strawberry shortcake forever

Today was the perfect day for jamming. June Gloom has currently overtaken the previous weeks of sunshine, so it was time to pull out the pectin, sugar, and jars and get some strawberries from Spooner Farms. :) 1 flat will make 3 batches of jam (about 4 pints each), just in case you didn't know. I, however, bought an extra half-flat so I can snack on berries. They're especially sweet this year; the hot weather has really helped bring out the flavor.

A. helped to clean and hull berries, while D and S measured out the sugar. I got to do the cooking bit - which is why I waited for a June-gloomy day, so I wouldn't melt. :)

Of course, with that extra half-flat of berries, I had to make strawberry shortcake, too, since tomorrow's Father's Day and since A. really likes shortcake! I have the official recipe from his grandmother, who has now left this earthly scene.

There's a story here, though, which can be filed under the category of Quirky Family Relations.

Long ago, Grandma Nell made ALL the pies for the family. (A. comes from a long line of pie-eaters.) One time, though, her daughter (my mom in law) ended up making the pies-- and Brep (that's the family "grandpa" word) raved about Karen's pies. From that point on, nothing was ever said about it-- but Grandma Nell never made another pie. Grandma Nell would not deign to acknowledge that there was an issue; she just stopped making pies.

Fast forward a score of years: I am soon to be marrying into the family, and A. tells me I MUST get the biscuit recipe so I can make strawberry shortcake. Grandma Nell most graciously gives me her prized recipe, and A. is happy with the results.

Fast forward another decade: Grandma Nell has passed on. Karen cannot find her old copy of Grandma's biscuit recipe; unthinkable horror! She asks me if I happen to have a copy. Indeed I do! I recite the list to her over the phone.

There's a long pause coming from Michigan. ".....That's NOT the recipe she gave to ME!"

Karen realized that her own mother, when giving Karen the recipe, adulterated it just a little bit so Karen would not become the BISCUIT maker of the family as well!

I love family politics!


Since I have no problems in sharing cooking glory, here's the recipe:

Baking Powder Biscuits

2 c. flour
4 heaping tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
**1/4 c. sugar (**I only put in the sugar if I'm making the biscuits for Strawberry Shortcake--sugar isn't called for in the original recipe)
4 T. shortening - cut into dry ingredients until coarse crumbs form
3/4 - 1 cup milk (depending on texture)

Mix until just combined, then turn out onto a baking stone and pat until about 1" thick. At this point you can use a biscuit cutter; I, however, just pat into a square shape and use a pizza cutter to cut into 12 pieces (4x3) - then pull apart slightly so each has room to bake up nice and crisp. That's my particular stroke of brilliance today - that way, you don't overwork the dough by rolling, cutting, and patting together. Who cares if your biscuits are rectangular, anyway?

Bake at 450º for 10-12 minutes.

Serve with sliced strawberries and whipped topping. :)

new pigpig

Here's our newest addition named Squirt, partnered with Julie. She's overcome her shyness since being paired with Julie, and she's turning into a really friendly animal. Jumpy and fast, as all young cavies are, but talkative and interested in people.

Steve Williams posted a link to a Sims 3 ongoing blog. (I am still stuck in Sims 1 mode - it's an amazingly fun black hole of a time vortex, so I stopped playing it.) This writer set up his Sims characters to be homeless; one an angry, insane, repulsive man; the other, his daughter who is good and caring, but has extremely low self-esteem. The blogger then reports on the choices the Sims make. It's a good read----and probably another black hole in my online computer time. Interesting, nonetheless. You can read about the adventures of Alice and Kev here.

In other news...we planted our garden today. My "salad" row went in first, then the three rows of beans. Further out in the garden are the 4 hills of zucchini, 5 of yellow crookneck, and 7 tomato plants. The garden is so tame and innocent at this time of year, full of promise of succulent, tender shoots... the challenge is to remain on top of the workload so the garden doesn't turn into a monster.

We have a party to attend in 40 minutes, and the kids and I have not yet done our requisite math school for today. Looks like the garden activities of this morning have pushed school to a Friday night thing. Bummer!

The Event

Flopsy pig pig died yesterday afternoon. It was very sad, but good for the kids to experience a small taste of grief, even if only for a beloved pet.

