Pinterest Party & Link-Up (Vol 22): Emergency Car Bins & Operation Clean and Organize (Vol 18)

By bobbi
April 9, 2014
No Comments

This post is serving as double duty. I am using the idea for the Pinterest Party but since it also comes under organizing, I’ll also include it in Operation Clean and Organize. 🙂

**Taming the procrastinating, ADD, mess cat within me.**

Welcome to the RoL Pinterest Party. Join me every 2nd and 4th Tuesday as we link up and share how we made, cooked, baked, crafted, planned, organized, followed or created one of the pins on our Pinterest boards OR share something original that others can pin onto their boards.

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We have three of the four kids in school now and John-Paul attends a Catholic pre-school about 20 minutes from our house. Last year once or twice I was rushing out the door (shocking, I know!) and I forgot to grab John-Paul’s backpack with his lunch box. I debated whether I should drive home and get it but that would mean 20 minutes to go back and get it, 20 minutes to drive back to school and another 20 to go back home. A whole hour wasted on a blasted forgotten lunch. Ugh. Instead I went to the local market and bought him some items for lunch. However, it also meant buying a package of brown paper bags, napkins, plastic spoons for his apple sauce etc. I told myself I should just keep a few spare items in the car in case I ever forgot again. (Yeah, I know I could avoid all this by getting out of the house earlier and making sure I have his bag and yada, yada, yada, but I also know myself. It’ll happen again.)

Shortly after I found these scrapbooking/ craft bins at Costco. There are some similar ones on Amazon.

There wasn’t a heck of a lot of room in our mini van so I loved the large flat size because they would fit perfectly under the back seat of our mini van. Well, the bins sat in our garage for months collecting dust. I kept telling myself, “Yeah, I’ve got to fix those bins up one day…” Well, last week we had a crazy day and I was lucky enough to get JP to school on time but… you guessed it, I thought he grabbed his backpack and lunch but he did not. There I was back at the local market buying another pack of brown paper bags, napkins, etc. I then came home, dusted off the dust-covered bins and started gathering our emergency lunch items.

It also got me to thinking that I had prepared my garage with supplies for a natural disaster but as much time as we spend in our car, what if a big earthquake hit while we were driving. (God forbid that it happens while I’m driving under an underpass. Being crushed to death in a tunnel during an earthquake is a secret fear. Don’t laugh!) We already had water bottles, a First Aid Kit, a flash light and some extra blankets in the car but no food. So I stocked the box up with plastic utensils, napkins and paper lunch bags, just in case and non-perishables like canned chicken, peanut butter, crackers, apple sauce, raisins etc.

Since we have recently changed our diets and switched to healthy foods without additives and preservatives, I used our old snacks for the emergency stash. I figured if there was a natural disaster or zombie apocalypse we wouldn’t be too concerned about whether or not our food had GMO’s in it and we’d be more concerned about not getting our brains devoured by the undead.

Lastly, I took a second bin and filled it with a make up bag filled with toiletries like toothpaste, deodorant, hand sanitizer, feminine products etc, extra diapers/pull ups and underwear (and change of pants for the potty trainers), baby wipes, some basic meds and spare batteries for the flashlights.

I slipped the pink box under the back seat and I put the white box in the trunk with the blankets and first aid kit. To make sure things stay fresh and are the right size, whenever we change our clocks forward or back I open up the boxes and replace what’s getting old. So far it’s worked out well. In fact, last week I ran out of the house and then realized I forgot to put on deodorant but no worries. I just used the one in the car stash. Hey, Ms-Always-on-Time-and-Organized, don’t judge. 😉

The pin for this post is here.

Lastly, you can follow me on Pinterest here: http://pinterest.com/rol_bobbi/. 🙂

* * * * *

Now it’s your turn.

1. Choose your creation, share about it and snap a photo if you can.

2. In your post, link back the original blogger/idea, rather than your Pinterest pin. That way credit goes to the proper person. 🙂 (But feel free to add your Pinterest profile link so we can follow you!)

