Food on Fridays: First Harvest

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome. Recipes are enjoyed, but you can just describe your system for composting, tell us about the first time you ate Ramen noodles, or reveal  how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop (the world may never know).

In other words, the Food on Fridays parameters are not at all narrow. I think of it as a virtual pitch-in where everyone brings something to share; even if the content of one item is unrelated to the rest, we sample it all anyway and have a great time.

When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or the new smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.

Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).

You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.

Food on Fridays Participants

• Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker (Homemade Mayonnaise)
• Kitchen Stewardship (Trying whole grains in birthday cakes)
• Passionate Homemaking … Becoming P31 (Rainy Day Cookies)
• Halala Mama (Sukuma Wiki–African Greens)
• Feels Like Home (Teaching about honey)
• Hoosier Homemade (Dr. Pepper cupcakes)
• Cook with Sara (Creamy Brownie Frosting)
• Newlyweds! (Easy Cherry Pie)

Food on Fridays with Ann

From the garden: zucchini, cucumbers, lettuce, and some spinach.

It’s not much, but it’s a start.

More Friday Carnivals

Is Food on Fridays not fun enough for you?  Not in the mood for food? Check out these other great carnivals!

• Hooked on Houses hosts Hooked on Fridays
• Anne Glamore at My Tiny Kingdom is hosting Flashback Fridays
• The Inspired Room is hosting A Beautiful Life
• Amber at the run-a-muck is hosting Friday Funnies
• Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom
• The Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap
• 7 Quick Takes Friday, hosted by Conversion Diary
• Aloha Friday, hosted by An Island Life
• Favorite Ingredients Friday, hosted by Overwhelmed With Joy
• Fifi’s Fashionable Friday, hosted by Fifi Flowers Design Decor
• Finding Freedom, hosted by Cents to Get Debt Free
• Finer Things Friday, hosted by The Finer Things in Life
• Four Foods On Friday, hosted by Fun, Crafts and Recipes
• Friday Felicities, hosted by beckyperry.us
• Friday Fill-Ins
• Friday Show and Tell, hosted by Canada Girl
• Photo Story Friday, hosted by What Works For Us
• Say It Forward Friday, hosted by 5 Minutes For Mom

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3 Union

3 Union was performing at a local coffee house the other night, so I rounded up some teenage girls and we all went to hear them play.

These poised Christian young men played a range of styles in their sets, including some praise music, original songs and an occasional classic hit (”What I Like About You”). Between songs, they offered a few thoughts about their walk with the Lord.

Their parents and I were involved in the same church for many years, so it was wonderful to celebrate this new stage in their lives. The boys used to play with their parents in a family band; now the boys have spun off to form 3 Union, and the parents are their roadies.

3 Union would be great to book for a youth-oriented worship or outreach event. Visit their MySpace page to sample their music, and contact them to discuss how they could serve your church’s ministries.

In fact, I think they have a trip scheduled that will take them from Indiana to Florida, and I know they’d be thrilled to stop over to play a concert or two (or three, or ten) along the way.

Here are a few words from the boys themselves:

Over the past five years, we have been performing and traveling with our family all over the the world. We began our adventures with a Christian school tour to Beirut, Lebanon where we did 30 concerts in 10 days.

About a year ago we began our journey to set out on our own as brothers. We had the privilege of meeting with several Hollywood producers who gave us some very helpful advice and started working hard to be the best we could be.

In the meantime, we began writing and recording our first CD with Christian artist John David Webster. It has been a long and tedious process, but we’re excited about the songs we’ve completed so far and can’t wait to see what God has in store.

We do enjoy entertaining a crowd, but our main desire is to make a difference in peoples lives, especially the lives of our generation.

3 Union on Facebook

3 Union on MySpace (listen to two of their original songs!)

July 2009 MMM Progress Report #1

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July 2009 Mega Memory Month has only barely begun. In fact, it’s been less than a week since the kick-off.