Her final resting place was a Grape Nuts box cut to size. A. let the kids pick where to put her grave, so they chose a spot next to the wisteria bush. S. put a little pot of grass on the spot and we went to Happy Teriyaki for dinner so we could have some Happy in the day.

At the kids' request, we stopped by Petco on the way home.

We now have a little black and white piggie that the kids have dubbed Squirt. She's bonding with Julie extremely well. When we introduced the two, Squirt ran up to the older Julie and stuck her nose under Julie's chin. Julie is being a surrogate mother to her. Squirt is already showing more personality, relaxing, and eating what Julie eats. (Until they were introduced, Squirt just hung out in the pigloo and wouldn't eat--at least that we could observe.) The transformation in Squirt was amazing to watch. These little creatures are very social.

Some remaining tears were shed over Flopsy today, but they're moving on.

flopsy pig pig

I am in here because it would be a sin to laugh right now. I am cursed with a tweaky sense of humor that crops up at inappropriate times.

Early this afternoon A. discovered our oldest guinea pig Flopsy: limp and prostrate, shallowly panting. It's warm outside, so we don't know if this is the result of old age, or if she's just suffering with heat exhaustion.

We gave her an ice pack and misted her with water, but she's still pretty limp, and not looking good.

Kids are distraught, of course. D is more stoic than S, as usual.

Here's the reason I'm banishing myself to my room: S got out a 100 piece jigsaw puzzle box and held it up with a calculating eye. "Is this too big?" she mused. I didn't see where this was going until she got out the box of Breton crackers - a long rectangular-shaped tube - dumped the crackers into a Ziploc bag and caught my eye: "Will this work?" Finally I cotton on to the fact that S is choosing an appropriate coffin for Flopsy's final rest. And the mental image of squeezing a guinea pig into that skinny lil' cracker box made me almost, but not quite, giggle.

So I'm in here, writing it out, so I can go back out there and keep it together and console the disconsolate. Flopsy has been a good pet, and I am rather fond of her. I'm praying for wisdom on how best to help the kids with this. We have been preparing for it for some time - the pig is 7 years old. But when it comes down to it, we aren't really prepared for The Event.

Latest: D and S are now working on a Guinea Pig Album and they want to put pictures together. I must go. Here's a pic of Flopsy last month:

a series of common events

This morning, D. said his band at Maplewood was having an end-of-the-year party. Bring snacks. So I dropped the boy at band and drove to Safeway to get some suitable 9:30 a.m. party snacks. Only one register is open at Safeway, and they're stacked 6 deep with customers.... Success at last! Chocolate chip mini muffins purchased, I headed back to Maplewood. As I rounded the corner, I saw our minivan round the opposite corner, heading back toward home.

Oh. I don't have my cell phone with me. Apparently some plan went awry, or D. got his facts mixed up, resulting in a phone call to come pick him up. So now there are two parents out of the house this morning for the sake of band, which isn't happening, apparently.

I follow the van home. D says the party has been postponed to Monday. The muffins go in the freezer as I state, "these had BETTER be here Monday morning, because I am not buying any more."

S is cheerfully playing Mario Kart Worldwide with some strangers from France and England. Never mind the fact that the Wii is offlimits until all school is done, the opportunistic child was counting on my being gone for a longer period of time.

We turn the Wii off (I am kind enough to let her finish the Koopa Cape race), and sit down at the dining room table to begin math. The kids grab their favorite yogurt flavors to fortify their minds and their intestines. S, unthinking, sets hers at the edge of the table, and then promptly knocks the yogurt off the table onto the carpet. The yogurt flavor? Pineapple upside-down cake.

Delays, delays! I sponge up the carpet while she cleans her bare foot. She reapproaches the table, only to stub her toe on the corner. More delays for a pain rage fit.

This is our typical pattern of life. If I become a year-round schooler, it's not by choice, but by necessity.

sowing and reaping

It's almost June. Schools are winding down, the temperature is winding up, the neighborhood kiddie pools are filling up.

And my kids are inside doing school. Only now do they bemoan the wasted hours, the frittered time. My daughter is in a rage right now because the kids next door are making too much noise as they swim in their pool and slip on their waterslide. She wants me to go next door and tell them to be quiet.

