Bookworm-isms

We had an awards banquet for the end of basketball season. It was fun. They had a juggler for entertainment. He shared the story of man's fall into sin while he juggled, and then told the story of Jesus's birth, death and resurrection. It was really neat to watch him integrate different objects and methods of juggling to illustrate his story. At the end he had a pitch fork, and 2 giant knives he was juggling. He had one of the coaches come to the front. He had him lie on the floor then placed a blindfold over him. He said he was going to juggle the knives over the guy, and that the coach trusting him reflected our faith in Christ. We may not always see what's going to happen, but we have to trust it will be okay. Well, the juggler switched the knives out for toilet plungers. It was funny and thought provoking.

On the way home, Popcorn was talking about that mean trick the juggler played. I said I wasn't even sure if the knives were real. Bookworm said "Yeah, he should have sliced a tomato to show us they were real. He could have sliced thousands of tomatoes, and we could have given them to the poor. We would say 'Here you go, poor.'" I guess the poor would just show up, plates in hand ready to get fresh juggler-sliced tomatoes. Or maybe we would have to post a sign at the church: FREE sliced tomatoes for the poor. I don't know, but "Here you go, poor."

Last night Bookworm registered for softball. Don't tell Popcorn, but I did a happy dance inside when she said she didn't want to do softball. Well, Studmuffin picked Bookworm up at piano, took her to register for softball, and headed straight to Acadamy to get all of the paraphernalia she will need. She has never played softball, and truthfully, she's a wimp. I'm not sure how she's going to handle a ball flying at her. Or sliding into base. Or anything that risks injury. But, Studmuffin was a baseball player, so I know he can help her.

FYI, my kids both have crazy skinny feet, but Bookworm's are worst. It was a challenge finding a baseball cleat that was long enough, but wouldn't fall off of her heal. She had to have cleats, a helmet and face guard, a bat, glove, balls, a tee to learn to bat correctly, and some sort of thing that you practice batting with that involves tying something to the basketball goal, and it will swing around. I don't get it, but then it's sports....I typically don't get sports "stuff" and that's fine with me.

At the check out Bookworm expressed concern over the amount. She asked how much everything cost. Studmuffin told her the total of registration and the equipment. She was quiet for a minute and then...."Do you need me to help you pay for that?"

Isn't that sweet? She has some money in a savings account, and she keeps asking when she gets to use it. We keep telling her it's for college and maybe a car when she's older. She asked me how much college will cost. I said about $20,000/year. I know that's a big number, but I know it's not getting any cheaper, and I want her to realize that it's important to save for it. I also want her to realize that she will have to make good grades and work hard to go to school. She said "Ummm, Mom? That's a lot of money. You may have to help me pay for that. I don't know if I can save that much by then." I laughed. Of course she won't have enough money! And, she'll go to college no matter what. But, I'm glad she's thinking about it. Poor Bookworm. She's so earnest, and she usually has no clue why I burst out laughing at her deep thoughts. But, she's learned to be a good sport and laugh with me.

Oh! One more thing. My brother's kids stayed the weekend with us. They are 13 & 14. We were talking about being weird. Me, specifically, being weird. I told Kris that I have no problem with my weirdness-I've come to embrace it. Popcorn piped up, "Yeah, my mom's really weird. But I don't care. I like it!" Good to know.....Good to know. I may need to remind her of that in a few years......

Pear Butter

Studmuffin's aunt gave me a sack of pears this summer. We ate what we could, and then I decided to freeze the rest, get some more from her (free, of course) and make some jelly to give away as presents. Well, I never got around to getting some more pears, so this is what I came up with.

The Saga of The Pears

Eat as many pears as your family can. Notice they are starting to over-ripen. Peel and dice the pears, then place in freezer where you will promptly forget about them. In November you will remember the pears, but not get around to doing anything. December rolls around, and you will really need some homemade gifts for family, but again will do nothing with your pears, because there really is not enough for you to make jelly for gifts and still have some for your family, and while you want to be generous, you know yourself well, and you are really selfish with homemade treats.....

In late January you will ask your daughter to put the sodas in the fridge which is in your garage. Two days later you will go to open the mini fridge, and find no sodas.....Hmmmmm.....

You will then discover the missing sodas that very evening as you go to get some meat out of the freezer....Unfortunately you will be unable to enjoy these Dr. Pepper made with Imperial pure cane sugar because they have now exploded all over the bottom of your freezer. You will make a disgusted sound, grab your meat, shrug it off, and go to make dinner for your family....

