On getting a job

I have two distintions in my life that separate me from the normal woman. 1. I have never watched the movie "The Titanic" and 2. I have never worked at a payrolled job. Tomorrow I will change one of those distinctions. I am getting a job at a department store across the street from our apartment. We have agonized over whether I should get a job or not. I am a very dedicated SAHM (stay at home mom). I have homeschooled them. I have worked really hard at keeping my 2 etsy shops going. I love cooking and cleaning. However, we find ourselves at a time in our lives when I need to step out and do something extra to help our budget (or lack thereof). My hubby will complete his masters of accounting next Dec '10 and is working part time at a research institute in the university. Poor guy is so busy. He is so faithful and devoted to getting all his work done well, I'm so proud of him. My little girlies are not happy about me going to work. My eight year old is not usually very affectionate, but yesterday she wanted to spend every minute with me and told me she didn't want me to go to work. Today I laid on the couch for a little siesta and suddenly had 3 girlies on me. I slept anyway while they watched Sesame Street. I will just be working weekends to start with, but my girlies are used to having me around all the time. We pray for grace for all of us as we enter this new season.

November snuck up on me!

I can't believe it's November! This year has been full of happy times and very difficult times and that amounts to the months going much quicker than I think they should. My hubby always says that time moves the same no matter how fast I think it is going. Still, I think raising 3 children, keeping 2 etsy shops going, keeping my house somewhat clean, and filling everyone's stomach with yummy, cheap, and healthy food, can make my head swim. Add to that being a supportive wife while my husband deals with leaving his job to go back to school full time and the search for and starting a part time job. So, we are once again the extremely poor master's student family. I will not complain. We have not gone hungry one single day and have not been evicted from our nice apartment.

We've had 2 miracles lately. Well, just our church being so generous and thoughtful towards us. We bought our car in 2007 (one of those things you feel like you totally need, but then regret big time). It was getting to the point where the tires were becoming baby's bottoms, if you know what I mean. We were thinking of cancelling holiday trips to see family because of the tires and the lack of funds to replace them. Someone anonymously gave us half of the money so we could go ahead and replace our tires. Yippee! I was dancing on clouds, let me tell you! (we won't talk about the 3 hours of my day spent sitting around the tire shop). Then yesterday someone gave some brand new clothes to my 8 year old daughter. They were much needed as she is growing like a weed and all her clothes were looking like she was diving into her little sisters' drawers. Anyway, you can't tell me that God isn't watching out for us!

Let's see, I had one amazing week with both of my shops 2 weeks ago. I am still trying to replenish stock. However, I've decided to just relax about it and live life everyday. My kids are too important for me to be chained to my sewing machine all day. I've also started quilting again on a near and dear project. The grandmother's garden blocks were made by my hubby's grandma. I appliqued them onto a muslin background so I could do ornate quilting between the blocks. (see picture). I'm excited to be working on that again. I like to quilt while I sit and watch tv or help girls with schoolwork.

So, I'm dreaming of writing a book or just a blog called "Life Cooks" and present the very interesting biography of my life in stories and recipes associated with those stories. What do you think?

Pumpkin, pumpkin everywhere and so much to eat!

Every year our church sets up a pumpkin patch on the grounds to one side of the building. They sell pumpkins as well as having storytime, pictures, and education about pumpkins. This year was my first experience with the patch and I helped unload the truck--61,000 pounds of pumpkins! Believe me, I was sore for days! I felt guilty about the poor pumpkins with blemishes and bruises or soft spots. They were thrown over by the dumpster since they can not be sold. I took three big ones and cooked them up for pumpkin puree to fill my freezer. I have about 15 bags of pumpkin to create with. I was surprised by how many people told me that they never even knew anyone who did that. That's what Libby is for, right? I love fresh pumpkin! I made several loaves of spice bread and boy! they were soooo good. I also slip pumpkin into everyday foods to boost the vitamins in our favorite meals. It tastes great in pasta sauce, red or cream. Today we had ground turkey and pumpkin sloppy joes. They were delicious!

