Oklahoma, When the Wind Comes Right Behind the Rain

by Milehimama on May 21, 2013

The stories coming out of Oklahoma are heart breaking.

I send Mr. X off to school every day, and I can’t even imaging him not coming home and finding the school wiped from the foundation. I went to elementary school in Oklahoma. I was a third grade student there once upon a time. I still have family in the area, in New Castle and Mustang and around Oklahoma City. I learned to sing “Oklahoma” before I learned the National Anthem.

Oklahoma needs our prayers and they need our help.

If you want to help, consider donating You can also donate to the Red Cross, but be aware that those donations go into the general relief fund and you can’t earmark them.

To help Oklahoma specifically:

Text FOOD to 32333 to donate $10 to the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma

Donate to the United Way of Oklahoma disaster relief fund serving those affected by the tornadoes.

Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief is also collecting donations, which will go for tree removal services, meals, and laundry services for victims.

If you are near the disaster area, here are some places to look for help:

Some of you may know that I founded Houston Bloggers group and the #TXBloggers group, to help bring together bloggers in the Lone Star State. #TXBloggers chats every Thursday night and we’ve become friends.

Texas Bloggers are joining together to share how to help Oklahoma, and here’s a roundup of all the TXBloggers who are participating.

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Happy Mother’s Day 2013

by Milehimama on May 10, 2013

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Bringing Hope to the Table- Let Them Eat Cake!

by Milehimama on May 8, 2013

What’s for dinner? Here at Milehimama we talk often about meal planning, making grocery lists, and how to save money at the store. What do these posts have in common, and how do they help you? You know where your next meal is coming from.

A lot of people don’t. They have “food insecurity”, where families aren’t sure if they’ll have enough food to last the week. For up to 1 in 6 Americans, the question isn’t “what’s for dinner” but rather, “Will there be dinner?”

Many years ago when we were first married, this was our family. My husband got a second job at local pizza restaurant to help make ends meet, and many, many nights our dinner was whatever pizzas were leftover from the buffet or, if we were lucky, the cooks would mess up an order and he’d get to bring it home. We didn’t have a houseful of kids yet, but we still struggled to feed the two of us.

For many families, things can get especially bad in the summer time. Kids who receive free lunches and breakfasts at school often have to skip meals during the summertime when school is out.

Kroger wants to change that. Kroger stores have partnered with local food banks to help meet the growing demand. ”Bringing Hope to the Table” is rolling out nationwide in May. You can help! In Kroger stores, look for specially marked tags on products. A portion of your purchase of special items will go directly to the food bank.

Kroger also hosted an Ace of Cakes contest, and the winner had $1000 donated in their name to the Houston Food Bank. I was chosen to compete this year!

I founded HoustonBloggers two years ago. All bloggers are welcome and we meet once per month to eat, network, and learn about blogging. Blog Elevated Conference is a natural progression from local, monthly meetings to helping bloggers all over the country create businesses from their blogs. I was there representing both!

They give you a FULLY NAKED cake to start with. You guys have seen my cakes, this was definitely a challenge!

This year’s theme was “Live, Laugh, Love”. I made a summer themed cake to help bring awareness to the increased demand when school cafterias close for the season.

I think it came out great! And you should have seen how happy the kids were when I brought this home. We are a dye-free family so they never get rainbow striped candy and blue stars.

Remember, buy specially marked items between NOW and MAY 14, 2013 and a percentage will be donated to the local food bank. Houston Krogers are working with the Houston Food Bank. If you want to do more, there are other ways you and your kids can get involved to help feed hungry families.

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You CAN Homeschool!

by Milehimama on May 1, 2013

UPDATE – you can see our school on Channel 11 here, and learn about where I work and what my company is doing here!

I’m on KHOU Channel 11 today talking about homeschooling.

I want to encourage parents that YES! You can homeschool!

Most parents already do a form of homeschooling, that is they are taking direct responsibility for a portion of their kid’s education. Parents answer questions, take kids to museums, and check out library books all the time.

