I pretty much wanna stick a fork in my eye...

I really don't like Annie. Not one little bit.

I don't like Daddy Warbucks. I don't like Miss Hannigan.

I don't like the actors or the characters.

I don't like the songs.

I don't like the optimism.

The sun might not come up tomorrow.

So don't go betting your bottom on that nonsense.

Or your dollhairs.

I think it is time to return this video to Gramama for the good of everyone in this household.

So how's everyone else's day going?

=)

SHUT UP!

Umm...yeah...the cozy breakfast supper afterglow didn't last very long!

J and K were at each other's throats all day yesterday. Neither could do anything right in the eyes of the other. Both were territorial and combative over everything from Polly Pocket outfits to lap sitting privileges to scraps of leftover supper from the night before. It seemed like every few minutes some loud outburst of crying or SCREAMING or airing of a grievance erupted.

"NO!"..."Mine!"..."You started it!"..."Gimme my..."..."She just..."..."Mommmmmmmmmm!"

Allllll day I did my best to mediate and encourage sisterly kindness and independent conflict resolution, but finally after dinner, probably while I was writing my last post, I screamed, "SHUTTT UPPP!" and like possibly one or two other things that weren't the best choice of words to utter to my precious darlings.

The "S-U" word and its inappropriate use had just been a topic of discussion earlier in the day. I had told them that it wasn't a terrible thing to say, but asked them to listen to how other people sounded when they said it and to consider how it made them feel when people said it to them.

Tenderhearted little J quickly retreated to her bedroom to grieve over the harsh words spoken, while K quickly gathered the Polly Pocket/Barbie/Littlest Pet Shop spoils into her clutches and began establishing a new kingdom for herself in the absence of her enemy.

A few minutes later, J emerged with this carefully written message in hand...

(Translation: Mommy I will come out but I love you and
can you not say shut up)

And as if that didn't make me feel bad enough, the backside read...

(Translation: That ain't very Christian!) =)

I'm not exactly sure what sounds she hears in "very"...I'll have to work on that, right after I learn not to say SHUT THE HECK UP! I asked for her forgiveness and she obliged. All is well.

Breakfast Suppers

I love breakfast suppers. There is something that is so comforting about them to me. Yes, I am an emotional eater. Anyway, I would have at least one a week if it were up to me. Oh yeah, it is up to me and so we usually do have at least one every other week. Eggs and hashbrowns or waffles or pancakes or breakfast casseroles, but always with some complementary juicy pork product to accompany the main dish and round out our fat intake in the event that it had been running dangerously low that day.

Tonight was the night. I made homemade waffles with the Hazen family recipe and then tried this nifty idea that Amy sent me just this morning that involves boiling eggs in a bag to make individual omelettes. I was a little leary of the idear at first, but I thought the kids would enjoy making their own so I gave it a whirl and they were surprisingly tasty, but best of all they were ready all at the same time.

All you do is take quart size zip-loc freezer bags and write each person's name on them with permanent marker. Each person cracks not more than 2 eggs into their bag, drops in prepared ingredients of choice, and then shakes to combine. After blended, be sure to get all the air out of the bag and then zip it up and drop it into rolling boiling water for exactly 13 minutes and then dump it out onto your plate and gobble it up as fast as you can before anyone axes you to share.

Happy Birthday to Ju Ju!

Sistah Friends

I just wanted the world to know I love my sister.

She may have nearly maimed me for life with the handle of her sharp pink hair brush in Yosemite when I was 3 and may have laughed maniacally after tearing my longest, most cherished fingernail asunder just for fun on Christmas Eve when I was 7, but I like her anyway.

Thanks for a great week, sister friend. You're the best!

Sur-PRISE!

My Dad's party was a smashing success and a complete surprise, as you can see by this photo. His was reaction was just as I had anticipated. I was choked up all day imagining his choked up expression when he arrived. He did not disappoint.

Since the party was at my parents' house, we couldn't do any decorating or have anything out of the ordinary on the premises. Anyone who knows my Mom knows this was no small feat for someone who cannot tell a lie of any size, shape, or description...under any circumstance...EVER! She managed to squirrel away some supplies around the house, as well as mine, and do some of the cooking right under his nose since he doesn't have a very keen sniffer, but the rest had to be done the day of between the hours of 11am and 3pm, when he left for the county jail for Saturday services and when he was expected to return home.

