If you had a million dollars to give away, who would you give it to?
My mom.
She deserves it!!
I always have this dream. That if I win the lottery, what would I do.
First, I would buy my mom’s house; she could live there forever. I’d pay off debt. I would buy her a car just like mine. I would pay for all remodeling she wants to do to the house. And I would set aside money for her to get allowance for the rest of her life. She deserves this and more. So much more. ❤️
But also most importantly, my husband could choose to work or not. His choice. I know he has many dreams and ideas that he cannot do because he provides for the family. And he would invest some of it; into various things. He would want the money to continue to earn.
Next, I would pay of our debts. And also add square footage to our house and shop. We would still do the work ourselves. Just because we would be made out of money doesn’t mean we would be wasteful.
I might splurge and get myself one of those awesome craft stations….I’ve always eyeballed one.
🤤
But maybe the husband could build one for cheaper….
But other than that I don’t really have anything that screams out to me like I need.
But I would want to keep living the same. No one would know that we won the lottery. I would want to still be me. And our kids would still grow up the same.
I know. I’m pretty boring when it comes to what you want when you win.
But for me, if my husband is happy, I’m good. If my mom has no more worries I’m good. And if my family can live comfortably, I’m good.
All of our holidays have something in common. Can you guess it?!
#1
New Year’s Day:
Growing up we would stay up until midnight the. Rush outside with our pots and pans, clanging them! Celebrating the new year.
However now, I can’t seem to stay up that late. Especially my kiddos. Maybe when they get older we will have a late night game night. Or watch a traditional movie. But for right now, I sleep early. Haha 😂
Valentine’s Day:
Before marriage I would buy my mom and siblings flowers. Every year. Even my brothers. Also make my extended family valentines.
Now that I’m married and I live so far away, I prepare my husband’s favorite food. Chicken Parmesan, rolls, salad, and then a wonderfully delicious chocolate lava cake. But I also try to send valentines to my family. My daughter loves to help with those.
Easter:
(If a child is reading this, you may want them to skip this passage. Due to childhood believing.)
Younger years: I believed in the Easter bunny for a long time. I don’t know if I believed there was one or if I liked the fantasy of it all. But church was always first, then a huge egg hunt!
Now as a mama, I try to dye the eggs the Saturday before. Those ones are only for food purposes. Since where we live we have wild animals I don’t want to miss an egg and have a bear or snake visit us. We use plastic eggs outside. We go to church then come home to an egg hunt. That’s the same. The only difference is if snow is still on the ground by Easter; then obviously we have an indoor Easter. But the Easter feasts are the main purpose! I try to replicate my childhood meals to my grownup years.
Birthdays:
We don’t just celebrate our own birthdays. We also celebrate my siblings and mom’s birthdays. So most of the year is filled with cake. January, March, May, June, July, August, October, November, December. Lots of cake!!
Fourth of July:
Childhood years were pretty consistent. City parade. Delicious foods for lunch, which the leftovers would also be dinner. Fireworks in the park; until they were illegal. Staying up and having lots of family fun!
Now as a mama, parade in a city park. It is a huge parade that lasts almost 1hr. Or more. Go home and eat delicious bbq ribs that the husband makes!! I can’t eat ribs anywhere else. My mom can attest to the deliciousness of them. Hanging at the house for most of the afternoon. Then heading back to the park for an 1hr firework show. We also set off fireworks on our property the night before.
October 31st:
My childhood was for the most part church functions. Every church I went to would have a event on October 31st but it was never scary or disturbing. If church is part of your life, I think it’s best to have your kids participate in church activities on October 31st. Because once your kiddos grow up they tend to go trick or treating with friends. And I personally think it help me discern what was not okay. But anyways back to childhood memories. As a family we would all dress up and have a fun evening eating candy.
Grown up now…I still like church functions. Ours is called the harvest festival. I do the face painting. My kiddos go off with their dad and get candy. No fish! But it’s always lots of fun. We only do that; we don’t go additional trick or treating. We just have lots of wonderful family time.
Thanksgiving:
My childhood years we always had delicious foods. My mom was amazing at having a spread of cheeses and fruit before the dinner meal. All is kids would be playing or watching a movie while my mom and older sisters slaved away. But the meats and gravy. And mashed potatoes. Stuffing….my mouth is drooling 🤤
But now as the mama I too keep up the tradition and I cook all the foods. Everything is from scratch. Minus the pumpkin pies. I don’t make them from pumpkins…haha 😂 But I try and have everything timed to be done at the same time. I make enough food for maybe 15 people and it’s just us four. We eat thanksgiving foods for several weeks after thanksgiving.
Christmas:
(If a child is reading this, you may want them to skip this passage. Due to childhood believing.)
Childhood memories. I also believed in Santa for a long time. I think I was 12 or so when I finally decided that I was old enough to stop believing. But I wanted to keep the gifts magical. Also helped when my nephews were born. But we would wake up and open gifts. We wouldn’t rush through them. We would each take turns and watch as each other got their gifts. We would devour candy all throughout the morning into lunchtime. And we would wait for the delicious dinner that was being prepared. Slowly dinner was changed to delicious Chinese food in downtown. Less dishes.
