Dragonfly's Musings

Yes, I KNOW it's been a terribly long time....

2009-09-14T11:54:00.000-07:00

I'm so sorry to make anybody worry. There's nothing really going wrong (not a heck of a lot really going right either, but....) I've just been in something of a "funk" all summer, and not really feeling like I've either got anything to post on my blog, or not feeling like what I WANT to post is appropriate to post. Mainly because my Mom and both of my sisters read my blog, and some of the ranting I'd love to do, is about one of those sisters..... And my mom and other sister have warned me off telling the one sister off, for the sake of the family. Even if I don't say it to her face, knowing that she follows my blog..... I'd post just to rant to friends, and wind up ticking off my mom & other sis. *sigh* So, for lack of "freedom" to say ANYTHING, I'm not saying anything at all, I guess.

Things here have had their ups & downs. The weeds got ahold of my veggie beds this summer and pretty well took over, despite my efforts to keep on top of things. (Didn't say my BEST efforts, but I did make AN effort.... *wry smile*) Thus, the veggies that I GOT planted didn't do as well as I'd hoped this year. Kinda a down season, I feel. Almost felt kinda burnt out on all the effort, this year.

On the home front, we had some interesting times as well. Not happily so. Things with the kiddo came to a head, and we wound up putting her in a group home. Only for a week and a half. I would have prefered to keep her there longer, but her daddy (my husband) was all flipped out by her not being "in the house" with us every night. (He's got NO problem with her spending as many nights at her best friend's house as she wants. BUT, to put her in a highly supervised "group home" situation due to bad behavior.... freaked him out. He just couldn't handle it.) Suffice it to say, after a week and a half, she came home. Some attitude changes were immediately noticable, but have decreased as time has gone on...... I truly think she'd benefit from at least a couple of months in a group home. The good news is, her ADD meds seem to be helping out. She's doing better in school this year than she has in past. *sigh* Not that she's ENJOYING school more, but her graded papers are showing better results than in past years. Partly due to the meds, I believe, but also partly due to the fact that she's repeating 5th grade this year. And she's at a different public school than she was before we attempted to homeschool her.

I'll be honest, as well..... I've been spending a lot of time on Facebook, playing mindless games. I just don't seem to "feel like" doing much else. I mean, that's not ALL I do. Obviously. I'm still working, I'm still baking & cooking most days. But, I completely fell off the Food Independence Days wagon. My garden was a sham this year. And all in all, I'm just feeling like there's not much worth posting about, or at least not much I'm able to post about. *sigh*

I've got some lovely flower pics to post, one of these days. I won't promise when. That's one area of my "gardening" that really did lovely this year. I guess 40-odd pkgs of flower seed is the trick to getting that abundance of flowers I've longed for in past years.

Sorry again to make anybody worry. I'm around, I do visit blogs sometimes, I just don't comment much at all..... We're all "fine", but in a rather blah kinda way, I guess.

Have a Blessed Day.

Sorry to Make Anybody Worry.....

2009-07-12T13:44:00.000-07:00

I'm terribly sorry I worried anybody..... Things have been ok here, just busy. Soccer 3 nights a week, gardening tasks all the time..... Work, all the time. Hanging out, outside, with the neighbours when it's nice out.....

I've got a whole lot of pictures to share, though!!! *grin*

First, one I just couldn't resist taking..... Scott and Tay were sitting on the couch one evening, watching a Nascar race Scott had recorded..... The dogs told me it was time to go outside to go potty, but when I came out of the computer room, this was what I found:

The two of them, sprawled out on the couch, side by side, fast asleep..... As soon as I got this pic, I sent Tay to bed, and woke Scott up.... He also wound up heading to bed. The race was recorded, so he finished watching it the next day. But this picture was just too precious to pass up.

Next, some pictures of my lilac bush in full bloom...... I really wish lilacs lasted longer than they do. I love burying my nose in the blossoms and just breathing in deeply. But, that is only possible for about 1 week of the year.

Next, some pictures of the smoky skies around my house last week...... We've had a few fires burning in areas close to our area, and the smoke is nasty thick some days. It's hard to show the actual color with these pictures, but it was a deep, muddy tan. Very, very gross.

These were taken from the end of my street, looking toward the refinery that my street is named after. This is facing south.

But, the last one here is taken looking back up the street toward my house, and the blue skies off in the North. Just to try to give some idea of the difference in color between North and South.

Next, I wanted to show some pictures of the blooming flower beds in my front yard!!! The first is there around the birch tree, the alyssum is actually blooming!!!! And LOTS of it!

Here you get some idea of the color, if you click on the pic. The alyssum was 1 pack of seed for white flowers and 1 pack of seed for purple flowers. I mixed them together in an old baby-food jar, then just sprinkled them as evenly as I could. I'm rather pleased with the result. And they do smell sweet!

Here's a pic of the flower-bed along the front of the house...... From a bit of a distance so you can see how much actual green sprouted up. Unfortunately I sprinkled much more seed through the middle than I did on either end. So, both ends are a bit bare as compared to the center of the bed.

A bit of a close-up of some of the flax I sprinkled out...... It came up very well, and a few of them are blooming so far.

Here's a picture of one of the pretty blue flax blooms.

Now, I don't know WHAT these buds will be when they bloom, but I hope you can see the deep red of the bud on the right, and the deep blue of the bud on the left. There are lots more buds, but most of them are red.

Now, just to give you some idea of the thickness of what will be mostly poppies...... *grin* As I said, I sprinkled far more through the middle than I thought I had. These are mostly poppies, with some flax in the back, as well as a fair sprinkling of that flower I just showed above.

That's it for pictures......

Veggie garden-wise, things are kinda wierd this year. The lettuce and spinach over at the FIL's house didn't come up very well, first planting. We replanted lettuce a couple of weeks back, and it's finally coming up. Then the spinach came up the second time around, and bolted almost immediately. The same has happened with what spinach I planted in the back of my house..... few plants, but they bolted immediately. I've got NO Swiss chard growing back there, and my beets are kinda few & far between. As with last year, though.... My turnips have taken off. My potatoes are doing extraordinarily well, as well.... And I do have some lettuce back there to harvest, but not as much as I'd like. My carrot seed came up, as did the onion seed I planted just for experiment. But I doubt either carrot or onion will get big enough to actually do much with. I need to go thin, even so. My cabbage and broccoli plants are doing well, however. I look forward to some broccoli here soon. Also, 1 of my tomato plants (received from a friend, when none of mine "took") has flowers, and 2 of the other 3 are bearing buds, but not quite flowered yet. My single zucchini plant (from the second planting!) is slow-growing this year, but I got a bush-scallop plant that looks like it may over-take the zucchini, at the speed with which it's growing. (I planted the bush-scallop seed as a third planting in that barrel, trying to get SOMETHING to grow!) My rhubarb is in major need of harvesting, but it's just so danged hot outside that I really don't feel like it. My sunset runner beans are doing the same thing they did last year, growing so slowly that I doubt I'm going to get any beans off them again this year either. I don't think I'll try growing them over here next year again, if they don't do SOMETHING this year. And the few corn seeds I interspersed between the bean plants sprouted, but then have languished in the heat. They're only a few inches tall. However, the corn plants over at the FIL's house are tall enough to start bearing ears..... We'll see if we actually get anything from them this year. I'm willing to try corn again next year, that's for sure. But with a different kind of bean if those sunset runner beans don't produce adequately.

As for the whole "Food Independence Days Challenge", I've rather fallen off the band-wagon, I'm afraid.

**********

Let's see, what else is going on??? Soccer is going well. We've lot one game out of 12. The one game we lost, our team came in assuming automatically that they'd stomp the other team, and didn't bother to really "bring it" and therefore lost when it happened that the opposing team was better the second time around than they had been the first game we played against them. Oh well...... Our girls just weren't as ready as they should have been, and they were cocky, and stomping is what happens when you get too cocky and don't "bring your A-Game". But, 11-1 is a very good ratio of wins to losses, even so.

**********

Work has been..... Well.... Work, quite honestly. It's been tedious and frustrating for quite a while now. Really makes me wish I could even just take a job back out here at NP branch as a 10 hour casual page again. But we need the insurance that my current position supplies. Also, the air circulation system (which hasn't worked right in the 4 years I've been working at Noel Wien Lib.) pooped out completely about a month ago. It was a 30 year old system and the borough mayor was telling the maintenance guys that the proverbial duct tape and bubble gum was going to have to be sufficient. The maintenance guys stuck to their guns, though, and were able to talk the mayor into springing for some new parts, though not a completely new system. It's been reassembled with the new parts in place and when I left on Friday, the building was finally tolerable. I'm not kidding you when I say that as hot as it has been outside this past week, our temperatures IN the building were well into the 90's. (The outside temperatures hit up in the 90's and a couple of people reported even closer to 100 degrees at individual houses and work-places, in the shade. Including Scott's workplace, at 97 deg. F.) There are no openable windows in the library building, and only 4 exterior doors, if you include the garage door where the Bookmobile vehical and the courier vehical are stored. So, with all doors remaining shut, no windows to open...... It was a stuffy, insufferable 90+ degrees F. INSIDE the building. My coworkers and I were almost all dealing with feelings of heat-exaustion and light-headed-ness..... Then when you factor in that so many people in the building were adding body heat, and the ice-maker in the fridge/freezer just couldn't keep up with employee demand..... I wound up leaving early on Thursday. I just couldn't take another full day of that.

