Recipe of the Week: Pizza

50 Toes has asked so nicely for the recipe and I thought I'd share it as my first official Recipe of the Week! Thanks to Mandy for sharing her recipe from "that Italian woman in Italy."

Pizza Dough:
Add ingredients in order into a bread machine pan:

• 1 cup water
• 15 oz flour
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp yeast

We use the French Dough setting on our bread machine; it runs for 1 hour and 48 minutes. Experiment with what works for your machine or create by hand. This recipe makes enough for 2 - 9x13 pans. You can get 2 - 9x13 pans, plus 1 - 9x9 if you prefer thinner crusts.


Pizza Sauce:

• 6 oz tomato paste
• 16 oz tomato sauce
• 1 T water
• 1 T sugar
• oregano, to taste (we use 3/4 T to 1 T)
• garlic, to taste (we use about 2 or 3 cloves worth)

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan (use a whisk for smooth sauce with nary a lump of tomato paste). Simmer sauce for 3 - 5 minutes; DO NOT BOIL as it will make the sauce very acidic!

This recipe makes enough for 4 generously-sauced 9x13 pizzas.


Toppings:
We generally use pepperoni, pineapple, and black olives. We also like bacon and black olives. Yes, we really like black olives. If you're with us, yay! If not, let it go and be happy that we're eating your share of black olives in the world. We bake our pizzas at about 400* (My Dearest, is it 400* or 425*? 450*?) for about 25 minutes to 1/2 hour. Go forth and create your own pizza masterpiece!

We have also found that the glass 9x13 pan gives the crust a nice crispness, without making it too crispy. For more fabulous pizza recipes, look through this book. It's the one that started us on our journey towards finding our pizza.

Bon Appetit!

Healthy Tip of the Week

This is one of our family's favorite new things: Greek yogurt! It's like sour cream, but without all of the fat and calories.

Take plain, all natural yogurt, spoon your desired amount into a coffee-filter-lined colander or strainer and refrigerator for at least 8 hours. The whey drips out of the yogurt (watery liquid) and you are left with a thick, creamy, sour cream substitute. I had my Dearest try it. He said, "It's like sour cream, but so much better!"

We use it in place of sour cream for Mexican food and I will be trying it this weekend in a Spinach-Artichoke dip. Details to come!

Are You Ready for Some Football?

It's football season! Yes, it's been football season for 5 weeks, but I'm just getting around to actually blogging about it. For the last 3 years, we have been doing football picks, which started with my Dearest and some of his co-workers. He heard a few guys talking on Fridays sharing what they thought would happen with the up-coming weekend's games, but he rarely heard them talking about it on Mondays so he suggested keeping track.

It started with a simple spreadsheet, then it involved sheets of stats - which team has played when, what the scores were, which teams won where, what their streaks are, etc... It started with adding me to his co-worker pool, then the boys wanted to be involved and "do picks" as we call it. It's a fun way to be involved with my Dearest's enjoyment of the sport.

Now, we all pick at ESPN.com on their Pigskin Pick'em page. If you'd like to see where we stand, go to my Dearest's blog for more details.

I enjoy the sport, I understand the sport, but I'm not entirely obsessed with it. My Dearest can tell you all sorts of facts, stats, and who ran where and who did what... in various years, even!

Game On!! May the best picker win!

I am a Foodie, Hear Me Roar!

I love to cook. I know, call me crazy. I know most people love to bake, but that is just not my thing. I enjoy baking on occasion when necessary, but I LOVE to cook. I enjoy all things about food.

When I was growing up, I remember my mom tried her best to have us eat healthfully. She was a nurse for umpteen years and was very interested in nutrition. As most Koreans are, my parents are very health conscious. Or maybe it's just my parents and it's not a cultural thing. Anyhow, we rarely had soda or pop, or whichever terminology you use for carbonated and sugary beverages; we had 7-up only if we were sick. My mom only bought whole wheat bread. We had wheat germ on top of our cereal. We rarely had sugary cereal. Wheat germ on top of Cheerios. Shudder. We ate lots of veggies and fruits. We rarely had dessert or baked goods; perhaps that's why I don't enjoy baking as much.

I say my mom tried her best for a couple of reasons. Firstly, when we had to have wheat germ on top of our cereal, my brother and I sneaked outside to dump it into our tomato patch. We had a bumper crop of fabulous tomatoes that year! Yes, my mom knows all about this. We had a bit of a "do-you-remember-when... " session at our last family get together. Secondly, after I moved out, I rebelled and ate what I wanted. Now, things have come full circle.

As it invariably happens, girls usually turn into their mothers. We generally raise our families the way we were raised. There are some things that we very consciously change, but for the most part, we go with what we know.

I have also started a new journey down the path of healthier eating in our family. We are eating whole-wheat products, brown rice instead of white, lots of veggies and fruits, more fish and less red meat, etc. You'll be seeing more food related posts soon.

One of our weekly indulgences is pizza. If you hang out at our house on the weekend, you're very likely to stumble into our pseudo-pizza kitchen. Now, we don't actually have a brick oven or any of that jazz, but we take our pizza making fairly seriously. We measure our flour for our dough and make home-made pizza sauce, the recipe for which I got from my friend Mandy whose family lived in Italy while her father was in the Navy. It's an authentic recipe, as far as I've been told. It's fabulous, in any case!

We have experimented with baking dishes, stones, temperatures, dough and topping ingredients, and length of baking time. It is one of our favorite meals all week, especially one that the boys enjoy.

Here's our pictorial pizza diary. Bon Appetit, or as one of my sons says, "Bun up a diet!"

Here are our ingredients all assembled and ready to be made into pizza.

Measuring flour for the dough - we use both whole wheat and regular white flour.

Adding ingredients to the bread machine pan.

Pizza sauce ingredients.

Readying the toppings.

Dough, ready to be stretched into a crust.

Nicely stretched and ready to be topped.

Oiling our preferred "pizza pans."

Pizza saucing ensues.

Some toppings go under the cheese...

and some go on top of the cheese.

Ready to bake, along with a bulb of garlic.

Removed from their pans and ready to cut and eat!

Starting to Think Pink

Did you know that being a woman is the number one risk factor for breast cancer?

Most women diagnosed with breast cancer have no other known risk factors.

Most women diagnosed with breast cancer have no family history of the disease.

I learned these facts from Judy, a speaker from the Karmanos Cancer Institute, who informed us about breast cancer and it's symptoms at a ScrapPink fundraiser last weekend. She was an engaging, fun speaker.

The most important piece of information I came away with was that every woman should be doing monthly breast self exams (BSE) starting at age 20. We cannot rely on our annual visit to our doctor and think he or she will find something if anything is there. If we are doing our BSE monthly, we are more likely to find abnormalities quickly and find the best course of treatment for it, in order to have the greatest chance for survival. We are our best advocate for our health.


Thanks to 50 toes for the heads up on another Pink issue! 5 Minutes for Mom is giving away a pink Dyson! Enter for your chance to win here.

Lack of Sleep

Are you one of those people who can function on very little sleep? I could when I was a teen, of course. I thought I could when I was in my early and mid-20s. Then I became a parent. I realized I need sleep to function and to be a coherent person.

Of course there are those who prefer and dare I say, enjoy, the babbling and blathering people. My Dearest is one of those people who can function fairly well with very little sleep. He enjoys the babbling, blathering, and blithering ones, quite a bit, I think. He humors those people very nicely.

The first thing I noticed when I lost my sanity, forgive me, I mean my sleep was that I could function fairly well, but my mouth and body were pretty much disconnected. I suppose that means that I wasn't really functioning well; I only thought I was.

After we arrived home with our first child, we were so unexpected (that should read, unprepared) for parenthood. We had a basic grasp of the utmost necessities. Change the diaper when wet or dirty, hold and comfort, rock and sway, and perhaps most important of all, feed!

