My American Girl

My own sweet American girl, Miss Mae, had one wish on her list for Santa this year... an American Girl doll. Not just any American Girl. The one she thought was the prettiest- Rebbecca, the would be movie star from the turn of the last century. Santa, being such a jolly fellow, happily obliged.
It was an American Girl Christmas, to be sure. All the grandmas and aunties pitched and got Miss Mae a little something to outfit Rebbecca with a few of her many accessories. We were so happy that my grandma, who we call Grandma Darlin, was able to spend Christmas with us. So we had a little girl's night out at the American Girl Bistro. Of course, Rebbecca had to attend also!

It is the girliest place ever, and it was so fun. Rebbecca had her own special seat, and she was served a nice cup of hot cocoa. She said it was delicious, and the refills were free! Plus, she had a chance to wear her lovely fur coat that she borrowed from another American Girl.

We had an early dinner and enjoyed great conversation at the table. There was a small box of little cards with open ended questions printed on them. We took turns reading the questions aloud and each of us answered. Miss Mae and I found out that Grandma Darlin had, in her younger days, almost passed up a promotion because she did not think she would be brave enough to make sales calls. She was encouraged by her friends and took the job and was a great success. We had a big discussion about being a leader and being a follower and being a team player. It was so good to get all three generations talking.

Of course, when you go for such a fine meal, you must have dessert! Happily, we were able to order doll sized ice-cream cones that were just delicious! Yum!

It was really not much more expensive than going to a chain restaurant like Chili's, and so much cuter! We had a great time!

Kitchen Plans

This is my kitchen. It has a good layout and newish appliances. It has lots of awesome sunlight all day long. From my kitchen window, I can see the kids playing in the back yard. It really is the heart of our home.

This is the nook in the kitchen. We eat almost all of our meals here. The kids do homework and craft projects at the table.

There are things I love about my kitchen, but there are a lot of things that drive me a bit batty! Like our builders grade oak cabinets- they are mostly in good shape, but need a bit of TLC and a few coats of paint. And new hinges...

Our pantry is an impossible to keep organized deep closet.

The horrible fluorescent light fixture was damaged from a leak in the upstairs bathroom. Oh, and did you notice that we have some great popcorn ceiling action going on up there?

When our dog, Shelby, was a puppy, she chewed everything, including this low window sill.

The window sills that aren't chewed have peeling paint.

And all the trim is just in bad shape in general. I think it was originally painted a cream color 30 years ago, but it has oxidized to the color of depression...

Our counter tops are the original Formica from when the house was built, and every grout line in the house is just a hot mess.

The time has come to finally DO something about this kitchen. Mr. Sahm and I have been talking about it for a long time, but he is gone so much for work, and I really have to admit that my energy level is limited, even though my ideas are not. So, we have decided to put some money into getting the kitchen done, though the amount is very limited.

Some of the things I want to have done are...

1. Have the ceiling repaired and scraped of popcorn and painted white.



2. Close up the hole where the fluorescent light fixture is and have can lights installed, with a pretty light fixture above the sink.



3. Have the funky wall texture sanded down and the walls painted a soft yellow.



4. Have all the trim and doors and window sills repaired and painted a sparkly white



5. Have the cabinets painted white.



6. Replace hinges and handles on the cabinets.



7. Get a new floor- laminate to look like hardwood?



8. Get table base painted and replace white laminate tabletop with a butcher block table top.



9. Buy new chairs (Ours are falling apart.)



10. Have pull out drawers installed in pantry and a few base cabinets.



11. Find an awesome dresser and hutch or china cabinet or something for the wall in the nook.



12. Get new dark charcoal grey counter tops.



13. Install white subway tile back splash.



14. Paint island red. Install a long towel or curtain rod on the front to display vintage dishtowels.



15. Replace the brass doorknobs.



16. Make new window valances.

I am going to do as much as I can really do, myself. I am going to hire someone to do the painting and scraping, and the installing of counter tops and floors. I think it will be so much better when it's done. If you have done this yourself, or hired people to do it for you, I would love to hear any advice! What helped you the most? Do you have any regrets? Please share!

Menu Plan Monday January 2, 2012

Trying to get back into the swing of things this week- back to school, back to work, back to normal.

2 Monday- Turkey enchiladas, texas caviar (leftover from New Years), canned peaches

3 Tuesday- Pieroges and Keilbasa with onions and peppers, apple and cabbage slaw

4 Wednesday (Epiphany Pageant practice)- Turkey white bean and escarole soup, Toasted mozzarella on french bread

5 Thursday- meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn

6 Friday- (Epiphany Pageant)- deconstructed tamale pie, mexican salad

7 Saturday- Pizza Night

8 Sunday- Turkey burgers on buns, garden salad

New Year

Happy New Year!

Well, I am ready for a fresh start. My favorite part of New Year's has always been the fresh start that it brings. Yes, the kiss at midnight is fun too, but I love to set resolutions. I know that they so often get broken, but that's okay. The intention and the effort are what keep us moving forward. So, here are a couple of my resolutions...

To increase our family's healthy habits.
I have been exercising and it has really helped me so much. It truly does fight depression, and I want to be more consistent this year. Mr. Sahm has also resolved to do his morning walk more consistently, so together, we'll be doing great! I could make a giant weight loss resolution, but instead, I just am going to resolve to feed myself and my family more real food and try lots of new fruits and veggies, or at least new ways of preparing them! I am hoping to find some that we really enjoy so I can increase our consumption without increasing our dinner table fights, umm, I mean discussions about eating our veggies.