Friday, when I went back in for my usual short day, the air was back up and running, though it sounds like the AC will still be set considerably warmer than a great many of us would like it to be. I don't understand why the cold-blooded people get to set the limit on the AC in the summer. They can always put ON more clothes, but it gets pretty indecent if those of us who are too warm continue to peel off layers. *wink* Even the library director joked (when I commented how much I was looking forward to getting off work on Wednesday and going home to change into something "highly work inappropriate") that he was considering going home and just stripping altogether. *wry smile* Coming from our usually very proper & polite (though very good humored Southern Gentleman) library director, that was rather shockingly funny.

**********

My baby sis was back in town this weekend for her best friend's wedding. Apparently she brought divorce papers with her, but she never bothered to call and see about meeting up with Tay and I, or even asking Scott to serve the papers to her ex. (Her ex apparently moved back here after Kori dumped his dumb ass and moved to Spokane.) Scott was kinda hoping Kori'd ask him to serve the papers to Brandon. He thinks he'd be good at it. *wink* I was hoping Kori'd call and ask to meet up. I'd have liked to see how much Kiara has grown in the past year.

But, I'm not terribly suprised (sp?) that Kori didn't call. Apparently her newest loser-boyfriend didn't come through with the travel plans he'd promised to Kori, and left her hanging without fantastic rental car, and upscale hotel-room reservations. Therefore, Kori was going to have to stay with the best friend and fiancee, and no rental car. And Kori isn't about to call me when she doesn't have something to brag about or show off. Don't know why she feels the need to one-up me all the time, or feels like she's got to show off, but since she couldn't show off a fancy ride, or brag about a stay at Pike's Lodge, she didn't call at all..... *shrug* Whatever.

**********

I think that about covers it for now. I've got to get offline, as we're heading over to the inlaw's for supper at 3:30.

Sorry I've been such a lousy blogger friend. I'll try to do better.

Hope y'all have a Blessed Week!

Gardening Pics and Food Independence Days Update

2009-05-26T11:01:00.000-07:00

So.... A bunch of pictures of things that were accomplished here at my place this past weekend.

First off, a pic from the street of the front of our house as it is now. We just installed the two plant beds that are visible. The support posts were taken from around my birch tree, and we built up a circular rock bed, into which I planted pansies, alyssum, and some sweet peas. (All as seed, so nothings come up yet and there aren't any flowers currently in the flower bed.

The other bed is just visible against the house (a better picture is below). It's made of redwood "logs", each log approximately 6" (maybe 8") in diameter, stacked two high, then back filled with top-soil. Again, planted flower seed, so no flowers are yet in the bed.

Here is a better picture of the flower bed against the house. In it, I planted Batchelor's Buttons; Black Eyed Susans; Forget-me-nots; Shasta Daisies; Delphiniums; Larkspur; Hollyhock; Columbine; Persian Jewels (also called "love in a mist"); Echinacea (also called Purple Coneflower); Scarlet Poppies and multi-colored Iceland Poppies; Marigold; Johnny Jump-ups (also called Viola); Lobelia; Baby Blue Eyes (also called Nemophila); Snapdragons; and Sweet Peas.

Scott said he thinks I bought out the entire stock of flower seed, and why the heck was I planting so much seed. I told him it's mainly so SOMETHING comes up! I haven't had incredible luck in the past with my flowers germinating and growing, so I figured the MORE seed, the better. If even a part of it all grows, we should end up with a reasonably full flower bed this year. *grin* And some of it is perennial, so hopefully if it grows this year, it'll self-seed and grow again next year. (The Shasta Daisies, Poppies, Echinacea, Columbine, Hollyhock, Delphinium, Black Eyed Susans and Johnny Jump-ups are all perennial.)

Here is a close-up of the bed around the birch tree. Scott picked out these lovely "rose brown" stones. They're actually concrete, poured into these angled molds that make paving stones that stack nicely into a circle. It's almost 4 feet in diameter. I planted the alyssum around the outter edge, the pansies in the middle, and a few sweet peas right up against the tree. Hopefully the alyssum will fill in those cracks in between the stones and drape over the edge. Unfortunately, when watered, the water also wands to run out between the stones at this bottom edge, taking soil with it. I hope I'm not washing away all my alyssum seed before it has a chance to germinate and take root.

Now, if only that poor little birch would thicken up and bulk out. I still think it really resembles an adolescent boy, all gangly and lanky and no meat in "his bones." *grin*

Next, a picture of my veggie beds in the back. Yes, I said veggie "BEDS". We got my second one built this weekend. Or, more accurately, Scott built it then we rototilled out where we wanted it to go, partially took some of the rototilled dirt out (basically set the dirt back around the OUTSIDE of the bed to anchor the bed in place), and back-filled it with fresh top-soil.

Here in this pic you can see the veggie bed we put in LAST summer. I've partially planted it, but I'm waiting for my carrot seed to arrive before I finish planting it. (I realized early on last week that I forgot to order any new carrot seed and we'd used up ALL the carrot seed I bought last year. So I ordered more, but it hasn't arrived yet.)

The new veggie bed sits back there at a 90 degree angle to the old bed, but a foot or so further back, and 2 feet to the left. I may yet get a barrel planter back there in that corner. I'm not sure. That, or a pallet or two holding my cucumbers and such, if they don't die first.

I'm going to put in a couple rows of carrots, and at least one more row of Swiss Chard.

Here, lastly, is a close-up of my newest veggie bed. When I took this picture yesterday I didn't have much in the bed already. A row of turnips down the right side, a row of beets down the left. (I learned from last year, and planted the beets where they won't be overshadowed by the turnips, and I put them so that the sun runs up the LENGTH of the rows, instead of across rows.)

What isn't seen here is that we came home last night and I planted 4 cabbage starts into this bed, and 8 broccoli starts. That pretty well fills it up. (A tiny little strip at the far end of the bed that I may put more lettuce into.)

So, there you have it. This is what we accomplished HERE this weekend. That's not even to mention all the planting we did over at the FIL's house yesterday.

So, here's my FIDC (Food Independence Day Challenge) Update for the past week.

Planted: lots & lots of flowers (as they were mentioned above by name, I won't do so again here); onion; beets; turnips; cabbage starts; broccoli starts; another pepper plant from the FIL's house. 3 potato barrels. AT the FIL's house: half-row lettuce, half-row spinach; half row onion, half row radishes; 1 row swiss chard; 2 rows beets; 2 rows carrots (FIL went and bought more yesterday rather than wait on my order to arrive); 2 rows bushy beans; 2 rows peas; 1 row (18 plants, I think?) broccoli (or cabbage, remember the mix up with the seed?); 21 cabbage (2 rows); and 1 cucumber seedling that was in dire need of transplanting. FIL said he's not working this week, so told us to leave the transplanting of the cucumbers, tomatoes and squash to him, to give him SOMETHING constructive to do this week. (Well, something that doesn't involve working on MIL's "Honey-Do" list.) Scott and FIL actually planted the potatoes last Monday over at the FIL's house.

Harvested: a LOT of sun, and freckles, and some sun-burn.

Tended: My previously planted bean patch. (8 seedlings have sprouted so far! 17 left to go.) My barrels with the zucchini seeds and the dill seeds. (None of those have come up yet. Another day or two and I'm going to re-try.) My pots here in the house with rosemary seed; thyme seed (2 little sprouts!); MORE tomato seed; corn seed; and sage seed. My pepper plant (which started to die. *gasp!* My rhubarb and chive plants.

Preserved something: Nope.

Make Preps: got 4 5-gal-sized buckets from a coworker who has cats. (These buckets contain the un-used cat-litter. When she gets a good number of buckets accumulated, she asks at work if anybody wants them. They're free for the asking. I got 4. Not a WHOLE lot of "preparation", but once I get the other two washed out, they'll work great for storing flour or sugar or such in, instead of the bags being stored in my cabinet. (2 of them are holding top-soil for my potato plants.)

Eat Your Veggies: (previously "Cook Something New") That is, not just our veggies, but the things we're putting aside, we should be eatting them and cooking with them. Making good use of the preparations we ARE making. If I had chickens, this would include eatting the eggs and the cooking the chickens after "processing" them. Let's see now.... We DID have salmon this past week (caught by Scott's buddy Jeremy, last year). Also eatting our pickled beets & carrots & green tomatoes & cucumber-pickles that we put up last fall. (DANG!!! Those cucumber pickles are POTENT! But the beets aren't nearly pickled enough, and have TOO much clove, for my taste.) Gotta clear out the previously pickled goods so we can reuse the jars this coming fall.

Manage Your Reserves: Finished up the last of the potatoes from last year (put 3 of them in my potato barrels, planted a bunch over at the FIL's house); ate a couple of them. Eatting the canned goods as mentioned above.