So I assume that today’s progress reports will be modest.

Also, feel free to invite others to jump in, because there’s still plenty of time to accomplish our goals.

Here’s the Mr. Linky to connect your progress report to this master list. If I have time, I’ll swing back by and edit the post to make them more prominent. Non-bloggers and those who don’t want to dedicate an entire post to memory work, feel free to offer your progress report in the comments.

Progress Reports

1. Denise at Butter and Honey
2. Amy at Lavender *Sparkles*
3. Jen at Scraps and Snippets

Ann’s Progress Report #1

Did I bite off more than I can chew?

My mega selection is:

• “The Road Not Taken,” by Robert Frost
• Philippians 2:1-11
• Psalm 121
• Psalm 145

I fear I may have taken on too much.

On the other hand, I was somewhat familiar with the Frost poem, “The Road Not Taken,” so piecing together all those familiar fragments wasn’t too bad. In fact, it came together so quickly, I might be able to type it out right now. I think I’ll try (corrections crossed off or added in red):

“The Road Not Taken”

by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood;,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.,

And bBoth that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh!, I saved kept the first for another day;!
Though ,Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted I should ever get come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I;—
I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference.

Okay. Not so bad.

Philippians 1:1-11 is also a familiar passage. I wanted to truly memorize it, because I can only pull up snippets from my mental files. So I tore off the first few verses from the paper I’d printed off and took that scrap with me this morning on my jog. It got pretty wrinkled and a little smeary from sweat, but I think I’m close to having the first section down. I’ll try typing out Philippians 2:1-4:

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you must should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Hey, I did better than this afternoon, when I recited it to my daughter and flubbed a section.

Here are some random thoughts on memory work:

• It’s great to have family support. My ideal would be for us to work on a passage together, but the next best thing has been to have them patiently and happily check my progress, encouraging me along the way.
• It has been an advantage to select a poem and some passages that are somewhat familiar already.
• I’m not generally effective at multi-tasking, but I have to say that memorizing while jogging worked well. It was a little bit awkward to unroll the paper and read it while in motion, but the repetition helped a lot. In fact, having a little project to work on may have helped pass the time.
• Memorization Tips and Techniques. Check out this collection of helpful methods for memory work. Actually, let me paste them in here for easy access. See below.
  

Online Articles & Resources:

• At a site called Productivity 501, I found an article called How to Memorize Verbatim Text. It has a simple online tool you can use to help reinforce what you’re working on. The author uses the Gettysburg Address to illustrate his technique.
• Memorizing Techniques that cleverly uses a mneumonic device to present its suggestions: CAMP!
• A tip from a website called Remember Anything: Read out loud and write it out (see the site for more details).
• An eHow 8 step article about how to memorize Scripture.
• A long list of Scripture memory tips and suggestions.
• Ann V. described and photographed some of her memorization methods here.
• Stretch Mark Mama wrote about her basic index-card-propped-on-the-kitchen-table method.

Kroeker-Generated Suggestions:
Here are a few memorization techniques that have worked for our family (a repeat from an earlier post included for consolidation purposes):

