Our Year in Review

My Shutterfly "Year in Review" book for 2012. I do one of these every year as Christmas gifts for the Great Grandma's.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Turn your favorite photos into a photo book at Shutterfly.com.

Parental Rights Threat

I don't normally forward political things unless they are really, REALLY important, and this one is. I have been closely following this 2-part issue for several years, and one of the two parts is coming to a vote TOMORROW (Wednesday) in the US Senate. If you want more info, read here , or feel free to talk to me.

Bare bones, here's the deal--if you believe responsible, law-abiding parents should have the final say in the rearing of their own children, please call your 2 US Senators TODAY!! and ask them to oppose ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which will be voted on in the Senate tomorrow. Most parents are surprised to know that parental rights (in this case, of children with disabilities, but all children will be included in the next treaty that comes up for ratifications--this one is just the first step)...anyway...parental rights are not written down in the text of the Constitution, it is up to judges to decide on a case-by-case basis. Scary?? Absolutely. If you don't want to take the time to thoroughly research this issue for yourself, then just trust me--if you believe in parental rights, call your Senators today.

I called today and this is all I did: Gave my name and zip code. Said I was calling regarding the vote that will take place tomorrow on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. And I said, "I urge Senator Blundt/McCaskill to oppose ratification of this treaty."

That's all I had to do, they thanked me and said they would pass the info on. No question as to why or support my argument, and they were congenial.

If you're unconvinced of the seriousness of this matter, here are two things:

Overruled trailer A 3 minute trailer for "Overruled: Governmental Invasion of your Parental Rights". The trailer is just 3 minutes, Overruled itself is actually 40 minutes, but if you have time for that, even better.

Also, here's a short "quiz" that will probably surprise you--parental rights are already being challenged in the US and passage of this treaty will just make things much worse.

Thanks--sorry I seem all alarmist, but as I've followed this issue, now is the time to be alarmed.

j

Below is the contact info for Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska (just contact YOUR state's Senators)--a phone call is best, but if the only way I can get you to do something is contact them via email (webmail), I've included their contact webpage as well. Please encourage your family and friends to call, too.

MO:

Roy Blunt

Telephone: 202-224-5721

http://www.blunt.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact-roy

Claire McCaskill

Telephone: 202-224-6154

http://mccaskill.senate.gov/?p=contact

KS:

Pat Roberts

202-224-4774

http://roberts.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=EmailPat

Jerry Moran

202-224-6521

http://moran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-jerry

NE:

Ben Nelson

202-224-6551

http://bennelson.senate.gov/email-issues.cfm

Mike Johanns

202-224-4224

http://www.johanns.senate.gov/public/?p=EmailSenatorJohanns

31 Days of Order/Disorder, Day 18

ORDER:

 I think I've shown this before on my blog, right after I hung it up, but sometimes systems I think will work for us really don't. This one did, so I thought it was worth throwing out there to the internet world again. Admittedly, it is not the most tidy looking thing, but I can do "tidy" when the kids get older and are more capable of maintaining that type of system. Right now, if they have to put it in a drawer or cupboard, and in a specific spot, bin, or container inside said drawer or cupboard....well, let's just say "close enough" is their philosophy.

This system solved many of our school supply organization problems, except for one--illusive scissors. It didn't seem like it mattered how many pair of scissors we started the school year with, by about the 4th week in, they had all vanished into thin air. Thin air, I tell you. I consider myself a fairly patient person, but when it comes time to cut out the picture of Noah's ark and not ONE of the SIX pair that should be in the bucket can even be located, I get a little testy.

So I tied two pair of the scissors to the bucket. I realize you might be thinking "does this lady not realize she tied the scissors to the bucket with ribbon...that they could simply cut with the scissors??" Oh yes, I do. My kids are not (normally) diabolical. They're just forgetful. So this simple physical reminder works. (That and the promise that things will not go well with them if they EVER cut that ribbon.)

DISORDER:

This is from a teeny tiny room under our stairs that houses our furnace. It is all of those weird miscellaneous things you might need to maintain an old house--our miniature hardware store, of sorts. There are some things in this little room that are quite organized, but the battery basket....yeah, not so much. I think it is partially because the kids tunnel thru this basket looking to replace the batteries in the Wii, a flashlight, or any number of their battery-sucking toys. I haven't come up with a better way to store these. Any suggestions?

