Chinese New Year Feast...and Resolutions

Here's the recipes I used for Chinese New Year this year:



Vegetarian Steamed Dumplings




Homemade Egg Rolls



Chinese Hot and Sour Soup



Thai Cashew Chicken



Easy, 15 minute Lo Mein

Mmm, goodness. I might have to make that Lo Mein again next week. Just looking at it makes me want to eat it again!


For 2014, my resolution was to follow two scripture passages and improve upon the areas lacking in my life:

1. Proverbs 31: 10-31

¶Who can find a ^avirtuous ^bwoman? for her price is far above rubies.

 11 The heart of her husband doth safely ^atrust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.

 12 She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.

 13 She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her ^ahands.

 14 She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar.

 15 She ^ariseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.

 16 She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.

 17 She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.

 18 She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night.

 19 She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the ^adistaff.

 20 She stretcheth out her hand to the ^apoor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.

 21 She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet.

 22 She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her ^aclothing is silk and purple.

 23 Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.

 24 She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant.

 25 Strength and honour are her ^aclothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.

 26 She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of ^akindness.

 27 She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of ^aidleness.

 28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.

 29 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.

 30 Favour is deceitful, and ^abeauty is vain: but a woman that ^bfeareth the Lord, she shall be praised.

 31 Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.

2. Doctrine and Covenants 88:118-119

118 And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.

 119 Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;

Pretty sure I forgot about them.

While I didn't make a conscious effort to achieve and fulfill those goals, there was a lot that I did that fits them anyway. I started waking up before the kids so that I could get a head start on the day with prayer, scriptures and exercise. I finished a quilt that I started when Dancy was a couple weeks old. I do consider a field for the purpose of planting a pick-your-own orchard, but we're not buying it yet. Rather, we did buy a peach tree, plum tree, and two grape vines and planted those in October. I've been exercising more, but I need to give my arms some attention. Lately my focus has been my abs to rehabilitate my back; being pregnant this time really killed my lower back. My children don't arise and call me blessed, but I'll take it if I can just get them trained to start the day with "Good morning," and hugs and kisses, rather than, "What's for breakfast? I'm hungry." I bought several books last year, and have a few more on my wishlist, for self-sufficiency, seed saving, foraging, etc. I started working harder on homeschool efforts. Organizing and creating a house of order always needs work for me. I started having morning devotionals with the kids to help us start out with some peace instead of chaos; we don't manage it every morning, but it has helped a lot!

This year, I was bothered for a long time because I really didn't know what I wanted my resolution to be. I don't care how late in the year I start; a resolution to me is still a long term goal for improvement. A focus point. Where am I going? I finally settled on two things, and it's already looking like one might not happen. 

2015 Resolutions

One: Complete online classes to earn a copy editing certificate. Due to having trouble enrolling in a class, that might not get complete until next March. But my grammar lab class starts on Monday! 

Two: finish typing Shad's journals. That's actually a hefty one. I started typing Shad's illegible journals when we got engaged nearly 6 years ago. He writes almost a book a year. So far I've got 170 pages typed in Word. I used to do it maybe once a month, but now I'm typing one month a day, which averages an hour of typing. I'm hoping to complete one journal a month, except for April and July when we'll be travelling, and finish the project by November for a birthday present to him.

Tuesdays With Cathie

I have a new best friend. She's a 60 year old lady from church and I love her. We get together on Tuesdays and hang out. 

The kids all love her, too.

It all started when Cathie told me at church that I can call her for help any time I need it. When I nodded and said okay, she reaffirmed, with more force, that I should ask her for help. I told her that normally I'm one who struggles to ask for help, but that I truly would take her up on her offer. I called her that week and we've enjoyed all our time together since. She comes over regularly on Tuesdays around 10:30. We do all sorts of things together--laundry and dishes, organizing kid clothes, organize my craft room, pickle garlic, cook for Chinese New Year, finish my Family Date Sign. The sister missionaries have even started to join in.

Dancy took a long time to warm up to Cathie. She used to scream and cling to me whenever Cathie came in. She grew to tolerate and accept Cathie, and now loves her with all her heart. She asks to text Cathie, and the mere mention of her name sends Dancy running to the door asking, "Cassie?! Cassie?!"

