Monthly Archives: October 2016

Evening Routine and Some Hubby Time

 ~ Lifeofjoy.meThe other day I was scrolling through facebook and saw a post from Lisa of Club31 Women, sharing a recent article on her website. The article was a follow-up to one she had shared previously. The first she shared was about seven things she does every morning that enable her to have a better day than if she doesn’t do them. ;) The second, which is the one that I wanted to bring to your attention, is about what her nighttime routine looks like.

Lisa is pretty amazing because she pretty much has her evenings all planned out beginning at around 5 o’clock. This all reminds me of what I learned back in the days when my children were young and I found Flylady. Flylady actually suggested having these same kinds of routines. Flylady goes as far as laying out your clothes during your nighttime routine and of course, shining that sink. ;)

I’m guessing that you are wondering why I’m mentioning this on Monday, which is my day to talk about marriage. You see, in Lisa’s ‘evening routine’ she has time built in to spend with her hubby. It isn’t intimate time per se, nor is it time to have an in-depth conversation about an issue but it is time to snuggle and enjoy being a wife. :)

So, from what I’ve gathered from these two posts is that Lisa has one time that is specifically couple time and one time that is chill time, which can include watching a show with her hubby but could just be reading a book, unwinding at the end of the day.

I guess the point of me sharing all this is that I’m seeing that I need to make some times during my evening, that are set aside as Michael times. :) At least 30 minutes each day, where we can sit, snuggle, and connect. I think he will appreciate a computer-less, craft-less, book-less me, sitting with him. :)

Oh, I guess I should point out that the article I’m referring to is actually a small blurb and then a shortish video of Lisa sharing her thoughts. I recommend you taking the time to watch the video. Even if you aren’t in the same season of life, I believe you may still be able to benefit from some of what she shared. I know I did. :) Now hopefully I’ll act on it and make it a part of my life.

Until next time, God bless,

 Michele ºÜº

Interesting Sights

We had a rather bad storm not to long ago that had some pretty bad lightening. Michael saw an amazing sight, in a tree that was struck. He said there was a lot of splintered wood across the road. He managed to get a picture one day on his way home from work.

Interesting sights ~ Lifeofjoy.mePretty amazing, huh!?!


Sunday on our way to church, we saw a flock of turkeys. At first there were just a couple of them on the road but as we approached, the rest of the flock joined the run on road in front of us. There were over a dozen of them. They ran on the road for a few seconds and then Michael pulled a little to the left and shooed them back off the road. I managed to get a picture while they were road runners. ;)

Interesting sights ~ Lifeofjoy.me


My sister Tracie and I did our first Christmas shopping trip this week. It’s pretty awesome because I have managed to get the majority of my stocking stuffers purchased now. I told you last week that I’d gotten most of my immediate family’s stocking stuffers from a secret website. I’m glad that I now have most of the rest now. Believe it or not, the main gifts are the easier gifts to purchase because we make lists. Consequently, those are just a matter of picking and ordering or purchasing in a store. So, all things considered, I’m doing pretty great on my Christmas shopping. :) How about you?


Last Sunday, we went out to eat with Tracie and her family and Brian and Lauren. It was good to have some cuddle time with my cute grandson.  Here’s a picture of Michael holding him.

Interesting sights ~ Lifeofjoy.meIt’s a little bit blurry but I love Liam’s facial expression here. :D

Well, I’m going to run. I have Christmas shopping to do. :)

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

National Writing Month

National Writing Month ~ Lifeofjoy.meIt is hard for me to write this, let alone believe it, but October is nearly over! I’m shocked how quickly this year has flown by and yet, it does not seem that our cruise vacation was only one year ago last week. But that is the way it is with time and perception.

November is NaNoWriMo. That stands for National Novel Writing Month. This is for young and old, amateur and professional writers. If your child has an interest in writing, this might be something you want to encourage him/her to participate. There are two different websites-one for adults and one for school-age kids.

Once you sign up, I believe, they have workbooks you can print or purchase already in print, to help them develop the different parts of their story. There is the free pdf you can download and print or just let your child use it and make their notes in a spiral notebook or such.

The HomeschoolFreebieOfTheDay site featured the workbook download page a few days ago and I think they got too much activity because that particular page is no longer available. I have a feeling that they just moved it to another url. I did put the link into the wayback machine of the internet archive and was able to load the page.

There are three different versions of the workbook: elementary, middle, and high school. It has worksheets with some questions to develop your characters, setting, and plot. It includes a great story organizer image of a rollercoaster to understand the parts of the story and create them. It even covers the writing of good dialogue and the use of a variety of words instead of the usual boring words, like said. ;)

That is the prep section to the NaNoWriMo. After that there are pages to help keep track of his/her progress, as well as a section to help with editing when NaNoWriMo is completed. :)

Well, I hope this idea and resource are helpful to you and your budding author(s).

