Getting a Little Soulful for a Moment Here...

I read a Pin tonight that said "Pray Hardest When It's Hardest to Pray." I almost called out an Amen right then and there! Why is it so hard to reach out through prayer when life is at a low point sometimes? When life is on the up and up I find it so easy to be thankful to God and praise Him for all the good in my life, but when things start to get a little gray, instead of asking for help I get down and wonder where He is now that I need Him. How selfish and prideful now that I see it in writing! And to be quite honest with my readers, I became angry with God recently because after all of my praying and praising I've actively been doing things were getting worse! I felt like my praying was actually hurting my situation and couldn't understand at the time why God would punish me for being faithful. I even erased my days' prayers off of my board at home (more about that in a bit!) and went on strike for a few days from my praying. What I had forgotten at the time was that God has a plan for all of us even if it's not always clear to us what it is. So yes, pray hardest when it's hardest to pray, but never forget to praise Him for the good in your life as well. Don't just ask Him for help when you need it most (life isn't a charity!), thank and praise Him for all that He has already done for you, no matter how minuscule.

So on another Pin (yes, I am obsessed with Pinterest!) that I saw was a frame that you would write daily love notes on the glass with dry erase markers. So I whipped out my scrapbook supplies and got to work making a very inexpensive mock-up of that craft. Instead of love notes though (which we do switch up with sometimes: "I Love You Because...") I write "Today I am Thankful For..." or "I Praise God For..." I encourage My Hubby to jot a note down if he feels like it, but some of the things that I've put down are as simple as Ladybug's Smile or Another Beautiful Day. Doesn't have to be much, but it gets my day started in the right direction when I take a few minutes just to think of a few praises to write down. Try it, I bet it will put a little bounce in your step too! :) 

So this post was a bit different than most and yet it's still connected to my last few. The things that I am most thankful for are what I've already blogged about, My Hubby, My Ladybug, my family, and the wonderful life that God has chosen for me--- even on those days when I have to remember to Pray Harder When It's Hardest to Pray!

Keeping Little Ladybug Entertained

As our little Ladybug gets older now she has been crawling and climbing all over our house. Unless we have her blocked into a corner of the living room she will use the whole floor as her playroom. She loves to sample each toy -- checking their strength, density, battery strength and taste, and then toss them aside and move on to the next job. And while I want to buy her only the best toys flashing, dancing and talking to me from the toy aisles at Target, our families' finances have me dashing away trying to hold my head high.

Since Ladybug was born, My Love and I have had to be a bit frugal when it comes to buying non-necessity items for our family. And what started as a sound financial decision, has turned into more one-on-one time with Ladybug and more freedom for her to explore and discover.

When you come to our house you still see our floors littered with linked rings, talking books and Sesame Street characters, but I also try to give her the freedom to explore Mama and Papa's treasures --with boundaries. We let her hold the remotes (away from her goobery mouth!), peer outside and scream through the windows, take a tumble when she's a little to mischievous, and help with an intriguing basket of clean clothes. And I've found that babies are just as easily entertained as they ever have been. I have given her a large plastic spoon and Tupperware to play with, clean washcloths and abandoned socks, and a large empty box from the grocery store. Why spend upwards of $50 for a baby toy (that they might not even enjoy!) when babies can still play with safe household items like when we were all kids. I cut little squares out of the box to plunk blocks through, hung some rings on the "door" and cut a few flaps to bend about into her box and she's spent all day playing with it!



Giddy-Up!

If her curiosity is getting her into too much trouble I intervene and become her playmate until we're both wore out. Her new favorite game, horse back ride! If I'm sitting on the ground she will crawl behind me and put her hands on my back, and when I look over my shoulder she is smiling and starts to giggle. We also read books, play peek-a-boo around furniture, fetch with the pooch, and Little Indian (as I've taken to call it), Little Indian started as a way to quiet her screams in public. We would pat our hand over her mouth as she squealed, and now she crawls around the house doing it to herself. If we're doing it with her she'll laugh and take our hand and pat it over our mouth. Oh the simple things that entertain our little family!

And my one piece of advice for new or first time moms -- from a mom that's still trying to figure out this motherhood role, is if you MUST have some extravagant toy for your little one borrow and swap with other moms, scoure online resources for a deal (Craigslist, eBay, your local paper), shop thrift stores (where I have scored numerous Leap Frog toys for around $3!) or stores like Once Upon a Child. They're babies, they don't know that another baby broke it in for them or that you got it for a bargain. And in my Ladybug's case, her favorite entertainment is her Mama and Papa-- getting down on her level and acting silly with monster noises, tickling tummies, and infectious laughter.

