Footloose Education

1. I made dinner last night even though my husband wasn't home. I rarely cook for myself (Triscuits and cheese for lunch, anyone?). But I was really hungry last night and the dry Triscuits just weren't going to cut it, so I made sausage pizza. The added bonus came when my husband got home very late and appreciatively ate the leftovers -- the poor darling hadn't eaten dinner, so I'm glad it was waiting for him!

2. I strayed from the lesson plan on Monday with my nieces and let them color. I'm a pretty strict and exacting schoolmarm, so this was a big deal for me. The poor dears had had a really rough weekend and needed some downtime. It was a good break for all of us (even if it did mean double work on Tuesday, hehe).

3. Speaking of straying from the lesson and letting loose... I switched out our traditional grammar lesson one day for mad libs. Holy cow -- the girl who couldn't tell a noun from a verb from a punch in the eye now knows her parts of speech quite well.

Of Mice and Mortgages: Successes

1. In the last 72 hours, I've earned about the equivalent of a minor in both Real Estate and Accounting (from the University of Google). I've been trying, furiously, to figure out how we could a) qualify for and b) afford the mortgage on our little dream house. After calculating, recalculating, fudging, figuring, and finagling, I think we might be able to do it. Maybe.


2. We only have four more days of the month, and I think we can finish it without another trip to the grocery. This is a success because we've got 30% of our grocery budget left to spend for the month. It would be nice to put that into savings.

3. ♪♫ Three dead mice, three dead mice, see how they lie, see how they lie... they all ran after the Farmer's Wife, she set out the traps which was extra nice, did you ever see such a sight in your life as three dead mice? ♪♫

Three down, who knows how many to go. We've been praying for the pitter patter of little feet, but not that kind! I haven't heard any today; I hope the infestation is over and the mice have called a truce. I've got more peanut butter traps if they want to keep this war going, though.

Read others' small successes and share your own at Faith & Family Live.

Trapezing Without a Net

1. On March 9th, Lent begins. This fact is very significant. My New Year's resolutions typically last five or six weeks, tops. Then Lent comes and I make new resolutions which keep me going another six weeks. So I have a full three months of the year with all of the motivation and accountability I need to be a better person.

But Lent isn't starting this week like it usually does. In fact it doesn't start for another three weeks and my New Year's resolutions have already expired.

How to bridge the gap!?

This week I enlisted the aid of the Communion of Saints, begged for some heavenly assistance, and what do you know? I've been more on top of my resolutions this week than I was the first week of January!

Six weeks in, how are your New Year's resolutions going? My husband hasn't wavered, and his dedication is really helping me.

2. After a whirlwind marathon all-day top-to-bottom "I've had enough of this JUNK" house scrubbing yesterday, I was just now able to receive two unexpected visitors with absolute calm. My husband even suggested we have a party to celebrate and show off the spic-and-spanness. So we can... mess it up again? Bring it!

3. This week, my heretofore (since moving up here) nonexistent social life is starting to expand! This is making me very happy. I'm a melancholic introvert, to be sure, but I do have a sputtering streak of extroverted sanguinity that flares up on occasion and needs to be sated.


Read others' Small Successes and share your own at Faith & Family Live.

Have you entered my Amazon Gift Card Giveaway yet? Entries end on Tuesday.

I'm A Success This Week

1. I vacuumed. Due to extraordinary extenuating circumstances, I have to borrow a vacuum from our in-laws each time the floors need attention. I wasn't scheduled to solicit the sucker for another week or so, but a certain fifth grader, who shall remain nameless, spilled the contents of a rice heating bag all over the carpet. It blended in beautifully with our amazing camouflages-everything-but-red-koolaid-carpet, but made for seriously uncomfortable barefooted walking. I'm glad to report that the grains are good and gone.

2. I packed a full two hours before we left for our roadtrip last weekend! And I actually made a list the night before so I wouldn't forget anything!! When I spent a semester abroad in college, I'd routinely pack and be ready to go to another country for the weekend on 5 minutes' notice. But it doesn't work quite so well these days, and while my personal proclivity for procrastination was inkling for indulgence, I tamed the internal tempter and planned ahead.

