Eatonville Excitement

We took a family adventure today down past Eatonville in the Pack Forest, which is run by the University of Washington.

I must confess that at first, I was not pleased with the idea of all the chores and things I needed to do that would be left undone by my going on this trip.

However, dooty calls, ma'am! So, resolving within myself that if I could'nt be pleasant, I'd be as pleasant as I could, I discovered to my surprise that I was actually enjoying myself.

We drove into the forest a ways until we found the trail that leads down to a waterfall. After hiking for about 5 minutes, I realized exactly where we were. Except I'd never come to the waterfall by this direction before! All the previous times I've been to this waterfall, I've taken a left at the intersection in Eatonville by the grocery, then driven up past a bridge, then pulled over to park, marched along a railroad trestle, then down on a trail to the waterfall. So this was a new adventure to a familiar location for me. (Photo taken by my cellphone, so it's not the best quality). I remember hiking with Ruthanne all through this place one time. We had no clue where we were or where we were going, but it was fun all the same!

Today we picnicked in the shade at the foot of the falls whilst D and S found crayfish, sculpin (a tiny fish), and various other critters. I believe we provided a few horseflies with their own lunch as well! Then we hiked back up to the top of the falls, and back down around to a lake where there's red-legged frogs. I decided to march up the trail a way while the family filed down to the pond, and wouldn't you know it, I was the one who found a frog! We caught it, looked at it, then let him go in the pond. This is what he looked like (but I didn't take this photo):

5 minutes later, D re-caught the same frog, and was attempting to secret it in his backpack for a take-home treasure, but we... dissuaded him from doing so.

It was a lovely day for hiking, but tiresome for the shortest one in our family (which isn't saying much, she's a tall drink of water for a 7 year old). We timed our trip so that we could take the kids to their karate class on the way back in to town.

And now I'm parched with thirst! I drank plenty of water on the trip, so it must be that hoagy sandwich I ate for dinner. Or maybe the garlic-stuffed green olives I put in the Greek salad! :) I have to thank Lavonne for my acquired taste for garlic green olives. She brought them with her to our house for Thanksgiving dinner one year, and I have had a hankering after them ever since.

Off to the watering hole I go!

I just have to say....

God bless you, my sister over across The Pond!

Don't do owt that you shouldn't! :)

or should that be "nowt" ?

Meandering Minds Want to Know!

Is it just me, or has the Big Orange B been rather beastly today? I've tried to leave comments on various esteemed persons' blogs and no dice.

Probably a good thing. I need to read more and talk less.

The forecast was for 83 and sunny today. Let's hear it for Weather.com! They were OFF BY TEN DEGREES.

I had to go soak my head in the pool to lower my body temperature. The house thermostat tells me it's 88 inside the house. The butter was left out, and it turned into a puddle on its plate. We continue to use the grill for all food that needs to be cooked. "You want what for breakfast, honey? Eggs? You like them raw, I hope?"

Made beef shish-kebabs for dinner. Now that was good. The potatoes I skewered/grilled were more on the cajun side of doneness (i.e., blackened), but everyone still ate them. We finished off the meal with... ice cream of course! I have lots of ice cream. I think next time I'll halve the recipe.

It was so stinking hot Sunday that the evening church service was canceled. (The building has no air conditioning and gets rather like an oven with their westward-facing windows). So my plans to dispose of all that extra ice cream into the Sunday Night Faithful came to naught.

As I was link-hopping earlier today from Mounty' s Corner, I stumbled across something that forcibly reminded me of Ancient Krell music. (If you don't know what that is, your science fiction knowledge base is sadly lacking. Start by renting Forbidden Planet). It was rather mesmerising. I post the link here for your edification and enjoyment. And A-musement. Actually, it's not accurate to say I was a-mused, because I was indeed musing about tones, waves and scalar patterns, and just staring at the dots. :) It's the Whitney Music Box. Go ahead, click on some of the other tones he's incorporated.


I think I should get the halflings to bed. What is it about summer? My routines are all out of whack, and so am I. I'm used to getting up before everyone else, starting the coffee and a load of laundry, then settling down into the big green La-Z-Girl rocker/recliner to read and study James and Proverbs. (Then do a sudoku or two...).
Instead, lately it's been roll out of bed, shake head in disbelief at the time, go start coffee and (perhaps) laundry - wake up kids, filter and chlorine treat the pool, feed the kids, drive them to swimming lessons......

....then sit in the bleachers or the car working on my piano studio business. Now how messed up is that? Here I have a God-given break of 30 minutes that I'm using to work on other things.

So, I must drag myself away from this computer (though there is a fan right next to me comforting me :) ) and toss these kids into bed! With all possible dispatch!

ice cream day

This is the absolutely most fabulous day for ice cream ever! Until tomorrow, that is!!

It's a mere 92 degrees now, 8 p.m. on a Saturday night, and I have Jennifer's Famous Ice Cream Recipe turning in our electric ice-cream freezer on the back porch (too noisy for inside the house), and everyone's in the pool----erhm, except me. Back in a bit.

AAAHHHHHH, MUCH better. Splashing about in the pool did the trick. Now I'm all showered up and feeling cool and crisp. Now where's that ice cream? Still churnin' on the back porch. I'd better get out another sack of ice, or it'll be midnight before it's ready, with this weather!

Hm. Just checked on the ice cream, and it was coming out the top. So I stopped the churner, brought in the ice cream, and just guzzled some vanilla ice cream about the consistency of a milkshake! YUM.

For the curious, here is . She gave it to me without even having to look at a recipe card, which she thought was pretty sad, at the time! (grin)

Jennifer's Fabulous Family Ice Cream Recipe

• 3 cups sugar
• 6 eggs, beaten
• 1 quart whipping cream
• 2 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 6 junket/rennet tablets, dissolved in a little bit of water

Beat eggs with sugar; add cream, vanilla, and lemon juice. Pour into 1-gallon ice cream freezer. Add milk to the fill line (a little less than 3/4 gal. will be needed). Add rennet last. Freeze according to machine directions.

Eat right away; save some for later; enjoy on hot days, cold days, or when you've had a bad day; put in on your oatmeal instead of boring old milk; put between two large oatmeal cookies to make an It's It (ice cream cookie sandwich I used to eat in California)---the possibilities are endless!


And now I have just about a full gallon of homemade ice cream out in my big freezer. OY. Think I'll take it to church tomorrow night!

This kind of weather only happens between 14 and 21 days a summer here, so why am I complaining so much?

I just checked the thermostat inside the house....it's currently 10 pm and the needle is still pinned at 90º - the highest it registers.

We spent a luscious time this afternoon in the kids' 9 foot round kiddie pool, after we'd gotten back from grocery shopping in air-conditioned stores like Trader Joes, Great Harvest Bread Company, and Costco.

Now I'm contemplating dragging the sofa and TV to the back porch, where it's only 85 degrees, so we can watch Monk in the (relatively) COOL evening.

Another two days of this, then back to 80 degrees. And Lord, haste the day! :)

HU-ah!

...that's an Army noise. Gutteral, all-purpose expression of joy, excitement, disgust, what have you. Pronounced "HOO-ah!"

So my army friends tell me.

It's a useful expression when one has just noodled out some minor complexities of CSS with a rudimentary knowledge of HTML.

Which is, being translated: Look up there ^^! There be a header at the top of this page!!


(Way to go, Grasshopper! ^5.) Yes, I talk to myself.

So this means I can make the header BETTER. Because white doesn't really work with this scheme. It's too stand-outish.

Cookies to whoever can figure out which musical masterpiece is depicted in the header! Alberti bass, key of C...
(Honors will probably go to Crystal, but you never know.)

Just had to know.

Rggggh

Anybody know enough CSS to enable me to post a header at the top of this blog, rather than over to the side? I borrowed some code from others who DO have headers, but I'm unable to get it to display. I know this is a "me" problem, lacking experience.

I await your expertise and suggestions, whoever you may be.

And now, lunch.


Edit: ok, I think I know what I did. I set up the #header part in the css section, but never included a < id="header"> later on in the page content. Must play with this later to see if my suspicions are right.


Somebody just spoon feed me~! LOL

Blog Tweak, Part One

So I finally sat down with the blog template CSS, my trusty Paint Shop Pro (version 6.0, a veritable dinosaur now, but I still love it), a photobucket account, and a web page open to hex color codes and went blog-tweaking.

I'm not finished, by any stretch. I like the bkgd color, but not so sure about the popcorn. I need another color worked in here. And I need to figure out how to tweak this template so it includes a header. I'll have to go steal some more ideas from other blogs~! :) wuahahaah.

I thought about using a daisy motif as well, but couldn't come up with an artful intermingling of daisies with popcorn! ;) Will have to play some more.


It's after 10 pm and I have children awake still. Sigh. Summer schedules are lovely! Stay up late, get up late, etc. EXCEPT that both kids have to be at the Fife Pool by 9:20 for lessons. So those kids had better shut their eyes pretty quick!

Letterboxing - Our First Experiences!

See? TOLD you I'd do it on Friday.