Now as the mama I love to watch my kiddos open their presents. I like getting presents from people but I love giving presents more. The sparkle in my daughter’s eye as she sees all the gifts from Santa makes me so happy. I want that imagination to keep stirring. We don’t eat lots of candy. My daughter turns crazy with any amount of sugar. But I do devour a bag of Hershey kisses all by myself. I eat about 7 to a mouthful. 😊 Then we eat a small lunch. Then dinner. I have kept the tradition of Chinese food alive. But I make it all from scratch. Christmas dinner is the hardest for me. My husband knows to leave me alone while making the meal. I run around like a chicken with no head. But it is always delicious.
Well there you go. Can you guess what is the common ground? Food! Delicious food! Probably why I can’t seem to lose weight. I’m always eating food through the year.
Well I hope this answers the prompt. Have a delicious Wednesday. We are getting firewood again. It’s going to be another long tough day.
This is a great question. And my answer is actually quite funny.
Turns out my first name was just because my mom loved the name. All my other siblings were given family names. But I was named my name because of pure love. Which makes me happy, and I am okay with that reason.
Especially since I have a name for hopefully another little girl, and the first name is not a family name. It’s just a name that I love.
My middle name is a family name. And this is the funny part.
My entire childhood I thought my middle name came from my grandma on dad’s side. She was an awful human being. I only met her once; once was enough.
Through my entire childhood I thought about what to legally change my name to when I was old enough. That was how much I was disturbed.
Obviously I kept the name. Only to find out, from my mom, that I’m actually named after a grandma on my mom’s side who was a lovely person. Haha 😂 Mind you I found this out when I was maybe 17-19. I can’t remember exactly. But for a long time I wonder how my mom could name me with love and hatred.
Safe to say I was mistaken, and now I love my name. And maybe when I become a grandma, maybe my name will be the start of a family name. 🥰
It’s been a while since I did one of these. I have been cooking, but I’ve been trying to figure out how to cook with a new tiny one at my feet.
Todays recipe is from….the mother in-law! Haha 😂 Our relationship was rocky at first but now we have found a common ground. Cooking. I share recipes and she does too. This recipe actually comes from one of my many cookbooks; she discovered it when she visited many years ago.
It’s called…Southwestern Rice Bake
This is the picture she sent me. I love getting recipes like this. Where you’ve changed things to be more delicious!! And I did make it the same as she wrote.
The ingredients. I was also making pickles at the same time. I’ll write about the pickles on a different post.
Cheese, rice, beef, garlic, cilantro, etc. What could go wrong.
First comes the tomatoes.
This lone tomato came from our garden. 😎
Chopping tomatoes, chopping tomatoes, chopping, chopping, chopping. I’m making the salsa for the top first. She wrote that you should let it sit and stew I. The fridge while you make the other part. (My new spiffy knife!! That thing awesome.)
Super easy to make. Just Tomatoes, onion, green chilies, cilantro, salt, pepper, garlic, and fat. I didn’t know about the fat, but she insisted it would taste good. I might just use oil next time. I don’t need to eat extra fat.
The meat! Definitely going to drain off the fat. I’m always looking for ways to be healthier. I’m not too old; my body shouldn’t be hurting.
The gathering…
Mixing!! Mix, mix, mix the stuff up. (I don’t know why I’ve got the shake my wiggles out song stuck in my head… but I do.
Well I did it again. I forgot to take a before picture. I was doing the pickles, the casserole, and the dishes all at once. Ignore the ugliness of my oven. Ewww….I’m going to need a day of scrubbing.
The smaller casserole dish was just left half plain. But look at that delicious salsa. 🤤
Finished! And I must say that mother in law recipe looks amazing. Let’s taste it…!
Taste: 10/10!! I’m happy I did one extra tomato. The salsa makes this dish!!
Easiness: 10! It’s actually not too hard. I just started making dinner a little too late. Took me about 2hrs total. But I also had a baby on my ankles for maybe 30min.
Overall: 10! I will be definitely making this again. So all you daughter-in-laws out there. This is mother-in-law approved. If you want to try it out. My daughter loved it without the salsa. And my son ate maybe a 1/8 cup. He is a hungry thing.
Hope this recipe works for you. Have a good Wednesday.
I’m not really excited about any one thing. I’m hoping for many things, but I’m not really anticipating anything.
I’m hoping that I can actually be an artist. A known artist. I will always be an artist; I just don’t know if I will ever take it anywhere.
I’m hoping we can have more babies. But that is in God’s hands. He decides. So I’m trying to be content with my kiddos and not just wait for the next one. If there will be another one.
I’m hoping my husband can go back to school and actually accomplish what he wants. Find a dream come true job. (Personal opinion: if you are going to try for a degree, do it while you are young. Not when you are full-time providing for your family.)
I’m hoping my mama will have an easy change to her life. That it won’t be so stressful and that God will provide a laid out path for her follow.