3. I took the second step* to overcoming my social phobia (the first step being to admit it) and went to a book club, even though I hadn't read the book! I had the time of my life. Faithful young Catholics with razor sharp intellects? I love this group.

Read others' small successes and share your own.

Small Successes: Chicken Edition

1. I made three pounds of ground beef jerky last night in my new dehydrator. It was a failure in that I slept through the alarm that told me when to shut off the dehydrator. Can you say... beef sawdust? But the success was that it was my first use of the Excalibur, and gives me hope and confidence for future endeavors! (And my husband claims to like to the crunchy concoction, so all is not lost).

2. The chickens are free!! Well, they're not exactly free-ranging it, but with the coyote population around here, it's a darned good thing for them that they're not. They're in their spacious new husband-built movable chicken pen, eating fresh grass each day and turning out eggs like little clucking factories.

3. Speaking of chickens, I stretched the leftover chicken wings out for three lunches. Could I have eaten them in one sitting? Most definitely. Did I? No. That's self-restraint of epic proportions right there, y'all.

Needles, Facades, and $$

1. The Christmas tree needles are vacuumed up and are now a thing of the past. Our living room smells piney fresh, and I can walk around barefooted again.

2. My living room and kitchen are also spotless. Yes, I threw all of the clutter into the bedroom when unexpected company announced they were 4 minutes away, but I'm totally dominating the facade of togetherness right now.

3. We made our first $2 on chicken eggs!! Our neighbor requested a dozen after we gave her a dozen. At this rate, we should recoup our investment in about... 37 years (adjusted for inflation), but considering we didn't get the chickens to make money in the first place, this is pretty sweet!

Bonus 4th: I honed my fledgling Photoshop skillz and made a new background for my Twitter page, and a new profile image for Facebook. I'm rather pleased with both, actually.

Restrained Splurging

It's been a long time since I participated in Small Successes because, frankly, I could never think of three and I didn't want to make them up. But that's precisely the point of Small Successes: finding them, no matter how small they are!

1. I'm celebrating my Baptism day today, and made a cheesecake to commemorate the anniversary of my birth into the Church. Normally I let this day slide by, but I missed out on cake for my birthday a few weeks ago, so...

2. I made said cheesecake two days ago, and have not sliced into it, holding out for today (which is also the day Archbishop Dolan will officially take the helm of the USCCB). This kind of restraint is the stuff legends are made of.

3. I used up the last of our Bed Bath and Beyond wedding gift cards to buy this tablecloth. I was going to buy something practical, like a set of measuring spoons that doesn't melt when I grab them to stir oatmeal (grrr), but a woman can't live on a budget that doesn't allow for frivolous beauty. I consider this splurge a success.

Read others' small successes and share your own at Faith & Family Live.

Small Successes: Bills, Bells, and Boxes

1. I finally paid the lab bill for this bad news zinger. I bitterly refused to pay the negligible amount for the last two months, wondering why they should add insult to injury by sending a bill. It was more the fact that I didn't want to think about it, and signing my name to a check would kind of ratify the news and make me face it anew. But justice demanded I send them their wages, so my account is now settled there.

2. I picked 30 pounds of bell peppers and jalapeños before it froze. Yay!! Now to slice and freeze them...

3. I refrained from checking the UPS tracking code obsessively when I knew I had packages coming. Instead I was happily surprised when they arrived. I amaze myself with my self-restraint sometimes. hehe

Read others' small successes and share your own at Faith & Family Live.

Small Successes, Survival Edition

Until the irrigation water is shut off (October 18th), I'm operating in "survival mode."

Before I married a farmer I had no idea that there was any such thing as an irrigation district, and that they decide when and how much water farmers can have. In our district, farmers are only allowed to have water on their crops from April to October.

Thank the good Lord! If it were any longer I don't know if I could do it. When the water goes off, by and large, the farmer's work hours are greatly shortened.