Add the lack of sleep and guess what you have? You would probably have something like this:

Late one night, a young and hungry infant cries and both parents rouse themselves from as deep of a slumber as you can get in about 2 hours. Because the husband is very supportive of his wife and wants to aid in any way possible, he asks if there is anything he can do or get to help his bone-tired nursing wife. Never mind the fact that he's probably just as weary as she is. As she heads to the living room couch, she mumbles over her shoulder, "...baby..." and proceeds down the short hallway. Before she gets to the couch, her husband asks what it was she wanted again. This time, she mumbles again, "...baby..." He looks again and can't find what it is that she could possibly want or need. He asks again and she clearly says, "I want the baby!" He laughs a bit and says something akin to, "The one you're nursing now?"

When the baby is crying and you're soothing him, it helps to actually pick up the baby and comfort him instead of patting the pillow next to you as your spouse takes care of the baby and looks at you funnily. It's also quite embarrassing to wake up mid-pat and realize what's going on.

You'd think that when infancy ends, you'd catch up on sleep and be, well, a bit less of a babbling, blithering, blathering sleep-deprived person, right? Sad to tell you my friends, it doesn't. It especially doesn't if you pretend you're not parents after the children go to sleep and you stay up to watch movies, tv, play Dutch Blitz, Speed Scrabble, or the like. If you engage in behavior like this, then the following scenario is probably very likely to happen.

You dream about a person whose legs from the knees down are covered with chocolate cake and frosting and casually walking through the room while clumps of cake and frosting drop with every step onto your creamy-almond-colored carpeting. You sit up and exclaim, "Oh my goodness! Do you see what's happening?" and your spouse calmly says, "It's only a dream." Perhaps, normally, this would work, but this time it only serves to make the sleeping one exclaim, "Come on, I'll show you!" and you both proceed out of bed and into the hallway where the sleeping one has since woken and realizes that the children's bedroom door is open. Now would be a good time to check on them; you're up anyway, right? You lovingly straighten limbs and covers and head back to bed. As you sit on the edge of your bed, you realize that the person with cake-and-frosting-legs was walking about where your closet is and that was why you got out of bed in the first place. Now, there's no trace of it; it was a dream, after all. You realize your spouse is watching you from the doorway and you sheepishly wave before laying back down.

Not that I know about any of this...

Operator Error

My Dearest took our boys to the bathroom in a restaurant to wash hands before dinner this evening. They discovered the automatic hand-dryer, which required them to put their hands under in order to turn the unit on. After experimenting and quickly mastering it, one boy noticed there was a paper towel dispenser next to it. This was the type where each sheet was folded into the next, kind of like inverted pop-up tissue or moist towelette dispensers. Our son tugged gently on the paper towel and asked my Dearest, "How do you operate this?" He's such a precious boy.

Reverse Teaching

As I reflected on the chaos of last week, God brought this thought to my mind this morning. "Your children are sinful creatures, as are you. However, they aren't Christians yet."

I was immediately humbled and ashamed of my behavior last week. Where are they going to learn about God, His love, mercy, wisdom, and grace if not at home? Yes, I need to teach them to pick up their rooms. It is necessary to teach them about strangers, shoe-tying, and table etiquette. But, it is more necessary that they learn about God. Within the framework of God's commands, everything else should fall into place.

I am learning that I need to deal with my children graciously, gracefully and mercifully while accepting who they are, not what I want them to become or who I think they are. God is working in me as He works in my children.

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6, ESV

Smelly Fingers and Three Things

It has been quite an emotionally charged week. It's been a week (a week, people!) of power struggles, messy children's rooms, and lots of tears (shed by my children and me).

Yesterday, everything fell from the spinning plates that were so delicately balanced in the air. I wanted to send my children to the moon and even still, I wanted to hold them close and love them even more. Motherhood (Parenthood, for those male readers) is a juxtaposition of emotions.

At the end of the day, after I had shed more tears than I can remember in a very long time, my Dearest came to me and said that it was time for prayer. After we prayed with the boys and got them into bed, about 10 minutes later, one of my boys (his identity shall remain protected, but you have a a 50/50 chance to suspect correctly, lol!) came to me and said, "Mom, we need to clean my ears! When I take my fingers out of my ears, they smell!"

After the difficulties of the week, I couldn't help but stifle my laughter and lovingly tell him we would clean his ears, although my Dearest and I were sorely tempted to tell him to not take his fingers out of his ears.

###

Three things in life that, once gone, never come back -
1. Time
2. Words
3. Opportunity

Three things in life that can destroy a person -
1. Anger
2. Pride
3. Unforgiveness (or resentment)

Three things in life that you should never lose -
1. Hope
2. Peace
3. Honesty

Three things in life that are most valuable -
1. Love
2. Family & Friends
3. Kindness

Three things in life that are never certain -
1. Fortune
2. Success
3. Dreams

Three things that make a person -
1. Commitment
2. Sincerity
3. Hard work

Three things that are truly constant -
Father - Son - Holy Spirit

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30, ESV

A Giveaway!

Ya'll know I love a good giveaway, as well as host my own -- run over to Preacher's Wife and enter her giveaway; her giveaway ends tonight at 10 CST!

She is giving away an Effective Parenting DVD kit from Walk Thru the Bible.


By the way, I'm not really southern, but the "ya'll" just jumps out of me sometimes. :-)

And to think I only have two...

I've been MIA for quite a while and thank you to those who've emailed to check in on me and make sure we're okay. We're okay! We're trying to squeeze in the last of summer and I'm trying not to send my children to the moon! This is now my phrase of choice - "to the moon." It used to be "drop-kick" with a number of football fields.

After reading this, I'm not nearly as frustrated and I've had quite a good laugh.

Sunday Morning Fun

As we were driving to church this morning, my Dearest saw a sign on a hotel marquee:

Special $79
Internet
Breakfast

What does this sign tell you? To my Dearest, who has the ability to make me laugh over just about anything, it means that you call the hotel and request of them information regarding this breakfast. What size is it? How much space do you need to download it? Is it Windows compatible? Does it come with cookies or java? "I've had cookies through the internet, but not breakfast," he says. The fee seems high; is this an annual fee for Internet Breakfast? If I use dial-up, should I download it the night before?

May you be able to find fun in simple things as well. Have a silly day! We all need one now and again. May today be your day.

Follow the Links!

I have been on a quest for an ESV Bible for awhile now. I tried the local stores, but was not able to find any. Perhaps I didn't know where to look or they were out of stock or perhaps shopping with two young boys when you don't know what you're exactly looking for and don't know if they will have any does not work very well.

A couple of nights ago, I was reading My Life on the Gerbil Wheel over at Musing of a Housewife. Very good read, very fun blog - go check it out if you haven't and tell her you came from here.

At the bottom of the post, there was a link to Do the Next Thing, which was also just a phenomenal read, very inspiring during this slump of I-don't-want-to-do-what-I'm-supposed-to-do, otherwise known as laziness or our sinful nature running amok. That keeps popping up again, doesn't it?

“Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Matthew 26:41

There was a link on the side to the ESV blog and on that page, lo and behold, a "Buy an ESV" link. I took a look. Guess what I found?! I found Quality Seconds, Bibles that have are slightly used or damaged that are still in good shape. I bought two, perhaps my Dearest would like one, and they arrived today. Absolutely fabulous condition! Of course, I didn't realize they weren't study Bibles, but I think it'll be okay. I have an ESV Bible! Rejoice with me!

Discrimination

I was at the store a couple of weeks ago with my boys. This particular store has you bag your groceries and you "rent" a shopping cart (put in a quarter, unchain your cart from the cart stand, go shopping, return your cart and retrieve your quarter).

Anyhow, as we were bagging our groceries along the counter, a man dropped his grape tomato basket onto the floor, looked 10 feet down the counter and saw my boys minding their own business. He says to them, "Boys, pick up my tomatoes for me." I just about fell over! I couldn't believe he ordered MY kids around. He obviously didn't know that that is MY job!