S is at the emotional stage right now where everything is traumatic. The self-hair pulling, the hands clasped over her ears, the stompings and wailings and throwing of schoolbooks. Get over yourself, girl. You're reaping what you've sown. Plant something different next time.

That may sound like I lack compassion, but that's not the case. I'd rather be done, too. But this experience, too, is school, and she needs to learn that choices have consequences.

I hope the lesson sticks.

pulpit fail

We receive many emails from different organizations of varying Christian stripes - so much so, that they tend to blur together.

This morning, however, we received an e-newsletter from a church where I personally was familiar with their pastor and his ministry. Since it made a blip on my recognition radar, I clicked on the link and had a look around.

Apparently they have a new pulpit - a gift from a like-minded church located in Hammond, Indiana (with which, sadly, I am also familiar).


"THAT IN ALL THINGS HE MIGHT HAVE THE PREEMINENCE" is boldly proclaimed in all caps on the front of the pulpit, over a white cross edged with glowing blue. . .

Now, please tell me, while looking at the photo --exactly WHO will be preeminent as the pastor stands in that pulpit?






Riiiiight.



Now, I am 97% sure that this was not considered when the pulpit was being designed. However, there is that cynical 3% within me that makes me just shake my head, when I consider the source-- which displays that stripe of thought that the Pastor is God's Man, never to be questioned, challenged, or held to account for sin; the giving church worships their preachers and a particular Bible version and pushes the grace of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the background. So - to my cynical 5% (it's growing) it's interesting that the man is stationed ABOVE the Cross of Christ.

That in all things HE might have the preeminence.



Sigh.

deadline

30 days hath September,
April, June, and November...

Just wanted to get one post in for the month of April, since it is now April 30....


Harking back a bit, one month ago today I was in Quebec.

I still have travel photos on my camera to upload, and travel stories to tell before I forget them (for instance - from Minnesota to Western South Dakota........it pretty much sucks. No offense, or anything, but Dudes. Get some trees. And I mean trees that ARE trees, not some weasly little things that poke out of the ground. The only saving grace was Wall Drug....which must be where all the trees went, to make billboards. Pennsylvania's got the right idea in the tree department, but they go for numbers rather than height.)

But those stories are not for today. I must get my children back on track doing school. We all have a severe case of Spring Fever.

... so I'd better get to bed, if I'm going to do any serious catchup tomorrow!

guest book review: Don Quixote

This is for Rebecca, who's been taking stabs at reading this.


D. read an abridged version of Don Quixote for school, and here's his assessment (and I quote):


"I can tell you the entire story in very few words.

He reads too many books. He becomes a nut. So then he gets a squire, and he trains his squire to become a nut. Eventually he dies because he's a nut."

context, context, context.

A and I are enjoying a quiet evening in the living room. He's reading, I'm playing games on my laptop. Here's the conversation:


Me (playing Scrabble online): "I'm only coming up with four-letter words."

A: "Why? Are you in that bad of a mood?"

spring is not icumen in

Spring is not icumen in
Lhude sing poo-pooh!
Snoweth snow and Bloweth nose
And Groweth impatience anew...
Lhude sing poo-pooh!

**edit** Apparently my song reference above is too obscure. I based it on the old Madrigal song written in Middle English, "Sumer is icumen in." Here's the original poem with a performance of the song. Enjoy! Now, back to your lives, citizens!**

I awoke to a winter wonderland this morning. Late this morning. I had to recover from a long, busy weekend and a lack of sleep following the time change.

3 inches is usually more than enough to keep the Puyallup School District from functioning--however, school was NOT cancelled. I learned this AFTER D. missed his band class. He was truant - playing in the snow.

A. figured we might as well let the kids play outside - it'll be the last snow of the season, likely. So, no school today yet. Instead, I'm cleaning house and doing more vacation planning. Road trip!!

mother hubbard

A, just moments ago, commenting on his inability to find a suitable lunch:

"I'm beginning to understand why tigers drive away their offspring from their territory... otherwise, there's no prey left."


He further queried:

"What do you call something that just lies around, causes trouble, and eats food?"

(Me: "A cat.")

"No. A parasite. A lawyer."