My own darling farmer is gone before I wake up and often comes home after I go to sleep. Yes, he calls me often during the day to check in and say "hi," but sometimes a whole week goes by where I only see him an hour or two combined from Monday through Saturday. Sometimes I bring him dinner in the field, but it's just to see him for a few minutes before he has to get back to work.

Just 11 more days. I can do it. Just 11 more days, and then I'll have my husband back.
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1. Am using the long hours of the afternoons to write Our Love Story. This is actually very helpful to ward off loneliness.

2. I tend not to cook for just myself, and live off of cereal or whatever is in the fridge. It's just no fun to cook without someone else to enjoy it. But last night I made some homemade corn tortillas and chipotle pork. Yes, it would've tasted better with my husband there, but I think this is progress.

3. Last night when the walls were particularly suffocating, I prayed a Rosary for my husband (and for military wives). Our Lady is so dear, and she's excellent company.

Be encouraged. Read others' small successes and share your own at Faith & Family Live.

Country Living Initiation Success!

1. Without knowing what yesterday's (September 15th) daily marriage tip from the USCCB was, I did it anyway.

2. I had another initiation into country life! I (literally) separated wheat from chaff! It was invigorating.

My mother-in-law generously gave us a gallon of wheat berries, but since they're straight from the farm (not the store), they still have a little chaff in them. After sitting there for almost an hour picking out the little chaff pieces from the wheat, I called my father-in-law to get some tips. "Do you do this every time?? It takes forever!" He said you have to turn on a fan and slowly pour the wheat from one container to another in front of the fan; the wheat drops into the bowl and the chaff is blown out... do it a few times and you're done.

It worked!! My husband ground the wheat and I made lovely honey whole grain bread. Yum!

3. Using Food Tidings, I brought orange chicken to my sister-in-law who just had a baby. If you haven't heard about Food Tidings, it's a great site that allows you to set up schedules for many different people to bring food to new mothers, or grieving families, or anyone who needs a break from cooking for a while. If you have a supportive community (not strangers; a homeschool group or parish families or even your own local extended family and friends), it's a great way to organize everyone and make sure the new mother is covered!

Be encouraged. Read others' small successes and share your own at Faith & Family Live.

Major Success!

1. After literally 10 years of trying (hey, I started young), I have finally perfected homemade flour tortillas! Authentic, soft, airy, delicious. I'm SO happy about this one! Dozens of attempts and they were never right. Seriously, I'm going to ride this kitchen high for a long time. (I'll post the recipe and tips in the coming weeks).

2. I froze 3 gallon bags of peaches and made several pints of peach butter. I thought I could never get my fill of peaches, but...

3. In just 10 days I've earned $5 on Sidetick and actually cashed in my first $5 Amazon gift card from Swagbucks. At this rate, I should be enjoying my dream flour mill by May 7th, 2011. Not bad for a few minutes a day. Check out the guides on the right sidebar if you're interested.

4. Bonus success for my husband: He figured out that lemon seeds were clogging the little sprayers in our dishwasher. Maybe we won't need a new dishwasher after all!

Check out others' successes and share your own at Faith & Family Live.

Schooling, $$, and Burger Buns

Grasshopper, by 3rd grade niece

1. Finally realizing that learning doesn't have to be straight out of textbooks, I'm allowing and encouraging my nieces to use a sketchbook for science. For the life of them they couldn't remember what the thorax and abdomen were, how many pairs of legs, how many compound eyes, or where the breathing pores of insects were until they could "see" it on their drawings.

 Lucy the Butterfly, by 5th grade niece

2. For a few minutes a day and doing something I already do anyway (searching), I'm picking up a ridiculously easy $25 a month, which will go a long way in my tight budget!

Grasshopper, by 5th grade niece
 
3. I made sesame seed hamburger buns! My husband actually did the eyes opened wide nod two times thing when he tasted them (his "you've cooked perfection on a plate" reaction). Check one more thing off the list of grocery items to buy. They weren't difficult to make and if I do a baking day each month and freeze them they'll be as convenient as store bought.