31 Days of Order/Disorder, Day 17

Ok, so I should re-title this series and not call today day 17 since I've missed the last 5 days....but I don't want to do that much math today.

I have two "order" pictures for you today, partially because I want you to believe I have twice as much order in my home than disorder (don't talk to my husband about this) and partially because my second "order" picture will probably only excite the home-schoolers in my audience. I don't like to leave anyone out.

ORDER:

In Little House on the Prairie days, each family member owned one pair of mittens, one winter hat, and one scarf. In 2012, apparently each family member owns enough of these things to outfit an army.  At least it feels like we do. To keep these at bay, I hung an Over-the-Door Shoe Organizer on the inside of our stand-alone coat cupboard and we stick a (hopefully) matching pair in each pocket. I like the ones that have the mesh pockets like this rather than the solid canvas pockets (that you can't the contents thru) or the clear plastic pockets (that won't allow slightly-damp gloves to dry without molding first.) This is also a good place to stick the kids' sunglasses or other miscellaneous things you (or they) need to grab while walking out the door. 

This next one is for the home schooling crowd (the rest of y'all, you may want to just skip right down to my lovely disorder picture...)

ORDER:

I mentioned this on facebook this week--our paper grading desk. Click on the photo to enlarge. I placed 3 of these  Mesh Desk Organizers (which, for the record, weren't as expensive as they are now) side by side and filled them with each student's teacher's manuals. As soon as they finish a lesson and the accompanying worktext page, they bring it to this desk and grade their own work. The magnetic holder on the white board to the left holds grading pens, markers, and highlighters, and the bucket below it holds a couple stamps (star, thumbs up, etc.) and and stamp pad. It is their responsibility to grade their own work and then put everything back in place. Of course many times they will need me to grade a part of their work when the teacher's manual lists the answer as "answers will vary", so they call me over and we get it done. No more not-getting-to-grading-papers-for-four-weeks-and-they-learned-three-things-wrong-since-then at this house. Don't worry, we have other issues to contend with.

Speaking of which....

DISORDER:

I ought to have my head examined for showing this picture to the internet world. No, this is not some rice or pasta recipe. This was roast, green beans, potatoes, and tomatoes. That white stuff? Mold. I can't even claim that this was some homeschool experiment. What this was is me procrastinating cleaning out the fridge for 3 weeks. I'm sure none of you have found such disgusting-ness in the deep depths of your refrigerator. Uh-huh. 

Now who wants to come over for supper??

(To view all of my posts from most recent to oldest, click here.)

31 Days of Order/Disorder, Day 11

Are you wondering if you missed day 10?? No, you did not. I missed day 10. But hey, I lasted 3 days longer than I thought I would!!

Not wanting to completely disappoint my plethora of fans....

ORDER and DISORDER: (yes, together)

This is what we affectionately call "The Cube" at our house. And it is organized in a disorderly fashion. With 4 kids, this is how we keep track of everyone's shoes and coats. (Everyone under the age of 12, that is.)  As you can see, it gets a little messy at times. And even without the extra items and with everything put in its place, it doesn't portray that all-neat-and-tidy feel. But at this point, if the kids can locate their shoes and coats in 2 minutes or less when I say, "It's time to load the car!!", I won't complain.

31 Days of Order/Disorder, Day 9

A business associate of mine used to clean his desk every Friday. For people like me, I think that is a great policy. The only problem is apparently Friday only comes once a month around here...

DISORDER:

(yes, I'm going to switch things around today...)

Now I figure in the realm of desk tidiness, there are two types of people: the kind that completely trash their desk and then do a major overhaul once in a while that never lasts long enough, and the kind that magically maintains order and tidiness all the time. Guess which one I am. If you're having trouble figuring it out, ask my always-neat-and-tidy-desk-minded husband...shoot, for that matter you could ask my 5 year old!

ORDER:

(after no more than 15 minutes of effort) 

Why does it always seem like it is going to take 3 days to tidy my desk, when it really just takes a few minutes?? I really am my own worst enemy.

What does YOUR desk look like right now?

31 Days of Order/Disorder, Day 8

Laundry room again. (It's a very bi-polar kind of room.)