Well, it's supposed to be fall and the pumpkins are supposed to make it feel like fall. Here in Corpus Christi the temps are still in the upper 80s and lower 90s! Ug! Where is fall? I can't find it! I guess we'll just wake up one day to winter and skip fall alltogether; such is life in the tropics.

I am still busy sewing for my business. I've decided not to stress out about not selling much. Seems that everytime I do, it gets worse. If I just relax, I'll sell something. Happily, my hubby started a new job that he loves today. That takes pressure off of me. We are still the poor family while he is finishing his masters of accounting. As my wise mother always says, "You can stand on your head for a little while if you need to." So that comforts me to know that someday this phase of our lives will end.

Here is the recipe for my Turkey and Pumpkin Sloppy Joes:

1lb ground turkey

1/2 onion, chopped fine

1 bell pepper (preferrably yellow since it is not as conspicuous)

2 cloves of garlic

2 cups of pumpkin puree

2 cups of ketchup

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

1 Tablespoon vinegar

All purpose seasoning

Saute the onion, pepper, and garlic in a Tablespoon of oil until nearly soft. Add turkey and seasonings to taste (salt, pepper, or any seasoning you like to use) and brown. Add pumpkin and the rest of the ingredients and cook for about 10 minutes over medium heat. Serve over toasted buns.

Enjoy!

And September ends......

Wow! Is it October already? I have been frenetically sewing lately and have lost touch with time. Life seems somehow really difficult this fall. My business is struggling amid many friends' promises to buy things which they never do. My husband resigned from his job almost two weeks ago. He was facing serious ethical issues and decided the right thing to do was resign. Of course I support him completely, but it is still a difficult time since my shop does not in any way support us and we have no other income. In spite of this we are resolute that he shouldn't just take any old job that presents itself. We really want something that will really boost his future in accounting. So we are bathing that in regular prayer and trusting God to "give us this day our daily bread." Our girls have grown accustomed to the "no, not right until we have money" answer to most questions. I am so thankful they are homeschooled and can be with us as we push through our trials together.

I seem to have so many creative ideas and not enough time to sew it all. One blessing about my hubby not having a job is that he has been cutting some things out for me. I have launched a kid's shop on etsy called http://www.3littlepickles.etsy.com/ where I have listed some really fun stuff that my girls all want to keep! I have to borrow boys from my friends to model my boy items. Funny, huh? Anyway, I'm trying to keep my creativity in check or I'll go nuts! I get bonkers with monotony. I'm having a hard time dreaming of fall and winter stuff, too: being that it is still in the 90s here during the day! I can't complain, I really dislike coldy weather (for extended periods of time). Well, I hope all of you (the two people who actually read my blog) are having a lovely fall and are full of hope for tomorrow.

Augusto

I'm trying to think of when I last blogged....It's been a while. Life is so crazy on the home front. Just how crazy? You don't want to know, but I'll tell you a little about what's happened. In July we had a wonderful trip. We dropped off the kids at my mother in law's house and drove to Austin for a close friend's wedding. I so enjoyed seeing friends that I hadn't seen in about 7 years and others around 4 years. It was great! I loved spending time with my husband also. Dates are few and far between in this economy, let me tell you.

Recently, my husband went through a very rocky time at work. We weren't sure if he was going to be added to the unemployed statistic. We prayed A LOT about that. We decided he should go full time to school this fall in order to speed up his already-in-process masters of accounting. He will still be working and going to school full time--nice knowing you, honey! We've been through this before when he was getting his M.Div in South Carolina. As mom always says, "You can stand on your head for a little while if it gets you where you need to go." So we will be standing on our heads again! I can't remember the last time I was bored--oh wait, it was in 2007, stranded on a missions base in Brazil with nothing to do but laugh at ourselves. (another story). I am still working on my etsy business of making purses and shopping bags. I love doing it, even though it's not making enough money. I will soon be getting a job. (if it works out) Right now, I'm working on a job of 20 shopping bags that are to be gifts at a wedding shower......great idea, right?! They will be lovely, but a lot of work all at once.