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Save

Diva Challenge Flux and ‘Nzepple

iamthedivacztWell, this week’s Diva challenge is a DuoTangle, which is a tile with just two tangles in it and the two Laura has chosen are Flux and ‘Nzepple. Since it is a specified duotangle, I could not combine it with any other challenges or focuses.

I happen to really like ‘Nzepple. It was hard for me to get a hang of drawing in the beginning but once I realized you were just re-drawing each triangle section but rounding the corners, it got much easier and became a favorite. :) Flux on the other hand is a little different, although if I use Rick’s version, I do a lot better with it.

I had a hard time getting inspired with anything other than what Laura did. Then I decided to put ‘Nzepple on Flux. Then I decided to embrace the fact that I would be unable to get ‘Nzepple the same size on all four Flux shapes. I intentionally did the grids different sizes.

Here is the unshaded version.
DC#290 ~ Lifeofjoy.me

The really tiny gridded ‘Nzepple turned out a bit more wonky than the others because I really need a magnifier but I sit in my recliner when I tangle and it just is not conducive to using something like that. So, the smaller I tangle the wonkier it gets. :D

I added some shading and probably should’ve take a scan or picture of it but I didn’t. ;) I decided it needed something else but wasn’t sure what. I ended up penciling in an ‘Nzepple grid as a border and decided I liked it well enough to ink it in. I tried to just ink in the ‘bubbles’ but it didn’t look right, so I inked the border lines.

In the end, I added more shading and some overlap and it turned out ok, although a bit too busy.

DC#290 ~ Lifeofjoy.meAny suggestions on how to improve the shading?

Thanks in advance to those that take the time to leave a comment. It is really encouraging!

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Save

Crazy Cabbage ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Crazy Cabbage

Slow-cooked cabbage with ground meat, bacon, and a touch of tomato sauce.
Crazy Cabbage ~ Lifeofjoy.meThis is another of those recipes I got back when I was either on Atkin’s or on the hCG diet. I got it from http://genaw.com/lowcarb/index.html. She has tons of low carb recipes over there. I like a lot of them. The green been and hamburger casserole is a favorite here.

As some of you may recall, Michael is allergic to beef and pork, so I have to change this up a bit for him. However, this is one of those recipes that I’m unwilling to change for myself and the kids. (Yeah, they’re not really “kids” any more but what do you call young adults that still live with you?) So, I change it up a bit for Michael and make it with the beef and bacon for the kids and me.

Start by browning your ground beef with the chopped onion and some salt and pepper.

Crazy Cabbage ~ Lifeofjoy.meChop the cabbage.

Crazy Cabbage ~ Lifeofjoy.meSpray your 9×13 casserole dish. Place half of the cabbage on the bottom of your pan and season with salt and pepper.

Crazy Cabbage ~ Lifeofjoy.meNext place the browned ground meat (and onions) over the cabbage.

Crazy Cabbage ~ Lifeofjoy.meNext add the rest of the cabbage with more salt and pepper.

Crazy Cabbage ~ Lifeofjoy.meSpoon about 2 cups of tomato sauce on top of the cabbage. Then add bacon. The original directions say to place 3 pieces of bacon across the top. I happened to have these bacon pieces so I laid them out evenly over the top.

Crazy Cabbage ~ Lifeofjoy.meAs you can see, I put a bit more than 3 whole pieces but I like the bacon. :)

Cover with foil and bake at 350º for 3 hours. NOW I MUST SAY that I used a glass pan, so I reduced the temperature down to 325º. I also like my bacon a little crispy because I’m going to eat that yummy stuff rather than discard it like the original directions state. Consequently, I removed the foil for the last 30-60 minutes of baking.

I have a gas oven so broiling things is a real pain but if I had an electric oven, I’d just broil it to crisp up the bacon.

Crazy Cabbage ~ Lifeofjoy.meWhen I do this with ground turkey and turkey bacon, I add a little coconut oil (or olive oil) because these meats are way too lean.