3. Add a link back here so others can play along.

4. If you want to use it, here is the html code for the logo:

5. Link up below. Make sure you’re sending us to your actual post, and not to your general blog address.

The link up will be active for 10 days. Have fun!

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd or Instagram. 😉

An InLinkz Link-up

Restore Workshop – Lessons Learned (Vol 2): Remember Gratitude

By bobbi
April 4, 2014
2 Comments

NOTE: It is not too late to sign up for the Restore Workshop. I believe it is open until this Saturday 4/12/14. You do not need to follow the workshop’s timeline. I am about a week behind the schedule. Some elements I like to take a little more time to work on and some days I simply run out of hours in the day. You can read my other post about the workshop here – Restore Workshop – Lessons Learned (Vol 1): Melt Downs & Being at Peace

* * *

I am linking this post’s photos with Cari’s Theme Thursday: Remember. (Well, I was going to, but as of right now, there is no link-up. Maybe I missed something…)

I am linking up this post with the ladies over at Like Mother, Like Daughter for {pretty, happy, funny, real}, although it is a little out of order. 🙂

{real}

There are many lessons we are learning in the Restore Workshop and one of them is gratitude. I know it is sometimes easy for me to get bogged down with the “what is going wrong right now” and not pay attention to “everything that is going right.”

Part of our goal is to end our day in prayer and reflect on being thankful. Elizabeth asked us to write down five things we were thankful for at the end of each day. I had a small blank journal I got on clearance at Staples gathering dust on my book shelf so I thought it would be perfect to use as a gratitude journal. I added a quote from Mother Teresa on the front cover. It says:

“The best way to show my gratitude to God is to accept everything, even my problems with joy.”

I’ve got a looooong way to go until I can accept everything with joy but writing down five things seemed easy enough. I have to admit, it is not always easy to come up with five things every night. Sometimes I really have to ponder, particularly on days when it was just me, the kids, and housework. I had to look at the little things that brought a smile to my face whether it was a moment of humor or a phone call from my mom or a new recipe I tried that actually tasted good but I have been keeping track. Elizabeth said we could write it down or take photos, whatever works for us. Sometimes I add photos to my journal that highlight something I’m thankful for.

Other times, I don’t have five sweet things to ponder since I am just happy to have made it through the day…

…like Wednesday when all I could write was “#1-5 I am thankful I survived this freaking day! ” Baby steps. 😉

So with thanksgiving on my mind, here are some moments of gratitude from this week.

{pretty}

I took this photo today after the rain stopped. You can still see a few droplets on the petals. It’s easy to be grateful for God’s gorgeous creation.

I snapped this sunset with my phone the other day. After a long day I am extremely grateful when 7:30 PM arrives because it means the kids are in bed (despite their protests that it is still light outside) and I can enjoy a little respite with Brian. (I love my babies but I need some uninterrupted hubby time too. ;-))

{happy}

When I am cooking in the kitchen I usually chase the wild boys out but this time I was grateful for their laughter and humorous antics. So I hugged them and laughed with them and snapped their photo. (Although, afterwards I did send them outside so I could finish cooking. ;-))

After two days of rain we were all grateful to get back outside in the sun. (I don’t know how people with real winters stand months and months of cold weather!) I was going to set up a shot but Andrew was determined to photobomb it while riding by on his scooter.

That face. How can so much cuteness cause me so much trouble. 😉 I’m grateful for a camera that allows me to record these precious moments that fly by way too fast!

My lovable boys are always eager to pose for the camera but Bella, not so much. I was grateful that she agreed to let me snap a picture of her. I love my sweet girl.

{funny}

For some reason Matthew loves going to the doctor and he gets upset when he can’t go with Brian to the cancer center. So instead he walks around the house singing “Time for a Check-up” but he was upset that his stethoscope kept falling down so he asked me to tape them to his ears. 😉 LOL.

Have a great weekend!

Moments of Grace Daybook & Currently (3/30/14): Brian Update, Trusting God, Odds & Ends

By bobbi
March 31, 2014
6 Comments

I’m linking up my Daybook with Jenny at Plain Grace and with A Mama Collective.com. Go check them out!