I looked at him and said evenly, "If you ask the cashier, I'm sure she'd let you get a fresh basket." (Of course, this is from my own experience of dropping eggs and having them replaced. Oh, and tomato and strawberry containers. Have I mentioned I can be clumsy?) He said, that he didn't mind picking them up and washing them extra well at home. He then said (whiningly), "Can't your boys help me? I have a hard time bending down and getting up."

Sidenote: I think whining is just the most terrible sound. I don't tolerate whining from my boys and I think it's even worse from an older man! It just grates on my eardrums!

I told him that he wasn't allowed to order my boys around and went back to bagging my groceries. He had picked up all of them, except one that was under the counter near us. He approached us and said, "Tell your boys to pick that tomato up for me." Isaac just jumped over and was about to pick it up. I told him to wait a moment and said to the man that he could ask, instead of tell. (I know it sounds like I'm a horrible person, but it also sounds like I'm dealing with an ill-behaved 2 or 3 year old.) He looked at me like he couldn't believe what was happening and said, "Please?" I guess it was all he could muster. Did I mention he had some sort of accent? I looked at my boys and said, "Would one of you boys please help the man with his tomato?" Isaac said he would, gave it to him and they exchanged thank-yous and you're welcomes.

On his way out of the store, he stopped his cart and said to me, "If you were an American, you would have helped me because Americans are helpful." My mouth fell open and it was my turn to look at him like I couldn't believe what was happening.

I didn't want to get into a "How American Are You Debate" so I dealt with the other issue: his rudeness. I told him that I would have been happy to help him, had he asked and been more polite. I also told him that no one orders my children to do other peoples bidding. He dismissed my comments and left the store.

Another man stopped and asked me what that disagreeable man said. I told him what had transpired and he shook his head and said, "That man was causing all sorts of trouble in line!"

As if this was not enough, there was a vagabond-ish person by the cart stand and as we (the three parties with carts previous mentioned) passed, I heard very loudly, "Go get a job!" Guess who said that? Yup, the tomato man. I thought he was speaking to me so I turned around and said loudly, "Excuse me?!" He pointed at the vagabond-ish person and said, "I was talking to him."

The second person told me as I was bringing my cart back to the cart stand, "Ma'am, I told that man exactly what I thought of him."

###

When we were visiting my sister's in-laws, a neighbor-family stopped by one evening and apparently, their younger children have very seldom seen Asians in their lives. When they saw my oldest (the more Asian looking one of my two children), she immediately asked if he was Chinese. My sister and I patiently explained that he is Korean, but also English, German, Lebanese, and various other nationalities. She didn't understand and continued to exclaim that he looked Chinese.

My brother-in-law came up with the best remark (albeit afterwards), "You just don't know what Koreans look like." Not with a mean intent, but factually, she just didn't know. That's one I'll have to remember. (Yes, there is a difference between Asian nationalities.)

###

After pondering all of the above for weeks after they happened, I began to realize something more important. Well, in stages of importance, I suppose.

Firstly, I should have reacted with more of Christ's love toward Tomato Man instead of the hackles rising on my neck and shoulders. Boy, my sinful nature gets in the way!

Secondly, I should not react so emotionally to those who are ill-informed or give in to that knee-jerk reaction, also know as my sinful nature. (That pops up, again, doesn't it?)

Thankfully, and only by the grace of God, He has called me to Himself. That matters more. His people are from EVERY nation, EVERY tribe, EVERY kindred, and EVERY tongue. In the presence of His people, I won't be discriminated against based on what I look like or what my nationality is.


“Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.” - John 1:12-13


"... and with Your blood You purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation." Revelations 5:9

New Giveaway!

5 Minutes for Mom is giving away a TV. For. Free. Yup, you heard me right! A FREE TV. Not just any ol' TV, but an Insignia® 37" Flat-Panel LCD HDTV, courtesy of Best Buy. Just had to share the news!

Dog Days of Summer Bloggy Giveaway Winner!

First of all, THANK YOU to everyone who commented and left me such ego-boosting comments as to how crafty and creative I am. **Big, deep bow! To my new readers (or just contest entrants) I hope you'll come back and see what's new. To my faithful readers, thanks for being patient this week and just watching my comment numbers go up. :-)

Thank you to Shannon for organizing such a fun week-long giveaway, and the other participants for playing along, to the tune of over 500!!

###

Now, onto the method of picking a winner.... Do you know how hard it is to pick a winner?!

At first, I read through all of the comments and thought I'd pick the wittiest comment. Not so much, as there were WAY too many!

So then, I decided that maybe the winner should have a fun name. Again, WAY too many!

I came up with the least scientific and creative method of all: I called my Dearest and had him pick a number. It may be boring, but at least it wasn't a biased decision - it was completely random!

Congratulations to Aimee! You are the winner of ten hand-made notecards! I've sent you an email so as soon as I have an address to which to send your cards, they'll be mailed! Again, congratulations!!

It's Friday!!

Polls are now closed and I will post a winner by Noon, today! I hope you had as much fun as I did.

Dog Days of Summer Bloggy GiveAway

I'm playing along with Rocks in my Dryer
and her Dog Days of Summer Bloggy Giveaway!

Leave me a comment (with your name!) for an opportunity to win ten 3" x 3" note cards (two of each design)! Did I mention that these are hand-made by yours truly?

This giveaway is open to bloggers, non-bloggers, those in the USA, and Canada. I will be drawing the winner on Friday, July 27.

Fine print: These cards are made using Close To My Heart products (stamps, inks, and papers) and are copyright by Close To My Heart.

My First Give-Away Winner!

Thank you to all of you who entered guesses! We spent $25.66 on our produce.

Congratulations to my first Give-Away Winner: Jen! Her guess of $24.30 was $1.36 from the actual cost.

Below are the cards Jen will receive. Sorry I didn't get these posted on Friday or Saturday like I had previously posted.

Jen, email me at jjpiggins at yahoo dot com and we'll make arrangements for you to receive your cards.

My First Give-Away!!

Our local farmer’s market is finally open! We wait all year for our favorite place to open. They are open from mid-July until just after Labor Day or mid-September.

We took a quick trip to see what has arrived so far. We saw honeyrock melons, green and red peppers, sweet corn, blueberries, peaches, apples, pears, pineapples, nectarines, bananas, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, garlic, zucchini, summer squash, cabbage, cilantro, and more!

We did more than just look. :-)

We bought:
4 (1 lb) green peppers
4 (1.14 lbs) zucchini
1 Honeyrock melon
5 limes
3 lemons
7 (3 lbs) D’anjou pears
6 (2.5 lbs ) Golden Delicious apples
3 (3 lbs) Spanish onions
1 lb sweet cherries
3 lbs bananas
4 lbs cucumbers
1.5 lbs baby potatoes
2.5 lbs. of red grapes
2 garlic bulbs
1 loaf European wheat bread
1 loaf Hungarian rye bread

For you visual people (I don’t mean that in a mean way, I’m one of you too), here is a picture of my first fruit, vegetable, and grain photo shoot.



Here’s the giveaway part. Guess how much we spent on all of this fresh produce goodness!

Leave me a comment with your best guess by midnight Sunday night (Eastern Daylight Time). Bloggers and non-bloggers are welcome, as are Canadians.

The winner will receive a package of 10 hand-made cards, made by yours truly. I will post a picture on Friday or Saturday. The winner will be drawn on Monday morning.

Tomorrow's the Day!

My first give-away starts tomorrow! Are you excited?? Have you told your friends?

Stay Tuned: Give-Aways Coming!!

I have a couple of give-aways planned! The first one will be posted on Friday, July 20th with the winner drawn on Monday, July 23rd.