1. Record someone reading your selection (then listen to it…lots). I once wrote about using my MP3 microphone for verbal note taking. Record someone else reading the passage out loud (we usually hate our own voices when played back, don’t we? So have someone else do it), and then put it on your play list to listen to over and over.
2. Song. Set it to song or at least a rhythm, and it sticks pretty well. We have to get creative with Scripture, because some translations don’t have all that much rhythm to them. We’ve also applied this to skip counting for math. And can’t most of us remember our conjunctions thanks to Schoolhouse Rock (”Conjunction junction, what’s your function…”)? Anyway, I try to find some beat to the verse and say it that way. It helps.
3. Hand motions. Get all the senses involved and take in those words every way possible. We come up with hand symbols for God, Jesus, salvation, and other basic words like “all” and “world.” If you actually know American Sign Language, all the better. We don’t, so we just invent motions. They can recall the signs and bam! The words follow.
4. Pictures. For complicated verses, I’ve drawn little pictures to accompany the phrases. This helped the daughter who scoffed at my overblown hand motions and dance steps. She preferred the more civilized method of memorizing pictures to remember the flow of words.
5. Key words. If they remember the first word of a phrase that represents a shift in the verse, then often the rest of the words will tumble out automatically. So as we repeat it out loud, we emphasize the key words with exaggerated volume. I probably raise my eyebrows and open my mouth like a clown when I say them, too. I can’t help it. I’ve got Elasti-Face. Might as well use it for good.
6. Write it out. Okay, now these are the simple, low-tech, basic ideas coming out. Write it out lots of times, and it’ll enter the brain through another avenue.
7. Repeat, repeat, repeat. This is such an obvious one, but it bears repeating (sorry). But, well, that’s what we do. We go over and over the verse (out loud) until it’s drummed in there. Write it on a piece of paper and stick it in your pocket, or tape it to your cell phone and make yourself say it as you reach in your pocket for something or before making a call.
8. (NEW!) Practice while exercising. This works for most repetitive exercise except, if you’re holding a note card or paper, swimming. If it’s already in your head, however, reviewing the words as you move can work even while in the water. I find that the repetitive nature of the activity actually marries well with the memory process. Plus, it helps pass the time.

Ideas Submitted by Readers:

• Denise said that she sings along with Scripture memory CDs (I also thought of those “Hide ‘Em in Your Heart” Steve Green videos for kids). And she has her children write memory verses as part of their handwriting.
• Recommended by Joni: His Word in My Heart by Janet Pope “offers one of the best techniques and explanations for the benefits to memorizing.” Pope’s method helped her memorize longer texts such as the Sermon on the Mount by just doing a verse a day and then reviewing them, using index cards.
• Katrina described what worked for her kids–recording and reading it.
• Helen’s final celebration post details her step-by-step method and displays a colorful, creative, poster-sized final product. I was inspired.
• Ruth provided this helpful link to a website dedicated to helping people memorize Scripture.
• Amy explains how she tackles memorization (with long-term retention success) and links to a pdf article with helpful Scripture memory motivation and tips.

Let us know how it’s going. It helps to know that we’re not alone in this undertaking.

And remember:

Our minds can hold more than we think they can.

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Make-Do Mondays: Watch Band Clasp

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At Make-Do Mondays, we discuss how we’re simplifying, downsizing, repurposing, buying used, and using what we’ve got.

It’s a carnival celebrating creative problem-solving, contentment, patience and ingenuity. To participate, share your own make-do solution in the comments or write up a Make-Do Mondays post at your blog, then return here to link via Mr. Linky. Enjoy others’ ideas by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking on people’s names.

Here’s a mini-tutorial on Mr. Linky:

Click on the icon and a separate page will pop up. Type in your blog name and paste in the url of your new Make-Do Mondays post. Click enter and it should be live. If it doesn’t work, just include the link in the comments.

To visit people’s posts or check that yours worked, click on Mr. Linky and when the page comes up, click on a name. You should be taken right to the page provided.

Make-Do Mondays Participants

1. Coupons, Deals and More (Homemade Ice Cream Cake)
2. Sunnydaytodaymama (A washing line)
3. Small Town ~ Simple Home (Bed Skirt)

Make-Do Mondays with Ann

I really like my watch.

I wear it all the time.

I use it as a stopwatch when jogging, as an alarm clock when traveling, as a timer when baking, and as a quick reference when I need to know the date.

I wear it even when my outfit is dressy or professional and I ought to be wearing a less sporty timepiece.

All of that use takes its toll, and this weekend, while on a tube trip floating down a creek in a rural part of Indiana, something broke off. It was that little rubber piece under which you tuck the excess band after clasping it.

