The Chronister Family

Evening news report

Good evening, friends! Sorry it's been so long since my last post. We lost the computer for a while when it crashed. I'm slowly getting it back where I want it to be. On to tonight's subject, though:

So, I'm watching the evening news and one of the headline stories is that cloned "meat" has been okayed for human consumption!!!  What??? Did I hear that correctly? Yes, I did. I suppose I need to find a place to get some of that old fashioned style real meat. Heaven only knows what I will get if I keep picking up my meat from the grocery store. I am really freaked out by this and have told Danny that we will be switching to organic meats soon.

Okay, that's out of my system, so I'll sign off for tonight so that I can get the kids ready for bed. Ya'll take care! May God bless you and your families.

Staci

Quick knitted Christmas present

Good evening, friends! I just thought I'd pass along a quick pattern that I made up for a scarf. It knits up in about 4 hours or so, so you could finish one while watching television over the course of a few nights. I love to have my hands busy in the evenings.

Items needed:

One skein of Light and Lofty yarn in your choice of color, the insanely large size 17 knitting needles

To begin, cast on loosely any odd number of stitches. I usually use 17.

All Rows: K2tog, * yo, K2tog, repeat from * until last stitch. K1.

Knit until desired length of scarf is reached. Bind off and weave ends.

Give this as a frugal but beautiful gift that will be sure to keep the receipient warm all winter long!

May God bless you and your families this holiday season!

Staci

Where I'm at on gifts

Good evening, friends! Whew... I'm getting there. I have only two more people to buy for: my 2 yr old nephew (who isn't too fond of Becca because she played with his toys when we visited) and my BIL. I haven't a clue what to get either of them. I have most of my handmade gifts done. I need to do a quick batch of soap for about 5 bars. I figure two hand knitted dishcloths and bar of homemade soap is a good present. I have to tie the fabric around the tops of my cocoa jars and dip some more chocolate covered spoons to go with them. The handmade gifts are are for friends and cub scout leaders and violin teachers, etc.... Hopefully everyone will enjoy them.

My MIL will be here for a day just before we leave for Christmas. I am looking forward to seeing her. She just moved back to CONUS after living in Hawaii for something close to 13 years. So we'd only get to see her about once every other year or so. Now she lives in Atlanta, so it's only about 5 hours away. Sounds good, eh? I teased my husband and said that it's a day trip now, so she could come over one weekend every month. He said, "Uhhhhhhhh........." Hehehehe!

I have to get reservations made for our hotel for going to Florida. We're going to be down there Christmas Eve and Christmas night, traveling back here on the 26th. I may miss all of the After Christmas sales!! Better for my wallet, anyway.

I have to get some holiday baking done. I have all of the items bought and ready to go, it's just having time to do it that's the trick. We're going to get the boys involved in it so that they can really enjoy it. I may be making some buckeye candies, too. YummOh!

I have to get going now. We've got a long day tomorrow with a bowling tourney, and Cub Caroling, so we will need to be turning in. I hope that your preps are going well. May God bless you and your families!

Staci

CVS deal experts, HELP please!!

Good evening, friends! Okay, okay, I'm brand new to this ECB thing at CVS. I just got my card in the mail and did a deal when I had to run for baby tylenol and baby motrin for Becca. Long story short, I got a couple of bags of cough drops essentially for free after ECBs. So I've got 1.98 in ECBs. On to this week's deals:

I see that they've got Robitussin for $4.99 w/ $4 ECBs with purchase. So, if I get 2 of them, along with my $3 off manufacturer's coupon and my $2 off $10  CVS coupon and $1.98 in ECBs.....

$4.99x2=$9.98   -$3.00-$2.00-$1.98= $3.00 out of pocket in cash, plus $8.00 in ECBs would leave me with $5.00 in ECBs when I'm done?

