Mera's craftastic view on life

New Year, Old Me.

meramclean18 — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 01:14:00 +0000

Why do we have to reinvent ourselves every year, especially in the dead of winter? Why can’t I promise to get in shape when I could walk outside in shorts and tennis shoes instead of taking 10 minutes gettin’ all layered up?! How about getting financially out of debt, just not right before you get the credit card bills from Christmas?! So, I am just going to be little old me…trying to just change one thing at a time.

Illinois Politics at it’s best…

meramclean18 — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 19:59:08 +0000

Thank you, Governor Pay To Play.

If you are not familiar with Illinois politics, then you will be soon. Our not so beloved Governor has been indicted on so many charges it takes 76 pages just to write them down. He was “cavalier” yesterday when asked about being wire-tapped. He was pushing for more campaign contributions by the end of the year before the law changed to limit campaign contribution amounts. He was trying to sell the Senate seat vacated by Obama. He has left Springfield in a stand still for his entire time in office. He and Madigan can’t get along…and they are supposedly in the same party. He won’t even live in the Governor’s mansion, but chooses to live for 2 terms in his house in Chicago…closer to the corrupt power brokers. I am disappointed, discouraged, dismayed.

Isn’t this blog about life with kids? You didn’t come here to read a rant on corrupt government. I don’t usually write down my opinions on politics, simply because people don’t typically care. This is a rant about one father’s choices to use his elected position to benefit himself. Some will argue that his wife and 2 daughters have benefitted from his power. I would offer this point of view. The LOVE of money is a root of all evils (I Timothy 6:10), and his children have been surrounded by this example. What will these young women become? They now have the legacy of a publicly corrupt father, who will probably be convicted eventually. There will be a battle in their hearts to remember the father they know, instead of the governor he has been. Where did Rod forget the immense responsibility God placed on his shoulders to impart faith, morals, and wisdom to the children He placed in his arms? I pray God will heal this family, and drawn them closer to Him. I pray for every father to remember his God given responsibility to “teach your children to choose the right path, and when they are older, they will remain upon it.

A great Holiday Recipe just for you!

meramclean18 — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 21:32:53 +0000

My friend, Cindy Rushton, has graciously given me this recipe, and I wanted to share it with you. It comes from an entire seminar Cindy does each year, called Let’s Make A Memory! This seminar is completely online…audios, ebooks, recipes, everything! You can access this website any time of the day or night, and she will help you to make your Christmas celebration much more memorable! Access to her seminar costs only $29.95, just click the following link to get more information. Enjoy your recipe!

Cindy’s Yummy Fruit Tea

http://www.cindysaffiliates.com/go.php?offer=meramclean&pid=10

There are recipes that I have used over the years that I just use occasionally. Then, there are staples to our diet. Then, there are ADDICTIONS! ha!

Ok…this is obviously an addiction, but a yummy one-if you ask me. We make this one in bulk and have it on hand year-round. It is a nice afternoon hot tea. A wonderfully refreshing mid-day iced tea. A wonderful treat at bedtime while you read aloud books to your little one. It is even perfect to carry in a thermos to the park or to a friend who is needing a mom-to-mom visit after birthing a baby, miscarrying, surgery, or just dire need of GIRL-TIME. Easy. Yummy. Give it a try!
What You Need:

2 quarts cranberry juice
1 (6 ounce) can frozen lemonade
3 pieces whole nutmeg
1 (46 ounce) can pineapple juice
2 cups apple juice
1 ½ tsp. ground ginger

What to Do:

Pour all juices in a crockpot or a big pan on the stove top. Add spices in a cheesecloth. Simmer until you are ready to serve. Great hot or cold.
About Cindy Rushton…

