What I have been up to lately.

Good morning beautiful blogging girlfriends! First of all thanks for all the heartfelt messages I will be by this week to thank you all in person.

My sons where gone for the summer my father took them to stay in Suriname and they had a wonderful time. They came back recharged and since they are back they seem much better adapted to life without a father. Their father contacted them once since he left wich is almost 6 months ago. He is refusing to pay alimony eventhough we had already agreed to an amount. I've decided to just let things go and not pursue the money for the time being. I think my sanity and nerves are more important than the money, wich does mean that we are living off of very very little but we are managing. My youngest started elementary school last week and is enjoying every bit of it. My eldest has just left for the first day of high school (? no idea if that is what atheneum is called in the USA help me out here lol).

I haven't taken the best care of myself, my diet is poor and taking care of myself has been put on the back burner for way to long! This blog has always inspired me to life my life to the best of my ability so I hope blogging will help me get back on track. I haven't been on a scale for while but I will go as soon as my monthly lady friend is gone ;-)

Yesterday I signed a contract with myself and my babysitter/jogging buddy/sista friend will co-sign it on thursday when we start jogging again. The contract is one of sensual celibacy , basicly an agreement to stay celibate for at least 6 months, and in the meantime spend time energy and love on Self. I was extremely excited to sign it LOL Just the idea of having to get to know a man in that way and having to give myself in that way is exhausting!! Male attention is driving me up the wall, sure it is flattering but I feel like there is this big ole target on my forhead or some kind of scent that makes men smell from a distant that I am "available" (insert smiley with eyes rolling). I also wonder what the heck men see in me right now caus I am a right mess! Don't know if I would even wanna date someone that is attracted to me in this state! Ha!

The prospect of dating again does excite me I will not lie but I feel that I need to deal with some issues of Self and Home before doing that. I do not want to bring hang ups of a former relationship on a date, nor do I want to be worrying about home, finances and all of that while having dinner with a nice man.

My father, brother and I just started setting up a family business in Suriname importing orchids from Thailand and bringing them to flower to sell them in Suriname. It is starting to take great form the first shipment will arrive in Suriname by the end of this week. Soon as that takes off (meaning that there is enough profit to earn my living) I will go to Suriname for at least a year to set up a flowershop. I hope and pray that my grandmother will still be among us by that time but I also know that she is in pain and I know that she is longing to be reunited with my grandfather and her siblings.

Ok bloggerfriends, the lil man is home ill so I am going to cuddle with him and do some housework after.

Love, light and blessings,
Chayil

Lesson Learned!

A New era

These last weeks I've been running around organizing a babyshower for my sis-in-law (it was great fun we had a high tea sil had a great time and was extremely delighted), preparing for the arrival of my parents (next weekend) and inlisting our sons in new schools. The eldest will be finished with elementery school in June and will be attending grammer school as of next schoolyear. The mere thought of it makes my stomach act "rollercoastery" my baby will go to school all alone on his bike and he will not need me anymore (I know that is dramatic but it is how I feel!)
I still remember the first day of kindergarden his hand squeezing my sweaty palms, we enter the school gates and he let's go of my hand and runs off to play on the swings and I stand there lost wondering how I will survive walking out of the schoolgates and attending work as if I did not just dropped my son off with total strangers. I can assure you that that was one of the longest days in my life, I wanted the schoolday to end so I could pick him up from school and pretend I never left him. When I picked him up he was full of stories and was extremely exited about the whole first-day-of-school experience, I was exausted from worries of what might have gone wrong. Now that we are entering a new fase I feel the same, sweaty palms, "rollercoastery" stomach and an uneasy feeling scared of what lies ahead. My son on the other hand is exited and totally ready for this new fase.

As if having to send my eldest off to grammer school wasn't enough I also have send my baby ehum pre-schooler to elementary school in April of this year.We found a new school for him because we weren't really satisfied with my eldest his school, the tour from the new school was wonderful, they have swimminglessons, musiclessons, a daycare where the lil ones can rest if school is a bit too much, artlessons and the school has separated grades 0 to 3 from grades 4 to 8 so the little ones won't feel quite as small.

When my youngest was born I promised myself that once he would go to elementary school I would start taking classes at the university, I feel extremely unprepared because I still don't know what study I would like to do! 4 years passed so quickly it feels like yesterday that he was born prematurely needing to be fed every hour even at nighttime. The time flies when raising babies, all the worries about teething, solid foods, first steps, vaccinations, pottytraining and bedtime rituals seem like a triviality compared to the new worries about sex-ed, playing truant,drugs and peer pressure. I trust that the Lord will guide our family in this new era, but like every mother in nature I am appropriately apprehensive about sending my babies into the a new world on their own.