He'll change his tune once I rustle up some suitable grub. Seems I'd better get to it.

thoughtfulness

My son has just brought me a cup of my favorite tea: Ginger Peach, by the incomparable Republic of Tea. I love it hot or cold.

I wonder if he's trying to soften some blow that will fall shortly?

... and I hate being all suspicious like that, but these children sometimes exhibit my worst behaviors, and I have been guilty of buttering people up.


Maybe I should just stop fussing and drink my tea. Good idea.

**UPDATE**
I found an empty carton of ice cream next to the teapot. Okay, not COMPLETELY empty... there were about two bites left. Tea with ice cream: who knew?

on kitchen countertops

There's nothing like having a freshly scrubbed kitchen countertop, pristine and cleared of clutter.


It's a battle, though, to keep it that way. There must be an inner compulsion in each member of this household that drives us to put things on the countertop. The empty space beckons us to spread out one's cartooning supplies, the monsters made of Sculpey, the assorted recipes that we'll be using to keep the family fed and content. The mail from yesterday. The avocado pit, stuck with toothpicks and balanced in a small juice cup of water, in hopes that we can get it to sprout--aptly named "Sputnik" by my daughter. And one mustn't forget the cups, plates, bowls, and flatware that never quite make it to the dishwasher, but instead stack up on the countertop, awaiting Somebody's attention.

I hope Somebody gets here soon. I'm running out of space.

my business is picking up

Last night, on my daily walk-thru before bedtime, I discovered:

* an open gallon of milk, sitting in front of the linen closet

* General Grievous and Obi-Wan Kenobi, facing off on my bathroom floor next to the box of shoe polish supplies, also on the bathroom floor for some reason

This morning, I encountered:

* a pot of Earl Grey tea, with copious amounts of sugar speckling the surrounding countertop

* a saucepan on the stovetop, containing bright vermilion cooked crayfish staring blankly at their surroundings

* folded clothes in various piles scattered around the flat surfaces of the living room, making it intraversable (at least they were folded)

* a ringing phone, but the handset was not on the hook, and I don't know where it is...

Believe you me, my business is picking up.

snippets

"Auuughhhh!! What's the point of science without LIQUID NITROGEN??!"

(insert clever title here)

First off, let me just say a big howdy to my three faithful readers. You probably already know the basic jist of my life because you're on my Facebook friend list! :)

Lately I have really been feeling the strain of homeschooling through a particular virtual academy. I love the k12 curriculum, I really do. And I love the people I've met at the Washington Virtual Academy. But the daily grind of making WAVA's required monthly goals is sapping the joy out of this whole educational journey. We are schooling from morning until bedtime.

Add piano, choir, band into that mix, and the academic hours are shortened even more, adding to the crunch. We don't have AWANA or a comparable program at our church, and sad but true, I'm thankful, because that would be Just Another Thing To Do That Takes Up Time.

I'm snappish, short-tempered, and --yes, oddly enough--weepy! Me! (The snap and short-tempered bit is not so strange, but the weepy bit is the strange part).

So we really need prayer as to where we go from here. I am certain that I need to rely more on God's supply of grace. That's a definite. But: do we leave the virtual academy and remain independent homeschoolers? Do we change virtual academies? Do we send a kid off to school? If so, which school? Christian or public? Should I give up the piano studio and resume classroom teaching?

Leaving things status quo is taking a great toll on our lives. AGAIN, I know I need to rely more on God's power and provision. But have I overloaded my plate with things that God has not intended for me to bear? He promises to provide enablement for what He has ordained, not necessarily what I choose for myself.

So that's the latest from here.

We're off to a piano recital. I have 5 students in the recital, and both D and S are playing for their teacher Sharon, so it'll be a Kodak moment. :)

I'll sign off with the current meme. Feel free to just stop reading here if you find these things completely uninteresting!