It’s just when faced with doing it all that we start to second guess ourselves. How do we know what to teach and when to teach it? How can I possibly teach long division and how to write an essay and oh my goodness, do we need a foreign language TOO?

Honestly, that’s why we homeschool, so we can choose what to teach and when to teach it and who to teach it to and how to go about it.

Be not afraid. You can do it. Honestly, any reasonably literate adult can teach a child to read and write. Homeschooling is becoming more and more popular, and there are limitless resources both on the web and in real life. Co-ops, support groups, email loops, newsletters, websites and more are all readily available to homeschoolers of all types. Homeschool lesson planning doesn’t have to be complicated.

Oh, yeah, there are as many types of homeschoolers as there are homeschooled kids! Homeschooling does not have to look like “school at home” (although it can). You don’t have to order a full set of curriculum from a homeschool supplier (although many do.) You can homeschool for free, yes, completely for free or you can supplement your children’s education with lavish supplies, books, and classes.

Your homeschool will change. You will grow as a parent and as a teacher, and today is not forever. It will get easier and then become habit and then suddenly you won’t be able to remember doing things any other way. And meanwhile, your kids will grow with you.

What I love the most about homeschooling is that I have a front row seat on my children’s journey of discovery. Also, I can choose what they learn even if it’s not popular to teach any more, such as deciding to teach cursive handwriting. This year we decided to study Homer’s The Odyssey, using The Children’s Homer: The Adventures of Odysseus and The Tale of Troy. I can choose to include the 5th grader along with the middle schoolers in the reading. I get to pick the history texts and don’t have to worry about controversial TEA committees. I can decide to read the Daily Mass Readings (we’re Catholic ’round these parts) and I can choose to ignore Dr. Seuss’s birthday if I want to.

You can check out all of my articles on School and Education – not just homeschooling but issues facing all parents as they decide how best to make sure their children receive the best education they can. Also helpful homeschool tips such as How to Clean a Whiteboard (when you left the marker on for months.)

What questions about homeschooling do you have?

Blog with integrity- the Amazon link above is an affiliate link, which means if you click it and make a purchase you are directly enabling our book habit around here!

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8 Reasons Fast Food Advertising to Kids Should Be Allowed

by Milehimama on April 29, 2013

Should there be a ban on advertising fast food to kids? My answer may surprise you.

Absolutely not. There should not be a ban, and here are 8 reasons why:

1) We have a free market economy, and soda and fries are not restricted or illegal items.

In fact, you can buy them with taxpayer funded money (SNAP) as long as you get it at the grocery store and not at a restaurant. Should we expand government to police where we eat our fries, or should we limit government and allow people to make their own choices?

2) It’s not the same as a ban on advertising tobacco to children.

I’ve seen this argument in a few places, “We don’t advertise cigarettes to kids, we shouldn’t advertise fast food to kids.” This is a false argument. It’s illegal for children to have or use tobacco. Not so with chicken nuggets, fries, or Hi-C fruit punch. The ban on tobacco advertising covers all tobacco products.

A ban on fast food advertising to children only affects “fast food restaurants”, not other restaurants, food carts, or grocery stores. It’s not fair to say that McDonald’s can’t advertise Coke to kids, but Walmart can. Burger King won’t be able to offer kid meals, but Chili’s would. How does that help?

3) Parents must take responsibility and have the right to choose what their children eat.

The children are not driving themselves through the drive thru, and the children aren’t forking over cash for it. We might disagree with other parent’s choices, just as they might disagree with our choice to not vaccinate. Fundamentally, though, parental rights are sovereign and parents have the basic right to choose what to feed their children. Just as parents have the right to feed their kids raw milk, others have the right to buy their children a Happy Meal.

4) It’s discriminatory.

We would see a place where Walmart can market soda and frozen nuggets to children, while the McDonald’s inside that same Walmart could not. If fast food restaurants can’t advertise to children, would this mean sit down restaurants would not be able to offer a “kid’s menu”? We would add new regulations (What is “fast food”? What counts as advertising to children, exactly? What new governmental agency will be in charge of enforcing compliance?) without effecting real results. Why would we not see any results?

