When I read that years ago in a book about home education, I bristled. A rut? People get stuck in ruts and never change, never take risks, never explore new possibilities. Ruts feel like tedium. Monotony. Boredom. Ruts seem unimaginative and unattractive. Everything in me yearned to break out of any rut I might run the risk of tumbling into—my random-abstract personality craved variety and spontaneity for myself and my kids.

I wanted us to experience a life of adventure, flexible enough to enjoy exploring the world of science and art and literature in novel ways, so to speak. I had an overall vision and plenty of books to support my ideas, but I didn’t want to feel constrained and I didn’t want the kids to feel that way, either. I wanted my kids to grow up with a sense of curiosity, adventure, and freedom. No ruts for us, no way.

But the longer I home educated, the more I came to realize that a rut—formed by established routines and habits—would simplify life. If we had a rut to run in, we wouldn’t have to reinvent every single day. If we established a routine, the kids could wake up and know what to expect. They could get straight to work on sequential, daily subjects like math, handwriting, or spelling. Well-conceived, a routine could provide a sense of peace, order and regularity—a steadying framework. After too many inefficient, unpredictable mornings, they began to crave a rut to run in. And as much as I resisted—as much as I hated to admit it—so did I…

My writing partner, colleague, and friend Charity Singleton Craig invited me to write about my word of the week over at her place. Click through to read the rest of the article.

The post Simplify Life with Habits appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

Stefan Mumaw, creative director at Callahan Creek and author of Creative Boot Camp, said in the May 2013 issue of How magazine (“Jumping 5 Creative Hurdles,” by Julie Ann Sims):

Inspiration, like routine, is behavioral. It’s an internal result of an external action. We have to do something to be inspired. Creatives often think that inspiration hits them unprovoked. This simply isn’t the case. We have to put ourselves in positions for inspiration to come. We have to be exploring, discovering or seeing. We have to be listening or thinking or moving. It’s a result, not a random act. (30)

You want ideas? Need inspiration? Help your mind break free from routines: Do something. Mumaw offers a starter-list of ideas to get you in motion:

• Read a book
• Take a walk
• Watch a video
• See a movie
• Throw a paper airplane
• Wear a headband
• Stand backward in the elevator
• Draw a stick figure
• Tell a joke
• Find a new blog
• Disassemble a stapler
• Create a paperclip monster
• Solve a new problem

Each of those will create opportunities for mental exploration, discovering, thinking, moving or doing. Each of those, Mumaw points out, launches with a verb—each requires doing something. “Inspiration,” he concludes, “is found through verbs. So verb” (30).

Next time you need some inspiration, seek creative stimulation—like Julia Cameron’s Artist Date, modeled regularly at Tweetspeak Poetry. Or for a more dramatic creative boost, take your verbs to the next level so that they require a risk—keeping in mind that risk is relative.

When you need inspiration throughout the year ahead, make your own list of verbs and do something. Who knows? You might find creative inspiration in the middle of a snowball fight, a trip to an art museum, a tour of an apiary, or a walk on the beach.

______________

Source Cited:

Sims, Julie Ann. “Jumping 5 Creative Hurdles.” HOW May 2013: 26-30. Print.

The post Need Inspiration? Don’t Just Sit There – Do Something! appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

Five Writing Strengths

1. The ability to sit still for long stretches of time.

Not everyone can do this, you know. Some people get antsy, restless. After a few minutes of sitting still, they fidget and have to get up and make hot chocolate or call a friend. Writers need to be able to sit still for hours in order to get their work done. Dorothea Brande in her book Becoming a Writer said:

Writing calls on unused muscles and involves solitude and immobility. There is not much to be said for the recommendation, so often heard, to serve an apprenticeship to journalism if you intend to write fiction. But a journalist’s career does teach two lessons which every writer needs to learn—that it is possible to write for long periods without fatigue, and that if one pushes on past the first weariness one finds a reservoir of unsuspected energy—one reaches the famous “second wind.” (71)

I can’t help but think of that famous advice writers hear at conferences and in books: How does one become a successful writer? “Apply [bottom] to chair.” I can do that. I admit that I do head into the other room to grab a handful of nuts now and then or fix a cup of tea. But I can sit still when need be and write for long periods without fatigue.

2. Curiosity.

Each person I meet knows something that I don’t—I can always learn something new if I ask the right questions. All it takes is a little curiosity. Whether working for a newspaper or corporate client to write an article or blog post, finding interest in some aspect of a new industry, person, story, or methodology is a strength—if I myself am interested in it, the way I write about it will probably be more interesting, as well. I value curiosity so highly in writing and in life, I publish a monthly Curiosity Journal, documenting and sharing my discoveries.

3. A Commitment to Lifelong Learning.

I’ve abandoned the pursuit of higher education in a formal sense, but Autodidact Ann lives (and reads and researches) on. The more I learn, the more I have to write about.

4. Love of Reading.

Numbers 2, 3, and 4 are suspiciously interrelated. It might seem that I’m taking one idea and stretching it out to fill space—which might be yet another strength in itself—but I do think they deserve to be singled out. Curiosity often leads to learning and reading, and one often learns via reading. But there are other ways to learn and satisfy curiosity, and there is more than one motivation to read.

Yet (and this is the point) reading inevitably enhances writing—the content may inspire (or not); the writing style may be worth imitating (or not). Either way, reading widely only helps a writer. In his memoir, On Writing, Stephen King says:

If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut. (139)

and

Reading is the creative center of a writer’s life. (142)

Storylines linger, nonfiction facts inform, ideas from texts comingle with others in my mind to form something new. A writer who doesn’t read is doomed to compose in a narrow style and draw from a limited library of ideas. I relish a good book, and I believe that makes my writing richer.

5. Perseverance.

Never, never, never give up. Stick with it. Persist. I may not have been born with the greatest writing talent, but I’ve stuck with it. I work to improve and learn from mistakes, forging ahead a little smarter, wiser, and more skillful. As a friend of mine said (I paraphrase), the most successful writers are not necessarily the ones with the greatest talent; they’re the ones who persevere.

What are five of your writing strengths?

Modified post from the archives.

You might like to read:

• Writing Conditions are Never Perfect 
• Write in the Midst of Motherhood series

The post Developing a Writing Life: Five Writing Strengths appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

For the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—though we love to try new dishes, your post doesn’t have to be a recipe. We’re pretty relaxed over here, and stories and photos are as welcome as menus and recipes. When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the button to include with your post. It ties us together visually. Then fill in the boxes of this linky tool to join the fun!

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Food on Fridays with Ann

My husband grew up in Belgium. Until age 9 he lived in a town called Strombeek, home of Douwe Egberts coffee. This Belgian coffee is occasionally found in America in dispensers like this one.

The machine doesn’t look like much but the coffee tastes great. If you see the Douwe Egberts logo, grab a mug and fill it up, quick. You will not be disappointed.

Of course, my husband is always so tickled to see Douwe Egberts in the States, he might be a little biased.

* * * * *

Photos by Ann Kroeker. “Pin” these images in a way that links back to this particular page, giving proper credit.

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The post Food on Fridays: Douwe Egberts Coffee appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

For the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—though we love to try new dishes, your post doesn’t have to be a recipe. We’re pretty relaxed over here, and stories and photos are as welcome as menus and recipes. When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the button to include with your post. It ties us together visually. Then fill in the boxes of this linky tool to join the fun!

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Food on Fridays with Ann

These little crackers are pretty good. They taste like…crackers.

As people stuck eating gluten free can attest, this is not always the case. Sometimes a gluten-free cracker does not taste like a standard cracker.

I’m enjoying this treat. Well done, Glutino. Well done.

* * * * *

Photos by Ann Kroeker. “Pin” these images in a way that links back to this particular page, giving proper credit.

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The post Food on Fridays: Glutino Crackers appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

For the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—though we love to try new dishes, your post doesn’t have to be a recipe. We’re pretty relaxed over here, and stories and photos are as welcome as menus and recipes. When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the button to include with your post. It ties us together visually. Then fill in the boxes of this linky tool to join the fun!

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Food on Fridays with Ann

On my recent trip to the south, I visited some relatives, including my cousin and his daughter (also a cousin, of course). While there, we discussed grits, a staple in their household. I’m an anomaly up here in the North, as I love grits. Some Northerners have never heard of grits. Most have never eaten them. And those who have actually tried grits don’t seem to like them.

But I do. I like them a lot. Until my visit to South Carolina, I’d been cooking them something like this method, using water, butter and salt.

Then my cousin, who works at Blackstone’s Cafe in Beaufort, informed me that the restaurant always makes them with some cream. She didn’t know how much, so when I got home I decided to experiment, following Blackstone’s lead by adding some Silk creamer (dairy-free).

The grits turned out smooth, creamy and rich.

Delicious.

If you like grits.

* * * * *

Photos by Ann Kroeker. “Pin” these images in a way that links back to this particular page, giving proper credit.

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The post Food on Fridays: Creamy Grits appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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Reading

A few months ago, a representative for an author contacted me asking if I would like to receive a copy of a new book release. The publicist said I could have an electronic or hard copy.

“Sure!” I agreed. The book sounded interesting, so I was sure I’d find some positive things to say about it. “Could I have both? That way I could quickly read the electronic copy myself and then arrange for a giveaway of the hard copy on my blog.” I told her I felt that my readers fit the author’s target demographic perfectly.