The next give-away is in conjunction with Shannon's Dog Days of Summer Bloggy Giveaway. See the fun bright green button on my sidebar!

Run and tell your friends - the more the merrier! Bloggers and non-bloggers are welcome.

Our Most Recent Trip Photos

Zafu!

I found this nifty site that will recommend jeans and bras that will fit you, really! After a short survey it spits out a list of companies and styles that should fit you well. You can find it at Zafu. Here's to better fitting clothes!

Mosquito Relief

It is finally raining here, which means the mosquitoes are going to be out in full force very soon. Our family needs to use some sort of repellent. I, especially, get bitten quite easily. I think I have a mosquito-only-readable sign over my head which reads, "Open Buffet! Please come feast! Open 24/7!"

My Dearest found something that made my camping experience much more tolerable last year - Bite Blocker Extreme. After using it, I only got 3 bites...after 4 days camping and at least one night with heavy rain. I'm starting to look forward to our upcoming camping trip.

Tree Lines

Have you ever noticed that mountains have a tree line? Only so far up the mountain are there trees. The peaks of the mountain are beautiful and from them, you can see for miles. They are also cold and nothing grows there. Similar to our spiritual lives, when we are on the peaks of the mountains we can see our past decisions, what we have learned, and all of the growing we have done. We also don't grow when we're on the peaks. Only when we are in the valleys do we do our growing. It's painful and sometimes we don't understand why we are learning the particular lesson. We certainly don't see the beauty of the peaks. We get stretched and go through our growing pains in the valley. We continue our climb up the mountains with God's guidance and only from up there do we see, reflect, and realize how we have grown; and sometimes we see why. ~Wisdom from my dear friend Carol: prayer-warrior, mother, grandmother, and raccoon-tamer.

Strangers in the Lord

It has been a growing period for our family these last two weeks.

We needed a new fridge and had it delivered on the 4th. I felt badly that the delivery people had to work on Independence Day. When we bought the refrigerator on the 3rd, we thought it wouldn't be delivered until the 5th. Thankfully we bought our fridge from the Sears scratch 'n dent store so we ended up saving about $300.

On the 5th, we were on our way to stay with my sister's in-laws and meet my sister and her husband there. We decided that the almost 5 hour drive would be better broken up and we could all indulge in a little bit of pool-therapy since my sis's in-laws didn't have a swimmable-pond/lake/body of water on their massive property. On the way down, one-half mile from our hotel, on the off-ramp to our hotel, our car stalled, wouldn't restart, and then the radiator's slow leak just let loose. Here we were, sitting on the off-ramp with a sedan-load of various camping gear, snacks, and pillows, not to mention our two boys. My Dearest pushed the car to the nearest gas station while I steered. As we approached a restaurant, a "stranger-in the Lord" named Chad jumped out to help my Dearest push our car to a gas station. (Strangers-in -the-Lord are those who are also Christians, we just don't know them yet. We're just a bit cheeky.) Wouldn't you know, we could see our hotel from the parking lot of the gas station? My Dearest checked into the hotel and we walked our belongings over to the hotel. We didn't know if we were going to really spend the night in the hotel or complete the ride down to my sister's in-laws. My sis's father-in-law drove an hour north to where we were, dropped off his car for us and rode with the towing company to deliver our car to a dealership near his home.

We drove the rest of the way down on the 6th. My sis's in-laws have extensive property with chickens, donkeys, goats, a pond/lake, trails to walk or ride on their go-cart. We sat by their pond/lake cabin and never in my life have I been so happy to do nothing. I kept telling my sis and her m-i-l that I had never been so happy to do nothing. They just laughed at me, but let me ask you: Can you sit and do nothing easily? I know I can't. Being a mom pre-disposes me to always planning, doing, cooking, or calculating something. Anyhow, we didn't know if we were going to have to rent a car, buy a car, or replace our engine to make it back home. Knowing that God is sovereign and has planned everything made it easier to enjoy our time instead of nervously wringing our hands trying to figure out what we should do.

It turns out our car had an after-market remote starter installed (of which we had no knowledge) and the wiring prevented our check-engine light to come on. We ended up with a reconditioned radiator and a bunch of wiring taken out of our car. Plus, it was ready that night. It cost us less than we were expecting, but much more than we had budgeted for, ya know what I mean? ;-)

My Dearest changed the oil before we left on Sunday morning and found metal shavings in the oil. We drove home without any unexpected incidents.

Now that we are home, all of the mechanic-y people from My Dearest's work are recommending that we sell it, scrap it, just get rid of it as quickly as we can since the next incident with the radiator could result in total engine failure.

Car decisions, here we come! We'll keep you posted.

I scream, you scream...

What kind of ice cream flavor are you?? This also happens to be my favorite flavor!

Stay cool out there, ya hear?

You Are A Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Girl

Creative. Expressive. Unique.

What Flavor Ice Cream Girl Are You?

Happy Independence Day!!

As we enjoy our day off (which is often filled with food and family), let's not forget the other reason we have the day off today. We celebrate our life and the liberty that we have here in the USA!

For my Canadian readers, Happy Belated Canada Day!

You the Man

My Dearest and I were talking the other night about some random things like what the boys were doing or what they said when. We were also delving into some deeper topics like what your view on Creation says about your theology (our current Sunday School topic).

During this conversation, he casually mentions that he read an article online about "Ten Things to Say to Your Man." It turns out the article is entitled, "10 Compliments That Wow a Man," but this is beside the point. The point here is that he brings this up so casually I can't help but wonder if he is digging for some compliments. Am I being delinquent or negligent about building him up?? Okay, that's not the point, either. Is there a point? Perhaps this is just rambling. Okay, read on.

He mentions that one of these "Wowing" items is, "Your arms are definitely looking bigger." My jaw dropped and I started to guffaw. Seriously? This is on the list? Then, he reminds me how he woke me up (or maybe I was up, just not quite functional yet) and he asked me if I could tell he had been working out.

Another one was, "Meow." According to my Dearest, this is the one that should be replaced with, "Honey, dinner's on the table" or the even more seductive "We ran out of white flour so I had to use all whole wheat instead."


I feel I must explain just a bit. When my Dearest was in high school, he was training to be a bodybuilder and was very particular about the food that he ate. When he was pursuing a Personal Trainer certification, he became obsessed, or passionate, he would tell you, about the food he ate. To qualify for entry into his mouth and digestive system, his food needed to meet certain criteria: whole grain (not enriched, just plain whole grains), fresh fruits, fresh veggies either raw or lightly steamed, lots of fish, chicken or turkey and the list continues, but I think you get the gist of it.

Along the same lines, we were on a date last month and walking through a bookstore. I was looking for the parenting section and wouldn't you just know it, it's the hardest section to find. Granted, this was a secular bookstore so I wouldn't necessarily expect the parenting section to jump out at me and have bookshelf after bookshelf dedicated to this topic. Or, maybe it's the adage that you can never find what you're looking for. Anyhow, we wandered through the store and came across a huge section, the cookbook section. My Dearest faces me toward the vast section and says, "Now, honey, I don't know where the section for raising girls is, but here's the section for raising boys."

The way to my Dearest's heart (and perhaps my boys' hearts in several years) is definitely through the stomach.

Country manners? I think they're charming.

We spent Saturday in the country. We took a hay ride around our friend's property, saw their 3 varieties of sheep and rams, played Dutch Blitz, ate fabulous picnic food, gabbed, watched a sheep herding demonstration, and learned to English dance.

The dancing was by far my favorite event! Now, I have always said that Asians (meaning mostly that I) don't have rhythm. I guess I was partly wrong. We learned two different dances, neither name can I remember or did I ever know? One was something "maggot" - somewhat similar to Mr. Beveridge's Maggot from Pride and Prejudice. My Dearest and I picked up the steps rather quickly, but I think I owe that to standing next to our friend Hannah and her friend, both of whom already knew how to dance. It was "capital, capital!" "There is nothing we love more than a country dance."