“Awww, phooey,” I pouted to my brother, sister-in-law, and the Belgian Wonder. “Look. It broke.”

My sister-in-law, an outstanding problem-solver and supporter of Make-Do Mondays, suggested a small rubber band as a temporary solution.

When I got home, I dug around in the girls’ hair accessories and found a sparkly silver ponytail holder.

Problem solved.

How do you make do?

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(check in tomorrow for progress reports)

The Speed of Social Networking

I posted about the speed of social networking over at NotSoFastBook.com.

Would James recommend we be slow to tweet (or Facebook, or blog)?

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Food on Fridays: Warm Delights

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome. Recipes are enjoyed, but you can just share a picture of your fridge snapped on the day you cleaned it out, explain where mushrooms come from, or write a rollicking raspberry rhyme.

In other words, the Food on Fridays parameters are not at all narrow. I think of it as a virtual pitch-in where everyone brings something to share; even if the content of one item is unrelated to the rest, we sample it all anyway and have a great time.

When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or the new smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.

Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).

You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.

Food on Fridays Participants

1. Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker (Chicken Curry and Naan)
2. My Practically Perfect Life (Fondue Pot-Power Outage)
3. Hoosier Homemade (Fruit for the Fourth)
4. Halala Mama (Spinach Rice)
5. Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free (Homemade Strawberry Jam)
6. Kitchen Stewardship (Freezer Food Tips)
7. Meanwhile, back at the ranch… (Easy Home Cookin’)
8. My Country Haven (Pina Colada Cake)
9. Newlyweds! (Outback Steakhouse Bushman Bread)
10. Glimpse of Sonshine (Cherry-Apple Bran Muffins)
11. Momtrends (Friday Feasts: Grilled Corn)

Food on Fridays with Ann

A big thanks to Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker for her homemade Warm Delights recipe!

If you have cake mix on hand, these are a super-easy, super-tasty, super-fast and super-fun way for friends and family to create personalized desserts.

I had one just last night with chocolate chips and caramel sauce stirred into chocolate cake mix and recreated it especially for this post (see photos below).

Be sure to drop by Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker to thank her for this life-altering dessert experience.

Here are the instructions:

Warm Delights

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup cake mix (any flavor)
• 1/8 cup water
• 1-2 tsp filling/mix-in of your choice
  (ex: caramel, hot fudge, strawberry or raspberry jam, coconut, marshmallow, nuts, peanut butter, chocolate chips, etc.)

Instructions:

1. In microwave-safe cereal-sized bowl, stir water into cake mix.
2. Add filling(s).
3. Microwave on high for 1 minute (microwave times and temperatures vary; start with less time on your first attempt).
4. Warm Delight will be very hot. Let sit at least 3 minutes before digging in.

In this photo, the 1/8 C water is combined with 1/4 C cake mix.

Here, the chocolate chips are about to be stirred in. I snapped another photo showing what it looked like when the caramel sauce was added, but it was out of focus. Imagine the swirls of sauce drizzled artfully over the mixture.

Here it is, straight from the microwave, piping hot.

Forget ice cream sundae parties—now Warm Delight mix-in parties will be all the rage!

More Friday Carnivals

Is Food on Fridays not fun enough for you?  Not in the mood for food? Check out these other great carnivals!

• Hooked on Houses hosts Hooked on Fridays
• Anne Glamore at My Tiny Kingdom is hosting Flashback Fridays
• The Inspired Room is hosting A Beautiful Life
• Amber at the run-a-muck is hosting Friday Funnies
• Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom
• The Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap
• 7 Quick Takes Friday, hosted by Conversion Diary
• Aloha Friday, hosted by An Island Life
• Favorite Ingredients Friday, hosted by Overwhelmed With Joy
• Fifi’s Fashionable Friday, hosted by Fifi Flowers Design Decor
• Finding Freedom, hosted by Cents to Get Debt Free
• Finer Things Friday, hosted by The Finer Things in Life
• Four Foods On Friday, hosted by Fun, Crafts and Recipes
• Friday Felicities, hosted by beckyperry.us
• Friday Fill-Ins
• Friday Show and Tell, hosted by Canada Girl
• Photo Story Friday, hosted by What Works For Us
• Say It Forward Friday, hosted by 5 Minutes For Mom

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Mega Memory Month is in Motion

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Today, July 1st, marks day one of Mega Memory Month!

