Mar 15, 2010

Bibidy Bobidy Bowtique Giveaway!

This past October I was in my hometown for the annual Oktoberfest.  A booth with little girl bows caught my eye and I stopped to peruse the cute little bows.  The woman behind the booth suddenly said, "Hi Amy!"  My un-observant self was totally caught off guard until I realized I had gone to high school with her!

Laura is now a stay at home mother of two little girls, Morgan (11) and Jordan (5).  She loves to craft, so when it came to having two girls and hair accessories being so expensive and hard to find exactly what you need, she decided to make her own (a woman after my own heart!).


Her girls are the inspiration for her creations and are constantly giving her ideas for new additions to her etsy shop: Bibidy Bobidy Bowtique.  Her bows are always hand sewn for durability and made from quality grossgrain ribbon.  And besides that, they are oh so cute!






And Laura doesn't just do hairbows, she also does tutus and beaded socks!  Such adorable things!



So, you can see why I am so excited to be able to offer a giveaway of Laura's Bibidy Bobidy Bowtique creations!

Wondering what you'll get if you win this giveaway?  How about this:

You get 4 beautiful hairbows and 1 pair of beaded socks!

What do you have to do to win?  It's easy and there's lots of ways to enter!

1.  Leave a comment. (1 entry)


2.  Facebook, Tweet, Blog this giveaway (1 entry per day per place)


3.  Buy something from Bibidy Bobidy Bowtique (5 entries)

Good luck!  Giveaway ends Friday, March 19th at midnight CST.
*****

Disclosure: I received hairbows & a pair of socks for my 5 year old from Bibidy Bobidy Bowtique.



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Mar 13, 2010

Does My Blog Look Funny?

If so, it is more than likely an Internet Explorer issue.  There are 3 things you can do to resolve the issue:

1. Click on the incompatible icon.  This is the tiny torn paper icon next to my blog's address in your address bar.  Internet Explorer is notorious for not working...thus the little icon.

2.  Change browsers.  Find something other than Internet Explorer.  They just aren't keeping up with the changing internet.

3.  Subscribe to my blog in a reader or via email.  This can be done by clicking the link below:


Sorry for the inconvenience everyone! Don't want to lose anyone over an annoyingly messed up blog!



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Mar 12, 2010

Irish Supper Menu


I'm half Irish. We Irish are a proud bunch. We may have been in the States for hundreds of years, but still our idea of a dream vacation is to head to the "Mother Country" and kiss the Blarney stone. And we very much like the fact that we have our very own holiday.

Growing up, my family didn't have the traditional green supper. We'd often have green cake or some such thing and of course, the traditional wearin' o' the green, but I didn't start celebrating St. Patrick's Day with a specific meal until 2008.

St. Patrick's Day is rather bitter-sweet for me in many ways.  In 2003, it was the date of my D&C after my second miscarriage.  In 2007, it was exactly a month after Dad's death (where my Irish blood comes from).

In 2008, it was the first meal I cooked following my daughter Emily's death 5 weeks earlier.

Photobucket
picture from our 2008 Green Supper

You might ask:

Why would I choose to make my first meal back in the kitchen following Emmy's death an Irish Supper?  

For the same reason we started a Jesse Tree that year.  I felt we needed new memories and new traditions.  So much of what we celebrated before was edged in pain because "last time" Emmy was with us. (this fact is precisely the reason I encourage friends of grieving parents to offer memberships to museums and such after a child's death--it is something new and different.)

That said, our supper was still painful, just not *as* painful as it would have been had it been something we did *before* Emmy died.

That first supper was prepared using an e-book from Urban Homemaker.  However, I don't think she sells it anymore.  Besides, I don't do things the same way anymore.  And this year, since we'll be sharing our Irish Supper with several other families, I thought I'd share it with you too!


Corned Beef & Cabbage
Throw it in the crock pot...end of story.
{OK, maybe there's a little more to the story, but suffice it to say, I refuse to slave over corned beef when my crock pot can do it for me...}

Start in the morning with the corned beef on low.
Add the cabbage at lunch time.
Serve for supper on a large platter.

(If you want, you can add onion, garlic, cloves, and bay leaves for seasoning.  Corned beef often continues to have a pinkish tint to it even when it is completely done.  It's ok, trust me.)
*****


Colcannon
You can do this recipe in addition to or instead of the cabbage in the crock.