I was at WalMart this morning (shudder) buying school supplies for the kids (I live for the 20 cent glue special, the 10 cent notebooks special, etc....)---and while I was there, picked up a smallish spiral notebook to log any stamps we might find whilst letterboxing.

Later this afternoon, armed with a printout of directions to several boxes hidden around the Puyallup area, the notebook, my multi-colored inkpad from Stampin' Up!, and a stamp of a cat playing the piano--- we set out.

First on the list: Bubble Tea! I've never had it before. So downtown we went, purchased a Bubble Tea (it's a smoothie with tapioca in it. Go figure.), and retrieved our first letterbox! oooh, am I telling too much?? There's rules about being discreet. ANYWAY. Inside a ziploc bag was their small notebook, a hand carved stamp (that seems to be The Thing That Letterboxers DO To Be Cool; make their OWN STAMPS), and a pen. I stamped Pianokat in their log, along with today's date and who we were-- and recorded their hand-carved stamp in my log. Mission accomplished!

Off to Bradley Lake Park for letterboxes 2 and 3. We found them without much difficulty. The problem was trying to be discreet so people wouldn't know what we were doing. One of the "boxes" used was a small, cylindrical container with a screw-on cap about the size of a container of face cream. Again, hand-carved stamps ruled the day.

So the kids, at the time, were all, "so NOW what? is this IT??" My hopes for a fun, family hobby began to evaporate. Oh well.

But later on this evening, when I discovered that there was one at our own, walking-distance Clarks Creek Park, they wanted to go RIGHT THEN. So we headed out, trying to find the box titled "Everything the Light Touches." I know we found the right log, but we didn't find the box. I gingerly put my hand inside the hollow log (eeeewwwww, what's IN THERE?? I was scared of something with 8 legs, or something slimy...) finally rummaging around, carefully, up to my shoulder in rotting hollow log. Never found it. It was dusk by this time, and I was wanting a flashlight. So we gave it up, for the time being.... and we'll try it again later when there's more light. And A. there to stick his arm in there instead of me. He has more courage!!

so the tally is: 3 finds, 1 not found. Very cool! Note to self: must carve own stamp to get "cool points!" :)

"The track 'Hot Shot City' is particularly good"

Looks like I stumbled across an internet phenomenon today. Apparently David Hasselhoff, of Knight Rider, and more recently Baywatch fame, has a singing career. So much so, in fact, that he's even released an album of greatest hits called "Looking for - Best of David Hasselhoff."

You should see the glowing reviews on Amazon! Go ahead, click the link. (caveat: this could be addictive). There's 1008 reviews of this album, and most everyone gives it 5 stars. Those who do not must be ogres or deaf, apparently.

Here's a sampling:

Like the Colossi of antiquity, his magnificence is both awe inspiring and humbling. His oeuvre is living proof that the Dumbing Down phenomenon theory is just speculation.

Never before and never again will such genius and mastery of the senses coalesce into a body of pure bliss as has in this work of blinding brilliance by David Hasseldorf.

David Hassenbloff Has made me see the lyrical light. Pre Hoff i used to listen to acts like Zepplin, Elvis, Marvin Gaye until i discovered the Sultan of Song himself David Hasseldorf.

Mr Hasselkidds has here encapsulated the epitome of all that is music. . . .I simply cannot recommend this album highly enough. The song "Hot Shot City" is particularly good.

Shame on you, world!! How could you spend so many years alive without discovering the thrilling, godlike music of David Honkerpoff?!

This engaging, challenging type of art not only transcends one's expectations of expression but creates new forms of aural communication. This is the art invented by the one and only Darvis Hypercraft.

If someone were to ask me what my definition of "timeless" was, I would open my shirt and show this CD hanging from its gold chain.

...and the raves go on! It will suck you in if you go there. Just take my word for it. I don't want to tell you how long I've been sitting here, reading the reviews and laughing my head off. Too long.

Go write a review yourself if you like, and be part of the next All Your Base! :)

3 Things Meme--Tag free, so don't worry!

Mrs. Blythe hit me with this one, and I didn't remember until just now. :)


3 Things That Scare Me:
1. Spiders
2. Hairballs
3. Drowning (the whole idea of suffocation)

3 People That Make Me Laugh:
1. My husband
2. My kids
3. Monk (from the TV Show. I know, he's not a "real" person, but there it is)

3 Things I Love:
1. Rainy days, an afghan, a book, a mug of coffee and no time committments. This is ONE thing. :)
2. The smell of freshly mowed grass
3. Strawberries and cream

3 Things I Hate:
1. People interrupting me while I'm playing the piano
2. People misunderstanding me
3. Sales calls

3 Things I Don't Understand:
1. Sewing
2. Advanced mathematics
3. The affinity for rap music

3 Things On My Desk:
1. Godzilla: Pack of Destruction box (this belongs to my son)
2. A flyer for MegaBloks "Dragons: Metal Ages" (this is something my son wants)
3. A bottle of cough suppressant left over from when A. was as sick as a dog back in Mar/Apr.

3 Things I'm Doing Right Now:
1. Listening to my son practice piano ("Iroquois Lullaby")
2. Listening to my daughter play Pajama Sam on her computer
3. Baking a blueberry pie with the blueberries taken from our bushes :)


3 Things I Want to Do Before I Die:
(whoa, like heavy, dude)
1. Visit Europe. Specifically the British Isles.
2. Learn to play a stringed instrument. Cello or guitar.
3. Write.

3 Things I Can Do:
1. erm... ooh, here's one: I read reallyfast. Shockingly fast. Like, "I can't believe you finished that already?!" fast. UNLESS it is nonfiction. Or Moby Dick (LOL)
2. Cook
3. Sing like Aretha Franklin. well, I try.

3 Ways to Describe My Personality:
1. Loyal
2. A bit spacey. But I really do have a few brains here.
3. Friendly. Golden retriever-type.

3 Things I Can't Do:
1. Sew
2. Make my checkbook register match my bank statement. That's why there's Microsoft Money.
3. Lie and get away with it.

3 Things I Think You Should Listen To:
1. God, as revealed in the Word
2. Bach. as in, the dad. Johann Sebastian.
3. Barry Manilow. JUST kidding! (That was for Mrs. Blythe's benefit)

3 Things I Think You Should Never Listen To:
1. Yourself, when you are feeling down.
2. Anyone who advises you to live contrary to God's revealed Word.
3. Enya. (Ye gods, does her music EVER sound different?)

3 Absolute Favorite Foods:
1. Mexican food. All kinds. Carnitas especially!
2. Strawberries. Chandler variety grown in coastal California.
3. Popcorn

3 Things I'd Like to Learn:
1. To understand the ins and outs of how to manage finances/invest/save! But I'd like to learn it by osmosis, rather than expend any effort.
2. To speak Spanish fluently
3. To play Baroque music well. ugh. so fussy.

Beverages I Drink Regularly:
1. Water
2. Coffee
3. Iced Tea

3 Shows I Watched as a Kid:
1. Wonder Woman
2. Laverne and Shirley
3. Dukes of Hazzard

"They have a [blog] troll."

Today I've been pondering 'Net safety, anonymity, and the responsibility that Christians have to let our speech be always "seasoned with salt."

Let me be clear: I am not against personal privacy. It's only reasonable to guard your personal information zealously. I don't even have a problem with anonymous posters dropping by and leaving their two cents *coughRichardcough*.

What I do have a problem with is those persons who, under the cloak of the "Anonymous" label, decide to flame, harass, and otherwise be just plain stinky to those with whom they disagree. If your opinion on a matter is different from mine, great. Tell me. But be polite. You draw more bees with honey than you do vinegar, anyway. Take some classes in persuasive speech and see if I'm right.

If you don't like something I do, or something I believe, fine! You may tell me, respectfully. And I may ignore you, also respectfully. To my own Master (my Lord Christ) I stand or fall. Not you, nor your opinion of me. I have done away with slavery to fallible (wo)man's opinions.

You do not have to be a sheep bleating your approval to me. You are allowed to disagree, and should. But man up/woman up/alien up (jk) and take ownership of your comments if you do.

I post this as a preventive measure, rather than a reactive one. I've just witnessed a troll on another blog make ad hominem, denigrating comments to the blog author under the cowardly flag of "anonymous." Any such behavior here to me or my four readers will not be tolerated.

So, enjoy your visit here at and so it goes...

.....and don't feed the trolls.

Letterboxing

Since Rebecca's all fired up about geocaching these days, I learned about something new today that sounds really cool - vy. similar to geocaching - called letterboxing.

It's like a big treasure hunt. People post clues on the 'Net about how to find their letterboxes, and when you find their (waterproof!) box, inside it is a journal, a rubber stamp/ink pad, and whatever else. You carry a sketch book, rubber stamp and pad with you, and you stamp their journal with your stamp, and then you stamp their journal with your stamp! It's like leaving a calling card.

I've already looked at letterboxing.org and a few other places and there's lots of sites in Washington to explore--including 7 or 8 here in my town. I plan to do this with the kids. I just have to find a rubber stamp that represents our family. Maybe a turtle stamp, or an olive stamp! :)

THen again, maybe I should just let the kids have their own stamps. I know D will have some sort of dino, and S will choose a kitty, or a puppy, or a horse... :)

I"ll have to see if I can get A. interested in doing this too. I know there's a letterbox at the local Bubble Tea shop. A good reason to go in--I've just never made the time to do it!