Crazy Cabbage ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Crazy Cabbage

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
  • small onion, diced
  • small head of cabbage, coarsely chopped (less than two pounds before trimming)
  • nearly 2 cups tomato sauce
  • salt and pepper

Instructions

  1. Brown the beef with the onions, salt, and pepper.
  2. Grease 9x13 casserole dish.
  3. Place half the cabbage in the pan.Season with salt and pepper.
  4. Spread cooked beef and onions over the cabbage.
  5. Spread remaining cabbage atop the beef. Season with salt and pepper.
  6. Spoon tomato sauce atop the cabbage.
  7. Place bacon on top of the tomato sauce.
  8. Cover with foil and bake at 350º for 3 hours. (I removed the foil for the last 30-60 minutes to brown the bacon because I'm not tossing that yumminess.)
https://lifeofjoy.me/crazy-cabbage/

I hope you like this lower carb meal. :) (It is definitely NOT low fat!)

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

A Slow Realization

~ Lifeofjoy.meI am a rather sarcastic individual. You may not have realized it yet, but you would not be alone.

Tiffany is very much like me, in that sarcasm is strong with her as well. ;) As she has gotten older, she has become more and more sarcastic. We both temper our sarcasm though, refusing to make comments that could hurt someone’s feelings.

We also quote from movies and tv shows, a lot. Some of our favorite quotes are sarcastic. We quoted one line from Two Weeks Notice and did not realize that Michael did not know we were just doing a movie quote. Kudos to him though for not getting offended. I felt really bad once it dawned on us though because it does sound quite disrespectful but it was not meant that way at all . . . but I digress.

In the last couple of weeks, Michael has realized just how sarcastic I really am. I don’t believe I am being any more sarcastic than usual but just that he is now more aware of my special powers. :D It is cool though because it has pulled out his sassier side a bit.

He has a small empty Dasani bottle that he has taken to throwing at me when I throw out a quip at him, in the evenings. It is lightweight and seldom finds its target (or maybe he misses on purpose). :D The first time he tossed it at me, I laughed and refused to give it back to him. It’s just something fun.

It is hard for me to realize that after all these years together, he has just now  realized how sassy I am. It is possible that some of our issues through the years has been from this kind of miscommunication and never realized it. Or it could just be that because Tiffany and I are both sarcastic, that it has finally dawned on him. We have fun together.

All of this to say, sometimes we think we are communicating well, being funny or whatever and the other person is not making the same connections that you have made. Learn from my experience and examine any areas where you are feeling disconnected, it’s possible that there is a breakdown in communication. No one is at fault and it can be cleared up by some simple explanations.

Lori Byerly of The Generous Wife, shared a good post about communication yesterday. It is a few quick reminders and won’t take long to read. Click here to read Life is Full of Bounces. Actually she has posted a lot of good posts and article links recently. I’ve opened a few new tabs in my browser to continue reading later. :)

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

 

Save

Save

Liam, Errands, Baking, and Pictures

~ Lifeofjoy.me
This one is from the conference.

We had a wonderful errand day this week! I sure wish I had taken some pictures to share with you but I was too busy enjoying the day and running those errands. Of course there was much cuddling with Liam. You know, there’s only so much time a child can be stuck in a car seat, afterall. ;)

Lauren had a doctor appointment and then was going to run errands and so she decided to join Tiffany and I as we ran errands. We’ve done this before and always enjoy the day together. This time was no different.

We picked up Lauren and Liam on our way in for Tiffany’s doctor appointment. While she had her visit, we walked over to Akin’s and completed the first of our errands. ;) Of course, I held Liam all the while. When Tiffany was finished we headed over to Babies R Us to do some Christmas list shopping for Liam. I love children’s toys! They’re so fun.

After that, we were all very hungry, so off to Chick-fil-a we went. Sean had given both Tiffany and I gift cards there. I got the Cobb salad with the grilled nuggets and the avocado ranch dressing. It was good. Liam drank a bottle while we ate and then we were off to price check more gifts at Michael’s. Interestingly, we made it out of there rather quickly. ;)

However at this point we had to speed ourselves up a bit because we had four stores to hit and time was running short because Lauren and Liam had to be downtown to pick up Brian at 3:30. I was a bit concerned and didn’t want her to be late. Thankfully, I think she made it in time, or at least nearly on time. ;)

If you’ve never ran errands with friends, I recommend it. It is a fun way to do what needs to be done. I do have to say though, that I was very tired by the time we finished.

It’s funny though because Micheal was a bit jealous of me getting so much cuddle time with Liam. It’s been a few weeks since he’s seen him and he is really missing him. He was a great dad and is a really good grandpa already. I do have a picture or two from earlier this month when we had him at church during our conference.

~ Lifeofjoy.meTiffany made keto gingerbread cookies for her book cover art last week. By the time she was done she was very tired.

~ Lifeofjoy.me
The flash is pretty harsh on her here. :(

Here’s some of her cookies.

~ Lifeofjoy.me
The letters are the initials for her book title. :)

This one is from earlier this month too.