The publicist thought that was a great idea, so I sent my mailing address. She sent me via e-mail a file that was, presumably, an electronic copy of the book. But when I opened the file, it was not: it was about five pages of materials related to the book, but not the book. I wrote a pleasant note explaining the file mix-up but never heard back; they neither replied nor sent a replacement file. What’s more, they never sent a hard copy of the book.

The book went on to become a great success, so my few words of support would not have made much difference. I assume that the publicist arrived at the same conclusion—why bother sending out a free book when already so many people are paying real money for it?

I understand that business decision, but the experience left me feeling very small and insignificant. And compared with the author of that book, I am small and insignificant, but why rub it in?

Writing

Numerous deadlines loom.

Learning

Sharing our stories can bind us together. I haven’t landed precisely on the best principles to follow in telling stories publicly, but I experienced this week how friendships can deepen when we risk privately sharing the things we’ve locked deep inside our hearts for safekeeping.

The trouble with long-term safekeeping is this: silently storing all of it away like that is often not safe at all. Sometimes the best decision is to gently and honestly tell the stories—the truth—of our lives. Though opening up is not without risk, we may find life, intimacy, trust, and freedom.

Playing

One afternoon last spring, I was walking across the soccer fields with my eldest daughter.

“Mom,” she began, “I have a question. I’ve seen kids in public schools and private schools wearing sweatshirts with ‘2012 Seniors’ printed on the back. Have you seen them?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I wondered if it would be possible to have something like that next year.”

She’s homeschooled, you see, so it’s not like we could just show up at the school office, plunk down twenty bucks for a 2013 Seniors school shirt, and be done with it. If we are interested in something, we have to make it happen.

“I don’t see why not,” I said. “You and your sister could create some logo designs for our homeschool co-op and add the 2013 Seniors thing as an option. We’ll have to phone around to find places that print shirts and get prices. Then we’d have to be sure the co-op leadership would agree to it. It’ll take several steps, but I think it could be done.”

Her face lit up. “Cool!”

Throughout summer, I completely forgot about it. Then, about a week before school began, that scene on the soccer field back in April flashed across my mind and I realized we’d better hop on it. Next thing you know, my artistic daughters designed two or three co-op logos for the front, and I phoned some local companies to get quotes for affordable silkscreening. We decided to go with The Art Press.

The girls gained approval from the co-op leadership, presented the designs for a vote, prepped the winning design for silkscreening, selected the colors, finalized placement for names and that ever-important 2013 Seniors print for the few who wanted it (non-Seniors chose to have a name/nickname printed on the back…or left it blank).

For just under two weeks, the co-op members could make selections and pay through a secure ordering page online (one of many reasons I’m thrilled with this company’s great work is because their ordering system, mySHIRTsize, made collecting group orders a snap). The Art Press scrambled to fulfill the orders—over twice as many as we’d expected.

What a delight to pass everything out this week! The shirts were a big success and my daughter got her wish…by making it happen.

Reacting

I awoke to a headache this morning, so I didn’t feel like wearing anything cute or slapping on makeup. I barely brushed my hair before pulling on my new co-op hoodie and heading out with my son for his cello lesson. On the way home, I drove past the library to drop off a book. My son asked to go in. Due to my haggard appearance, I hesitated. Then, when he begged to check out books, I reluctantly agreed. Who doesn’t want to support an 11-year-old boy’s reading habit? “Okay, but let’s not take too long. I look terrible,” I said. “I hope I don’t see anyone I know.”

“It’s okay,” my son assured me. “I’ll only take a couple of minutes.”

The instant we entered the lobby, I spotted a local news cameraman setting up a shot.

I can’t explain why—blogging instinct, perhaps?—but I pulled out my camera and snapped some photos of him (didn’t take time to think through lighting, composition or white balance, however). I justified my intrusion by figuring if he feels comfortable shooting footage of people in a public place, he should realize how it feels to have the camera turned on him in the same setting.

He looked at me with surprise.

“What’s going on?” I asked. “Controversy at the library?”

“No, no. It’s all good. You can ask Kevin.” He gestured toward the stacks, but I only saw a mom rounding the corner with her young child. Instead of hunting down the reporter, I simply headed to another part of the library, avoiding the cameraman’s lens.

Everywhere I turned, he was setting up for another shot from another angle. As my son and I checked out our books, I couldn’t resist snapping one final shot of him, since he was standing right there. He looked at me out of the corner of his eye as soon as he heard the loud ka-chunk of my Canon’s shutter/mirror. I grinned big. He nodded slightly and smiled.

Then my son and I skedaddled out of there before he turned his focus on us where we stood at the electronic checkout. Although I don’t think I should have worried. I believe that man and I held a tacit agreement that we both prefer to work quietly behind the lens, rather than be caught in front of it.

* * * * *

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The post Curiosity Journal: October 3, 2012 appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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Reading

Last week I read and commented on 14 student papers.

Writing

Today I wrote a vision piece for the Family channel at The High Calling. Well, “vision piece” might be too fancy and formal for what it is. Using posts we have published in the last year or so, I tried to illustrate how we tell stories about the work of family as well as those about the intersection of work and family.

Learning

At the start of composition class this week, I wrote on the white board: “There is a cat that sits on the fence every afternoon.”

“This sentence is grammatically correct,” I said, “but in terms of style, it’s weakened by ‘there is.’ Eliminating that phrase and any like it will—well, wait a minute. What are some variations on this?”

The kids stared at me for a minute.

“We’re using ‘there is’ here…’is’ is a form of ‘to be,'” I reminded them. “Can you think of some other form of ‘to be’ that could also be used with ‘there’?”

Someone timidly raised her hand and offered, “There are?”

“Good! Another?”

“There were?”

“Sure. And all the other forms of ‘be,’ like, ‘there would be’ and ‘there will be.’ All of those can often just be plucked right out of the sentence. You’ll have to switch things around a bit to rephrase, but nine times out of ten, the sentence will be stronger. Let’s work together to figure out a different wording for this one. How can we eliminate ‘there was’ from this sentence without changing its meaning?”

The kids tossed out alternatives, like, “The cat sits on the fence every afternoon,” and “Every afternoon, the cat sits on the fence.”

“Good!” I said. “Can you see that the sentence is stronger and simpler with the cat sitting? There are several ways to create a stronger sentence.” No one blinked an eye when I used “there are.” I had to point it out to them. Then they kind of chuckled.

Back home at my desk, I hear myself use “there are” all the time and watch myself type it onto the screen—not that it’s wrong, mind you. I think I made it clear that sometimes a “there are” construction will turn out to be the best choice. But the lesson reminds me to hunt those babies down in my own work and at least consider a revision. When I do, I’m almost always happier with the result.

Playing

On a sunny afternoon after our co-op let out, kids ran and played in the grassy area beside the church where we meet. A high school boy tossed a football to two elementary students, one of them a sweet little first grader. A junior high kid skateboarded through the parking lot, a pied piper trailed by a line of younger boys racing after him on foot.

Along the sidewalk moms chatted while girls and guys laughed. One teen from my writing class sat on the hood of her car to catch some rays. The scene felt like it was lit for a movie production, everyone glowing.

Reacting

My daughter and I headed over to Whole Foods to grab a couple of items. After we wove through the parking lot and arrived at the entrance, we discovered men and women standing outside the door next to bins of apples and locally grown tomatoes—their arms crossed, brows furrowed—staring into the store.

The lights were out.

I stepped right up to the doors and peered inside. Sunlight angling down from high windows in the front provided the only illumination—enough that I could see people milling around. Cashiers were bagging food. Turning to a man with a Whole Foods tag pinned to his shirt who looked sort of like a bouncer, I asked, “Can I just run in? I know exactly what I want and where it is.”

“No, I’m sorry, but no one can go in. The lights are out. It’s dangerous for you to be in there in the dark.”

Quite a few people were navigating the front of the store just fine, but I didn’t argue. My daughter and I gave up and left the small crowd of hopeful onlookers who were waiting for the moment the lights would switch on. As we stepped out into the bright sunlight, I heard someone sigh heavily.

Later that night, we told the story to the rest of the family, and they laughed about the danger. Another of my daughters said, “They just didn’t want people to steal anything!”

“Could be. But what would people take?” I asked. “Organic flour?”

“Protect the wheat germ!” my husband exclaimed.

I pretended to be a news announcer: “During a recent power outage at Whole Foods, people all over the north side were looting the place, stuffing gluten-free pasta and organic vegetables under their shirts in the darkness and then rushing home to live healthier lives.”

“How terrible!” my son declared.

* * * * *

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The post Curiosity Journal: September 12, 2012 appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

In winter, I did the same with hot cocoa mix. I’d heat water in the kettle, spoon cocoa mix into the mug, and then stir, keeping an eye open for the unmixed cocoa blobs. When mixing chocolate milk, I could easily see the dark against white; in a mug, I found it harder to spot unmixed cocoa under the creamy film that formed at the water’s surface. No matter; I’d trust my tongue to feel for them. I loved the sugary sensation as the cocoa separated into granules and dissolved in my mouth.