Charlie and his family had spent the night at our house Friday, unbeknownst to my Dad, so they would be here bright and early to help with all the last minute preparations. As soon as he left for the jail, Charlie and Jeff swooped in with a truck full of rented tables and chairs, a tent, and an extra grill for the festivities. Ruth and I worked all morning getting food ready at our house before reporting for duty at my Mom's to be her hands and feet.

Everything was set to go at 3pm. Most of the guests had arrived on time since we had moved the party up an hour from what was originally printed on the invitations. But wouldn't you know it, of all days, my Dad had three services at the jail instead of the usual two so that delayed his arrival about two hours. We managed to keep everyone entertained and appeased with food, and in the meantime a few more stragglers were able to make it in before the big moment of surprise.

Sixty-eight people were in attendance. It was hard to hide that many cars, so people just parked all over the yard. Since their neighbors are building a house he said he thought that maybe the cars belonged to the people helping them when he drove up. Everyone was waiting in the garage and sang Happy Birthday as he got out of the van.

The weather was perfect! The food was yummy! My Dad was happy! Good times.

The day was complete just shy of midnight when Julie and Jared arrived unexpectedly a day early. They couldn't make it for the party, but had planned to arrive today for a week stay, but came last night instead.

Click on My Photos on the right to see more of the party and of our camping trip. And if anyone feels inclined to wish my Dad a happy birthday on the 12th, please click here.

Up North

We have just returned from our sojourn "up north" as they call it here in Michigan. Any recreational destination north of where you live is considered "up north". Of course the location varies from person to person, but many a Michigander child has grown up believing "up north" to be an actual physical location to be pin-pointed on a map. Just find its coordinates and there you are...UP NORTH!

S'wanyway, we went there. All the way up to Mackinaw City. For those of you less familiar with state, if you are looking at your left hand like the "mitt" of Michigan it would be round about the tip of your middle finger. It is the Lower Peninsula's northernmost city and from it extends the 5 mile long suspension bridge connecting it with the Upper Peninsula.

We camped for five delightfully relaxing days and nights with Jeff's parents and his sister, Meridith, and her family. The view from the campground was spectacular. Within sight of our campsites was Lake Huron and within steps was a full view of the bridge, the straits of Mackinaw (where Lake Huron connects with Lake Michigan), and of Mackinac Island. Night after night we saw beautiful sunsets over the water and we got to enjoy a lakeside view of the fireworks that were being let off simultaneously from Mackinaw City, Mackinac Island, and St. Ignace just across the bridge in the Upper Peninsula.

While the weekend was chocked full of blogworthy events, I presently lack the energy to do any of them any justice in written form. But I'll at least briefly mention a few.

• We went to a local waterpark for a day and saw one particularly unsightly sight that I wish I could post a photo of because I DO have one, but I must strive to keep this blog suitable for a general viewing audience. But It was ga-ROSS!
  
• We also rented a five passenger bicycle "car"...or Amish bike as Meridith called it...for an hour and took turns spinning about the grounds.
  
• We had the distinct pleasure of using of "primitive" toilets and showers. They weren't so very quaint or fresh, yet we all marveled after each visit how much the DIDN'T stink..."how'd they do that?"
  
• Oh that reminds me of the stinkin' skunk I discovered snooping in our trash the first night we were there. Not much of a story to tell. I was just trying to keep up my reputation of being a hero since I had bravely snatched up a tree frog out of Meridith camper earlier that day and thrown it back up into a tree of all places. When I heard rustling under the bed of our camper in the wee hours of the morn, I stealthily crept out with Maglite in hand ready to scare up somesing. But it wouldn't come out. Luckily I had the presence of mind in my sleepy stupor not to provoke the varmint. Finally it dashed out and into the nearby woods, but not before crossing my little beam of light at which time I saw black and white and sang praises unto Jesus for that fiasco which had just been narrowly averted.

