Measuring Up

I am a visual learner for some things, others not so much, but when I saw this chart for the first time I knew I'd never forget it as soon as I figured out what it was:

I know, you're thinking, "Ok, that means nothing... it looks like a seating chart."

The professor who put it up on the board could see our puzzled looks and as soon as she started explaining to us that through our nutrition or catering degree program that this chart would help us through most of our classes.  We still were confused. And then she started to outline.

G for gallon. 128 fl oz :)

Q for quart, there are 4 quarts in a gallon, one quart is 32 fl oz :)

P is for pint, two pints in a quart, 16 fl oz :)

And the c's stand for cups :) 2 cups in a pint, 8 fl oz each.

For kicks and giggles I added an L because a liter is just barely bigger than a quart at 33.814 oz :) But its not an even number so I try not to add it in because it muddies the measurement system since commonly in metric measurements for recipes and nutrition calculation, liter is almost never used unless in reference to cutting out soda :)

I know its riveting stuff, and it gets waaaaay more complicated than this after you break it down into dry and wet measurements when it comes to weight and such.  And having to do a 30 question quiz on measurements in 10 minutes gets fun :)  

But after learning how to do metric measuring, it is very hard to go back to the way most cookbooks lay out recipes. Which is why I use "The Joy of Cooking" with the metric measurements for most things I bake.  When it needs to be precise :) 

Expanding Meat with Vegetables

Up until about a month and a half ago, we had venison in our freezer. We still have some, but its more special cuts than it is the stuff I used all the time like stew meat and roasts that we are totally out of.  Last year during hunting season in WV we decided to go visit my daughters namesake in New Mexico instead, I will never regret that decision. But all that to say I guess I've never really noticed the price of red meat, other than ground beef, until about a month ago. 

Yowza.

So the way we get red meat now is on the last day shelf :) So I either freeze it or cook it that day. It makes beef sometimes a little more budget friendly. 

Today we're having stew.  Nothing fancy, but nice and hearty and it fills you up and can be made to feed several people if you add a few more carrots and potatoes.  Which is good, because I have 25lbs of potatoes I'm trying to make my way through :)  We're up to our eyeballs in them and will probably be potatoed out before it's over with, but I got a good deal on them! 

I LOVE Yukon Gold potatoes.  But every time I go to the store they are usually closer to 5 dollars for a 5lb bag.  I'm a member of a bulk foods co-op now here and I split 50lbs of potatoes this last order and I only paid 16 bucks for the potatoes.  So 25 lbs for 16 dollars for Yukons is NOT bad. And the fact that they are organic makes the deal that much better since I think some make the excuse to charge more for stuff because they dont put pesticides on it.  Stupid.  Anyway.

I was so proud of myself and then realized "What am I going to do with 25lbs of potatoes...?" 

Baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, potato salad, and now peeled and diced up five of them for the stew.  It's a good thing they are high in vitamins and minerals :) Tomorrow I'll quarter some and put them in with the roast. Mari is starting to get to the point where she will eat potatoes, she's never been a huge fan and even now will only eat a couple bites and is done but she used to just spit it out so her taking bites is a step in the right direction.  It doesn't matter how they are made.  Chips, fries, mashed, smashed, in roasts, in stews... she'd rather have the carrots or something else. Usually fruit, but we're working on that :)  She loves vegetables but the second she sees fruit of any kind, shes done eating whatever it is that she was eating.

 The other thing I'm doing with the potatoes is letting a few of them sprout and then I will plant them.  Expand my money even more! Also doing that with some heads of garlic and some carrots.  I think one whole planter box will be root vegetables and such :)

Wish I could plant some stew meat and it would sprout into a cow :) :) Maybe then I can afford red meat... ;)

But, no matter what our economy gets to be in this country, I feel super blessed to be able to even buy meat, or potatoes, or any fresh fruits and veggies I want, I think we forget how blessed we are.  No matter how poor any of us might think we are in this country, we are still at least 10x wealthier than almost anyone else on this earth.

"Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the times to come." Proverbs 31:25

I can't be worried about whats going on in this country, I can't fret about the money we do or do not have, what the president did or did not say, there are far more important things in my life. Namely my husband who is off at work and my daughter who is about to wake up from her morning nap at any time.  My parents taught us girls long ago to not be attached to this country or the things of this world because after we became Christians our allegiance was to God and His Kingdom.  

I think about the Christian women who lived in the first century under Roman rule. When their children were being burned at the stake, their husbands being thrown in pits with tigers or themselves being forced in arenas to be killed by Gladiators. Their circumstances more dire than ours and they didn't spend their time complaining about their rulers, they spent their time doing what they needed to do as Christians, wives, and mothers.  Did they wish things were different? Oh probably.  But that's what the hope of heaven is for that comes with being a Christian.  There is something better than this life, indescribably better. 


And though I love my life here, I know there is a hope of something even better.  And that makes my day worth living, every day, no matter how the day goes. 

Productive Nap Times

When she was itty bitty I would take a nap when she did. Now that shes older and for the most part sleeping through the night (she usually stirs and sits up and talks around 4ish still sometimes but then will settle down and go back to sleep with some coaxing from me :) I generally spend her nap times doing things that are a little bit harder to do with her awake. My shadow has to follow me everywhere :) And I let her help now, though usually her helping me unload the dryer also involves adding a couple cans of soup :) But it's all worth it.

A couple weeks ago was infertility awareness week and I didn't post anything because I've been doing so much with this fundraiser I felt it to be counter productive to post about that and then promote the non profit that helped us afford our adoption.  But on the other hand, we wouldn't be as content with where we are without remembering where we came from and what we still sometimes struggle with.  It's not that infertility stopped when we adopted her. I have other side effects of things that go on that make it unbearable sometimes but I have to power through since there are no off days as a Momma.

We spent years having tests run, procedures done, drugs taken, only to find out that we would have to go to a specialist because no one here knew anything and they threw the PCOS blanket over me.  Which to me is code for, "I have no idea whats wrong with you."  2006 is pretty much when we decided that adoption was probably going to be what made parenthood happen for us.  We decided the medicines I was on was not worth it because it was ruining our marriage because of all of the side effects.  I would say things and do things to my husband that I would never do in a million years.  We don't count anything I said during those months of being on that medicine because I literally could not control myself.  I was telling Mom yesterday that it is terrifying to me to know that there are drugs out there that do that.  But we both mutually decided that we wanted to be parents and we didn't have to be pregnant for that to happen.

Some accused me of TMI when it came to our doctors appointments and such, but it's amazing... for every ONE person who complained about us talking about our infertility I had 4 more confide in me that they were struggling with the same thing.  How are we supposed to share what we struggle with when no one knows what we struggle with? And because what we struggle with involves a certain area, does that mean we are the only Christian who struggles with it? Absolutely not.  We are blessed to be at a congregation where I was not the first one to struggle with this and I'm not the last.  When sibling get pregnant before you do, when it seems like all of your friends are having babies but you can't, when some person from church tells you to have more faith... like you don't have any at all to begin with or something.  I know that isn't how its meant but pregnancy is treated like the obvious next step after marriage sometimes that those of us who cannot are often treated almost like outcasts.  When we say we struggle with it, the depression that comes with it, the knowing that we may or may not ever be parents... and when people with 4 kids who have had no problem getting pregnant tell you to just have more faith... not realizing how often you pray how often you try and just trust that God has a path for you, while at the same time you are asked why you don't have any kids and what are you waiting for... there needs to be more awareness in the Church of this.  That babies, children, are a blessing... not a requirement.  God promised us food and clothes and that is it. Everything else above that is a blessing. Yes being married and having children is a good thing, but not when it gets in the way of your faith.

I love being a Mom. I love my little Mari Ruth who toddles all over the house getting into things she shouldn't be. I love that she loves bluegrass music and dances the same beat to every song. I love it when she laughs, I love it when she cries, I love it when she needs me.  I love it because without her I would still be in school, I would still be at a secular, distracting myself from the fact that we aren't parents.  God led us to where we are through the struggles we had with the above and we found the road to adoption and what a wonderful road it was for us.  We hope to be on that road again soon, but for now, we will enjoy what God has blessed us with :)

Life is good because God is GREAT.