Cindy Rushton is the hostess of the Let’s Make a Memory, her annual holiday fling for mothers around the world. She is recording Preview Chats for the Let’s Make a Memory RIGHT NOW! Join her wonderful guests FREE for the next weeks as they count down to the Let’s Make a Memory Virtual Seminar (November 7-8–BUT! NEVER ENDING because it is an ONLINE seminar!). Get your ticket NOW and begin to dig into her FREE gifts now! Check out all of the details here:
http://www.cindysaffiliates.com/go.php?offer=meramclean&pid=10

Christmas time in the City…

meramclean18 — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 19:23:56 +0000

Jing-aling, here them ring, it’s Christmas time in the city! Celebrating this blessed season is amazingly different here in the suburbs than where I grew up…small town midwestern United States. Back home, I was single and living with my parents. There wasn’t a rush for Christmas decorations to be put up on Thanksgiving weekend. We put the artificial tree up around December 20th. Christmas lights were simple, just around the front porch, and only if it wasn’t too cold and snowy. If I wore a rePresents weren’t extravagant, we were more worried about if the car would make it into town with the amount of gas left in the tank. Here in suburbia as a parent, I have this inner rush to decorate the entire house by Saturday after Thanksgiving, with every storage box put away by Monday. Lights must string the entire front of the house, with some inside for good measure. The real tree is up and decorated with handmade and store bought ornaments. There are new seasonal pictures put out, and games, books, movies and toys just ready to stimulate that Christmas feeling. The CD’s got a Christmas lullaby sweetly covering the click-clack of doggy footsteps running to catch the baby’s dropped Christmas cookie. My therapy bill comes in the mail tomorrow…

A New Spanish Language Giveaway

meramclean18 — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:01:17 +0000

Ok, so we homeschool, and living where we do, we need to know Spanish to talk to people in the neighborhood. I have been having fun with some of the free Bilingual Spanish Language Resources on www.BocaBeth.com, and have been watching the budget to get some of her stuff for my homeschool curriculum. In Beth Butler’s newsletter today, she announced she is running a giveaway on her Gigante Bag ($75 value!) … which is filled with exactly what I want to purchase. OH YEA! So, because I believe in passing the good stuff along to all of you, go to her blog at www.bocabeth.net, and follow the directions to enter the contest! Let me know you did it, and

3 days before you leave on vacation.

meramclean18 — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 05:30:05 +0000

Do you feel excited? Anticipatory? Productive? I read recently the week before one leaves on vacation one’s productivity boosts tremendously. One starts making decisions more rapidly, often closing out projects that have been hanging around for awhile. There are many things that hang on a mother. Laundry, dishes, dusting, diapers, grocery shopping, balancing the checkbook, character training, the children’s academics, medical bills, the mortgage, credit card debt. These things can’t be “closed out” in a relatively short time, or ever in cases like laundry or dishes. I don’t have a desk where things can be cleared off. I have a bed where I lay awake at night as these tasks and projects and long term goals hang around in my thoughts like boxers sparring in a ring. Some only land glancing blows, while others give me a rabbit punch, and I dance around trying to block and move…fainting this way and that…just trying to release those ”projects” that hang around in my mind.

My husband and I are preparing for a week long trip away by ourselves. The first time in our marriage that we have left the kids for more than an extended weekend. I have a few emotional moments when I think about being away from my babies that long, but I have many more emotional moments when I contemplate what my mother and sister will need to know while taking care of my babies. I am trying to be more productive than usual, getting the kids laundry completely finished, creating an accurate phone list of neighbors and friends who will be helpful if something happens (or are good for a play date!), getting things lined up in case something happens to us while we are gone. Have I started packing yet? No. I have taken care of our trip details, but I can’t seem to imagine us for more than a glimpse of white sands, a flight, hoping I am not the only slightly overweight person at the pool. Know what I mean? I am so consumed by the fear my parents and sister won’t be able to find something, or don’t know where someone lives, trying to have everything prepared for them before I leave, and having a clean and orderly house. I think my joy is being stolen by the fear I will be judged a bad mom while I’m taking it easy somewhere far away. UGH!