We all just adore Nana Cathie:)

February

February is also blurry now. Mostly I remember spending an entire day making 40+ valentines with Tom and Katie. Each. I cut the hearts, they decorated them. That took wayyy longer than I thought it would. 3 hours for decorating, an hour trying to get everyone's addresses because I couldn't find my address book, an hour assembling and filling the envelopes. I was exhausted. I'm pretty sure I was the one who got groaned at at the post office when I ran in there 5 minutes to closing with a handful of under-priced envelopes and needing additional postage. But guess what? Those valentines arrived on Valentine's Day. My phone went off the hook with texts and phone calls thanking Tommy and Katie, and they were giddy with delight. They love their Love Holiday. After that crafting extravaganza, Tom observed the table and commented, "Mom, our table is a mess. But it's a mess of love!"

We also celebrated Chinese New Year, and I don't even remember what day that was now. It must have been the week after Valentine's Day. Cathie (I'll write about her in the next post) came to help me. She caught me as I was finishing the grocery shopping, then we went to my house and did all the cooking together, taking turns caring for Thora as she needed it. The other three kids entertained themselves with Kung Fu Panda. Together, Cathie and I made Hot and Sour Soup, Egg Rolls, Dumplings, Thai Cashew Chicken, and Lo Mein. Oh, it was fantastic! And celebrating a second new year reminded me that I STILL have yet to review my 2014 resolutions and create new ones.

And now pictures.

"Take a picture of us!" they said. Notice Katie's blossoming style with her headband, and her necklace looped around her shirt.

"Ta da!"

Gotta include this one. She was stylin' too.

And sometimes Mom needs to turn the camera around.

I'm sure I forgot to write about it, but our area lost elders in January. There just wasn't enough productive missionary work to support two sets of missionaries, so the elders got pulled and now we just have sisters. We've enjoyed getting to know Sister Wagher and Sister Brunner better as we've had them over for our usual dinner and games that we had with the elders on Mondays. Sister Wagher finished her mission a couple weeks ago. 

Sister Brunner is delightful and a calming personality, even though she tends to be anxious at times.

I don't know what this picture was for, but there's the three mobile ones. And their tongues.

January

There's really not much to tell about January. I think Shad and I went to the theater every weekend. It was fun! That was also when the toys were taken away, and still haven't been given back yet. The kids have gone and grabbed one or two a couple times, and been told to put them back. We've let them keep building toys and dress up clothes, games and puzzles. And you know what? They've been happier and get along better. I love hearing all the imaginative games they come up with. We read more. And sometimes they ask me if they can play with toys and it's such a treat to them that they're overwhelmed with gratitude, and don't fight. They also clean up well afterward. I think I'm going to thin out the toys that we've got and find a different storage system for them, sit in in a few play sessions to help teach communication, and see if that helps with some of the problems we were having before.

Thora is a chub. At her 3 month check up in January, she had doubled her weight, something that is expected at 6 months. She chubbed so much that she had chaffing in all her creases. I had a hard time keeping up with all the new ones as they'd develop! Weighing  12 lbs 10 oz, she made the 75th percentile. Pretty sure all of my kids have always been under 50. I delight in all her rolls and squishiness because it serves as a reminder that we're not having trouble breastfeeding like I did with Dancy. I did clip Thora's lip-tie myself back in December, I think, and she's done fine since then. I also learned at that check up that the crustiness she had behind her ears was not a result of me forgetting to wash there, but it was strep. Yeah, strep on her ear. Who knew?! So a couple weeks of colloidal silver (natural antibiotic) and a couple baths soaking in green tea water (the acidity helps kills the strep) cleared it up. Here's my thunder-thighs girl crashed asleep during tummy time.

Dancy chose to skip lunch one day, and dinner ended up being late. She was so hungry when I finally gave her her plate, that instead of carrying it to the table, she squatted and ate on the spot. Mmmm, pigs in a blanket!

Thora asleep again, but this time chewing her finger. She loves to chew her fingers! She has recently discovered that she can grab someone else's finger and chew on it.

Dancy pulled her shirt over her head after breakfast. Cute look, kid!

Shad had a meeting in Kearney one Sunday, but he didn't remember until we were at church. Instead of spending the rest of the day apart, we decided to all go to Kearney. We got to see Bumpa, too, because he was also there for the meeting. Waiting for the meeting to start, Shad and I entertained the kids with games and dancing in the gym. Tom and Katie were darling dancing with each other. During the meeting, I entertained the kids in the nursery with an obstacle course.