One cool afternoon I pulled out one of my favorite black mugs, poured in a packet of hot cocoa mix and waited for the water to boil. I pulled out a spoon and spun it between my fingers, waiting. As soon as the kettle burbled, I lifted and poured. Absently, I stirred and watched it blend, anticipating my ritual of hunting down undissolved pockets of cocoa floating to the surface.

Leaning against the kitchen counter, I lifted the mug to my lips, blowing a little to cool the surface, and began sipping. Several sips in, I spotted a blob and sloshed the liquid, working that tempting pod front and center, to suck in and press against the roof of my mouth.

As soon as it was within sipping distance, I tilted the mug, drank it in, and with my tongue pressed up. But it didn’t give when it hit the roof of my mouth. It didn’t dissolve into a hundred granules of sugar. It was…hairy.

I rushed to the sink and spat.

A fly.

A dead fly.

I dumped the contents of the mug into the sink, pushed the faucet and scooped water into my mouth with my hands as fast as possible to rinse, and rinse, and rinse, and rinse. As I rinsed, I had to stare down into the sink where the fly rested against the stainless steel drain basket strainer, the stream of water rinsing specks of cocoa from his lifeless black form.

I started to cry.

To this day, I can still recall the unexpected sensation of hair…legs…wings.

To this day, I always press the curve of my spoon against every pocket of unmixed cocoa, running it against the side of the glass or mug, to ensure that it bursts and blends with the liquid.

To this day, I avoid dark mugs. But if I don’t have a choice, I always peer in, turn the mug upside down, and shake.

The post Incomparable Sensation: My History with Cocoa Mixes (a cautionary tale) appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

Each Wednesday I’ve been recording a Curiosity Journal to recap the previous week using these tag words: reading, playing, learning, reacting and writing.

:::

Reading

I didn’t get much reading done this week, and I’m trying to be okay with that.Sometimes I think a Kindle tucked in my purse would allow me to make the most of unexpected free time.

Playing

One of our kids is considering a career in the medical field, so we attended an orientation meeting at a local hospital to prepare her for a day of shadowing. We sat in the conference room facing a wall decorated with press-on letters that formed titles representing a variety of medical careers.My daughter listened closely to the presentation, while I practiced proofreading skills.How many errors can you find (click on photo for larger view)?

Learning

I signed up for Pinterest.I left up one of the default boards labeled “My Style,” because I realized I don’t really have a style. Maybe, I thought, if I collect enough pictures of outfits that I kind of like, I could actually develop a style. One afternoon last week I stopped by Goodwill and found a Gap sweater with the same neck as the sweater pictured in the first photo I pinned. On another rack, a gray jacket.So I’m trying to experiment and figure out what works.

Reacting

I stuck about 1/4 cup of popcorn kernels in a small paper lunch bag, folded it shut and sort of crimped it together.Then I stuck the bag of kernels in the microwave for about three minutes, but I stopped the microwave when the popping slowed.I pulled it out.Opened the bag.Inside?Perfect popcorn.The makers and marketers of microwave popcorn should be scared. Very scared.

Writing

Writing projects: Stories for The High Calling, a brochure for a local client, and a few blog posts.

:::

Credits:Photos: Images by Ann Kroeker. All rights reserved.

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The post Curiosity Journal: January 18, 2012 appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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For the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—though we love to try new dishes, your post doesn’t have to be a recipe. We’re pretty relaxed over here, and stories and photos are as welcome as menus and recipes. When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button to paste at the top of your post. It ties us together visually. Then fill in the boxes of this linky tool to join the fun!

Food on Fridays with Ann

Contrary to what this photo may suggest, the Kroekers do not serve sauteed dog food over noodles.It was after dark by the time we dished this beef stroganoff onto our plates, and we were eating by candlelight; so, I couldn’t get an appealing snapshot. But trust me: this simple dish turned out great.I had already browned some ground beef that was sitting in the fridge, awaiting its assignment. We’d eaten Mexican the night before, and I wasn’t in the mood for spaghetti with red sauce.A short Internet search turned up this recipe, which I modified slightly based on what I had available. The following is my version:Beef Stroganoff

:::

Photo credit: Unappealing food photo by Ann Kroeker. All rights reserved.

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The post Food on Fridays: Easy Beef Stroganoff appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

Apologies for the belated post today.

:::

Some of you have mentioned that you’re keeping a Curiosity Journal, as well. Leave your link in the comments so that we can visit and enjoy your weekly review.

Reading

When The High Calling announced that their pick for the book club was Breath for the Bones: Art, Imagination and Spirit: A Reflection on Creativity and Faith, by Luci Shaw, I decided to get a copy earlier rather than later.In the Amazon search bar, I typed in “breath for bones” and stared at the results page, puzzled, and then amused. Instead of a photo of a thoughtful, poetic book on art and faith, I was staring at things like Zuke’s Z-Ridge Fresh Breath Dental Chew Bones, and Breath-A-Licious Dental treats for dogs.I added a few search terms and got past the dog treats to finally locate the book.A few quotes:

Art is what we say, what we sing, and what we show (in bodily movement or the work of our hands) about what is bubbling up within us, that which cries for recognition and response. Because it seems so special, so wondrous, so extraordinary to us—this upwelling from our creative imagination—we want to share it with kindred spirits. (Shaw 5-6)

daughter's hand

We are each, in the image of our Creator, created to create, to call others back to beauty and holiness and to the truth about God’s nature. We are each created to stop and cry to someone preoccupied with the superficial, “Look!” or “Listen!” when, in something beautiful and meaningful, we hear a message from beyond us. (Shaw 33-34)

I love that last part, the idea of hearing a message to share, and crying out to someone preoccupied with the superficial, Look! Listen!Isn’t this why many of us blog?

Playing

My daughter and I played around together to find camera settings that would let in more light as we photographed crystals hanging from a favorite lamp.I love how the washed out background brings all the attention to the detail of the lamp and the crystal.My daughter tried a creative angle with the light washing out the background so much that you kind of forget what’s back there.Same here. You can see that there’s a soft, filmy curtain and light streaming in, but my eye goes straight to the crystal. I like how the back one is blurring, fading.

Learning

My husband has been researching used cars and introduced me to a safety feature called Electronic Stability Control (ESC), which, according to David Champion, Senior Director of Automotive Testing for Consumer Reports, “is the single most important advance in auto safety since the development of the seatbelt.” ESC helps drivers maintain control of the vehicle in turns, especially on slippery roads, using sensors to detect angles and sideways motions and then applies a brake to one or more wheels or reduces engine power. Very nice features for teen drivers…or any driver. Last week I told you about the Pomodoro Technique for time management. I’ve tried it a few days, and I think it really is an effective method for pacing myself. I used this online countdown timer. It was convenient because most of my work was right at my desk.

Reacting

My friend Charity has learned that cancer has returned. She writes of her river of tears. But she also writes,

I choose a wobbly faith in a Sovereign God who loves me over cursing God and dying.

I may cry a river a tears, but I pray they will gather in a pool and bring life in a dry season.

Writing

I continue to deal with a wheezy cough and now a sinus infection. It’s left me so congested and tired that I’ve been unable to focus or function well. As a result, it’s been challenging to write. I have nothing worth reporting under this heading.Works Cited:

• Shaw, Luci. Breath for the Bones: Art, Imagination, and Spirit. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2007. Print.
• Images: “Question Proposed” photo by Ethan Lofton. Used under a Creative Commons license via Flickr.com. Book & Dingo Dental Sticks, daughter’s homemade henna art, lamp and crystals photos by Ann Kroeker (tall lamp photo by S. Kroeker).

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—though we love to try new dishes, your post doesn’t have to be a recipe.If you want, you could tell us what you’re going to plant this year in your garden, or the first thing you’ll buy at the farmer’s market when it starts up this spring season. Basically we’re pretty relaxed over here. Posts that tell stories involving food are as welcome as menus and recipes.

When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post. It ties us together visually.

Then link to Simply Linked.

Food on Fridays with Ann

Well, I made “Grandma Cookies” on Wednesday. The recipe makes quite a few cookies, so we’ve been eating one or two (or three or four) each day.

Thursday afternoon it occurred to me I was eating them exactly the same way I did when I was little: nibbling along the outer edges, around and around, all the way to the gumdrop center, saving that chewy bite for last.

I’m so glad to share these cookies with my kids. And I’m so glad to share them with you, as well.

Here’s the recipe again, for easy reference:

“Grandma Cookies”

Ingredients:

• 1 C shortening (oleo or oleo and part butter) [Note: instead of oleo, I combined 3/4 C butter and 1/4 C cooking oil]
• 2 C sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 C sour milk [Note: to make “sour milk,” stir in just a teaspoon or so of vinegar to make it curdle]
• 1 t soda
• 1 t baking powder
• 1 t vanilla
• about 4 cups of flour or more as needed

Directions:

Cream shortening and sugar, and beat in eggs. Sift dry ingredients together and add alternately with milk to egg mixture. [Note: I recall that alternating the dry and wet mixtures was key to success.]

Drop by teaspoons on cookie sheet. In the middle of each teaspoonful of dough, stick a gumdrop or a piece of walnut or pecan in the middle, or sprinkle with colored sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until done.

I have this note on the recipe from Grandma: “I used to roll out the dough and use cookie cutters. Now I drop by teaspoons right on the cookie sheet to bake.”