Things I have done during my lifetime:

(x ) Gone on a blind date
(x ) Skipped school
( ) Watched someone die
( x ) Been to Canada
( x ) Been to Mexico
( x ) Been to Florida
( ) Been to Hawaii
( X ) Been on a plane
( ) Been on a helicopter
( X ) Been lost
( x ) Gone to Washington, DC
( x ) Been to the Smithsonian
( x ) Rode The Metro in DC
( X ) Swam in the ocean
( ) Swam with Stingrays
( x ) Fed/petted stingrays
( X ) Cried yourself to sleep
( X ) Played cops and robbers
(x ) Recently colored with crayons
( ) Sang Karaoke
( x ) Paid for a meal with coins only
( ) Been to the top of the St. Louis Arch
( X ) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't
( x ) Made prank phone calls (Is your refrigerator running, better go catch it)
( x) Been down Bourbon Street in New Orleans
(x ) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
( x ) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
( x) Danced in the rain
( x) Been to Europe
( X) Written a letter to Santa Claus
(X) Been kissed under the mistletoe
(X) Watched the sunrise with someone
(X) Blown bubbles
( ) Watched a Mardi Gras parade in person
(x) Gone ice-skating
(X) Gone to the movies
(x ) Been deep sea fishing
(x) Driven across the United States
( ) Been in a hot air balloon
(x) Been to a music concert
( ) Been sky diving
( ) Gone snowmobiling
() Gone jet-skiing
( ) Lived in more than one country
(x) Lay down outside at night and admired the stars while listening to the crickets
(X) Seen a falling star and made a wish
( x) Enjoyed the beauty of Old Faithful Geyser
( x) Seen the Grand Canyon
( x) Seen the Statue of Liberty
( x) Been to New York City
( ) Been in a Haunted Place and experienced something
( x ) Gone to the top of Seattle Space Needle
( ) Gone out with someone you met online
() Toured Alcatraz aka The Rock
(x) Drove down Lombard Street in San Francisco
( ) Been on a cruise
( ) Traveled by train
( x) Traveled by motorcycle
(X) Been horse back riding
( ) Rode on a San Francisco cable car
( x ) Been to Hollywood
( ) Been to a taping of a live show
( ) Listened to Dueling Pianos in person
( x) Been to Disneyland AND Disney World (both)
(X) Truly believe in the power of prayer
( ) Been in a rain forest
(x ) Seen whales in the ocean
() Been inside a castle
(x ) Been to Niagara Falls
( x ) Rode on an elephant
( ) Been to San Diego's Gas Lamp District
( ) Swam with dolphins
( ) Been to the Olympics
( x) Seen redwood trees
( x) Been to Busch Gardens
( ) Walked on the Great Wall of China
(x) Hiked a mountain trail
( ) Saw and heard a glacier calf
( ) Been spinnaker flying
( ) Been to Waikiki Beach
( x ) Been water-skiing
( x ) Been snow-skiing
( x) Caught fireflies in a jar
( ) Been to Waikiki Beach
( ) Been to Westminster Abbey
( x) Gone white water rafting
(x) Gone on a picnic
( ) Been to the Louvre
(x ) Swam in the Mediterranean
( ) Watched the fountains at the Bellagio in Las Vegas
(x ) Been to a Major League Baseball game
( ) Been to a National Football League game
(x) Played a sport
( ) Swam with sharks
( ) Fed a giraffe
( x) Gone camping in a tent
(x) Seen both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
(x) Been to Knotts Berry Farm in Anaheim, CA (duh! I'm a Californian!)
( ) Been on a horse and buggy ride
(x) Traveled to more than 20 different states
(x ) Been to an NBA game
( ) Been to an NHL game
(x) Have eaten dessert first
( ) Been to Australia
() Been to Williamsburg, VA
(x) Read a book with more than 500 pages
( x) Met someone famous
(x) Went to a symphony (in concert)
(x) Seen The Nutcracker Ballet in person

education matters

I will never stop learning as long as I live.

I have some good examples before me. I have a friend who is in her 70's and still taking piano lessons. She's a retired missionary to Colombia who homeschooled five children on the field. She continues to play piano for solo/ensemble competitions, as well as take lessons. Her wisdom and humor make piano classes fun.

I had a piano lesson this morning. Well, it ended up being more of a kaffee klatsch, since I find myself with little in the way of spare time to do anything more than sight-play some easy Chopin or Bach. Winnowing a work down to its harmonic structure, and digging the meat out of the melodic line, forget it. Not when I have literally been teaching school until 9 or 10 p.m. nightly.