Our friend, Hannah, told us there is a place not too far from us that has English dancing on Tuesday nights, from 7 to 9 or 9:30. Perhaps a sitter is in order for those evenings whilst my Dearest and I go dancin'!

Birthday Update

Today was my birthday. Happy birthday, to me! Melinda might be wondering if I heckled any singers. More of that in a moment.

My dear friend Melinda sent me a birthday card, which I received a day or two ago. On the front were various things that the birthday gal might do when being serenaded with the birthday song. Once was avoid eye-contact and politely smile. Another was sing along with them and replace your name with "Me". My favorite one was heckle the singers! On the inside, she wrote that personally she would go with heckling the singers and wished me a happy birthday.

Getting to and from my birthday dinner is half the fun! We enjoyed seeing the city riding the People Mover around town. It was fun to see the boys see the looming buildings, seeing Canada across the river, and looking at all of the artwork in each station. Not to mention all of the new construction we saw. Can't wait to see how the city changes.

After we got to the restaurant, the Saganaki flames at various tables were more than disturbing to the boys. Then, we ordered a Saganaki, too. After our server flamed our cheese, he set it down on our table, still flaming! The boys were just about beside themselves at this point. The flames died down and my Dearest and I dug in. Ethan was hesitant to try it; Isaac flat out refused. They did end up trying it and lo and behold! They both enjoyed it and had fun looking for more Saganaki flames throughout the restaurant.

We all had too much to eat and enjoyed every bit of it! Dearest and I shared an Athenian Chicken breast stuffed with spinach and wrapped in phyllo dough and a fabulous dish of lamb shanks. As Rachael Ray would say, Yum-o! or Delish! The boys opted for less adventurous-fare and had hamburgers and fries.



As it turned out, we were too full for dessert so we passed on dessert at the restaurant. Dinner ended much later than we expected so we drove home and put boys to bed. My Dearest picked up some cheesecake (my fave!) and mint chocolate chip ice cream (Homemade brand, my fave ice cream ever!). As I was opening birthday gifts, he turns off the lights and there was a lit candle on my cheesecake. He sang to me and I must say, I contemplated heckling him. But, I just couldn't do it.

Book Sale Update

It worked! I ordered all of my wish list books and added one - Biblical Foundations for Manhood and Womanhood. Now, I just have to wait until the books get here!!

Do you remember the commercials for Mervyns? At least I think it was Mervyns. A woman anxiously awaits the store to open and is standing at the front door at 4 am opening and closing her hands saying, "Open, open, open". That's how I feel about waiting for UPS to deliver packages for me.

Lord, please grant me patience. NOW! ;-)

Book Sale!!

50 Toes was kind enough to post about a sale and can I tell you just how excited I am about it?? All of John Piper's books are on sale for $5, but only through the 28th. Today. HURRY over there.

I think these are the books I would like:

Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist
Don't Waste Your Life
Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism
Most of All, Jesus Loves You! (Children's board book)
Building Strong Families
When I Don't Desire God
Battling Unbelief

I skimmed Desiring God, but I think I should read it.

Editor's Note: You know, when I was learning about titles and how they should be underlined in what, second or third grade, I cared. A lot. Now with blogger, I just can't figure out how to underline titles, except if I copy and paste it from somewhere else. The italicized portions elude me as well. Even as I select the text and click on the handy little italicized "i" it won't change. Please forgive me for my titles being so whimsical. I really don't mean for them to be so.

June Updates...

Here are updates on my To Do List for June.

Homeschooling: We finished school in mid-June! YAY!!! I (and my Dearest and two boys) have all survived our first year of homeschooling! There were times I wondered how this would work, but God is so gracious. Ethan has learned to write cursive, tell time, do fractions, read better, count money and so much more! Isaac didn't have formal school, but we had art, math (counting), and phonics (at the fridge). Now, he's reading!! So excited about all of our successes. At the beginning of the month, I looked at Ethan's tests and figured out that he wasn't really learning anything that he didn't already know, I gave him tests every day instead of school lessons. If he already knows it, why not skip the tediousness of doing worksheets?? LOVE the flexibility of homeschooling!

Graduation parties: Congratulations to all of our friends who have graduated!

Ethan's birthday: Our boy is now seven years old. I can hardly believe that this is the same boy who had hiccups like crazy. In utero. This is the same boy who cried with every minute change of altitude when we held him. We couldn't sit. We had to stand. The same boy who said, "mama" (Mama) and "mama" (apple). We had a small birthday for him on his birthday and then a family party with grandparents and other relatives the Saturday afterwards. His requested menu was chili hot dogs, pasta salad, and carrot cake to eat. This is the first year he hasn't requested strawberries and blueberries. He had fun being with the relatives and opening his gifts.

My birthday is tomorrow (the 28th). This is the first year I will be home for my birthday. The past two years I was in Las Vegas and Salt Lake City for my stamping and scrapbooking company's convention. Convention has been moved to the end of July to better coordinate with the launch of our new catalogs so I will now be home for my birthdays. It's fun to be with my girlfriends for Convention and my birthday, but I'm looking forward to spending it with my boys. We're going out for dinner to one of my favorite Greek restaurants. I can't wait to see Ethan's and Isaac's faces when we have the Saganaki brought to our table and hear "Opa!". It'll be fun.

We usually go to our friends' farm on Independence Day, but this year their Independence Day celebration is on the 30th. They have quite a bit of land, many sheep, two or three border collies, and mulberry trees. We play bocce (on the lawn, not on a court), croquet, volleyball, and horseshoes. The owner does a sheep-herding demonstration using their border collie dogs (think Babe). Last year I took Dance Praise which was super fun and made me feel younger than I actually am.

That is June in a blog post. :-)

Unexpected Emotions

My boys are so different. My oldest is quiet, pensive, and a bit reserved. He doesn’t share his thoughts or emotions readily. My youngest seems to be quite the opposite. Don’t get me wrong, they are still young boys and can wreak havoc with the best of them. However, with the boys’ “base personality,” being what they are, I encountered something today I wasn’t expecting at all.

We went to order some of our curriculum today. We picked up my Dearest from work and went to the curriculum display. After we were done, we dropped off my Dearest back at work and that’s when it happened.

I realized my oldest son was crying as my Dearest got out of the car to go back into the office. He didn’t realize that his dad was going to have to go back to work. The image of big, fat, tears rolling down my son’s cheeks, hearing his sniffling and bravely trying to hold back his whimpers as we left my Dearest at work was enough to make me cry on the way home, too. Call me a sympathetic-crier.

Daydreams and Forests

I daydream about life in the big city (pick one: Chicago, LA, NYC), having chic lunches, going to hotspots in the evenings, closing impressive deals (what kind, who knows), coming home to a place that is immaculate, and being child-free.

I daydream about going back to work. I daydream about going back to school. I daydream about my alter-ego-self in a job doing something meaningful, something with results that are tangible and quantifiable.

The reality is I am in the forest of motherhood. Sometimes, I am entrenched so deeply I cannot see the forest at all. All I see are trees. Everywhere I look. There’s no sky, no sunlight. I feel as though I will be the mother of two boys, ages almost 7 and 5 ½. FOREVER.

Seven years ago, I was pregnant with Ethan. My Dearest and I were living in an apartment. I was soaking my tootsies in the corner of the pool and declared to my Dearest that I could “launch myself over to the adjacent corner using the handrail.” He laughed and said, “Honey, I’m not sure I like any sentence with you and ‘launch’ in it.” In my mind, I still weighed x number of pounds and my belly had grown “a bit.” Did I mention I was fully-clothed, almost due to give birth, and was sitting on the edge of the deep-end? I sure did ‘launch’ myself over to the other side of the handrail, skimmed my bottom along the surface of the pool and was feeling triumphant. Thankfully, no one was near the pool.