Work on/Toward Local Food Systems: nope, not unless you count the fact that I'm gardening here AND at the FIL's house.

Reduce Waste: (Was compost something) not really.... Again, unless you include me taking those 4 buckets; and the fact that I'm now using my clothes line. (But, I'm NOT harvesting rain water yet, due to the fact that Scott's currently digging up the spot where my rain barrel sits, trying to figure out why we kept losing fuel pressure from our fuel tank to our furnace, all winter.)

Learn a new skill: Nope.

**********

So, what else is new??? I saw the Dr. on Thursday and she put me on Advair for allergies. It's been helping, too!! So, I get to call her tomorrow morning and tell her it works, and ask her for a full prescription for it. Eventually (once everything with Tay slows down) I'm going to get in and get some allergy tests done, so we can find out exactly what it is I'm allergic to. And we'll take it from there, but for now, the Advair is working enough that I'm not miserable & feeling sick any more.

*****

I've got a new addiction. It's called "Farm Town" and it's a game on Facebook. I've been spending FAR too much time playing this game. *wry smile*

*****

I think that's it, really.... Nothing new to pass on, really. Hopefully this weekend I'll get a chance to get by everybody's blogs.

Have a Blessed Week!

Look How Tall She's Grown!!!

2009-05-18T10:57:00.000-07:00

So, I finally had Scott take a couple of pics of Tay and I last night to show how tall she's gotten. I know my mom & dad & sisters would want to see, and I thought I'd share here as well. Pardon my sweaty, red-faced look.... I'd gotten home from work at 6 pm and set right into gardening tasks. Scott and I spent from about 6:15 to 9 working outside, him cleaning the grill and helping me with one or two harder bits of the gardening, me.... Just gardening. *grin* More on that later. Anyway, Tay is all but standing on her tip-toes in this pic, trying to appear taller than I am. She's ALMOST there. But NOT quite. *wink*

Here, Tay and I had been trying to make "bunny ears" on each other, but Scott told us to settle down and just smile. As you can tell, we were still a little giggly. I wish Scott had been standing up when he took these pics, I feel like this one has y'all looking up my nose. *wry smile*

**********

I haven't posted gardening news in a couple of weeks (meant to last week, but just didn't accomplish it), so I'll go ahead now and clue y'all in on what I've been doing for the past couple of weeks.

Mind you, I'm still fighting/recovering-from the bronchitis, so I haven't been doing as much as I'd really like to be.

IDC Update: Weeks 2 and 3 (and 4?)

Plant: dill seeds in my "tomato barrel" (to which the tomatoes will be added IF and when they ever come up!); zucchini seeds in the other barrel; thyme, sage, rosemary, tomatoes, and corn all in little pots here in the house to get them started before transplanting to larger pots to be kept outside. So far, the thyme is the only to have emerged. Sunset Runner beans in my bean-patch. When the corn comes up, I'm going to plant it out on the edges of the bean-patch and hopefully allow the beans to provide the nitrogen that the corn so badly needs to grow properly. One of my big chores last night was turning over the soil in my planter bed to prepare it for planting into. There were a lot of weeds and weed-roots to be pulled out. In my planter bed last night I planted 2 types of lettuce (Pirat and Oakleaf); spinach; radishes and swiss chard. Scott's planning on getting my other planter bed built & dug in within the next week, so I'll wait till that's in place to put in my turnips and beets.... Maybe a couple rows of beans as well. My first planter bed actually has half the bed-space still available for further plantings of radishes, spinach and the like. These things do better if you plant smaller portions, but plant successively for successive harvesting.

Tended: I suppose this is where I'll tell you that I killed off the basil my friend & coworker gave me. *wry smile* For some reason the pot got infested by these miniscule black midges and these things were all over the house. (They didn't get into ANY of my other plant pots, despite the fact that the basil pot was sitting side by side with all the other pots.) Scott HATES those little black flies, so he dictated that the basil pot must go outside and may not come back INSIDE until we were sure to have killed all the little flies. Unfortunately, it's still too cold at night for basil. The 3 seedlings died. *sigh* I've been able to keep my little pepper plant alive, though!!! And my hyacinths, while alive still, have not yet bloomed. *sigh* I've started watering my strawberry plants a couple times a day, in hopes that they survived the winter. We've yet to see, though.

Harvested: Nada. (Though, ideally I SHOULD have kept all the little dandilion seedlings I was pulling out of my planter bed last night and eaten the greens. I'm the only one who'll do that, though, and I was too busy trying to get them GONE to want to seperate them from the rest of the weeds for eating.)

Preserved Something: Nothing.

Make Preparations: nothing.

Cook Something from scratch: Nothing. (Yep, that's right.... This past week I cooked ABSOLUTELY NOTHING completely from scratch. I'm not talking "down to making my own noodles" but as in, not using canned soups as sauces. Not a thing, this past week, was really from scratch. And, other than the taco salad I made early in the week, I didn't really make any new recipes either. (And, Taco Salad is really so simple as to not really be necessary to share the recipe for. Just add taco seasoning mix to browned & drained ground/minced beef, then top a bed of lettuce & tortilla chips with the meat and other taco toppings as desired.)

Manage Reserves: we're eating the last of last year's potatoes, and what won't be eaten in time is being used for seed stock for this coming year's crop.

Work on/Toward local food systems: nope.

Compost/reduce/reuse/recycle: Nope. I've been very poor about actually composting our compostables. Scott's rather upset over how badly my compost bin stunk the first couple of days this year, so I haven't yet started setting aside the compostables. Besides, my home-made compost bin may well be replaced soon with a store-bought plastic bin, and I don't really want to add new fresh stuff until I know for sure I'm getting a new bin. (The plastic bin will allow the compost to heat up more and retain more moisture, thereby actually COMPOSTING. If I get the new bin, newly added things will actually COMPOST before the end of the season. If I DON'T get the new bin, newly added compostables will only sit in my home-made bin, not composting, till fall, when I'll have a wierd (inseperable) mix of compost from last year's garbage & leaves AND this year's "greens". Not really the best of options.) Of course, if possible, I may try to persuade Scott to let me keep the OLD bin AND a new plastic bin, and be adding new stuff to the new bin, while the old bin keeps the "already working" compost for hopeful addition to my planter beds this fall.

Learn a New Skill: Nope. BUT, I AM working on a baby afghan for a woman at work who's due in about 7 weeks now. Don't want to try to pick up a new skill when my old one is in use. *wry smile*

*****

Oh..... So Scott got me a "spading fork" for Mother's Day. (Yes, I asked for it, and NO it didn't tick me off to get something so utilitarian as I HAD asked for it specifically. He also got me a new pair of crocs and that new dishware set. Did I mention all this before?? I may have, but I've forgotten. I know I told y'all about my dishware set.) So, that spading fork makes turning over my planter beds TOTALLY easy. Well.... Totally easy if I wasn't still getting winded so easily. But seriously, I put the fork in and levered the soil like I was shoveling it, then I stuck the fork back in and turned like I was winding an old fashioned clock. That broke up the soil SO beautifully!!! And for other clumps that weren't so easily turned apart, just stabbing them a couple times with the spading fork really broke them up well. Had I not had to stop several times to catch my breath, I would probably have had my planter bed turned over in a matter of 10 or 15 minutes. As it was, it took me the better part of an hour. But, oh well.... It got done.

I'm hoping that within the next few days I can get out and spend some time turning over my flower bed here in the front yard. I had originally hoped to get the flower seeds thrown out by this time, BUT with being sick.... I haven't had the energy. And when push comes to shove, the veggie beds took priority. But I am feeling better enough that I can hopefully get the flower bed turned over and broken up (and weeded) over the course of a couple of days after work.

Once I've got the flower bed all prepped and planted, the only other thing that will need doing is planting my other veggie bed. But that requires Scott's hard work. AND planting my seedlings as they sprout and it becomes warm enough outside. And this week I hope to get my potatoes in. Gotta get those going before Scott hauls home another truck-bed of soil.

**********

Beyond that.... I'm still recovering (as mentioned). I'm very highly tempted to call the dr's office tomorrow and see about a follow up appointment. I just feel like I really should be more recovered by now than I am. AND, a coworker of mine who was previously a respiratory therapist suggested that I get an allergy test done, so I can start getting allergy shots to prevent future allergy attacks like the one that resulted in this go-round with bronchitis. She said that as I've now had bronchitis 2 years in a row in May, it's a pretty certain thing that I'll continue to have attacks in May, unless I pre-empt them with allergy shots to prevent the trigger in the first place. *sigh* Really don't know that I LIKE the thought of allergy shots, though. Then again.... The thought of getting knocked on my @$$ by bronchitis every year is also considerably unappealing.