If we like this well enough, we can make and hide our own letterboxes. I didn't see any listed for DeCoursey Park, though there's about 5-6 at Wildwood Park.

Anyway. That's my new interesting thing of the day.

Day 3: The Main Event

I learned my lesson: close the blinds and the kids will sleep in longer.

Saturday morning we decided to go out to breakfast. We'd seen a sign for "Sambo's" further back on Hwy 101, and having fond memories of both the book and the restaurant chain, decided to give it a go.

Well, it turned out that the restaurant wasn't part of the chain; it's a local landmark-type place. I should have taken a picture of the tiger with the parasol out front of the building for Rebecca, but I forgot the camera.

The place was packed: a good sign. The food was all made from scratch, and the portions were huge! We had the most fabulous dining-out breakfast that we've had in years. It was comparable to the Sunbreak Cafe in Auburn, WA, but even a little better. I have half a Denver omelette that we're going to share today before we leave for home.

After breakfast, back down to the beach. I had a bridal tea to attend at noon, so I was down on the sand for about 1 hr before having to leave. I did actually go into the ocean at this time, just so nobody could say I wimped out. But really, I've spent a great deal of time in the Pacific Ocean as I grew up, and I know how to body surf, and really, I'd much rather be WARM and DRY now!! Still, you can't convince your kids of that. So I was out there, very briefly, earning some "cool points" in the waves.

The bridal tea was close-knit and special. Ruthanne and Kelly came up with some good eats, too! :) I always love cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches, and Kelly also made some toasted bread spread with a mix of creme fraiche, dill, shallots, and dijon, then topped with smoked salmon. We spent the afternoon laughing and trading stories, then finished with a time of prayer for Lora and Dave as they embark on their new life together.

I returned to the hotel to find the family in the warm pool. They'd spent about 3 hours at the beach (A. was turning pink, most surprisingly; he rarely burns)---then after a brief lunch they decided to hit the pool, where they'd been for about 1.5 hours. I joined them (warm water, you know) and the kids stayed in for another 1.5 hours.

For the wedding, Lora and Dave changed the order of things about. Due to sunset lighting issues (for pictures), we had the wedding feast FIRST! That was fine by the kids, because they were ravenous. The caterers served scallops in a white wine cream sauce (I had seconds), planked salmon with mango-cilantro salsa, garlic mashed potatoes, shrimp cocktail, clam chowder.... it was all good. I was wishing I was still hungry, because it all tasted so good. (This is not what they wore to the wedding, btw!)






After dinner, we headed back over to Fishing Rock for the wedding ceremony. It was beautiful in every way, except for my son sneaking off different places, and the fact that my battery was going dead on my (Audra's) digital camera. With the setting sun and the roaring surf, we stood and watched Lora and Dave exchange their vows. Sniff.


Here's a family shot following the wedding:

Uncle Bob, Aunt Naomi, Dan, Ruthanne, Dave, Lora, Donna, John, Kelly, Loren. My batteries were virtually worthless by this point, so it was "snap" and hope for the best!


Following the ceremony and pictures at Fishing Rock, we returned to the beach house for cake, etc. I was given the honor of cutting the cake, which the groom's mother had brought down with her from Bellevue. It was a 16" (diameter) Latvian torte. (I didn't realize Latvia had its very own torte recipe! lol) Dear mother said she was told that the cake would serve about 40 people. Uhm....no, in my experience, more like 80+ ~! There were plenty of leftovers. The torted cake was white with 2 filling layers of bavarian cream, and the middle filling layer of apricot. The outer frosting was like a French buttercream, or a Swiss meringue buttercream in a light mocha or chocolate, I couldn't decide which. Buttercream frosting in the US is a cold-whipping process; French, Italian, Swiss buttercreams all involve cooking. It gives a lighter taste, textured more like a buttery whipped cream but with greater stability.

Heh. Listen to me wax rhapsodic about cakes. Sorry.


The kids had had enough fun and excitement by 10 p.m., so we made our farewells and promised to almost possibly keep in contact just slightly better than we have done in times past (a nebulous promise; much safety here) and returned back to the hotel, where the kids collapsed, and so did we.

So this is my last post from the road. It's a lovely, foggy morning, much like I grew up with on California's Central Coast. I can hardly see the sea! When I began this post, there was a bit of sunshine hanging about, but then the fog rolled in, obliviating it. Everything's a misty shade of grey. And now that it's 8:30 a.m., I'd better be the one to get the ball rolling, get the show on the road, and any other cliche you can think of. After all, A. has to lead Bible study at church tonight, and we have miles to go before we sleep.

Don't worry. We will not be taking any hypoteneuses on our return journey.

Day 2: Beach, Bookstores and BBQ

Sing Ho for the life of a tourist!!

I neglected to shut the drapes our first night in the hotel room. After all, the sunset over the Pacific was beautiful, and it was even better by night, curled up in a squishy, swively rocking chair. And the sound of the waves coupled with the breeze coming through the window was soporific... for adults.

But once the sun came up on Day 2, the photoreceptor cells in both kids went into overdrive. Beginning about 6 am, the kids started to make subtle crashes, bumps and bangs calculated to wake up us lazy grownups! After all, there was a beach to be explored! Holes to be dug! Shells to be discovered! Waves to jump over!

It's hard to be filled with the Spirit at 6 a.m. and you're wakened from a sound sleep. Especially the "longsuffering" part, and the "joy" part. I eventually crawled out of bed, snarling, around 7:30. Better me than Andy. I quickly started the coffeemaker (mood enhancer!) and forced the kids to eat breakfast ("no beach until you eat").

Three of us made it down to the beach by 8:30 a.m. We left the fourth upstairs until he, too, could be "filled with the Spirit" ! (lol) I sat in my beach chair, digging my feet into the soft sand, whilst the kids buried themselves in it. When A came down later, he took the kids into the surf (the average temperature of the Pacific Ocean is like 51 degrees--BRR) while I continued to stay warm and dry!

For lunch we went up to the room and I whipped up some mean Trader Joe's white macaroni and cheese (no preservatives or fake colors), and a few organic beef hot dogs (no nitrates, nitrites, or other nasty cack) while we polished off my Crab Louie from the night before.

Then we trekked out and saw the sights of the town.

It is an established fact that when you go on vacation with my husband, you will invariably end up at a used book shop and/or a zoo. It's just the way things are. I had a few other things planned too: going to the glass foundry where they blow the glass floats that used to be used by fisherman (and are now objets d'art) -- you can blow your own for a mere $65! (no thanks) I also wanted to hit a candystore for some saltwater taffy. Something about beach towns and saltwater taffy going together. I think all-told we went to 3 different book stores and A. didn't buy a single book. Kids got a couple though! We also went to the outlet malls. A waste of time. S. decided she had to have a purple Old Navy lunchbox, so she squandered her hard-earned cash and bought one.

After shopping it was time for the pool--warm water, you know, instead of frigid salt water. I sat in the greenhouse that passed for an indoor pool until I felt ready to faint. I noticed the inside air temperature was 100 degrees! So I moved my chair to just outside the greenhouse/pool , still close enough to "watch" my kids, but much more temperature-friendly.

And by dinner, it was time to embark on the reason we came down to Oregon--the rehearsal dinner, day-before-the-wedding-type of festivities! We met up with the wedding party at a place called Fishing Rock in Depoe Bay. Beautiful--but a good place to stay away from the edges. :) The wedding will be Saturday at sunset. We followed the party back to an extended family member's beach house (did that even make sense?) and enjoyed a catered dinner of BBQ pork and chicken, red beans and rice, cornbread and orange honey, potato salad and pea/cheese salad, watermelon triangles and lemon curd/blueberry tartlets.

Some of my four readers will recognize these people, so I'll post our dinner companions, just for your edification and enjoyment. Even if you don't know them, they're such old friends that they're like family, so consider this an introduction to my family--albeit a spiritual one. :)
Loren and Kelly live in Seattle's Wallingford district now. That's near the Woodland Park Zoo, ask me how I know (*rolling eyes*) Loren's a financial planner at what he called a "boutique" firm--meaning, small firm with rich clients. Kelly works at World Vision in Federal Way. Loren thinks that 29 is still a little too young for him to be having children. (HE volunteered that information; I never have the guts to ask ANYBODY "when are you having kids?" because I feel it's not my business! But since HE said it and I know some of you will WONDER about it... there it is.



Ruthanne and Dan live in Kentucky, where they are in the youth ministry. I just realized that with Dan wearing his hair that way, he looks like Josh Groban! He tells me he cannot sing like Josh, however. Ruthanne, this time next year, will have her PhD and be Dr. Crapo. By the way, she would have me say that's pronounced "CRAY-po." She's in the process of writing Chapter 2 of her dissertation. I have trouble understanding what it's all about. Something involving Hegel, Sophocles and Antigone. She will defend her dissertation in Holland! And not Holland, Michigan....the REAL Holland.