5) The effort is misplaced.

The fact is, most of the unhealthy foods a child consumes comes from the grocery store- especially in the most vulnerable populations, those on SNAP (food stamps). If the goal is to really change the way children eat every day, and make a long term lasting impact, then we should be spending our time and effort to clean up the cereal, processed food, and “kid friendly” food aisles at the store. High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) for example, is in a ton of foods (not just pop!) Transfats still abound. Soy fillers, genetically modified organisms (GMO), MSG, and artificial dyes fill the aisles of “kid food”- chicken nuggets, soups, “fruit” snacks,

6) It’s subject to fads.

For a long time, butter was shamed as “unhealthy” while margarine and butter substitutes were pushed as heart-healthy alternatives. We now know that the transfats in margarine are some of the worst things you can eat. Every day, government revises previous thoughts, pulls medicines off the market that it initially approved, or considers regulatory change. It’s not the government’s place to vilify foods. What if they decide that bacon is bad for you? Or that genetically modified salmon is good for you? (Oh, wait.)

7) Not All Fast Food is Created Equal

A hamburger Happy Meal served with milk and apple slices in not necessarily a bad choice. For example, there aren’t any food dyes or artificial sweeteners in such a meal, even if some portions of the meal are highly processed. The patty is likely all beef, not filled with GMO soy filler. It’s certainly better than many school lunches and school breakfasts.

8) Play Areas in Restaurants Serve an Important Purpose

An issue I have not seen addressed is how McDonald’s attracts families to their restaurants with their PlayPlaces. In many communities, this is the only safe place for children to run and play. In some climates, PlayPlaces might be the only place kids can play in extreme weather. Whether you like it or not, McDonald’s has filled a void in the community when public parks may no longer be safe for families and inclement weather stirs up cabin fever. A ban on advertising to children which included PlayPlaces would be detrimental to communities.

What do you think? Do you think I have a point or am I totally off base?

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The Cobblers Children Have No Shoes…

by Milehimama on April 21, 2013

And my blog readers have no posts to read!

Things have been a little sparse on the blog here lately. That’s because I’ve been working on a blogger conference!

We’re bringing a hands on conference for intermediate level bloggers to learn how to turn their blogs into a real, thriving business.

I’m doing all kinds of bloggery stuff all over the web. I run HoustonBloggers and the weekly twitter chat #TXBloggers. I own an SEO company helping small business with on-page SEO and teach basic SEO to bloggers. I’m online working all the time!

But meanwhile, my own blog has been neglected. Ironic.

I’m getting back into the swing of things. Let me know if there’s something you’d like me to write about soon, I’m drafting posts as we speak!

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The Mission of Mothers

by Milehimama on April 3, 2013

Pope Francis’ General Audience on Wednesday April 3, was about women and particularly, mothers.

Mothers! Your mission is ”to give witness to their children and grandchildren that Christ is Risen!”

First, we note that the first witnesses to this event were the women. At dawn, they go to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus, and find the first sign: the empty tomb (Mk 16:1). This is followed by an encounter with a Messenger of God who proclaims: Jesus of Nazareth, the Crucified One, he is not here, he is risen (cf. vv. 5-6).

The women are driven by love and know how to accept this proclamation with faith: they believe, and immediately transmit it, they do not keep it for themselves. They cannot contain the joy of knowing that Jesus is alive, the hope that fills their heart. This should also be the same in our lives. Let us feel the joy of being Christian!

We believe in the Risen One who has conquered evil and death! Let us also have the courage to “go out” to bring this joy and light to all the places of our lives! The Resurrection of Christ is our greatest certainty, it is our most precious treasure! How can we not share this treasure, this beautiful certainty with others! It’s not just for us it’s to be transmitted, shared with others this is our testimony!

Another element. In the professions of faith of the New Testament, only men are remembered as witnesses of the Resurrection, the Apostles, but not the women. This is because, according to the Jewish Law of the time, women and children were not considered reliable, credible witnesses.