:::

My mom happened to be visiting the day I was baking them, which was handy because she’s intimately familiar with the original Grandma Cookies. She could offer taste and texture advice.

She watched my process, observing the rather large dollops I placed onto the cookie sheet, and the too-moist dough. All she advised at that point, however, was how to push the gumdrops (actually called “spice drops”) into the center a bit. She pointed out that Grandma always put a piece of nut in the center, like a pecan or walnut.

“Well, I only ate the cookies with gumdrops or sprinkles on top,” I admitted. “I know you’d prefer the ones with nuts, but Grandma’s not here, so I made the call. They’re all gumdrops.”

She grinned and said that’s fine, but I think we both winced when I said “Grandma’s not here.”

We continued plopping, baking and evaluating.

After this too-big/too-moist batch, she recommended we add flour and drop smaller blobs, which we did. They turned out much better.

As we sat down for a formal taste test, I felt like we were traveling across the years, the flavor transporting us back to the kitchen with linoleum flooring and a porcelain sink, where I enjoyed my first Grandma Cookies, the originals, baked to perfection.

Back at my own kitchen table, we concluded that these Grandma Cookies weren’t perfect, but they’re close. I think I’ll get it. I just need more practice. So it looks like I’ll make more Grandma Cookies. Lots of Grandma Cookies.

And maybe by the time I’m actually a grandma, I’ll have them perfected.

Photos of “Grandma Cookies” by Ann Kroeker.

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I’m sending you to Cheryl and inviting you back here again thanks to inspiration from Charity at Wide Open Spaces, home of There & Back Again.

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Dad's dream fence

Overgrown fence row on Dad's farm

In a suburban setting, I long for a weed-free privacy fence, but when I glance out my back window, I spot thistles poking up through the slats on both sides. I’d love to have my kitchen shelves orderly and uniform, but the cereal boxes lie on their sides in the only cabinet big enough to store them. They sit next to the mixing bowls and Pyrex pans, which are, of course, unrelated to cereal.

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(demonstrating his skills circa 1950)

That regular paycheck helped Dad work his way through university studies and earn a journalism degree. He and my mom met while working for the student paper. After graduating, they married and for a brief time tried to run a tiny weekly newspaper. Eventually they both took jobs at the Indianapolis Star newspaper, where Dad was hired as a copy editor (after a year’s stint as a teacher).

He’s described the flurry of the copy desk to me many times: scrambling to edit front page stories, marking copy with big black pencils, scribbling headlines, cropping photos with blue grease pencils, and composing captions, all under a thick cloud of smoke—it really was the 1950s news room we imagine, where cigarette-puffing reporters clacked away on typewriters and cigar-smoking editors waved papers, shouting, “Copy!“

(In case you’re wondering, Dad abruptly stopped smoking when my brother was born in 1963 and hasn’t smoked since.)

Once the bulldog edition rolled off the presses around 9:00 p.m., the editors could relax for a few minutes, marking typos to correct for later editions, but generally remaking the paper several times. When the i’s seemed dotted and t’s seemed crossed, Dad would finally leave work and arrive home around one or two o’clock in the morning. Sometimes—probably in the summer, when we could sleep in the next morning—Mom would let my brother and me stay up to greet him. Dad would surprise us by bringing home a treat from one of the only two places open at those crazy hours: Dunkin’ Donuts or White Castle. At the time I probably liked the doughnuts best, but I remember most vividly the White Castle hamburgers. While the rest of the neighborhood slept, we gathered at the table to unload those little cardboard boxes and pass around the onion-laden hamburgers.

For many years, Dad dreamed of owning a farm. Before my brother and I were born, he and Mom saved enough to buy some rural property with a pond, rolling hills, and old log house. It meant frugal living, but in the 1970s, they bought another smaller, working farm. We moved there when I entered second grade.

Though Dad owned two farms, the newspaper continued to be his full-time job. He leased the fields to full-time farmers, but raised Black Angus cattle himself. He loved those cows and hated to sell them, because Black Angus cattle—the same cattle whose manger you’ve faithfully filled with hay and grain all winter—eventually leave the farm in a trailer and sometimes return in little white packages.

When Dad first started farming, he had a lot to learn. But he had a valuable personality trait, enhanced by years as a journalist:

Curiosity.

Inquisitive and interested, Dad introduces himself to anyone and everyone. Whether a person is a highly paid professional, grad student, farmer, or factory worker, Dad will ask questions and get him talking in order to discover something new. This is a powerful gift he’s passed on to me; whether by nature or nurture, I, too, have grown to be a curious person (you may interpret that however you wish). And now, as an adult, I’m grateful for this heritage.

As a child, however, I slouched in the back seat of the blue Chevy Impala and waited, bored, while Dad exercised his curiosity, picking this wiry farmer’s brain (see below) about crops and cattle, weather and weeds.

Dad’s curiosity has led him to learn about much more than farming. He’s worn out multiple dictionaries confirming definitions and pronunciations. He can quote excerpts from Civil War history books by Shelby Foote and Bruce Catton. He follows the weather and always knows when a storm is heading our way. He wants to know, and he wants to help.

Thank you, Dad, for scooting the newspaper across the table to me when I was little, challenging me to read the headlines. Thanks for bringing me up on a farm (and forgive me for being so lazy). Thanks for teaching me the lyrics to the sillied-up version of “Down by the Old Mill Stream” and for directing our impromptu family orchestra as you had us take turns singing the “oompa” tuba and “skeer-eet” piccolo parts of “Semper Fidelis.” Thank you for devoting so much of your life to words, stories, news, and ideas—awakening in me a curiosity about people and the world around me and modeling a love of books and learning.

Thank you for scooping me up from the back seat of the car at the end of a long day on the farm. Thanks for carrying me to my room and setting me on my bed, even when I was faking sleep. Because I loved a lot of things from my childhood, like going with you to Buck the barber to get my bangs trimmed, and munching those White Castles late at night. But the nights you carried me limp from the Chevy, you lifted me in your arms and I leaned against your chest. You were probably exhausted from driving, and I was probably too big to be carried; but letting me be a child resting in her father’s arms?

Thank you for that.

Happy Father’s Day, Dad.

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We parents joined the circle of junior high kids to pray together before sending them off on a week-long bicycle trip.

The Congolese driver overheard

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My mom worked as the editor of our local newspaper, covering news all over the county. If a reporter couldn’t make it to an event, Mom would grab her camera, reporter’s pad, and pen—and quite often her daughter—to capture the news herself.

This meant that whether I wanted to or not, I visited sporting events, live nativity scenes, church bazaars, festivals, fairs, horse pulls, pie-eating contests, and a lot of parades. Most kids would relish frequent outings to festivals and fairs, but apparently I grew tired of being dragged from town to town. Even though it was an era when the Girl Scouts and local celebrities riding in Model T cars or standing on floats would heave generous gobs of candy to the spectators, apparently I moaned one time, “Not another parade!” Ah, what a cross I had to bear!

All because my mother was a professional writer and editor; a committed, working journalist.

When she was a child, her dream never wavered: she wanted to write. Mom majored in journalism at university and worked for years at our metropolitan newspaper, The Indianapolis Star, as a writer, editor and columnist. Her work in the lifestyle department allowed her to meet and interview movie stars as they came through town for a show or event. I always enjoyed telling my friends, “My mom met the woman who plays Ethel on ‘I Love Lucy.'” Mom said Vivian Vance was gracious and charming—one of her favorite interviews. And one of the most challenging? Jack Palance.

But continuing to work full-time at the Star became a challenge when my brother was born. When I came along four years later, Mom adjusted her writing life to accommodate motherhood … to accommodate me.

She gave up her work at the Star to take that position at the county newspaper in order to be available to her children; she gave up being the journalist she wanted to be, in order to be the mom she wanted to be. She could have been interviewing movie stars. Instead, Mom stood all day on Mondays, scrambling to get the paper ready, making editorial decisions about which photo of the county fair queen should make the front page, trimming school lunch schedules with scissors and pasting down stories of council meetings and road construction. But because Mom didn’t drive downtown to Indianapolis—because she was willing to work hard at a less prestigious job that was flexible and kept her close by—she was there to cheer me on at softball games and track meets. She could see my plays and band concerts.

She was around for school award ceremonies where I received some minor recognition—nothing newsworthy that would draw a reporter, but Mom would come … as a mom.

And I didn’t appreciate her sacrifice one bit when I was young.

When I was little, I woke up early to watch morning kids’ shows, which would have been limited to Captain Kangaroo, Sesame Street, and a few cartoons. Mom says one morning I slipped into her bedroom in my jammies and asked, “Mommy, can you watch car-coons with me?”

Touched that I requested her presence, she dragged herself out of bed, pulled on a robe, shuffled into the living room, and eased herself onto the green vinyl chair as I snuggled down on her lap.

After a few minutes, I chirped, “That’s good, Mommy. You can go back to bed. The chair’s all warmed up now.”

For a lot of women, it takes becoming a mother to appreciate their mothers. It takes a humbling vinyl chair moment to realize everything our moms put up with.

For me, I think that the tension and pull between motherhood and writing has opened my eyes to my mom’s sacrifices. Mom sought to balance work and motherhood, respecting and honoring both.

Now I’m attempting the same thing.

