What's in a name??

For years, before and after becoming a parent, I have heard about the trials of parenthood. The sleepless nights, the barf in your hair, the pee on the wall, fits in public, embarrassing comments, the "guess what mama" or "why" one hundred and fifty times a day, etc etc etc. I have been able to handle all of these moments with composure and grace (well, not really but let's pretend).

I have found through my nearly 10 years of exceptional parenting that the hardest thing about being a parent happens before you even begin your trek as a parent. How on Earth do you name these things???? You are in charge of picking the thing that this person will be called for the rest of their life! What if you make a grievous mistake? What if you give them a name like Justin Case, and don't realize how easy you just made it for them to be made fun of by every single person forever.

As a "Heather feather what's the weather?" survivor, I can tell you that having a name that rhymes with lots of dumb stuff is unfortunate. With my children, I have tried to come up with all the ways in which their names could be made fun of, and I am pretty witty, so needless to say I am good at it. I remember with my daughter, my mom thought "Honor" was just adorable. Really Mother? Do you really want to name a girl a name that sounds like "On her"... doubt it. I went through a billion names, Destiny - sounds like a stripper, Honor - "Let's go get Honor", etc. For my son, we picked Jaxson early on, then Micheal Jackson had to go and die. Well, thanks a lot, if we go with Jaxson then everyone will associate my son with a bleached out, child molester... I'm good on that.

Now, here I am, pregnant again!!! From the day we found out we had the name picked out. So simple! William - after Clint's grandmother Billy, and Emmett - after Clint. Done and done! Then along comes my mom and says "I think Will Hardin might not be the best idea?"... I was like why? Hmmm... why? I said "Will Hardin, Will Hardin, Will Hardin" over and over and then BAM!!!!! It hit me... "If he stays out in the sun to long he WILL HARDIN!" UGH MY LIFE!

So that is JUST great... My husband and I don't exactly see eye to eye on names. He likes things like Wesley, I think we shouldn't name our child after a notorious killer (ie John Wesley Hardin). He likes Dallas, I think it might be a little weird to have a Denton and a Dallas (um, like Texas much ya weirdos?). I like Lucas, he hasn't told me why but he made a terrible face and said no. His comment yesterday pretty much sums up how this is going to go, "Great, now you will just be FBing me tons of names that I will hate."

So there it is... for the next 4 months we will be contemplating baby names and trying to find all the ways in which other people can turn them around to tease our little unborn baby. I really wish that we could just let him pick when he turns 10 or something... of course then his name would probably be Lightning McQueen or something equally as retarded.

What are your ideas for names and how did you ever come to an agreement???

That is all.

Cookin' Stuff Tuesday

I may do a cooking blog on Tuesdays. This is a day when my husband is home in the morning and I can get quite a bit done. A lot of people ask me for my recipes so I will do my best to post them here. In all honesty, I make up most of my recipes so the measurements where I am not sure will be to your own personal taste.

Today I cooked a breakfast casserole, freezer breakfast burritos, and enchiladas.

The breakfast casserole was a recipe that I adapted.

Breakfast Casserole

• 1 tbs butter
• enough croutons to cover the bottom of an 8x8 pan
• 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 cup cooked ham, cubed
• 1 cup of asparagus cut in to one inch pieces

Directions

1. Melt butter in an 8x8 inch glass baking dish or small casserole dish. Add croutons and toss to coat. Sprinkle cheese on top of croutons. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, milk and dry mustard. Pour egg mixture over croutons and cheese. Sprinkle on asparagus and cubed ham. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
3. Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes, until eggs are set. Let sit for 5 minutes before cutting.