We got back last night after a 7 hour trip that should have taken 4 1/2. Construction (in Michigan? who knew?) and holiday traffic are a bad combination apparently, but we made it. Seven loads of laundry and a port-a-potty scouring later, we are back to reality and MAN does it bite so much harder after you've had a nice little break. We both went back to work today. I work again tomorrow to make up for my frolicking and then have to scurry to get ready for a surprise party for my Dad on Saturday. Shhhhh...don't tell. He is turning 70.

I will try to post pictures soon.

Update

Just a quick post to say that I haven't given up blogging forever. I have had an injured wrist as some may have noticed Amy mentioning in a couple of her comments. I am not exactly sure what happened, there seem to be a number of possible causes, but it seems most likely that it is due to repetitive stress from working on the computer in a somewhat ergonomically unfriendly (if not a little HOSTILE) environment, both at work and at home. So I have been trying to rest it as much as possible and take a break from blogging. The latter being Jeff's suggestion as the wrist injury has only affirmed his belief that blogging is of the devil.

In the meantime, I have used said injury to get almost an entirely new office at work. Honestly, I haven't had to squawk that much at all. What started out as a humble request for a couple of wrist rests turned into a new flat screen, glare-free monitor that can sit in the middle of my desk so I don't have to turn my head as I did to gaze upon the gargantuan model which used to sit to my left...in front of a window...that faced the west...and burned my poor little retinas all afternoon. I thought I would strike while the iron was hot and asked to look for a used desk that would sit at the appropriate height at a garage sale or thrift store or something. But now I have been given permission to price a NEW desk and/or some other office components that would better accommodate my office mate, Shari, and myself in our postage stamp-sized office. And she gets a new monitor too. AND while I'm at it, I am supposed to pick up a couple quotes for a printer for our own office so we don't have to keep getting up to retrieve our documents from the general printer in another room.

I'll have to post a before and after picture or two when it's all done.

But for now I'm off to the doctor for the second day in a row. Not for my wrist, but for my migraines. Yes, I still get them. But for the first time in a long time...maybe EVER...I have some real hope of a real cure!

More on that soon...

Please used the other door...

I'm not out to disrespect Asians, though this, and my last post, might suggest otherwise, but...

Just two doors down from my office stands Wah Wong, one of 3 fine Chinese eateries in town. And on the front door is posted this sign. And everytime I enter, which is more often than I care to admit, I simply cannot contain my amusement.

The lunch specials make it waaaay too easy to justify the expense, the calories, the fat grams, the MSG, the breaking of child labor laws...=)...I'm just not strong enough to say NO to Lunch Special #5 too many days in a row, plus I love to laugh and I am never disappointed by the plentiful provision of opportunities to do just that with every visit or phone order..."How do I help you?"..."Pho numba plea? Okay, fi ten minute!"

(I think engrish.com is technically supposed to be Japanese in origin, but check it out for other such funnies...I mean, if you're into that sort of thing.)

So today Liane had an appointment in the same town where I work and was kind of enough to pay me a visit at my place of employment and meet my co-workers. (Actually, I insisted that she MUST and wouldn't take no for an answer, so it wasn't all about her kindness...I think she might have been a little too frightened not to comply with my wishes.)

All day I eagerly anticipated her arrival. I even dreamed about it last night. Don't think me too strange, I woke early last Thursday morning with a stomach ache because I was so excited to go strawberry picking with Amy and the kids. =) Okay, that is a little strange. Anyway, she finally arrived and brought with her her digital camera (also at my request since mine is broken) to take a picture of the sign above for my blog AND for my continued viewing pleasure at home.

Bless her bunions!

After a quick tour of the office and the photo shoot, we had a delightful visit, enjoying our quaint surroundings while seated at a picnic table adjacent to the KFC drive-thru.

It was a beautiful day!

Oriental Slaw

I just wanted to share my latest favorite recip which came from my sister-in-law, Meridith. LOVE IT SO BAD! It makes a perfect potluck dish to pass or hot summer day meal...

1 16oz. package of coleslaw mix (about 5 cups)
4 green onions, thinly sliced
3 3oz. package oriental flavored Ramen noodles, broken up
3/4 c. sliced almonds, toasted
3/4 c. seasame seeds, toasted
1/2 c. salad oil
1/3 c. white vinegar
1/2 c. sugar
1/8 t. pepper

Up to 1 hour before serving (I have gotten away with doing it the night before), combine coleslaw mix, green onions, Ramen noodles (save seasoning-mix packets for the dressing), almonds and seasame seeds in a salad bowl. Cover and chill.

