Homemade tortillas...Ole!

I wanted to make burritos for dinner tonight but realized I only had a few tortillas left in the fridge.  You might ask, why on earth didn't you just hop in the car and go get some more at the store?  My answer is simple-ish.  I have a little girl who isn't feeling well today so I didn't want to drag her out.  Besides, I have been wanting to make tortillas for some time now anyway.  This gave me the little nudge I needed!  I've been making bread for a long time now but making tortillas intimidated me for some strange reason.  They are much easier to make than regular bread.  Anyway, now that that is done for the day I can start my burritos.  It doesn't hurt to save a little money here and there either!  They are so yummy, I may not ever buy store bought again...or I might.

Reflection

As I sit here in the semi-quiet of my living room on a cool spring evening and take in everything around me, I realize anew how special life is.  I have my kids and husband here close by, a comfortable home that is filled with way too much stuff, a loving family, good friends.  It amazes me how, in the daily, moment-to-moment, to do list, sometimes stress-filled thing we call life...I take everything good for granted.  I know there are people out there going through much worse things in life than I am at present.  Yet, I still find it so easy to focus on the "hardships" of everyday life.  I want to live a simpler life.  I want to slow down and really pay attention to the little blessings, not just wait for a big blessing to feel thankful.   I will try harder each day not to get caught up in the "whys" and "what nows" that seem to fill my thoughts faster than the "thank you" Lord and  "praise you" Jesus moments.  These are the moments that bring us closer to our creator and help us through the not-so-easy times.  If we were quicker to recognize the wonderful things that fill our days instead of being so quickly annoyed or angered or inconvenienced, then maybe we could train ourselves to look to God first.  In doing so, we will eventually look past the things that so easily disturb our thoughts and learn to look upon the cross and God's grace immediately.  The Lord tells us to just, "Be still and know that I am God."  Why on earth is that so hard sometimes?  

Homemade deodorant

So, here it goes!  I have recently decided that I need a lot more natural in my life.  I'm starting most importantly with deodorant.  From what I've been reading, the aluminum in most commercial deodorants can cause some serious health problems.  Apparently this hasn't been proven 100% but it raises a red flag in my brain.  After trying a couple different "all natural" deodorants at the natural foods store, and giving them a fair chance, my skin has not liked either of them.  Could be that my body is detoxing from all the chemicals that it has been exposed to for years from using run of the mill, store bought deodorant.  After much research, I have decided to make some myself.  Will post at a later date how it turns out!  You know, you just can't be too careful in this day in age. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Even though I don't have an ounce of Irish blood running through my veins, I wanted to say Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all out there!  I love the excitement of these little holidays, especially in little kids.  We took the kids to the St. Patty's day parade this morning.  We froze most of the time as it was only about 30 degrees out, but we enjoyed it all the same.  The kids got some candy, American flags and necklaces.  Good times to be had! 

Tomorrow I will make the traditional, non-Irish, German food called Karout Baroke.  Since I am German and these have cabbage in them, they make the perfect St. Patty's Day fare for us to enjoy.  Homemade bread dough that encloses a mixture of hamburger, cabbage, onion soup and seasoning salt.  Wonderful good eating!  The best part is that the kids and hubby love them.  I usually double or triple the batch and we hardly have any leftovers.  Delish!

Trying to decide if there will be any leprecauns to invade our school room and make a mess every where, for the kids amusement.  Oh wait, we have 3 little ones already.  I can just dress them in green with fake red beards and set them loose.  It would be no different than any other day, minus the red beards of course! 

Have a great one!  May the road rise up to meet ya, as the saying goes!