Breakfast burritos

9 eggs

8 oz chorizo

1/4 onion chopped

1/2 cup grated cheese

10 burrito size tortillas

1/4 cup of milk

salt and pepper to taste

1. Cook chorizo and onions until done.

2. Wisk eggs and milk in a bowl, add salt and pepper.

3. Add eggs and cheese to pan with chorizo and stir occasionally until eggs are set.

4. Put 1/10th of stuffing in a burrito and roll it up, wrap in a paper towel and foil.

5. Put burritos in a ziploc bag and putt in the freezer.

6. To reheat, take off the foil and put in the microwave for about 1 minute.

Enchiladas

8 oz tomato sauce

1 can of rotel

3 tbs of butter

3 tbs of flour

1 3/4 cups chicken broth

cumin, garlic powder, and chili powder to taste

flour or corn tortillas

1/2 onion chopped

1 chicken breast cut in to very small pieces

1 15 oz can of corn

1 cup of shredded cheese

2 cloves of garlic minced

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9x13 pan with non-stick spray.

2. In a sauce pan melt butter and whisk in flour and cook slowly until light brown. Whisk in tomato sauce, rotel, 11 1/2 cups chicken broth, cumin, garlic powder, and chili powder and boil until a thick consistency.

3. Meanwhile in a frying pan on medium heat cook chicken, onions and garlic with 1/4 cup chicken broth until done.

4. Spread a small amount of tomato mixture on the bottom of the pan.

5. Mix 1/2 cup cheese, corn, and chicken mixture in a bowl. Put a spoonful of this in to the tortilla and roll up and lay seam side down in the pan.

6. Top enchiladas with remaining tomato mixture and top with the other 1/2 cup of cheese. Bake about 30 minutes or until bubbly and cheese is melted.

Well that is about it for today... I hope you like these recipes as much as my family did!!

That is all.

Who wants to be....

A complete and total psycho? Apparently I signed up for that show this week. It is a heck of a lot easier to get on than Who wants to be a millionaire, is that show even real anymore? I saw it was on day time with Meredith Viera hitting on young guys so I figure it was probably spiraling down the proverbial drain.

But I digress, what's new? This week has really been testing my commitment not to jump off of something head first, which is highly ironic considering last week I was feeling pretty good about life. I guess the universe caught wind of my happiness and decided to put the kibosh on that! I even had the pleasure of taking a big bite of a raw chicken breast that was parading as a cooked chicken breast, and that was probably one of the best things that happened to me.

But enough self pity, for now. Some pretty entertaining things did happen this week which allowed me to step back from the ledge every so often. For instance, a few days ago my 1 year old son was doing his best impression of a sexy gardener. It had me in stitches on the front porch. He had his shirt off and was just funny in a way that I can't even describe. I have pictures but I have no flipping clue how to post those on here because I am a complete and utter moron. Also, last night during dinner, my son inadvertently stuck his finger up his nose. This was so funny to him that he sat there for the next five minutes with his finger up his nose laughing his butt off. Again, I don't really know if this is funny to normal people but I was pretty much cracking up.

Boys are gross and I am getting another one. This was another exciting thing that happened recently. We found out last week that our sesame seed bun in the oven was going to be another smelly little, nose picking boy. Hooray... my daughter cried but oh well, she's over it now.

Well, I guess that's it... I didn't really have any reason to write this besides the fact that I am avoiding homework like the black plague. I really thought that graduating in December would be enough of a reward to get me through the next 6 months of school but boy I was wrong!!!!

That is all.

The Truth about...

A normal person wouldn't write this blog... A normal person wouldn't post this blog. I guess I am not a normal person. Today has been a horrible day. Really the last week has been pretty horrendous. Some days you feel blessed and some days it is hard to find the light at the end of the tunnel.

I realized at some point this week that we have about $100 a month for groceries. Do you know what you can buy with $100 a month?? It feels like nothing. It feels like crying in the cheese aisle. It feels like crap. I almost cried in the grocery store today because Denton wanted cheese sticks and apples. They are his absolute favorite things. I had $25 to buy food for us for the whole week and apples were $3.00 and cheese was $5.98. I put back sausage and potatoes and went $1 over my budget but he got apples and cheese. He is 1. How can I take away one of the simple joys he has?

I am praying for a miracle, for deliverance from the deluge of negative thoughts I have thought today. A respite from the worry I have been overwhelmed with for the last few days...

