Medication, STAT!
(© Cute Colors)
There is a very real possibility that I’ll soon have to completely re-evaluate how, and how often, I blog. I’ve basically dug myself into a rather deep hole, other commitments-wise, and I’m trying madly to climb out. It’s not going well. I’ve just discovered the actual depth of this hole today, LOL, and it ain’t pretty :P
I’m going to have to get strict with myself. Half an hour of blogging a day, period. And that half an hour will have to be slotted in while eating lunch or right before bed, sigh. I don’t want to do this, LOL.
Cheers,
Lizzie
Every Time A Bell Rings…
Well, it finally happened. At least one of my three children no longer believes in Santa.
Yes, we ‘do’ Santa. Without reservation (there’s a whole raft of back-story to this point but we’ll leave it at that for now). And Boofah has known for several months now about the fallibility of the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny, so it really was just a matter of time. I’ve caught the concerned looks, the ‘hang on, that doesn’t add up at ALL’ furrowed brows and the first flurry of questions. We decided at the outset that we’d let this thing run it’s course. We understand that some families don’t do the big Santa thing, and we respect that, but we always have, and so when we first had kids we decided that when they were ready, they’d let us know, and we’d spill the beans.
Of course, I’d have to be blessed with a very analytical child, LOL. As soon as I started answering questions with ‘What do YOU think?’ instead of ‘yes’ or ‘no’, he could smell a rat, LOL.
Boofah is 7 ½, but I was kind of hoping for a year or two extra with him. Our eldest, with perfect honesty here, would believe in Santa at age 15, but then with him there are other factors at play. And our youngest is still a couple of months from turning 6, so I would expect her to still believe. But I love Christmas. Every tiny bit of it. I would easily swap three birthdays for one Christmas. The magic, whether you find that magic in Santa or in Jesus (or both?) is undeniable, and I want/wanted to keep that going for as long as I possibly could with my own kids. I don’t have strong opinions against the commercialisation of the season - I know we are, on purpose, a whole lot less extravagant than others we know, and we take an extremely practical viewpoint on what constitutes a ‘good gift’. So even while we ‘do’ Santa, we’re reserved in how we approach it. We don’t buy for buying’s sake. The kids get minimal presents, and they’re usually something they need. We know others, yes, even some Christians, who are heavily into the commercial hype - we might have the hype, but it’s not commercially driven.
Boofah was totally okay with knowing the truth (though at this point he really just needed confirmation from a grown up of something he already knew), and in fact he’s rather enamoured with the idea of adding Santa to the list of ‘grown up things’ he already knows about. He and I, along with Hubs, had a little talk about why Mummy and Daddy ‘did’ Santa all these years, and how he was such a big boy now that we’d really like his help keeping the secret for Master J and Miss Moo, until they’re ready to know themselves. Since we’d already been doing this for the Tooth Fairy/Easter Bunny, this was no big deal.
No doubt, some of you will disagree with the way we’ve approached the issue of Santa. I’d just like to point out (before the comments start, LOL) that we’ve always taken great pains to present ‘both sides’ of the story to all of the kids. But the reason our children believe in Santa is absolutely because we’ve provided them with the story, and for that I really don’t have an apology, only a sincere expression of respect for people who’ve done it differently to us. And I hope you’ll all have the same thoughts toward us! LOL.
Cheers,
Lizzie
Lizzie’s Link Love ~ October 30
I love this part of my week :) The ladies I come across online are just filled to the brim with all sorts of bloggity goodness and I routinely bookmark posts as I read through. Now, because Lizzie’s Link Love is a new thing, for the next couple of weeks it is likely that I’ll include some older posts and equally likely that some will be from sites that you’ve already read. If I showcase them here though, it’s because they truly deserve the extra attention. Enjoy!
Parlor Mentality by Laine of Laine’s Letters fame. Most of us are familiar with Laine’s writings, which are totally on the money. The getting up early part? Hmmm, let me get back to you on that one :)
Your Next Quiet Time by Kerry at An Help Meet For Him. I’ve been called to examine myself very, very closely with each new post Kerry writes, but this one in particular gives such a lovely (and perhaps confronting? LOL) meditation.
A Word About Priorities by Camilla over at Growing In Truth. This post has been linked to numerous times, I’m sure, but it is such a simple, practical and obvious way to go about getting your ducks in a row. Even secular readers will glean something from this one.
My Child Is Not A Freak by Scattered Mom at Notes From The Cookie Jar. If you have a special needs child, this is required reading, especially if you’re dealing with multiple learning disabilities. Scattered Mom tells it frankly and honestly, and so many of the situations she describes are ones that I’ve lived myself.
GOYB Challenge - Daddy Down Time by SAHMmy Says. Totally true. Every word. Hubs works a rotating roster so on any given day he’s either had to get up early, work late, or (due to the nature of his job), deal with lots of mental and physical punishment (no, not from his employer! LOL). We’ve always given him a little informal space when he walks in the door at night/afternoon but we’re really starting to institute it as rock-solid time now after reading SAHMmy’s post.
