Gourmet Mama

Okay, so maybe I'm not a chef or Martha Stewart in training. BUT, I did give homemade baby food a go for the first time this week! I decided to start simple: cherries and bananas.

I bought a bag of organic sweet cherries from the frozen section. Once they thawed, I popped them in the processor with a tiny bit of water and liquidated those suckers! One bag of cherries made about 9 ounces of liquified cherries.

Tonight, I noticed that our bananas were rapidly getting overly ripe. Since there's no way we'd eat four bananas before they go bad, I peeled two of them and popped them in the processor. Voila! I instantly had about 8 ounces of baby-ready 'nanas.

R loved both!

For some reason, I'd been a little hesitant to start making any baby food. I can't believe I waited so long; it was ridiculously easy! My attitude now is that I will make what I can, meaning what is relatively easy to make or unavailable in regular baby food flavors (cherries, bananas, sweet potatoes, etc.), and I will buy what seems to involved, out of season or otherwise inappropriate to make (apples, carrots, etc.).

I've actually started buying large jars of Motts unsweetened applesauce instead of apple baby food. It's cheaper and just about the same thing. And, since R currently refuses most vegetables right now (unless they're mixed or alternated with apples), applesauce is a staple in our house.

To the rescue!

There is an understanding in our household. I am the one in charge of killing all eight-legged creatures.

That's right. My husband is terrified of spiders. I can't say that I have any warm fuzzy feelings toward them.  I especially despise those big wolf spiders with the hairy legs. Ugh. But, under our agreement, I kill spiders, and he kills cockroaches. (Now those things really give me the willies. I think it's the erratic movement.)

Most often, if I see a spider, I know it's best to kill it, then tell Jason what it was. That way, I can reassure him that it's dead, which means he doesn't have to leave the room.(Side note: The most crucial time I employed this tactic was while I driving on I-485 in Charlotte. I grabbed a napkin out of the center console, then launched three tries before killing a spider climbing on the ceiling of my car. I'm afraid to know what Jason would have done if he'd known what I was doing before I accomplished it.)

All of that to say this. I decided to kick my feet up for a few minutes while R napped. As I reclined on the couch, I noticed a dark spot on my kitchen ceiling. Then I noticed said dark spot moving. I decided it best to kill said dark spot before Jason got home from work.

I'd like to say that I did a remarkably swift and accurate job of killing the darn thing. It must be all that practice!

Operation Christmas Child: It Starts

Say what?!?

Yes, I'm already thinking about Christmas, even though it's only February. And, no, I'm not one of those nuts who starts Christmas shopping for her family this early (or really even the slightest bit early).

I've been familiar with Operation Christmas Child since college. It's an amazing outreach spearheaded by Samaritan's Purse. If you've never heard of it, I certainly encourage you to click the link and check it out. They send shoeboxes full of toys, hygiene products, small gifts and all kinds of other things to children world wide who wouldn't otherwise have a Christmas. And, with every single shoebox, the Gospel message goes too.

This was my first real exposure to missions. I don't know whether it's that reason or something else, but it's very dear to my heart. I love Christmas, and I love the idea of sending a little Christmas - the real Christmas message - to kids all over the world.

I used to put together a couple of shoeboxes of my own each year. I always had a lot of fun doing it. I eventually started gathering bulk items throughout the year to stock up for my Sunday school class's box-stuffing party each year. Then, my Sunday school class transitioned to just giving money and having one individual buy the items throughout the year.

That's when the magic left for me.

Last year, I hit an all-time low in my participation. Handing over money each month just didn't give me the same level of involvement. It didn't touch my heart. It caused me to be too far away from the mission. I didn't even participate in the box-stuffing party.

That's when I realized that something had to change. So, just after the boxes got shipped away in November, I decided that this year would be different for me. I decided to go back to doing my own boxes.

But I wasn't satisfied with just doing a couple of boxes like I had in years past. I decided that I was truly going to work at it this year. I decided to set a goal for how many boxes to do on my own, which also meant I could set aside money throughout the year to cover the cost of shipping each of the boxes, too.

My goal? 24. Twelve for boys. Twelve for girls.

Admittedly, with the post-Christmas craziness, our vacation in January and the snowstorm, I got behind. But, today, I made my very first purchase toward this year's boxes. I bought 24 washcloths. Now my eyes are peeled for bargains on shoebox-worthy items.

I know I'll buy crayons in August, during the back-to-school sales. I'll check out the deals on hard candy and other fun stuff after Valentine's Day. We'll get toothbrushes and toothpaste donated by one of our dentist friends again this year. I'm going to be on the lookout for deals on other items that I always like to include: socks, rice, sidewalk chalk, paper, coloring books, toy cars, hair accessories, etc.

Let the games begin! Won't you join me in packing some boxes?