*****

Tay had an appointment this past Friday at the Alaska Center for Natural Medicine, in Fairbanks. The point of the appointment is to see about getting an ADD diagnosis. The Dr. though is a Naturopathic Dr. so she addresses all "illnesses" as a whole body issue. So we spent over an hour in her office talking over Tay's likes, dislikes, activities, eatting, sleeping, bathroom habits, etc. Then the Dr. did a finger-stick blood-test and sent us home with a urine-sample kit to gather a first-of-the-morning urine sample. These samples will be sent off to a lab for assessement as to Tay's hormone levels. The theory that awkward hormone levels may trigger symptoms that seem like ADD. (BTW, even though it wasn't using a needle, and it wasn't even MY finger getting poked..... I had a panic attack. The Dr thought she was going to have to take care of me next. *wry smile*)

We go back on June 5th to get the results of the lab tests and follow up with the Dr. Of course, depending on what the results are, the Dr. is more likely to prescribe suppliments or dietary changes, than typical prescriptive meds that an allopathic Dr. would prescribe for treatment/management of ADD.

*****

We're back to having BEAUTIFUL weather. Blue skies, faint whispy clouds if there are any at all.... Temps in the 70's to 80's, no rain. (Ok, wish it would rain a BIT, but not too much. Esp. as I can't use my water barrel till Scott has had a chance to dig up the fuel lines on the house. The water barrel sits right over the fuel tank, when it's in place. And once full, it'd be impossible to move.) That beautiful weather sure does make gardening tasks a joy!

Ok. I've gotta get ready for work and head out early to take that sample in to the Dr's office before work. I AM working a long week, this week. Worked Saturday to cover for a former coworker who's no longer there (Ie: they needed somebody to pick up her hours since she quit). Worked Sunday as usual, then I'll work today through Thursday as usual. AND I'll work Friday to begin my summer hours. So, when all's said & done, I'll have worked 7 straight days. I can tell you NOW that I'm SERIOUSLY looking forward to Saturday of this coming week! Then to have a 3 day weekend...... Ah..... I hope to get to sleep in, along with all the planting that we'll be doing over at FIL's house to get the garden there set up for the summer.

Have a Blessed Week!!

Housebound!

2009-05-08T19:16:00.000-07:00

First off, though.... Tori was SOOO sweet and gave me THIS on Monday!

Thank you Tori!!! How lovely to be a recipient of this. Esp. as I feel I've been such a BAD blogger lately, not posting nearly often enough.

**********

I've been pretty well house-bound all week, and it's driving me nuts! That cold I mentioned last week??? Well I saw the Dr. on Monday morning and she diagnosed that I've got Bronchitis born of a sore-throat-bacteria AND seasonal allergies. Apparently the bacteria that's causing the sore-thoat didn't END with the sore throat for me. The infection moved down into my lungs, and mixed with some post-nasal-drip issues from my allergies, and I've got some fluid in my lungs. So, she gave me antibiotics to fight the infection, an Albuterol inhaler for the fact that I couldn't/can't catch a full breath, some codein-laced cough syrup for the sore throat (and to calm my body so that it's not coughing so much), and told me to pick up a 30 day supply of a "leading over-the-counter allergy medication" who's "name" I won't utter here. Suffice it to say, she sent me away with a pocket full of prescriptions and instructions to get back to her if I wasn't feeling better in a few days time.

By Thursday morning, I wasn't feeling ANY better, even actually a bit worse. So I called. Twice. Left two messages on the voicemail with her assistant. No return call. *sigh* The assistant FINALLY got back to me this morning and when I'd described for her my increased difficulty with the coughing and breathing, she said she'd call another prescription out to the pharmacy for me. Turns out it's a course of even STRONGER steroids to try to assist my lungs in their job of expelling the fluid still in them. I'm to take this through the weekend, and get back to her Monday if I'm still not feeling better. As it is, I'm pretty miserable. I've had so little energy that I've been sitting here at the computer, or in front of the TV, almost non-stop for the past week.

What I've WANTED to be doing is gardening!!!! I SHOULD be getting my flower bed dug and planted! That ACTUALLY should have happened last weekend, but it didn't because I've been feeling so poorly. And Scott isn't highly inclined to get out there and shovel and dig for me. *sigh* Even if he was, there's still an expense of energy on my part in the raking out (because he cannot rake evenly!) and the planting of seeds.

These three pots are pretty well the extent of my gardening over the past couple of weeks. I did find just a TOUCH of energy to do a bit today, but I'll post that little bit more on my Independence Day update on Sunday.

These three pots consist of 1 pot with two hyacinth bulbs (there in front); 1 pot with 3 basil seedlings (to the left in back); and the final pot which contains 1 pepper seedling and 2 lettuce seedlings. (Neither of the lettuce seedlings look like they're going to surivive. Darn it! The pepper seedling is from those pepper seeds that I saved this past winter.)

Here is a close-up of the two lettuce seedlings and the pepper seedling. I planted 2 more lettuce seeds around the other side of the pot today. We'll see if they do any better than these two have.

And here is a close-up of my basil seedlings. These came from a friend/coworker of mine whom much appreciated the pepper seeds I passed on to her, and decided to pass some basil seedlings on to me. I've never grown basil before! I look forward to trying it in cooking!

**********

What DID happen this week that was exciting????

I got new dishware!!! My old dishes were purchased just after my HS graduation, before Tay was born. It's the only set I've bought for use, before now. I'd broken at least 1 salad plate and at least 1 dinner plate, I think even a bowl. And I never kept the mugs from that set because they were highly impractical. What I hadn't broken outright, had chips and cracks in it. It was simply time for a new set. It has long irked me, people who go out and buy new dishware every year or two just because they want a change. Well bully for them!!! What a waste!!!! (MIL is one of these people. She simply tosses her set into the trash, or has FIL take it to the dump when she upgrades.) But, there DOES come a time when it is pretty well a done deal that new dishware is needed. But I hope that this set lasts me at least as long as my previous set did.

This set, I didn't actually buy. Scott bought it for me, but only after I'd done extensive searching online for a set that I liked the appearance of. He went out looking for something that resembled what I was wanting and found this. I DO like it!!! Unfortunately the picture with the bowl (was more of a side view) didn't make it through my editing process. (The computer wouldn't save it for some reason, and therefor it got deleted from the picture editing software.) Anyway, the dishes are FABULOUSLY heavy!!! Not "fine china" but more pottery style. They've also got this rather faint speckling to them that's not really visible in this picture.

**********

I did get outside and get some pictures to share with you, though!!! Tay had Jenny out playing fetch. (This was AFTER she took Puck for a good long walk. Jenny prefers playing fetch, but Puck prefers walking around the neighbourhood sedately smelling and peeing on every tree, bush and blade of grass he can find.) So, I decided to go out and take some pictures to share.

What are you doing, Mom?!?!?!

(Tori, Tay's standing in the frame, holding the green tennis ball, and Jenny's just looking at the ball, waiting for Tay to throw the darned thing already. Tay was actually asking what I was doing, as I took this picture.)

"Here she comes to save the day!!!!!" (Sorry, "Mighty Mouse" theme going through my head!)

(Tori: just trying to show some pics of how fast and sleek Jenny is when she's playing fetch. I really wish I could describe these better for ya. But man..... Really she's a white blur, all I did was catch what I could on "film". Her long white tail streaking out behind her; long legs galloping underneath..... Almost resembles a horse when she runs.)

"Gosh I love it when they throw that ball for me!!!"

(Tori, she's almost got a smile as she turns back toward us in this pic. It's funny, because when she's playing ball, Jenny really does look like she's smiling and having fun. This pic is pretty funny because only her back, left leg is on the ground, the rest of her legs are off the ground a little bit as she comes down from a stride.)

"I'm gonna get it, I tell ya!!!!! I'm not gonna let it outta my sight!"

(Tori, this is a photo taken as Jenny attempts to leap and catch the ball out of the air. In the background is the neighbour's house, as Tay bounced the ball up into their yard. Jenny is kinda squatting and ready to pounce up and GRAB that ball out of the air. AND SHE DOES, TOO!!!)

"I'm gonna get it, I'm gonna get it...."

(The ball is there in the neighbour's yard, this is Jenny racing down the road toward the ball.)

What is this??? Some new kind of dance??? Nope!!! It's Tay kicking the ball for Jenny. And Jenny, apparently hasn't caught on yet that the ball is already airborn.

(Tori, Tay is in an odd pose in this pic. Left foot on the ground, leg straight. Right foot in a kicking position, about stomach-level. Left arm in the air above her head, and right arm balancing her at about waist level. Jenny is ears-forward, tail curled up over her back, almost looking ready to pounce.)

"Ooooooh, what fun it is to run all out.... Breeze in my fur, tail flying behind me!!!!"

(Tori, Another pic of Jenny at an all-out gallop up the street toward us again after she's caught her ball.)

"Am I PRETTY or what?!?!?!"

(Side-view of Jenny, holding her ball in her mouth, tail wagging..... She's been having a blast.)

"That's enough Mom..... I'm done. You can turn off the camera for now!"

(She was rather worn out by the time I even STARTED taking pics, as it took me forever to figure out how to change the setting to the sports-activity photography setting. So, she's lying down here in the grass, away from me, ignoring me even though I kept trying to get her attention. She just wanted to be left along to rest a spell. Of course, the fact that she was done playing fetch doesn't mean she gave up that ball. She's still guarding it even though she wasn't running after it any more. We went in a few minutes later.)

I hope y'all enjoy the pics. I don't often think to grab my camera and take pics while Jenny's out playing fetch, and even on the rare occasions I do, I never seem to get the picture settings accurate in time to get some photos.