To have more fun and connection with the kids.
Truth is- it takes effort to have fun and it is easy to let them stay glued to a screen (TV, computer, gaming system of one kind or another.) Not good for them and not good for me and not good for our relationships. So I resolve to do more with them and be more present. (That will take a lot of energy. Good thing I'll be getting all that good exercise and healthy food!) I do want to do fun stuff with them, but I am also seeing that it is time for them to do some chores already! I haven't made them do much because it's just easier to do it myself. I know that a reasonable amount of household chores will be good for them, and I resolve to put the energy into helping them learn to contribute to the family in this way.

To grow the fruit of self-control.
Self-control is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, and it is an area that is an area of struggle for me. It just doesn't come naturally. This year I resolve to let it be something that God grows in me, rather than trying to manufacture it out of my own will. When I am weak, He can be strong for me.

***I have the best hubby in the world, and we are pretty darn happy together. It's not really a resolution, but I want to let him know, every day, how awesome I think he is and how much I appreciate him. I hope that it will be a deeply ingrained habit so we can always be this connected and happy together.***

So those are my resolutions. How bout you? Are you making any resolutions?

My Mother

I spent two weeks with my mother, trying to help her figure out how to get care for herself and get care for her husband and how to survive financially if her husband needed to go to residential care. She wasn't old enough yet for Social Security herself- only 60 years old. Whenever we would start to get to work on it, she would be having trouble breathing and we would need to go to the hospital. Her fight against stage 4 lung cancer was going well, but the recurring pneumonia was really taking a toll.

I spent another few days with her in the hospital, wondering. On one hand, she seemed so strong and so full of fight, and the doctors said she would get better and go home. But I had this feeling in the pit of my stomach, and the nurses had this look on their faces when the doctor was talking about her getting better. And I just jumped from hope to grief, and then back again. I called my grandmother and she came to be with us. My mom would just lean on her and say, "Mama." And finally, the doctor said it was time to intubate her and admitted that her chances of survival were nearly non-existent. It was my job to say no. No tubes, no machines, no delaying what was coming soon enough anyway. So I did. I said no, and then they were able to give her enough medication to finally ease her pain and her anxiety over not being able to get a real deep breath. She was peaceful. She slept.

Grandma and I were with her. Through the night we could hear the change in her breathing, and in the morning, with her mother and her daughter by her side, she took her last breath.

Someone had told me that I would be able to feel her spirit in the room, and that she would be there for a while before leaving. I did feel her, but she did not wait. One second she was there, and the next she was gone. She did not wait, but flew! She went to heaven so fast, and my heart was so filled with joy for her sake. I could feel how happy she was. She was reunited with my dad, her true love. She had people waiting there for her. No more cancer. No more fighting. Just Joy.

My Mom

As some of you may know, my mother has stage 4 lung cancer. She was given 6 months to live 2 1/2 years ago, and has been going strong since then.

She has been not so good this week and has been in the ER and needed a blood transfusion. I am going to California to see her and help her get some care issues figured out. It is a HUGE thing for my mom to ask for help, or say that she needs care.

Please pray for her and for me to be super energized and really smart to get things well taken care of. Also, Mr. Sahm is taking care of the kids for a whole week- he may need more prayers than anyone else!

El Fiesta Del Dia De Los Muertos!

Every year, we have a big Halloween party for our kids. The basics are always the same- awesome kids and their families are invited, we play some silly games, we eat a big potluck, the kids run around and play like crazy and the adults stand around and visit like crazy. This year, our theme was Dia De Los Muertos- The Day of the Dead.
Really Dia De Los Muertos is not the Mexican version of Halloween; It's more All Soul's Day with a kick, and is not considered to be scary at all. Perfect for us, cause we have tried to keep the scare factor pretty low till the kids are older.

Miss Mae and I spent a lot of time crafting to prepare for the party. We made cheaters "papel picado" by folding and cutting sheets of construction paper and then taping them to curling ribbon to hang from the ceiling and across the yard. It is such a bright and cheerful decoration! We also made a ton of tissue paper flowers for decorations and a lot of orange tissue paper marigolds to decorate the "cemetery" with.
I was able to use a lot of dollar store Halloween skull items, which I decorated to make them brightly colored calaveras, using colored permanent markers.

I also used inexpensive white poster board to make large calveras (skulls) to hang around the house and yard for decoration.

Mr. Sahm emptied out the unused playhouse and transformed it into the adults-only beverage area, Dead Man's Cantina, where cervesa and margaritas were served.

I started out our activities by reading a little book about the Day of the Dead, and then we played "pass the calavera"...

...and the kids made their own calvera masks with paper plates. We also put together a plastic skeleton and had a failed attempt at pin the skull on the skeleton. They are too old and smart for that. Every one figured out how to peek and got the skull right on the mark!

We took a trip to the "cemetery," so every one had to get ready.The girls got pretty tissue paper flower head bands, and the boys got...Moustaches! Doesn't Little Dude look great? He has the attitude to pull of a fake moustache if ever anyone did!

After an awesome potluck dinner of queso and enchiladas and some of the yummiest beans ever, we broke open the pinata.
And then we had our sugar skulls- okay, my cheater version of sugar skulls. I was a little intimidated to use merengue powder and make something that might not come out if it was too humid...it just sounded scary. So, throwing tradition to the wind and praying that I wouldn't offend anyone, I bought some giant marsmallows and used my kitchen shears to sort of shape them into skulls, I added chocolate chips for eyes, and then we decorated them. Mr. Sahm is such an artist- his came out so much prettier than mine!
It was such a fun party, and I learned a lot about Dia De Los Muertos. Now I have to come up with a new idea for next year's party...