I’m hoping I can have more patience with my daughter. She desires so much and I’m trying to juggle life as it is. I get frustrated easily it seems. So I hope God can help me calm down before reacting with her.
I’m hoping that any future plans are smooth for us. We are talking about some big changes and I hope that this actually the direction God wants us to go.
So yeah, I can’t really say I’m excited for any one thing. Because everything is still in the works. Nothing is for sure. I can only try to prepare. So maybe I will say I’m excited for will come for our future. As a mama and wife, it’s not just my future. Everything about me is connected to my family. ❤️
Do you remember your favorite book from childhood?
My favorite book was called Emily Elephant. She cooks, she cleans, she picks flowers. My mom actually saved me the book, and I have read it to my own daughter.
I can’t remember being read the book. But I do remember wanting to clean, bake, pick flowers, have a party. I still do all these things, but I don’t know if I would say I want to clean.
Now, my daughter wants to do all these things with me. She loves to sweep, mop, and vacuum. She helps me with the dishes. She loves baking and cooking. (Her croutons are amazing!!) She is an excellent flower picker. I get to enjoy the wild flowers both inside and out. And she is only four.
If you have a daughter or niece or granddaughter; try the book Emily Elephant. It teaches you the great skills in life that you will always use.
Synonyms: flounder, struggle, squirm, wriggle, splash, stumble, blunder, etc.
.-.-.-.
Morning.
My eyes only flutter open,
When I hear the door creak.
She’s awake.
.-.-.
Brother lies still beside me,
Finally resting peacefully.
The night was a struggle.
.-.-.
Breakfast.
My essences left my body.
I stand hollow and empty.
Yelling and chattering,
Never end with these two.
.-.
Food is out.
Why such a battle.
I squirmed and wriggled,
To get one meal done.
Please nap time come.
.-.-.
Afternoon.
Chaos is constant.
Never a moment of peace.
Questions spewing, toys flying, emotions rising.
Will it ever be done?
.-.-.
Bedtime.
Screams of protest.
Anger developing.
Stumbles, fumbles, thrash, splash.
Silence follows all those blunders.
.-.-.
Silence.
Regrets and upsets,
Fill my brain.
Retrace your steps,
To learn again.
Sleep.
.-.-.
Morning.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Being a mama is tough. One child is different than two. Especially when your first child is intelligent and stubborn. She is determined to do it her way. He way or the highway. Except that doesn’t work when it’s supposed to be my way.
Little man is so mellow compared to her. He is smart too, noticeably for his age. My life will be interesting; calm way to put it.
But I struggle. I don’t know what I’m doing. I try my best and always some part of the day seems to be….Blarghbaaaaaaaaaa!!! If you couldn’t tell, that was me having a meltdown.
And I know it will continue to be difficult if we continue to add to our family. But hopefully I can find that flow…a current of productive moments.
I do have those moments. And I need to try and focus on the happy sweet moments of the day at bedtime. It’s difficult. But I know they probably outnumber the bad moments.
To all young moms out there. You are doing a great job. And all grandma’s now, you did amazing job raising your kids. Because they decided to continue the line of family. Your kids feel comfortable and confident enough to raise kids on their own.
Thank you to my mom!❤️
“After A Storm” Digital Art By: emily2jane 04-13-23
I will starting to paint soon. And some of the art from my blog will finally be on canvases!! I’m excited to get my art out into the world. 🎊
The word of the day today might be a negative word. But it helps show you the good in life. Like the picture above. Always after something bad, the good will come into focus, and shine in your life. Have a wonderful day ❤️
It’s a real thing. Other husbands out there, don’t worry it is a temporary thing….through pregnancy and maybe the next 2 years. Haha 😆 Pregnant women get forgetful, slower, and zone out. Some might not, (some women might be lucky.)
But I definitely experience the baby brain.
It makes doing anything twice as hard. Also the hubby has days where he can’t talk to me. Haha 😂
But I’ve gotten better. I now can tell him when I’m having a bad baby brain day. He usually knows before I say anything and responds with, “Oh, I know.”
My mom throughout my growing up told me that with each child we stole some of her smartness. My mom is super smart!!! I’m not saying otherwise, but now I understand what she means. I’m on baby number 2, and I’m wondering how much my new baby will take. My daughter is scary smart. (I know that’s what most parents say) but to me for a three year old she is too smart. Haha 😂
So if she is so smart she probably took a 1/4 of my smartness; meaning I’ll probably be giving away another 1/4. Because he is similar to how she was during my pregnancy.
We shall have to wait and see.
But that’s why I haven’t been posting. Because these last months have been major baby brain months. Only one more to go!!
I hope you have a wonderful day, today!
The cover photo: a snap shot I took out our dining room window. To me it looks like the typical screen saver screen. The lushest green, with the blue sky. This was the first day of actually warm weather. “Spring” but it’s been raining for almost three days. Over 500 gallons of water later, it’s sunny. (We captured all the rain we could to use it for watering the garden. We ran out of ways to capture water, all that free water gone. 😞)
emily2jane 