16 Years of Married Bliss

Traditional Anniversary Gifts

Hubbers and I are celebrating 16 years of marriage in just a day or two.  I was reading a book about "traditional" gifts for XX number of years of marriage and after an internet search I found that there is no traditional gift for 16 years.  A modern gift would be  Silver Hollow-ware (what is that, anyway?) or travel.  But what about people like us who have more kids love than money?

Hubbers is an act of service love language guy.  I  try to do things for him to show that I love him.  I will try to make him a special dessert or give a good back rub, or make a favorite dinner, but it seems that I never can find the best present for purchasing.  I've stopped trying.

He likes to give me flowers but they have to be the kind that I can transplant and grow in or around our home.  This is the kind of gift that keeps on giving and I've come to really enjoy it.  I'd also like a night out without having to cook, but again, the budget comes into play.

So, what I'm giving Hubbers for our anniversary this year is no surprise.  I will continue my life-long job of bathing him in all the love he can take.  He has had my heart since before he ever knew. 

It's silver and *somewhat* hollow.

Sweetie, here's to 100 more years together.  I love you.

The Good Wife's Guide eBook

I've been reading this book avidly now for a while.  It's not my usual "racing speed" that compels me to finish a book in just days.  I'm taking my time, thinking through each page, each sentence, each idea presented.  And Darlene Schacht, The Time-Warp Wife, presents a lot of very heavy ideas for me to churn through.

Here's the book I'm talking about:







I know that you're totally thinking "what a horribly old fashioned, out of date, oppressing idea THAT is!".  Well, you'd be wrong.  The Good Wife's Guide reminds us of our calling to be the help meet to our spouse.  But what is a help meet?

Here's what the dictionary says:

help·meet  (hlpmt) n. A helpmate. [From misunderstanding of the phrase an help meet for him, a helper suitable for him (Adam), in Genesis 2:18, referring to Eve.]

But let's get a little more in depth, a little more to help us understand.  Here's what the root words mean from the Hebrew:

HELP

Strong's # 5828 (Hebrew = ezer) aid: -- help
Strong's Root = # 5826 (Hebrew = azar)  azar = prime root: to surround, ie, protect or aid: help, succour
Gesenius adds that the primary idea lies in girding, surrounding, hence defending

MEET

(Hebrew = kenegdo) corresponding to, counterpart to, equal to matching

The traditional teaching for the woman as help (meet) is that of assistant or helper subservient to the one being helped. This definition would appear to line up with Strong's definition of the word. However, if you look at the context of every other use of the word ezer in the scripture, you will see that ezer refers to either God or military allies. In all other cases the one giving the help is superior to the one receiving the help. Adding kenegdo (meet) modifies the meaning to that of equal rather than superior status. Scripture is so awesome. God says just what He means.

Dr. Susan Hyatt gives the following definition from her book In the Spirit We're Equal "Re: Hebrew ezer kenegdo. In Genesis 2:18, the word "helpmeet" does not occur. The Hebrew expression ezer kenegdo appears, meaning "one who is the same as the other and who surrounds, protects, aids, helps, supports." There is no indication of inferiority or of a secondary position in an hierarchical separation of the male and female "spheres" of responsibility, authority, or social position.

The word ezer is used twice in the Old Testament to refer to the female and 14 times to refer to God. For example, in the Psalms when David says, "The Lord is my Helper," he uses the word ezer."

FOR A MORE DETAILED EXPLANATION CLICK HERE

That's one big chunk of words, but mostly what it boils down to (as my limited brain understands it) is that a help meet is Adam's equal, his partner.

Back to the book:  God has uniquely prepared me to be my husband's partner in life, his HELP MEET.  And isn't that what marriage is supposed to be about, anyway?

Darlene has prepared for me a path to use as my guide in being the very best partner I can for my sweet Hubbers.  She uses Biblical support to share with me (and YOU) why that particular idea is pertinent.  She reminds me why, when I feel downtrodden, un-respected and unappreciated, that it's still okay.  The Good Wife's Guide reminds me that my man still needs me to be that woman who worked to be attractive to him and to accept that he is as human as I, not flawless.  She reminds me that I am modeling every. single. thing! I do for my children, four of them girls, so it better be worthwhile.