I’ve grown to appreciate the challenges she faced to make her life work. Mom knows all about “imperfect conditions.” I think I finally feel the pang of those compromises she made, of her grief at the loss of a position that really fit who she was as a writer in order to choose a life that allowed her to be there.

For me.

And my writer-mom has celebrated the life I’ve chosen, as well; also the life of a writer-mom, seeking a both/and instead of an either/or life.

Thanks for modeling how to write in the midst of motherhood, Mom. Thanks for being there.

Thanks for supporting and celebrating my work while carrying on your own. And thanks for loving my biological babies … and appreciating my word-babies.

Happy (early) Mother’s Day!

Visit HighCallingBlogs today for an early Mother’s Day celebration, where you can read a collection of mom-themed vignettes and poems.

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One could live “fast” in the country, or “slow” in a city environment. It seems to be more a matter of individual and collective discipline and temperament than population density. Slowing down requires purposeful and difficult choices in our stewardship of time, and we must become less passive in this unspoken struggle between competing philosophies. The more we succeed at guarding ourselves from speed addiction, the louder the purveyors of faςade and tempo will shout for our attention: bigger signs, louder ads, flashier graphics, gaudier plastic and neon, Happier Meals. Where does it stop, and when?

Where does it stop, and when? The “purveyors of faςade and tempo” will never stop; all we can do is resist and let their words fall of deaf ears.How?Well, I think our only chance is to find our strength and satisfaction in something deeper and more profound than an ideal or philosophy—even the Slow Movement or ongoing simplicity trend—in order to resist those signs, ads, graphics, plastic, neon and “Happier Meals.”We have to listen to truth—God’s Truth—and believe it, cling to it, and return to it again and again as a countermeasure.To resist bulging schedules and a steady diet of bigger-better-faster, we need to eat the Bread of Life to be filled with what really matters.For me to resist the speed of the world, I need to return to the truth of Scripture again and again.For me to resist the voices telling me that who I am and what I have isn’t enough, I need to listen to the voice of the Savior again and again.In Him, I rest. In Him, I am satisfied.

This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.Listen to him! (Matthew 17:5)

Work Cited:

First, Fred. “Slow Living: It’s About Time.” Web log post. Fragments From Floyd. 8 June 2002. Web. 24 Jan. 2010. <http://www.fragmentsfromfloyd.com/fragments/2002/06/slow_living_its_about_time.html>.

“Slow Cat” photo © 2010 by Ann Kroeker.

Mega Memory Month January 2010 has returned!

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Mega Memory Month Returns January 2010!

As you wrap gifts and place them with anticipation under the tree, would you wrap up one more item?Because there’s a gift I’d like you to give yourself: the gift of memorizing something meaningful … something mega.When we commit something to memory—passages of Scripture, poetry, famous speeches, hymns—we give ourselves a gift … a gift that keeps on giving, because whatever we commit to memory is internalized and accessible to revisit, ponder and share.As someone who has placed her faith in Christ and turns to Scripture as her source of truth, I aim to make Scripture memory work a priority. I have enjoyed including poetry in my Mega Memory Month selections during previous MMM challenges, but this time my focus is exclusively Scripture.Will you join me in January?Memorizing something is a mega-powerful way to start out the new year.

1. Pray about your selection.
2. Type up and print out the passage you plan to memorize (consider using card stock for durability as you tote it around with you for a month).
3. Wrap it up and place it under the tree with your name on it.

On Christmas Day, when you open it, celebrate the joy of the Word made flesh by committing to take to heart His words of truth.

Selection from Ann's July 2009 MMM

Photo showing some of my well-used, crumpled July 2009 Mega Memory Month work.

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome. Recipes are enjoyed, but you can simply tell us your favorite post-flu nourishment. You could share with readers the comfort food you crave when you’ve been under-the-weather or out-and-out ill.In other words, the Food on Fridays parameters are not at all narrow. I think of it as a virtual pitch-in where everyone brings something to share; even if the content of one item is unrelated to the rest, we sample it all anyway and have a great time.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or the new smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I return when possible during the day and update this post by hand to include a list of the links provided via Mr. Linky. If I can’t get to the computer to do so, you may access them all by clicking on the Mister Linky logo.

Food on Fridays Participants

Food on Fridays with Ann

I’ve had the flu. At first, I didn’t want much to eat at all. Then I had a piece of toast. Then I wanted grapefruit. Then I wanted soup. Chicken noodle soup. So I made some when I was able to get out of bed.

Today I’ve been getting better, but still want something warm to eat. I decided some kind of potato soup or chowder would be the ticket.

So with no solid plan or recipe, I started pulling out stuff that sounded like it would taste good together. All I knew for sure was that potatoes would be involved.

I’m calling this:

Crazy-Flu-Lady Potato Soup

I peeled and cubed some potatoes, then decided to add some sweet potatoes, too, for extra flavor and color.

Tossed in a chicken bouillon cube.

Fried some bacon in a skillet. I took a photo, but it’s out of focus and bacon is really kind of gross to look at up close, so I leave that to your imagination.

Realized that some onion would probably be good, but I can’t eat very much onion or my stomach gets upset. So I minced a teeny, tiny bit of onion, fried it in the hot bacon grease, fished it out and tossed it into the soup pan.

When the potatoes were soft, I pulled some out and mashed them in another bowl with a potato masher gadget.

Then I put the mashed potatoes back in to thicken the soup. No need for cornstarch or flour to thicken when I do it this way.

Added some fat-free half-and-half I had in the fridge, randomly pouring some in until it looked good.

Tossed in some frozen corn I found in the freezer.

Added the crumbled bacon.

Salt. Pepper. More salt. More pepper.

That’ll do.

When I’ve been sick—especially if my throat has been sore—I crave warm soup. And I’ll get some idea to toss a bunch of stuff together without a real plan and eat two bowls of whatever comes out at the end of 20 minutes or so.

That’s what crazy-flu-lady is doing, now that she’s out of bed.

But this isn’t just crazy-flu food. You could easily serve this and a couple more soups along with some good bread and a salad for a dinner with friends.

Invite some people over for the evening, as I recommend over at NotSoFastBook.com, and enjoy some conversation along with your soup.

And maybe even some community.

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome. Recipes are enjoyed, but you can write about playing Candyland with your kids.In other words, the Food on Fridays parameters are not at all narrow. I think of it as a virtual pitch-in where everyone brings something to share; even if the content of one item is unrelated to the rest, we sample it all anyway and have a great time.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or the new smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I return when possible during the day and update this post by hand to include a list of the links provided via Mr. Linky. If I can’t get to the computer to do so, you may access them all by clicking on the Mister Linky logo.Food on Fridays Participants

Food on Fridays with AnnI’m pleased with my pizza photo.It can be found at this dough recipe link.

(a slightly smaller Food on Fridays button)

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At Make-Do Mondays we discuss how we’re simplifying, downsizing, repurposing, buying used, and using what we’ve got.It’s a carnival celebrating creative problem-solving, contentment, patience and ingenuity. To participate, share your own make-do solution in the comments or write up a Make-Do Mondays post at your blog, then return here to link via Mr. Linky. Enjoy others’ ideas by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking on people’s names.Here’s a mini-tutorial on Mr. Linky:

Click on the icon and a separate page will pop up. Type in your blog name and paste in the url of your new Make-Do Mondays post. Click enter and it should be live. If it doesn’t work, just include the link in the comments.

To visit people’s posts or check that yours worked, click on Mr. Linky and when the page comes up, click on a name. You should be taken right to the page provided.

Make-Do Mondays Participants

1. Leila at Like Mother, Like Daughter: Building the stash at the yard sale!2. Trish Southard3. Trish Southard

Make-Do Mondays with Ann

Make-Do Mondays completely slipped my mind on Labor Day. Please forgive my oversight and be sure to link up your posts today, Tuesday.

Tomorrow should bring delight to all mathematically minded people out there. It’s going to be September 9, 2009, also written as 9-09-09.

Interestingly, at 9:00 (EDT) I will be interviewed on a live television show.

So if you think of it, as you enjoy the satisfaction of seeing all those 9s lined up in a row, would you please pray for me at 9 on 9-9-09?

Thanks!

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(photo credit: stock.xchng)

I was interviewed by phone about Not So Fast on a station in Minneapolis, MN, for the “Live! with Jeff & Lee” show.(Wait, let’s pause for a second to count how many prepositional phrases I packed into that first sentence. What’s your count? I think it’s six if you count the one that squeezes in with the name of the show. And the sentence isn’t even that long. Okay, well, I’m leaving it that way. Moving on…)It’s hard to know what to cover during these interactions. The book tackles a wide range of topics, but we only have time to talk about a few things on the air.If you’re curious, you can listen to the MP3 archive HERE.

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Vote in the “Name That Boy” contest until 9:00 EDT Saturday a.m.!

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The person who suggested the name that gains the most votes will win a copy of the book.NOTE: If the name that wins the vote was suggested by more than one person, I’ll do another random drawing between the two or three (or more) who suggested it.Ready?Name that boy![polldaddy poll=1835741]

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(Photo credit goes to my mom, Lynn Hopper,who snapped a picture of this impressive hay-bale artnot far from where I grew up.)

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Shrunken budgets are prompting more homemade entertainment, home-cooked meals, and pioneer-type survival strategies for families – all changes that slow down the pace of family life and the recent emphasis on materialism.