Participants now have 31 days to pack into their minds whatever it is they’ve selected to memorize: a poem, speech, passage of Scripture, or song lyrics.

The month is in motion, so it’s time to begin.

Refer back to the main Mega Memory Month page for July 2009 for suggestions and directions. There you will find a Mr. Linky to link a blog post announcing your plan. You may also explain in the comments, Twitter, or Facebook what you’re intending to memorize. If you will be tweeting or updating your efforts on other social networking platforms, please leave some kind of link for us to find you.

Don’t forget that Tuesdays will be the day we post Progress Reports. I’ll have a Mr. Linky on those days if you choose to write something up.

Here’s my personal month-long memory plan (along with fascinating explanatory notes):

1. Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” (if you click on the link, press play to hear it read … by Frost himself, I presume). I chose this because I memorized “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” last time for Mega Memory Month (click on the “Stopping by Woods” link to hear me recite it, not Frost). “The Road Not Taken” feels like a nice complement. Plus, as I said yesterday, I mention the poem in my book’s dedication and want to have it inside my head. I know the poem; now I want to know the poem by heart.
2. Philippians 2:1-11. I selected this passage for two reasons: 1) We started memorizing part of it during VBS, so I have a head start; 2) I love this passage so much that we had it read in both English and French in our wedding ceremony, yet I’ve never memorized it. Now is a good time.
3. Psalm 121. This short psalm starts with a line that’s familiar to many people in the King James version, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.” I’ll be using the NIV, however (”I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from?”).
4. And because I want to go mega, I’m going to try to add Psalm 145. Why 145? Well, why not? It’s a great praise psalm with lines like, “Every day I will praise you,” and “Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom,” and “I will meditate on your wonderful works…I will proclaim your great deeds.” It’s longer than 121, though, and my mind isn’t exactly a steel trap. It’s more like a shoebox propped up with a stick to catch bunnies. I’ll try to pull the string on the stick and trap these words under the shoebox. If they squeeze out from under it, I’ll be disappointed but accept my limitation.

So, how about it? Join me for Mega Memory Month and exercise your mind this summer!

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A Thought Collection

I liked the free clip-art graphic. Even though it’s a guy, I decided to fill his big thought bubble, er, rectangle, with a summary of my own experience:

Lots of different thoughts filled my head today.

This is a big month for me. July is not only Mega Memory Month but also the month leading up to the release of my book, Not So Fast, on August 1.

So the blog this coming month will likely offer a hodge-podge of my memorization trials and tribulations alongside posts chronicling the excitement leading up to the book’s debut … not to mention the usual Make-Do Mondays and Food on Fridays carnivals.

Here’s a round-up of several top-of-mind subjects:

Regarding Not So Fast

• Used? The other day, a friend of mine sent me over to the Amazon.com listing of Not So Fast, asking how can a not-yet-released book be sold used? Good question! How can a book that hasn’t yet rolled off the presses be available used?
• Marketing. I picked up my daughter from a sleepover, and the mom, a former news anchor, offered me a long list of marketing ideas. What an encouraging friend with such wonderful suggestions! Now … all I have to do is implement them all.
• Inspiration. I found a beautiful photo to accompany a “slow” quote and posted them at NotSoFastBook.com yesterday. Check it out.