ORDER:

As I fold clothes, they get placed in each person's labeled basket. When the basket gets full, I put it in their room on their dresser and they are responsible for unloading it and returning the empty basket to the laundry room. One of my favorite parts of this system is the sock system:

This is actually one of those hanging shoe holders. But hung next to my folding station, it becomes a hanging sock sorter. Each person has their own slot, and as I fold, if the pair isn't immediately obvious, the sock gets stuffed in here. At the end of the basket, I pull out all of one person's socks and pair them up.  Hey, it's the little things in life that make us happy, right?

DISORDER:

This (still in my laundry room) is like ALMOST organized. But being ALMOST organized is really irritating, like having an itch in the middle of your back that is just barely out of reach. The tall baskets are our dirty laundry baskets--light colors, dark colors, reds, and towels. Yes, this sounds organized, but not if you can't find a good and systematic place to PUT the baskets. I'm still working on it...my poor family never knows where they're going to find them as I move them around from week to week!

PS: Isn't the carpet awesome? If you said yes...you would be wrong.

31 Days of Order/Disorder, Day 7

We're in the bathroom again. But this time "order" is in my bathroom, and "disorder" is in the kids'.

 ORDER:

 It took me a long time to figure out a good system for my earrings and necklaces. I even actually have an expensive jewelry box, but it doesn't have very many individual compartments. And have you ever realized that you only really wear about 10 favorites anyway? At least I do. But I don't want to get rid of the other 40 pair. So those live in my expensive jewelry box in the closet. My favorites live here in two inexpensive ice cube trays stacked one on top of the other, in one of my bathroom drawers. (Which fit perfectly, by the way.)

DISORDER:

I have yet to figure out a good system for the kids' toothbrushes and paste and such. I thought the individual mugs might help, but it still looks cluttered and messy. There are no drawers in this bathroom. AT ALL. So my options are limited. How do you keep YOUR kids' toothbrush/paste mess under control? I'm very open to suggestions!

31 Days of Order/Disorder, Day 6

School-themed post today.

ORDER: (to the max)

For those of you who think home-schoolers really don't actually do school, (which I'm sure does not include anyone who reads this blog,) let me reassure you, at the Binder house, we definitely do school. I don't do this much schedule planning for nothing.

And this is our school schedule--for three children, and the various days of the week, including a different schedule on Wednesdays for when we do have co-op classes, and when we don't.

Some of you think I'm the queen of organization right now. Some of you think I could benefit from medication.

To top this off, each child has a system of personalized alarms that I've set up on their computers--a pop-up reminds them when it is time to start each lesson, when they have 10 minutes left, and when they are to be done. If they have work in that subject left at the "stop" alarm, they save it for "homework" later in the day.

Before you start sending sympathy cards to my children, you should also know that if they finish their lesson, work, and have it graded before the "stop" alarm for that subject, they get a small piece of candy. It is truly amazing how hard they will work for a Dove chocolate.

DISORDER:

This seems harmless, doesn't it? Fairly organized, right? The problem with this lovely cart and the two boxes of old home school curriculum that I need to haul to Kansas City to the consignment shop to actually sell is that it has been in this exact spot in my downstairs hallway for....say....3 months?? Why? Because I don't know where to put it. I could hide it in a less-conspicuous spot, but then I figure I really won't ever do anything with it.

So I keep walking around it. Not doing anything with it. Now that makes sense, doesn't it.

Maybe I do need medication.

31 Days of Order/Disorder, Day 5

Wow, I almost didn't make today's post in time! But I didn't want to disappoint both of my readers!

ORDER: (in a disorderly kind of fashion)

Once upon a time, in the not too distant past, there was a royal family that had issues with putting their shoes away. The queen of the land decreed that only one pair would be allowed "out" at a time for each royal family member, and she commissioned the making of a "tangible spot" for said shoes. Ok, ok, that's about as much regal speech as I can muster. I had higher hopes for the appearance of this organizing masterpiece, but hey, it works. The rule is...you are allowed to keep one pair of shoes out at a time, and they go in this spot on this rug. ONE pair. ONE spot. Everything else is put away. We don't wear our shoes in the house, so it is nice to be allowed easy and fast access to one pair for those quick trips outside or in the garage. This has, for the most part, eliminated the mountain of shoes just inside the door.

And in case you're wondering exactly what this is, it is a fairly cheap rug with a permanent-marker-outline of one pair of each child's shoes on it. Their first initial is on their spot, and I let them "decorate" it. I had hoped for something a little more...classy...but when you're working with a 10-, 8-, and 5-year old, you get scribbles. Or a mish-mash of unidentified objects. I try to choose my battles wisely.