Working in the home (aka: housewife) is a service that we should joyfully take on when we are prepared in God's word.  And I don't have to be perfect in my household, just do my best to God's glory.

And that sticky "submission" part of the Bible?  Where God tells us:

“Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.” Ephesians 5:22-24

Yep.  That's addressed in The Good Wife's Guide, too.  A short, favorite quote from this section:

"Scripture isn't a candy bowl by which we pick and choose our favorite words hoping to satiate our palette.  It's a well-balanced diet of truth which is difficult to swallow at times, but nevertheless it brings nourishment to our soul."

Stings a little, huh?



My favorite part is the Practical Application section.  I crave to know how other women manage their homes when mine looks, at times, like the crap bomb exploded and I didn't care.  There are lists!!  I love me some awesome lists.  Squee!

I'm still churning through this book.  I'm sure I will continue to dig deeply in this for a time to come.  I want to thank Darlene for writing this book, which seems to have come at the utmost proper time.  God surely does grace us with the words we need exactly when we need them.

Be sure to visit The Time-Warp Wife and pick up a copy of The Good Wife's Guide.





I received a copy of The Good Wife's Guide in exchange for my review.  Truth be told, I'd have bought and reviewed it on my own!

Weekly Report, Now GLUTEN FREE!

So. Life on the psuedo-farm is good.  I really really need to till my garden and put in the spinach, onions and lettuce that thrive in this cooler weather, but can't do that without the help of Hubbers and he's busy lately.

The baby chickens, all 14 of them, are getting feathers!  And big - we are supposed to be working on building a coop today but Hubbers is sleeping in.  I'm menu planning in the meantime.

Which brings me to the gist of this post!  Hubbers is doing the Eat Right for Your Type diet and has become essentially grain free.  So the cooking that I really like to do - the bad stuff like lasagna, spaghetti, pizza, bread-y things - is now verboten.  I made a gluten free pizza crust a few weeks ago from a Bob's Red Mill mix that everyone liked, but Bob's is a bit on the pricey side at times. 

To solve this problem I headed to the internets to find a homemade solution.  Here's what I came up with and am looking forward to trying!  Gluten-Free Pizza Crust on Recipe Zaar.  I have already invested in the more expensive brown rice flour, tapioca starch, xantham gum and so on, so most of what this recipe calls for is on hand. I'll post my results after dinner tonight...

Has eating gluten free and "right for my type" helped me lose weight?  Probably not, but eating more healthy is good for all of us in the long run.

Breast Cancer in Men?

I found this article today and I'm reposting it here for my fellow "men". My husband's aunt (mom's sister) died of breast cancer. No way I'm letting my man get away without checking his own second favorite mammary glands for signs.

When Rob Fechtner of Napa woke up one morning in 2006 to a sore spot on his chest and a strange indentation in his nipple, his first thought was that he'd pulled a muscle. Even his doctor told him it was probably nothing to worry about.

But the inverted nipple bothered him, and with a little online research he learned it was a symptom of breast cancer - in men as well as women. He pushed his doctor for a mammogram, and two days later he learned that he did, in fact, have breast cancer. He's since had a mastectomy and been treated with chemotherapy.

"Before I went on the Internet, I had no idea men could get breast cancer," said Fechtner, 51. "I should have known in the back of my mind that it was a possibility. We need to get the message out there to men."

Male breast cancer is rare - less than 1 percent of all breast cancer cases in the United States are in men, according to the American Cancer Society. But some men may be at greater risk than others of getting cancer - those who carry the breast cancer gene, for example, or who have been exposed to radiation in the chest. And because men aren't routinely screened for breast cancer, and aren't often encouraged to perform self-exams, their cancers are usually more advanced by the time they're diagnosed.

So while breast cancer is much more unusual in men than in women, it's also deadlier.

