Attitude Adjustments and Rotten Tomatoes

Attitude and tomatoes, what do they have in common? Both attitudes and tomatoes can have a sweet, savory and full of sunshine flavor in common; like when children are getting along and listening to their parents, or when we are listening to what God is telling us and doing what He asks of us. Think back a couple months to that first luscious tomato that you picked from your garden. It was warm from the summer sun and when you sliced it that sweet, tangy sent wafted up into your nose filling you with intense, mouth-watering pleasure. A different tomato, a month or so later, that is laying on the ground is now not quite the same. Oh, it may still be warm, but not necessarily from the sun, but from decomposing. It won't smell sweet, tangy and savory if you slice it. In fact you may be lucky to be able to pick it up because it is now rotting and slicing it will likely send you scrambling for some fresh air, while your mouth is watering for a whole other reason. Attitudes can be a lot like those tomatoes, one day sweet, savory and intensely pleasurable to our hearts and ears, only to turn on us in a day or minute or week to the rotten, yuck that fills us with disappointment, anger and frustration in how to deal with it and correct it.

We've had to adjust some attitudes around here just this last week or so. Things had finally come to a head and Momma wasn't happy. We all know how true the saying is, "If Momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy." Things weren't so sweet and savory on the obeying, respecting and listening front with not just one, but both kids. With Andy on the road, I was quickly getting to my wit's end. Maybe, just maybe, had it not been going on for more than a week or two, I might not have had to go to such drastic measures. I had been tired from fighting off a sinus infection and being Mom and Dad both, a daunting job for which I'm grateful to not have to do on a full-time basis. First, God gave me an attitude adjustment from my sweet friends on Facebook whose husbands are serving in our military. They didn't even say anything, other than posting how they are dealing with their days, doing what needs done, getting things done, and occasionally they'll have a rough day of missing their sweetie and post that. Wake up call for me, who gets to see her sweetie a couple days, thank you to a boss who doesn't want them logging too many hours in the combine for safety reasons, each week. I decided I have no room to whine, not much. Then I'm reminded of my girlfriends who are single parents and do this daily 365, 24/7. I do exactly what my Father in Heaven has been waiting for, I call Him up for some ideas. He is so awesome at answering. We had just harvested everything that was ready in the garden the day before, picking all the green Roma tomatoes and pulling up the cages, composting the plants, dug potatoes, picked the peppers and green beans. I knew when we quit that there was still some cleaning up to do, but thought I would get it later. God said, nope the kids can get it later. Have them pick up the rotten tomatoes from the beds if they continue with the bad attitudes. The battle plan was drawn, prayers continued to go up, not only from me, but also from my dear friends.

The next morning they emerged from bed one on his own, the other had to be woke up for breakfast. At breakfast I let them both know that today, starting right then, the attitudes would need to be adjusted or I had big plans for them in order to help straighten them out. There would be no disrespectful tones, facial expressions or actions, that I expected them to be polite to each other and to absolutely not try to be the parent, but remember that I was the parent and let me deal with it before they try to parent. Boy was I tired of saying, "You aren't the parent I am." I couldn't even inhale to start talking usually before they were parenting, you know? I sent them up to make beds, straighten rooms, brush teeth, get dressed for the day and be back down for Worldview class. So far so good. Everything was done on time. During Worldview, the first one fell;caving under the disgruntled frustration of not wanting to do school. I was able to calmly state that after class he would need to see me for the work I had planned. Not more than maybe 10 minutes later the other one fell to the parenting issue. Calmly a second time I stated that after I was done with the first the second one would get her assignment.

Inside I was grinning from ear to ear, waiting to see how this would play out. I took the first one out to the garden and said you will need to choose one of the two beds that had tomatoes in them. So the bed was picked.

"Your job," I stated, "is to pick up all the rotten tomatoes out of the bed and put them in a bucket. I want even the tomato skins that are there picked up as well."

Nodding of the head, "Okay, I'll go get my gloves...".

"Oh, no, you don't get gloves." A perplexed and kind of yucky look came over the face. "I want you to feel the squishy, slimy, yuck of the rotten tomato. As you put it in the bucket I want you to think about how gross and yucky that feels. That is what God feels like and I feel like when you are disobedient and disrespectful to me or when you try to parent. So as you throw the bucket of rotten tomatoes in the trash can, because we don't want any of the disease that may be there to get into the compost and come back next year, I want that rotten attitude thrown in the trash as well. When you are finished, come get me to check it, if it is all done right, then you can get back to school."