Transforming by Sara at Walk Slowly, Live Wildly. This is one of the best break-it-down descriptions I’ve read of the Proverbs 31 woman. Highly recommend it, though it is a few months old. What can I say? I move slowly, LOL.
Isn’t Bloggityville just a wonderful resource? I mean, it can also be a distraction to those not great with their time management skills (cough-me-cough), but the amount of fantastic information, posts, Mommy Bloggers and just general stuff out there in Bloggityville astounds me. I can’t even remember time online before pitching a tent (blog) back in March, LOL.
Enjoy your reading :)
Cheers,
Lizzie
Menu Plan Monday ~ October 29
Monday
Lasagna
(wedges, salad - I keep meaning to make this and keep forgetting, LOL)
Tuesday
Home-Crumbed Chicken Schnitzel
(coleslaw, mashed potato)
Oven Baked Fritatta
(salad)
Chicken BLT Salad
Fridge & Freezer Fare
(leftovers)
Chicken & Tarragon Pie
Homemade Pizza
Baking This Week
(desserts, lunchboxes, snacks)
Chocolate Pecan Scrolls
Choc-Caramel Ravioli
Lemon Cake (from box - hey, it was on sale!)
Hubs is home for every night for dinner this week, but with a week of very early mornings. So he’ll be very tired of an afternoon after work and will be looking forward to a nice meal. This week I’ll be making more of an effort to have dinner on the table on time and to set that table properly. We’ve been a bit lacking in that area of late.
For more Menu Plan Monday participants, visit I’m An Organizing Junkie :)
Happy cooking folks!
Cheers,
Lizzie
Lizzie’s Home Printables ~ Admin
Format
The files are generally presented in one of three formats - PDF, Excel and Word. Mostly, I prefer PDF and did start out that way, but occasionally my PDF converter software will behave like a petulant puppy and chop off a little of the top or bottom of my document. If there’s no way I can re-configure the document to take this into account, I take a deep breath, scold the PDF converter, and switch to Excel. Hopefully the bugs will be ironed out soon and all of the documents will eventually be in PDF format.
Layout & Design
Lizzie’s Home templates and printables are designed specifically to be graphics-free. Two reasons - first, with maybe one or two exceptions, most graphics artists want to limit the exposure of their freeware (and rightly so). I’ve emailed several of my favourite artists and most would prefer not to have their images used in any digital format, including downloadable printables, even if there was no cost. I completely respect that. The other reason (the original one, before I found the purdy graphics, LOL) was to purposely minimise the amount of ink (and therefore cost) for anyone printing them, while at the same time giving them a bit of a splash of colour (not totally bland greyscale). I know I used to go searching for printables online and a hefty chunk of them have large expanses of shading or colour. Lizzie’s Home printables do have minimal shading, but nothing too major. They’re meant to look clean and simple.
Copyright
I’ve always just created the templates as a personal hobby (I know, it sounds strange to me too!) Then when Lizzie’s Home came into existence, it seemed natural that I make them available to the wider community as well. But in a lot of cases, even though their simple appearance might suggest otherwise, LOL, quite a bit of time has gone into them. Each printable has the URL of Lizzie’s Home on it, and each is presented in a non-editable form, meaning that you print them as-is and handwrite your own information in. So far, this has worked well, except that there are two or three pending printables that really would be better served in an editable format, and I’m working on those as I speak. You’re allowed to save a copy to your own hard drive with the understanding that the link back to Lizzie’s Home remains intact (apparently, you can convert a PDF back into a regular ol’ Word document just as easily as you made it into a PDF originally, with the right software. I did not know this.)
Basic Instructions
For ease of viewing, I haven’t specified the format of the printables next to their names. However, one of two things will happen when you click on a link.
For PDF files ~ These will load automatically if you have Adobe Reader installed on your computer. Most people do, but if not, you can get it here. Once the printable is up on the screen, you can print directly from the PDF by clicking the print icon at the top, or you can save to your hard drive, keeping the link back to Lizzie’s Home intact.
For Excel/Word files ~ These are not quite so straight forward, but don’t be scared off by that. When you click on these links, a window will pop up giving you three options - Open, Save and Cancel. Clicking on ‘Open’ should bring up the document just fine but I have noticed with Hubs computer (Vista), I’m sometimes prompted by the inbuilt security whatsit to ‘Block’ or ‘Allow’. If you click on ‘Allow’, everything should load properly. The file will open up in web browser window. You’ll notice that you can’t select any of the cells (if the file is in Excel format). That’s normal (that’s me setting the Protection on the document, although depending on the document, some cells could be editable). To print the document, go to your File menu and select ‘Print’ from the listed options. It should print cleanly.
Troubleshooting
If you have problems loading or printing any of the files, please don’t hesitate to email using the link at the top of the page :)
Printables Coming Soon
None planned. Keep checking though!
Cheers,
Lizzie
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Now Play Fair Kids
All written work on
Lizzie's Home
is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.
If you want to use my content in a way you think might breach the licensing conditions, please contact me. In most cases I am happy to arrange something.
