So, I'm afraid that my posting for last year became non-existent shortly after early November. There is a very good explanation for that. After more than a year and a half of a brutal court battle, it finally all came to a head during Thanksgiving Break. Thankfully, I won my case, but it took a LOT of time and effort which meant I had less time for my blog.
I did, however, take the time each day to find something that I was grateful for. By last night, I had come to realize that a lot of my issues had come from how I viewed them. Once I focused more on the positive things, it became so much easier to notice them. I also came to find that Riker was struggling with a similar issue. It has been very hard to watch him become so engrossed in all of the negative things that have been going on. Oddly enough, my attempts to help him have just forced me to find even MORE positives in my life.
The best part is that with the holidays over the last few months, I have had even more time to reflect and evaluate my life. I have really come to appreciate more simple things. As a result, I have been a lot less focused on trying to get everything perfect. I have been a little easier on myself. I have smiled more. I have tried to let things go and move on. I have even had more time for myself (which made more time for craft habit).
As part of our New Year's Eve celebrations, I had the kids write down all the crappy things that had happened to them over the last year. Some of the things they wrote down were petty and happened within the last several hours. Some of the things they came up with were very influential in their lives and have had a great impact on them this year (Data's broken arm and corresponding surgeries and complications being a good instance). Then, we all folded them up, took a deep breath, and threw them in the fire as a physical way to let it go and move forward. From there, we listed all the wonderful things that happened and the blessings that we were grateful for (this list was significantly longer) and wrote them on a paper lantern and set it floating in the sky to remind us that there are always good things that happen and that we have to keep our chin up to see them. (I seriously came up with this idea in the middle of our festivities and was so impressed by how well it went over that I will definitely be incorporating it into future New Year's Eve traditions).
Like many others in the spirit of New Year's, I have come up with a list of resolutions for 2012. Instead of trying to start them all at once and inevitably falling short after a few months or weeks, I am going to try to take my master list and split it up into smaller, more attainable goals and only try to work on one at a time. This may mean that I never get to some of them before the end of the year, but at least I will be able to work on some of them. My plan is to split them up into 52 goals and add them in, one at a time, each week. Think I can do it? I do.
So, my first goal is to have Family Home Evening with my family every Monday, even on days when Riker has to work (this is one thing that always threw us off before). Unfortunately, updating my blog is a little lower on my priority list this year, so I may not be tracking things on here regularly for several weeks, but I will try to touch bases every now and then to keep things updated and keep track of my progress.
I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas season and are looking forward to the fresh opportunities that this year has in store for you. Here is to a GREAT 2012!
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Gratitude Day 6- Clouds on Daylight Savings Day
Day 6: Apparently today is Daylight Savings... (whatever happened to it being in October??) Now, while Riker and I eagerly looked forward to "fall back" and the extra hour of sleep we would get last night, we were apprehensive about how the children would handle it.
Most of our kids sleep when it is dark, no matter what time it is (which DOES make for interesting mornings in the winter where the sun doesn't come up until 9). However, Yar has her internal clock set for some ungodly hour, regardless of the day, or amount of sunlight (her idea of "sleeping in" is 6:30 am). This is also regardless of how much sleep she's had. She can go to bed at 1 in the morning and STILL be up before everyone else...
Thankfully, the weather was blissfully overcast this morning, and so it was relatively dark even at 7:30. I have no idea what time Yar got up, but she didn't wander out of her room until 8:45 this morning, which was a welcome change, and Data and Worf slept until 9.
Most of our kids sleep when it is dark, no matter what time it is (which DOES make for interesting mornings in the winter where the sun doesn't come up until 9). However, Yar has her internal clock set for some ungodly hour, regardless of the day, or amount of sunlight (her idea of "sleeping in" is 6:30 am). This is also regardless of how much sleep she's had. She can go to bed at 1 in the morning and STILL be up before everyone else...
Thankfully, the weather was blissfully overcast this morning, and so it was relatively dark even at 7:30. I have no idea what time Yar got up, but she didn't wander out of her room until 8:45 this morning, which was a welcome change, and Data and Worf slept until 9.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Gratitude Day 3- Unselfish Children
Day 3: As you know, Halloween was just a couple of days ago, and like many other parents (mine included), I levied a hefty parent tax on Data and Worf's candy stash while they were sleeping (Yar was with her mother for Halloween and, like everything else, wasn't even allowed to bring any candy home with her). At least I THOUGHT it was hefty...