A big sigh, and shoulders have slumped a bit; the work began. It didn't take long, maybe 15 minutes at the most and I was back out checking the work. An excellent job had been done, not one bit of tomato remained. I told him that he had done and excellent job and to remember the rotten tomatoes when he wanted to have that rotten attitude. I also let him know that I had other, nasty jobs in my head for repeat offenders, just in case he wondered.

I go in and get the second child and repeat the instructions for the job at hand. Again I was asked about gloves and again I explained the whole rotten attitude concept into the trash can and wanting them to feel how yucky that really feels. A resigned sigh, this time, however, no rolling of eyes, and the work was also done excellently. I praised the worker again and sent her in to get started on some other school work.

I did have to get my half-bath cleaned later that day. Notice I said, have to as I sit here chuckling. Care to guess which one took on that wonderful task? Yep, that would be the strong-willed one. The awesome news is that the rest of the day went so much better.

The sweet, tangy, pleasurable scent of a good attitude, like the fresh sweet tomato is still permeating our house. The rotten tomatoes are in the trash can which will get taken to the curb on Monday night, by one of the kids, not sure whose on for that night, since Andy will be on the road and it is usually his job. I'm hoping to continue to grow some excellent attitudes over the coming year to fill our lives and hearts with. I want those to shine for Jesus and not the rotten tomato attitudes.

Motivation

What motivates you? Actually, what motivates your children? That is what we are trying to figure out here this week. It's not that things aren't ever getting done. It's the struggle to get it done. The reminding, telling, okay, nagging, to get it done. I don't want to do any of those things. It doesn't allow for building relationships when I feel like all I do is remind, tell and nag. It concerns me because we are getting to the point where the rubber meets the road. In two years, A1 will be at college and have to take care of things on her own; school work, job, room, clothing and her health care. Is she ready? Will she do it if I am not there or will it just slip?

I am admitting to the contribution that I made to the problem. I have sinned in not "training them up..." and am reaping the consequences of that. While they were little and not in school they both had to help with things in the house. They would pick up their toys, help fold the towels, put the Tupperware away. The sweeper didn't work at that age and actually not until they were bigger, the 30 foot hose on the central vac was hard enough for me to whip around let alone the kids. Then came public school. They were busy with homework every night and activities afterward. The toys weren't in the front room anymore, they were in their rooms, rooms that I cleaned because they didn't have time. They would help by picking up and put their dishes in the dishwasher if it had dirty dishes in it. I did, however, ask that they be responsible for cleaning the upstairs totally in the summer. Like most tweens and teens, adults too, without accountability it wasn't always done.

Now I'm trying to re-establish habits that I let slack off. I haven't had much success since they've been home this, headed into our 4th year. Mostly because of lack of consistency and follow-up. Also, feeling like they just don't have time to do it with all the school work that they have each day. My view has changed finally on that issue. Now instead of them picking up and me cleaning their room and the upstairs of the house which is the school room and loft with their bathroom and bedrooms, it's on their list. I've even included some of the kitchen duties and laundry. It's past time for them to learn and for me to be obedient in my job as their mother.

After Andy and I sat and talked, while the kids were at youth group, the family sat down with the kids and explained what we thought we needed to do. The example was taken from Sunday School Class and tied into the system we had come up with. We knew also that to motivate them for now and to encourage them to do a good job we would have to work in a reward system. So back to tokens for school and chores done, extra tokens for those monthly chores that have to be done, but are not part of daily/weekly living. The regular reward for getting things done before supper is TV time that night. The TV doesn't happen here until school is done typically and that will stay. We weren't quite sure what kinds of rewards they would want to earn with their tokens, besides some extra internet time and maybe purchasing some books for them for fun. So after their input the list expanded to includes the above plus the following: iTunes, Ice Cream Trip, Pick out Movie to watch by self on Netflix(parental approved), spending cash, swim time for laps, trip to the downtown library on a Saturday, A1 added for her-nail polish colors and/or getting her nails done, A2 wanted flight time, but that one will be a lot of tokens since that is very expensive. Tokens will be withheld for Mom having to remind, tell, nag and for yucky attitudes as we stressed we are to do our work as to the Lord. The biggest consequence for not getting schoolwork finished by Saturday Night is the ability to go to all youth group activities for the up-coming week will be taken away.