AND

Moments of Gratitude…

Today I am especially thankful for

Gorgeous weekend weather
The sounds of giggles.
At home date night with Brian.
Confession and prayer time alone.
Phone calls from my mom.

Beauty in the Ordinary…

The color of Lent is blooming everywhere.

In the Kitchen…

M – Chicken Quesadillas with Salad

T – Chili Beans & Cornbread

W – Turkey Burgers and Broccoli Slaw

Th – Leftovers

F – Cauliflower Lentil Taco Salad (This is a new recipe. If it comes out okay, I’ll post it on the next Pinterest Party. If doesn’t turn out, I have tuna as a back up.) ;-))

S – Homemade Veggie Pizza & Greek Salad

S – Crock Pot Balsamic Chicken with brown rice and roasted asparagus. (Another new recipe. I’ll let you know how it goes.)

Praying…

For Brian’s chemo and continued recovery from cancer.
For all those who are fighting cancer and other illnesses.
For the women participating in the Restore Workshop, especially those with heavy crosses.
For myself, that I never take for granted all the blessings in my life and that I always turn to God first when the going gets tough.
For those who are far from God and most in need of his mercy.
For some special intentions.

At the Cancer Center.

On the homefront……

Since many have been asking how Brian is doing, here’s an update.

[For those of you who are new here, this is some background info. In Dec of 2012 Brian found out that he had colon cancer. He went through surgery and had the cancer removed. A year later he went to his routine testing and found that the cancer returned and spread to 1 1/4 of his lymph nodes. In January 2014, Brian went through surgery again to remove the colon cancer. In February, Brian had a port surgically placed in his chest in prep for chemo. This Monday (3/24/14), Brian started chemo to remove the cancer in his lymph nodes. His schedule is to go in for chemo on Monday then for two weeks he take chemo pills. The third week he has off with no meds. The following Monday he started the cycle all over again. He will do this for six rounds of chemo. He should be done with everything in mid-July.]

The first week of chemo was tough. Brian is still getting used to the side effects and illness. Each person is different but common side effects for the type of chemo he is getting is nausea, numbness in the hands and feet (they have to keep a close eye on that side effect since damage can be long lasting), aversion to cold (for a few days after his port chemo) he can’t eat, drink or touch anything cold and general pain and achiness all over.

On Friday I was really getting worried about him. He was not only hurting but seemed so down. I felt helpless and wished I could take away his pain. He went into work for a few hours and I took a few minutes to say my morning prayer. My thoughts were full of Brian when I opened up my laptop to read the Restore prayer prompts. The thought for the day was timely. It said:

“Jesus did not come to explain away suffering or to remove it. He came to fill it with his presence.” –Paul Claudel

I prayed for Brian that he would be given strength to endure the months ahead. If I can’t take away his pain, I can at least pray for him to get through it. Afterwards I read the “Act” of the day. It said:

“Can you think of a cross your husband is carrying? Even some small chore that is usually his? Carry it with him today. Smile and wink at him, too.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. Who said God doesn’t have a sense of humor. But it did give me an idea of how I could help Brian. I did what I could to make the home a little more comfortable for him. Things like – clearing off his desk area of the piles of folded clothes and Star Wars toys that landed there, wipe down his bathroom (a job he usually did), I made his favorite veggies to go with dinner and took care of his one cleaning pet peeve (an unvacuumed family room.) When he got home I kept the kids quiet (relatively speaking) so he could lay down and rest. It made me feel better just to do something.

On Saturday morning, I woke up and heard the kids talking to Brian in the family room. He let me sleep in as long as I wanted. (Even with cancer, he rocks.) Thankfully, he was feeling a little better and not hurting as much. His doctor said his body would develop a pattern and as time goes by he will know which days will be easier and which days will be tougher and he can adjust his schedule/activities accordingly. I took advantage of his feeling better and rented a movie he wanted to see that night and made a special dessert. (Baked whole wheat chocolate donuts. I’ll post that recipe too!) We had our own date night after the kids went to sleep. (That was part of my “wink”. ;-)) It was great…a little breathe of fresh air after a rough week. So yeah, we are hanging in there and appreciate all your prayers!