DISORDER:

I can't believe I'm actually showing y'all these places in my home. Would you believe me if I said after this one, I've run out of "disorder" photos?? No? (Did you sneak into my house lately?)

This masterpiece comes from my upstairs hallway. A few weeks ago I purchased 4 new laundry baskets.  That all matched. These old laundry baskets were supposed to go. And yet here they are. Because it seems like such a waste to throw out perfectly good laundry baskets...with broken handles. I tried to get hubby to take them over to the shop to put parts in. I think the point where I lost that battle was when he pictured himself telling one of the other workers, "Go get the carburetor out of the light blue laundry basket..."

This is, in simplest form, just a bunch of stuff that I've allowed to accumulate. I know no one else has this problem. But, guess what I'll be tackling tomorrow?? (And if you're interested in some less-than-perfect laundry baskets, you can find them in our brush pile.)

31 Days of Order/Disorder, Day 4

Last Saturday, the kids and I rearranged my bedroom. And did a thorough dusting. My husband was delighted to see the bedroom tidy and clean again. This was his comment, "Good thing you dusted the furniture in here. It was starting to look like someone had died, was cremated, and requested their ashes be sprinkled all over our bedroom furniture." He has a very real, very natural talent for great word pictures. (That are truthfully, most of the time, right on.)

So, from our bedroom....

ORDER:

Hooray for clean furniture!

DISORDER:

Does anyone else in the world think a person needs a Master's Degree to effectively deal with storing their children's clothing?? You know the process--the let's-go-thru-your-clothes-and-pull-out-everything-that-doesn't-fit-anymore-and-store-it-for-your-younger-sibling process. Those of you who don't have multiple children of the same gender have no idea what I'm talking about, but those of you who do (or plan to and are saving in future anticipation)....yeah, you know.

My husband believes Rubbermaid totes are from the devil himself. Partially because a person can store insane amounts of stuff that really should be dealt with another way (given or thrown away), and partially because totes greet him at every turn in our house. Including our bedroom. The sad part is, these totes contain the kids' clothes. Which reasonably should be placed in the kids' rooms. Right?

The truth about these totes is that I just have refused to deal with them. In my defense, we have literally no storage space other than our unfinished attic, which is only accessible thru a wobbly pull-down-from-the-ceiling staircase.

But the effort it takes to pull down that staircase and heave-ho these totes into the attic is worth the reward of not having to stare at these things anymore. In my bedroom.

And sometimes you just need to blog about it to figure that out.

31 Days of Order/Disorder, Day 3

Today's post comes from the Master Bathroom. This is one of those rooms that NO ONE goes into except me and my family. So it is easy for me to let it get out of sorts. Not that that's a good excuse.

ORDER:

I got these organizing trays at Target and they fit perfectly in my master bathroom drawers. The top tray slides forwards and backwards to reveal the bottom tray. (look on the right-hand side by the blush) LOVE THESE.

DISORDER: (brace yourself)

The master bath counter doesn't always look like this. But there is typically more on it than there should be. Horizontal surfaces are my worst clutter enemy. Obviously. And I would love to blame it on this little monster...

...but most of her "spoils" end up on the floor, or in a completely different drawer, not on my counter. (This, by the way, is Mr. Organized's drawer. Of course none of the junk on the counter is his...so he probably still wins.)

31 Days of Order/Disorder, Day 2

Today's submission, for your viewing pleasure, is from the pantry.

ORDER:

This is actually one of my favorite things. I know, you're wondering what on earth I'm talking about.  The jars are on top of an 18" turntable from Bed Bath and Beyond. These babies have revolutionized the top shelf in my pantry because now I can actually GET TO everything, without dragging a chair to the pantry. And yes, I know the cardboard divider between the two layers is classy. Hey, I work with what I have at the moment.

DISORDER:

The sad part is my pantry has the potential of being organized if I would just keep up the system. (Which is true about almost every disorganized area in my home.) 

31 Days of Order/Disorder, Day 1

The Nester is hosting 31 days of...just about every topic imaginable. Go ahead and check it out.

Yeah. You thought I was kidding, didn't you. At the time of this posting there are 844. You won't see mine listed there because (a) I didn't think they needed one more 31 days of anything, and (b) knowing myself, I will fizzle out at about day 6. If I'm lucky.