Anyway. Good piano/klatsch today. Mimi was very encouraging. Or maybe I was just out of the house, no kids to harangue, and talking with an adult about Life, the Universe, and Everything. I can learn something just by sitting at her Steinway B (note that she sits at the Steinway D, thank you very much, plays like chocolate silk and sounds like amber-colored honey...I digress...) and discussing the teaching in my own studio using the literature my students are working in.


Yeah, this late night school thing is really getting me down. As a matter of fact, I kinda was on strike today. Not in a defiant, in-your-face picket line sort of way, but more like Bartleby the scrivener, in that I "preferred not to" teach. Instead I made heart-shaped cutout cookies, covered with Toba Garrett's cookie glaze. It's flood-consistency frosting that dries to a nice sheen. I added some silver dragees and had some fun imagining selling them for $15 per cookie like Toba does. (no, seriously, go see. www.tobagarrett.com. And no, my cookies didn't look as good as all that.) I allowed S, who is battling some cold/virus thing, to help me with the decor. I figure by now we're all exposed to the germs, so why not? Indeed, A. had it first, and now D has a 99.something fever. S will end up being a baker, that one. Her life involves quite a bit of planning parties, hosting parties, or making party favors and party food. Maybe her life here is too boring.

Meanwhile D wants to educate me on the finer points of playing Godzilla: Unleashed on the Wii. So far I have escaped his clutches on the grounds that if I don't have time to practice the piano because I'm too busy teaching HIM, then he doesn't get Wii time, nor do I (unless, of course, it's Wii Fit...exercise is an acceptable use of time, you know.) This evening, though, since I was on a Bartleby-type of strike, we enjoyed to the fullest: watching a tape of The Doctor(Nine)save Rose Tyler and battle the Daleks--then doing Wii Fit (Super Hula Hoop rocks)--then D.(as Godzilla, naturally) battling Megaguirus and some seahorse-lookin' thing whose name escapes me at the moment, though I know D. has told me several times. (The training of Mom clearly has not stuck). He also did some internet searching on how to unlock a particular monster called Biollante. Just as he completed the necessary steps to unlock Biollante, though, the program did just the converse: it locked up and we had to reboot the system. Lost!

In other education news, A and I have been noodling when best to take a trip to upstate NY to see his dad and then up to Quebec to see his aunt and uncle, who are now in their 80's. We've settled on the weeks that straddle Spring Break. And, Providentially, I have a car waiting for me in Detroit. So the plan is to get one-way flights to Detroit, see the Mom/Grandma and the Brother/Uncle and family - then hop in the car (I have actually ALREADY done the paperwork and tranferred title)- then drive to New York, drive to Canada (passports in process of being renewed - $75 each, such a deal /sarcasm) - then the real fun and education begins when we drive back across the whole flippin' US of A from NYC to SEA. The route will send us from New York City (2 days) to Indianapolis, to Chicago (2 days), to Sioux Falls, to Casper, to Missoula, and then Home. We will learn MUCH on this trip, oh yesss. Even if it is merely in areas of self-control and biting our tongues, or how to count antelope factorially when we are in Wyoming. If you live near any of these cities, be warned that you might just get to see us. Or you might have to come up with excuses not to see us.

The other educational experience that looms in my future is that I get to do my own taxes this year for the first time ever. My dad--in the tax business for 38 years-- retired. He gave me notice over Christmas that he's done. He bought me Turbo Tax and said he'd be available for questioning.

Ugh. Numbers AND the Government. Could anything be less enjoyable?

I wonder if, come April 15, I could simply write, "I prefer not to" at the top of my 1040?

the longest day

I marvel at my children's ability to procrastinate. I can very clearly set forth a well-documented chart of things to do, the order in which they could most efficiently be done, and hold out a "carrot" if the things get done, to reward the kids.

11:21 p.m. Kids not done with school. Kids comatose. Mom frustrated. Dad going to bed.


I don't know about this whole piano teaching gig. I love it, plus we need the money. But school just doesn't happen well on piano days.

So maybe Tuesday and Wednesday will be the kids' weekend, and we school Thursday through Monday.

Oh wait. Where did my weekend go?

I'll think about that tomorrow.

Definitely these kids are mine, though. Masters of procrastination.