And now, for the lady and gentleman of the weekend: Lora and Dave! Love the matching shirt and dress!! Dave's parents went to Hawaii when he was 6 years old (this was before Lora was even born), and they wore these outfits. Now they've passed them on to Dave and Lora for their beach wedding! :) Actually, they only planned to wear these for the rehearsal.

Dave and Lora are both nurses at Good Sam hospital in Puyallup. He's a critical care nurse; she's in the ER. They met on a medical mission team to Sri Lanka following the tsunami of 2004.

And it's time to go. Wedding time! (I'm blogging one day late, so these are Friday's events).

More photos to come!

Day 1: Traveling is SUCH fun!

Word, people: shortcuts on Oregon highways do not take less time.

We attempted to take the hypoteneuse of a right triangle to save time getting to Tillamook. What we got was a loooong and windyyyyy roaaaaddd..... (but it didn't "lead to your door" as the song goes...)


After rapidly pulling over twice for my dear daughter, forcibly ejecting her from the car before she ejected her lunch - we were ready to forego the adventure of traveling on any more hypoteneuses and just taking the longer, but straighter way. Be it known, however, that the atlas did NOT indicate said road's windiness before we turned off on it. There ought to be a "Truth In Maps Act!" Citizens and fellow explorers across the fruited plain, stand up and be counted! We WILL NOT STAND for shoddy cartography any longer! We will dispense with all incorrectly marked maps forthwith. Forthwith!

By the time we arrived in Tillamook (not our final destination, but a tourist stop on the way) the kids were NOT interested in anything to do with cheesemaking. They looked like green cheeses themselves. However, being in the fresh air perked them up, and watching the factory production of cheese took their minds off motion sickness. Woot.

Arriving in Lincoln City (7 hours after leaving home), we immediately checked into our hotel and walked to the nearest seafood restaurant to enjoy fish and chips, soup and sandwich, Crab/shrimp louie salad, and pan-fried razor clams. (That's four different meals, not one!) Heading back to the motel, we decided to walk down the beach a ways. Kids put on their swimsuits. It's dusk, mind you, and getting chilly, but who cares about such details? Everyone else on the beach is in sweatshirts, but my halflings are out in their swim gear, oblivious to cold, and consumed with the thrill of being AT THE BEACH! We finally got them up to the room again, and tucked into the hide-a-bed in the living room.

And the afternoon and the evening were the first day.

Vacating

"Elvis has left the building!"

We're leaving today for the Oregon Coast! WOOT! That is, we'll be leaving once I've packed...

I'm taking my laptop along, but I don't know if there will be free wireless internet down there. And I don't plan to go wardriving.

This is where we're staying! Oh, goody! There IS WiFi!

So, see you Sunday night! Perhaps sooner, if I feel like logging on.

Five Things

Well, Tammy tagged me to do this meme, my first ever! :) BTW, a "meme," paraphrased from Wikipedia, is a replicated bit of cultural information. Memes on the internet are replicated by the power of hitting "send" or "publish." There, more than you ever wanted to know.

So, here goes. I have to change it at the end, because I don't have five blog friends! lol well at least not that I know well enough to "tag" them.


5 Things in my Refrigerator:
1. Rice Dream Horchata
2. Colby-Jack cheese slices
3. Trader Joe's Chocolate Soy Milk
4. Tortillas
5. Butter

5 Things in My Closet:
1. Wrapping paper
2. Calvin & Hobbes comic books
3. Suitcases
4. Bed linens
5. My clothes =)

5 Things in My Purse:
1. 2 pens
2. My checkbook
3. 2 Handi-wipes I saved from Famous Dave's
4. My wallet
5. Debit-card receipts that I need to write into my checkbook! evil, evil. sigh.

5 Things in My Car:
1. A sack of concrete
2. Beach towel
3. Expandable cooler for keeping groceries cold
4. 5-gallon bucket
5. Vegetable seeds

3 People I am Tagging: (but only if they want to!! I don't want to be a Meme Nazi.)
1. Crystal
2. Mrs. Blythe
3. Joysnatcher

Ciao! Off to have a cooking, cleaning, get-ready-for-a-party-tomorrow frenzy! :) it will be fun.

More books polished off

Last night I read A Gathering of Days...(etc) - Newbery winner from 1980.

My review: "zzzzzzzz." Written in diary style (anticipatory of the current "diary" trend in authors? Possibly), it chronicles the life of a young girl and her sister being raised by their father in New England. Their mother died; a neighbor woman is teaching the main character how to maintain a home.

I have no problem with that. It's just that the character never really went anywhere. Oh, sure, she had to adjust to when her father brought home a new wife-----there were some trivial feelings of resentment that were eventually overcome. And she gives a homemade quilt to a stranger who's been lurking in the woods, freezing of cold. She learns later he's a runaway slave. Her punishment (by the new wife) is to make a replacement quilt, so she knows just how much work it is, and not something to be given away lightly.

Overall, I thought this was rather BLAH. "Moralistic," and a little preachy. No harm in it, but nowt to it. (That's my best Yorkshire dialect of "nothing" to it. Hooray for James Herriot books, and Wallace and Gromit to teach me these things! hehe).

Tonight I read Because of Winn-Dixie. This did not win the Newbery medal, but it received the silver medal of honor. This book grabbed me much more than last night's! (No, I haven't seen the movie. I like to read books first so I can make snarky comments about "original intent" and "artistic licence" whilst I watch the movie). I lived in the South for a while, so this was rather like sitting back and listening to the natives talk. Kate DiCamillo grabs the north Florida dialect masterfully (she's a native), and the personalities of each of her characters are vivid and entertaining. "Winn-Dixie" is the name of a supermarket in the South; it's also the place where Opal (main character) finds a stray dog and brings it home. The dog's winning ways help her make friends in her new town. Oh, and her father is a preacher - and hoorah, hoorah, Christians/Christianity are presented in a positive light. How rare, and how refreshing.

Too much time online today, must get off. Tomorrow I take a sabbatical from the net. See if I stick to it! :)

Spurgeon on Romans 7

Since two weeks ago I was stewing on this selfsame passage here, it's encouraging to see what this godly saint of times past had to say.

Cookie Recipe

Tammy wants to do a cookie (recipe) exchange, and it's not even December! :) Go figure!

So here's a recipe for Turtle Cookies that I first made with Tammy's SIL Rebecca, hm, many years ago--like probably 15 years?! (am i really getting that old?) Oooh, the date on the recipe says "27 Feb 92." 14 years!! These are "fussy" cookies (read: not a "drop" cookie) that I usually reserve for holiday baking. Here goes:

Turtle Cookies (from Rebecca)

• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. margarine or butter
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla
• 1/8 tsp. maple flavor (optional)
• 2 eggs (reserve one white)
• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 - 2 c. pecan halves

Frosting:

• 1/3 c. chocolate chips
• 3 Tbsp. milk
• 1 Tbsp. margarine or butter
• 1 c. powdered sugar (approximate)
  

Method:
Preheat oven to 350º F (180º C). Cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla, one egg and one yolk; beat. Stir in flour, soda, and salt. Chill dough.

Arrange pecan pieces in groups of 3-5. (I like to do 4 so they look like legs). Roll dough into balls, dip into remaining egg white (which has been beaten slightly), and press ball lightly onto pecans. Bake 10-12 minutes. Do not overbake! Cool.

Meanwhile, melt chocolate chips, milk, and margarine. Add powdered sugar until desired consistency. Generously frost cooled cookies.

Makes about 2 dozen.

Summer Reading List

"If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time."

Heeeeey, that's like....a 100% success rate!! ROFL


Rebecca has inspired me with her list of books to read. Taking a page out of her book (ahem), I plan to read all the Newbery Award winners from 1922- present (85 books). I hope to finish before December 31 of this year. Some of these I've read many times, so I plan to read the ones I haven't yet read. Ohhh, okay, maybe I'll read some of the ones I've read before! :) But the complete list can be found here.


As I scan the list, there's about 40 books that I haven't read!!! I'd better get cracking.

YAY for DELAY!

Fun with graphics, not fun interpreting them.

"and I alone am escaped to tell thee..."

I finished Moby Dick!

Yowza, yowza~!

I still think the Cliff's Notes version would have been better. As a child of the 80's, adult of the 90's, living in the "soundbite" generation --Melville's verbosity hurts my brain and my eyes.

So it took me, what, a month? to read this book. Shameful. But I can now add it to the list.






And since it's 92º outside today, I think kids and I will DRIVE to the library in an AIR CONDITIONED CAR and hang out for a while.

Hm. Second thought, they just turned on a movie, and I need to make dinner. So postpone library to Tuesday. Which is our normal day anyway!