So why the Order/Disorder theme? Because the other day I realized I am a study in extremes. Particularly in the organization department. I know some of you think I'm really organized. And there are pieces of my life that ARE really organized. But those other pieces? Yeah, total chaos. And as much as I would like my home and life to look like a spread in a Martha Stewart Magazine, it's just not going to. And I'm trying to be ok with that, as long as the reason for the disorganized part of my life is because I chose other, more important things. Things of eternal value. Investing in people. But let's face it, sometimes the disorganized part of my life is caused by my own laziness and selfishness. But that's a whole different "31 Days" topic...

So before I get too reflective, here we go. Today's post comes from the Laundry room.
Day 1
Order:

These professionally crafted beauties are made out of cardboard and a Sharpie. And they help me sort the hung-up clothes AS I hang them. Putting the already-sorted clothes away is a snap.

Disorder:

THIS example is mild. Normally the pile in front of the dryer is 3 times this size. (Hey, I'm just being honest here.) I call it Mount Never-rest. It makes me wish for Little House on the Prairie days when everyone owned 2 outfits--an everyday set and a Sunday set. And both hung on a hook.

I just haven't been able to convince my family that 2 outfits per person is a good idea.

But then again, they're not the ones doing the laundry.

Five Things

Five Things what? I don't know! The blogging and website experts tell me you all like LISTS, so being the people-pleaser that I am.....

1. Hooray for summer! We called it quits officially on Monday, although we had been tapering off for about 2 weeks. (We've had enough hours logged to quit since April....but don't EVER tell my kids that!)

2. I'm hoping to do lots more blogging this summer. Let's just hope I don't have a really good REASON to blog this summer....like flooding! It doesn't look that way. In fact, I was in the garden today and things are about as dry as I've ever seen them. Figures. Two years of massive flooding followed by a drought. Even the grass is starting to turn brown...isn't it still MAY??

I've been trying to decide what things to write about this summer. I'm planning to include things I love (products and such) because I  love trying a new product that someone else has recommended that actually WORKS. And it seems as though I have no shortage of opinions. And of course...

3. pictures of my cute kids.

That's just plain cute. Sorry. Couldn't resist. I'm sure I'm not biased.

Here's another one. File this in the things-I-probably-shouldn't-post-on-the-internet file, but whatever. I did blur her little booty out. I love this picture because it reminds me every time of how nice it is to live in the country. There are just some things you can't do in the city...am I right?

4. On the skunk front (most of you are familiar with our skunk war saga...) I now have a trap set out by the barn where we think they have taken up residence. Last night the trap was set off, but nothing in it. Hopefully we'll catch something pretty soon--although there is a big debate as to what to do if/when we DO catch something!

5. And finally, did anyone try Plan to Eat?? I'm still going strong, although I did have a super hectic week last week, so any kind of planning/organization went right out the window. So yes, we pretty much ate frozen junk that week. And McDonalds. Curse you, McDonalds.

Have a great weekend and don't forget Memorial Day is about more than city-wide garage sales! :) (That little nugget was more for myself than anyone else!)

Plan to Eat

I have found the greatest thing since sliced bread. Seriously.

First, you must know something about me. I don't particularly loooove cooking. I can be a good cook copy a good cook (aka May Gose) when I need to, but I really don't want to spend all day in the kitchen. I blame this fact for my meal disorganization. The problem is, a family still has to eat whether Mom is organized about it or not. So I'm really shooting myself in the foot.

Maybe I should try some meal planning?

I have a friend who has been doing her own meal planning for a while, and although her example is stellar, she's not the type of friend who would grab you by the shoulders, look you square in the face and say, "YOU--MUST--TRY--THIS."

I, on the other hand, am. Consider yourself forewarned.

Even though I admired my friend's example, I just fought the idea for a while. I wasn't sure I could get it organized enough to not be a real hassle. Plus, I'm not a rigid person--I like flexibility (and a farm family NEEDS flexibility.) A meal plan system seemed way too rigid to really work for us. Not to mention a LOT of work.

Someone recommended Plan to Eat. This subscription-based meal planning website, literally, is the best thing since sliced bread. Here's how it works... (so you know, they did not ask me to review their site--I'm just a very satisfied customer and want to see other Moms benefit like I have)

1. You add recipes. These can be your own or from a website. They've made this process as easy as I can imagine, but more on that later. (click on any image to enlarge it)

2. Drag and drop recipes onto your planner. You can plan a day, a week, or a month. You can plan one meal a day, or divide it into Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and Snacks for the SUPER-organized.