I so love living near the beach.....I do hope we live here a very long time, but I am not God and cannot predict where we will be in the future. I happen to be glad about that. Jesus, take my stress away, it's yours!

Happy July 4th

Yes, my blog is once again neglected. Life has been extremely crazy! Between two weeks of VBS at two churches and just trying to keep my house going and sewing, I feel like I really need a "do nothing" day. I like those days when I don't feel pressured to do anything. At least my girls loved vbs and made some new friends. I helped with crafts the first week--over 600 kids every day for five days! Wow, was I ever exhausted. The second week I just drove the girls to and fro across town a bazillion times.

Last night I went to a baseball game for the first time ever! The Corpus Christi Hooks were playing a team from Tulsa. We won! The best part was that my husband and I had gone with our pastor and his wife.

My sewing is going slowly. I have so many ideas and so little time to create. I made a Texas flag purse this week and decided to keep it; since I don't have very many things that I have made. I've added a Bolivian apron to my shop. Most women of Bolivia wear brightly colored aprons everyday and everywhere. I have one I bought in Sucre about six years ago that I wear while I'm cooking or anything messy. They are so comfortable and always make me think of being in Bolivia. I like that I can throw it over my neck and don't have to tie the back if I don't want to. I can almost smell a stinky market full of veggies and fruits.

Life moves along in every minute of the day. My six year old loves to pretend she is reading a book speaking very fast in a British accent. It cracks me up. Especially since what she says makes no sense, just random words. My three year old went to the farmer's market with me this morning dressed as Minnie Mouse. She made everyone smile. My eight year old is growing up way too fast. I had to give her the "you are too young for a boyfriend" talk this week. I'm content today to have a loving husband and three lovely daughters, a good farmer's market and Mexican fruteria, and a beach close by.

A moment to sit down

A friend mentioned that she actually read my blog and I thought that I ought to update the poor neglected thing. May was absolutely crazy! I hardy sewed at all. My oldest's birthday begins our whirlwind of activity on the 10th. We celebrated at a local pizza/party place; which I may add, had the worst pizza I've ever put in my mouth. At least she had fun. My second daughter decided to get a mild stomach bug at said event and threw up in the middle of the floor while spinning around looking for the bathroom. The following day was my birthday; woohoo happy 37th to me. I don't think we did much except for eat lunch out. Oh, and I forgot Mother's day......I don't remember much about that either except for receiving a strawberry plant. The 12th I had an orthodontic adjustment for the first time in 5 months! And so, for the 13th, our anniversary, I could hardly chew an overcooked noodle, much less a gourmet meal. fun.

The next weekend we took an on-a-whim trip to Mexico. I spent some of my childhood in Brackettville, TX near Del Rio. So we tip-toed around my old stomping grounds and went over the border to Ciudad Acuna, Mexico. It is a lovely, small, and quiet town. We enjoyed walking around town and eating fresh fruit and shopping. In case you are wondering, there wasn't a single case of swine flu in that state in Mexico. Apparently the tourists didn't know that because there was hardly anyone there.

The next Thursday I left early in the morning with the girls for yet another trip. We stopped in Austin to see my two lovely cousins and eat lunch. Then I drove up to Southlake and spent the night with my parents. We had hit Fort Worth at exactly 5 o'clock, so it took me nearly 2 hours just to get through town. major ug! I was ready to sleep! The next day we drove up to Missouri with my parents for a wedding of a good friend. That was a good, but lengthy trip. I enjoyed seeing people I hadn't seen in several years.

Well, now here we are in June! I am busy making bags for those who love the 4th of July. I am also designing new things in my mind. My daughters are in the middle of our school year now. We are on a funky schedule. We are blessed to have full tummies, a roof (though it be a noisy one from upstairs neighbors), and our family. I am learning to just be content with these. Next week I will be helping out with vacation Bible school at our church.......we shall see.