In the Gospels, however, women have a primary, fundamental role. Here we can see an argument in favor of the historicity of the Resurrection: if it were a invented, in the context of that time it would not have been linked to the testimony of women. Instead, the evangelists simply narrate what happened: the women were the first witnesses.

This tells us that God does not choose according to human criteria: the first witnesses of the birth of Jesus are the shepherds, simple and humble people, the first witnesses of the Resurrection are women.

This is beautiful, and this is the mission of women, of mothers and women, to give witness to their children and grandchildren that Christ is Risen!

Mothers go forward with this witness! What matters to God is our heart, if we are open to Him, if we are like trusting children. But this also leads us to reflect on how in the Church and in the journey of faith, women have had and still have a special role in opening doors to the Lord, in following him and communicating his face, because the eyes of faith always need the simple and profound look of love.

The Apostles and disciples find it harder to believe in the Risen Christ, not the women however! Peter runs to the tomb, but stops before the empty tomb; Thomas has to touch the wounds of the body of Jesus with his hands. In our journey of faith it is important to know and feel that God loves us, do not be afraid to love: faith is professed with the mouth and heart, with the word and love.

Moms, be encouraged. We are chosen by Christ to be the very first person to tell our children the Good News. We have a special mission from God himself and He gives us all graces to fulfill our vocations.

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Perfect Hard Cooked Eggs (in a slow cooker!)

by Milehimama on March 26, 2013

We make lots of hard boiled eggs at Easter time- dozens and dozens.

I hate boiling eggs on the stove, because when the water starts moving so do the eggs and CRACK! We lose a lot of potential Easter eggs this way.

No more! I’ve found the secret to crack free, perfectly done hard cooked eggs.

Use the crockpot! Put the eggs in your slow cooker and cover with about an inch of water.

Set it on HIGH for 2 hours, and you will have yellow yolks and solid whites that aren’t rubbery. (Note: my slowcooker cooks perfect eggs with 2 hours on HIGH, but please test your own equipment. The first time you make these, remove one egg at the 2 hour mark, run under cool water, and make sure it is hard cooked; adjust time if needed. Sometimes these appliances can vary a bit.)

Even better, you can easily fit an 18 pack in the larger slow cooker.
Just look at those yolks!

Eggs perfect for dyeing! Check out my post on easy way to peel hardboiled eggs for easy meal prep the day after Easter!

Do you have any Easter egg tips? Share them!

Linking up:

Works for Me Wednesday, Our Simple Farm, Gluten Free Wednesdays, The Mommy Club, Watcha Cookin Wednesday

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Colcannon – St Patricks Day Meals for an Irish Menu

by Milehimama on March 14, 2013

Colcannon is an Irish staple. It’s basically potatoes and cabbage (or kale), cooked together with cream and butter.

It’s often served with ham or bacon, but here’s an easy one pot dinner I came up that’s hearty enough for a main dish and perfect for an Irish menu or St. Patrick’s Day meal.

Colcannon

2 lbs. potatoes, cut into pieces

1 lb. ground beef

1/2 onion, diced

1 lb. chopped cabbage or kale (about half a small head)

1 clove garlic, finely minced or garlic powder

3 Tbs. butter

1 c. cream, half and half, or whole milk

Salt and pepper

Scrub potatoes, cut up, and toss in a pot of water. Boil potatoes in salted water until tender (as for mashed potatoes), drain in a colander. While the potatoes are boiling, chop your onion and your cabbage.

In the same pot, add butter and onions, cook on medium high until translucent. Add ground beef and cook until brown. Add cabbage or kale, generous sprinkle of salt, and garlic.

Cook and stir until greens are bright and crisp tender. Reduce heat and dump potatoes on top. Add milk and mash with masher or back of wooden spoon. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serves 5-6

The ingredients are very inexpensive. I used organic ground beef, organic potatoes, hormone free milk and butter- and it still came out to about $1.50 a serving! (Tip: I buy the organic beef at Costco, and the organic potatoes at Trader Joe’s- those are best buys at those stores!)