So if you have words of encouragement, a Bible verse to share, or just a “suck it up and getter done!”, let me hear you. I think knowing I am not alone in this vast space called internet might just make me feel…well, not alone. Thanks.

mera

It’s Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas!

meramclean18 — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 20:15:49 +0000

Everywhere we shop! ARGH! I’m not even ready to contemplate December – I’m leaving for our cruise in 4 days! I was checking out another blog – www.100daystoChristmas.com – and it says 44 DAYS TO CHRISTMAS. Panic courses thru my veins. My breath catches in my throat. The world dims. But wait! Most of my shopping is done…at least for my kids. I have all ingredients for my hand made gifts. My hubby and I have a calendar and have big events already scheduled. Breathe in, Breathe out. Yes. I can do this. So, now circumnavigating my panic attack, my point returns to my adrenaline filled brain. Ah Yes. The blog. She, Jennifer Tankersley, has an interesting Giveaway this week. She’s giving away a Magnetic Grocery List Notepad from her other blog, www.ListPlanIt.com. Ok, so here’s my ugly confession. I love forms of every kind. I don’t have gray matter to waste, so my memory doesn’t exist anymore! I try to write it down so it doesn’t escape. (It still does escape, mind you, but at least I can find it later…if I can remember just where I put that list now…hmmm. So, go check out her blog, take care of your pre-Christmas panic, and start organizing your life. Leave a comment and tell me you did it, just so I know you were here!

What did I sign up for?

meramclean18 — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 03:05:19 +0000

It is the craziest thing, motherhood. First it makes you sick, then it makes you fat. Once you are so fat you can’t stand up without help, the true work begins. I’m not talking about the childbirth stories (I have 5, all different, none worthy of dinner conversation) I’m talking about the lack of control, the diminished attention span, the preplanning just for a walk around the block. Carefree days of eating late, sleeping in, roadtrips at the last minute…GONE. What can you expect? Bodily fluid on your clothes and hands. Crayons, legos, barrettes, cars, books, videos strewn throughout your house. In one sleepy dash across the house to find the missing yet all important blankie/binky/stuffed friend I have stepped on all of them. I care so much it hurts. I work so much harder than I ever thought I should, so does my dishwasher and washer and dryer. Funny, I haven’t named them yet, I guess I should. Everything else in this house has a name, and I am expected to remember them all. Heck, I can’t remember my own kids names, that’s why they also respond to their birth order numbers!

Yet, I am reminded of a passage in I Corinthians, chapter 15, verse 58, which reads,

“Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

This verse has held me together when things get rough or I am too tired to give the toddler’s nose another swipe as he runs by. I have been up all night with children’s nightmares, illness, my own issues. The next morning my bed screams my name, my eyelids feel scratchy, my head pounds. Yet my children still need to be fed, clothed, cleaned, and taught. My Savior keeps my eyes open and my head up just long enough for me to accomplish His mission for the day…being Mom.

My children want simply to be children. Carefree, innocent until observed by Mom, giggly children. They love to wrestle, burp, sing like no one can hear them and act surprised when everyone on the street stops and stares! They love to make up knock knock jokes that don’t make sense, then giggle ’til they fall off the chair. They love to show me the most disgusting bug or ball of snot just to see me turn green and stutter. I love to watch them hug everyone that makes them smile at church, and tackle the unsuspecting college student who needs some love. I love knowing my kids are so well loved they can’t help but love everyone around them (except the sibling who just took the last cheese stick).

I wish I could save the hugs, messy kisses, and dirty little arms sneaking around my neck while I read that book again for when they are with their own families, their own lives… all grown up. Why can’t we just ration the affection? Instead everything comes so hard, so fast we can’t take stock until we can’t find that messy kiss, that dirty little arm. The face cleans itself, along with the arm that is all grown up. Our child doesn’t need us anymore, at least not the way we can easily recognize. Maybe that’s God’s blessing, something to remember and hold onto when the house is finally quiet, everything stays where I put it.

That’s when I know I wasn’t moved. My labor in the Lord was not in vain.