Broccoli Fried Rice

Happy 5 year blog-o-versary to me!  Quite a bit has changed in the last 5 years, and I hope you've enjoyed the ride so far!

We've already turned our favorite chicken fried rice into homemade takeout, so I wanted to try a veggie version.  I took the same recipe, but switched out chicken for broccoli.  It turned out pretty good, although the kids definitely preferred the chicken version.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 2-3 carrots, finely chopped
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 eggs
• 4 cups cooked rice (I used about 1 1/3 cups dry brown rice)
• 5-6 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1-2 cups frozen broccoli

Directions:

Heat olive oil over medium heat in large skillet.  Add carrots and onion, and saute until soft, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic and cook for 1 more minute.  Move veggies off to the side and scramble 2 eggs, stirring occasionally until cooked.  Mix into veggies and add remaining ingredients, stirring occasionally, until broccoli is cooked.

Quick Tip: Use Up The Last Of The Dish Soap

When the dish soap is just about gone, don't throw the bottle away!  Instead, the next time you do the dishes, run the water through the (nearly) empty dish soap bottle first, and throw the lid in the water too.  There's usually enough soap coating the inside of the bottle and lid to fill your sink with suds for one more load.  Plus, then your dish soap bottle is rinsed out and ready to be recycled!

Weekly Goals: November 29-December 5

We bought a few fun things like some $4 kids' pajamas on Black Friday, but for the most part we just window shopped this weekend.  However, I did splurge and get Teaching from Rest: A Homeschooler's Guide to Unshakable Peace on Amazon, and I used the coupon code HOLIDAY30 to save 30%!  You can use it too, to get 30% off any one book, until December 1st.  I'd suggest this one or this one, but you have many to choose from!

Last Week's Goals:

• Do some fun Thanksgiving projects with the kids. Done! You can read about those here. 
• Bring the Christmas decoration boxes up from the basement. Done!
• Eat some yummy food and enjoy time with family. Done!

This Week's Goals:

• Put up the Christmas tree and other decorations.  We don't have a ton, but I do have a few favorites that I like.
• Declutter a few specific surfaces that always bother me when I look at them: the shelf above the craft cupboard, the ledge in the upstairs hallway, and the top of the appliance island.
• List the rest of the lots of baby clothes on ebay.  I listed and sold one, although after shipping I only made about $3.00.  I'd like to try again, and hopefully make at least a little bit more.

25 Reasons Real Foodies Should Shop At Aldi from Kitchen Stewardship.

How An Introvert Makes A Phone Call from Coastal Conservatory.

Why Homeschooling From Fear Doesn't Work from Simple Homeschool.

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.  This means that I receive a small commission when you purchase through these links, at no additional cost to you.  Thank you for your support!

Teaching Gratitude To Little Kids

Every night before bed, we say a family prayer, and then each of the kids gets a chance to pray for something they're thankful for.  It is sometimes cute, sometimes silly, and sometimes, it's really difficult for them to think of even one thing.

I try to guide them with questions, like "What did you eat today?"  "What did we do today?"  But even then, they can't always put it into words.  I've talked previously about how I try to pray specifically for something I'm thankful for about my husband and each kid before bed at night.  Some days it's hard.  Some days I fall back on things I've already mentioned, which is okay, but it also serves as a reminder to look for different things as well.

So even though we didn't have any actual school time this week (it's one of our pre-scheduled break weeks), I wanted to do a few projects and activities to remind them of how blessed we are, and to have fun with a few turkey themed things as well.

We made turkey hats, tracing their hands and cutting them out.  Jonah did most of his on his own.  Matthew needed help cutting out his hands, and I did pretty much all of Hannah's.  But this was a good project for a wide age range.

Tuesday we made a thankful tree.  I used painters' tape to put this right on the wall next to our calendar.  There were a few repeats, but we had a good variety of things that the boys thought of that they were thankful for.  Again, this took a bit of prodding at first, but eventually they started coming up with their own ideas.

They each chose one of their thankful items to draw a picture.  In case you can't tell, Matthew drew a Lego book with a police car on it (left), and Jonah drew a turkey (right).

Yesterday, we finished off with a few more fun worksheets.  My kids love color-by-number (or letter) sheets and word searches, so I knew they'd enjoy these.

Worksheets can be found here:

• I Am Thankful For... worksheet
• Turkey Color By Letter worksheet
• Pilgrim Lady Color By Number worksheet

Happy Thanksgiving from our family!

KonMari: Paper Edition

It has been awhile since my last KonMari update.  In theory, the next category - papers - is not a difficult one for me.  But bit by little bit, I did have a few trouble areas that crept back into being clutter.  

