Weekly update

It's been a while since I posted, sorry for those of you who check every day! The Fri before last my poor mama fell on the sidewalk while walking over to our house and required a dozen stitches:( I will spare you pictures....not very family friendly! Besides that, we've been plugging along at homeschool, organizing our ever chaotic household and preparing for spring. I am sooo ready for spring! Don't get me wrong, I've adjusted to cold weather better than I anticipated, and I sure don't miss the swealtering, humid summers. The thing I miss is the color green! We are about to start vermicomposting. For those of you who don't know what this is, it's a composting system using worms. We are going to buy this system:

and use these worms:

We got some great reclaimed wood from an old barn to build raised beds out of, and have some locals helping me figure out what in the heck I am doing! Homeschool will be very science heavy for the next few months:)! The boys are excited about feeding the worms, and I can't wait to cook with something from MY garden! I'll post in a week or two with pics of the raised beds and the composting system. Here are some smiling faces for you:

Dreams and Motherhood

Have you ever had a dream that you thought got lost the moment you became a mother? Don't get me wrong, staring into those precious baby eyes for the first time is a dream for sure, but what about the ones we had before motherhood? As mothers, we have a unique struggle when it comes to balancing our lives. Children, Husband, Church, Community, Spiritual and Personal Needs are often at odds with eachother. None of us wants to be the mom who's children are always being cared for by someone else for our own selfish gain. But neither do we want to be the mom who is so into her children that husband, community and personal needs are pushed to the wayside. I personally believe that it is vitally important for us to actively pursue our dreams, and to constantly grow as well rounded individuals. It is important for many reasons, including for our childrens' sake. Our children will benefit from seeing us enriching our lives and the lives of others with our actions. They will see our efforts to love them, those around us and ourselves and eventually apply them to their own lives. What do we want for our own children? I want to see them go at life with gusto, with passion, and with selflessness. But selflessness doesn't mean total abandoning of your own personal gifts. God has gifted each one of us with unique talents and missions, and to ignore those callings would be to deny our Creator. The Proverbs 31 woman was active in her family, in her community, in her church and at her business. I want to be that woman.

I have always loved to write. From the time I was very young, I dreamed of living in New York, writing for a living. Carefree and creative. As I grew up(which I am still doing, by the way) I refined my dreams to include an amazing man by my side who would love my dreams and my passion, and children who would add zeal and purpose. My dreams have come true...mostly. I have an amazing man who believes in me before I even know what me is all about. And I have 4 beautiful children who have added such a depth to my life, that I cannot possibly imagine being half of the person I am without even one of their smiles. But I have more dreams to explore. I want to write. I want to share my passion with others to encourage and uplift. I am so excited, because I may get an opportunity of a lifetime to pursue my goals and dreams. Proverbs 31 Ministries is putting on an event called She Speaks. It is a conference for women speakers, writers and bloggers to learn and be encouraged. There will be publishers and speakers from every field to share their knowledge and stories with us. It is so close by, I cannot miss the opportunity! It is June 20-22, and there is a scholarship being offered here. The chance to attend this conference is one I hope I can have!

Jude is 2!

Can it be true?! No official babies in the Cardinale house?! Jude has promised me he will stay little just for me. It won't last for long, I know. Sniff......Jude is holding up his hand to say how old he is....not quite agile with the fingers!

Dinner's in the Freezer!

I just picked up this great book at my local bookstore, and LOVE it! The family favorite so far is the Chicken Pot Pie. Great to have ready in the freezer for an emergency! It would be great to get together and do this as a club once a month. Here's the

Chicken Pot Pie Recipe:

Yields 1 deep dish or 2 standard 9" pies

1-10 oz package frozen peas and carrots

1/2 cu onion, chopped

1/2 cu fresh mushrooms, chopped

1/4 cu butter or margarine

1/3 cu flour

1/2 t salt

1/4 t sage

1/8 t pepper

2 cu water

3/4 cu milk

1 T chicken bouillon

3 cu cooked chicken or turkey

1/4 cu chopped pimiento

1/4 cu snipped parsley

Serving Day: Double pie crust

Cook peas and carrots according to package directions; drain. Cook onion and mushrooms in butter or margarine until tender but not brown. Stir in flour, salt, sage and pepper. Add water, milk, and bouillon granules all at once. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir 1-2 minutes more. Stir in drained cooked vegetables, chicken or turkey, pimiento, and parsley; heat until bubbly. Cool, place in a freezer bag and flatten, put in freezer. (flattening helps to save room in your freezer) Serving day: Thaw completely, roll out bottom pie crust and place in 9 inch pie pan. Place chicken mixture in pie dish; top with upper crust. Bake in pie shell in 400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

15 pounds

Update on weight loss, 15 lbs so far! Yipee! This is especially exciting considering the weather here lately. I walk outside for my exercise, and it's been FREEZING here for 2 solid weeks, so walking has fallen to the wayside a bit. Next week is supposed to be warmer, 40s instead of 10s in the morning, so back on the trail I'll go! Plus, my diet plan just came out with Strawberry shakes and Peanut Butter Choclate Chip Meal Bars, SO GOOD!

TAG-I'm It!

I've been tagged by Liz to share some of my bookmarked sites....here goes!

http://www.amblesideonline.org/
My homeschooling site with every week planned....for free:) I visit every day

http://www.theneatfreaks.com/
Bought our closet system from here....I realized there were still a lot of home improvement links we are hopefully done with for a while!

http://www.youcanmakethis.com/
For the dream of having time to do any of these creative things!

http://www.theoutdoorbible.com/t-ourstory.aspx
Some great people we met on Trail Days who have a product we'd like to carry online one day.

http://ecofabulous.blogs.com/
I have more blog links I am going to add today, I promise!

http://www.ebcalc.com/
For the ebay business

http://www.thequiltindex.org/
Research for quilt pattern names for the ebay biz...I have sites about tractors, old bottles...you name it linked!

http://www.allrecipes.com/
Who needs cookbooks when you have this site?!

http://www.ourgreenhouse.com/
http://www.reuseablebags.com/
www.shaklee.net/mamagoesgreen

And the newest addition, an IRS info site...of course!
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p587/index.html

I am tagging Nathaniel, Beka and Carrie

Random Blog Quiz

You Are An ENTP

The Visionary You are charming, outgoing, friendly. You make a good first impression. You possess good negotiating skills and can convince anyone of anything. Happy to be the center of attention, you love to tell stories and show off. You're very clever, but not disciplined enough to do well in structured environments. In love, you see everything as a grand adventure. You enjoy taking risks for love. And if things don't work out, you're usually not too much worse for the wear! You would make a great entrepreneur, marketing executive, or actor. At work, you need a lot of freedom to pursue your own path and vision. How you see yourself: Analytical, creative, and peaceful When other people don't get you, they see you as: Detached, wishy-washy, and superficial

What's Your Personality Type?