"Men present sometimes a little bit later, because they don't expect breast cancer," said Dr. Susan Kutner, chairwoman of Kaiser Permanente's Regional Breast Care Task Force. "They get a lump and they think it's from something they did. It's not part of their consciousness that it's something they're at risk for."

Signs may be missed

There are fewer than 2,000 new cases and 450 deaths from breast cancer in men each year, compared to more than 192,000 new cases and 40,000 deaths in women, says the American Cancer Society.

Symptoms of breast cancer in men and women can include dimpling or puckering of the skin on the breast; an inverted nipple, or other changes such as redness or scaling on the nipple; and nipple discharge.

Women are more likely to notice symptoms, if only because they're usually more body-conscious than men, Kutner said. They see their doctors for regular gynecological visits, when they usually have breast exams, too, and they experience normal hormonal changes that may make them more sensitive to irregularities in their bodies.

By Erin Allday, Chronicle Staff Writer

Mother's Day

My sweet sweet Hubbers remembered Mother's day!

This lovely surprise showed up that morning:






















Thank you sweetie!!

Calvin on Economics

My Husband

I've talked briefly before about my darling hubbers. He's an aggressive inline skater (think roller blades) and is very good at it. Together we own a very lucrative business. And in starting up our business he had to find a purpose, a dream, a reason. And he did.

As Catholics we abhor abortion. It's murder, plain and simple. So Hubbers had decided that his dream, his motto, will be Skate for Life. He's made up a little symbol to go on his posts on the Aggro Inline Skate forum that looks like this:

,,,
_/, ,\_
(.\_o_/.)
(.`,. `'.' )
('.` ,' `,)
_('.`,' `)
__`--'"`

Pretty awesomely cute, huh? I'm so proud of him.

This Week's Menu

Regardless of what it looks like, we really are eating this week! Hubbers has taken himself off to Phoenix for a Mona Vie convention this weekend, so it's just me and the doodles. They're pretty easy to cook for, most of the time, and I let them help choose the meals, too.

Mostly we're cooking out of Whole Foods for the Whole Family by La Leche League International. It's about eating more natural foods, less processed stuff, and making your own (mixes, etc) instead of taking the "easy way" out. Here's our menu:

Sloppy Joes, pg 153
Easy Beef Stroganoff, pg 163
Manicotti, pg 168
Swiss Steak, pg 208
Then, just cause I like to keep things kickin', I'm notching it up with a few different favorites:
Chicken and Rice with mushroom sauce
Reuben Pizza
Leftovers - yum

Tonight we're having the Sloppy Joes and pairing it with Oven Fries and leftover watermelon. Mmm... The kids will enjoy it and that's one less thing for ME to consider!

Hopefully, I'll get my rear in gear enough to have a REAL Menu Plan Monday this coming week. Although I did manage to grocery shop for THIS week before Friday - it was Tuesday. Hey, I had to get it done before Hubbers left, right?


(grin)

Have a good weekend, all.

Father's Day

The Model of Human Behavior

Turns out I'm a "C" - cautious.

D = Dominant
I = Inspiring
S = Supportive
C = Cautious

Not the best description, but better than just leaving my post here.

I'm listening to a CD by Dr Robert Rohm from the TEAM program that my hubby is involved in. He wants me to be as fired up as him and listen to CDs and read, but I'm having a hard time with it. I'm starting with this very interesting CD about Personality Types.

Should you be interested, click the email me link over on the side bar (well, click my profile thingy first) and I'll send you more info.

Dedication - Wordless Wednesday

(dedicated to me, shown by vacuuming, or to roller blading?)

A Tale of 2 Brains...

Men and Women, finally explained...







I like the Nothing Box best. I want one!

Hubbers sent this to me and we both agree - it's TRUE!

Tuesday 'Toons

Why this woman chose to look a gift horse in the mouth, I'll never know... If Hubbers ever did the dishes, check that - if he even figured out the "right" way to load the dishwasher, I'd be in heaven!