I got a lot done around the home today, finally. I was going to have "all this free time!" with A. gone to Michigan! Riiiiiiiiiiiight. (Said in best Bill Cosby tone)

But today (prepare for the bulleted list!) I:

• finished putting away all laundry
• washed all bed linens and comforters (a yummy, sunny day to dry them outside!)
• ironed all the short sleeved shirts
• "dryer-ironed" some of the long-sleeved ones (still have about 15 left to do. rrrrgh.)
• polished and dusted the wood furniture in the living room
• took down all the silk plants in the LR and washed them in the sink, putting them out in the sun to dry (dusty, dusty! yuck!!)
• removed all vestiges of SCHOOL from the living room fireplace hearth
• put the consumable school books in the recycle bin (YES!)
• saved the "important" papers and artwork in kids' binders
• mopped the kitchen floor
• mopped the main bathroom floor
• reorganized the CD tower so there's no longer big stacks of CD's awaiting re-filing
• set up the Slip-n-Slide that D got at his birthday party (my backyard is now a mud heaven)
• PUT ALL THE SOCKS in a BIN for ANDY TO MATCH when he gets home!!! LOL!!

It feels so good to have finally gotten something done today, and the key was this: I stayed home, I didn't answer the phone (unless I wanted to), and didn't guilt-trip myself about what I WASN"T getting done, but focusing on what I DID do.

There's always tomorrow. I still have a list of chores to do, but I can tackle them 15 minutes at a time. thank you, Flylady! :)

Blast and tarnation. I keep looking at flightview.com to see where A's flight is. It should have left at 7:40. Now it is 9:03 (eastern daylight time) and that plane is still on the ground in Detroit. He has like 25 min to make his connection in Denver.... oy! Hope he does!

Pollinated!

Why I keep Benadryl on hand when the grass goes to flower:

No, he hasn't been punched in the eye; he was at DeCoursey Park pretending to be the Dreaded Park Monster in the tall grass, and some grass pollen got in his left eye, effectively swelling it shut and giving it some lovely purply-red undertones.

This happened while my friend Audra was watching the kids. I was off getting a haircut.

The last time Audra watched the kids, he got stung by a bee.

Audra is getting a complex about watching my kids!

The swelling was completely gone by the end of the second day, but it took a total of 5 Benadryl tablets to do it.

Postscript

The Washington Virtual Academy (WAVA) Expo was very good, BTW.

We met the new head of school, Randall Greenway (I think?), and there were about 250 people in attendance. The expo was spread between the Tacoma Art Museum and the Marriott Courtyard downtown, where we heard Dr. Bror Saxberg speak.

He was witty, intelligent, had us in stitches, and really explained the big ideas behind K12. This guy has a degree from U-Dub (that would be the University of Washington, for you non-local readers) in electronic engineering, a couple of masters' degrees, and an MD from Harvard, and a PhD from MIT. Yet the man can talk, and well! (Usually geeknoids can't verbalize well.)

But the highlight for the kids was being able to see their teacher, Mrs. Shaw, and RIDE THE LINK TRAIN in Tacoma.

Summer Math

Math equation:
85º day
+ a lake stocked with 2 lb. trout
+ 5 fishing poles (more or less)
+ 8 primary-aged children
+ 7 adults
+ hot-pink trout bait
+ nightcrawlers that squirm frantically as their bodies are pierced by the cruel hooks
+ melting cake and ice cream
+ random dogs and owners coming by for a look see
+ a pinata that wouldn't stay up in the tree
+ tangled up fishing lines
+ Godzilla, Mothra, Gigan, Manda, Spiga, and all buddies

EQUALS=
0- fish caught (frightened away by the child who decided to swim instead of fish!)
1 - child who got dust in his eyes when the pinata broke (we used the pinata as a bat, rather than use a bat on the pinata)
2- children who were soaked up to the waist in lake water (one was my daughter)
3- snarled up fishing lines (all mine)
4- children who wanted to take home the Godzilla toys on the cake
5 - pieces of half-eaten cake
6- Hershey's bars used to make buildings
7 - adults thankful when it was all over!
8- extremely happy children with scads of candy to take home
9- candles that would not light in the breeze
1- magenta-hued, dehydrated mommy who is drinking ice water and hoping she doesn't peel!!


See? Godzilla & Co. are storming the town! See the flames on the buildings? For an added effect, the chocolate city began to melt, lending authenticity to the visualization of mass mayhem and destruction.

My son wrote the word "Happy," I wrote "Birth," and my daughter followed with "day."

The kids at the party helped put in the city and place the monsters.

On the remaining sides of the cake, I wrote "Godzilla," "Deividdo" and the number "Kyu" (9) using Japanese Katakana script. Let's hear it for the internet~!




My happy child in white, with his sister peeking in on the right side of the photo.

All the boys thought the toys were SO COOL and wanted to take them home.

I counted to be sure we had them all.








Argh, now my daughter is saying, "Hey, let's have some REAL food to eat! All we've had is party junk food!!"
I asked her what she wants, and her rejoinder was, "Macaroni and cheese!!"

UGHHHHHHH. I want a HUGE glass of iced tea, some COLD, CRISPY SALAD (I want frozen peas on it, that's important), and, hm. Thats about it. Maybe some hot wings with celery sticks and blue cheese dipping sauce.

So maybe we're going to Applebees!!!

Single Moms Rock.

How do they manage, honestly?

My dear husband is on a trip to MI right now and that's why I've not been blogging. There's been PLENTY of things goin' on (D's birthday party planning, bike rides, karate, D's party planning, bike rides, etc.) but by the time I get the kids to bed I don't have the strength left to blog.

Busy day today: we're going to the K12 expo at Tacoma Art Museum to hear Dr. Bror Saxburg, one of the masterminds behind K12. I hear he is a FABOO speaker, so I decided to go park at Freighthouse Square, then take the free LINK rail system to the museum.

Crazy me. Then we have D's fishing/birthday party this afternoon. Hope I don't forget anything: cake, icecream, pinata, cooler with ice, water, and ziploc baggies for any fish caught........etc.

Must go. Time to head to tacoma.

Remind me to post a pic of D after he'd come across some grass pollen Weds afternoon! (Pollen and D. do NOT MIX!).

Brain Break

Too much Ishmael and Ahab makes me a dull grrrl. I am typing whilst the fam and I watch "A Night at the Opera," one of the Marx Bros. movies. Right now Groucho and Chico are discussing contracts and sanity clauses ("Aaah, you canna fool me, there ain't no sanity clause!")

Saturday the fam and I walked to the local library while the Farmers' Market was going on. After purchasing some lovely fresh snow peas and asparagus from Yakima, we entered the library for some quick browsing and checking out. The Summer Reading Program has already begun, and kids can turn in a ticket for every hour they read. The kids put their tickets into various boxes that represent different prizes: a dozen doughnuts from Krispy Kreme, a $50 gift cert. to the mall, a blow-up alligator pool toy, etc. Then the library staff hosts a drawing on certain days. Hence, the more tickets you put in a box, the more likely your name will be drawn. S. is pinning all her hopes on the alligator.

A. picked up a movie for us to watch tonight, but S. was a little concerned it would be scary. The title of the movie instantly will reveal it as a classic: "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians."

No, really! Look! The kids might watch it tomorrow once we finish school. (rolling my eyes) This has to be as good as "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes."










Meanwhile, I thought I'd give Ishmael, Ahab and Moby a rest, so I polished off three other books this weekend.

First up was the latest installment of Meg Cabot's Princess Diary series, No. 5, Princess in Pink. Why I continue to bother with this series, I don't know. It got stale after #2. The format is unvarying. Princess Mia, journaler extraordinaire, having histrionics yet again over some minute facet of teen life; this time, the Prom, and the fact that her senior boyfriend thinks the prom is totally lame and doesn't want to go. The characters are well-fleshed out in the series, but they're pretty static. And while throughout the series, they've remained relatively chaste, in this book, Mia is obsessing over the fact that she hasn't reached "second base" with her boyfriend. Not graphic in any way, but Urgh!!! Definitely on my NOT recommended list.


Immediately after finishing that, I picked up Roald Dahl's Matilda. Normally Dahl charms the socks off me, but in this one I just cringed. Matilda's parents are honestly horrible. Matilda's headmistress is unbelievably cruel. It's the brilliant, misunderstood child pitted against the evil grownups. There IS one good grownup in the book, but come to find out, she's been put-upon by evil grownups in her childhood too. So, the moral of the story is: if your parents or teachers are horrible, you can vanquish them by outwitting them. I'm not fond of kids vs. grownups plot development. (Too much anarchy. Still, I like the movie Ferris Bueller, so I'm not completely consistent here!) The book ends up with the bad grownups getting what they deserve though, so evil IS punished, and kids who read Matilda will rejoice that the KIDS WON!





The last book I read this afternoon was Sharon Creech's Ruby Holler. Much better than the previous book I read of hers (Absolutely Normal Chaos); this is more in the spirit of Walk Two Moons, for which she won the Newbery Award. In this book, orphaned twins are taken in by empty-nesters with infinite patience. The orphans have been emotionally and physically abused... never graphic or overstated in the book, just mentioned as part of their past lives. Naturally, they don't trust grownups. The book is devoted to overcoming their resistance to caring about other people besides themselves. This book I DO recommend!






Back to your lives, citizens. Now that I've read all my library books in two days, I've got to get back to Moby. Go, whale, go. Thar she blows!

Shutting up!