So that is their motivation, for now. I foresee a lot more praying throughout my day as I remember to keep my cool while checking things, if I get arguments about having to redo them. The hope is that they will take ownership of it fairly quickly and will not need the external rewards for all the work. I'm not saying that we won't occasionally surprise them with a thing here or there, but first we need to get to where a job well done is its own reward. That they will not only take responsibility, but ownership for the things expected of them. Y'all will be excited to know that writing for this blog is one my list for the "chores" to do every week. My motivation is that I'm doing what God expects me to do, "train up my children."

Cinnamon Rolls

After my bout of insomnia this very late last Saturday night or early Sunday morning, whichever your perspective is of 3 am, I had posted on FB about my family reaping rewards of fresh cinnamon rolls for breakfast from my lack of sleep, I was asked for that recipe too. This time when I duplicated it, I took pictures for you to see. You are going to want to slip off your rings as your hands will get goopy with this recipe.

The dough is not my own recipe, but is found in the Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day book. I just love this book and the other book they have Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. It is absolutely the easiest bread to make and worth your time to hope over and check it out. I just used the basic dough master recipe. They do have sweet roll dough recipes too.


First for your benefit I've laid out all the ingredients, other than the dough. You will need butter(or oil-typically I use canola or safflower, however, we are out right now so they get butter, not a big deal), sugar, cinnamon, almond meal.
The almond meal is just almonds that are ground up very fine, not to the point of almond flour. I do use this like almond flour though too. This adds some extra protein to the rolls and some calcium.


I take a chunk of dough out of my dish and roll it out into a rectangle. The approximate size of a 9 x 13 pan.




After melting about 2.5-3 Tablespoons of butter in the microwave, I pour that over the dough and spread it out, yes, I use my hands, they've been washed first.


Follow that with a scant 1/4 cup of sugar sprinkled over the top.




Cinnamon goes on next.

The final touch to the filling is the almond meal. My kids don't really like chopped nuts on their rolls, however, they will do the almond meal so they get the almond meal. You can make them without the almond meal and they taste just fine too.

Then you roll the dough up like a play-dough snake. This is the only type of snake that I'll get near and that won't scare the liver out of me.




Make sure that you pinch the outside edge to the roll to seal it.

I cut the snake in 1/2 first, then 1/2 again which if you are doing the math-I know you don't want to do math, but I'm a home school mom so math it is-you will now have a snake cut into 1/4ths.

Each 1/4 then gets cut into 1/3rds so that when all the cutting is done you will have 12 pieces.






I used to place these in a 9 x 13 French Corningware dish, however, the last couple times I've used my deep dish Pampered Chef stone.




I place the dish in the oven and set the convection heat to 170 degrees. If you don't have convection, then the regular oven at the same temperature works fine, it may take a bit longer for them to raise. You will want to let them double in size. If the dough is cold it takes about 30-45 minutes. I'm pretty laid back about and don't freak out about the times, that would be why I can't tell you specifics.


When they have doubled, approximately, then boost the temperature up to 350 degrees and bake until golden on top and when you tap them they sound hollow. I think it takes about 15-20 minutes, I wasn't watching precisely as I was busy loading the kids "workfiles". I was also making the glaze for them. This is the hardest part. Not really, but I had to let you think so.

You dump about 1 cup of powdered sugar in a bowl, add a splash(approximately 1 teaspoon) of vanilla or almond, whichever strikes your fancy. This next part is the tricky part, actually this is true.
You need to a just a touch of water as well. Stir this all up and you want the icing to be thick, not a glop that you can't move(see the picture on the right), but thick, like you need to push it off the spoon with your finger or another spoon. If it is too runny then it all runs off the warm cinnamon rolls.



The thick icing will just melt over the top.














The smell wafting through the house by now has worked it magic and the kids are waking up and coming downstairs with smiles on their faces.


If you want to make these fancy you can make the cream cheese frosting. I'll include that here, but without the pictures. This is how I usually make them for birthday breakfasts and holidays. This will make enough for a couple batches and that is with a loaded top. I will fill up a decorating bag or the fancy pump thing from Pampered Chef to swirl the icing on. 8 ounces of cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter softened, 4 cups powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 2 teaspoons of milk. Place all of this in my Kitchen Aid mixer bowl and whip up until smooth.