Unfinished Butterfly, by 3rd grade niece

Read others' successes and share your own at Faith and Family Live.

Keeping Up

"It’s important... to recognize that all the small successes in our days can add up to one big triumph. So on Thursday of each week, we do exactly that." -- Danielle Bean

1. There are just 5 days left in this month and we're still $85 under our grocery budget! Maybe this whole garden thing is working more than I thought it would...

2. Successfully started the first week of school with my nieces! I'm kind of excited about Geography. We're going to use this series from the library to help learn all of the states and capitals.

3. Realizing the "thank you, God, for this day" while dozing off during the first decade of the Rosary is not an ideal way to end my day, I've tried to start praying (while kneeling or sitting up) Evening Prayer, an examenation of conscience and an Act of Contrition. It gives me a better perspective on my day, something to work on tomorrow, and hopefully will make going to Confession a little easier ("now what did I do five weeks ago?").

Read others' small successes and share your own at Faith & Family Live.

Varied Successes

1. I want to teach my nieces the dying art of needlework and cross-stitching. To that end I went to four, count 'em four, stores looking for beginner cross-stitch kits. Nothing!! I finally found the "Learn a Craft" series by Dimensions on Amazon. After shipping costs it won't be cheap. Ah, what we do for the arts!

A Careful Stitch by Emile Munier


2. My sister-in-law and I canned tomatoes! So far this year we've just done whole tomatoes, but as the tomatoes ripen in the garden we'll continue with spaghetti sauce, Mexican and Italian stewed tomatoes, and maybe even tomato paste.

3. When we returned the rental car it had 7/8ths of a tank of gas. They charge a $5.99 per gallon refueling fee, which would have totaled $12. I'm tired of lining other people's pockets with our hard earned money. So, despite the fact we were dead-beat exhausted, we went to fill up the tank and saved $7. Yes it's only $7, but it's our $7.

Check out others' small successes and share your own at Faith & Family Live.

Emotional Miscarriage

This has been a pretty difficult week. A death in the family, a $2200 and rising car mechanic's bill, and a dashed pregnancy hope. I've had false hope before in this via crucis of infertility, but I've always hardened myself so much that I hardly felt the sting. Making myself more vulnerable this time, it's never hurt so much. There were too many signs pointing to it this time.

Early this week, after looking at my chart, my NFP instructor instantly ordered a blood pregnancy test. "I've already taken a home test and it was negative," I said, steeling myself against any renewed hope. She insisted, "sometimes those can be wrong, every sign on your chart is pointing to it, and if you are pregnant we'd need to know right away, for the baby's sake."

It was a 2-day test HCG test. On the day between the tests I indulged thoughts I've never allowed myself to think before. I started daydreaming about pink dresses and hair ribbons and nursing and bedtimes and baths and soft fuzzy hair. I was picking out a local OB/GYN for the delivery, plotting out how to make my nieces' school year shorter so I could break in April for the baby, and looking up birthing books and classes. I had convinced myself in those 24 hours that I actually was pregnant. I was scheming an elaborate way to deliver the ecstasy-inducing news to my husband. Hearing from the doctor at this point, I thought, was just a formality.

A day into my daydreaming I got a call from my doctor's nurse. "Wow," I thought as I called her back, "I must be so pregnant they don't even need the second test." On the exterior I was acting doubtful and pessimistic; but I'd allowed myself the extravagance of hope.

"Your HCG level is a 3. The Dr. says you don't need to go back for the second test, you're not pregnant. I'm sorry."

Just like that, and it was all over.

"You're not pregnant." The words kept echoing as I struggled to comprehend their meaning. It may as well have been: "You're useless. Your marriage is sterile and fruitless. You're worthless as a woman. You're barren nothingness." I don't believe those words for a second, but for emotion's sake "you're not pregnant" felt the same as any of the others.

It's humiliating. It's devastating. It's agony. An emotional miscarriage.

Now the grieving process begins anew.

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1. I'm drinking more water. I usually wait until my lips are chapped and my throat is sore before slaking my thirst, but I'm an adult and need to take care of myself. 8 glasses a day it is.