Argh!!!!


I love the book of James.



I hate the book of James.



(Does this sound like the beginning of A Tale of Two Cities? )

Righ now I'm studying chapter three. YOU know. That one about.... the tongue? That restless evil, full of deadly poison? That flame of fire, set aflame by the fires of hell?

And guess who is having to do a whole lot of tongue-chewing lately (and should be doing much more, I'm sorry to say).

It's the kids. I must must must be more patient with them. They are CHILDREN. They will not get it right the first time, all the time.

There is one who speaks rashly, like the thrusts of a sword;[oh no!!] but the tongue of the wise brings healing.


Or how about this one - especially convicting, since I put my Bible study book down in shame and irritation, and decided to read Proverbs instead ---hmmm, today is June 15, so let's go to Proverbs 15! Great idea!

But I, pursued by the Hound of Heaven, saw written there, plain as day: A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Take my own medicine, I should -(that sounds like Yoda!) - If I CAN'T SAY ANYTHING NICE....


....Shutting up.

Hypocrite!

I've been accused of hypocrisy.

How is it that I can lambaste a Chocolate Ladies' Retreat in one post, and then a mere 8 hours later, post a link to Diet Coke and Mentos, stating it would be great for your youth group?


I don't know. Point well taken.

My only defense is this: the teens in our youth group were our friends, as well as our "charges," so to speak. We hung out with them. We did stuff with them. So seeing that video yesterday made me think of John and Alan - or Jeff and Kenny - or even Matt Smith and his trick with the bananas and Sprite (keep a trashcan handy, oh yesss!) So diet coke and mentos would be the type of thing we'd do together, just to see what would happen.


So I apologize for my inconsistency. *shrug*

This would be great for your youth group!

My homeschooling yahoo group posted this link!

What do you get when you combine 101 2l. bottles of Diet Coke and 523 Mentos? Click the title above and find out! (You need Quicktime to see it, but you probably already have it installed.)


The kids want me to go to the store RIGHT NOW and get some Diet Coke and Mentos!


Hat Tip to the k12users group at Yahoo!

Slice of Laodicea: "Would you like spirituality with that?"

Our church email account gets a great deal of spam. Unsavory characters troll the various Christian web sites harvesting email addresses, then bombarding church email accounts with wickedness and filth.

Today we received-- not wickedness or filth--but a slice of Laodicea. The email links to a web site promoting a church ladies' retreat featuring.......CHOCOLATE.

Yes. Chocolate.


Now, I enjoy chocolate as much as the next person, but to build a church ladies' retreat around it...?! erhmmmmm, NO. "Some things naturally go together," the web site coos. "Burgers and fries...salt and pepper...peanut butter and jelly....WOMEN AND CHOCOLATE." It continues on to say that the feelings and emotions we have toward chocolate are much like describing God's grace. ("We don't deserve it, but we long for it and need it.")

Excuse me?? CAN we cheapen our Creator, Redeemer God any further?

"Chocolate Boutique™:
Where women taste and see that the Lord is good."

Would you like some God with your chocolate this weekend?

This disgusts me to my very core.

As if our Lord needs gimmicks to be palatable (pun intended) to be relevant to today's society. This is church marketing at its cheesiest. Man-centered and experiential-- not Christ-centered.

I don't have time to rant fully. I have to teach in 1:15 minutes and must get the laundry away/living room up to snuff for those guests who sit in and listen to their kids' lessons.

tchah!

Before the Throne of God Above

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in Heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
King of glory and of grace,
One in Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God!

Words by Charitie L. Bancroft, 1863- Public Domain
Lovely new tune by Vikki Cook of Sovereign Grace Ministries, ©1997

This evening I was reading an article and the ensuing discussion at Sharper Iron. Several people mentioned this hymn in passing. I want it for church! And I'll get it too. :) I love our hymnal, but it's so limited. You really need about 4-5 hymnals to cover all the good stuff that's out there, past and near present.......and even then you're limited! Thankfully there's CCLI, where you can post, publish, and print words out, which is what I'll have to do to get the congregation to learn this song.

The Problem With the Christian Life: A Romans 7 day.

(I am chuckling to myself, envisioning all three of my faithful readers turning pale and deleting me from their links bar when they read the title of this post!)

I'm serious, though. The problem with the Christian life is that it is so DAILY. Every day I must recommit to walk the "path of disciplined Grace." Every day I must die to self, that I may live to righteousness. Every day I struggle with the same sins that I always do, and it's very humbling to run back to the Lord and say, "Yes, I know I was just speaking to You 5 minutes ago about this very sin, and Lord, I'm very sorry, but, I've done it again-- as You already know, because You're omniscient."

In Romans 7 Paul writes (and I echo from my heart): "I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing." And just a few verses later, I cry out with Paul, "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?"

The conclusion? "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" And the chapter division comes in rather unfortunately at this point. But taken as a natural flow of thought, from one concept to the next - Paul's next point is, "There is therefore NO CONDEMNATION to those who are in Christ Jesus!"

So though it is humbling to return and confess to God sins that I JUST confessed hours, nay! moments before-- I must do it. And I must keep God's perspective on it: There is NO CONDEMNATION upon me for doing so, even if I am condemning myself for being so weak, foolish and stupid YET AGAIN.

"By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him;
for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart,
and he knows everything."
(1 John 3:19-20)

Lord, help me not to condemn myself and keep from running to You when I so desperately need your mercy and grace and forgiveness. There is no shame in being completely dependent upon you. There IS shame in relying upon myself, thinking I can hide from you, as my father Adam did in the garden!

Just not deep enough for Moby Dick

I've been reading Moby Dick lately. Every once in a while, there's a great "quotable" by Melville in there. (I should have written them down to give you a "for instance", but alas! I have not.) And there are spots where I feel, "heeey, this is pretty interesting!"

But I must confess that the book just doesn't involve me emotionally with any of the characters. Ishmael is likeable, but Ishmael/Melville goes off into these massive discourses on whaling that reads like a scientific journal. Give me the Cliff's Notes, please! Or Whaling for Dummies~! But spare me these 3- and 4-chapter tomes of technical slog!

And Starbuck, the first mate. For some reason, he abhors the quest that Captain Ahab has put before the crew. But why? Why such depths and harrowing of his soul over Ahab's choice of revenge on a whale? Starbuck's stated reason is, "It's just a dumb beast following his instincts; therefore, it's wrong to seek revenge on it."

I'm just trying to understand Starbuck a little better in his deep revulsion of the quest, so forgive me if this sounds a bit disjointed. I can understand Ahab a little bit better: "The whale bit off my leg; I'm gonna get you sucka!" Revenge, plain and simple. (I AM oversimplifying; Ahab comes off as a pretty complex guy.)

The one character I've really liked so far has been Queequeg, the Maori/New Zealand idolater! :) Now how does that sit with you all? That Melville puts his most sympathetic, likeable character as a pagan? What does that tell you about the author's personal beliefs? (That's another post in and of itself. One of these days I'll have a rant about Philip Pullman's trilogy "His Dark Materials" --especially since I hear it will be made into a movie. If there were EVER a anti-God series---MARKETED SPECIFICALLY TO 'tweens and teens--this is it. And I am not a knee-jerk censor or bookburner. But I digress.)

*calming breaths* I haven't gotten to the tragic end of Moby Dick yet (it's been a busy week and little time to relax and read), but I've come to the conclusion that I just don't have the depth of character necessary to appreciate this book as it has been hallowed over the recent years.

yes, I'm livin' life in the shallow end of the pool~!

Sock It To Me

Do any of you dear souls out there have some helpful suggestions on how to manage SOCKS in the laundry?

It is my biggest laundry woe: HOW to match all these socks up! (I am staring mournfully at a pile of 'em right now.)

A. thinks I should just pitch all the socks and then buy socks that are exactly alike for every family member. Then it won't matter!

I am sorely tempted at times to do just that!!

I will cherish your ideas gratefully if you would be so kind as to offer them.

A Cream of Wheat Morning

Saturday morning began as most Saturdays do: A and I attempting to sleep as long as possible, whilst Numbers One and Two play toys. Except this time, the toys played with were the guinea pigs.

Naturally, Flopsy escaped her boundaries and ran, as is her habit, toward the dining room table. However, the dining room has a new piece of furniture--the hutch! Which sits about 4" off the floor, perfect for a cavy to squeeze under and make it impossible for human captors to retrieve her.

All the cajoling and cooing in the world was not going to budge that guinea pig from her den. Carrots were spurned. Kiss noises were ignored. She was not going to move from that spot for love or treats.

It became a three-person affair: Me to tilt the hutch (carefully!) against the wall, A to fish under the hutch with one arm, and D to keep a weather eye open to see which way she would bolt. I envisioned losing control of the hutch, sending it crushing down onto her small fuzzy head! It was rather stressful. However, she was retrieved without incident or injury, and sent back out to the backyard cage to pasture.

Later Saturday afternoon, D became ill. Very ill. He was miserable, and so was I watching him. On average, every 30 minutes he was violently sick! Poor kid. I headed to Fred Meyer's to get some Failsafe remedies - like 7up without all the preservative junk that we are avoiding right now. I got some Blue Sky natural cola, and managed to find some popsicles that weren't just sugar and colored water.