In a screw top jar combine oil, vinegar, sugar, pepper and seasoning-mix from the packages of noodles. Cover and shake. Chill.

At serving time, shake dressing again, pour over salad and toss to coat.

I have stirred in some grilled chicken breast and/or broccoli and carrots for a tasty little variation. I have also improvised a bit when I was lacking the full amount of an ingredient called for and it has turned out delicious every time. I think I liked it best when I used napa cabbage instead of the standard slaw mix you buy in a bag. And one note of caution: make sure that at least one other person in your household intends to help you eat it because devouring the whole batch in one weekend doesn't fit so well into most diet plans.

Strawberry Fields Forever

Today Amy and her children, Ella and Grant, went strawberry pickin' with me and "mines" to a local berry farm around the corner. My Mom met us there too. The pickin' turned out to be not so very bountiful, just few and far between and on the smaller side of small. We gave up after picking not even 4 pounds between both of our families and went in search of a local fresh produce market a couple towns away that was rumored to have good'nes already picked for a buck less a pound. Twenty miles and a few good conversations later, we were still out of luck as we found the market, but also found they were fresh OUT!

Doubting we had picked enough to make jam in the afternoon as planned, and determined to make the most of our precious time together, we decided to take in an Amish market I had been telling her about that happened to be nearby. They mostly sell scratch and dent groceries, but also carry a few of their handmade wares and delightful homemade confections. When we drove up we saw a sign on the door that said they had freshly picked strawberries inside for an even better price. Jackpot! Yeah, except they were sold out and so was their supplier up the road at the other Yoder farm. GOSH! Those Amish...you just can't trust 'em! Anyway, we did fill up the back of my van with groceries for only 60 dollhairs betwixt the two of us. I love that place! It is like grocery shopping at a garage sale...only a lot smellier because it is on the farm...and a lot hairier because there are a lot of bearded men who answer to the name Jonas scurrying about doing chores.

S'wanyway, when we finally made it back to my house we discovered we did have enough strawberries from the runt farm to make not one, but THREE batches of freezer jam. All said and done, we ended up with 9 half pints each. YUM!

Below are some other photos from the day...

Our Berry Fun Day

An Elwinism

So my Mom and Dad just stopped by for a little visit late this afternoon.

My Dad, who frequently starts a conversation with an observation about some late breaking current event, asked me if I had caught the morning news this morning. I said I had not and that I hadn't caught any headlines on the internet either. He proceeded to tell me that the Pope has the Bird Flu. Oh MY, I thought. Anxious to be enlightened on the events of the day which I had snoozed half away, I credulously began quizzing him for more detail.

(Had I forgotten who I was talking to?...Need I say more?!)

Yeah, they think he got it from the Cardinal. =)

That's my Dad! You just can't NOT love him!

That ain't very Christian!

There is a certain saying that can frequently be heard being blurted out around our house (or my workplace) when things seem to have gone awry. Jeff says it too, but it is mostly me who beats it to death. Is anyone surprised? Of course it is not my own material, but rather a catch phrase from a popular comedian of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. We are not huge fans of his work, but I must admit he has grown on me with his thick, annoying and very fake southern accent. I just recently read that he was actually born and raised on a pig farm in Nebraska and has no southern roots at all, just as I had suspected. (Yes, I am purposely neglecting to mention who he is...my mama is reading...hi, Mom!)

Be that as it may, "That ain't very Christian!" has proved to be a useful tool in variety of frustrating circumstances, particularly when the said frustration has no moral, spiritual, or otherwise religious implication. The toilet is clogged...That ain't very Christian! We're out of milk...That ain't very Christian! The printer has a paper jam...That ain't very Christian! The Chinese restaurant is out of those crunchy things you put in your Won Ton soup...That ain't very Christian! (That was for you, Shari!) You get the idea!