~ Lifeofjoy.me

Well, I’m going to run for now. I’m hoping we’ll see Brian, Lauren, and Liam this weekend. I’ll take all the cuddles and snuggles I can get. :)

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

PS. I figure not-so-good pictures are better than no pictures at all. ;)

Save

Free ebooks Link and a Reminder of a Good Resource

 ~ Lifeofjoy.meThis week I want to share two things, well, re-share one. The re-share is a wonderful email group that shares links once or twice a week. It is called Where Can I Find It. It is a valuable resource.

Now I want to share a resent email sent to the group because she found a wonderful free book resource, ebooks that is. There are some G A Henty books there too. I hope you enjoy this.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº


Free books, history, & fall
Hello Everybody
 
Here is another source for free books. The Libraries at the University of Florida make available an impressive collection of public domain books in a wide variety of subjects. Books can be read online, or printed out and the site is searchable.
http://ufdc.ufl.edu/
I really can’t go through the whole site, both because of my time constraints, but also because I really don’t know what might appeal to you all. However, I’ll broad sketch some of the things I found.

The Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature is probably a good place to start for all those wonderful children’s books of nature, science, history, and tales from long ago —
http://ufdc.ufl.edu/juv

This is an alphabetical list of all 6000+ titles in the Baldwin collection, in case you want to browse – use the left side column to narrow the search by language, publication date (1850 thru 1890), and publisher:
http://ufdc.ufl.edu/Baldwin/all


Here’s something called Pleasant Work for Busy Fingers or, Kindergarten at Home. This book tells of four children, using the story to introduce skills such as “Paper-Cutting” “…Sewing,” “Clay” and “Out of Doors.”
http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00085050/00001/5j
And here’s a whole page of ABC books, fingerplays, and stories for very young children:
http://ufdc.ufl.edu/juv/results/?t=kindergarten

 

Shakespeare the Boy is a pretty thorough look at Shakespeare’s world in the years of his childhood. Although precious little of Shakespeare’s biography is actually known, this book looks at the county of his birth, famous places and people living around that time, as well as things like what houses were like, games children played, holidays and festivals. There are several illustrations, and the descriptions often relate the items/people to scenes or lines from the plays.
http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00084131/00001

Rhymes of the States was published in 1894. Starting in the north eastern most point (Maine), each state is presented with a map, statistics, and brief history (for example, first settlements). There’s also lots of information that’s surely out of date, too (population, economy), but some may find these figures interesting as well.
http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00085529/00001

Here is a listing of 16 books by G. A. Henty:
http://ufdc.ufl.edu/juv/results/?t=henty
 
And here is the American History collection main page – again, use the left-side column to narrow by topic, geography, and/or genre. BTW, there seems to be a lot of resources (including primary sources) for the civil war period:
http://ufdc.ufl.edu/usa/all
And one more: The blog site Stories and Your Life contains a collection of fairy tales, myths and epics that can be read online. It’s a work of love by a storyteller with a counseling background who includes introductory remarks about each genre. Among the fairy tales you’ll find the standards “Cinderella,” “Little Mermaid,” and “Sleeping Beauty,” as well as a less-known tale or two like “The Table, the Ass and the Stick.” Very abbreviated versions of the Odysseus and Oedipus myths can almost be used as Cliff’s Notes type synopses. And finally, if you’re a fan of King Arthur tales, you’ll find another synopsis – this one of the legend of Parzival (Percival) as told by a German poet in the early 1200s. Here is a link to the “about me” page (there’s no actual home page):
http://www.storiesandyourlife.org/about-me/
BTW: along with the stories, the blogger presents “oracle cards” that I’m pretty sure are meant in the same spirit as fortune cookies., but I didn’t pay much attention to.
 
Now as for season pages, the Fall Fun page at 1+1+1=1 features well-loved themes like apples, pumpkins, and leaves.
http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/fallfun.html#anchor_428
To be more specific with the URLs, there are two sets of Pumpkin worksheets here, suitable for your youngest learners.
http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/PreschoolPackPumpkins.html
And a pack of printables devoted to scarecrows here:
http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/ScarecrowTotPack.html

In addition, there are two sets of Just Color pages: “Fall Fun” and “Leaves & Trees” pages in the “Just Color!” section. Find them here:
http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/JustColor.html
 
And, finally, a resource I’m proud to share – Tending Our Lord’s Garden, a Catholic mom using Charlotte Mason to homeschool four children. Among the resources she generously offers are notebooking pages and timeline cards for elementary history. Themed to The Story of the World books, they are useful for anyone using a chronological approach to history. The three sets available cover ancient times, middle ages, and modern times through the mid-1800s. Now this is a blog, so the homepage will vary depending on when you access it. Use the tabs to access the SOTW resources — and maybe leave a comment to say Thank You for sharing:
http://tendingourlordsgarden.blogspot.com.au/
‘til next week –
Nancy

 

DC#289 Leafy Challenge

iamthedivacztThis week’s Diva Challenge is to get a leaf, trace it, and tangle it. It was hot here, for October, but Tiffany and I went out anyway. She helped me select a leaf from one of our Bradford Pear trees.