I headed home, armed with remedies, and ignoring the ominous queasies I was beginning to have.

Alas. D and I spent the night in the living room: he on the couch, I in the recliner. Things finally settled down for David around 11:30 pm; I pulled an all-nighter until 6:30 a.m.

Sunday was indeed a day of rest! Most unfortunately I had to bail out of a duet I was playing at the annual teachers' recital. I do not know if Kari played a solo, or if she got Mimi to play my duet part with her (Mimi can sight-read just about anything). I stayed in bed, aching so much that it was difficult to sleep. When I was certain that it would stay down, I took some ibuprofen and then I was able to sleep like the dead all afternoon.

So this morning, I'm well-rested, though a bit shaky. It's definitely a morning for cream of wheat. Maybe even for lunch too!


Oh....WE FINISHED HISTORY TODAY!

(School happens even when I've been sick! wuaahahahaaa)

Daisy Cake

Here's the end result of All That Daisy Making (A.A. Milne again~!). I would include a picture of Lora and myself, only the flash didn't go off, and we were by a window, hence, it was just too dark to see.

You don't really want to see me anyway! :) I'm still mostly annecognito after all. THE WEB is a DANGEROUS PLACE and one mustn't fling one's personal info around frivolously. ^_^

Fiction Habit

A says I read too much fiction. Looking at my list down the side of this page, I have to admit he's right. I love fiction. I deal with enough reality that I need an escape. To be sure, some of these books I've enjoyed reading aloud to D and S; however (oh darn, there went a semicolon), the majority are just ones I've read on my own.

Which reminds me I need to update the list to include some Elfquest graphic novels (read: full-length comic books).

However, I am all about "achieving balance" in Life. Therefore, I henceforth vow that for every five fiction books I read, I will read one non-fiction book. Hm. Did I say five? Erm, maybe ten? YEAH. Ten.

At any rate, I'm behind. I'd better polish up some of the 'serious' books I'm working on (though some of these Bible studies just can't be rushed, you know?)--and forge ahead.

So I will have to construct a book list of NONFICTION books to divide and conquer. Biographies are a good place to start. Way back in Sept. when we were in CO I'd picked up one on Winston Churchill that was fascinating. Almost lifted it from the cabin to bring back home to WA with me, but A informed me that we had it on our shelves, and there was no need to resort to theivery.

Oh, but I have to say this: I'm reading Moby Dick for the first time. I endured the study of Melville in HS and college, but now his writing is rather interesting. Maybe I'm just getting old. Does reading a book by an author you REALLY don't care for count in this contest, even if it is fiction?

I probably ought to tackle Ivanhoe next. (Curses, foiled again! More fiction!)

Give me up as hopeless. I am who I am; I like what I like. (Gads, more semicolons!)

A Rant about Semicolons, courtesy of James Kilpatrick

I read this in the Seattle Times and located a copy on uexpress. Finally, someone who's as passionate about punctuation as I am!

However, my passion runs more in the vein of apostrophe errors and the misuse of your/you're, their/there/they're.

I'll never use a semicolon again without serious thought first! I promise!!

The Ultimate Rejection

I about cried laughing when I heard this.

Andy and his brother David have a good friend from college who is unmarried, but would really like to be. So in this day and age, what do you do? You go to eHarmony, of course! Thousands upon thousands of people use this service; you've heard the commercials about how people have found their perfect match using the special questionnaires eHarmony provides!

After completing their online pages of forms and clicking the "submit" button, this poor man received an email from eHarmony:

"We're sorry, but we are unable to help you."




>> OUCH! <<

ROFL~!

Aesop's Newest: The Station that Cried "Lahar"

Who ever listens to 1560 anyway? It's the SIRENS I'm interested in! If they sound at any time other than 10:05 A.M. on a Wednesday morning, I'm heading for Audra's house!

(The lahar sirens usually are tested mid mornings on Wednesdays, for those of you not "in the know").

So this was basically a non-event for me. I don't ever listen to 1560 AM. I heard about this news story from my MIL in MICHIGAN! (ooOOOooo Puyallup's in the national news again!)

The last time Puyallup was center stage on the national scene was when some attention-hungry psychopath from Rogers High School wanted to blow up the school.

News: It's always bad.

The Magic Number

80%. That's the magic number at which we can finish school and be done for the year, if we so desire.

Today we reached 80% in Science! However, because we're in the middle of a unit (the really cool one where you grow bean plants and put them in a box with one hole for the light, to demonstrate tropism...) I've decided we'll finish up the unit and then focus on the other areas that aren't quite up to the 80% level.

We're at 75% in history, so within the next week or two we'll finish up--and then be able to concentrate on math, language arts, and (blushing) ART.

I have issues with art. It always gets pushed to the back burner because other things, frankly, are more important. And the kids get plenty of self-expressive opportunities through piano and just being THEMSELVES, so they're not frustrated with no artistic outlet.

But, at any rate, I'm declaring a fiat finish to school somewhere on or around June 9. We may have to do some catch-up (like in art), but I think we'll pretty much be done by then.

I've astounded my SIL with this declaration. My dear niece is unbelievably good, diligent, and efficient. She finishes 100% of her school yearly. My dear nephews take more after the Oliver side, occasionally giving Penny frustration and grief (I do sympathize. I have two Olivers of my own)(Three, if you include the father of my children). So, in discussing this with her this evening, it seemed almost as if she felt liberated: "80% !! They finish 80%!! They don't do every single exercise and activity laid out in the teacher's guide! WE COULD DO THAT TOO!"
(Please understand that she didn't quite verbalize it this way, but I was interpreting her feelings). So I think P. is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

As am I!

I am SO READY for a break from school, from piano lessons... I bet I could EVEN GO TO THE GYM REGULARLY AGAIN! (NO, Rebecca, I did NOT make it to the gym today.)

Endurance!

the best laid plans of mice and men

gang aft a-gley...

Not that I had any grandiose plans today, except one: to get my miserable carcass to Bally's. I haven't gone regularly since the middle of March, when The World Came To A Halt while the family endured Influenza and Beyond.

So today, at least, I was going to teach the kids in the morning, clean Mimi's in the afternoon, eat a light dinner, and go to the gym.

Got a late start in the morning. Ok, no problem, can overcome this with persistence during school.

Persistence during school is a 3-person affair, not a one-person thing. We'd only accomplished History by 2:30. I left detailed lists of math and LA for the kids, and went out the door, a-cleaning on my mind and my new Zen Nano plugged into my ears. (Still don't have it set up the way I want, but it's improved.)

Came home around 5:30. Not a single lick of math or LA was completed. (What did I honestly expect?)

I made dinner, informing the halflings that all they were getting was the SCENT of food until I saw some finished work. I served dinner (baked spaghetti, salad, and leftover focaccia bread from Stanley and Seaforts) at 6:45. A. and I had a lovely dinner for two on the back porch. S. was just about done and was able to eat; D. was too busy telling me that I would never receive any Mothers Day presents ever again from him, and the next time we went out to eat, he would order all the foods I didn't like. (How that is going to affect me, I do not know.)

D finished his work at 9:30 p.m. Late dinner. Straight to bed.

So much for my going to the gym. >:O| big sigh.

A tells me I beat myself up too much over things I can't control. He's probably right, but I hate this feeling of doing things half-baked.

Tomorrow and Wednesday: piano lessons all afternoon. Endurance.

Zen Daisies and Olive Gardens

Today I celebrated my birthday with Audra and Bonnie. They were after me to come up with something for us all to do. So after deliberation, I decided I'd just like to have lunch and hang out. Audra and Bonnie are scrapbookers; I personally gave that up as hopeless soon after the birth of S. HOWEVER, I thought we'd just get together and work on whatever. Since I have a bridal shower cake to make for next Saturday (Lora Pierson's!), I thought I'd work on the fondant daisies for the cake while they scrapbooked. It was a pleasant morning, with Randy Travis singing hymns in the background. The daisies need yellow centers still, but with Bonnie's help I got about 90 of those things made.

We had planned to go to the Antique Sandwich Co. in Tacoma for lunch, but Olive Garden won out (closer, and we didn't feel like having sandwiches). After lunch we walked around Bradley Lake Park behind WalMart to aid our digestion. :) There were scores of people there, some sitting, most fishing, and a select group of warriors with cloth-tipped arrows and bows, padded staffs (or is it staves?), padded broadswords, shields, and one in a tunic and what looked like chain mail. They staged a mock battle--it was fascinating! I scanned the group to see if Steve Williams (how long's it been since anyone's heard tell of him?!) was among the medieval warrior wannabes; thought I spied him, actually! but on closer examination it was a much younger clone. There were burly, muscular guys and geeky, skinny ones--all united under their separate standards. I wonder if they host public tournaments, because this was obviously a practice.