*****

The weather cooled down a bit this past week. Temps haven't been back up into the 70's and sunny and clear since last Saturday. It's been overcast and cold, or partly cloudy and kinda muggy, all week. A good bit of breeze blowing too. That breeze has Scott worried, as we don't now have snow anchoring our car-sheds in to keep the wind from blowing them about. Not that I wish we DID still have snow. I'm glad we don't. BUT, I also wish the wind would quit blowing.

As for the rest, It's not that I mind terribly that it's been a bit overcast. It makes it easier for me to not hate being so sick, when the weather is kinda yucky as well. BUT, I DO wish it would actually rain a bit. I mean, I don't want the non-stop rain like we had last July and August, but every few days, a good soaking rain wouldn't go unappreciate. Well, maybe unappreciated by some, but not by those of us who'd like to have rain to water our gardens.

*****

Speaking of rain being unappreciated though..... I hear that the overflowing Chena, Tanana, and Yukon Rivers made national news. A small town to the East of us, Eagle, was pretty well wiped off the map when the Yukon overflowed. Apparently the river level was 20 feet above it's norm. *shaking head* I can appreciate sometimes why folks build along rivers, but at other times it makes me wonder at the idiocy. Then again, the Chatanika river has also been terribly high, according to our neighbours Jim & Teresa. They were out at their cabin along the Chatanika this past week, and said that the water was about 8 inches from breaching the flooring of their cabin. Said they lost 5 big spruce trees and 20+ feet of ground to the river.

*****

Ok, a bit of a primer on how to pronounce these river names!

Chena: chee-na (chee as in "cheese")

Tanana: ta-na-na (the first a sounds like "apple", the second a sounds like the u in "ugly", the third a sounds like "awful")

Yukon: you con

Chatanika: chat a neeka (that second "a" also has the "u as in ugly" sound; the "neeka" is Knee like the body part, k, then "u" as in ugly)

Oh, and for the record, don't EVER pronounce "Valdez" with a short "e" It's a LONG EEEE sound. Very hard "e" sound. Val DEEZ And "Prudhoe Bay" is pronounced "pru" like "prudent" and "dough" as in bread dough.

**********

Last but not least, PETER, you'd asked me for an "Alaskan Pollock" recipe. I'm pretty sure that pollock is a fish, but I don't think I've ever eaten it. Is there anything you can compare it to??? Is it like whiting, or cod or tilapia??? If I have something to compare it to, I may be able to provide some recipes. But I know for a fact I've never seen "pollock" in the grocery store bins. If it's anything like either of these other 3 fish, I'm sure any recipe that I would use for them could easily be used for pollock as well. I'll look around, see if I can find any ideas.

Have a Blessed Day!

Support Judy Blume!

2009-05-06T16:00:00.000-07:00

Apparently because she wrote a Mother's Day piece for PPA (planned parenthood of America), Judy Blume has started receiving masses of hate-mail from people who disagree with the things that PPA does, says and works for. Once again, whatever else a person may believe, they do NOT have the right to threaten and harm others over those beliefs. And yet, it still happens!!! In this country of ours, supposedly the most free country of the world, we still see extremists threatening others for their views and actions.

To show support for Judy Blume over her recent Mothers Day piece, and to let her know that there ARE folks who appreciate her and her work, go here: http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/supportjudy

Let her know that there are folks out there who support her and are grateful for her voice!

Have a Blessed Day!

Wilderness Survival and a Couple New Recipes

2009-05-03T11:04:00.000-07:00

Has anybody else been watching the Discovery Channel show "Out of the Wild: The Alaskan Experiment?" The link is HERE if you want to check it out.

Anyway, Scott and I have been watching it and I'm having rather mixed feelings about it. To start out, the Show's producers took 9 volunteers from "the lower 48" who wanted to give this a try. The volunteers were each given some basic survival training and a GPS-call unit (for rescue should they decide to give up, or need medical assistance), and were dropped, en masse, in the middle of the Talkeetna (tall-KEET-na) wilds. The spot where they were dropped off had already been primed with a huge bundle of "supplies" that the volunteers then had to pick and choose from, deciding what to leave behind (for the producers to rescue later) and what to take. They had enough tarps with them, and sleeping bags and foam sleeping mats, to make yukon packs with, containing the supplies they decided to pack along. And initially, they packed EVERYTHING. (This included a few "worthless" supplies such as a violin that nobody knew how to play anyway.) Right away, it became apparent that they weren't using (or hadn't been provided!) all their survival knowledge. By the time they reached the first "planted" cabin (placed their for their convenience, but needing some repair) after their first day's hike, they'd hiked OVER a ridge, instead of around as their map directed. Going around would have taken longer but would have been an easier trek for the older members of the team.

And once at the first "cabin", they spent most of their time hunting TINY game: mice! They were surrounded by blueberries and cranberries (from what _I_ could tell, just watching the TV) and they didn't bother to pick any. They went fishing at a nearby pond or lake, and had access to some cattails (so-called "nature's grocery store" and at no other time of year as easy to identify as in the fall/early-winter) but didn't even give them a second look...... I'm guessing they may also have had easy access to such things as cottonwood (inner bark can be dried and ground and added to flour to extend supplies); monkey flower (according to my Alaska's Wild Plants book, the greens may even be found under ice in the winter, and still consumed); cloudberries; crowberry (tasteless, but edible!); labrador tea (gotta be kinda careful with this one, but with a couple of showings by an experienced survival guide, they could have identified this without problem); serviceberries; Chocolate Lily bulbs (reportedly best harvested in fall, bulbs can be ground and used as flour replacement or suppliment); Cow Parsnip (roots are celery substitute, best after frost); raspberries; rose hips; wild chive; shephards purse (seeds are a pepper substitute); lambsquarters (leaves are sometimes refered to as "wild spinach", and seeds are similar to quinoa and can be used as a starch in soups; Napoleon's troups evidently used ground Lambsquarter seeds to make a black bread); Dock (seeds also used as flour extender); Mare's tail (must be cautious not confuse with Horsetail; late-season "frosted" greens may be added to soups); Willow (inner bark is flour suppliment/substitute; spring leaves are higher in Vit. C than an orange). I also know that the group was walking through thick Alder thickets, and I wouldn't be suprised to find out that Alder is also in some way, shape or form usable as food.

And yet...... It was at the THIRD cabin (days 9 through 11) that the group FINALLY started even picking the lowbush cranberries and the blueberries around the cabin. I don't know if this is a fault on the part of the volunteers, for not making uses of the abundance of wild fruits & veggies in their paths; or if it was a tactic of the producers, telling these folks that they SHOULDN'T pick berries and greens because they might be toxic. Granted, a number of things do have similarly-shaped imposters that can be toxic, but with a bit of training, it's easy to identify the good from the bad. And at the VERY least, the cranberries and blueberries and lambsquarters and cattails could have been harvested a LOT sooner than they were. (Hell, the group still hasn't caught on to the lambsquarters! And the cattails were back at the first cabin, but haven't been seen since.) One of the things that the producers (the Narrorator at the opening of the show) say is that this group has been put down in one of the areas of Alaska with the GREATEST abundance of wildlife, both plant and animal, that their task is to see if they can survive the 60-day hike (with a couple of days rest-stop at each wilderness cabin along the way) by living off the land. So far, with the exception of a couple handfuls of berries each, and some peas and flour that they found at the second cabin, the group has "survived" on scanty rations of first ground-squirrel (other places it's similar to ground-hogs) then porcupine "stew". This scanty diet of meat-only stew hasn't provided NEARLY the calories that each member of the group needs. And a hand-full or two of blueberries isn't much better. But, a few minutes of shaking a lambsquarter stalk over one of their tarps, then moving on to another lambsquarter stalk, pulling leaves off as they go, as well..... That would provide the group with some DEFINITE starch and greens to add to their stew-pot, and would increase their rations significantly.

I'm just..... I'm finding it difficult to figure if they've been told NOT to harvest these wild-greens (despite the Narrorator's schpeal about how abundant things are in the area the volunteers are at), or if they're just too simple-minded to do so even after instruction. Scott and I sit watching the show and going "but, but, but..... You NEED some greens/starch!!!!" Even Scott has made comments like "weren't those cattails?!?!" or "was that some of that weed that we've got in our back-yard that you say is edible?!?!" Scott, who believes lambsquarters are weeds, recognised the blueberry and cranberry bushes at the same time I did, and was wondering why the group wasn't picking them. Granted they've got other things on their mind during their hikes, but rigging a belt-bucket and picking a hand-full here and there as they pass through the thickets..... It only makes sense!!! Then to see them starving themselves needlessly...... *shaking head* It'll be a wonder if ANY of the 9 (now 6, actually, as 3 have used their GPS units to call for the helicopter to lift them out, and have given up) make it out of there!!