3. Click Shopping List, choose the dates you want to shop for, and it generates your grocery list. At this point you can also remove any items you already have.

4. Print your revised shopping list (which is also organized according to grocery category), go shopping, and Voila! You are ready for the week. (I do mine weekly.) No more standing in front of the fridge at 11:45am wondering what we're going to have for lunch.

Features I LOVE about Plan to Eat

1. Easy Input of Recipes
This process is not complicated. I've added my own recipes easily. In fact, most recipes I just added the title and ingredients. The actual instructions are not necessary if you already have them in your kitchen (or don't need instructions...who needs instructions on making spaghetti??) Even easier are recipes you can find on the web. Just add their bookmarklet to your bookmarks bar, and click it when you find a recipe you want. It automatically imports everything, with rarely a mistake. (although you should check things over just to make sure.) How easy is THAT??

I don't do complicated side dishes most of the time. Steamed veggies, applesauce, fruit...that's pretty much what our sides consist of. I wanted to include these items on our meal plan, and have them added to the shopping list automatically, so I created a "recipe" for each, which consists of a title and the ingredient(s) I need for that item. This may seem silly, but when I add applesauce to our meal plan, I know it will show up on my shopping list.

I also realized I don't have to input my entire recipe box before I can really utilize the system. The first week, I just put in the meals I was going to use. The next week I did the same. Yesterday (no school) I took some additional time to add most of our most-commonly-used meals and sides.

2. Recipe re-sizing
Input a recipe that serves 6, change the servings to 9, click Change, and it does all of the figuring for you. Your shopping list will reflect those changes as well.

3. Flexibility
Late yesterday afternoon, Hubby called and asked if I'd like to go out to eat. (As if he needed to ask.) I had planned homemade pizza, and already had the sausage and hamburger browned. Throw the meat in the freezer, add Homemade Pizza to my Queue and I'll add it to my plan next time. I also add things I've used half of so they don't get lost in the deep depths of the freezer, like half-bags of frozen broccoli.

Some recipes I always make double of and put one batch in the freezer. I also add these to my Queue to keep track of.

4. The Shopping List
Oh--my--word. Can I just say how great it feels to know that I have every ingredient I need to make our next 8 days worth of meals? The Shopping List is the key. Plan To Eat does a great job of combining ingredients, so if you need 1/2 pound of ground beef for pizza and 2 pounds for meatloaf, you'll find "2.5 pounds ground beef" on your shopping list.

Plan to Eat also does a great job of categorizing your ingredients. When you input ingredients, it usually knows what category they are in, but you can easily change it if it gets it wrong or simply doesn't know. And as long as it is in the right category in the recipe, it will be listed under the right heading on your shopping list. With 4 children in tow, less time wandering around the grocery store is GOLDEN.

The ability to remove items you already have from the shopping list before printing is also pretty cool. No more shopping for salt and pepper, or coming home with a 6th bag of frozen peas.

Also, see the Staples List tab in the above image? Click on that tab and add things you need on a regular basis--milk, eggs, toilet paper, etc. You can add or remove items according to your specific needs.

5. Eating Better
I've been standing in front of the fridge at 11:45am thinking, "What on earth are we going to have for lunch? There're chicken nuggets [or insert another fast-but-bad-for-you food here] in the freezer. Yes, that will work...." Enough said.

Since I've been using Plan to Eat, we've eaten better food and much more balanced meals. Just ask my husband.

Cost is $39/year or $4.95 a month. I'm thinking I'll save at least that much every year between gas (trips to the grocery store) and all of those things I end up throwing out of my pantry because I didn't use them before they expired. Not to mention the addition of peace and harmony to the universe my house around mealtime.

Want to give it a try? You can get a free 30-day trial by clicking on this logo:

If you don't have a meal planning system that works for you (or a system at all,) and you think it might help, let me stand in front of you, firmly grip your shoulders, and just say, "YOU--MUST--TRY--THIS."

Resurrection Gardens

Once in a while you do a project that exceeds your expectations. This is one of those. You can make it as complicated as you wish, but here's how we did ours...