Around the house…

Legos, Star Wars toys, Legos, Thomas the Train engines, Legos, Disney Cars characters, and did I mention Legos?

Reading…

The Everyday Catholic’s Guide to the Liturgy of the Hours

Insurgent (Divergent Series)

Listening to…

I heard this song on the radio the other day and it really touched me. When I went to download it on iTunes I was surprised to find out that the artist was Shane Harper who played Spencer on “Good Luck, Charlie.” I don’t know if his new movie God Is Not Dead is any good but I do know I love the song from it. 😉

Here are the lyrics.

“Hold You Up”

When it’s coming apart, you had it all.
It wasn’t enough. No, it’s not enough.
They tell you it’s not worth the price, so just let it go.
But you know you can’t. You know you won’t.

It’s not easy, no.
Finding the words to say.
When you’re feeling lost, you’ll find your way.

The world is so broken and sometimes it leaves you cold.
At nighttimes you can’t feel the fire to guide you home.
The demons will harm you and try to steal what you know.
But the angels, they brought you, and they’re gonna hold you up.
They’re gonna hold you up.

They see the fear in your eyes, heart sinks like a stone.
‘Cause when you’re afraid, it weighs on your soul.

It’s not easy, no.
Finding the words to say.
When you’re feeling lost, you’ll find your way.

When the timing is right, somehow you’ll know.
When nobody stands, stand on your own.

Thinking about…

I love the lyric “The demons will harm you and try to steal what you know. But the angels, they brought you, and they’re gonna hold you up.”

When I am feeling overwhelmed and am stressing out I am tempted to lose it. I can give into my weakness and the negativity in my head and allow the demons to steal what I know – that God is with me. That he is strongest when I am weakest and He can accomplish amazing things. If I am docile in the hands of God and surrender to him in the little things, as well as the big things, He will hold me up and carry me through. That is especially timely these days. 😉

Watching…

Saturday we watched the season finale of When Calls the Heart (Aw!) and last night we watched the season finale of The Walking Dead (Ack!). I recorded the premiere of Season 3 of Call the Midwife for later this week along with The Blacklist, Father Brown, Grimm, some Hitchcock movies and some old episodes of Veronica Mars.

On the blog…

I have a number of posts in my Draft folder but I’m not sure how much free time I’ll have this week!

Posts I’ve Liked on my Bloglovin

I said the ebook would be ready on Monday. And I note that Monday does not end until 11:59 PM. by Jen

Monthly Clean Home Challenge: File Paper Piles by IHeart Organizing

Kitchen Chat, Week Five: Kitchen Style! by Sun and Candlelight

Pinned…

Source

Great Kid Idea – Gravel and Trucks Construction Sensory Box

Homemade Peanut Butter, Coconut and Fruit Granola Bars

Easy End of the Year Teacher Gift

Free printable: Party Bunting Flags Blue

Plans for the Week…

Bella sitting next to me in the car, showing me her painted polka dot nails. 🙂

The usual, although is Brian is feeling okay on Saturday, Bella and I are scheduled for a mom and daughter date to the movies. (Even if it means having to sit through a Muppets movie.) Honestly, my favorite time is when we are driving in the car to and from. I ask her questions about her life and she opens up and shares things with me. I think the simple act of sitting side by side but not facing each other helps her to open up to me more.

Captured…

I love how after a rain the sky is a gorgeous blue with big puffy clouds. Here’s the view from our deck yesterday with today’s scripture of the day in the Restore Workshop.

Pinterest Party & Link-up (Vol 21): Sneaky Spaghetti Sauce with Pureed Veggies

By bobbi
March 25, 2014
2 Comments

* * * * *

Sneaky Spaghetti with Pureed Veggies

The original recipe appeared on Mommy’s Kitchen.net.

