More on a TV-Free Lifestyle

February 28, 2009 By 2 Comments

After a brief brownie diversion on Friday, I thought we could return to the discussion launched the other day with my post, “Could You Live TV-Free?”

This is basically a resource page. I found others online who are committed to collecting research, articles and links on this topic of living TV-free and wanted to share them with you:

Be sure to glance through the reader comments on my first TV-Free post. They included excellent glimpses into life with limited television, TV-free households, and those who enjoy it regularly. I appreciated all of the insight and stories.

And just so you know, Sunday will be TV-free for me.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Food on Fridays: One-Bowl Brownies

February 26, 2009 By 14 Comments

fof

Join the Food on Fridays carnival–any post related to the topic of food is welcome!

To participate, write up a post (borrow Mr. Broccoli-Button, if you like), publish, then pop over here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).

You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.

Food on Fridays Participants

  1. Ship Full O’ Pirates (Cheese-y Garlicky Biscuits)
  2. Stretch Mark Mama (Quesa-Pizzas)
  3. Newlyweds (Mardi Gras King’s Cake)
  4. Homemade and Wholesome (Soup vs. V8)
  5. Like Mother, Like Daughter (Bland Diet & Tray Meals–inspired by flu season)
  6. thebyrdhouse (sweet potato fries)
  7. Tuesday Afternoons (Cajun Chicken Fettuccine)

Food on Fridays with Ann

[Updated with photos--scroll down!]

Have you noticed my chocolate trend?

Last week, it was Absurdly Easy Chocolate Cake. I’ve also posted about Chocolate Gravy, and of course there’s my ongoing Nutella-mania. Even Chocolate-Chip Pumpkin Bread (or “Pumpkin Chocolate-Chip Bread,” depending on what you want to emphasize) contains chocolate.

Well, here’s yet another dose of chocolate.

One-Bowl Brownies

4 squares unsweetened chocolate

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter or marg.

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 teas. vanilla

1 cup flour

1 cup chopped nuts or chocolate chips or white chocolate chips (optional, but we really like the white chocolate chips)

Preheat to 325 degrees.

Melt chocolate and margarine/butter in microwaveable bowl on high 2 mins or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted.

Stir sugar into chocolate until well blended. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour and nuts until well blended. Spread in greased, foil-lined (I just spray with Pam and forget the foil) 12×9 inch baking pan.

Bake 30-35 mins (or until toothpick comes out clean). DO NOT OVERBAKE.

(source: Baker’s unsweetened chocolate box)

Do not overbake. Do not modify this recipe to try to make it healthier. Use all the eggs. All the sugar. All the butter. If you’ve got the chocolate chips, put ‘em in.

And then…prepare to swoon.

(To clarify, the ecstatic swooning would be a reaction to the taste, not the calories or fat content.)

Updated with sort of step-by-step shots, mostly for entertainment rather than instruction. Final snapshot is swoon-worthy; prepare the fainting couch.

It starts with unsweetened chocolate. Usually I use Baker’s, who kindly provided me with the recipe. This time I’m using Trader Joe’s Belgian chocolate, because we like to think we’re kind of Belgian-y around here. And the wrapper was very appealing with the vintage, foreign postage stamp design.

unsweetenechoc

Then the butter (we only use butter–no margarine for Belgian-y Kroekers) and chocolate go into the microwave for a minute or a minute-and-a-half. It melts. You stir. It smells divine. The kids start to show up in the kitchen. “Whatcha makin’, Mom?”

butterchoc

Stir in two cups of sugar. It sure looks like a lot of sugar. Try not to panic.

sugarchoc

And here, the brownies offer us a little Rorschach fun–in reverse, white-on-black.

sugarchoc2

Don’t forget the chocolate chips. We didn’t have white. Sigh. It was a little disappointing, but we didn’t let it stop us.

 

chocchipschoc

A very important step and perhaps the reason I’m partial to baking over cooking.

bowl

And finally, step away from your keyboard–don’t want to be responsible for any short circuiting caused by a stream of drool.

browniesplate

Please note their super-rich, mega-moist texture and the melty chocolate chip oozing from the back brownie.

I’ll write about lentils or pumpkin soup later. For now, let’s just all sit back and take in the chocolate-y goodness.

Filed Under: family, Food, Food on Fridays, home Tagged With: , ,

Could You Live TV-Free?

February 24, 2009 By 23 Comments

Eileen Button, an acquaintance from the Festival of Faith & Writing, writes an opinion piece for a Michigan newspaper.

This one is about TV-free living.

She explains:

I know people who are not tempted by their own sets, but we were. Night after night, it beckoned us to watch it…We let it.