Data and Worf asked if they could sort their candy (Data is just as neurotic as me and Work wants to do everything the way Data does. It's cute really) and I was fine with that. Eventually however, one of them discovered that they only had one Almond Joy when they knew that they had received two. They came to me and asked if I knew what had happened to it. I explained the tax to them and they said "oh, ok" and went back to sorting.
Next thing I knew, they were both bringing me candy, explaining that, even though I had some already, they had so much that they felt I should have more (awww...). I gratefully accepted it, but they kept doing it. Eventually, I had to tell them to stop! I had quite the pile going on now (sad thing is that my pile had barely made a dent in the 15 lb combined total).
While I definitely don't need copious amounts of candy (and, honestly, neither do they), I am very grateful that my children are learning to think of others and not just themselves. It's nice to see lessons you have taught finally start to sink in.
Data and Worf asked if they could sort their candy (Data is just as neurotic as me and Work wants to do everything the way Data does. It's cute really) and I was fine with that. Eventually however, one of them discovered that they only had one Almond Joy when they knew that they had received two. They came to me and asked if I knew what had happened to it. I explained the tax to them and they said "oh, ok" and went back to sorting.
Next thing I knew, they were both bringing me candy, explaining that, even though I had some already, they had so much that they felt I should have more (awww...). I gratefully accepted it, but they kept doing it. Eventually, I had to tell them to stop! I had quite the pile going on now (sad thing is that my pile had barely made a dent in the 15 lb combined total).
While I definitely don't need copious amounts of candy (and, honestly, neither do they), I am very grateful that my children are learning to think of others and not just themselves. It's nice to see lessons you have taught finally start to sink in.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Gratitude Day 2- Teething and Sleep
Day 2: So Geordi has been having a very rough time with teething lately. His tooth/teeth will get right up to the surface, but not break through. Then they will receed for several days only to do it again in a few weeks. Worf and Data went through this as well, but only once or twice with their first tooth. Poor Geordi has been through this 3 times already in the last 2 months.
We have tried teething toys, frozen rags, frozen food, orajel, you name it. We finally got him some teething tablets and those seemed to work pretty well. Long story short, Geordi's first tooth came in yesterday (yea!) and he was a much more sociable little guy all afternoon.
This brings me to my point of gratitude for today: Because Geordi has been so miserable for so long (with a nasty cold on top of it), he has also had a rough time sleeping and no amount of sleep training was cutting down on the number of times he was getting up (seriously... it was ridiculous). Which also meant that I was having a rough time sleeping. However, last night, just because he wasn't teething anymore (at least on that tooth), he only woke up TWICE last night. It is strange how grateful you can be that something simply stopped, or for something as seemingly terrible as a mere 4 hours of sleep (do you have ANY idea how long it has been since I have slept for a 4 hour stretch?!?).
So there's my point of the day: Be grateful for sleep :)
We have tried teething toys, frozen rags, frozen food, orajel, you name it. We finally got him some teething tablets and those seemed to work pretty well. Long story short, Geordi's first tooth came in yesterday (yea!) and he was a much more sociable little guy all afternoon.
This brings me to my point of gratitude for today: Because Geordi has been so miserable for so long (with a nasty cold on top of it), he has also had a rough time sleeping and no amount of sleep training was cutting down on the number of times he was getting up (seriously... it was ridiculous). Which also meant that I was having a rough time sleeping. However, last night, just because he wasn't teething anymore (at least on that tooth), he only woke up TWICE last night. It is strange how grateful you can be that something simply stopped, or for something as seemingly terrible as a mere 4 hours of sleep (do you have ANY idea how long it has been since I have slept for a 4 hour stretch?!?).
So there's my point of the day: Be grateful for sleep :)
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Tasty Tuesday- Pumpkin Muffins
Hallelujah it is November! I have been looking toward to this month for weeks now. Mainly because I thought my court stuff would be finished by now (bah ha ha. I should have known better by now), but also because The Weather Channel said that it would finally start looking like it was actually Autumn this month. Guess what? They were right? It is AMAZING! Leaves are falling off the trees like snow over Donner's Pass and the wind today ripped them off and flung them everywhere. Love it!