Well, I have officially tried to blog on my tablet and will never do it again. It kept changing my words, deleting my pictures, and I could hardly see the writing space when the keyboard was up.

Writing Therapy: Sometimes Life Falls Apart For a Week

Friday night we had fun playing games at Paul and Mallory's house...until around 9:45 when we heard strange, distant, unidentifiable echo sounds. At 10, Paul and Mallory began getting texts notifying them that there had been a shooting, and the shooter was on the loose. We were to stay inside and make sure all doors and windows were locked. Paul got his handgun and we continued playing our game. Then he got a call that one of his youth (he's the youth minister at the Christian church) was really freaking out and his parents weren't home. Paul went to go get him, and Shad went with him, taking the gun with them. On their way out of the neighborhood, they were stopped at gunpoint by a policeman, and the van was searched. They were let out, but notified that they wouldn't be let back in because the area was under lock down as the shooter was pursued. It wasn't until midnight (when the shooter was being pursued in the town 30 miles west of us) that law enforcement started to allow people to travel again and Shad and Paul were able to come back with the teens. Shad and I packed up our family and went home, not able to sleep until 2 am. We did get a text from Jeremy, the theater manager, around 1 saying the suspect had been apprehended. Jeremy has a police scanner, so I had been in contact with him during the night.

The following morning, rumors that had started the previous night were confirmed: Joe Sweet, Shad's friend and coworker, had been killed. *Edited: I haven't heard exactly why the shooter did this, but rumors are that he got high on method, and went to confront a woman he was having an affair with, and her husband. When he didn't find them, he went tromping around town with his shotgun. Joe stepped out on his porch for a smoke and called the cops to come talk to the guy. When police arrived, the man opened fire on them. Joe was shot in the process. No one else was hit. The man opened fire on police one more time in town before they lost him in a creek bed. He stole a truck and lead a high-speed chase down the highway at 100+ mph to Oberlin, the next town west. The policeman chasing him almost had him caught when a semi cut the shooter off, but then the cop car ran out of gas. So catching the shooter was a bit of a difficulty.

 Joe was a 6 foot, 300 pound biker with a long pony tail, moustache and beard, and arm tattoos. He was one of those big teddy bear people. Seeing him just made us smile. He'd sit at the picnic table outside Natoma in the summer when we'd visit Shad for lunch. Tom and Katie always got excited to see Big Joe. Katie loved talking about his motorcycles with him. Joe always held Biker Bash charity fundraisers, and we'd go support without even needing to know what they were fundraising. For me, if Big Joe supported it, that was good enough for me. Typically, it was for Children's Hospital in Denver since his 3 year old granddaughter died from cancer. Last summer, he commented to me that I should watch out for Katie, because her attraction to motorcycles would lead her to the wrong boys. I said I wasn't too worried because not all motorcyclists are the wrong type, and that I'm drawn to motorcycles, myself. When that shocked him, I remembered that my great-grandfather had owned a Harley-Davidson shop in Ohio, and my grandmother had her first set of "wheels" when she was 7, and that it must be in the genes. He took interest in my grandma and her dad, and asked if I had any pictures. I said I could do better, and provide my grandma's childhood memoir photo book, and my great-grandpa's biography. He was happy that I'd share those with him, and enjoyed reading them. A couple months ago, Joe approached Shad and asked if he knew of any good Joseph Smith biographies. Shad bought the one by Smith's mother, Lucy Mack Smith, and lent it to Joe. After Joe had read it, it crossed my mind that Joe could relate to Porter Rockwell and understand him as a person, so Shad lent him the biography of Rockwell that we own. Joe read it in 2 days, and came back to Shad with a question: Why are Mormons so persecuted? So far as he could tell, we're just normal Christians, and, living in America, we have as much right to our own way of worship as anyone else does. Oh, how I loved Joe for saying that! Not many people think that way. In fact, where we live there's a lot of prejudice. But Joe was different.  He said that to understand why we're persecuted, he'd just have to read the Book of Mormon for himself, and asked Shad for a copy. Two days later, Joe reported to Shad that he was starting to feel the persecution. Coworkers would notice and ask why he was reading THAT?! Joe's response was simple: "Why not?" His wife, Kelly, commented, "You're reading the Book of Mormon? That's a big one." Joe shrugged and said, "The Bible's bigger." He genuinely accepted, loved, forgave, and definitely spoke his mind.