Regarding Mega Memory Month

• Preview of my Memory Plan. I intend to announce my own personal Mega Memory Month plan tomorrow, July 1st, when the challenge officially begins, but as a preview, I’ll reveal that along with a passage of Scripture, I’m planning to memorize Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken.” In January I memorized “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” so to undertake “The Road Not Taken” feels like a nice complement. Plus, I mention the poem in my book’s dedication and want to have it inside my head. I know the poem; now I want to know the poem by heart.
• Spread the Word. Please let blogging and non-blogging friends know about Mega Memory Month, because it’s more motivating to know that a lot of people are sharing the same challenge!

Random Mental Meanderings

• Length of Messages. A friend who is a professional speech writer said that speeches should be no longer than 20 minutes. “Twenty minutes of content,” he said, “ten minutes of Q & A, then that’s it. Sit down. Nobody wants any more than that, even if they say they do.” In the past year, I have been asked to give 30-, 40-, and 45-minute messages. Should I have followed my speech-writer-friend’s advice instead?
• Eggs. I buy eggs from a local woman who raises chickens in humane conditions on her farm. They taste better to me than store-bought eggs, but when someone asks me to describe the difference, I can’t find the right words. They just have more flavor.
• The Scarlet Letter. I hadn’t read The Scarlet Letter in high school or college. How did that happen? Finally, after all these years, I read it last week. I had to force myself to keep reading at first, but by the end, I really liked it.
• Vocabulary. Reading all of these classics to prepare to teach an American Literature course is revealing my meager vocabulary. I’ve started making 3×5 cards of all the words I don’t know. My stack of cards is already thick. I feel stupid for not knowing, but better for taking time to learn them.
• Twitter. I’m still trying to figure out how to make the most of Twitter without having a portable gadget to post tweets.
• Facebook. I’m still trying to figure out how to make the most of Facebook without living online.

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July 2009 is Mega Memory Month

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It’s back—with a groovy new button!

July 2009 is:

Mega Memory Month

As we head into the dog days of summer, why not give our minds something to chew on?

Mega Memory Month kicks off this Wednesday, July 1st.

Here’s how to participate:

• Pick something to memorize. Try memorizing something long. Something formidable. Something mega. (challenge yourself relative to what you’ve tackled in the past.) It could be poetry, a famous speech, or a passage of Scripture.
• Announce it on your blog or in the comments of this post whenever you like. If you find out about MMM late or forget about it until halfway through the month, no problem. Jump in and do what you can in the time that remains.
• Leave a link (in Mr. Linky below or in the comments) that will take readers to your own blog’s MMM post. Non-bloggers are encouraged to participate as well through comments, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
• Include the new MMM button (by all means, use the smaller one below) to tie us together visually. It helps interested readers find and join the challenge!
• Start memorizing!

Mega Memory Month Participants

1. Denise at Butter and Honey
2. Me, annkroeker.writer.
3. Amy at Lavender Sparkles
4. Hopeannfaith’s Well
5. Jennifer at Scraps and Snippets
6. Erin at filling my patch of sky
7. Kate Mills at Little Mills

Progress Reports: I’ll be posting my own personal MMM Progress Reports on Tuesdays (they used to be on Mondays, but now that’s reserved for Make-Do Mondays). Mr. Linky will be provided for you to tie in, if you like. Chime in at any time during the week. Reports will be posted, Lord willing, July 7, 14, and 21. The 28th will be iffy, as I’ll be traveling and may not have Internet access.

Final Thoughts: Nobody is judging how well we complete this month-long memory project—it simply provides public accountability.

Don’t let the word “mega” discourage you from participating. Participate even if your selection is modest. In fact, my own might be pretty puny compared to those of some mega-memorizers. The bottom line is that we will be better for it.

So jump in and join the carnival, whether you chip away at something short or long.

I hope to encourage you along the way. For starters, click HERE for my mega collection of memorization tips and techniques.

Let’s take a risk.

Stretch ourselves.

After all, Mega Memory Month is hosted by someone who feels that her mind is more like a sieve than a steel trap; yet, as I discovered during the past Mega Memory Months:

Our minds can hold more than we think they can.