God always seems to come to our rescue when it seems like there is nowhere else to turn. I am praying for another miracle in our lives. I have to try to keep my faith in Him and remember this verse:

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[a]? ~ Matthew 6:25-27

That is all.

The Year of Wow

You can probably tell I have had a crazy year by the fact that it is barely six months in and I am already feeling the need to re-cap!

Every year in January, I take the plastic wrap off a new calendar. I flip through the months filling in the birthdays (well, the ones I can ever remember) and wondering what other words I will be writing in the 365 blank spots, 365 possibilities, completely unknown. What can you even hope to happen on January 1st? What if everything that happens surpasses anything you could have ever imagined?

In January we made the decision to move after living in our last home for only 4 months. What a crazy time!!! I thought I was going to lose my mind once or twice when the moving took well over a week and we gave away and sold half of what we owned but our new home was still packed!! The upside, I live incredibly close to my family now! It has been absolutely wonderful. I have had the chance to have coffee with my grandparents and dinner on the spur of the moment more than a few times. Our home is beautiful and is very energy efficient ( my water bill has been more than my electric bill every month so far). There have been some less than pleasant times, like the 2.5 months of construction and the fact that after 5 months we still haven't unpacked, but I have high hopes that we will finish before too long.

Another great moment, Clint started working!!! I don't think I have to elaborate too much on what a blessing that is since he has been in school since we got married. That is trying to say the least and it has been wonderful for us that he was able to find a job in his profession so quickly.

And thank goodness because we are expecting our third blessing in November! We decided we would like to have another kiddo while I was in the hospital recovering from my c-section with Denton! :) With his 2nd birthday approaching we decided it was as good a time as any and were surprised (well kind of) when we got pregnant immediately. We can't wait and are suuppperrr excited to let everyone know what we are having tomorrow. Sugar and spice and everything nice or snails and puppy dog tails? You'll just have to wait!

With the thought of a third child, I decided to take a year or so off of school. It is SOOOO much work. It is completely and entirely overwhelming and I am so burned out on school right now, I can't even begin to describe it to you. I am sure any of you out there with children and college know what I mean! To my surprise, when I called to talk to my advisor, I found out that I would be graduating in DECEMBER if I just hung in there! WOW! I cried with joy (which was only slightly embarrassing while on the phone with a complete stranger). I thought that this knowledge would sustain me through the very trying next two semesters, but alas, I am struggling. So say a prayer for me because I need to be able to remain focused so I can bring my illustrious 10 year college career to a successful end! I think I will even be graduating cum laude (if I can keep the grades where they are!).

What is the biggest surprise this year you ask? Well I am sure any one of the above things would qualify, but nope. That isn't it. I found out last week that my grandparents were going to be taking me and my entire family to Hawaii in August! This is a dream come true for me. I am not one to sugar coat so I will hardly do it now. My father is basically worthless. Besides planting the seed that grew in to me, he has done little over the last 29 years but continuously break my heart over and over. That being said, my grandfather has easily filled the missing place in my heart that would be reserved for a father (which is probably why my "daddy issues" have been minimal!) His positive and supportive influence in my life has been a life saver to me more than once and I love him more than I can express in any words I could ever find. I have dreamed of being able to share this experience with he and my grandmother and now, it is finally here! I am beyond blessed!!! So August 1-13th I will be heading out to paradise, leave a message!

Well, with 6 months of 2011 left, I have to say, I have been pretty blessed. I can't even imagine what the last half of the year has in store for me (besides a dream vacation, a baby, and graduation).

That is all.

Heather

Dear Sanity, Please come home.... Love, Me

I think it is a common misconception that since I homeschool I am some kind of super human mother. I think people probably think I do crafts with my kids, take grand adventures, use every opportunity as a teaching moment, my one year old knows his colors and letters, my house is always clean, and my family eats home cooked meals three times a day.

Well, anyone who knows me knows that this is false. Maybe the misconception is not so common. This annoyingly perky book sales person (first year college student, like um totally) came to my door yesterday. She was oozing sunshine on to my doorstep from the moment I opened the door. I told her I homeschooled my kids and she said "Wow, super mom". I couldn't help but laugh out loud. I was carefully concealing a living room covered in toys and dirty diapers with the front door and holding a bowl of pre-made muffing mix to go with my straight out of a box red beans and rice dinner. Super mom? I think maybe not.