I have had to chuckle a bit as Wendy was just recently posting about a wilderness survival class she and her family have been taking. It was a bit of syncronicity, that she's posting about the survival class she's taking at the same time that I'm watching this show. Though personally it sounds like her survival class was a little stronger on the "feed yourself in a survival situation" than were the instructions the "OOTW:TAE" volunteers were given. I'm thinking their survival instructions were more to do with setting snares and crossing rivers. Not that those aren't useful skills, but it's not going to do you ANY good, to know how to cross a river, if you're not eatting enough to keep ya walking TO cross the river! Passing out from hunger, face-down in the river is kinda gonna negate any water-safety lessons you may have had.

*****

One thing that both Wendy had pointed out, and that had been mentioned on the show, that _I_ needed to do, was to have on hand a source of fire, in an emergency. Yesterday, when I went to the hardware store to get myself a new pair of gardening gloves (lost my old ones, and they were so tattered it was time for a new pair anyway), I picked up one of those manganese (OOPS! Should be "Magnesium.") & flint fire-starter sticks. Backwoods Home Mag, this past issue, had an article on putting together a survival key-chain (the basics, on a key-chain, to be carried everywhere) and one of the things THEY also mentioned was one of these fire-starting sticks. (I already had the thumb-nail-sized LED flashlight and the mini-leatherman that were recommended, and carry them with me everywhere. But to combine them all together on a key-chain, hadn't quite thought that far ahead.) Anyway, so I picked up the fire-starter-stick and have put it on a key-ring to be combined with the others. The fire-stick is not heavy, but it IS bulky, and it's not something that is immediately necessary to my every-day activities. So for now, it's on a key-ring ready to be added to my larger key-ring as needed.) Sooner or later I'm going to add a GI-style can-opener and maybe a mini-pill-bottle (to be carried all the time) to my key-ring. But for now it's simply the leatherman & LED flashlight.

(I've got a neat Samsonite key-ring that has 5 or 6 different key-chains that hang off a central hub. With the press of a lever, I can remove any component from the key-ring by sliding the little nobbed attachement out of the channel in which they sit. So, most of the time I simply carry my LED light and leatherman. The manganese fire-stick is on a seperate individual key-ring that can be slid in as needed, but I don't expect I'll need to have it handy in my day-to-day. But, should I go camping this summer, I can add it to the key-ring and keep it handy with my other tools. In that case, I won't need my cell-phone and can leave that behind, but WILL need my fire-stick, which takes up a similar amount of room in my pants pocket.)

**********

Ok..... On to other things. Here are a couple "New" recipes from this past week. Enjoy!

Maple Teriyaki Salmon Fillets

1/3 c apple juice (I used apple cider vinegar and a pre-made teriyaki, since I didn't have apple juice on hand.)
1/3 c maple syrup (I used a mix of maple syrup, for flavor, and honey, since maple syrup is very expensive in my area.)
3 Tbsp soy sauce (I think I upped this to 4 Tbsp.)
2 Tbsp finely chopped onion
2 garlic cloves minced/pressed
(I also added a few drops oriental style chili oil for a bit of heat.)
4 salmon fillets (about 2 pounds)

In a bowl, combine the first five ingredients. Remove 1/2 c for basting; cover and refrigerate. Pour remaining marinade into a large, resealable plastic bag (or covered dish). Add salmon, turning to coat (or seal bag then turn to coat). Refrigerate 1 to 3 hours. Drain and discard marinade. Broil salmon 4 inch from heat for 5 minutes. (Or grill!) Baste with reserved marinade. Broil (grill!) 10 minutes longer or until fish flakes easily with a fork, basting frequently. Yield: 4 servings.

(Some recipes direct to place a piece of foil on the grill, and place the salmon skin-side down, then half-way through you're supposed to carefully peel the meat of the salmon from the skin, which SHOULD stick to the foil, and flip the meat over, face ONTO the skin, to finish cooking. The hubby grilled the salmon this time without flipping and it turned out perfectly, and still the skin stuck to the foil so it didn't have to be cleaned off our plates, so all we had to do was fold the skin up in the foil to discard it, once it had cooled on the grill.)

*****

No Fuss Pierogi

1/2 onion, diced (would use more, next time!)
1 Tbsp butter
16 oz pkg elbo macaroni, cooked & drained
16 oz container cottage cheese
salt and pepper to taste
(I also sprinkled it with paprika before serving.)

In a large saucepan, saute onion in butter. Add macaroni, cottage cheese and salt and pepper. Cook over low heat for about 10 minutes, melting cheese into macaroni, or until heated through, stirring often. Makes 4 servings.

(For our personal preferences, I would DEFINITELY increase the amount of onion, and I might add chopped black olives next time. Otherwise, it was ok. Not fantastic, but a "new" side dish for when Scott grills steaks or something. Something other than the usual Stove-top stuffing or potatoes (baked, mashed, or french fried) or boxed pasta mix.)

*****

Chad's Salsa Verde

The So-hot-it'll-kill-ya version

29 serano peppers, stem-ends cut off, but not halved OR seeded
1 good-sized tomato, cored but otherwise intact
1 fist-sized onion, peeled but not halved
enough water to cover in saucepan

Simmer all for 20 to 30 minutes or until skin peels from tomato and all ingredients are tender. Place all in blender and blend till almost pureed, adding a little of the simmering liquid if needed. (Not so much, though, that it's a completely liquid mix.) Serve with tortilla or corn chips.

The "Specially contrived for Kati-the-wimp" version

5 to 8 jalapeno peppers, stem ends cut off, halved and seeded (or, seed most of them, but leave the seeds in 1 or 2)
2 fist-sized tomatoes, cored but otherwise intact
1 fist-sized onion, peeled but not halved
enough water to cover in saucepan

Simmer and process as for first version. Much easier on the tastebuds for those of us who enjoy a BIT of heat, but don't enjoy getting knocked on our asses by it.

(Chad happens to be the future-son-in-law of our neighbours Jim & Theresa, whom I know I've mentioned here before. He's a chef at his family's resteraunt here in NP, where J & T's younger daughter Jamie is a waitress. J & T are the next-door-neighbours who have we've developed the closest relationship with. Good folks! They've taught me quite a bit about gardening, given me cuttings from their rhubarb and chive plants, AND my lilac bush! If something should happen to Scott and I both, they're the folks that we've picked to be Tay's legal guardians. They've lived in this neighbourhood almost as long as I've been alive.)

*****

Quick & Easy, BEST EVER! Brownies (at least according to Scott and Jim)

1 box brownie mix (Ghiradelli mix, with walnuts included)
1 tub pillsbury or betty crocker frosting mix (Scott likes the coconut & pecan frosting that's used on german chocolate cakes. Tay prefers cream-cheese frosting.)

Mix brownie mix and bake as directed according to the box. Once mostly cooled, top with frosting. See how long you can go before you simply MUST cut into it. Try not to eat the whole pan at once.

**********

So, I'm skipping work today. Last Sunday I woke up with a TOUCH of a sore throat. Except it wasn't really sore. More like a tickle. Monday was about the same, a little more noticable. Tuesday I started having a hard time breathing. Like I had a weight on my chest. Also started coughing a bit. Wednesday, the coughing and breathing hadn't improved. Maybe even had gotten a bit worse. Thursday, I was starting to cough so much that I was loosing bladder control. (Yeah, I know, TMI!) Also started sounding somewhat "froggy". Friday, yesterday (Saturday), Today..... VERY froggy sounding, coughing so hard I wind up having to run to the bathroom every 5 minutes or risk losing bladder control completely. It still hurts to breathe. I'm just NOW starting to cough up phlem, and not enough of it to clear out my chest. I'm putting off going to the Dr's office because I know they're going to tell me that I've "only got the creeping crud" and that there's nothing they can do about it. Once I've had it for a couple of weeks, and it's made it's way into my chest completely, then the Dr's will HAVE to do something (antibiotics, most like), but until then I'll just wind up sent home with advice to drink plenty of fluids and take the Robitussin that I'm already taking. [I'm probably ODing on Vit C. I'm also drinking about 6 (20-oz) jars of water a day. (Old spaghetti-sauce jars, I've got two that I use for drinking water. They've got ounce markings on the side that make it easy for me to keep track of how much I'm drinking.) I'm also adding echinacea tincture to just about every jar of water or mug of tea I make myself. That's along with the Robitussin. AND I found a bottle of Lortab that I have left from last year's bout with bronchitis that I took last night (3 am this morning when I woke up coughing and couldn't stop) and then again this morning once I let work know that I wouldn't be in. The lortab doesn't exactly do anything for the cough, but it kills the pain in my chest enough that I don't feel the NEED to cough as much. In the mean-time, though..... I'm starting to feel rather woozy and won't be much use for the rest of the day, once the Lortab kicks in well enough.

Oh, and FWIW, since I started writing that last paragraph, Scott told me he WANTS me to go to the Dr's office tomorrow. And NOT to First Care (which is who my insurance requires me to see first) but to ICHC (interior community health center, whom I've always had good luck with) to see the Dr about this damn cold. Said that I've been taking robitussin for a few days now (true enough, since Thursday) and that it's not done any good and I'm sounding WORSE, and it's become hard for me to do anything without becoming breathless and coughing. So, to hell with them telling me that I've only got the creeping crud, I'm TO go to the Dr's tomorrow and make sure I leave with antibiotics or SOMETHING to help me get past this. (And yeah..... I DO worry about the antibiotics being so overused that they become ineffectual, but at the same time.... I can't keep on this way, because it's hard for me to even get dinner made when I'm coughing so hard it gives me a nasty head-ache and racks my body AND makes me wet myself. I've gotta try SOMETHING. ANYTHING.)