9 Months In 9 Months Out

Wow, our Little Ladybug is 9 months old today! My Love teased me today because I kept rejoicing her big day. And if you know me, I like any excuse for a celebration so I was eager to help our baby celebrate. It was a gorgeous summer day today so she and I spent the afternoon outside swimming in her wading pool and crawling around in the grass. She just adores our dog Meeko (a miniture American eskimo) and squealed with joy everytime we threw the ball for her. While it may be silly to celebrate such a small milestone in a child's long life, I think it's important to rejoice such a miracle. Not everyone is blessed enough to have a healthy and happy baby-- or a chlid at all, so I figure why not praise God for giving our family such a miracle and help her realize how special she is to us. So this short post tonight is dedicated to our Little Ladybug, our 9-month old miracle! Mommy and Daddy love you!

Nap Time Crunch TIme

Twice a day I am awarded at least an hour of uninterrupted time to do as I please while Ladybug (now 9 months old) takes her nap.While I would love nothing more than to spend that time sunbathing or sleeping, my new role as a SAHM  has changed those leisurely hours. Now I have Nap Time Crunch Time where I try to get as much done in as little time as I can.

I live by notes and to-do lists. There's such great satisfaction for me when I can cross things off and look around and see progress. Now that I know how precious spare time is I am able to get done these key chores every day while Ladybug rests: the dishes from the evening before, load of laundry, pick up toys (so that she can dump them back out when she awakens), get myself ready for the day (hmm, maybe even a little mascara today!), wash diapers (two wash cycles and hang dry every other day -- that's a post for another day), empty trashes, Swivel Sweep all of the pooches hair, and in the extra 15-20 minutes I might get if she sleeps late I grab my library book and speed read until I hear her giggling to her toys in her crib through the baby monitor.

Now I did say that nap time happens twice a day, so depending on the success of the morning Nap Time Crunch Time I might award myslef a nap, a reading break, or tackle larger projects like picking up the clutter in the garage, filing the towering pile of mail, and making more to-do lists. I believe that for me to be a successful Stay at Home Mom I need to get my chores done before My Love gets home so the three of us can spend family time together without having to worry about getting things done. And honestly, so far so good! There's many days that I wish I could have gotten more done, but for the most part we're able to have meals together every night and spend a couple hours catching up on the day and discussing what's on our minds.

Well it's already late, and I haven't started my to-do list for tomorrows Nap Time Crunch Time!

Reinventing this Blog

Wow, two years have already gone by since I started this blog!? Now that I see what I wrote back then, and remember where I hoped the blog would lead me, I wish I would have continued with it. Ever since I was in grade school I was a journaler, and I think that Blogs are the new journals --- or locked Lisa Frank diaries in my case. I am anxious to begin Blogging again, whether I am a help or inspiration to the cyber world, I don't know, but Blogging is an easy way to express my ideas, visions, dreams, and what have you into the cyber world to my friends, family, and followers. So here's to hoping that Tillie's Wonders is more of a success during Round 2! In this edition-- still feeling like a new wife and now a new mother! Stay tuned...

Ham n' Swiss Stromboli

This is a dish that My Love and I tried one night, and have been altering the ingrediants each time we make it. It's a dish that even I could tackle by myself while he was working in the basement. So try your luck with it, and have fun!

Ham 'n Swiss Stromboli
1 tube (11 oz.) refrigerated French bread
6 oz. thinly sliced deli ham
6 green onions, sliced
8 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
1 1/2 c. (6 oz.)f shredded Swiss cheese

Unroll dough on a greased baking sheet. Place ham over dough to with in 1/2" of edges; sprinkle evenly with onions, bacon, and cheese. Roll up jelly-roll style, starting with a long side. Pinch seams to seal and tuck ends under. Place seam side down on backing sheet. With a sharp knife, cut several 1/4" deep slits on top of loaf. Bake at 350 degrees for 26-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly before cutting.

**We've used deli sliced turkey in place of the ham and it was just as delicious. We've also added green olives (be careful with these though because they add a lot of salt), diced tomato, and even cream cheese. You just have to make sure that you don't load it up too thick or you won't be able to seal up the dough. I also use the precooked crumbled bacon that you find by the dressing at your grocery store. It's much faster and tastes the same!

Newlywed Cooking

As a newly wed, I have come to find my "wifely duties" a little harder than I thought. I'm struggling with the tradition of having dinner on the table by 6:00, and waiting for my husband in an apron at the front door. In our relationship, My Love and I have an understanding that he's the chef in our duo. He has a passion for cooking and the talent to make even mac-n-cheese taste phenominal. Why then, should I have to struggle with this tradition of being a domestic wife? Since My Love and I started dating (100 years ago it seems!) I've been getting grief for not cooking for my husband. Friends, dinner guests, family, and the in-laws all make the same disapproving face and the inevitable "What!?" gasp whenever I say that I don't cook, or rather, that I don't know how to cook. So when I find a recipe that even I can tackle, I'm ecstatic! I scour websites like www.kraftfoods.com and www.allrecipes.com for easy to follow recipes. My criteria for an 'easy to follow recipe' is a photo of what it should look like ('should' being the key word here), ingredients that I can actually locate in my grocery store, and few enough steps that I can fit the recipe on one recipe card. So in my upcoming blogs I'll share recipes that are easy (ones even the poorest domestic wife can handle), fun, and delicious!

                                                                                -Tillie