II Timothy 1:7 "For God has not given us the Spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

Blessings,
Chayil

Pickled cucumber and red onions

1 cucumber
1 red onion
1 Scotch Bonnet (make a small batch without this for the kids!)
100 ml water
100 ml vinegar (white)
A few grains of Chinese sugar (this is like a sweetener be careful it is very sweet and needs to be added grain by grain to be able to control the sweetness You may substitute with 2 tablespoons of sugar)
1 tsp whole dried allspice berries
5 cloves
pinch of salt
pinch of black pepper
optional pinch of ajinomoto *

Cut cucumber lengthwise de-seed and cut in slices about 1,5 inch thick, cut red onion in rings, cut pepper in half de-seed. Put water and vinegar in a bowl and add sugar, dried allspice berries, cloves, adjinomoto, salt, black pepper stir well and add cucumber and red onion. Make day before so all the flavors have infused.

I keep empty pickle jars and wash them well with hot water and vinegar and use this to store. This can be kept for quite some time just make sure that you only use a CLEAN PLASTIC spoon or fork to take them out of the jar or it will "curdle"!

*Ajinomoto is a Japanese brand name for MSG, monosodium glutamate, a flavor enhancer. Ac'cent is the primary U.S. brand name, and the Chinese version is called ve-tsin. Please be careful using this too much can cause heart failure if you are cooking for elderly or children under the age of 5 who have never had this in their diet DO NOT USE!!

Lazy red kidney beans stew

Okay this is one of my favorite lazy day recipes it is made with canned red kidney beans but pls feel free to pre-boil dry beans and use those!

1 large can red kidney beans drained and rinsed
1 onion
2 bay leaves
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 tomatoes deseeded and chopped
1 pack of vegan "ground meat" about 180 to 200 grams (I use the kind made with mushrooms but the one made of soy will do just fine)
2 tablespoons of ketchup
black pepper (1/2 teaspoon)
1tb spoon of brown sugar (or to taste)
1 tb spoon of aromat (or to taste)
1 Scotch Bonnet
2 tablespoons of evoo
Warm water
Add oil to the pot and heat, fry onions and garlic, add "minced meat" and fry for 4 minutes,add drained beans and bayleaves and fry for 3 more minutes, add tomatoes, brown sugar, black pepper, ketchup, stir well and add warm water just enough to cover, season with aromat, put on low heat and add WHOLE 1 Scotch Bonnet, let simmer for 15 minutes.

Serve with rice, fried plantain and pickled cucumbers

If your family consists of large eaters make twice the amount! This is just right for my family of 4 (12 and 3 y.o.)

Homemade vegan pasta/pizza saus

• 3 tablespoons of evoo
• 2 zucchini's (in cubes)
• 1 onion chopped
• 5 cloves of garlic (crushed)
• 4 cans of tomato cubes
• 10 tablespoons of dried mixed Italian herbs (you can choose to buy fresh herbs I don't because the wilt before I can finish them)
• 1 tablespoons of brown sugar (you can add a bit more to taste)
• Aromat to taste (1,5 tablespoon)

This sauce I use as a basis for homemade pizza's or as pastasaus. this is enough for serving a family of 4 twice so half of it can go in the freezer.
Heat 2 tablespoons of evoo, add onions until "glassy" add garlic, dried Italian herbs and 1 tablespoon of evoo. On medium heat keep stirring until your kitchen smells like the herbs, add zucchini stir, lower heat put lid on and leave to simmer until zucchini is a little softer (not too soft!) add tomato cubes stir and add brown sugar and aromat to taste. Let simmer for about 10 minutes to allow all the flavors to infuse. Use staff mixer or blender to make into a smooth sauce or leave as is if your family likes chunks.
This is in no way a traditional italian recipe it is more like "pasta a la Chayil" :-D this recipe is to familytaste I try to use as little salt and sugar as possible so possibly you will need to add more to your family taste.
I don't know if aromat is available in America but I am sure there are simalar mixes available maybe from Goya?

Blogger craft club re-usable grocery bag

Last week I was much to tired to sew anything. This week I tried to make my very first tutorial for my dutch budgetting website. It had to be something simple, inexpensive and of good use. I decided on a re-usable grocery bag. I don't like grocery bags with short handles I love one that I can carry on my shoulder instead of killing my fingers.

This is the end result: I have to say I am quite proud of it :-D

Happy crafting everyone I am going to spend some time with my dh it's his b-day today!