Oh, and to get me above 10, I also have a coupon for a free box of CVS tissues. Would that count to put me over $10? Or would I be better off buying a pack of gum or something like that? I'll still get my box of tissues. Does that make sense? Oh, and the coupon for the tissues says that there's limit one per household per day, so if I can make it to CVS a couple of times I can get more than one box. Maybe I'll get more cough drops for DH with the ECBs.

So, what I'm asking is: is my math right on the above scenario? Also, I accidentally printed out more than one $2 off $10 coupon, so would I be able to use a second one later in the week? Please leave me some info in the comments! I appreciate your stopping by!

Take care and stay warm! May God bless you and your families.

Staci

Jerk Nachos

Good evening, friends! No, not nachos for a jerk, Jamaican Jerk Chicken Nachos. I went to a Pampered Chef cooking show the other night and I got to try these things... Oh MY! I enjoyed them so much that I made some for dinner tonight. The kids, predictably didn't like them much. Ah, well, at least I can have the leftovers tomorrow for lunch. I would love to post the recipe, but since it's in their Season's Best cook book, I think it's probably under copyright. If you can find a consultant to get a copy of the cookbook from, I highly recommend it. The book is only $1.00, so it would make a good stocking stuffer for any foodies on your gift list, as well.

That's about it for me tonight, friends. I hope you are having a good Advent. May God bless you and your families.

Staci

I'm trying to win a Pink Dyson

Good morning, friends! I wanted to share this contest with you. The idea of a pink vacuum is just too great! Think Pink! Have a look at Domestic Diva's blog to find out more about this contest.

May God bless you and your families.

Staci

Korean Stir Fry

What are we doing to ourselves and our world?

Good afternoon, friends. I have something serious to talk about. I'm not one to run blindly declaiming that we all need to purchase carbon offsets, or drive hybrid vehicles, or any of the other fashionable environmental theories currently being posited. That being said, I am quite concerned over an article I just read.

A month or so ago I read an article online about how the fish populations are shifting to more females than males, especially in areas around the output of sewage treatment facilities.

Here's an article that can explain what I mean: http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/mos/mos_104contraception.html

The jist of the article is that the extra hormones in our bodies due to artificial contraception (aka the pill) is being excreted into the water systems of the world. The result of all of that extra estrogen is that the fish are becoming more feminine. According to this article ( http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/InNews/estrogen2007.html ) the fish are becoming too feminine to even be able to reproduce properly.

Now, that was a month or so ago. Today I find this article ( http://health.msn.com/menshealth/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100169436&GT1=10416 ) on MSN.com. Do you not see that what affects the environment around us will also boomerang back onto us as well?  The third page of this article starts to delve into some of the reasons that testosterone is lower in males today than it has been historically. Some of the reasons given are pesticides, plastics, colognes, and cosmetics. My favorite reason given is that it must be because Americans are obese. And what causes us to be obese? The self same hormones that we're flushing down are toilets are coming back to us in our water supplies.

Hormones are very insidious things. According to the MSN article, "If you somehow managed to collect all the testosterone from your entire body, it would barely fog the bottom of a shot glass." So that small amount of testosterone is what makes a man a man. A small thyroid imbalance can cause cancers, obesity, pituitary disorders, etc.... Think about the number of women in the US alone who are on the pill. A quick Google search yielded a number around 100 million. Each individual woman may only be excreting a small amount, but it all adds up to a staggering sum when it re-enters the water table.

Most of the women on the pill aren't on it for medically necessary reasons. They simply want to avoid the "inconvenience" of an unplanned pregnancy. Most people in the world today think that they are entitled to have all of the s*x that they want to, without commitments, without entanglements, and without consequences. Well, sisters, that pill that gives you a license for lasciviousness is coming back to roost on all of our collective doorsteps. Pretty soon your mates may not have enough testosterone to live up to your expectations.

May God save us from ourselves.

Cub Scouts

Good evening, friends! We're home from Aaron's first meeting and my first committee meeting. He had a great time and well, I was in on a committee meeting! LOL! Not so bad as far as these things go. I got volunteered to try and get some buns donated for our Kickoff BBQ at the end of the month. Apparently, there are a lot of little Tiger cubs this year. We are going to be splitting into 3 dens because we have 18 kids! I hope it'll be fun!