Enjoy all and have a great morning!! Oh be sure to make some coffee or hot chocolate to go with these, that makes it even better. I'm hoping that you don't get insomnia before you get to try this recipe.

Anita
PS. They are quickly carried off and all 12 are gone tonight.

Breakfast Cookies

This morning I had to quick type in my breakfast cookie recipe to a friend on Facebook. There were other requests for my version of this so I said I would post it here. I don't have any pictures to put with it right now, but the next time I make them I'll get pictures up too.

1 cup white sugar-I use a scant 1 cup
1 cup peanut butter-all natural no sugar added
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup water
2 Tablespoons of vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cup almond meal
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 cup rolled oats-I use the honey ones
1 cup of mini chocolate chips-original recipe calls for 1 1/2 cup of raisins, however, the kids don't like raisins so we use less mini chocolate chips.
6 cups of toasted oat cereal rings

1st Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F

2nd In a very large bowl,(I use the regular Kitchen Aid Mixer and it maxes out this bowl with a single recipe), mix together the sugar, peanut butter, butter, apple sauce, water, vanilla and eggs until smooth. It helps if all butter, including peanut butter, and apple sauce are room temperature. Then add the flour, almond meal, baking soda and salt mixing while adding. (If you are into dirtying extra dishes those can be combined 1st then added, however, it has worked fine for me to not do this.) Mix in the oats and chocolate chips and then carefully stir in the cereal. The cereal is what really pumps up the volume and starts to go over the edges of your bowl a bit.

3rd Drop by 1/2 cupfuls of dough onto ungreased cookie sheet. Space them out so that there are only 5 per cookie sheet. You then need to pat them down until they are about 1 inch thick.

4th Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until the cookies are lightly browned at the edges. Check them earlier if your oven tends to run hot. Let stand on the cookie sheets after removing for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely. Store at room temperature.

Andy likes these with raisins and if I make two batches I will make one batch for him with raisins and a few chocolate chips and a batch for just the kids. A1 will eat the ones with the raisins, just after all the ones with only the chocolate chips. The original recipe said you could substitute the raisins out for chocolate chips or dried cranberries.

With the changes that I made the nutritional makeup changed as well. I only wrote down the following information, but could retype it into my recipe program and check to see other things if you want that. Per cookie 464 cal, Net Carbs(Total Carb-dietary fiber) 50g, Protein 14g

I love having these in the house because then I don't have to think hard about breakfast. They will typically just grab one of these. They also like them for snacks. I don't have cost calculated out per cookie because I typically get the organic cereal and things on sale and/or in bulk.

Enjoy everyone!!

Not forgotten

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I haven't forgotten about the final part for planning. We started school on the 9th and then went on vacation the next week. So between getting school planning done and setting up workboxes for that I haven't had time to blog. I'm hopeful that I can get to it this week, however, just a heads up the garden is ready for the salsa to be made, my Mom just dropped off three, five-gallon buckets of pears to do and the green beans need checked/picked every day. So hopeful is a great word to use.

In the meantime, I hope y'all are having a great week. I'll work hard to get to it at the beginning of the week, maybe while the salsa is processing in the water bath??

Planning Year 3 Part 2:The Secret of the Pop Quiz-for Mom

I don't know how many of the TOG(Tapestry of Grace) families purchase the Pop Quizzes. I am just putting in a huge plug for them. They are awesome!!! Not just for the Dad's to listen to so that they know what is going on and can ask discussion questions at supper or when they are hanging out, but also for busy Mom's to listen to if they don't have time to read the TN's(Teacher Notes) Background information. I learned that sweet, sweet lesson last year and have loved them for me. I listened one morning while I was working in the kitchen, our day was packed and I didn't know how I was going to get ready for discussion the next day. It was great! After listening to the weeks recording, I had an excellent idea of where things were going and what was happening. I then, later, did have time to read the Background info and it was almost verbatim to the Pop Quiz. I have also had the kids listen to the Pop Quiz in the mornings after they have their readings all done, sometimes they pick up new things from the discs too and discussion happens over breakfast with the new ideas.

