Emily A. Everyday

That mom who does it all, on her own – she would rather not.

It wasn’t an intentional choice she made to be the mom juggling all the plates with no help. She just had no help, so she learned how to do it by herself. Her husband has always been her only teammate, and he has a full time job that’s more demanding than many understand. They’re a tiny tribe of 2, raising their kids without a “village.” It’s not a big deal anymore because it’s just life.

But sometimes it is.

Some of the moments she wishes for a “village”…

If a kid gets sick, they all cram into the tiny doctor’s office, or they all go to the store to get whatever is needed. She apologizes to her toddler, over and over, praying he doesn’t throw up before they can get out of the store, or in the car. Again.

When she’s sick, the only rest she gets is between 6 pm and 5:30 am when her husband is home. There’s still meals to be cooked and toddlers to supervise.

When well-meaning people go on and on about how important it is to have a “real date night” with a babysitter and fun outside the house. Actually, in those moments she’s just praying her eyeballs don’t roll back in her head like they so badly want to. She’s been happily married long enough to determine that’s a lie.

Maybe their extended family lives far away. Maybe they have no family. Maybe their family isn’t healthy to be around for one reason or another. Possibly their own parents walked out of their lives when they chose to have more than 3 children. (Sadly that happens more often than you might think.)

That mama with the well-stocked freezer didn’t learn to make freezer meals and batch cook because it seemed fun. It saved her sanity (and her physical health) when she had a toddler and a newborn, her husband was working 80 hours each week, and there was no one to bring them meals in those early days.

That mom with the pack of well behaved kids in the grocery store? They aren’t well-behaved because they’re perfect. She’s not “brave.” They have all been doing the weekly shopping with their mother since they were each 2 weeks old. She’s put a lot of time and effort into teaching and training each child how to behave and stay safe in that situation. She didn’t have another option. Now it’s just part of the routine.

That mama who refuses to volunteer in your daughter’s second grade classroom- maybe you will understand when she shows up to every field trip with a baby strapped to her back, pushing twin three year olds in a stroller. And maybe you won’t. That’s okay too. She isn’t looking for anyone’s approval. (If you would offer to sit with the older kids while she changed the baby’s diaper, she would be very grateful though.)

That mom that doesn’t join a small group at church probably isn’t super shy (or a snob). She doesn’t have someone to watch her kids for two hours on a Thursday night. Or a Monday night. Or any night.

All the moms out there doing all their mama stuff without help aren’t supermoms. Lots of days they’re just surviving moms. They still have piles of laundry to fold and floors that desperately need to be washed. They don’t have it all together. Sometimes they’re lonely moms. Really, they’re mostly just praying moms.

It’s not that they don’t need help. They have no help. There’s a difference. Some moms just don’t have a village. And instead of whining and having a pity party (because they’ve already tried that before), they pray, they get up, and they get stronger.

It’s just what we do.

Sometimes my husband tells people that I’m, “a little bit hippy.” It’s true. I have some “crunchy” ways. Growing up I don’t think I ever imagined I’d do some of the things I do now. I love trying and learning new things though! Sometimes the old way really is the best way. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I knew dandelions had long been used for medicinal purposes, but I’ve enjoyed learning more about the different uses of the plant. One of those uses is as a jelly. I love jelly. (Doesn’t everyone?) Everything I read said dandelion jelly had a similar taste and consistency to honey (which we use a LOT of), so I started researching recipes as soon as the first buds popped up in our yard this year. I wanted to try it last year, but I waited too late in the summer and wasn’t able to find enough flowers. That was disappointing, but I was determined to be better prepared this year. This year the kids and I finally got our chance, and we made our first batch of dandelion jelly! It was a fun experience, and was surprisingly easy. This is definitely a project we will repeat.

(This article contains affiliate links. Ordering through these links will not change your pricing, but I will receive a small percentage.)

Ingredients

• 3 cups packed dandelion blossoms (We used fresh, but I’ve been told that if you don’t have enough, you can freeze them until you are able to pick more.)
• 4 cups water
• 1 1/2 – 2 boxes of powdered pectin (I used 1 1/2)
• 4 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons bottled lemon juice

Several recipes I found called for food coloring to give it a pretty yellow hue, but we try very hard to avoid artificial dyes, so I left that out of ours. The jelly didn’t end up green at all like some people said it would, but it isn’t a super bright yellow either.