You will intentionally forget about the sodas exploded all over the bottom 2 shelves of your freezer, because you have a wonderful husband who cleaned the exploded soda out of your mini fridge just the week before. (The fridge was a freebie, of course. Your husband's work was throwing it out and he recycled it for our family's use! I'm tellin' ya...You are G-R-E-E-N!). The fridge has thermostat issues, and occasionally freezes all drinks inside with no warning.

But, I've digressed...You are ignoring the exploded soda's in your deep freeze...After all, it's only the bottom 2 shelves, and really, you are good at ignoring things that you don't want to deal with....Like dust. You ignore this very easily, until your 2 lovely children have a moment to do it for you! And, while they grumble and complain about it, you realize that making your children do things they don't enjoy doing is great for building character!

On a Saturday in late February your husband, who really is the most wonderful husband EVER, will clean out the deep freeze.....Patience pays off! He will discover the bag of pears. Wonderful! You are in the perfect mood to make something....What shall it be? You flip through several recipe books, and come up with this lovely and easy recipe, that is really a mixture of several other recipes, but hey it worked!

Pear Butter

6 c. finely chopped and peeled pears.
2 c. sugar
3 tsp cinnamon
salt (I didn't measure it, sorry)
1/4 tsp ground cloves

Place all in crock pot and cook on high 1 hour. Stir. Reduce heat and cook until mixture is thick and a lovely brown color, stirring occasionally. You can use your potato masher to smash them up if you like. Enjoy the lovely aroma of Christmas throughout your home during this process...Without the stress of the holidays!

I put the mixture in several small canning jars. Here's how I seal jars, just in case you care, and if not too bad, we've already established this is my blog and I can say what I want!

After cleaning the jars, I put them in my oven at about 200 (okay, that's a lie, I put them in at 400 because I was also baking corn bread at the same time....The point is to get the jars good and hot). I boil the lids in a small pan of water. Place jelly in your jar leaving a little room at top (about 1/2 inch) place lid and secure with ring. Turn jars upside down on a towel or rack. Say "Abracadabra Kernoodle, Kerplop! Make these lids seal with a small little *POP*!" And, magically, your lids will seal! Amazing, I know!

FYI: One year I made jalapeno jelly, and apparently I over cooked it a tad. I turned my jars over to seal, and went about my day, completely forgetting them. They sealed alright....But they also set up with all of my lovely jalapeno jelly stuck at the top and a big open space on the bottom of my jar. I still gave it away, but only to people who I knew wouldn't judge me for my scatter brained ways....They know I'm scatter brained and love me anyway!

Well, that's all the knowledge I have to give you today. Now I must return to laundry...Today is bedding day. Oh, joy. I can't wait until the girls are strong enough to stretch sheets into place. I know making up bed will be great for building their character! *snicker*

Winter Fun

As many of you know, we had an ice storm a few weeks ago. Bookworm and I built this seal. You see, it wasn't snow, just inches and inches of ice with a little snow peppered in here and there. The day it started to thaw, we worked quickly to form this little cutie. And for anyone who doesn't remember, Bookworm hates the sun in her eyes, so we settled for a closed eye shot to document her creation.
Kelsey was put to work. I had the girls hold one leash and I lead her with the other and she easily pulled them on the ice. This shot is on an old box, but we ended up using a laundry basket and it seemed to work the very best. And, for any animal rights activists, we did this just a few times because I was afraid it would hurt her neck. I'm totally considering a harness for next year. The dog really didn't seem to mind as long as she was pleasing me, and the kids loved it!
Of course, the puppy tended to get in the way. I scolded her twice for getting in the way, and the third time I scolded her, Kelsey took discipline into her own hands. Holly stayed out of the way after that!
Believe it or not, the pool floaty was the best sled we had. Of course we didn't have a sled, so we were making do with whatever we could find. Unfortunately the floaty only lasted about 30 minutes before it popped. You'd expect more from a dollar store floaty!
Yep, Holly stayed out of our sled dog's way....But she still ran around like a maniac the rest of the time....And most of that time she had Popcorn's stocking cap in her mouth!