I liked it because it is rippley on the edges and has this nice point at the top. It also has some nice discolorations like Laura’s did.

Here’s my leaf.

#DC289 ~ Lifeofjoy.meI forgot to take a picture or scan before shading today. :( Oh well.

I drew the veins and then had a hard time not using Tipple (like the Diva did). I’m very suggestible and struggle not to mimic what I see. I decided to use something like Meer with the lines for the veins being the central line from which to draw the lines.

After that I was trying to figure out what else to do. I thought about using aura. So, I auraed the right side of the leaf twice and wasn’t thrilled with it. I outlined the other side with small orbs. Then began the shading.

#DC289 ~ Lifeofjoy.meIt’s not my best work but it meets the challenge. :)

Thanks in advance to any that leave comments. I love them and am encouraged by them.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Pepperoni Pizza Muffins ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Pepperoni Pizza Muffins

The subtle taste of pizza in a muffin.

Pepperoni Pizza Muffins ~ Lifeofjoy.meI love pizza! Yep! I sure do! Many diets have failed me because I cannot imagine giving up pizza forever (and sometimes, not even for a few months). So you might be able to imagine that I struggled a bit on the keto diet which does not allow bread.

Naturally I had to find a few recipes to help me through this dilemma. The first is one I have had for several years, Pizza Topping Casserole, which is really quite good. It has all the flavor of the toppings with a hint of the sauce but nothing to substitute for the crust. It works some of the time. The second is the breakfast keto pizza. This one has a crust, yummy toppings, sauce and filling.

Pepperoni Pizza Muffins ~ Lifeofjoy.meWell, today I bring you Pepperoni Pizza Muffins. This has that bread quality without any wheat, corn, rice, et cetera. It uses lots of eggs, some almond flour and a bit of coconut flour. We got this from lowcarbyum.com. According to them, the muffins have 2 net carbs per muffin, 182 calories, 14.4g fat, and 7.8g fiber. My counts will be a little different because I used turkey pepperoni since Mike is allergic to both beef and pork, and cheddar cheese instead of the recommended mozzarella.

Tiffany first fixed these for us to have the week of the conference as a grab and go breakfast. I decided I needed to make them again to have on hand. Plus, I needed a recipe to share with you today. ;)

Begin by beating the eggs slightly.

Pepperoni Pizza Muffins ~ Lifeofjoy.meThen add flours, cream cheese, baking powder, salt, and water.

Pepperoni Pizza Muffins ~ Lifeofjoy.mePepperoni Pizza Muffins ~ Lifeofjoy.meAdd half of the cheese and the pepperoni.

Pepperoni Pizza Muffins ~ Lifeofjoy.meSpray muffin tin. Fill each muffin tin 1/2 to 3/4 full.

Pepperoni Pizza Muffins ~ Lifeofjoy.meSprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the muffins.

Pepperoni Pizza Muffins ~ Lifeofjoy.meBake at 400º for 20-30 minutes.

Pepperoni Pizza Muffins ~ Lifeofjoy.meI used this cute pan, so they kind of look like mini bundt cakes.

Pepperoni Pizza Muffins ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Pepperoni Pizza Muffins

Ingredients

  • 5 ounces cream cheese
  • 1/2 cup grated Asiago cheese
  • 1/4 cup coconut flour
  • 2/3 cup almond flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons water
  • 5 eggs
  • 1/2 cup pepperoni (about 2 ounces)
  • 1 cup shredded cheese

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400º and spray muffin tin.
  2. Place eggs in mixer and beat eggs slightly.
  3. Add flours, baking powder, salt, cream cheese, Asiago cheese, and water; combine.
  4. Cut pepperoni into quarters. Add it and 1/2 cup shredded cheese. Combine.
  5. Fill muffin tins 1/2 - 3/4 full.
  6. Bake 20-30 minutes.
https://lifeofjoy.me/pepperoni-pizza-muffins/

If you want these for lunch, you might heat up some marinara sauce and dip it in.

Serve right away or refrigerate and reheat later. :)

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Save