**********

Ah, on to happier things. (DAMN, this post is getting long.)

Time for the first Food Independence Days Challenge (IDC from last year) post of the year.

Planted: Nothing BRAND new, but I did transplant 3 basil seedlings that a coworker gave me as a thank-you for the pepper seeds that I gave her. (Her pepper seeds also sprouted!!!) I also transplanted the 2 hyacinth bulbs I had that sprouted, but haven't yet flowered. They'd gotten pretty root-bound and hopefully this transplant will allow them to flower. (I'd love some hyacinth flowers!!!)

Harvested: nada

Tended: yep, my lettuce and pepper seedlings. Also cleared the leaf-mulch off my strawberry patch. I'm not sure yet if the strawberry plants survived the winter. But that's all besides what I mentioned above.

Preserved: nope

Make Preps: I bought myself that fire-starter stick. Told Scott that I want him to find me a pitchfork for here at the house, so I don't have to borrow the FIL's pitchfork every couple of weeks.

Cooked Something new/from scratch: the maple teriyaki, the pierogi stuff, the salsa.

Manage Reserves: still eatting potatoes from last year. Gotta get them all eatten, as the temps have warmed up enough that what're left are going to start going bad soon.

Work on/toward local food systems: gave some pepper seeds to a bunch of friends, and at least one of those friends has had success with the seeds. Got some basil seedlings back in exchange.

Compost/Manage-reduce waste: compost bin finally thawed out (and the water receeded from around it) enough that I could get over and turn it. Found out that last year's compost wasn't completely composted yet. Added in the willow leaves that I'd used as mulch-cover for my strawberry patch, as well as some birch leaves from our back-neighbour's tree. AND a (NASTY!) bucket of kitchen scraps that'd been sitting all winter and so-far into this spring. (Man, it thawed and liquified and was FLIPPIN' GROSS!!!!! But, once mixed into the semi-processed compost and the new leaf-mulch, didn't the small decreased enough that it's tolerable and should quit smelling altogether as soon as it starts "heating" and composting.)

Learned a new skill: nope.

*****

As far as the weather is concerned..... Man, as much as I hate that phrase "____ is the new ___", I'm definitely thinking "May is the new June" in regards to our weather this year. The last week of April was INCREDIBLE!!!! Temps up in the mid 70's during the day, dropping down only to the low 40's at night when the sun goes down. By the last 2 days of April, the snow had decreased altogether except in very rare spots like the thin strip between our two car-sheds. And what there was even then, is now gone. So far, 3 days into May, the temps have been just as incredible. We're already working on tans, as we work and play out in the sun. However, the mosquitos are already NASTY! Huge, big, hungry suckers. Hunting season starts!!!! (But, WHO is the prey? US, or the mosquitos?!?!) I'm going to soak my Runner Bean seeds tonight, and plant them tomorrow before I head to the Dr's office. Because while there is still a slight chance of a cold-snap, I'm guessing it won't happen.

In 2 days, my birch tree has gone from barely-visible buds, to squirrel-ear leafs. In the next 3 or 4, we should see a greening of pretty much everything. Our yard is already starting to show some green. I've got fireweed sprouts showing up in my bean patch and my back-yard-bin. If I can get up the energy today, I really want to get out and turn over my flower bed the rest of the way so I can get the seeds sown for a hopeful abundance of flowers. (And, if I can get Scott to help.)

We've been outside more than we've been in, the past couple of weeks. The dogs have been taking daily walks, and loving it. (Ok, so I skipped last night's walk, and this morning's, as I'm feeling so under-the-weather, but other than that.)

**********

OH!!!! Last but not least. I forgot to mention that little Aliya (the premature baby-girl of our friends Deet and Cindy) came home a week ago. The Dr's in Anchorage finally sent her home at 7 pounds 6 ounces. She is the size of a newborn, but has the physical appearance of a 2 or 3 month old baby. What little I got to see (as she was bundled and in her car-seat), she's the prettiest little thing you've ever seen. She was a bit fussy as Mom & Dad opened the car window (and it was chilly out that night) so that I could get a glimpse of her, and she didn't like the breeze. *grin*

*********

I think that pretty well covers all that's going on in my corner of the world. For now anyway.

Have a Blessed Week!!!

HI!

2009-04-25T10:48:00.000-07:00

Hope everybody has had a good couple of weeks. *wry smile* Sorry I've been such a lousy blogger lately. I really DO miss you all, but I'm finding it hard to find new things to blog about, lately. I always seem to be griping about Tay, or about work...... I get tired of doing that.

Really don't have much news of worth to pass on today, but I've got a BOATLOAD of new recipes that I've tried in the past week and a half, so I'll share them today.

Grilled Lime Chicken

8 chicken breasts
1/2 c lime juice
1/3 c olive oil
4 green onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced (or pressed)
3 Tbsp chopped fresh dill (dried can be used successfully, but not sure of the "exchange rate")
1/4 tsp pepper

Pound chicken to flatten. (This really isn't necessary, but it helps the chicken to cook more evenly and more quickly.) Combine juice, oil, onions, garlic, 2 Tbsp dill and pepper in ziplock bag, or lidded container. Add chicken breasts, seal and refrigerate 2 to 4 hours (or longer!).

Drain chicken breasts of marinade and discard marinade. Grill chicken, uncovered, over med-hot coals/heat for 12 to 15 minutes, till tender and juices run clear. Turn after about 6 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining dill before serving. (Didn't bother sprinkling with remaining dill at all, and still it tasted fabulous.) Serves 8.

This is a relatively health-conscious chicken dish. The diabetic exchanges are 3 lean meat, 1 veggie, 1 fat. The other stats are 235 cal per serving; 66 mg sodium (ok, this is a bit high); 73 mg cholesterol; 3 g carbs; 27 g protein; 12 g fat

*****

Onion Beef Au Jus

1 boneless beef rump roast (about 4 pounds)
2 Tbsp oil
2 large sweet onions, cut into 1/4 inch slices
6 Tbsp butter, softened, divided
5 c water (would use probably 3 next time)
1/2 c soy sauce
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 garlic clove, minced/pressed (used 3 small-ish)
1 tsp browning sauce, optional (don't even know what browning sauce IS!)
1 loaf (1 pound) french bread (I used hoagie rolls)
1 c (4 oz) shredded swiss cheese

In a dutch oven, over med-high heat, brown roast on all sides in oil; drain off excess grease. In a large skillet, saute onions in 2 Tbsp butter till tender. Add the water, soy sauce, soup mix, garlic and browning sauce. Pour over roast. Cover and bake at 325 deg. F. for 2-1/2 hours or until meat is tender. Remove roast from sauce and allow to stand for 10 minutes before slicing. Return meat to pan juices. Slice bread in half lengthwise (or, slice individual rolls lengthwise); cut into 3 sections (not if using individual rolls, of course). Spread remaining butter over bread. Place on baking sheet. Broil, 4 to 6 inches from heat, for 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown. Top with beef and onions; sprinkle with cheese. Broil, 4 to 6 inches from heat, for 1 to 2 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve with pan juices for dipping.

(All that said, I prefer my usual recipe for French Dip sandwiches that I've posted in the past. This recipe just didn't seem to have the flavor I like. HOWEVER, the hubby found this one preferable, said he finds my other recipe too strongly flavored. I may try to adjust them both to find a happy medium for us both. Kinda combine and pare down the other one, ramp up this one, to create something that meets in the middle. The meat in this one was also a little tougher than from the other recipe, didn't shred quite the way my other recipe does. This one resulted in a roast in which the meat was slice-able, but not shred-able.)

*****

Carolina Style BBQ Sauce (ultimately a revamp of Guy Fieri's recipe from Food Network's "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" show. I kinda added to it. We loved this!!!! Marinaded some chicken pieces in it, then grilled them, brushing them with more of this as we went.)

1 c cider-vinegar
1/2 c ketchup
1/4 c white sugar (brown sugar may be better)
1/4 c honey
1 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp worchestershire sauce
3 or 4 drops liquid smoke
small dash tobasco sauce

(All those different peppers combine to make a very deep flavor, but depending on your tolerance for heat, you may want to cut even further back on some of them than I did. Ultimately it should be SPICY but not so HOT that you burn your tastebuds off.)

Simmer all together to reduce. Cool before brushing on meat. This would be fabulous on brisket, on pork, and obviously on chicken. Wouldn't probably want to try it on fish, though. Maybe a slab of shark, but anything less "meaty" than shark probably wouldn't taste quite right.

*****

Cucumber Tuna Boats

3 medium cucumbers
1 can (6 oz) tuna, flaked and drained of liquids
2 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 c diced celery
1/4 c mayonnaise or salad dressing
2 Tbsp sweet pickle relish
1 Tbsp finely chopped onion
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt

Cut cucumbers in half lengthwise; remove and discard seeds. Cut a thin slice from bottom of cucumber if necessary, so they sit flat on plate. In a bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Spoon into the cucumbers. Serve immediately. Serves 3. (I added some dried dill, black pepper and 1 Tbsp yellow mustard. Really enhanced the flavor!)