That said, here's For Better or For Worse:

(click to enlarge)

I'm a slacker blog reader. I'm afraid to look at my Google Reader for fear it will blow up on me from too many messages! So I'm keeping myself busy. See me on Etsy or Howrse, or revamping the Princess Petals website.

Me, Too...

(click to enlarge)

Except the whole I wanted kids thing. I grew up NOT wanting any kids, thanks to my mom and her messy divorces and child abusive second husband. Thank the dear Lord above that I met a man who helped me heal. And gave me a bunch of blessings in the persons of my children.

Happy Halloween!

It's finally over. My fingers and sewing machine are just bushed! I finished my last costume (thankfully for Hubbers) at ten minutes to seven tonight. He just walked in the door when I was finally done.

Now I can finally pay some much needed attention to my blog, housework (nah, not really), menus (none this week means carryout pizza tonight!), and kids.

Meanwhile, here's some shots from this year's spook-fest!


Oldest Girl is some sort of gypsy witch hybrid, although this is not the costume I made for her this year - a long story for some other time.

Curly Girl is Trinity from The Matrix. She was afraid to wear that coat to school today. I wonder if she thought she would be teased? Upshot is she likes her hair all slicked back like that. A big change from hanging in her face for the past 2 months!

RooBoo is a tiger, of course. She was going to be a cheerleader, but decided last weekend when I opened the Halloween box for the school carnival that she wanted the big cat costume instead. No biggie, since they were both ones I had already made several years before.

TheBoy was a Dalmatian puppy for the carnival, a green dinosaur this morning and a panda bear tonight. He was very much in the spirit today.

And here's Hubbers, the evil king in black and silver. He was a bit touchy that I had never made a costume for him. Poor man. So, he's happy now. Until I told him this will have to last him for another 10 years!!

No, his face isn't really that fat, it's the hood. He's actually lost a few pounds lately and is looking tres good!

Mmmmm... B-a-c-o-n!

My Newest Toy

Hubbers sent me to buy a new camera that did digital video, too. After an hour in the store chasing around after one he THOUGHT he wanted (while he was stuck at work, called in on a SUNDAY and hence on the phone with me throughout), we chose the Nikon Coolpix L10.

Isn't it purty?

We purchased a Kodak DC 3400 about 7 years ago but it's very outdated and HUGE size wise plus it didn't do video (for taping Hubbers with his Aggressive Inline Skating at the skate park). Yes, it's also discontinued now.

So, be on the lookout for a bunch of new pix from ME!! Maybe I'll start taking pictures of my food dishes for Menu Plan Monday and my food blog Receipt Haven.

------------------

You know what I just discovered? Even SHORT movies take a long time to upload... But the photos are nice and clear, good quality, large size, very suitable for printing. More bells and whistles than I'll probably ever put to good use, but still LOADS of fun!

A MANLY Man

Hubbers calls me from the DIY Home Improvement Warehouse we lub best (Lowe's) on my cell phone. It's the only one we own and I'm the one who carries it, since I'm on mom patrol all the time. It's also prepay and a great deal, but that's another story.

So Hubbers calls me from Lowe's over the weekend and the first thing out of his mouth is:

"It's hard to look manly at Lowe's with a pink phone."

I understand the manlies behind him were heard to snicker...

Shooting Stars & Menu Monday

From Hubbers:





On to my shortened menu this week. Still busy with Halloween costumes but getting almost done...

Green Chili Stew for mom and dad, burritos for kids
Mum's Meat Pie
Marmalade Curry Chicken
Zucchini Stuffed Chicken
Leftovers
Pizza
Spaghetti

Ah, My Delicate Flower of Girlhood...

Daddy does the tucking kids in around here. I just kiss 'em and send them trotting off to bed.

Overheard at bedtime as Daddy kisses RooBoo...

Roo: Daddy, will you please turn on the nightlight?

Daddy: The what?

Roo: The nightlight?

[strategically placed sound effect]

Roo: Eeewwww, I didn't say turn on the farts!