Emotional distress from the shooting experience and Joe's death, wake and funeral, lead Shad and I into a melancholy state, and disturbed sleep. Add on top of that, daylight saving's time, which Ben Franklin somehow managed to convince people was a good idea, so the kids' sleeping has been off too. I haven't been waking up to my alarm before the kids get up, because I haven't been sleeping well. Not getting up before the kids means that I haven't had my exercise and scripture study time. Add on top of that, kids throwing up for unexplained reasons. Katie threw up Tuesday morning, Dancy shortly after. They were both fine afterward, but Dancy threw up again Wednesday morning, twice Friday afternoon, and this morning at 2:30 and 5:00 am. She's had no other symptoms. No forewarning of odd behavior before she vomits. It just happens and then is done. Which leads be to believe that she's not sick, but that there's something wrong. I haven't noticed any common food that may have caused this, either.

Then this Friday there was another violent incident. A stabbing by the practice football field. That one I still haven't heard any news about, but sounds like it was an altercation between some high school students.

I think that about sums it up. I read a while ago that writing is healing. That it helps to process pain, whether physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual. Writing thoughts and feelings allows you to release them and move on. It wasn't a new concept to me, just interesting to hear some science behind what I already knew to be true. Thus I'm starting a new "Writing Therapy" part to my blog.

December

I have little to no recollection of December, just that it felt very chaotic and stressful. I was still adjusting to life with 4 kids, and trying to keep my head straight for shopping, wrapping, fun holiday crafts and treats for the kids to enjoy making, a houseful of guests, a sudden influx of STUFF and then going out of town right afterward. Stuff got overcooked, broken, forgotten, and I was kinda bitchy. But here's some happy thoughts.

My kids love each other, and peanut butter toast.

Katie was proud of herself for climbing into the tree by herself.

Thora needed a picture to go on our "Count Your Blessings" wall. Holy cow, she had hardly any hair!

2 months old.

Tom and Katie had breakfast one morning while they let me sleep in. Breakfast of champions.

Thora officially became my first baby to like bath time. Though that has since changed now that she doesn't fit in the sink.

All month long they wanted to go see Santa, and when we finally did, they were super awkward.

The hay ride was better.

Christmas week: We got to meet Ruth's boyfriend, Will! Pris, Levi, Ruth and Will arrived on Monday. Vern arrived on Wednesday. Christmas was on Thursday, and Jimmy and Kerry came up for the day, Dan and Ryan arrived before dinner. Everyone went home on Saturday. We left on Wednesday to go to Colorado to see Lori who arrived home from her mission on December 10. Holy cow, it was a bit hectic. Pris was wonderful and helped keep my kitchen clean. Ruth and Will partnered with Tom and Katie, respectively, to make...oh, I think 8 dozen gingerbread cookies. I got all of my Christmas baking done. We had an awesome wrapping party after the kids went to bed on Christmas Eve. And then we were insane and woke up at 6 to open stockings. As in WE woke our kids up. Crazy people.

But at least breakfast had been made the night before and cooked in the oven while we opened presents.

Brittany and Ryan gave these to Tom and Katie. Nobody needed to explain them. They instinctively knew what to do. By the way, I'm pretty sure Katie is wearing her Batman pajamas over her Superman shirt.

Dancy was in heaven the whole week with her best friend, Levi.

Proof that Thora was there. Believe it or not, I didn't take pictures the whole week. These all exist because Pris used my camera.

Katie discussing X-Men with Will.

Elder Hammond's mom sent us a package of Sunny D and Cootie. She figured the game would be fun for us; the Sunny D is symbolic of Elder Hammond's nickname for Sundance.

Our little Sunny D :)

More loves for Levi.

And Bumpa.

We never got any pictures of everybody, but here's most. Tom took the picture.

Ruthie and Tommy

Ryan's grandma sent hats and gloves for the kids.

Oh! And before everyone left, Dan and Vern helped Shad install our new dishwasher! The one that we shopped for online during Black Friday sales, had Dan buy in Denver for us and deliver it when he came for Christmas. It's fantastic. No more corroded metal, and it washes off dried on food.

All Things Homemade

Several years ago I started down this path of making household and hygiene products myself. It's not about jumping on the DIY bandwagon for me, but a mix of several reasons: I like to save money; I like to reduce toxic chemicals in my life; many of my in-laws are allergic to perfumes and dyes, so making things myself saves me the headache of finding the right product at the right price; I have psoriasis in my hands, and occasionally get eczema in my elbow pits, and homemade products have been helpful in managing that. Here's what I can think of off the top of my head that I make myself, using a few simple ingredients.