Regardless of how the economy has affected your lifestyle, you may be making changes, simplifying and slowing down.If so, what are some changes you’ve made? Point us to some blog posts you may have written on this topic, or let us know in the comments.How slow have you been forced to go?And would you say you are discovering, like the Boston Globe story suggests, “unexpected benefits” in the midst of economic downturn?

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome. Recipes are enjoyed, but you can just share about your favorite VBS snack, describe hummus as if you’ve been assigned that as a sensory-focused creative writing prompt, or tell us a childhood dietary mishap (I, for example, ate too many Bugles one time, threw up, and never touched them again).In other words, the Food on Fridays parameters are not at all narrow. I think of it as a virtual pitch-in where everyone brings something to share; even if the content of one item is unrelated to the rest, we sample it all anyway and have a great time.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or the new smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.

Food on Fridays Participants

1. Cooking during Stolen Moments (Pork Fried Rice)
2. Halala Mama (Cheap Chicken Enchiladas)
3. My Practically Perfect Life (Handy Sandwich Pouch)
4. Stretch Mark Mama (Strawberry Rhubarb Pie)
5. Hoosier Homemade (Homemade Corn Dogs)
6. Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch… (Crockpot Lasagna)
7. Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker (French Toast Casserole)
8. Newlyweds! (Chocolate Zucchini Cake)
9. Cook with Sara (Frosty Coffee Pie)
10. Feels Like Home (Chicken Salad)
11. It’s Frugal Being Green (Food Matters: A Review)
12. Scraps and Snippets (First Harvest)

Food on Fridays with AnnWednesday night I made soup and wanted a muffin to go along with it. The kids suggested cornbread muffins, but I lost my favorite cornbread muffin recipe a few years ago and have never found one I like as much.An Internet search turned up a few promising options, and my Twitter friends made some suggestions for substitutions. I didn’t have sour cream, for example, and someone suggested plain yogurt, which I had just purchased. For buttermilk, someone suggested making sour milk with a bit of vinegar in regular milk.So I made three different recipes and sampled them all, like I did one time for two blueberry muffin recipes.Here are the three recipes hyperlinked to the original source:Featherlight Corn Muffins Sour Cream Cornbread MuffinsPerfectly Moist Corn MuffinsSour Cream Cornbread Muffins are the six on the left in this photo; Featherlight Corn Muffins are the six on the right.Below is the rack of Perfectly Moist Corn Muffins:Taste rankings:Sour Cream Cornbread Muffins: #1 choice of The Boy, our youngest. #3 choice for my eldest and myself.Featherlight Corn Muffins: #1 choice of my eldest and myself. #2 choice for The Boy.Perfectly Moist Corn Muffins: #2 choice of my eldest and myself. #3 choice for The Boy.The others liked them all and stated no preference.Although we enjoyed these batches and I did have a preference, none of them was outstanding. Now, keep in mind I was substituting from what the original recipe recommended, so that could be the problem.But I’m still looking for a very simple, fairly moist (not dry or crumbly) cornbread muffin.Do you know where I can find such a recipe?

More Friday Carnivals

Is Food on Fridays not fun enough for you?  Not in the mood for food? Check out these other great carnivals!

• Hooked on Houses hosts Hooked on Fridays
• Anne Glamore at My Tiny Kingdom is hosting Flashback Fridays
• The Inspired Room is hosting A Beautiful Life
• Amber at the run-a-muck is hosting Friday Funnies
• Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom
• The Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap
• 7 Quick Takes Friday, hosted by Conversion Diary 
• Aloha Friday, hosted by An Island Life
• Favorite Ingredients Friday, hosted by Overwhelmed With Joy
• Fifi’s Fashionable Friday, hosted by Fifi Flowers Design Decor
• Finding Freedom, hosted by Cents to Get Debt Free
• Finer Things Friday, hosted by The Finer Things in Life
• Four Foods On Friday, hosted by Fun, Crafts and Recipes
• Friday Felicities, hosted by beckyperry.us
• Friday Fill-Ins
• Friday Show and Tell, hosted by Canada Girl
• Photo Story Friday, hosted by What Works For Us
• Say It Forward Friday, hosted by 5 Minutes For Mom

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome. Just write about a great waiter who served you recently, snap some pictures at the farmer’s market, or describe the best cheese slicer you’ve ever owned.In other words, the Food on Fridays parameters are not at all narrow. I think of it as a virtual pitch-in where everyone brings something to share; even if the content of one item is unrelated to the rest, we sample it all anyway and have a great time.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or the new smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial(Mr. Linky is having technical difficulties. Please leave your link in the comments and I’ll update this post myself throughout the day):

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts. 

Food on Fridays Participants

1. Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker (Peach Cobbler in a Muffin)
2. Like Mother, Like Daughter (Who Wouldn’t Want Darling Corningware? A Giveaway)
3. Stretch Mark Mama (Chile Rellenos Burgers)
4. Glimpses of Sonshine (Creamy Pork Loin over Noodles)
5. Finding Joy in My Kitchen (Ranch Pretzels)
6. Inside the White Picket Fence (Wilted Lettuce)
7. Hoosier Homemade (Spaghetti Sauce & Cupcakes)
8. Beauty in the Mundane (Weddingness: Cream Cheese Mints)
9. Better Is Little (Basic Meatloaf Recipe)
10. It’s Frugal Being Green (Oven Barbequed Chicken)
11. Outward Expression (Simple Tomato Sauce)
12. My Practically Perfect Life (Whisking Again)
13. This Pilgrimage (Froggy Cupcakes)
14. Butter Yum (Stuffed Shells with 3 Cheeses)
15. Frugal Homekeeping (Artichoke & Almond Dip)
16. God’s Smallest Graces (Loaded Potato Salad)

Food on Fridays with AnnYesterday a friend needed me to watch her kids while she went to an appointment. When she returned, we sat for a while and caught up.I made tea.A lot has been going on in her life, so we sipped for a while.In fact, I made a second pot.(Don’t worry; I was in my safe caffeine-consumption range).Eventually, though, we realized that it was past lunch time. So I scrounged in my fridge to see what was on hand.I found homemade soup that started as chicken and rice soup, but I didn’ t have enough rice, so I snapped spaghetti noodles into bits and turned it into chicken-noodle soup … with rice. So it was kind of odd, but we heated it up and ate it anyway.Sandwiches with lunchmeat.I attempted to slice some cheese, but it had been previously frozen, and you know how block cheese kind of crumbles after it’s been frozen and thawed? Well, that’s what happened. No nice, smooth slices for us. I had to pile bits and shreds of cheese on top of her salami.Apple slices.Water with ice.It was a pretty humble offering.But I remembered what another friend of mine told me once. She said, “Hospitality isn’t the same as entertaining. I think of hospitality as sharing whatever I have, no matter how little it is.” She told me that while she was cutting up a tiny block of sample cheese from one of those gift packs you get at Christmas with the summer sausages and tiny mustards. She served me a small piece of pumpernickel bread, tiny slices of cheese, and tiny slices of summer sausage. It’s all she had, but she shared.I thought of that morsel of pumpernickel as I shared my odd soup and cheese crumbles with this friend.We shared stories. We shared life. We shared bits of cheese, tea, and some soup.It would be easy to feel a little embarrassed at my lunch offering.But in the end, I like to think we enjoyed hospitality at its richest.Because most importantly, in those hours around the table, we shared friendship.

More Friday Carnivals

Is Food on Fridays not fun enough for you?  Not in the mood for food? Check out these other great carnivals!

• Hooked on Houses hosts Hooked on Fridays
• Anne Glamore at My Tiny Kingdom is hosting Flashback Fridays
• The Inspired Room is hosting A Beautiful Life
• Amber at the run-a-muck is hosting Friday Funnies
• Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom
• The Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap
• 7 Quick Takes Friday, hosted by Conversion Diary
• Aloha Friday, hosted by An Island Life
• Favorite Ingredients Friday, hosted by Overwhelmed With Joy
• Fifi’s Fashionable Friday, hosted by Fifi Flowers Design Decor
• Finding Freedom, hosted by Cents to Get Debt Free
• Finer Things Friday, hosted by The Finer Things in Life
• Four Foods On Friday, hosted by Fun, Crafts and Recipes
• Friday Felicities, hosted by beckyperry.us
• Friday Fill-Ins
• Friday Show and Tell, hosted by Canada Girl
• Photo Story Friday, hosted by What Works For Us
• Say It Forward Friday, hosted by 5 Minutes For Mom

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The post Food on Fridays: Cheese, Tea and Soup appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome. Just write about a peanut allergy, snap a picture of your broken toaster, or describe your first attempt at once-a-month cooking.In other words, the Food on Fridays parameters are not at all narrow. I think of it as a virtual pitch-in where everyone brings something to share; even if the content of one item is unrelated to the rest, we sample it all anyway and have a great time.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or the new smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts. 