In the process, I’m afraid that it kept us from one another. As we sat in a darkened room with the mesmerizing images flickering before our eager eyes, we chose to communicate with technology rather than one another.

Something clicked, so to speak, and she and her husband realized they wanted more.

They wanted more with each other–more connection, more conversation, more fun and laughter–so they chose to do with less of the thing that stole time and diverted attention from each other.

They put away their TV.

They carried it out of the family room and banished it to the basement, only to be brought out for an occasional Wii-fest.

Their TV-free life resulted in long walks in the woods. Conversation. Unexpected hand-holding. Rearranging furniture to accommodate conversation instead of screen-staring.

I realize our decision to divorce ourselves from network programming will seem odd to some. I also realize it will require more of me as a parent. My children will want more of my time, laughter and conversation. They’ll ask me even more questions to which I have absolutely no answers. They’ll get into each other’s faces and want to fight. And, they’ll want to play board games even though board games make me want to poke my eyes out with a fork.

But I know there will come a day when my children will be grown and will no longer be available to me night after night. All that will remain of their childhoods is the memory of what it was like to have them.

Putting the TV completely away won’t work for everyone. Some families have chosen to limit instead of completely eliminate TV. Others find certain programs a pleasure to laugh through together and talk about later. And for many, it is their primary source of entertainment, and they wouldn’t dream of giving it up.

I don’t think Eileen is saying for an instant that a TV-free life is right for everyone.

She simply tells her story and ends with the gentle reminder that we must at least recognize that there’s a battle going on in our society–a battle for our minds, time and attention:

We must all decide for ourselves the degree to which we will engage with technology. Those who believe that spending hours upon hours with our sets rather than one another risk losing something more important than high quality reception.

Sobering advice from a mom reaping the benefits of a slower, lower-tech life.

Would you say you’re a high-volume TV consumer, or low to little?

And how much does it impact family interaction?

Join the discussions in the comments. I’m very curious.

Filed Under: change, children, family, home, motherhood, nature, parenting, self-discovery, simplicity, slowing, taking risks

Make-Do Mondays: A Deck of Cards

February 23, 2009 By 6 Comments

makedomondays

Make-Do Mondays is a carnival dedicated to sharing the creative, frugal or even humble ways we’re making-do.

To participate in Make-Do Mondays, simply join in the discussion via the comments or Mr. Linky.

The Mr. Linky for WordPress.com isn’t as robust as the version that Typepad and Blogger can use, but I’m making do in all kinds of ways. Even with blog technology.

Here’s how Mr. Linky works:

Click on the Mr. Linky icon, and a separate page will pop up where you type in your name and paste in the url of your new Make-Do Mondays post. Click enter and it should be live. If it doesn’t work, just include the link in the comments.

To visit people’s posts, click on Mr. Linky and when the page comes up, click on a name. You should be taken right to the page that they provided.

Make-Do Mondays Participants

  1. citystreams (easy child-proof solution–for a while)
  2. Ship Full O’ Pirates (T-shirt sewing-machine cover & curtains)
  3. My Daily Round (homemade mayonnaise)
  4. Judith Coughlin (getting motivated to exercise)
  5. The Goat (buy once–use twice)

Make-Do Mondays with Ann

Today’s make-do post is simple:

Cards.

cards

The kids have started playing several card games (and taking photos of their favorite decks).

They like a game called Spoons, another they call Nerts (making-do using normal cards, of course, not the commercial version), and even simple games like Go Fish and War.

Most of these games expand to accommodate multiple players. A deck can be tossed into a purse or backpack without weighing anybody down. No cords or batteries are needed. Some games teach strategy and math skills. And quite often some interaction is possible during play.

Pretty nice benefits from a low-tech, low-cost, make-do activity.

We all played a card game together at my parents’ house the other day. Three generations gathered around a table laughing, strategizing and talking–it provided make-do fun for everyone.

I think we were building a memory.

And all we needed was a deck of cards.

Filed Under: creativity, family, frugality, home, Make-Do Mondays, motherhood, parenting, simplicity, slowing

Through the Garage Door

February 22, 2009 By 13 Comments

Three first-time guests were coming to my house for a women’s ministry planning meeting.

Before their arrival, the kids and I scooped up clothes to hurl into the laundry room and tossed toys into hiding.

I’d shove stacks of papers and boxes of books into the kids’ arms.

“Take this to the garage,” I’d instruct. “We’ll hide it there.”

“Where?” they’d ask.

“It doesn’t matter. Anywhere. We just need to get it out of the way.”