The absolute best thing about November 1st? Roasting the pumpkins from the night before. Now, you can do this with pumpkins any time of the year, but I do it after Halloween for a couple of reasons. 1) it just seems like such a waste to carve up half a dozen pumpkins and then watch them rot and 2) it is way too much work to gut the pumpkins twice. So, every year, we pick out our pumpkins some time in October and then wait until a day or two before Halloween to carve them. Then, once we finish our designs, we soak them in water overnight. This helps keep them from rotting so quickly. Then, the morning after Halloween, I chop them into quarters and roast them.
Roasting pumpkins is relatively simple. You gut and clean the pumpkin (save those seeds for my yummy roasted seed recipe!). Cut the pumpkin into quarters (I have done it in halves before, but if the pumpkin is too large, it won't cook evenly) and pop them in the oven. I don't use a rack and I put them in cut side up. Cook them at about 350° F until the flesh is soft and scoopable (usually around an hour). Remove them from the oven and let them cool. scoop out the flesh and puree in the blender (some water typically needs to be added, but not too much!). Now you have fresh (or frozen in freezer bags if you wish) pumpkin pureé to use for all sorts of goodies, like my favorite pumpkin muffins:
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
By: Barb
Servings: 18
Ingredients:
Filling:
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons brown sugar
Streusel:
4 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
5 tablespoons white sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons chopped pecans
Muffin:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups canned pumpkin
1/3 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease and flour 18 muffin cups, or use paper liners.
To make the filling: In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese until soft. Add egg, vanilla and brown sugar. Beat until smooth, then set aside.
For the streusel topping: In a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, cinnamon and pecans. Add butter and cut it in with a fork until crumbly. Set aside.
For the muffin batter: In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Make a well in the center of flour mixture and add eggs, pumpkin, olive oil and vanilla. Beat together until smooth.
Place pumpkin mixture in muffin cups about 1/2 full. Then add one tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture right in the middle of the batter. Try to keep cream cheese from touching the paper cup.
Sprinkle on the streusel topping.
Bake at 375 degrees F (195 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes.
The absolute best thing about November 1st? Roasting the pumpkins from the night before. Now, you can do this with pumpkins any time of the year, but I do it after Halloween for a couple of reasons. 1) it just seems like such a waste to carve up half a dozen pumpkins and then watch them rot and 2) it is way too much work to gut the pumpkins twice. So, every year, we pick out our pumpkins some time in October and then wait until a day or two before Halloween to carve them. Then, once we finish our designs, we soak them in water overnight. This helps keep them from rotting so quickly. Then, the morning after Halloween, I chop them into quarters and roast them.
Roasting pumpkins is relatively simple. You gut and clean the pumpkin (save those seeds for my yummy roasted seed recipe!). Cut the pumpkin into quarters (I have done it in halves before, but if the pumpkin is too large, it won't cook evenly) and pop them in the oven. I don't use a rack and I put them in cut side up. Cook them at about 350° F until the flesh is soft and scoopable (usually around an hour). Remove them from the oven and let them cool. scoop out the flesh and puree in the blender (some water typically needs to be added, but not too much!). Now you have fresh (or frozen in freezer bags if you wish) pumpkin pureé to use for all sorts of goodies, like my favorite pumpkin muffins:
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
By: Barb
Servings: 18
Ingredients:
Filling:
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons brown sugar
Streusel:
4 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
5 tablespoons white sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons chopped pecans
Muffin:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups canned pumpkin
1/3 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease and flour 18 muffin cups, or use paper liners.
To make the filling: In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese until soft. Add egg, vanilla and brown sugar. Beat until smooth, then set aside.
For the streusel topping: In a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, cinnamon and pecans. Add butter and cut it in with a fork until crumbly. Set aside.
For the muffin batter: In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Make a well in the center of flour mixture and add eggs, pumpkin, olive oil and vanilla. Beat together until smooth.
Place pumpkin mixture in muffin cups about 1/2 full. Then add one tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture right in the middle of the batter. Try to keep cream cheese from touching the paper cup.
Sprinkle on the streusel topping.
Bake at 375 degrees F (195 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes.
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