Alternately, you can just make up some mashed potatoes and serve the cabbage/beef mixture over a scoop of potatoes.

I leave the peels on my potatoes, since I buy organic and I like the texture they give the final dish.

Yum!

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Birthday Girl

by Milehimama on March 9, 2013

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Clean your house in 20 minutes

by Milehimama on February 27, 2013

I came across an old CNN article: Clean your house in under 20 minutes.

After I picked myself up off the ground from laughing so hard, I realized that CNN is an amateur. I looked over their plan and I can do it in much less than 20 minutes.

No, I didn’t use arson or pray for a tornado.

Instead, I simply followed the article’s advice!

For example:

Family room, living room, foyer, 6 minutes daily
Start with the sofa — as long as it’s in disarray, your living room will never look tidy. Once you’ve fluffed the pillows and folded the throws, you’re halfway home. If you pop in a CD while you dust, you should be able cover the whole room by the end of the third track.

• Pick up crumbs and dust bunnies with a handheld vacuum (one minute).
• Fluff the cushions and fold throws after use (two minutes).
• Wipe tabletops and spot-clean cabinets when you see fingerprints (one minute).
• Straighten coffee-table books and magazines, throw out newspapers, put away CDs and videos (two minutes.)

My streamlined version:

I don’t have a handheld vacuum, so that part was easy. (0 minutes)

I skipped the throw pillow part. I don’t have any throw pillows. I gave them up the 1,000th time a small child stomped on them as they slid to the floor. (0 minutes)

Fold throws after use? Around here we don’t bother with that. The throws go straight to laundry after being used as a giant napkin for early morning kid crud – milk moustache removing, nose wiping, diaper changing pad. If the throw manages to survive meal time unscathed, it is used as a fort – again, no folding necessary. Efficiency is the name of the game! (0 minutes)

The wiping of the fingerprints was the easiest. I didn’t see any, possibly because they were camouflaged by my clever decorating scheme of Thrift Store/Fisher Price. Legos make a great disguise for peanut butter smears on the floor, plus it works as a security system since anyone stepping on them is instantly disabled. An all natural solution! I tossed the two year old a baby wipe and made her clean the coffee table. (5 seconds)

The newspaper was already thrown away, since the toddler got ahold of it during snack time and pretty much ruined it for everyone else. There were no CD’s to put away, since there is never a moment’s peace and quiet to listen to them. So, to be fair, I did start out ahead of the game. (0 minutes)

Vacuum? Nah, I’ll just gather up the area rug, toss it outside while simultaneously slamming the door to avoid the dust cloud. (0 minutes again! I clean like a BOSS!)

Total time for living room? Under a minute. That means I have time to yell at the kids to clean the kitchen (30 seconds) plus (30 more seconds when they don’t listen the first time.)

I think I’ll tape Swiffer pads to the preschooler’s feet and tell her we’re going skating. It’s important for children to help around the house.

And now you know why I only take pictures of our living room when we’re cleaning for company to come over and why I panic clean!

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Eating Down the Freezer {Menu Plan Monday}

by Milehimama on February 25, 2013

It’s been a while since I wrote up a weekly meal plan and my wallet is feeling it.

Yesterday I took a freezer inventory:

Yes, I have 34 lbs. of organic ground beef in my freezer. Also a turkey, and a lot of pork, and four gallon bags of cooked black beans!

I try to keep a very deep pantry, but it’s gotten crazy and disorganized lately.

Time to clean it out for Spring Cleaning!

Here’s my plan to eat down the freezer (and pantry):

Monday: Dijon Maple pork loin (crockpot), wild rice pilaf, kale salad (a kit I got from Costco)

Tuesday: enchiladas (using ground beef instead of lentils)

Wednesday: chicken farfalle pasta salad (with the pretty bow tie pasta I took out of the package to display attractively in glass jars that is now taking up way too much room in the back of the pantry.)