That was seven years ago. I have moved through the forest; even though it seems that each and every tree looks identical. God is gracious and merciful. He sees us through every circumstance in our life; He has planned every detail. I know He’s guiding my way through this forest. Without Him, I’d be completely lost.

Personal Policies Meme

I was tagged by 50 Toes for this meme. Here are some of my Personal Policies, "rules" for our family. Actually, these may be more like my quirks and idiosyncrasies. :-) Here we go!

1. We always buckle up before we drive. My father worked for a car company and did test research on seat belt usage. When I was growing up, we were one of the few families I knew of that buckled up before seat belt usage was regulated in Michigan.
2. The toilet paper must be in the holder a certain way. Paper over the top!
3. After watching a movie on DVD, the Special Features are next. I want to see the interviews, how they made the movie, bloopers, and deleted scenes.
4. We pray before meals and sometimes, snacks, too. The boys take turns praying at breakfast and lunch (and sometimes they both want to pray for the same meal!), my Dearest usually prays for dinner.
5. We pray together as a family before bedtime, every night, with or without guests at our home. If we have guests, it's in the boys' room, if not the location varies. After praying, we give hugs and kisses. Every. Night. (Okay, there are exceptions - my date night with my Dearest (then, they do the routine with GramGram or whichever Christian gal we have watching them) or if we get home late and the boys have fallen asleep in the car (late, late nights usually) or if I have a party.)
6. I cannot fall asleep for the night knowing someone is awake. What is going to happen as my children get older??!
7. All of the clothes on hangers must face the same way - shirts all "face me" when the hanger hook is on the left. (Leftover from my dry-cleaning job when I was 16.) The only exception is my Dearest's clothes. I leave his hanging-method alone.
   
8. All shoes come off when you enter our home. Let's face it - I'm Korean enough that we do this. More on this in another post, perhaps another day.
9. I shower first thing in the morning. If I don't shower first thing in the morning, I feel like nothing gets done.
10. In my pantry, my goods are arranged by type - all of my tomato products (diced, sauce, paste, etc) are together. All of the beans are together, soups are together, spices, etc. (Leftover from stocking shelves when I was 15.) It does make grocery lists easier to compile when you can see what you actually need.
    
11. My scrapbooking cardstock is arranged alphabetically. Nothing else in my home is alphabetically arranged.
    
12. I only use my scrapbooking company's products when I scrapbook or make cards. This way I can show everything I make and not worry about promoting other companies products. If I show it, they will most likely buy it.

So there you have it! Of course, this list isn't all inclusive, it's just the tip of the iceberg of what I wanted to share or could come up with spur of the moment. This meme is open to anyone who reads this blog - leave me a comment so I know you're playing along, too. If you don't blog, please leave me a comment with your Policies.

What are you?

ESFJ - "Seller". Most sociable of all types. Nurturer of harmony. Outstanding host or hostesses. 12.3% of total population.

Free Jung Word Test (similar to Myers-Briggs)
personality tests by similarminds.com

Okay, of the umpteen number of personality tests out there, should this one be more accurate than most? Who knows, but it was fun to take and didn't take very long.

Thanks to Rocks In My Dryer!

This June

It's June. Yes, it's been June for a few days now. It is the start of a somewhat busy month. Here's a peek of what this month holds for us:

• Finish school - we're looking to finish a few days before Ethan's birthday. This is what happens when you take, ahem, *a few* extra days off in December.
• Open Houses galore for high school graduates
• Ground-breaking Anniversary for our church (building is due to be finished in October)
  
• End of the Year Homeschool Picnic
• Order curricula for next year
  
• Ethan's birthday is this month. With gifts, he's fairly easy-going. He isn't one of those, "I want it all!" kids. At the same time, I kind-of wish he was only because it's hard to tell relatives what he would like for his birthday if he only comes up with one item! So far, it's The King from Cars.
  
• My birthday is this month, too!
  

So there are not as many items as I thought. I think it just seems like there are so many more items because we're not done with school yet.

Remembering Day

Here's a tidbit I missed on Memorial Day: a conversation between Isaac and my Dearest with an interjection from my brother, Jason.

Isaac: What day is today?
Dearest: Today is Monday.

I: You aren't at work today. Do you have to work today?
D: No, today is a holiday.

I: What holiday?
D: Today is Memorial Day.

I: What does Memorial mean?
D: It means remembering.

I: It's a remembering holiday?
D: That's right.

I: What do we remember?
D: Today is the day we remember our military and soldiers and how they have served our country and protect us.

>>Interjection by Jason: No, soldiers are in the Army. Marines are Marines. The Navy has sailors. Collectively, they are our troops. (Sidenote: I just realized he left out the Air Force.)

D: Did you hear Uncle Jason? Our troops, not just soldiers.
I: Oh. So, it's a Remembering Day.

Let's See What Happens Now

My dear brother was introduced to N today by my Dearest. I wonder if he will become ensnared as my Dearest once was....

Actually, my Dearest has started playing again. He received a laptop hand-me-down awhile ago and was eager to start using it. To play N. Among other things, he tells me; things like learning computer programming. Ahem. We'll just have to see what happens now.... to both my Dearest and my brother.

Happy Memorial Day!

I am thankful on this day for our military and troops, past and present. Thank you for protecting us and our way of life.

I'm also thankful to know that our military can have some fun, too. After all, all work and no play makes Jack (and Jill) a dull boy (and girl).

See what I mean here.

SAHM's Work Worth HOW MUCH??

When we set up our life insurance years ago, I was startled to realize my Dearest would receive more money if I died compared to what I would receive if he died. Then, I started to think about how many "hats" I wear: chef, accountant, chauffeur, teacher, housekeeper/maid, activity coordinator, nurse, referee, and who knows what else! Contrary to popular belief, I'm not merely a "Stay-at-Home Mom," with lots of time to watch soaps and eat bon bons. Though I wish I had more time to my other hobbies!

Today, I found this article that gives a dollar amount that answers the question, "How much is a SAHM's work worth?" Yowzers!

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter, from slightly snowy Michigan!

Giving Away a Dyson!

5 Minutes for Mom is giving away a Dyson on their site! Go register - you don't have to have a blog to enter.

Where in the World Did We Go?

See more photos!

What's been going on?

I think I just don't put as much effort into blogging regularly as, say, making dinner or teaching my children, nearly daily. I'm going to work on this thing called blogging. Perhaps it also means that I need to become more observant in my everyday life in order to have topics to share on my blog? Hmm... food for thought.


Here's a quick recap on our lives:

We went to ____ for a quick mini-vacation and had a great time a couple of weeks ago. They had a toddler/small person pool and a pool for kids a bit bigger. Dearest and I enjoyed the bigger kid pool and watched the boys play in the small person pool. It's so fun to see how children act when they think no one is watching them. That was entertainment enough. Pictures to come soon.

I went to a home school book fair recently. Talk about information overload! Fortunately, I had some great tips from gals in my home school group - make a list of what you want to look for or at, start from the back and work your way forward, etc. I found lots of new readers for next year for Ethan and 50% off, to boot! I saw two history curricula I've heard wonderful things about and am thinking about incorporating next year: Story of the World and Mystery of History. I have heard wonderful things about both and then I heard good things about Veritas Press's history curriculum. Yikes! The Book Peddler booth of the fair was my favorite part, I think. I just can't get enough books. Children's books, especially. They are happy memories for me and I would love it if my boys enjoy reading as much as I do.

Overtime has finally become a thing of the past for my Dearest. It's so nice to see him in the morning and at dinner time. The boys are loving it!

Right now, we are getting ready to go out of town. I'll tell you all about it when we come back!

Run Your Own Race!