My garden is done. I got tons of cherry tomatoes. I only got about 8-10 beefsteaks. I would have gotten more, but the birds helped themselves. I lost about 6 of them to blossom end rot, too. Ugh... I'll have to add some calcium to the soil, I guess. My green peppers didn't do so great, either. I only got about 10 peppers. Someone told me that bell peppers just don't do well in our area. Why didn't someone tell me that before I decided to plant the garden? LOL! Overall, I am pleased by my results considering it was my first attempt at gardening. The kids had a blast and ate a lot of cherry tomatoes. I learned lessons for next time. That's all you can ask for, isn't it?

Becca's birthday is at the end of the month. I am wondering where it went. I watch her walk around my house and just marvel at her. She's ahead of where the boys were at her age and they were scary advanced! God won't give me more than I can handle with her, so I'll have the graces I need to stay at least one step ahead of her!

We're continuing to have issues with my stepdaughter's mother. She has enrolled my stepdaughter into a private school and is refusing to give us any information that we've requested about it. We're finding out things about this school, but very slowly. I just don't understand how the judge can do anything other than give us custody of my stepdaughter just based on how much contempt her mother shows for the court orders in their entirety.

My dear Danny is working really hard on his qual. Soon he'll be done with it. I'm so proud of him for all of his hard work everyday, but for this in particular. He had to argue his case very hard to even be allowed to start the qual, as it's the most difficult qualification they have.

I went to the doctor today. The long and the short of it is that I am having pretty severe female problems. The doctor has ordered the tests that I asked her to, but she told me that she doubts that I have what I think I have. She of course wanted to put me directly on the pill to "solve" the problem. I said that I cannot take that for religious reasons. She then said that she'd refer me back to the gyn who treated me when I was pregnant with Becca. I will also be talking to a NFP doctor who's in Columbia to see what he suggests. Let's hope that we're able to figure out what it is that I am having problems with. Once we figure out what's wrong we can hope to find a way to treat it.

Well, all, I have to get ready to go to bed. May God bless you and your families!

Staci

Braces off tomorrow!!!

Good evening, friends! I just wanted to share the good news!!!! I will be getting my braces off tomorrow! One week later I will receive my retainers! I am sooooooo pleased! After 2 1/2 years, it's well past time.

Other news: we had sign up for Cub Scouts tonight. C.T. is officially a Bear Cub and Aaron is a Tiger Cub. Danny's the Assistant Den Leader for the Bears and I am the Committee Member for the Tigers. I told the other parents flat out that I could not be a leader due to the other commitments in my life (homeschooling, baby, custody fight, church volunteer, etc...). I wanted to have an active role in Aaron's scouting, however. I feel that a parent should be actively involved with the den. Since C.T. already had Danny, well, that leaves me for Aaron. I am so excited. He's always been a Daddy's boy while C.T. has been a Mama's boy, so switching them around will allow each of us to develop a bond with the boys differently.

To tie in to the camping line of thought, we got camping gear so that we can start tent camping as a family. There will be camping overnights with the scouts, so this was a needed purchase. Luckily we got plenty of stuff on sale. The price tag was still rather high, but we'll just hope that the boys enjoy it and then we've got our vacation stuff lined up for years to come!

We're allowing Becca to start putting herself to sleep these days. She's almost a year old, so we're trying to address sleep before weaning. She's doing better with it. The crying only lasts about 15 minutes now. *sigh* She's just a sweet little cuddle bug and she doesn't see why she should have to sleep without being held. We're keeping at it, though. If she spends at least the first few hours of the night in her bed, we're pleased. She's growing so fast. I can hardly believe that she's already almost 11 months old. She started walking yesterday 4-5 meaningful and determined steps. Then when I said, "She's walking!" she sat down decisively, as if to say, "Who was walking? Nope, not me."

I think I'd best be off for now. Take care and may God bless you and your families!

Staci