1 head cabbage, shredded
4 leeks, chopped or 2 onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 stick butter
10 Yukon Gold potatoes, diced

In a heavy saucepan, put butter, cabbage, onions, & garlic.  Stir & cook over medium heat.  Don't brown!

In a separate pan, boil potatoes until soft.  Drain, reserving enough liquid to mash potatoes to a soft consistency.

Combine all.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve heaped up into a mound with a well in the center for more butter or sprinkle colby cheese over top and put into a preheated oven until cheese melts.
Serves 6-8
*****


Irish Soda Bread
2 c. flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. raisins
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 egg
about 1/2 c. buttermilk (you can use milk)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a small bowl, mix together dry ingredients.  Cut butter into dry ingredients using a fork or pastry blender.  Mixture should resemble course meal.  Add the raisins and caraway seeds.

Break the egg into a 3/4 measuring cup and then add enough buttermilk to fill the cup.  Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until thoroughly blended.

Take the dough out of the bowl and knead.  Then, split the dough into several small rounds of the same size.  Make a cross on top of each round with a knife and drizzle melted butter on top.  Sprinkle sugar on top.

Place on greased cookie sheet and bake until golden brown (approx 30 mins).
This bread can double as side dish and dessert if you like.
*****

Dessert
I'm not picky here.  If it's green, I'm good.  So, you can do:
cupcakes with green frosting
green frosted cake
sugar cookies with green sprinkles
mint chocolate chip ice cream
or whatever your little Irish heart desires!
*****

So, March 17th will find me at a friend's house planting potatoes (we're doing a corporate garden this year) and eating our Irish Supper!  What will you be doing?



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Join the Spring Cleaning Curriculum Giveaway!

 
This is an excellent opportunity hosted by TheCurriculumChoice.com to not only get rid of your curriculum, but win some great curriculum from other people!  Click on the link to learn more!




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Mar 11, 2010

Baby Gets a Haircut

The "Before"

First, I must beg your forgiveness for the poor quality of photography here.  We kept wondering why things were out of focus and why the camera was focusing on strange areas of the photo.  Come to find out a great big smudge (courtesy of Micah) was the culprit!  The pictures were taken prior to our revelation.

OK...now on with the story...

Some of you might think me extravagant, but I have this silly notion that my boys' first haircuts (and for some reason, not my girls'...go figure) have to be done by someone we know and trust...and that someone is NOT me.

I can shave a head with the best of them, but I do not do normal, every day little boy haircuts.

I knew Micah's hair had to be cut by my friend Lori, despite the fact her shop is an hour away from my house.  {Yeah, I know it didn't *have* to be cut by Lori, but you must remember I am pregnant and once I get a notion in my head, there is just no getting around it.}

"Hey there, Dad!"

Micah wanted nothing to do with the big chair, so I held him (and ended up quite hairy, I might add).  Other than that little hiccup, he was good as gold and sat nicely for his haircut.  Lori crowned him the best first haircut ever!

 "I'm outta here!"

With the weight of his hair gone, Micah quickly ran off to find his sibs and show them his cuteness. {ok, so maybe he was just looking for the toy room}.

"I'm a Big Boy now!"

He was so busy, we had a hard time getting any cute face-on shots of him, but you get the idea.

I still find myself looking over at him and admiring his new haircut and marveling in the fact that my little one is growing up. *sigh*

Oh, and in case you are wondering where he got his adorable little outfit...
The babylegs are from DittanyBaby.com (they're called skid pants there).
The owl embroidered t-shirt is from Mimi's Babies.

{yes, I know I can make my own BabyLegs, but sometimes a mama's gotta splurge...this was my splurge!}

*****
Disclosure time:
I schedule posts about a week in advance.  When I wrote this post, Mimi's Babies was NOT one of my sponsors.  Frankly, I adore her products and wanted to mention where the owl shirt came from.  Well, 2 days prior to this post going live, Mimi's Babies became one of my sponsors here at Raising Arrows.  Obviously, this does not change my opinion of their products, but I have to disclose...so now ya know. :)



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Mar 9, 2010

When You Just Can't Hack Cloth Diapering

This baby shall remain anonymous because he is embarrassed his mother put him in a disposable diaper.

OK, not really.