 Laundry detergent
1 bar soap (Fels-Naptha is great and only $1 at Walmart in the laundry aisle)
1 cup borax (20-Mule Team is found in the laundry aisle. About $4 for 76 oz)
1 cup WASHING soda (Not baking soda. Found in the laundry aisle. About $2.50 for 55 oz.)

Grate the bar of soap using a cheese grater. The finer, the better. I even break up the shreds when I'm done and it turns into a powder. Add the borax and washing soda. Mix well. Store in an airtight container. Use 1 Tablespoon per load.

I don't know exactly how many loads this does, but I've got 4 kids ages 4 and under, and my last batch lasted me 4.5 months. Totaled around $1.50 and it took me about 10 minutes to make it. I reuse a Blue Bunny ice cream box to store this. I'm not gonna spend $10 for an airtight container! A double batch filled the carton.

Pre-wash spray
1 part liquid dish soap
2 parts hydrogen peroxide

Spray on the stain and rub or scrub in. Let it sit for an hour, then wash.

This one thrills me! I've got hard water, so there had been a ton of white mineral build up on my dishes. After using this, it has stripped all the mineral residue off, and no more accumulates! Yay for dishes without white crusties!
Dishwasher detergent
1/2 c washing soda
1/2 c borax
1/4 c citric acid (I bought mine online) + 1/4 c for hard water
1/4 c kosher salt (for scrubbing action)
1 tsp rice (to prevent caking)
Mix all together and use 1 T per load. Fill the rinse aid compartment with white vinegar.

*This recipe actually doesn't save me money, though it might when I have a water softener and don't have to use twice as much of the most expensive ingredient. I haven't done all the calculations. What has me sold on this homemade recipe is the effectiveness in removing and preventing mineral residue.

Cleaning supplies
For glass and mirrors, I use a microfiber cloth and a spray bottle of water. If the glass is particularly dirty, it can be half water, half vinegar.
Disinfectant spray--This amount fills a 28 oz spray bottle.
1.5 tsp washing soda
1.5 tsp Borax
3 T vinegar
3 c hot water
15-20 drops tea tree oil (optional)
Bleach spray--One part bleach, 3 parts water.

Veggie wash--grab a spray bottle (I reused mine from the last veggie spray I bought from the store) and fill it half with water, half white vinegar.




















Chapstick
*3 T beeswax pellets
1/4 cup sunflower, almond, or olive oil
2 T cocoa butter or coconut oil
1 pea size drop of lanolin
8 drops Vitamin E oil, or 4 tablets worth
15 drops peppermint oil
10 drops lavender oil
Mix all ingredients in a pan (or one cup metal measuring cup) to heat on the stove on medium heat. Use a medicine syringe to carefully fill the tubes. Seriously, be careful! Any sudden burst of pressure sends liquid flying, tubes falling, messes everywhere. This recipe says it makes a dozen, but for me it makes 20-24. I don't know why. Maybe the difference in tubes? Also, I've found that the 3 T beeswax makes a bit of a soft chapstick. It was melting in my pocket all summer, and worse when I'd leave one in the car. This time I made another batch, I used 5 T and it's been great. Had to get used to the harder consistency, but it doesn't melt all over on me. Next time I might try 4 T just to see what it's like in between, but so far I much prefer the 5 T adjustment.



















Lotion
1/2 c almond or olive oil
1/4 c coconut oil
1/4 c beeswax pellets
2 T shea or cocoa butter, optional
1 tsp vitamin E oil, optional
essential oils, optional

Combine all ingredients in a jar. Pour 2 cups of water in a pan. Put the jar in the pan and heat on the stove on medium high. Stir occasionally. When all ingredients are melted into one liquid, remove from the heat and let cool.
*A little goes a long way with this stuff! I use a dollop the size of my index fingernail. I tried mixing in some cabbage juice because that's really good for soft, healthy skin, but it didn't mix well and you can see it separated at the bottom of the jar. It was worth the experiment though.

Exfoliating sugar scrub & Moisturizing cream

Yay! Now I have all my homemade recipes in one place and I might actually start using my blog for myself so I don't have to look through pinterest every time to find a recipe:)

Coming soon: liquid hand soap, liquid dish soap, AND homemade soap...100% with ash and animal fat.