2. I've lost eight pounds. Refocusing negative energy towards a positive goal is a small way to bring good out of suffering. By the grace of God, the intercession of my recently deceased Aunt, and a little renewed will power, I'm hoping to stay on this path.

3. I haven't gone to bed any night this week without having first done the dishes. It's easier to get up in the morning if the kitchen is clean.

Be encouraged. Read others' small successes this week and share your own.

Small Successes: Road Edition

1. First stage of the week: Didn't panic when my husband left his suitcase... we just procured some new clothes.

2. Middle stage of the week: Only ate one donut instead of (?). This is big when you're on vacation.

3. Final stage of the week: Didn't cry, and only minimally pouted, when I had to leave my amazing family three days earlier than expected to get back to the farm for haying. And didn't pout or gloat when those days were then burned up in a motel while the timing belt of my car was being fixed, several hundred miles from our final destination.

Read others' small successes and share your own at Faith & Family Live.

Lists Really Help

I've always been a secret list maker. The secret was so well hidden I didn't know it myself. But the ease with which I am making and crossing them off now makes it indubitably clear that I was born a listmaker! I've been more productive this week than in the last two months combined.

1. Made and canned 7 pints of blueberry and cherry butters, deboned and froze 10 pounds of chicken breasts (using the bones for stock), pitted and froze 8 quarts of cherries, froze 8 quarts of blueberries... call me Laura Ingalls Wilder! (And for those who read this blog on Monday, yes I finally got that English Muffin).

2. Instantly revitalized my marriage by changing my perspective.

3. Went to Confession. Every other week would be much better than my current slacker schedule of every 8 weeks. Sheesh but yay at the same time.

Read others' small successes and share your own at Faith & Family Live.

Golf Clap, Please

1. It's not my success... rather it's an incredible and humbling privilege... but my husband and I were asked to be godparents. It's my first godbaby! This child will be a canonized saint some day, mark my words.

2. Deciding to tackle the squash invasion head on, I made zucchini bread! It actually wasn't so great (I don't like zucchini bread in which you can actually taste the zucchini), but at least now I've got a recipe to work with and fewer green batons on my counter.

3. I walked out of WinCo (a grocery store in the NW) without having to sell my right arm. Yes, I had to refrain from buying a lot of stuff, but the self-restraint hurt less than it did last time. Maybe next time I won't even notice (maybe).

Read others' small successes and share your own at Faith & Family Live.

Budget Successes

Yes, gentle readers... I'm trying to live by a budget. When we were a two income family I didn't think much of dropping a twenty here or there (rarely a major purchase, mind you, but nickels and dimes all the time). While I love my life without that job, curbing my spending is harder than I thought it would be.

Using Mint.com to make a budget is easy... living by it is another story. We're three days into our new financial life, and I'm actually already feeling it!

1. While trying to cut the electricity bill, I've lived two days without air conditioning. Today's high is 100... let's see how long this lasts.

2. While trying to cut the grocery bill, I made Chicken Parmesan instead of Grilled Chicken Pineapple Quesadillas; I had all of the ingredients for the former but not the latter. Pineapple cravings can't be reasoned with... they don't understand the concept of budgeting. The Chicken Parmesan was great, but I still want pineapple.

3. While trying to cut the library fines section of the budget, I returned a movie two weeks late instead of three. Gotta start somewhere, right?

I'd better send out that job application today.

Read others' small successes this week and share your own at Faith and Family Live.

Payday Successes

It's payday on the farm for all the pickers. I kind of like handing out checks... it makes me feel like Santa.


1. Lost 7 pounds! Yes, it's the same 7 pounds I keep losing, but hey... at least it's down and not up.

2. When my car was in the shop, I actually walked to a store. Me. I walked somewhere. As in: on foot. Mm hm. 'Cause I can do that. Yay me.

3. I got an application for a local Catholic high school... teaching Religion. I haven't sent it in yet, but... I need something to report next Thursday, right?

Check out others' small successes at Faith & Family Live.