First up: magazines.  I've let most of my subscriptions lapse as they ran out (and thankfully I haven't paid for a magazine in years - these are all freebie ones I've found posted on deals sites!), but I still get a few.  I do enjoy reading them, but I've gotten woefully behind.  So I committed to skimming through most of these over the past few days.  I pulled out recipes and a few other things that I wanted to save, and the rest got recycled.

Next up: recipes.  I print these on the back of old school papers, and if we like them, they go on notecards in my recipe binder.  My stack of recipes to copy over was eleven tall.  So I took twenty minutes and took care of that (and also cleaned out some less-loved recipe cards from in there).

Finally, my bill paying center.  I had a big stack of old bills to shred, and a few other things to recycle.  Overall, this 3-tier organizing tray is still working pretty well.

That means all I have left is komono (miscellaneous stuff).  I'm almost done then, right? Wink wink...

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.  If you purchase through these links, I receive a small commission at no additional charge to you.  Thank you.

Weekly Goals: November 22-28

My baby girl turned one this week, and I had emotions about it.  This picture cracks me up, though.  "Why did they light my food on fire and start singing?!"

Last Week's Goals:

• Finish my KonMari of the papers. Done!  Look for a post later this week.
• Knit a few dishcloths. Done! Almost.  I did three, one each in each of the colors I have left of the cotton yarn, and now I'm working on a fourth one using up the little bit left of all three.  It might not be pretty, but it will work!
• Nail down my Christmas project and shopping list. Done!

This Week's Goals:

• Do some fun Thanksgiving projects with the kids.  I want to do some turkey things, but also try to find a few to focus on being thankful.
• Bring the Christmas decorations boxes up from the basement.  We're not starting the decorating until next week, but I'd like to have things up and ready to start.
• Eat some yummy food and enjoy time with family! 

The Vinegar Myth: Why Vinegar Is NOT A Great Natural Cleaner from Keeper of the Home.

The "How To Draw Monsters for Kids" video here is great!  And not just for kids...

The Freezer and Slow Cooker Connection: How to Easily Prepare a Bunch of Slow Cooker Recipes in Advance to Save Tons of Money from The Simple Dollar.

On Refugees, And Current Events, And Such

Can I be honest?  I don't keep up on current events very well since having kids.  I used to be so good about reading all the headlines, and really digging into topics that interested me through all sorts of print and online sources.  

And now?  Now I'm lucky if I know what day of the week it is and if it's going to rain or not.  Jesse told me the other day that someone dropped out of the presidential race, and my honest response was that I didn't even know he was running.

So take everything I say with that grain of salt.  

But for some reason, hearing about the attack in Paris and the effects it's having on the displaced Syrian refugees really struck a chord with me.  Maybe it's because I love Paris. Maybe it's because I'm naturally bullheaded, and when the first "close the borders and let no one in" posts started showing up, I immediately wanted to fight for all the innocent people.

And there's where it gets hard.  Are there thousands of people who legitimately need refuge, a safe place to live and be fed?  Absolutely.  Are some of the refugees terrorists in disguise?  Quite possibly.  Unfortunately, sin has made this world full of evil.

So I'm torn.  As a Christian, I want to offer not only physical help to people who need it, in the form of shelter, food, clothing, basic needs, but I also want to offer them Jesus.  This is a foreign mission field landing on our doorsteps, and these people need to hear about their Savior who loves them and who died for them.

But I also fear.  Not only has sin brought evil to this world, it has brought fear and worry and anxiety.  And so as a voting member, my inclination is to side with those who want to keep me and my family safe.  To not let in anyone who might harm us.

These two arguments don't get along.  

And maybe they don't have to.  If the government decides to let the refugees come here, I can show the the love of Jesus, up close, in person.  And if the government decides, for the good of the American people, not to let any Syrians come here, I can support that decision and look for other ways to help.  

I've seen ideas thrown out, that churches could sponsor families with monetary donations to help them resettle somewhere else.  That maybe it would be better for the Syrians to resettle somewhere closer to home, if that's possible.  It would be a way to help while still keeping our distance.  I think it's a smart plan, but I don't know how much it furthers the cause of sharing Jesus.  

All this sounds great now that I've written it down.  And it's easy to say from my living room in rural Iowa, where even if refugees relocated to my country, it's highly doubtful any of them would be anywhere near me.  So maybe I'm not the best person to listen to.  

But my mind goes to Matthew 25:35-40, which my husband just preached on recently. 

"'For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'  

Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'"

I just feel like there has to be a better answer than accept all or accept none.

For more on this situation from people who express these things far better than I do:

• 3 Tips For A More Civil Conversation About Syrian Refugees from The Federalist.
• Building His Church In A Refugee Crisis from Desiring God.
• For Our Fight Is Not Against Flesh And Blood from The Humbled Homemaker.