He seriously doesn't care.

So, why do I?

I could spout something about how I'm filling landfills and how I'm putting chemicals next to his sensitive skin, but it won't change the fact that right now I cannot hack cloth diapering.

Now, don't get me wrong...I LOVE cloth diapering.  There is something terribly satisfying about putting cloth next to your baby's skin.  And cloth you've made...well, that's even better!  I am looking forward to returning to cloth diapering, but I refuse to be a martyr to something that is simply a preference.

It is a "good thing", but it does not own me.

But, "good things" are like that, aren't they?  They are so good that we would gladly stand on soapboxes for them.  They are so good that we would gladly sacrifice other "lesser" things in order to continue with the good things.  We feel so strongly about them that we have a hard time imagining our life without them.

And then life throws a curve ball...

And the "good thing" starts to have consequences we can't manage.

For me, it was the ick factor (yes, there IS an ick factor with cloth diapering.  You can read how I usually deal with it HERE.) and the fact that even my normal, everyday laundry wasn't getting done, let alone the cloth diaper laundry.

The good thing became the difficult thing.  No, I don't ditch everything that is difficult, but I do have a few guiding principles that help me make decisions when good things start to cause me grief.

1) What does the Bible say about it?
2) Will it matter in 10 years?
3) Is the situation a forever situation?
4) If not, what will the short term effects be? On me?  On the children?  On my husband?
5) If it is, what will the long term effects be? (same people as before)
6) Is this a pride issue?

Ooooo!  Did you catch that last one???

All too often good things get wrapped up into who we are.  We are defined by the things we are passionate about.  When they go south or become more than we can bear (even if just for a time), we find ourselves scrambling to make sure we're still who we once were.  We are afraid to tell people for fear they will either point fingers or think less of us.  We don't want to admit defeat or failure, even when that's not really what it is.

We are proud of the things that define us.  Losing those things hits us where we live.

I've had some major realizations in the pride department lately.  Things that I felt defined me were falling away at a rapid rate and I found myself distraught.  Recently, I sat crying as I read an email pertaining to one of the things being stripped from me thinking, "Why is this bothering me so much?  It shouldn't matter to me as much as it does."

That's when I realized it was pride that was causing me the most grief. 

So, as for cloth diapering (among other things that have to go by the wayside-either temporarily or permanently) I have to see it for what it is.  It isn't who I am.  I don't suddenly change without it.  I don't have to do XYZ to be me.

And admitting it doesn't make me weak...it makes me real.

Realizing and humbly accepting my limitations Works For Me!  To read more WFMW tips & tidbits, follow the link!



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Household Creeps

"For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."
II Timothy 3:6-7

Stay-at-home-moms and especially, homeschool moms are students.  We read and read and read...sometimes to our children, but often to glean information for ourselves.  We pour over how-to homeschooling books, homeschooling mom's devotionals, and homeschooling manifestos.  We are ALWAYS learning, BUT...

DO WE HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE OF TRUTH?

I love to learn, and I hope to instill a love of learning in my children.  But, what sorts of things am I learning?  Am I spending my time learning what truly matters?  I can read what all sorts of people have to say about all sorts of things, but if the Word of the Lord is not hidden in my heart, then I will fall for anything anyone says.  I will try to implement every time schedule, educational plan, or child disciplinary chart out there, but never follow through or be successful with any of it because I don't know the truth.

Now, don't get me wrong...it can be good to read what others have written and spend time discussing other's thoughts on a myriad of things, but if we don't KNOW THE TRUTH, we will not have the discernment to know when something someone writes or says is just their opinion, rather than God's Truth.

So, what can we do to guard against "household creeps"? 

II Timothy 2:22 tells us to
"Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart."

If you do not PURSUE...not just hope you bump into...righteousness, faith, love, and peace, you will never know the TRUTH.

If you are spending your time gossiping, you aren't going to know the TRUTH. 

If your conversations are not flooded with the Word of God, then you will never know the TRUTH. 

Get God's Word in your heart, and GROW UP!  Notice, the previous verse says, "youthful lusts."  Household creeps are rooted in immaturity.  Knowledge of TRUTH will grow you up!

*****
If you are looking for a little homeschooling encouragement today, head over to the Carnival of Homeschooling.  I'm there with my post on the Homeschooling Blues.




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