When I saw this recipe on Pinterest I thought it would be perfect for certain kiddos of mine that have a hard time eating their veggies. I was also excited to try out my new food processor so choosing this sneaky spaghetti was a no brainer. I started out by steaming the veggies I would be using in the sauce – zucchini, carrots, celery, red and green peppers. Here is the recipe with my notes.

Ingredients:
1 – lb ground turkey
2 – sweet Italian sausage links, remove casings (I used chicken sausage with no additives/nitrates.)
1 – small to medium onion, chopped
2 – cloves garlic, minced (I doubled the garlic.)
1 – orange, green or yellow bell pepper, seeded and pureed
1/2 – cup carrots, shredded or pureed
1/2 – cup zucchini, shredded or pureed
1 – medium rib of celery, chopped or pureed
1 – 28 oz can Italian style tomatoes in puree
1 – 14 oz can Italian diced tomatoes, with juice (I didn’t have Italian style so I used fire roasted tomatoes and just added a bit more basil.)
1 – 6 oz can tomato paste
1/2 – cup water (if using frozen pureed veggies omit the water)
2 – 3 tablespoon sugar (I used unrefined coconut sugar.)
1 – bay leaf
1 – teaspoon dried basil
1/2 – tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 – teaspoon crushed thyme
1 – teaspoon salt
1 – 16 oz package spaghetti noodles (I used whole wheat pasta.)

Directions:

In a large sauce pan, crumble the turkey and Italian sausage. Add the onion and garlic and cook over medium heat until the meat is cooked through. Drain off any fat. Add the meat mixture to a 4 – 6 qt crock pot.

Stir in the tomato paste and all the canned tomatoes. Use a large spoon to break up the whole tomatoes. Stir in the pureed vegetables (bell pepper, carrots, zucchini, celery).

Add the spices, sugar, water and bay leaf. Cover and cook on low for 6 – 8 hours. Stirring occasionally. Serve over cooked pasta.

Shredded Vegetables:
If using shredded vegetables add the carrots, celery and zucchini when the meat mixture is fully cooked and drained. Continue to cook, stirring, until the vegetables are limp, about 5 minutes.

Recipe yields: 6 -8 servings

The spaghetti was thick, chunky and delicious. Although there is a little more prep time to this recipe, everyone loved it and it tasted even better as leftovers. This will now be my go to recipe for spaghetti, especially if I have extra veggies I need to use up. 🙂

If you have any other favorite recipes for sneaking in veggies, let me know in the comments.

If you are on Pinterest, let me know so I can follow you. You can find me here: http://pinterest.com/rol_bobbi/. 🙂

* * * * *

Now it’s your turn.

1. Choose your creation, share about it and snap a photo if you can.

3. Add a link back here so others can play along.

4. If you want to use it, here is the html code for the logo:

5. Link up below. Make sure you’re sending us to your actual post, and not to your general blog address.

The link up will be active for 10 days. Have fun!

An InLinkz Link-up

7 Quick Takes (3/22/13): Movies, More Movies & HolyLens and Theme Thursday: Rich

By bobbi
March 23, 2014
10 Comments

I’m a little late but I’m linking up with Jen for 7 Quick Takes and Cari for Theme Thursday: Rich. (Scroll down to #7 for that.) 🙂

~ 1 ~

Well, I took a blogging break this week. Not by choice but more by circumstance. It has been such a busy week that I haven’t had the time, particularly since I am trying to get to bed a little earlier at night. Plus, what spare time I do have I’ve been trying to work on the Restore Workshop. It has actually been going well even though there were a few days I didn’t even touch the material. However, I have been making up the days I missed so I’ll be on track by Monday. I’ll share more of what God’s been teaching me next week.

~ 2 ~

The other day my little brother sent me an invite to join Letterboxd.com. If you are unfamiliar with it, the same way Goodreads is for those who like to share what they are reading, Letterboxd is for those who like to share what movies they watch. It’s fun for me to see what my brother is watching and get recommendations for my Netflix queue. In the next couple of weeks I’ll be putting together some lists such as – My Fave Hitchcock Movies, Fave Classic Movies, My Fave Literary Adaptations, Fave Religious Movies and Movies Bella and I Enjoy Watching Together and more. If you have a Twitter or Facebook account you can link them together. (People can follow you just as they do on Twitter.) If you do join let me know so I can add you as a movie friend. 🙂 You can find me here.

