IS 8 years old after all!), but for the most part, he is free to share his fruits - instead of hording it all for himself because mommy gave it to HIM and him alone; or because "I know I can get more, so I don't care if I give it away." He gives because he has true ownership. He only asks for something from others when he hopes to have something to give in return. He is empowered to know he CAN work, that his work is valuable, and that he can take care of business.

If I am waffling on a purchase for his schooling or for fun and saying "well, I'd be willing to pay x-amount, but the price is y-amount", he calculates the difference himself and if he wants whatever the item is, he brings me the difference and covers it. I never ask for that!  Most recently, that happened with a museum center membership. Turns out, I got an educator discount so I returned the money he offered me, but he was still wanting to let me keep it anyway, towards the membership, just to be of help to me. I did give it back anyway, and he re-distributed the money back into other goals.

I did not teach him those things. I take no credit. I do take credit for working WITH him.

Yep. Mean Mommy. If that is defined as all of the above, OK, you've caught me ;)