It’s a pretty simple process, just a bit time consuming. When you take that first bite of a warm, homemade biscuit with your very own dandelion jelly spread on it, you’ll be glad you took the time to try this out.

When harvesting dandelions, be sure to pick from areas that aren’t treated with chemicals or near heavily traveled roadways. You don’t want all that yucky stuff in your food.

The How-To

1. Pull the yellow blossoms out of the green leaves that hold them together. I found the best way to do this was to use my thumb fingernail to split the leaves and rake the petals off. Be sure to remove as much of the green at the bottom of the petals as possible and pick out leaves that fall in. The green is bitter, not exactly what you’re going for when making jelly.
2. In a saucepan, boil 4 cups of water. Add half the blossom, and stir until it is boiling. Turn off the water, cover, and let steep for 20 minutes.
3. Use a mesh strainer to strain out the blossoms. Gently push on the petals to remove excess water.
4. Add the dandelion water back to your saucepan and bring to a boil again and then add the rest of the blossoms. Cover and steep again for about 15 minutes.
5. Again, strain out the dandelion blossoms, gently pushing on them to remove the extra water.
6. Measure out 3 cups of the steeping water. Add sugar, pectin and lemon juice. Bring this mixture to a boil, stirring it until the sugar dissolves.
7. Boil for 1 minute.
8. Skim off the foam.

Ta-da! You have dandelion jelly!

Then pour the mixture into hot, sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. You can then store in the fridge or process by the instructions of your canner manufacturer. I actually chose to freeze some of mine, and we will see how that turns out.

It’s no secret that we love books around here.

There’s at least one book on every flat surface in our house. However, after I’ve read the same books 4,700 times, I’m ready to add a new one into rotation, and some of my kids are too.

*The products mentioned in this post were provided free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are strictly my own.* Some links in this post are affiliate links. Ordering through them will not affect your pricing, but it will provide income for me.*

This month, Bookroo saved me there. New books – without having to search through the internet and 100 reviews or having to chase a toddler through the library while simultaneously scanning books to approve them for my 8 and 6 year olds and telling the 5 year old she cannot check out the Dora dvd AGAIN? Yes please!

Boxes of books showed up at my door, wrapped in pretty paper (Every book is gift wrapped. Yes, I’m serious. How sweet is that?), and ready to be enjoyed. The best part? They now offer subscribers three reading levels to pick from! Board books for our youngest book lovers, picture books for the whole family to enjoy, and now (in beta testing) junior boxes with chapter books for ages 7-10! The junior box seriously made my 8 year old’s day. He’s an avid reader and I struggle to keep up with him. Bless him, that sweet boy has been re-reading every chapter book in our house over and over for the last two months because I just was not up to a library trip with a toddler and a newborn. The junior boxes would also be great for family read aloud books. (Don’t be afraid to introduce chapter books to younger, non-reader kids!) That’s exciting to this homeschool mom.

It never gets old seeing him devour a new book. I was happy with the books selected for this box too. I’m a bit picky on the books I allow, and these both seem to be age- appropriate and well written, which seem to be a bit harder to find a lot of these days.

My girls were no less thrilled than their older brother about getting new books (and how sweet are they in those matching Christmas jammies?).

With a new baby in the house, there’s been plenty of time for snuggling on the couch to read stories the last several weeks, and the two included in this month’s Bookroo box were great additions to our collection of storybooks. With every box I’ve seen from Bookroo, I’ve been very impressed by the books selected. Each one has been fun to read (not dragging on forever, leaving me trying to skip pages lol) with great illustrations.

Last, but absolutely not least, is the board book box. I have a weakness for board books, and oh my, these are precious.

I expected my little guy to love them, but his older sisters were just as excited about the books we received in the board books box. I had multiple requests to read Our Love Grows right away. We read it three times in a row. 🙂

If you want to make sure the kids you love have fun books under the tree (and in the mailbox each month!), there’s still time! Order by Monday, Dec 18 for delivery by Christmas!

Prices range from $15.99-$24.99 and plan options include monthly, 3, 6, and 12 month subscriptions. Junior boxes are available on a 2 month subscription plan.

Check out Bookroo.com for more information.