~ 3 ~

Waiting for the movie to start and eating popcorn with missing teeth. (Note to self – the boys need a haircut.) 🙂

Speaking of movies, Friday night it was Family Fun Night at the kid’s school. The kids bring their sleeping bags and blanket to the gym and watch a movie with popcorn and a light dinner provided. The movie was Frozen, which Bella and I already saw but the boys hadn’t seen it yet. Bella was eager to sit with her friends but the three amigos stuck together with me and Brian and the popcorn. It was actually a lot of fun. 🙂

~ 4~

Oh and speaking of Frozen, have you seen the video of the guy singing “Let It Go” in the voices of 21 Disney and Pixar characters?? If you haven’t seen it yet it is worth watching! Very impressive. 🙂

~ 5 ~

When we got home Friday night we put the kids to bed then Brian and I settled down for a Friday night movie. I rented two and we chose to watch The Great Gatsby. Did you like it? I couldn’t stand it. After about 20 minutes or so I looked over at Brian’s uninterested face and said, “This is so boring!” He agreed. Maybe it was the stylized way it was filmed or the depressing storyline. I don’t know. We turned it off and I decided to read the book instead. Good thing I also rented The Amazing Spiderman. Maybe that says something about my intellect, but I actually really enjoyed that one and will most likely watch the upcoming The Amazing Spiderman 2 coming to theaters on May 2. 🙂

~ 6 ~

So you don’t think I only watch movies, there was also an interesting post my sister had on her Facebook page – BBC Believes You Only Read 6 of These Books… The average Goodreads member has read 23 out of 100 books on this list. I need to read one more to hit that since I’ve only read 22 so far. How did you do?

~ 7 ~

Lastly, I feel like I dialed it in for this week’s Theme Thursday: Rich since I remembered about it late Thursday night while I was in line at the theater to watch Divergent so I had to use the photos I had on my phone and some apps to make this collage before the movie started. But the sentiment remains the same. These guys make me RICH!

***

And since my mom isn’t on Instagram, here are some of the other #holylens photos I’ve posted. (Enjoy, mom.) 🙂

House

I pass this cute house when I take the kids to school.

***

Master

My little master of disguises is still on his superhero kick.

***

Covenant

It was 14 1/2 years ago that I entered into a marriage covenant with this amazing man.

***

Mercy

“Do not thou, O Lord, withhold thy mercies from me, let thy steadfast love & thy faithfulness ever preserve me.” Psalms 40:11.

***

Law

We’re teaching the kids God’s laws with the help of Surfer Dude Jesus.

***

Reconcile

I’m reconciled to the fact that my fun Friday nights now involve staying in, choosing a movie from our movie bins and maybe even sneaking in a bowl of cereal. #partylikeamom

***

Contrite

This morning I wrote an apology note to Brian. I was feeling contrite for expecting him to read my mind instead of me coming straight out and telling him what’s wrong.

***

Father

This is one of my favorite places to sit and talk to my Father. The beauty and majesty of his creation is a constant reminder that if he can do *anything*. Likewise, in his eyes, we are his beautiful creations.

Happy Sunday!

Revolution of Love

Do small things with great love.

Category Archives: weekly quizzes/questionnaires

Pinterest Party & Link-Up (Vol 22): Emergency Car Bins & Operation Clean and Organize (Vol 18)

Restore Workshop – Lessons Learned (Vol 2): Remember Gratitude

Moments of Grace Daybook & Currently (3/30/14): Brian Update, Trusting God, Odds & Ends

Pinterest Party & Link-up (Vol 21): Sneaky Spaghetti Sauce with Pureed Veggies

7 Quick Takes (3/22/13): Movies, More Movies & HolyLens and Theme Thursday: Rich