Food on Fridays Participants

1. Trish Southard (Hummus)
2. Cooking During Stolen Moments (Chicken Confit & Asparagus Pasta Rags)
3. Stretch Mark Mama (Spicy Grilled Chicken)
4. Glimpse of Sonshine (Romantic Meal & Recipes)
5. Hoosier Homemade (Chicken Phillies)
6. Newlyweds! (Zucchini Quesadillas)
7. It’s Frugal Being Green (Does Cooking at Home Actually Save You Money?)
8. Like Mother, Like Daughter (Food for Thought: Discipline)
9. The Finer Things (Baby Shower Menu)
10. 4 Boys, a Husband, and God (Chicken Lime Soup)
11. Lavender *Sparkles* (Homemade Taco Seasoning Mix)
12. My Practically Perfect Life (Homemade Sour Cream)
13. Gravity of Motion (Food Allergies)
14. Life Signatures (Ponzu Sauce)
15. It’s All About Love (The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever)

Food on Fridays with AnnFor Mother’s Day, the Belgian Wonder and I decided that turkey would be a relatively easy main course. So we pulled out of the freezer one of the birds we bought on sale after Thanksgiving and stuck it in the oven to cook while we were at church.Later that day, I boiled the carcass with some past-their-prime veggies and ended up with a pot of great stock. I pulled off the remaining bits of meat to use in soup. The past few days, we’ve been heating up turkey leftovers or using slices for sandwiches. I didn’t follow Trish’s 7-day Turkey Couture instructions precisely, but she certainly inspired variations on a theme.Thursday night we diced up what was left of the meat and made Turkey Tetrazzini (also tapping into the stock I made to use in place of broth). We gobbled it up so fast, I forgot to snap a photo.I posted the recipe back in December, but here it is again: 

This is the Turkey Tetrazzini recipe from Peg Bracken’s “I Hate to Cook” book.Now, don’t get scared off when you read this through. It may sound a little complicated, but after you make it once, you’ll see that it really isn’t (especially if you already know how to make white sauce). I do have a lot of pans to wash afterwards, but it’s worth it. We polished off a big casserole dish and started digging into the second.Turkey Tetrazzini1/2 lb spaghetti5 T butter(some of the butter is used to saute the mushrooms, and some is used to make the cream sauce; I substituted oil when making the cream sauce)2 C turkey or chicken broth2 T sherry1/2 C grated Parmesan1/4 lb fresh mushrooms(I always add lots more; and if you possibly can afford it, they’re really best fresh, not canned)1/3 C flour1 C light cream2 C diced turkeySalt & pepperSlice and saute mushrooms in 1 T butter till light brown.Cook spaghetti.Make cream sauce: 4 T butter (I used part olive and part canola oil replacing the butter entirely) mixed with 1/3 C flour. Stir or whisk that until it makes a smooth base (or roux). Heat on medium until it cooks a little, then add broth and stir constantly (I use a whisk) on medium (or medium-high) heat until is smooth and thickens. Add cream, salt & pepper, and sherry (you simply must add the sherry–it’s not much, but makes a huge difference in flavor). By the way, don’t boil the cream sauce after the cream is added. Just heat through.Divide sauce in half–in one half, put turkey meat. In the other, put the mushrooms and spaghetti.Put spaghetti-mushroom half in a greased casserole dish. Make a hole in it (easier said than done with sauce-coated, slithery spaghetti). Pour turkey half in the hole. Top with Parmesan.Bake uncovered 400 degrees for 20 minutes.Dish it up alongside a simple lettuce salad with vinaigrette and some french bread, you may not hate to cook anymore!(By the way, I always double this recipe.)

As you know, I’m committed to decluttering the house.Looks like I started with the freezer.

More Friday Carnivals

Is Food on Fridays not fun enough for you?  Not in the mood for food? Check out these other great carnivals!

• Hooked on Houses hosts Hooked on Fridays
• Anne Glamore at My Tiny Kingdom is hosting Flashback Fridays
• The Inspired Room is hosting A Beautiful Life
• Amber at the run-a-muck is hosting Friday Funnies
• Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom
• The Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap
• 7 Quick Takes Friday, hosted by Conversion Diary
• Aloha Friday, hosted by An Island Life
• Favorite Ingredients Friday, hosted by Overwhelmed With Joy
• Fifi’s Fashionable Friday, hosted by Fifi Flowers Design Decor
• Finding Freedom, hosted by Cents to Get Debt Free
• Finer Things Friday, hosted by The Finer Things in Life
• Four Foods On Friday, hosted by Fun, Crafts and Recipes
• Friday Felicities, hosted by beckyperry.us
• Friday Fill-Ins
• Friday Show and Tell, hosted by Canada Girl
• Photo Story Friday, hosted by What Works For Us
• Say It Forward Friday, hosted by 5 Minutes For Mom

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A few of my favorites authors are anything by Jane Austen, Ernest Hemingway, George McDonald, George Orwell, Emily Dickensen, GK Chesteron. My husband loves loves Dickens. And of course everything CS Lewis. Read the Space Trilogy, and my other favorite is The Great Divorce. What do others love?

Regardless of the format you use to read them (on a Kindle, online at Project Gutenberg or Christian Classics Ethereal Library, or simply an old, used, bound hardback copy), what are some much-loved or recently enjoyed titles?I’ll be unavailable Tuesday, so talk amongst yourselves in the comments, and I’ll pop on when I get a chance.Can’t wait to read what you love!

The post Favorite Old Books appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose (Acts 16:25-26).

When the jailer woke up, he just about killed himself because he saw the prison doors open and thought all had escaped. But Paul called out, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family (Acts 16:29-34, emphasis mine).

The sign seemed that it could be a strong response to a big question . . . a question as big as the jailer’s that night:”What must I do to be saved?”And I think it needs the specificity that Paul added:”Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved!”Believe!

The post What Must I Do? appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

Years ago a friend gave me this Mary Engelbreit card.

She remembered that I had cited in a discussion group the more poetic New American Standard translation of James 4:8, “Draw near to God,” in lieu of the New International Version’s “Come near to God.”

She found Mary’s artistic representation positively charming and knew I would, too.

Whichever version we reference and even in this Engelbreit depiction, the wonder is found in the promise:

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

May we always draw near to the Lord Himself and find hope and joy and life in Him.

Are the demands of motherhood keeping you from a rich relationship with God?

With ideas from mothers in all seasons of life, this book offers creative, practical, and enjoyable suggestions to help you discover how a passionate relationship with God is possible in the midst of motherhood.

“The Contemplative Mom gives busy, loving, kid-centered mothers permission to rest, like a tired child, in God’s strong arms. An important book.”

—Rachael and Larry Crabb, authors and speakers

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• How TV is (quite literally) Killing Us, from TVFreeLiving.com (their tagline: “Get Out and Live!”)
• More articles to scan from TVFreeLiving.com
• Center for Screen-Time Awareness has a fact page with links. I clicked to a few interesting pages.
• Benji.com talks about the Risks of TV
• A blogger writes 40 Positive Effects of a TV-Free Week
• Parent and Child Health site offers overview of television’s effects on children with recommendations
• [New] “Family Unfriendly,” by Megan Basham in WORLD Magazine, February 28, 2009. The intro says, “Sex-obsessed programming is part of effort to rebrand ABC Family Channel.”

Be sure to glance through the reader comments on my first TV-Free post. They included excellent glimpses into life with limited television, TV-free households, and those who enjoy it regularly. I appreciated all of the insight and stories.And just so you know, Sunday will be TV-free for me.

The post More on a TV-Free Lifestyle appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

[Deadline is past for entering the Scripture Stickies Giveaway!Winners will be announced Monday.]And there are gifts, too! You can enter to win one of three packs of Scripture Stickies memory tools by leaving your name and contact info in the comments of this post — you have until 5:00 p.m. EST Sunday to enter. At that time, I’ll draw three names from the comments. I’ll contact the winners right away or after the Superbowl and announce the winners on the blog Monday, as well.Scripture Stickies work like Post-It notes – just peel off the backing and stick the printed verses wherever you’ll see them often (for example, on the back of your child’s high chair, around your travel mug, or in the laundry room….sigh.). They’re a convenient way to get started with memory work. Visit their site to see the different themes and packets they’ve created. Take advantage of a special offer for my blog readers: Enter “MMM” as a coupon code, and you’ll receive 20% off your entire order!And Now…The ProjectsWithout further ado, let’s enjoy the final presentations of some of our Mega Memory Month participants.If you’re an official participant in January 2009’s Mega Memory Month, fill out your name and provide the url for your own MMM Celebration Day post in Mr. Linky. I’ll update when possible to put them right in the text of this post (Mr. Linky doesn’t do that automatically in WordPress, for which I am a tad resentful).

Official January 2009 MMM Participants Celebrations

1. Laura at Laura’s Imperfect Blog
2. Kathie at A Sparrow’s Home
3. shepherdsgrace at Beauty in the Mundane
4. Andrea at hopeannfaith 
5. The Butterfly Catcher at Butterflies of the Moment
6. Dea at For His Glory…By His Grace
7. Jennifer at PeaceLedge
8. Amy at Lavender *Sparkles*
9. Pauline at Him in the Everyday
10. Esther at Outward Expression
11. Erin at erinstraza
12. Ruth at Caribbean Wordkeeper

Here’s my offering:For Mega Memory Month, I attempted to finish John 14, which I started back in October, and dip into John 15. I also memorized a poem.First is a recitation of “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” by Robert Frost.I suggest you turn down the volume, as the combination of my loud voice and some wind noise at the beginning might surprise you or damage your equipment. It’s up to you. I just don’t want you to ruin your speakers on a poem. That would be embarrassing to explain to the Geek Squad:(Young man takes laptop and begins dismantling it after you explain that your speakers are toast.) “What blew out your speakers?” he asks. “Van Halen? AC/DC? Lynyrd Skynyrd?” “No,” you begin, “it was, uh, well, a mom-blogger reciting a pensive Robert Frost poem.”[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjbnPylE-YM]You know, you probably should just go ahead and tell them you were cranking up U2. Don’t tell them it was Frost.Anyway, I shall now commence to put you all at ease regarding your final presentations by typing out John 14 & the first few verses of John 15  (NIV) imperfectly, from memory (mistakes are crossed out and then corrected in orange).