So Julia is five and has been diligently working on developing her vocabulary. We do live in Michigan, so not surprisingly one juicy little find has been the word "ain't". It is a delicate matter explaining why she should not say it since there are a few respected people in her life who think it is a fine word to say. I simply told her that she sounded a lot smarter when she didn't say it and that seemed to suffice. I mean, who would knowingly say something that would spoil her chances of sounding smart?! Plus, I couldn't make it a matter of rightness or wrongness and have her going to school correcting everyone as she had done earlier in the year, nearly losing her dearest friend who wouldn't heed her warning to stop taking the Lord's name in vain. A little different, but still...

So recently she was in a state of absolute hysteria over her belief that Andrew had stolen her glow-in-the-dark bracelet that Gramma had bought for her on our camping trip. "I'm not joking, I'm not lying, and I'm not confused! You have to believe me! Andrew STOLE it and you have to make him give it back!" she sobbed over and over and over and over. Since no amount of reasoning could sway her and she was clearly inconsolable, I just let her ramble on and on as I continued unpacking. But one of the last times around I heard her randomly interject, "And why are you allowed to say ain't like 'That ain't very Christian,' but we aren't? It AIN'T very fair!" and then continue right on with her rant without missing a beat.

As it turned out, Andrew was in fact not guilty as charged. The bracelet was in the seat pocket of the van right where she had placed for safekeeping on the trip home.

Boogie Man

Last night after the children were nestled all snug in their beds, Jeff decided it would be a prime opportunity to watch Saving Private Ryan. He had already seen it a half dozen times or so, but he had just purchased his own copy the day before and was anxious to break it in. Not being a fan of war flicks myself, I chose to take advantage of the quiet time to catch up on some reading and emailing, etc in our bedroom with the door shut: my sanctuary, my retreat...Oh the sweet solitude! It was delightful, minus the 6 or 8 times Andrew came in to tell me that he couldn't sleep, and then again to tell me he was hot, and then again to tell me he had already read all of his chapter books that he had just checked out from the library 2 days earlier, and then again...

But finally all the monkey business ceased and not a creature was stirring.

It had been a long couple of days. Kathryn had been raging with a fever of unknown origin for the past 36 hours, most of which I had spent holding or otherwise comforting her in some small motherly way. All day I couldn't wait to just cool down, literally, after soaking up so much heat from her fervid little body. It wasn't unbearably warm last night, so being ever mindful of the effect of rising energy costs on our summer family budget, I opted to leave the window AND blinds open rather than to run the A/C all night. This is a highly unusual occurrence at our house. I don't like open windows and I HATE open blinds.

So I sat on our bed situated in front of the open window, with the partially open blinds, with all my projects sprawled out around me as I savored the silence, when suddenly it was shattered by the very distinct sound of a watch alarm clock going off. It beeped several times and then stopped. This shouldn't be cause for concern except for, um yeeeah...we don't happen to own any watches at this house right now. And if we did, they would not be of the alarm-clock-going-off description.

Terror gripped my heart. My pulse quickened. All the blood in my body rushed to my already sweaty face. What to do now? This is why windows and blinds need to remain in the down position at all times, how could I have been so foolish? I was certain that whoever was out there with his big, fat, scary, hairy watch alarm going off on his big, fat, scary, hairy arm had already seen me. My doom was sure. But I couldn't just sit there helplessly, as he lay in wait to leap through my window and gobble me up. So after gathering all my courage, away to the window I flew like a flash, cranked down those blinds and drew in the sash.

There. I was safe. NO BODY could get through that window now. No way, no how. As I slowly regained my composure, I desperately tried to identify some other electronic device from which the noise could have come. It sounded ever so vaguely familiar, but at the same time so frighteningly foreign. I just couldn't place it. In any event, I assured myself that I had truly been braver than I believed, stronger than I seemed, and smarter than I thought. I mean, I had not even disturbed Jeff or Private Ryan with so much as a whimper. I had acted as a strong, independent woman and I was a better person because of it.

I read for another hour before calling it a night. I tidied up the bed and smoothed the linens before climbing in. Oh, but wait! What is this little bump I feel under the sheets that is just about the shape and size of the digital thermometer that goes BEEP, BEEP, BEEP and then STOPS??? Almost at this very moment of discovery, Jeff came in and we had a good laugh at my terror resolution skills. No boogie men bothered us the rest of the night.

And this concludes my first and very lengthy blog post. Anyone still reading?

This is only a test...