So they did. They tossed things every which way, no rhyme or reason, no attempt at order. Piles on piles, teetering on the chest freezer, balanced precariously as they might on the end of the Cat-in-the-Hat’s puffy white-gloved finger.

The garage was a carnival of clutter. A maze of mess.

But the house itself was looking pretty calm. The place looked almost civilized.

I lit a vanilla candle and set out a platter of pumpkin-chocolate-chip muffins. Some tea. A pitcher of water.

At the last minute, I realized the bathroom trash needed to be emptied.

“Here,” I said, tying up the plastic sack and handing it to our youngest. “Could you please run that out to the big trash can?”

“Which can?”

“The big green one outside by the shed.”

“Okay!”

As he trotted off to complete the task, I unlocked the front door and turned on the outside lights.

A few minutes later, I heard the kids exclaim, “They’re here!”

But the guests’ voices weren’t coming from the front door.

They were coming from the back.

From…the garage.

(insert overlapping Kroeker voices whispering to one another: “what?” “why are they coming that way?” “what’s going on?” “who let them in?”)

“Hello!” one of the ladies called out. “Anybody home?”

“Welcome, welcome!” I said,  inviting them inside and taking coats. “I’m so glad you’re here. Come on in. But, may I ask, why on earth did you come through the garage?”

“The door was open,” one of them explained. “When we saw it open, we assumed you wanted us to come through that way.”

Oh, no.

All that work.

All that shoving away and hiding the junk of our lives was for nothing.

They squeezed right through the middle of it all–right through the middle of our secrets.

That last-minute decison to send the youngest out with the trash is what did it. He ran out, tossed the trash, and raced back in without shutting the door.

And now these three ladies saw the deepest, darkest, messiest place in my home.

“That’s where I hid everything!” I admitted.

They assured me that everyone has a room or place like that.

I can’t imagine theirs could compete with my gargantuan tribute to clutter-mismanagement. I had to resolve that I simply was letting them into my life right away.

They’ve seen the mess.

I have no secrets.

And they appear to have accepted me anyway.

While I chip away at those stacks, sorting papers, craft projects, cassette tapes, CDs, books, shoes, paints, brushes, hair clips and old lamps, I’ll remember that night.

The night I was reminded that it’s okay to let people in through the back door of our lives.

And if they don’t like what they see there, if they can’t stand the mess–the teetering piles of pain and sin and fear that we store inside of us in grimy garage-like spots in our hearts–then maybe it’s just as well. They’d only find out later, on a spring day when I left the door open myself.

If they can stand the mess, if they can make their way through the shadowy, muddy maze and into my home, I’m here.

I’m in the kitchen, sharing a platter of pumpkin chocolate-chip muffins.

And they are welcome.

Anytime.

Filed Under: change, children, family, home, motherhood, parenting, self-discovery, taking risks

Food on Fridays: Absurdly Easy Chocolate Cake

February 19, 2009 By 11 Comments

fof

Join the Food on Fridays carnival–any post related to the topic of food is welcome!

To link up, click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).

You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.

Food on Fridays Participants

  1. Stretch Mark Mama (Family-Pleasing Sloppy Joes)
  2. Newlyweds! (Sweet & Spicy Pickles)
  3. thebyrdhouse (Leftover Flank Steak or Chicken Ultimate Nachos)
  4. Like Mother, Like Daughter (Rutabaga Fries)
  5. Ship Full O’ Pirates (Pirate Bread)
  6. This Pilgrimage (Cannelloni & Cheesecake)

Food on Fridays with Ann

We’ve been making this chocolate cake recipe for years. It’s called “Absurdly Easy Chocolate Cake.”

It’s well named. It really is absurdly easy, fast, economical, and simple. It’s so foolproof, my kids learned to stir it up when they could barely pronounce “absurdly,” and the final product always turned out perfectly. 

Another feature is that it uses just a few ingredients that we almost always have on hand (recipe also found at this site). You know what that means?

You can have chocolate cake anytime.

Absurdly Easy Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

3 cups flour (680 grams)

2 cups sugar (450 grams) (read this first)

6 tablespoons cocoa (100 grams)

2 teaspoons baking soda (10 cc’s = 10 ml)

1 teaspoon salt (5 cc’s = 5 ml)

3/4 cup vegetable oil (200 cc’s)

2 tablespoon vinegar (30 cc’s)

2 teaspoon vanilla (10 cc’s)

2 cup cold water (480 cc’s)

Directions

Mix dry ingredients.

Add wet ingredients.

Stir until smooth.

Grease & flour pan(s).

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

When cool, frost.

(Makes two-layer cake or one sheet cake.)