John 14″Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will send  give you another Counselor to be with you forever–the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me.  Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father. My Father will love him, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.”I will not speak with you much longer. All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I leave with give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.You have heard me say, ‘I am going away and I will come am coming back again to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. I have told you this now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.”Come now; let us leave.”John 15I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off any branch that does not bears no fruit, while any every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will bear even more fruitful. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit on its own by itself; it must remain in the vine. So you must Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing.

Updated:Many thanks to all who participated in Mega Memory Month and the Celebration Day! Please stay tuned–in a few months MMM will return to give you another 30 or 31 days of memory accountability and inspiration.Meanwhile, if you want to take on another challenge, consider Tim Challies’ “Memorizing Scripture Together”, and ongoing memory commitment where you tackle long passages recommended by Tim; or, WalkSlowlyLiveWildly’s yearlong project of memorizing the entire book of James:  The James Challenge.

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This post, explaining step-by-step how to cook steel cut oats overnight by using a crock pot as a double-boiler (the “bain-marie” method, if you will), has far and away more hits that any other post in all my years of blogging. Its rise to helpful-fame started with some linky-love from a heavily trafficked blogger and has spread from there.

So while I never could have predicted it, I’ve kind of become the Steel Cut Oatmeal Girl.

Who knows? I might ride in a parade this summer wearing a sash and modest crown woven from the stalks of summer grains. I’m practicing the pageant wave, just in case. I live in the Midwest, where it’s actually possible to win the title of Steel Cut Oatmeal Princess…maybe even a Steel Cut Oatmeal Queen.

I feel it’s my duty as Steel Cut Oatmeal Girl to point you to additional steel cut oatmeal information that may add to your enjoyment and ease of preparation.

So while I continue to prepare mine exactly as I chronicled in the photos and text (served with brown sugar and blueberries), I’d like to provide you with options.

A wide range of creative toppings and add-ins are listed below.

I will say this, however (I also feel obligated to offer an editorial comment): I tried some of the other methods of preparation (except rice cooker—don’t own one) outlined below and found that the resulting consistency and taste of the steel cut oats was chewier and nuttier that that of the bain-marie method. Some people prefer their steel cut oats to be chewy and nutty. I like a creamier texture, but that’s just me. Experimentation is encouraged.

So, in the name of helpfulness, I give you highlights pulled directly from the comments at the original post.

I’m telling you, these people know their oats. I may have to concede any right to the Steel Cut Oatmeal crown to one of these good folks.

Enjoy!

       Cheryl

 I hope this adds many healthy variations to your breakfast repertoire. Be sure to visit the hub of all-things-helpful:  Works For Me Wednesday at Rocks In My Dryer.

The post Steel Cut Oats Bonus Track appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife…

Joseph, son of David.

The angel reminded Joseph that he was of the family of David. Royalty.

Joseph needed a reminder that royal blood flowed through his veins.

It’s as if the angel were saying, “Joseph, you are a child of the king.”

Joseph accepted the angel’s words to take Mary to be his wife and Jesus to be his son.

This man who was reminded of his own royal heritage never lived like royalty.

Yet, he accepted the role of father to the King of kings.

And thanks to Joseph’s faithfulness to obey when everything that was happening seemed impossible, we, too, can be reminded that by faith in the Son he adopted, we have become adopted, as well.

“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).

Where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ, the Son of God, enters in…and then we, like Joseph, become children of the King.

Joseph was reminded by an angel.

I was reminded by our pastor.

I’m not much of a messenger, but may I be so bold as to remind you — even if you feel no more royal than a carpenter — in and through Christ Jesus, whose royal blood, shed on the cross, covers those who receive Him, those who believe in His name…

You are a child of the King.

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• Quick-n-easy: The paper chain. You can quickly cut and staple one together with the kids’ help right this minute with whatever paper you have on hand.
• You can add Scripture to the chains like this site suggests.
• You can add Advent activity ideas to the chains (or to any other countdown concept you’ve created.)
• Pre-made countdown calendars filled with toys or chocolates. These may be on sale at this point.
• Teachingmom.com offers a clickable Advent calendar. Click on the day for readings and resources right at your fingertips. I haven’t gone through each day’s offerings, but the first ones I explored looked very helpful.
• Here is a very pretty, simple, homemade countdown concept that uses envelopes or matchboxes, Inside each of the 25 is an activity; one per day. She includes the ideas, some of which are warm-weather-oriented.
• For even more family activity ideas, here’s a list at We are THAT family.
• We created a countdown by setting up a nativity set with the stable on one end of a table and Mary and Joseph (without Jesus) on the other end. The kids set up a path of 25 small stones and take turns moving Mary and Joseph one stone per day, heading slowly toward Bethlehem. The wise men hang out on a set of shelves in another part of the room. The shepherds, sheep, cow and donkey can be moved within the scene wherever the children wish, but Mary and Joseph must only move to that day’s stone. On Christmas morning, Mary and Joseph arrive in the stable and Jesus appears in the manger, where the shepherds, animals and angels gather. The wise men and their camels show up later, on Epiphany, January 6. Here’s a snapshot of the humble scene (the tan fabric is covering a bowl turned upside-down to create a “hill” where the shepherds are abiding and keeping watch over their flock):

• My in-laws bought us a beautiful book of devotionals to use throughout Advent along with a recording of Handel’s Messiah. The entries are not geared for young kids, but can be creatively simplified. The photos and artwork are fabulous.
• Cookie Countdown: Bake your favorite sugar cookies and write numbers in icing, 1-to-25 (enough for each member of the family). Freeze. Pull out the appropriate cookie each day while preparing dinner and have one for dessert.
• This isn’t exactly a countdown, but for personal or family worship, you can use Phyllis Tickle’s Divine Hours, which simplifies the idea of fixed-hour prayer by providing prayers you can use morning, noon, evening and at bedtime throughout the Advent season (and beyond). Here’s a handy online version of the book’s text. (I think you’ll have to type in your time zone and then it’ll automatically bring up the prayer for that time of day. And, by the way, I can’t vouch for the rest of the site.)
• Taking the idea of having activities on each day of the countdown, here’s a way to zero in on one specific type: you could write a loving note (or kids could draw pictures) to send to someone different every day of the 25 (or remaining) days of the countdown. Ideas for letter recipients? Friends, family, soldiers, teachers, doctors, pastors, etc.
• An educational BBC “Bach” countdown calendar. Click, listen each day, and learn! It’s not always spiritual, but could be the perfect online Advent pitstop for the autodidact.
• Pretty pictures with a verse behind virtual doors, if you want something computer-generated and simple.
• Click on each day for creative recipes, crafts, activities, songs. Don’t try to do them all–just drop in to visit, and pick and choose what might work for your available time and family personality.

The Advent Wreath

• Ken Collins has a nice explanation about the Advent wreath and what the candles can represent.
• We like the Advent wreath concept, with light increasing week after week. It pulls us together to sit and talk about Jesus. Because I’m disorganized and inefficient, I invent readings every year. My justification for this lack of continuity is that I’m seeking to gear it to the kids’ ages and developmental stages, which change year after year; but I’ve really just failed to pull it all together in a notebook that I can conveniently reference. Here’s our wreath — I bought the base from Michael’s eight or so years ago and decorated it with whatever stuff they had on sale at that moment. The white candle was the “unity” candle at our wedding, now serving as the yearly “Christ candle.”

Jesse TreeI like the idea of looking back to what the prophets wrote that Jesus fulfilled. The Jesse Tree is a way to add symbols throughout Advent that help families see how it all fits together.

• Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer has a simple description of the Jesse Tree.
• Another more in-depth explanation.
• You and/or your kids can make the symbols, or print them off in color here.
• The Ragamuffin Diva is making her own Catholic-inspired, very artistic, collage-ish symbols and posting photos. Here are two random examples from her growing collection:  The Fall, and The Flood.
• This Catholic resource explains the symbols simply.
• More printable symbols in pdf format.
• More ideas for making your own, many of them more 3-D.

Other Collections

• Lent & Beyond: An Anglican Prayer Blog has collected links — so many that I haven’t yet previewed them all, but I see some overlap with links that I’ve landed on.
• Ten O’Clock Scholar’s Carnival of Anglican Advent Traditions

Miscellaneous Fun:

• Rachel Anne’s annual Cookie Decorating Party

I prefer to minimize the commercialism and add some Christ-centered symbolism and content (as well as some fun!) to our celebration. And these are some suggestions toward a more meaningful Advent.What Advent or Christmas traditions do you enjoy?

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