Mommy time...

ISN'T IT JUST HARD TO get any time to yourself?? I have to say now that I have four children the thing I crave the most at the end of the day is quiet. Blissful silence. I can remember as a teen and young adult I loved noise. I always had music playing or some sort of noise in the background. Boy, have things changed. There are times when I'm driving in the car by myself I don't even turn the radio on. I love the funny stories and crazy things my kiddos say, don't get me wrong, but by the end of the day I just crave silence.

When I was a young mom I really never got any time to myself. I had a high-need child and he was extremely hard to leave with anyone. Consequently, "mommy time" was unheard of. By the time my oldest was old enough to not be quite as needy, I was having number two. I didn't really get a chance to explore time to myself and develop any interests apart from mothering.

While I was pregnant with number three, I was the only prosphora baker in our little mission. Trying to get all the little loaves made with small children under foot was a challenge to say the least. In our mission we only used the Russian style loaves, which are far more time consuming than the larger Greek style loaves. So during that time, my wonderful hubby would take the two boys out for a four hour window of time, so I could get my baking done. It was WONDERFUL!!! Four whole hours to myself, it was such a blessing.

At the beginning of this year, I was contemplating all the ways I have changed by becoming a mother. I guess having a daughter has made me revisit my femininity. What kind of mother did I want to be for my daughter? While I always did things with the boys, I wasn't what you'd consider "crafty". But I do have a desire to create. I've always wanted to be crafty, but have just never spent the time developing it. That is until now.

The table topper I completed today.

In November my hubby bought me a new sewing machine for Christmas and since then I've been taking all kinds of quilting classes. I have fallen in love with quilting. Creating useful, pretty things. I have made several quilt tops since the beginning of the year and I am now working through finishing them up. Here's the next one I'm working on.

Then I'll be starting a whole new project from my Thimbleberries class. We are making projects from the Thimbleberries Pattern Party: 12 Months of Quilting and Party Treats book. I am really excited about our next project. I just love these fabrics.

The bottom line here is that "mommy time" is important. You may be in a season of life where it is more challenging to get mommy time, but making it happen can make all the difference. Since I do spend 24/7 with my kiddos, having these breaks to explore interests feeds who I am as a person. Not just a mom. It also allows me to appreciate my children so much more when we are together. I love including them in what I learn and it affords them avenues to explore. Mommy time it's a good thing!!

In the Kitchen...

FAST FREE WEEK means meat!!! At least for my hubby and my oldest. So in honor of Fast Free Wednesday I roasted chickens. Most women I know aren't really big on purchasing and cooking a full chicken. I remember when I was first married I had never purchased a whole chicken. I didn't know the first thing to do with it. While I had cooked chicken lots of times and lots of ways, I had just never dealt with a whole bird before. In fact on our first Thanksgiving I got up at o'dark thirty to deal with our lovely turkey, only to have to go wake up hubby to ask him which part was the breast. Leave it to a man to know the breast! Ha! Ha! So my wonderful hubby put Ms. Bird on his hand and used it as a puppet to enlighten me on the anatomy of the naked bird. I must say I felt pretty dumb, but I was able to get it cooked and it was delicious, even if I do say so myself!

Anyway, back to the chickens. Roasting a chicken is the easiest thing in the world and if you're not so savy in the kitchen you can look like you are!! The other great thing about roasting chicken is that if you do two at a time, like I do you can have precooked meat for a couple of meals during that week. Usually I would prepare the chickens on a Sunday morning and set the timer on the oven and we'd have a lovely Sunday chicken dinner. Then I would have chicken for enchiladas and chicken salad for later in the week. If I was really ambitious I would also cook the bones Sunday evening and we'd have home made chicken soup for lunch the next day. So we would get three good meals out of one day of work. Throwing the stuff together for the future meals is a snap when the meat is already cooked.

For my roast chicken I wash the bird and pat it dry and place it in a sprayed pan. I then stuff the bird with lemon and/or onions and fresh herbs if I have them on hand. Then I sprinkle some seasonings on the skin and bake in a low oven (225 degrees) for 4 hours or so. If I want a complete meal I season some carrots and potatoes and place around the chicken and roast them all together. Many a new mom has received this meal after giving birth and they have loved it. So if you haven't roasted a chicken, give it a go. Nothing could be easier!!

As a side note I was able to finish my first COMPLETE quilt. I've been working on all these quilt tops and then trying to get them quilted since the beginning of the year. Now I'm able to start binding them and seeing the completed fruits of my labor. I think it came out pretty nice.



Enjoy your day!!

Cottage Industry...

OVER THE WEEKEND I was busy crafting and just thinking of how I could keep my crafting habit going!! Crafting is a bit like a drug to me. I love it and can't spend enough time doing it. So in some ways I guess I impose my craziness on my kids and make them do it too!! But I guess that it is now paying off since my oldest is now helping me with my new endeavor.

Since I really enjoy making things, I now have the problem with what to do with them. I mean how many quilts do you really need?? Luckily with the knitting, children grow so I can always be knitting something that someone needs. For a little while any way. So I'm hoping to post and sell some of my items in different places and see what happens.

My first completed thing is knitting markers. I just love beads and shiny things so I thought I'd make my own. They turned out so nicely that I thought I'd sell them as well. The only problem was that the little rings I put the dangley things on I could not seal shut. I looked for a solution, when it hit me my oldest knows how to solder. So I put him to work and it worked perfectly! Now I'll have to see if other folks agree and want to purchase my creations.

I plan to offer some beaded items, quilts and quilted items. We'll have to see where it leads. Maybe just a dead end, but all I can do is try. Now that the kids are in on my endeavor it's a family affair so we'll see, but in a homeschooling household are most things a family affair??

Enjoy your day!

Almost a Month...

IT'S BEEN ALMOST A MONTH... since I started this Blog venture and I think it's going fairly well. I'm hoping for this to be a place that I can share my Orthodox Homeschooling journey and that by sharing those of you reading this will take away some encouragement, support and learn something you didn't know. I would love to hear your comments about what things are useful. I would also be honored if you feel anything I blog about is worth passing on.

Now that we are on the verge of summer, I'm thinking most of my posts will be more about playing, crafting, cooking and trying to get back into the liturgical rhythm. While I do, do some schooling with the littler kids, it's more unstructured learning. I will also be sharing other blogs and information that I come across that strikes my fancy.

Hope you had a wonderful long weekend. I had so many plans for things to do, but at least I finished my first sweater!! I am extremely proud of it.

We had lots of playing in, mostly, sun this long weekend. And I took a walk around our yard and was able to put this wonderful bouquet of flowers together. It just makes me smile every time I look at it. God Bless your Day!!