How often do we feel like we have to compete with others? I know I'm guilty of it quite often. I read this fabulous post over at Owlhaven that I just loved. I love the picture it paints of laundry and laundry issues, but I also think it speaks so perfectly of how one should "Run Your Own Race*!" Focus on God, where God has put you in life, where God leads you. He is perfect. His will is perfect. His plan is perfect. Most of the rest is fluff.

*I think the line comes from Seabiscuit.

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 2 Corinthians 12:9a

Out of Two Boys' Mouths

Half-What?? Isaac recently stated that he is half-Korean, half-American, and half-human.

Does Birth Order Matter? Overheard in the car last February: "Isaac, why won't you hold hands with me? Maybe because I came out of Mommy first. If you came out of Mommy first, you would be in Kindergarten."

Sidenote: Apparently, having observed my Dearest and I holding hands, Ethan thought it should be duplicated by him and his brother.

The Difference Between Boys & Girls:
According to Isaac, girls have long hair and are shorter than boys.
According to Ethan, they are opposites.

Wonderful Friends

I had some awesome help on Monday! Sure elevating the foot isn't easy with two boys to teach, three to feed, trying to run the house and trying to get to the dr's but great friends make it easier.

My next door neighbor drove me to my dr's appt and a friend from church came to my house to watch my boys, feed them, mop my floor, do my dishes, laundry, and vacuum. How blessed I am! Wonderful friends are a great gift from God.


BTW, so far, my foot isn't fractured - just sprained. No word from the dr yet about possible fracture.

Phone Conversations... in Two Different Languages

Since I've been injured, my Grandmother (who speaks very little English) called me today to see how I was holding up while teaching, cooking, cleaning, and basically being a Mom. She heard the boys chatting in the background and asked to speak with them.

Now, my boys don't speak any Korean, except perhaps food items or I love you or yes and no. My grandmother says limited phrases in English like "I love you" and if she hears you say, "hungry" it's over; the food starts to magically appear. Back to the phone - how could I say no to my grandma?

I handed the phone to Ethan first - here's what I heard: "Hello?"
"What?"
"Huh?"
"What?"
"I love you too, wong-halmoni."
"What? Isaac, she wants to talk to you now."

Here's what I heard from Isaac's mouth: "Hi! Are you doing anything special today?"
"Mom is teaching us how to make chocolate chip cookies today, wong-halamoni!" - not a typo, that's the way he pronounces it.
"Ethan and I are going to go outside to play after we make cookies."
"I think we're going to get some ice cream with our warm-ooey-gooey cookies!"
"I love you, wong-halamoni!!"

After this, I got the phone back and my grandmother says to me, "I wish I could understand what the boys were saying, even just a little bit!"

Friday - Feb 9th: It Sounded Like a Good Idea at the Time!

We have been needing to get out of the house and have the boys burn off some of the never-ending energy. We could enjoy the frigid, below 0 windchills so I thought, "I could take the boys ice skating! They'd love it! There's an indoor ice rink not too far from us! Let's go!" Found out that there's homeschool open ice time on Friday afternoon, from 1 - 3 pm so our plans were set and now, we needed to get everything done by Friday lunch time.

We set a fairly good pace, got everything done and were waiting for one of my Close To My Heart "sisters" to come by and pick up some cardstock. She and her daughter came over; the children played and Lori and I chatted. I mentioned our plans to her and she says, "You know Lisa (another CTMH "sister") taught skating and competed." I had forgotten about that. On a whim (not really a whim, but totally a God thing!) I called her up and she agreed to help teach my kids to skate. Have I mentioned that my boys don't know how to ice skate and I was so excited about being back on skates after 7 years that I thought I could take them? On my own? HAHA! What was I thinking??

We all got to the rink, got skates and Isaac took to standing on them with great ease... not yet on the ice. Ethan had a bit of difficulty standing ... not yet on the ice. We practiced falling and Lisa told them, "To be a great skater, you have to fall a million times." Out on the ice we went.

Lisa took Ethan, and taught him out to balance, march, and look ahead instead of looking at his feet. I took Isaac and tried to teach him the same. HA! I ended up skating a bit, holding him in front of me, with him coasting between my feet. Do you know how hard it is to keep yourself up on the ice, along with a 45 lb boy? yikes. Ethan was doing so well with Lisa -- marching along and when he fell, he got right back up. Way to go, Ethan!!

Isaac had some lessons with Lisa, Ethan came and marched with me. Then, Ethan fell. I coasted to him and tried to maneuver around him, as to prevent crashing into him. Well, this move works really well when both of your feet go the correct way and follow your body, but in my case, my right foot decided to groove to it's own rhythm. I twisted my ankle and fell on it, then heard a huge pop. Not fun. I got off the ice with the help of Lisa and a God-placed home-schooled gal who was there with her friends. Thank God that other homeschooled gal was there and that I decided to call my friend Lisa at the last minute.

Bottom line, it's sprained. Nothing broken. Possible fracture but there's too much swelling to tell now. I need follow up x-rays in a couple of days. I'm in an aircast and on crutches for a few days. I'm sure I'm a sight to behold, not in a good way, either. Apparently, my maneuverability on crutches makes my Dearest a bit nervous. I am "right-footed" and that's the foot with the injured ankle; it's hard to think "left-footed." Does such a thing exist?? The boys have not openly laughed at me on crutches, but I suspect they are viewing it with some humor. For now, I guess I rest, ice, compress, and elevate... and get waited on. For a few days at least.

New Years

Yes, I've not been diligent about posting reguarly.

My husband and I learned a fun new game on New Years Eve from my sister and bro-in-law: Speed Scrabble. SO MUCH FUN! If you love Scrabble, but don't like the length of the game, this is the version for you. You don't use the board but build your own crossword puzzle with your tiles. Here's how to play:

1. Turn all of the tiles over (letter side down) in the middle of the table.
2. Each player takes seven tiles and you turn them over simultaneously.
3. Build your individual crossword puzzle using your 7 tiles. The first person to build a complete crossword using all seven tiles announces. "Take two" or "Two."
4. Everyone takes two tiles and continues to build onto or create a new crossword puzzle.
5. This process continues until all of the tiles are used and the first person to be done announces that they are "Done."

I think we played at least 8 or 10 games within what seems like an hour. I'm sure it took a bit longer, but we were having so much fun and I honestly didn't pay close attention to the clock.

We didn't keep score, but kept track of who got done first. Talking with a friend from church, she told me that when they play, they count the points of the letters used and the letters remaining are subtracted from the score, somewhat similarly to conventional Scrabble. This may be my favorite game yet! Unlike N.

The Lasting Impact of the Holidays

Well, I haven't posted much about the actual holidays. Overall it was great fun and we all had a great time. DONE.

Now, this Christmas was the first Christmas in a couple of years that my siblings and I were all together. My sister and bro-in-law came up from IN. They usually come up for Thanksgiving and go to his parents' for Christmas. My bro and his girlfriend came over, along with my parents. Okay, so you get the picture. NOW onto the rest of this story....

I love my bro-in-law. Really, I do. He's funny, smart, and most importantly, perfect for my sister. They complement each other really well. All that being said, he introduced my Dearest to a computer game that I really cannot stand. I don't dislike it because it's violent (it is a bit in the cartoon sense, not realistically so) or because it's loud (volume control, people!). I cannot stand it because after my Dearest was introduced to it, I BARELY SAW HIM FOR 4 DAYS!!!

He was introduced to this game on Christmas day. The day after Christmas, my sister and bro-in-law went merrily on their way to stay with my parents for a few days unaware of the potential ruin that was left in their wake. My Dearest went back to work on the 27th and played N at almost every possible moment... for 4 DAYS! Yes, the game is called N. Don't ask me where you can download it; I refuse to be responsible for disappearing spouses, children, or leading you down the slippery slope!

My Dearest has now realized just how much he was engrossed in the game and how I missed spending some time with him so he doesn't play quite so often now.

