A Necessary Interruption

I wanted to share this recipe for apple granola bread with you today.  It's really yummy.  This is the only picture I was able to get - because everybody devoured it in the car on the way to Florida.

However, we've been really busy lately, and somehow junk mail and clean laundry have taken over most available surfaces in this house.  The lack of clean, shiny space is making me very grumpy.

So, the apple bread recipe will pop up here next week.  In the meantime, I've got to get crackin' - and help the kids with their rooms - before they send me to off to Sesame Street to live in a certain famous garbage can.

Have a wonderful weekend!

PS - A certain famous author will be guest-blogging here next week, and I have an exciting giveaway coming up, too!  Don't miss it!

How to Make a Busy Bottle

Disney World is really far away.  Really, really far away, at least to a four-year-old's brain.

So, to make the car trip more fun, I put together a bag of new and fun toys for the trip.  My husband and I made this "busy bottle" as one of the activities.

Modeled after one of those 'Where's Waldo?' type of pillows, this was easy, quick to put together, and best of all - very  inexpensive!

First, I cut an index card to the size of the window I wanted to have, and taped it onto the bottle.  (Be sure to use sturdy tape and make tape doughnuts - otherwise your edges won't be straight.)

Next, my husband used some old spray paint from the basement to paint the entire bottle.  After it dried, I removed the index card, and voila! we had a small viewing window.

Then we scavenged for items to put inside it.  As we found things that would work, I wrote them on another index card and dropped the items into the bottle.  When we had enough, I filled the bottle 2/3 of the way full with dyed pasta.  You could also use dried beans, dried corn, rice, etc.  Making the objects you want to find the same size/color/shape as the filler material ups the difficulty level.

I mod-podged the list of items to find onto the back of the bottle and coated it with another layer to seal it in. Then I glued on the lid to make sure those noodles stayed in there.

That was it!  Now it was time to find all those objects hiding inside.  It's not as easy as it sounds!  Tilt the bottle and shake it as you look through the window.  Can you find them all in one sitting?

This entire project cost us nothing to make and was finished in minutes - and most of that was drying time for the paint and Mod Podge!

My Little Man liked playing with this, and it even kept my father-in-law amused while he waited for a pizza.

What do your kids do on long car trips?

Disney Do's and Don'ts: Know Before You Go

Visiting Walt Disney World is not a cheap venture.  No matter how you go about it, unless you live in Orlando and win free tickets, it's going to cost you.  But there are a few things you can do to maximize the fun and minimize the financial cost.

• Tighten your belt and choose your budget.  Knowing exactly how much you have to spend will help you plan the most bang for your Disney buck.
• Buy an Entertainment Book for Orlando - but not in November.  If possible, wait at least until early spring and then watch for them to go on sale.  I bought ours for only $7 after rebate - and using coupons in the book, we paid only $10 for all four of us to eat our very first meal in Florida.  We more than paid for the book with that one meal - and we used other coupons from it, too.

• Shop around for Disney tickets.  At first glance, there aren't many discounts available - but they are out there.  One of the best deals we found was through our Entertainment Book - 5 day passes for the price of three, with Park Hopper included.  Check for discounts through your business, too.  My husband's company offered the same and other great deals.

There are stands all over Orlando selling 'discounted' Disney tickets, and some say they are a better deal. I know some who prefer to wait and buy their tickets from one of those places - but I'm so glad we didn't.  With our tickets in hand, we knew how much money we had left, we knew how many days we were going to be in the parks, and we weren't trying to scout out the best deal at the last minute.  Don't wait - paying a few dollars more in advance is worth the peace of mind you'll have upon arrival!

•  Get the whole family involved.  After working on our budget, we knew we wouldn't be able to afford every plastic trinket in sight - so we planned for a few quality souvenirs.  Then we discussed our plan as a family.  We let the kids know that we would be cutting out some 'luxuries' from the budget now so that we would have more Disney fun money - and we gave them the option of doing additional chores to add to their own Disney funds.  Grandparents also gave them this option, and an aunt gave them Disney gift cards for their birthdays.  Our Big Helper also chose to run her own lemonade stand this summer to pad her pocketbook.  

My Big Helper was excited to design her own monstrous caramel apple as one of her souvenirs at Goofy's Candy Company in Downtown Disney.

Upon arriving in Florida, we declared the last two days to be shopping days.  During our first few days in the parks, we window shopped and discussed lots of options, but both children were content to wait until later to shop.  This gave them time to see many choices and consider which they liked best - and since they had stashed away a considerable amount, it helped them to make smart choices with their wad.

• Plan!  Plan your lodgings with your schedule in mind - and remember that you have to eat, too.  Having a fridge means that you can keep yogurt and other simple snacks cold, and many hotel rooms now include those. **

We went with extended family who has a time share, and so we were blessed to have a full kitchen.  Wanting to minimize the work, I baked many snacks and several loaves of fruity breads to take along. We ate eggs and the breads for breakfasts, then packed PB & J for lunch and took it into the park.  I added dried fruits and lots of crackers and granola bars to our lunch stash, meaning that all meals and snacks were covered except dinner.  This was huge to our budget!  (I stashed away two big boxes of prepackaged snacks - something I don't usually buy - using coupons and shopping doubles' and triples' sales with them.  I got nearly everything for free - and most of it was fairly healthy.)

**Because we didn't stay in a resort or book our own lodging, I can't speak for most of those options.  I can say, however, that we extended our trip by one night after leaving the timeshare resort, and we found a very nice, very reasonably priced hotel in the Buena Vista area that was clean, had a great pool, and included a fancy continental breakfast.  There are reasonable options available! 