More Friday Carnivals

Filed Under: family, Food, Food on Fridays, frugality, home, simplicity

Red Light, Green Light

February 18, 2009 By 11 Comments

greenlight

 

Some days are green-light days.

All the traffic lights change to green just as you’re approaching—the line of waiting cars have shifted into motion by the time you arrive so that you don’t even have to tap on the brakes.

So fluid. So smooth.

A parking spot opens up directly in front of the store where you’re hoping to find two items. You walk in and, hey! There they are, exactly what you wanted, hanging on the very front rack, in the color you were hoping for.

On sale.

And when you go to checkout, the lane is clear and the clerk smiles. She surprises you with an unadvertised one-day discount and hands you a complimentary hand lotion in your favorite scent.

Back home, your blog post seems to pour out of you as smooth as that lotion. Every visitor leaves a friendly comment. Your best friend from childhood joins Facebook, and you win a scholarship to BlogHer.

Later that evening your husband runs the vacuum without being asked. Your kids thank you for dinner and hug you “just because.” Your favorite performer nails her song on American Idol.

You find a box of imported chocolates in your bedside drawer that you forgot about.

And under the box, a five-dollar bill.

I call those green-light days.

The trouble is that there are the other days.

redlight

The red-light days.

These are the days where you’re running late because the hair dryer broke, the toast burns, and you discover that the dog chewed up one of your leather boots.

You step on a Matchbox car, the preschooler wets her pants, you realize you left a load of laundry souring in the washer, and somebody spills her juice. The glass rolls off the table and shatters on the kitchen floor.

You’re late to an important meeting and hit every single light on the way to run an errand.

every.

single.

light.

So halting. So choppy.

You park in the farthest spot from the door, it starts to rain, and after scouring every rack, you can’t find what you’re looking for. In the parking lot, you drop your purse, the contents fall into a puddle by the car door, and your favorite mascara rolls too far to reach.

Back home you eat a box of Girl Scout Thin Mints while trying to draft a post for your blog. Nothing reads quite right. Just as you’re about to give up and log off, someone leaves a comment criticizing your header and layout, your last post, your type font, and your profile picture.

The kids stare at dinner, refusing to take a bite.

Your favorite performer is voted off American Idol.

Your hidden Toblerone bar is missing.

Your husband forgets to flush.

And you break a nail.

Red-light days.

A green-light day wouldn’t have to be quite so charmed as the sample day to qualify as a green-light day. It’s just that some days seem to unfold so much more easily than others. So I think of those smoother days as green-light days.

Likewise, the day wouldn’t have to be that bad to qualify as a red-light day. Nor are red-light days necessarily disastrous; life could get much worse. Red-light days just feel like they’re filled with a series of aggravations and delays, as if obstacles are being hurled in your path at every turn.

So…what was today for you?

Red light?   

 or        

Green light?

Filed Under: change, family, self-discovery

Make-Do Mondays: Make-Do Heritage

February 15, 2009 By 8 Comments

 makedomondays

Make-Do Mondays is a carnival dedicated to sharing the creative, frugal or even humble ways we’re making-do.

To participate in Make-Do Mondays, simply explain some way that you’re making do. Join in the discussion via the comments or Mr. Linky.

The Mr. Linky for WordPress.com isn’t as slick as what Typepad and Blogger can use, but I figure I should make-do with that, as well.

Here’s how Mr. Linky works:

Click on the Mr. Linky icon, and a separate page will pop up where you type in your name and paste in the url of your new Make-Do Mondays post. Click enter and it should be live. If it doesn’t work, just include the link in the comments.

To visit people’s posts, click on Mr. Linky and when the page comes up, click on a name. You should be taken right to the page that they provided.

Make-Do Mondays Participants

  1. Like Mother, Like Daughter (hiding ugly tile)
  2. Leslie at Rag-Rugging Reverie (how rag rugs satisfy her frugal nature)

Make-Do Mondays with Ann

The Belgian Wonder and I both come from a long line of make-doers.  

The Belgian Wonder grew up as a missionary kid. He and his siblings learned to make-do in creative ways. For example, the Belgian Wonder wanted a radio in his bedroom, but had no money to buy one from the store. Instead of moping around and feeling sorry for himself, he asked for permission to salvage the radio, speakers, and battery from a junked car that the family kept for spare parts. He rigged it all up in a hand-me-down desk in his bedroom–voila!  Make-do music!

I, too, grew up in a family that practiced frugality and thrift. Both of my parents grew up in lean times–my dad was a Depression-era baby, and my mom was a young girl during WWII. They remember simplicity modeled by their parents and passed along that value to me. We shopped at auctions and garage sales for clothes, furniture, antiques and miscellaneous stuff.