Make-Do Mondays: Fountain Grass

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At Make-Do Mondays, we discuss how we’re simplifying, downsizing, repurposing, buying used, and using what we’ve got.

It’s a carnival celebrating creative problem-solving, contentment, patience and ingenuity. To participate, share your own make-do solution in the comments or write up a Make-Do Mondays post at your blog, then return here to link via Mr. Linky. Enjoy others’ ideas by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking on people’s names.

Here’s a mini-tutorial on Mr. Linky:

Click on the icon and a separate page will pop up. Type in your blog name and paste in the url of your new Make-Do Mondays post. Click enter and it should be live. If it doesn’t work, just include the link in the comments.

To visit people’s posts or check that yours worked, click on Mr. Linky and when the page comes up, click on a name. You should be taken right to the page provided.

Make-Do Mondays Participants

1. Halala Mama (Make-Do Leftovers)
2. Small Town ~ Simple Home (Makeshift Rain Barrel)
3. Feels Like Home (What to do with Leftover Buns)
4. Trish Southard (Crabby Crafts)
5. My Practically Perfect Life (Pilot’s Make-Do Trailer)
6. Coupons, Deals and More (Deviled Eggs)
7. Sunnydaytodaymama (Car booting)
8. Home Grown Mommy (Waterbed Bookshelf)

Make-Do Mondays with Ann

Many of our neighbors are like artists as they plant flowers, vines and plants around their homes. Their landscaping flows together, one plant’s color, height and texture complementing another. As I jog down the street, I admire the ideas, beauty, and creativity.

Then I jog home and look at our house.

And I sigh.

On my own, I’ve never been able to create a pleasing arrangement for the front yard.

So a year-and-a-half ago, the Belgian Wonder and I paid a little money for a local landscape company to send over a designer. He walked around the house with me, listening to my gardening woes, asking me what I liked and disliked, looking at the plants and flowers I already had in place. He studied the house, measured all the beds, and, well, I don’t know what all he did. Landscape-designer things. Anyway, he eventually gave us a plan for our front yard sketched out and labeled on graph paper.

All we had to do was follow the plan.

I think that the company he worked for hoped we would hire them to put it all in all for us, but we were being cheap. We just wanted the plan and would do the work ourselves, over time.

I no longer had to stand in my front yard and stare at my house, frustrated and hopeless. Instead, clutching a photocopy of the precious plan, I simply drove to Lowes and bought the first set of plants we were ready to “install.” Little by little, we’ve got most of the sections dug up and planted with what he said would work.

We had been following his plan perfectly, buying the exact plants he recommended, hoping to maximize our chances of success.

He recommended a particular day lily, so we bought that and placed it in the exact plot of soil that the graph paper indicated. We bought the precise species of hosta and ground cover and a small tree that he said would work.

For one awkward spot, he recommended a specific fountain grass. I love the loose, casual, beach-y look of fountain grasses.

In fact, we had some grasses already growing in the back yard—three different types.

And Lowes didn’t have the landscape designer’s species. I did find it at a nursery down the road from Lowes, but it was expensive. So I faced a big decision:  Should we compromise? Should we make our own executive decision on the variety of plant that we thought would work in a particular spot?

Should we?

Should we take the risk?

Should we just dig up a portion of the type we already had on hand and use that instead of buying new?

I was nervous.

After all, I paid for his advice. I paid for that graph paper. I paid to overcome my plant insecurities.

But we did it.

We made-do with a variety of grass we already had.

It’s probably all wrong.

Maybe the designer envisioned something taller.

Maybe it should be straighter, or lighter in color.

Or maybe this is just fine.

I always thought I’d replace this with the recommended grass someday, but I haven’t yet.

This keeps growing up healthy and lush, so I leave it, making-do.

It’s probably not perfect, but, as I pointed out last week with my basket, neither am I.

How do you make do?

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