Supplies/Tools used:

Flower Pot saucer (plastic or terracotta, although I wouldn't use the really flimsy clear plastic ones)

Smaller Terracotta or peat pot for the tomb

black spray paint

potting soil/dirt

smaller rocks/gravel for the "path"

grass seed

spanish moss (craft store)

larger flat round rock to cover entrance to tomb

sticks to make into a cross

candles

peg person/people (found ours at Hobby Lobby in the wood craft section)

fake flowers/leaves

fresh flowers for Easter morning

water spray bottle

bucket of water

glue gun or twine

scissors

1. Gather supplies

2. Spray paint the smaller terracotta pot (tomb) black. It doesn't have to be perfect, but the first one we made I didn't do this and the bright orange stuck out like a sore thumb.

3. Place pot in saucer, towards the back. My bigger ones I placed a little off-center so the "hill" could extend easier around the left side.

4. Gently pack soil around pot and over the top, shaping it to look like a hill. You only want about 2/3 of the pot to extend "above ground", but leave space for the rock path.

5. Place some rocks to mark the place of the rock path. I used larger rocks for this first layer. (I used smaller almost gravel-like rocks for the top layer, but that is later...)

6. Spritz dirt with water and sprinkle grass seed on the dirt. Use a fork to kind of scratch around and "work it in". It does not need to be covered, but my (farmer) husband seems to think grass seed will sprout better if it is at least partially "stuck" in the dirt. Pat it gently to secure. (Photo was before I "worked it in".)

 7. Now you can finish forming the rock path--I did this after placing the grass seed because I didn't want the seed that landed on the rocks to show. Picky, I know. I also used smaller gravel-like rocks because I just thought it looked better. The rocks extended into the tomb.

8. Place the spanish moss in water (not necessary but I think it makes it much more workable) and then take a wad and spread it out into a thin layer on the table. (obviously we were using a plastic table in the garage, so the wet moss didn't hurt it) Place this piece on the dirt/seed--don't worry if it doesn't cover the whole area, just add more thinned out pieces of moss until it is. You don't want this to be a solid mat because the seed is supposed to sprout thru it. Use scissors to trim stray pieces off that extend over the side of the saucer, or in places you don't want it.

9. Add smaller decorative rocks and the large round rock. (above)

10. Hot glue two sticks to make a cross and stick into the dirt somewhere. (or use twine to tie together, criss cross style) If you use a terracotta saucer, those tend to be more shallow, so you may not end up with enough dirt to make a large cross stand up. My solution would be to either use a smaller cross, or hot glue it to a "base" so it will stand up. You could use a rock or make an X out of sticks that could be buried under the dirt. Maybe?

11. The above photos are of one of the smaller ones we did that we gave away. Our large personal one I added candles around the front, and a peg person to represent Jesus. The kids added a little greenery, although I told them not to make it too pretty just yet. (that is coming!) We also decided not to add the cross until Friday...and they think they're going to tie Jesus to it, but we'll see...

How we are USING our Resurrection Garden

1. Candles: We started on Palm Sunday and lit one candle. We have added one candle every day since then, but there will be no candles burning after sunset on Thursday, and all day Friday and Saturday to represent the darkness the disciples must have felt as they watched their Master be arrested, tried, crucified, and buried. On Easter morning they will all be lit (and maybe several others around the garden.)

2. Discussion and Peg Person/People: Every day (Palm Sunday thru Easter) we talk about what Jesus might have been doing on that day--the Triumphal Entry (Sunday), teaching, preaching, praying, the Last Supper, etc. Tonight Jesus will be arrested (Thursday night). Tomorrow he will be crucified. In the afternoon he will be "prepared" (wrapped in white cloth), and buried. The stone will seal the tomb. On Easter morning the tomb will be open, just the cloth left behind, and Jesus alive again. As we talk about these things, we move peg-person-Jesus around for them to help visualize what was going on at that time. (However, I found Jesus had "disappeared" this morning--apparently someone thought he needed to sleep in the lilac tree or something...)

We have smaller peg-people that we might incorporate into the "scene" as it gets more intense tonight.

3. Flowers: 

We have fake flowers and I'm hoping to purchase some fresh ones today to completely deck out our garden on Easter morning.  The more dramatic the better!

My kids have really enjoyed this, and I've been amazed at how it has helped us really visualize what was going on at that time, day by day. I'm pretty sure this is going to be an annual project!