Stay tuned for Disney packing necessities - coming soon.

What vacation preparations save you money on your trip?

GratiTuesday - We Survived Walt Disney!

After a year of budgeting, planning, and dreaming, we took off to Florida for our Walt Disney World vacation last week.

We spent five days touring the parks, meeting cartoon characters and princesses,

eating, riding, learning,

eating, laughing together as a family ... and did I mention eating?

We were blessed in many, many ways.

The ride turned out to be about 3 hours shorter than the directions indicated - each way.  Yippee!

We had four beautiful, gloriously sunny days in the park and another in the pool before the weather even hinted at rain.

Thanks to lots of planning and some coupons, we splurged on a few meals out in some really fun places.

My Big Helper got totally immersed in Epcot.  She was focused on Chinese acrobats, finding Kidcot stations, and exploring each country.  Aren't the French gardens beautiful?

We saw fabulous shows in each park - some Broadway style, others using puppets and animatronics, but all of them of a very high caliber - and not something we can see everyday here in this small Southern town!

Thanks to the lovely Fairy Godmothers-in-training at the Bippity Boppity Boutique, a princess was born - and in the special front window salon chair, no less!  She was thrilled.

Best of all, despite all the craziness that is Disney, we made memories that will last a lifetime.  Though the Little Man might've preferred to get eaten by more Bruces and meet a few less princesses, we spent a fantastic week together.


What could be better than a week spent as a family, laughing together?


For more GratiTuesday, visit Heavenly Homemakers.

Going to Disney yourself?  Come back later this week for Disney tips and tricks - including how to get the most bang for your Disney buck, which attractions shouldn't be missed, great places to splurge, and how to get oodles of character autographs!

Menu Plan Monday - October 10, 2011

We're back from Disney and getting ready to resume a mouse-free life.  As we unpack, do mountains of laundry, and get a few things organized for a visit from family, we're focusing on simple meals and fall flavors.

Here's what we're planning:

Breakfasts:
- Baked cinnamon oatmeal
- Scrambled eggs X 2, toast
- Applesauce muffins X 2
- Cereal with milk and bananas
- Whole wheat chocolate chip pumpkin bread (recipe coming soon!)

Lunches will be our usual assortment of leftovers and sandwiches with sliced veggies or fruit.

Dinners:
- Unpacking!  frozen pizza, carrot sticks, apple slices

- Parmesan potato soup, breadsticks

- Cubed steak, baked potatoes, guilty good green beans
- Breakfast pizza-for-dinner, fruit
- Roast beef, roasted veggies and potatoes, applesauce
- Vegetable beef soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, apple slices
- Grab it and Growl

Is it beginning to feel like fall where you live?  


For more Menu Plan Monday, visit OrgJunkie!

A Good Samaritan

 "Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. ³⁵ The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins,^[e] telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’"  ~ Luke 10:34-35

Most of us know the story of the Good Samaritan, don't we?  About how a Jewish man was robbed and beaten and left for dead along the side of the road, and even priests couldn't be bothered to help him.  Finally a Samaritan man, a man of another race, a race that historically couldn't get along with the Jews, stopped and helped - at great personal time and expense.  Great neighbor - great example, right?

I recently heard a story of another man.  A man who sliced into his fingers while working at one of those national home improvement stores.  This man knew immediately that something was wrong, and looking down, he saw his own bones.  He bent his fingers and gripped them tight, but nothing was stopping the blood from flowing, for he had severed an artery.

Before long blood was all over the aisle where the accident happened.

I'm thinking that even tiny cuts, when to the bone, when one's arteries are sliced open, make big messes.

Someone had to realize that something was seriously wrong - that this was not a paper-cut type of injury.

Yet, although the store manager was aware of the injury, the man bent over, trying to wipe his own blood off the floor.

Nobody stopped him.


Finally a friend shooed him away, and the store manager asked what he was going to do.

The man replied that he was going to hospital.


Shouldn't this have been obvious?  Shouldn't the blood sprayed around the store been a clue that emergency treatment was necessary?


The manager agreed that a hospital visit was a good choice - and waved goodbye as the man left the store to drive himself to the emergency room - severed artery, two sliced fingers, exposed bones and all.

Couldn't anyone have been spared for ten minutes to drive him there?  Aren't people more important than nail guns and drywall?


We humans have gotten increasingly busy over the centuries - and with our busyness comes an inflated sense of self-importance.  Really, is that e-mail that important?  Will the next sale make or break the world as we know it?  Is our stuff more important than the people around us?

Jesus asks us to disrupt our day.  He wants us to love our neighbors, and they won't always fit conveniently on our schedule.  Sometimes they're messy and needy and irritating - but Jesus doesn't ask us to love only the pretty neighbors, the neighbors with altogether lives, the ones who smell great and make a mean cookie.  He holds up the Good Samaritan and the beaten Jew as an example - two men whose races were worse than the Hatfields and McCoys.

In the end, following Jesus is always more important than whatever thing we have on our earthly agendas.   Only by setting aside our plans and picking up His can we truly follow Him.

“Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked.
  The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.”
   Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”  ~ Luke 10:36-37

Jesus, please disrupt my plans today and show me Yours.  Open my eyes to the people in need around me.  Amen.


Who could you reach out to today?

Multitudes on Monday - October 3, 2011

This week I am thankful for

a Creator who plans details I never imagine.  Mushroom circles!

friends to play with.

a day on the farm.

great helpers, lots of applesauce, wonderful prices on apples, and applesauce canned and stored for winter.

a home for Fluffy.  Only one kitten and the mommy cat remain!

What blessings have you been given this week?