Thursday: Pork fried rice (using leftover pork tenderloin from Monday)

Friday: black bean soup with indian fry bread. Or maybe just tortillas. We’ll see.

Saturday: Asian sliders (but with ground beef instead of pork), sesame green beans

Sunday: Roasted chickens with potatoes and carrots, vegetable mix

Linking up!

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Dinner and Wine for $20 – FREE!

by Milehimama on February 13, 2013

FREE EBOOK!
Dinner and Wine for $20 or Less

My friends Erin Chase, the $5 Dinner Mom, and Amy Gross, VineSleuth, have written an ebook together and they are giving it away free today!

In the book you’ll find 19 dinners for four under $5 plus great wines to pair them with. I’m a terrible Catholic- I know nothing about wine and this looks like a handy guide to help people find great wines to go with dinner (and for company coming over too!)

And did I mention- FREE?

My friend is a wine expert and she wrote an ebook- and is giving it away FREE TODAY! Go download!

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Left Bereft

by Milehimama on February 11, 2013

As you may have gathered reading here and on the Faith tab, we are a Catholic family.

It was quite shocking to wake up this morning to news the Pope had resigned! This just… doesn’t happen! It hasn’t happened since before the printing press was invented!

So what happens next?

Popes are elected for life, but they can quit. When the office of Pope is left vacant, the cardinals will convene to choose a new one (just as they did when Pope John Paul II died). They do this by ballot. It will probably take about a month, so we should have a new Pontiff by the end of March (this is my personal guess.)

While Popes are elected for life, generally the Papal Conclave (when the College of Cardinals all meet to elect a new one) choose a man known for his holiness and wisdom- generally an older bishop. Pope John Paul II held the office for 27 years, from 1978-2005 which is unusually long. The shortest tenure was Pope Urban VII who was Pope for less than two weeks in 1590.

How do we get a new Pope?

Basically, they lock all of the cardinals in the Sistine Chapel and don’t let them out until a Pope is elected. They get bread and water and not much else!

Why Did Benedict XVI Leave Now?

Lent begins with Ash Wednesday in just a few days- Feb. 13. Lent is the 40 days before Easter, traditionally a time of prayer and fasting in the Church. Easter is our biggest liturgical Holy Day.

It’s shocking that he would leave during Lent, but then again the Easter Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday) are the most physically grueling time for our priests and bishops, so I can understand why he would resign now in order to allow his successor to elected before Easter.

It takes a loving and humble man to admit he can’t do the job as well as someone could, and to step aside entirely in order to let someone healthier take on the task. The Holy Father has realized he can’t guide the modern Church well with his frail health and is willing to give up everything for the sake of the Church’s well being.

Pope Benedict XVI was the 266th Pope, you can read the line of Popes here, starting with St. Peter.

I know the news cycle is going to go wild with all of this. If you would like to ask a question about the whole Pope business of a friendly Catholic, I encourage you to ask in the comments. {Please be respectful, but you guys never disappoint me on that. I have classy readers!}

Catholics, what are your thoughts?

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Oklahoma, When the Wind Comes Right Behind the Rain

Happy Mother’s Day 2013

Bringing Hope to the Table- Let Them Eat Cake!

You CAN Homeschool!

What questions about homeschooling do you have?

8 Reasons Fast Food Advertising to Kids Should Be Allowed

1) We have a free market economy, and soda and fries are not restricted or illegal items.

2) It’s not the same as a ban on advertising tobacco to children.

3) Parents must take responsibility and have the right to choose what their children eat.

4) It’s discriminatory.

5) The effort is misplaced.

6) It’s subject to fads.

7) Not All Fast Food is Created Equal

8) Play Areas in Restaurants Serve an Important Purpose

The Cobblers Children Have No Shoes…

The Mission of Mothers

Perfect Hard Cooked Eggs (in a slow cooker!)

Colcannon – St Patricks Day Meals for an Irish Menu

Colcannon

Birthday Girl

Clean your house in 20 minutes

Eating Down the Freezer {Menu Plan Monday}

Dinner and Wine for $20 – FREE!

Left Bereft

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