The lasting impact however, was seen this past Sunday during church. During the sermon, I looked over to my youngest son sitting next to me and saw he was drawing a board for N. I looked 3 seats over to my older son and saw that he was ALSO drawing a board for N.

Here is Ethan's board for N:

Here's Isaac's board for N:

Christmas Food Recipes

Christmas Day -- Javanese Dinner
December 26th -- Baked Oatmeal, Egg Casserole, and Overnight Caramel French Toast


Christmas Day -- Javanese Dinner

The beauty of this meal is that the diners do most of the work. I set out 10 large bowls with the ingredients, then the diners portion as much as they'd like into their own bowl creating 10 layers. Start with the rice and end with the hot chicken broth.

Rice
Chow Mein Noodles
Cooked, Diced Chicken
Chopped Celery
Chopped Green Onion
Crushed Pineapple
Coconut
Slivered Almonds
Mild Cheese, Shredded
Hot Chicken Broth

Baked Oatmeal Vegan Style
We are not vegans, but Dearest's sister is and his brother and sis-in-law are vegetarians.

Ingredients:
½ c each brown and white sugar
½ cup oil
3 c Rice Dream
4 c oatmeal
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 chopped apples
dried cranberries
cinnamon

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients thoroughly.
2. Preheat oven 350*. Grease 9x13 pan. Pour in the oatmeal. Bake for 30 minutes.
3. If you sprinkle cinnamon on top before baking, run the spatula over it so it gets a little wet & won’t burn.

This is very tasty served in a bowl with Rice Dream.

Baked Oatmeal non-Vegan and non-Vegetarian Style

Ingredients:
~1 c sugar (brown, white or a mix)
2 – 3 eggs
½ cup oil
3 c milk
4 – 5 c oatmeal
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
raisins
cinnamon
a finely chopped apple


Directions

1. Mix sugar and eggs.
2. Add oil and milk. Mix thoroughly.
3. Add oatmeal, salt, and baking powder. Mix thoroughly.
4. Preheat oven 350*. Grease 9x13 pan. Pour in the oatmeal. Bake for 30 minutes.

Egg Casserole

Ingredients:
potato patties or hash brown potatoes
8 eggs, beaten
1 c. milk
1 lb breakfast meat, cooked
shredded cheese

Directions:

1. Lightly grease a 9x13 pan. Layer the potatoes in the bottom of the pan (if using patties, a single layer, if using shredded potatoes, about 3/4 inches deep)
2. Mix eggs and milk. Pour over potatoes.
3. Scatter breakfast meat and cheese over eggs. Refrigerate overnight.
4. Preheat oven to 350* and bake about 45 minutes until eggs are set.

Overnight Caramel French Toast

Ingredients:
1 c. brown sugar
1 stick butter
2 T light corn syrup
12 slices bread
6 eggs, beaten
1 ½ c. milk
1 t. vanilla
¼ t. salt

Directions:

1. Combine brown sugar, butter, and corn syrup in saucepan and bring to a light boil, just until sugar melts and mixture looks like caramel.
2. Spread mixture evenly into bottom of 9x13 pan.
3. Place 6 slices of bread on top of syrup. Cover with remaining 6 slices. – You should have 2 layers of bread, each layer with 6 slices.
4. Blend remaining ingredients and pour over the bread slices evenly.
5. Cover and refrigerate overnight (about 8 hours)
6. Place in pre-heated 350* oven for 45 minutes

For me, one of the biggest compliments is for someone to ask for a recipe. Both my sisters-in-law asked for the Baked Oatmeal and the Vegetarian sis-in-law asked for my Overnight Caramel French Toast recipe. Success! I hope you enjoy them, too.

Belated Merry Christmas!!

Well, we celebrated Christmas for 4 days straight. Here's a summary of where we were and what happened. Since I'm such a foodie, I'll include what we ate! :-) Recipes to come later.

December 23rd -- Christmas with most of my Dearest's aunts, uncles, and cousins. Some of the cousins have now decided we should get together in the summer as a mini- reunion; it seems that we only get together is during the holidays.

December 24th -- We went to church for worship, came home and opened presents with my Dearest's Mom. We ate appetizers, most of the day instead of having a "real" meal. We had spinach artichoke dip, meatballs, crab dip, shrimp cocktail, chips and salsa, and hummus. YUM!

December 25th -- My family came over - my parents, my sister and bro-in-law from IN, my brother and his girlfriend. Packed house! We had Javanese dinner to eat.

December 26th -- My Dearest's sister, brother and sister-in-law came over for breakfast on their way to KY to visit my Dearest's dad, other sister, her husband and family.

The biggest highlight of the 4 days for me were seeing the boys hand out their presents and seeing the fun and funny reactions of the recipients. It was so funny to see, say, my mom's expression when she opened a gift from the boys -- a Spiderman plastic plate and dice! Too fun. The boys had fun giving gifts to the family and I think the family enjoyed it.

We got some really cool gifts, too. Dearest's brother and sis-in-law live in northern CA and know all about our fondness for Thai food. They gave us a sampling of curry spices from CurrySimple. So easy to make Thai food at home with their authentic sauces. They also gave us a bottle of a locally grown (for them) Reisling wine that paired very nicely with the spicy curry. Thanks so much, guys!!

After the 4 days of Christmas celebrating, Dearest went to work for a few days and I recooperated with 2 active boys who got lots of new toys.

Tags Galore!

We started and finished shopping for family members today. At least gifts from the kids to the family. Here are some pics of them making their tags, cutting them out, and writing names. We'll wrap sometime later this month, I think.

Gifts for Others, Part II

We all had a grand time last Saturday! I know, I know, it's Wednesday. I'm blogging now.

I took Isaac and Dearest took Ethan. Isaac took to shopping like a fish to water. Should I be worried? Isaac had great fun looking for gifts for Ethan. He picked up one item and declared it to be perfect. Then, he spotted another "perfect" gift. I gently reminded him that he could only pick one "perfect" gift. He debated between the two and put the first one down. We repeated this several times, until he found the perfect, perfect one.

Then, it was time to pick a gift for Dad. He picked one up and didn't change his mind. Not once! I had to laugh as I didn't coach him on what to get, but reminded him that he could only get one gift.

Dearest took Ethan and they had fun picking out a birthday gift for Isaac. Much of the same, except it seems Ethan wanted to get Isaac a pink something. Dearest did coach him a bit and persuade him to get a different colored thing. Can't wait to see what it is!

Dearest asked me later if I had coached for his gift. I laughed heartily and told him, "No." He had a great chuckle and told me he didn't coach either.

I can't wait for Isaac's birthday and Christmas!

Gifts for Others

Well, it's December 1st! The countdown begins to Isaac's birthday and Christmas. About this time of year, Isaac starts to mention things he would like for his birthday. Actually, it starts in January, but it intensifies in early December. Besides, it's crunch time, 4th and long, and NOW it matters.

Inevitably, at the birthday party, Ethan gets jealous and wants to take over Isaac's gifts, oh, about 2 seconds after the wrapping paper is pried off of the gift. My Dearest has been talking to Ethan about this and is encouraging him to let Isaac enjoy his presents and his party. In addition to this, I think it would help if they actually got something for each other, instead of just receiving from us (& the bazillion relatives who bless us with gifts for them!) this year. Yeah, I know.... where have I been and why haven't we been doing this all along.... Okay, stop heckling, it starts this year!

I was inspired by Owlhaven's blog post about gift-giving in her family. I LOVE HER IDEA! So much so that we're doing it this year and we're starting with Ethan buying a birthday gift for Isaac. One of us is going tomorrow with Ethan so we'll see how it goes. Wish us well!

Marker? What Marker??

"What do you mean there's marker on my face? I wasn't anywhere near the markers!"

This is one of the times you just have to bite your lip and hope not to bust out laughing in front of the child so that they won't be encouraged to continue behaviour like this!