So I let the poor lost soul come in because it was a billion degree outside, she had a very heavy book bag, and my boxed dinner was likely burning on the stove. I led her around the enormous mess on the floor in the living room, into the equally messy dining room. I told her to give me her sales pitch while I was spooning muffin mix please. She sat down at the kitchen table, which is covered in dried mashed potatoes. She sat down her back pack which my cat immediately jumped in to. She admired the human skeleton in the corner of the dining room (I'm sure this is where she started to re-think coming inside). She proceeded to tell me all about her wonderful books while Denton threw our sunscreen collection at her and sang babble in to a flashlight. She stepped on a bag of Cheezits on the floor ( oh I'm sorry, ma'am... you're sorry??), then she rested her arm on a half eaten dried up cheese stick. Sigh....

Her books were cool and I bought them. I think she deserved it. I even gave her a granola bar.

Today, I decided to do some yoga. I was in down dog when Denton decided to use my hair as a swing.

This is life around here. It ain't pretty! I am certainly no super-mom. I dig through a laundry basket and/or the dryer to dress myself everyday.

I don't really feel bad about it, I just wanted to set the record straight. I know you are all probably sitting around thinking you can never measure up to my momming.... I just want you to know I am human! HA!

That is all.

Heather

The Land of Milk and Honey

The land of plenty. The land of opportunity. America. This is where we live. Do many of you out there reading this really feel like you are abundantly blessed? Do you complain about your means once a day? Week? Month? Do you want a bigger house? Car? Paycheck? More televisions? Clothes? Vacations? Money? Yeah, I thought so. I'm not innocent. The most "impoverished" I have ever been was a short time when Reghanne was a baby. I lived with her in one room of my Mom's house and made about $90 a week working part time at Payless. I really thought I had it bad! I look back and think, did I? My child NEVER, not one time, ever went to sleep hungry, nor did I. We were never with out water, clothing, warmth, or cool. We both slept in beds (well a futon, but I digress). We had a place to bathe. I even had a car at the time. I guess my point is, at that time in my life, as with any other time in my life, I had every thing I could possibly need but my "wants" weren't fulfilled and for that, I was unhappy. Did I ever once stop to thank my Mom for putting food on the table for not only me but my child? I don't really remember, but I would venture to say that I probably complained all the time about having less freedom, less privacy, and less space.

Even today, I am not free from the materialistic pull of the world we live in. I am however, aware more every day how lucky I am. Today my pastor preached a service about a lot of things but one point he made was that if you were at a place in life where you had a roof over your head, food on your table, and money in the bank, you were among the top 8% of wealth in the world!!! Later I came home and saw a post from a friend on Facebook showing a family of four living in what most of us would be ashamed to call a walk in closet.

How did it come to this? Many of us live under unsurmountable debt to keep up with the Jones' (no not the actual Jones', it could be the Smith's or anyone else, but you get my point). It reminds me of the commercial for Best Buy were the girl is skipping around saying 3D, and realizes that 4D is coming out and says "Daddy, you bought the wrong TV". Does it matter if you have a 4D TV, or the iPad before anyone else when you take a moment to realize that an enormous number of children will die today because they don't have enough food to survive? I mean seriously!!

I am probably really soapboxing here, and I can't lie and say I am not guilty. I am! I buy more than I can afford. I have more than I need. I complain that my house is too small when I live in a house where every member has their own room, even the one that isn't even born yet! I guess my point is, I am becoming more conscious of how unbelievably lucky I am every single day. And I am making a pledge to do better, to be better, to look outside of my own little world and see that I am probably one of the richest people I know and that has NOTHING to do with material value.

PS. Speaking of others who don't have, we just dropped off the THIRD van full of Joplin donations. You are all amazing! Thank you.

¹⁰ I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. ¹¹ I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength. ~ Philippians 4:10-13

That is all.

Heather