Holly update: She is not house trained. She stays outside. She does come in the garage to eat, so I can be sure she gets to eat. She is actually well mannered. She sits politely while you scoop her food, and then doesn't actually eat until you scratch her, then tell her to eat. Then, when she's done eating, she sits at your feet with her head cocked to the side, waiting expectantly for her scratch behind the ears! Yep, she's turned out better, so far, than I expected. I think having an older dog who is well mannered helps. Also, it helps that we refuse to pet her if she's running and jumping all over the place. So, all in all, she's pretty good for a bird dog. But, she does have that unfortunate "bird dog" smell. Oh well, I guess I can't have everything!Holly showing her good manners while she waits to be let out of the garage.

Kelsey, wondering why anyone would be even remotely interested in a pesky puppy when she is obviously more trustworthy and better mannered! Quite frankly, she's disgusted by the whole thing.

Sunset

Psalm 104:2-3
He wraps himself in light as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters. He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind.

Okay, I didn't take this picture. As you can see from my posts I am NOT a photographer. This photo was emailed to me by my mom, and it was taken at Lake Hefner by Michael Danielson. But, for anyone who doesn't know, Oklahoma is known for glorious sunsets and sunrises. With all the open prairie, and nice flat plains you can see for miles. No hills or trees to obstruct your view! I guess there's something to be said for the lack of trees. Anyway, I love sunrise and sunset. We have great views of both out our back yard (it faces north), especially since we back up to a lovely field with no houses to obstruct our view. I love to sit on the deck of our pool on summer evenings and watch the sunset. It's great to be back in Oklahoma. So, there is no point to this post. Just a picture of God's amazing handiwork to share with you this morning! Praise him for his excellent works!

The American Way

Want to read an inspiring story about one town pulling itself up by it's bootstraps? A story of a community with a true sense of responsibility and unity? A story of a town that takes matters into it's own hands? This is a town that will truly inspire you.....

But wait!

This town is not an American town....

No, it's not.

It's a town in.................................................Australia!

Check it out!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090220/ap_on_re_au_an/as_australia_wildfires

Go ahead and be inspired by a town that has been completely devastated. A town that doesn't wait for someone else to come in and rescue them. A town that is not sitting waiting for a government or any other kind of handout. Nope, no FEMA cards given here. They developed a plan of recovery, and they are working together to get it done. Imagine that.

More Spring Fever

Can you guess what my girls are dreaming about? They have spent more time fantasizing over this little sale bill than I used to spend staring at the JCPenney Christmas catalogue! What do you think the odds are that we can convince Studmuffin to get baby chickens? Never mind that it would involve building a coop when we need a fenced in back yard for the dogs....Or that I happen to own a known chicken assassin....Still, it sure seems fun in theory!

My tomatoes are doing well. I just stuck them in some old pots and put them in my kitchen window. The girls have loved watching them grow.

Now to see if I can keep them alive until May when they can be planted outside!

Cleaning a Shotgun

Bookworm was full of smiles and sparkling with excitement when I picked her up. She was practically glowing.....I was smiling just looking at her....but then she told me......And my smile became a little more strained.

Studmuffin is cleaning his shotgun.

Guess why?





A FOURTH GRADER WANTS TO BE HER BOYFRIEND, THAT'S WHY!!!!



Bookworm: Hey Mom! Guess what Tyler said today! *giggle*
Me: What?
Bookworm: Well, we were on our way to pick up Nanna (Tyler is the babysitter's son...Nanna is the grandma), and Brady had Tyler ask me to be his girlfriend, *giggle* but I said 'I'm not allowed' so Tyler told Brady *giggle* and then Brady had Tyler ask me if I would like him if I was allowed to have a boyfriend, and then I said 'I don't know!' *giggle, giggle, giggle*

Okay, so I'm inwardly freaking, yet of course, there's this little burst of happiness because she's so excited that a boy wants to be her boyfriend. But, I don't want my 3rd grader to have a boyfriend....

Me: So, do you want to have a boyfriend? If you were allowed, of course.
Bookworm *giggle*: I don't know!

Oh....Gentle Reader.....I think I know....

I think she's flattered that someone wants to be her boyfriend....Yep, my baby is growing up.....

Just a few short months ago she didn't think it was funny that someone wanted to be her boyfriend... In fact she was furious that some boys asked her if she was Ethan's girlfriend. She told the teacher that "2 boys in the hall were being mean and said that she was Ethan's girlfriend, and she's not, and you don't say that to someone when it's not true!" And then, she "gave them the meanest look ever and she showed them!"
Yep! Those boys didn't mess with her anymore!

So, we've gone from giving boys the "meanest look ever" to giggles. Yikes.

Excuse me now....I'm going to go drown my sorrows in a giant bowl of ice cream. Thank you.