For this year's planning, since I am having to mesh the D and R level together, I have looked through the Threads, and through the reading assignments to get an idea on the amount of reading at each level for each week. I had allergy shots this last Thursday, a 2 hour drive one way, so I popped the CD in and got through the first 6 or 7 weeks of the first Unit. That really helped me to see what the different levels were and how I need to mesh them together for more cohesion. A2 was in the back seat, because he needed his shot also, and he was listening in for some of it. He thought it sounded like we were going to have an interesting year.

Today I'm going to go through all the books on our shelves, which compared to some of you is a drop in the bucket, looking for ones that repeat for this year and culling the ones that don't. Those will be getting sold and then I'll sit down again and look at the way the weeks go to decide which books I'll end up needing. I can write on my pages, thanks to the DE part, so that I know for sure what I'm assigning each week for reading. I will actually be highlighting that material. I know right now that the D level spends more time on Napoleon than the R level so the different weeks that it is in R level, I'm going to have to read both to see how that can be moved around to fit at the same time(overlap) with the D level at the appropriate time frame of D studies.

That is the next step in my process. Hope this helps you to see where I'm head too. Try out the Pop Quiz CD's I bet you'll love them too.

Prepping for Year 3 of Tapestry using DE

I am sitting here printing things out in order to plan for Tapestry Year 3 and thought, I probably should blog about this as I go. So far nothing has been the same in preparing from year to year. This year would have been, until the Lord brought to my mind that A1 has never studied this time in European History and parts of the American History we will cover. It also was brought to my attention, God is so good, that A2 will not be getting this time period of history again either as he is a freshman this fall. Enter panic into my thought process. "A1 needs to get the facts and things that are at the Dialectic Level, but still needs the synthises of putting it all together and making the bigger picture connections of how history is still affecting us today and cementing her beliefs about it. A2 needs both of these too. If I have them do all of both levels they will hate me, school and life.(Thinking like a teenager here)" Enter sanity in the form of my TLT friends who are filled with wisdom and love to share and help. After gleaning from them, my year just got a bit more complicated, however, the kids year should end up with just the right balance of both. I will be weaving the two levels together according to what is being taught in both each week. We've always done both discussions together so that won't be new, however, assigning reading and work from both levels without overwhelming them will be new. So I'm going to write down how I'm doing this for future reference, since I'll probably have to do the same thing next year, and to help anyone else coming along after me through this.

Since I have the DE(digital version) and I have to move so much between levels on the threads and reading levels I am starting by printing both of these things out so I can mark them up. To be most economical about it I am printing the Threads into a book by printing back to back. I am also doing it in gray scale with black only ink. While I love color, it isn't essential to my planning as I'll be highlighting the final way I'm wandering through Tapestry this year. (There will be a brief pause while I finish this up and decide if I'm using color for the next step or not.)

Actually, I digress. I next printed in gray scale, black ink only, the Unit Introduction notes for the year as well. Between reading these, looking through the threads, and listening to the Pop Quiz CD's when they get here, I should have an excellent idea on where to weave at. If I'm not sure for the week, then I'll read the Teacher Notes(TN's and background) for the week in question off of the DE screen on the computer.

I know some are wondering why I didn't just get the print version or the print/DE version. Here is the logic behind this. I don't need it all. I only need some things. I probably could have gotten by without printing the Unit Intro's, but I wanted to be able to take this to bed and read there and it is easier to read paper in bed then off a laptop. I love the DE version for the search-ability. I think this year instead of printing the kids Student Activity Pages, I'm going to put them on a flash drive either edited to word or have them do that so that they can type their answers on their computers. If they need them printed then they can do it. That is my thoughts on that part of it. A1 uses her laptop for everything and A2 likes to use his too. He is all about not wasting paper so that might work well for him too.

To print color or no color that is the question, whether 'tis nobler or...oops, not Shakespeare, but color it is. The kids may have to refer to these charts in case something goes weird with the whole workbox system we are also going to try this fall.

So all of those things are printed and I've actually read the Unit Intro's for the whole year. It is going to be an exciting year. Today I'm going to start through the threads, highlighting the things that I feel are most important for them to get. To start I'm going to use yellow for things I think we should do and then go back and refine with blue so that everything we are going to do will be in green. Then, I'll coordinate that with the reading assignments for the week and start checking to see which books we have.

I might be busy for a few days or so, but this is where it is starting. Somewhere during this I really need to get the rest of the painting finished around here too.

Have a great day everyone!
Anita