So I guess you could say its our heritage. We’re comfortable washing out plastic storage bags to reuse in our sack lunches and shopping at used book sales while wearing socks with holes in the toes.

But for one day, we’re breaking out of our make-do mindset.

Today is our anniversary, and we are pulling out the good socks to wear when we eat out. At a restaurant.

It’s a rare exception to our make-do mentality.

What about you?

Filed Under: change, Compacting, creativity, family, frugality, home, Make-Do Mondays, self-discovery, simplicity, slowing

Food on Fridays: PG Tips

February 12, 2009 By 14 Comments

fof

Join the Food on Fridays carnival–any post you compose that’s remotely related to the subject of food is welcome!

To link up, click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post.

You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.

Food on Fridays Participants

  1. Shannon at A Crafty Mom Eats (egg- and dairy-free cupcakes)
  2. Kim at Forever Wherever (cranberry chicken pizza)
  3. Stretch Mark Mama (fudgy chocolate fondue)
  4. Jenna at Newlyweds (red velvet cupcakes)
  5. Tammy at This Pilgrimage (baking powder/leavening alternative)
  6. Gravity of Motion (snake cake & cookies)
  7. hopeannfaith (bananas)
  8. Jess at Just a Blink (not-from-scratch Valentine Desserts)

 Food on Fridays with Ann

One of my favorite black teas is PG Tips. It’s available at my local Kroger, but because it’s imported from England, I find it a bit pricey. And seeing as I’m relatively frugal, I rarely splurge for it.

Instead, I asked for a box at Christmas.

The kids delivered! They lovingly wrapped up a box of PG Tips in festive paper and handed it to me with great anticipation.

I made a cup of Christmas tea.

This is how it looks to me in the morning–not only because I’m stumbling into the kitchen bleary-eyed, but also because I find PG Tips to be a bit dreamy:

 

dreamypgtips

Since that first cup on Christmas morning, I’ve been rationing out the tea bags, interspersing plain ol’ Lipton from time to time and saving PG Tips for the days when I really need a pick-me-up.

Unfortunately….

pgtipslonebag

I’m down to my last bag.

I guess tomorrow, I’m back to Lipton.

I think I might drop a few hints to The Belgian Wonder, however, in case he needs an idea for Valentine’s Day…Kroger is just around the corner, where he could grab a box of PG Tips on his way home from work (to win my heart completely, he easily could pair it with a jar of Nutella).

Tea with Nutella?

Now that’s love.

More Friday Carnivals

Filed Under: Food, Food on Fridays, simplicity, tea

An Object at Rest

February 12, 2009 By 10 Comments

I was invited to speak at a moms’ group this morning.

I shared with them some stories and ideas about rest.

On the drive home, I thought about Newton’s First Law of Physics again.

As you may recall from yesterday’s post, Newton’s First Law goes something like this:  an object at rest tends to stay at rest, and an object in motion tends to stay in motion.

I didn’t explore this idea in my talk, but I kind of wish I had it worked out. After all, doesn’t every mother of preschoolers want to ponder the impact of physics on her spiritual life at 9:30 in the morning while finishing up a cinnamon roll?

Well, they were spared.

But I’m afraid you weren’t.

Here’s what I’m thinking.

Our culture expects us to get in motion and stay in motion. Very little is built into the rhythm of society to support rest.

In Belgium, where my husband grew up, the culture knows how to take a break. They understand the power of slow. 

Businesses shut down on Sundays, for example, and families simply plan ahead, making sure they have bread on hand or whatever they need for their Sunday meals. Though that little country is mostly secular, this aspect of its religious roots has remained, supporting the idea of setting one day apart as special.

Here in the United States, however, one must actually make an effort to go against the cultural flow, where the 24/7 mentality assumes that a break is not necessary. Most restaurants, grocery stores and malls are open every day for business as usual. 

No need to stop.

No need to slow down or pause.

No need to rest.

If I want to rest, I have to make it happen in spite of the surrounding culture–fighting against it, even.

Because here in my suburb, most everyone is in motion and tends to stay in motion unless an external force is applied to stop them.

To find rest, I must downshift and veer out of the high-speed traffic around me, away from the fast lane and onto the off ramp. I’m hoping to coast, if possible, into greener pastures beside still waters.

In the quiet of communing with the Father through the rest that’s possible in Jesus Christ, I find my soul restored.

I need that break.

I need pauses.

Some people seem to thrive in supersonic mode.

I’m not one of those people.

I need to live a life that’s not so fast.

I need to rest.

Filed Under: change, home, self-discovery, simplicity, slowing