Following that, we returned to Audra's, where I did some preliminary meal planning for the Failsafe Elimination Diet that we will be doing pretty soon. (I got the Failsafe Cookbook from New Zealand! It was the store's last copy, and the book is out of print! SCORE!) FAILSAFE is an acronym for foods that are Free of Additives, Low In Salicylates, Amines, and Flavor Enhancers. When we begin I will be keeping a food diary, as well as recording any behavior differences I observe in self and, more importantly, others. ;) This blog may get rather tedious during that time, as I intend to use it for the food diary/response part.

After that, I bid Audra and Bonnie adieu and headed to Ross--time to spend birthday money! New purse, and a tablecloth/placemats for the back porch table, plus some "outside" type of flatware. I didn't find any acrylic/plastic plates that I liked, so off to Wal-Mart! There I got a pair of fake Birkenstocks, because my last pair is 5 years old and literally fallen apart.

My last purchase of the day was from The Good Guys (now turned into CompUSA) - I got an mp3 player. Not an iPod. sheesh. No, I got a Zen Nano Plus. Holds about 500 songs. I just hooked it up to my computer, and before I knew what I was doing, I uploaded my ENTIRE MEDIA folder onto this thing! DOH! I wanted to be selective!! So I have everything from 32 DOHS of Homer Simpson (a goofy .wav file I have had since 1999) to Bill Cosby, to the Northern Lights (the Northland Singing Group). Now I have to figure out how to pull OFF this stuff and get on there what I WANT!

Right now I'm listening to Bill Cosby and his "Old Weird Harold" sketch, where he goes to the movies with his friend and watches a lot of monster flicks (the one where they get the black jujubes stuck all over their backs because they're lying on the floor, too scared to watch the movie.

Now how's this for contrast? Up next: the BJU Symphony Wind Ensemble playing "Amazing Grace." I have GOT to fix this up better!!

So those of you with mp3 players, I need tips. Desperately. Because now it's playing Harry Simeone's "Do You Hear What I Hear?"

Birthaversary

TODAY I have been alive for 36 years, and married for 15 of them!

Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

(POP QUIZ: Now, somebody tell me, whom did I just quote? :O> )

More on today, but later. Ciao.

Lux perpetua luceat eis

My grandmother, Anna Mae Laura Flannigan, passed away yesterday afternoon. She would have been 93 this coming June 8.

NOBODY called her Anna Mae Laura! She was "Mickey," an' it please you. They named her thus to please three crotchety old aunts. But to all and sundry, she was Mickey. (Irish, you know).

Reading her recipe collection that Aunt Cathy sent me last month, "G.G." had put a 3x5 card in the front that read "This is the property of Michaela Patricia Flannigan." Then she drew a shamrock and wrote "trademark" next to it. (Michaela... WHO??) So apparently her dislike of her three given names was so great that she invented new ones that suited her fancy better!


G.G. was raised Catholic (naturally) in Waukegan, IL. She met Grandpa "Red" Edwards while he was playing sax in a band. (Once he opened for Tommy Dorsey's band). She says she fell in love with him because he was such a good dancer. Problem: he was Episcopalian! That, in addition to finances being tight, caused them to seek a justice of the peace. As they left his office, newly married, whom did they meet on the steps of the courthouse but her older sister Eleanor! So much for secrets.

They lost their first child, Nancy, to SIDS, though it wasn't called that at the time. It was that event that eventually brought them both to an acknowledgement of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. She and Grandpa Red loved the Lord greatly. Mom told me that G.G. contributed regularly to 22 different missionary and church works, including our own Grace Baptist Church. She led and hosted Community Bible Study for years.

My children had the opportunity to meet GG twice; most recently in 2003. We were down in CA for her 90th birthday celebration. Mom's friend Ray recorded and made a DVD of the event. When D learned of GG's passing, he immediately went to the video cabinet and said, "Well, at least we have this [to remember her by]."

There will be no memorial service for her. Her friends back in IL have mostly passed on or are in retirement/assisted living homes. Her body is being shipped to the North Shore of Chicago to rest next to her husband's. Apparently the 90th birthday was the last hurrah for the family to reunite and catch up.

This disturbs me. However, this is what Mom and Uncle John have decided. I doubt very much that I will ever see Uncle John and Aunt Cathy again in this lifetime. Grandma was the unifying bond, and now she is gone. Not that there is conflict within the family; no, there's just not a commonness, a reason to get together. Mom was 10 when John was born, and they've just never seemed to be close.

This also disturbs me. There's something to be said for marrying and staying close to family. I have cousins; literal heaps of them on Dad's side--but I don't know them at all. I'm of the renegade California branch, and I'm the sole offshoot.

I can't really castigate my parents' choice--I've done no better, myself; moving to Washington, away from my Californian roots (and Andy from his MI roots) - family is a rare treat; a twice-a-year event. (Grandma Karen is here this week!) But I want my kids to know their cousins, know them well. However, this doesn't seem very likely, distances between WA and MI being what they are--and airfare for four being what IT is! (This is why I need to get a job at Alaska Airlines like Lavonne and go WHEREVER--as "standby", yes, but the ability to GO CHEAPLY!)

Ahh, I'm rambling now.

So to quote from my favorite work in Faure's Requiem, "Libera Me":

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine:
et lux perpetua luceat eis.

(Which, being translated, is: Grant eternal rest to them, Lord,
and let perpetual light shine on them.)

Alert!

At Heathrow Airport today, an individual, later discovered to be a public school teacher, was arrested trying to board a flight while in possession of a compass, a protractor, and a graphical calculator. Authorities believe he is a member of the notorious Al-Gebra movement.

He is being charged with carrying weapons of math instruction!

Sing Unto God

Last night God enabled me to sing with the South Sound Classical Choir at Mason United Methodist Church in the Proctor District of Tacoma. INCREDIBLE facility, incredible acoustics. There was at least a 4-second reverberation after each cutoff.

The sanctuary itself had cathedral-high ceilings, with stained glass head-high along the left wall, and angled wall panels extending vertically to the ceiling. Every third wall panel had a white banner with colorful butterflies on it. On half of the right wall was the pipes for the pipe organ. The platform had no steps; rather, a series of curving ramps of light-colored pergo. The piano was a small Steinway L or S.

I would love to go there on a Sunday to see what kind of music they produce. Not the sermon, though; I doubt very much that the sermon would contain anything more than your typical "brotherhood of man, Fatherhood of God" twaddle.

I hadn't sung since losing my voice; I didn't know what manner of squawk would emerge when I began. But after warming up, I had a passable imitation of what I usually can sing like. Head voice, but limited chest voice. The first half of the concert went well, then we filed off for the middle section where the soloists and the madrigal ensemble sang. I took the opportunity to suck on a Ricola cough drop and get a drink.

The second half of the concert I began to feel some dry spots. The crucial thing was to make it to the last song, "Sing Unto God" by Handel, which begins with the altos singing a long melismatic section. Praise God, I did! Because RIGHT after making it through that section, I began to lose it. Only my head voice was left, and a mezzo piano at best. But it was enough!

On a side note, during the intermission I had the opportunity to sit and chat with some of the choir members. There are more born again believers in there than I had originally thought! It seemed to me like everywhere I turned, there was a Unitarian, ironically, singing the praises of God (Goddess? Buddha? Great Spirit? all one to them). But tonight I discovered other sisters in Christ. That was a blessing.

Pno Pneumonia

A's chest x-ray came back negative. No pneumonia!

So why is he still coughing up his lungs and it's been 6 weeks? We don't know. But last night he got over eight hours of sleep... very unusual of late.

Unfortunately I woke him up a little after 9 this morning by practicing some Mozart.

I gave him some freshly brewed coffee to heal the breach.

Grass and Dentists. Not sure how these relate.

There's nothing better than the smell of freshly-mown grass!

Ask me how I know.

Yep! I mowed the front lawn today. I'd put Scott's Weed and Feed on it about 2 weeks ago, and it greened right up and began growing like, well, a weed! The kids were kind enough to empty out the grass catcher for me onto the compost pile in the backyard.

I have regained my voice, mostly. It's not full-strength, but Lord willing by tomorrow night I should be able to sing in the first concert of the season. I will be packing some Ricola cough drops to suck on in between halves of the program!! I can't imagine trying to sing "The Last Words of David" at present, much less the two Handel pieces, but that's tomorrow night, so I'm not gonna worry!

S. had a trip to the dentist this afternoon. When she was in there a week ago for her cleaning, the dentist accidentally chipped out one of her fillings (it must have been loose). So the office and I scheduled her for a re-do *(for free, thank you) for this afternoon at two. We showed up on time, and presented ourselves to a new receptionist, who was rather scantily clad in a spaghetti-strap halter top that didn't leave much to the imagination. She could not find our appointment in the computer! But I had their handwritten card with the information written on it. Fortunately, I know several people in that office, and they worked Sammie in, despite the fact that our appointment seemed to have vanished into the mists of computer limbo.

Oh, and the dentist's name? Dr. Chu.

S. laughed about that all the way to Burger King ("Chu, CHEW, GET IT??!") , where she got her standard chocolate milk shake. If the kids have to have their teeth numbed, I let them have a milk shake, since they can't chew food until the numbness is gone. Therefore, going to the dentist is not such a bad thing...for them!