*****

Cajun Potato Salad

2 pounds small red potatoes
1/2 c chopped red onion (really, use RED onion, not regular white. The red have a different flavor that is much better when raw than is a regular white onion. A sweet onion may work better than a white onion as well.)
1/2 c sliced green onions
1/4 c minced fresh parsley
6 Tbsp cider vinegar, divided (I used a total of 8 Tbsp, 4 for each step.)
1/2 pound precooked smoked kielbasa or Cajun sausage, sliced
6 Tbsp olive or veggie oil
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne

Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water for 20 to 30 minutes or until tender (may take less than 20 minutes, depending on the size of the potato); drain. Rinse with cold water; cool completely. (Would be best to do this part early in the day, then refrigerate your cooked potatoes before completing the recipe at dinner time.) Cut into 1/4 inch slices; place in a large bowl. Add onions, parsley and 3 (4!) Tbsp vinegar; toss. In a medium skillet, cook sausage in oil for 5 to 10 minutes or until it begins to brown. Rmove with slotted spoon and add to potato mixture. To drippings in skillet, add mustard, garlic, pepper, cayenne pepper and remaining vinegar; bring to a boil, whisking constantly. (Careful breathing those vinegar fumes!!!! They can be harsh!) Pour over salad; toss gently. Serve at once! Serves 6.

*****

Lettuce with Hot Bacon Dressing (This is a "new" take on our family-favorite of swiss chard with hot bacon dressing. It makes even ice-berg lettuce taste good.)

5 bacon strips, diced
8 c torn (or shredded) salad greens
2 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
2 green onions, sliced
1/2 c sugar (I used 1/3 c, knowing we like it a LITTLE less sweet.)
1/2 c vinegar (cider works best, or rice-wine, don't use white distilled in this! It's too harsh.)
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp dry ground mustard

In a skillet, cook bacon till crisp. Remove and drain off drippings. Return 1/4 c drippings back to skillet. In a seperate bowl, combine greens, eggs, onions and bacon. Add remaining ingredients to drippings in skillet. Bring to a boil. Drizzle over the salad and toss to coat. Serve immediately! Serves 8. (Or 3, in my family!)

*****

Pork Kabobs (kinda like suvlaki (sp?) or gyros)

1/2 c olive oil
1/4 c chopped onion
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp kosher or sea salt
1/2 tsp dried marjoram (I used italian seasoning, as I don't have any plain marjoram. It worked well enough.)
1/8 tsp black pepper
2 pounds boneless pork, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1-inch cubes

Cucumber Yogurt sauce (also called tatziki sauce)

1 carton (8 oz) plain yogurt
1/2 c chopped cucumber
1 tbsp chopped onion
1 tbsp minced fresh parsley
1 tsp lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced or pressed

Pita bread to serve

In a resealable plastic bag or shallow covered container, combine the first eight ingredients; add pork and toss to coat. Seal or cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight. (I mixed it up in the morning before work, then refrigerated the rest of the day till Scott got home to grill that evening.) Meanwhile, combine sause ingredients; cover and refrigerate for several hours. (I've tried better recipes for tatziki sauce that call for more cucumber and some olive oil. This recipe I wasn't too impressed with.)

Drain pork and discard marinade; thread pork on skewers, leaving a small space between pieces. Grill, uncovered over medium coals for 8 to 10 minutes or until meat is no longer pink, turning frequently. Serve in pita bread with sauce. (I also cut some tomato into slender slices and some onion into slender slices to stuff into the pita bread with the meat. Definitely ups the health-quotient to have those fresh veggies included.) Serves 8. (Or, 3 in my family!)

*****

South of the Border Salad

1-1/2 lb ground beef (I used one pound, worked just fine.)
1-1/4 oz pkg taco seasoning mix
1/2 to 1 c water (depending on how much the seasoning pkg calls for)
1 to 2 heads lettuce, chopped
15 oz bag corn chips (frito corn chips are preferable, but tortilla chips would be ok too)
2 tomatos, chopped
1 onion, chopped
12-oz pkg shredded cheddar (or mexican blend!) cheese
favorite salad dressing (or sour cream!)
16 oz jar salsa

Cook ground beef in a skillet over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until no longer pink; drain. (I added the onions to the meat to sautee up, instead of serving them raw in the salad. As I said, white onions are just too harsh when raw, most of the time.) Add taco seasoning and water. Simmer for 10 minutes; set aside. To assemble salad, layer as follows on individual plates: lettuce, corn chips, beef mixture, tomatoes, onion and shredded cheese. Top with favorite dressing (or sour cream!) and salsa. (I also heated a can of refried beans, added enough water to make them stir-able and a bit of cumin to flavor. Then dolloped a bit over my salad, as did Scott and Tay.) Serves 4 to 6.

*****

So, there are some new recipes for y'all. Hope you enjoy them as much as well all did. (Excepting for the tatziki sauce in the one recipe, and the beef au jus which was too weakly flavored for my taste, we loved all these new recipes. This past week was a week in which I really didn't do any of our old recipes, just new ones. Except for the night I made the lettuce salad with hot bacon dressing. I served that alongside bangers & mash, which is something we have frequently throughout the winter.)

**********

Other than all that...... The only real matter of any importance worth sharing this week has been the weather. We had beautiful weather through Wednesday, then woke up Thursday to gray skies. It started raining by mid-afternoon, and by evening it was snowing a bit. Snowed even yesterday morning, and was pretty well windy all day long. Today the skies are still fairly over-cast, but more lightly so. The clouds aren't sitting low enough to be dumping rain or snow on us. It's a bit warmer than it was yesterday as well. The snow is mostly melted, though there are still strips and patches of it on pretty much everybody's lawn.

As for seeds and planting and such..... A couple of weeks ago now, I'd planted one pot (that held my sole pepper plant last year) with a few lettuce seeds and one pepper seed in the middle. I've put it outside during the day on nice warm days, bringing it inside during the night, and these past few days that have been cloudy and yucky. By the beginning of this week, 3 of the lettuce seeds had sprouted. Yesterday I'd noticed that the pepper seed has also sprouted, and it looks like one of the other lettuce seeds has sprouted. (Figured that at least to begin, the pepper plant doesn't need the whole pot to itself, and I just want some baby-lettuce, so I planted 3 seeds each of 2 different variety of lettuce around the outer edge of the pot, with the pepper seed in the middle. One variety, obviously, is coming up well at this point. The other variety I'm not sure is going to come up.)

Over at the FIL's house, Scott says we've got a good lot of "broccoli" sprouting, as well as some of our cabbage seeds, so far. He said nothing else has sprouted quite yet. I hope it's staying warm enough in FIL's garage this year. He doesn't tend to keep it warm, which is fine most of the year, but if he wants to be starting seed in the garage, he needs to keep it a bit warmer than he does. Anyway, we'll see I suppose.

*****

The plan for today is to get outside and mostly uncover my strawberry patch, and pull out the dead plants from last year from the south side of the house. I need to clear my pea-patch so that I can plant beans next weekend. As soon as Scott gets home from work, we're both going to go out to the dog kennel and shovel a bunch of doggy-doo. Between the water and the winter's worth of "doggy-doo", the dogs won't even go into their kennel. Not that I can really blame them. But it means getting them out for a walk a couple of times a day to vacant areas of the neighbourhood where nobody will mind them doing their business. At least when the kennel is cleaned and dry of water, letting them out IS as simple as letting them out. REALLY don't enjoy the job of cleaning up that pen, out there. Nasty, smelly work. *sigh* Oh well, it really must be done.

*****

Next, I seem to have fallen off the radar as far as Tay's coordinator and the special ed. teacher at the Raven program. The coordinator promised me TWICE that he would find out what is now required to get Tay into the Yess program. He hasn't called me back, and it has been a week since I last asked him. The Special Ed. teacher at the Raven program hasn't gotten back to me in over 2 weeks as to the behavioral assessement I had asked about for Tay. So, it seems everybody is intent on just dragging their feet on this matter. Monday, I need to call the School District building myself and ask about the requirements for enrollement into the Yess program. Then I need to call the Special Ed. teacher and ask if she's had a chance to review my check-list on the behavioral assessement and where we're at for having an actual evaluation for that.

Until I get both of those matters figured out, we can't do ANYTHING about enrolling Taylor ANYWHERE for next year. And for a lot of places, the enroll-by date is May 1. *sigh*

*****

Last but not least, tomorrow is my older nephew's 7th birthday. So, just want to throw a "Happy Birthday Aaron" wish out there. *wry smile* He's really a pretty good kid, when he's got somebody keeping an eye on him and isn't being allowed to combine efforts with his little brother. (Get the two of them together, and they're pretty damn destructive.) But, I definitely see the potential in that one. He's terribly over-sensative, may well get made fun of in school if he doesn't stop crying every time somebody looks at him cross-wise. (I know, I know..... Little boys should be encouraged to be MORE sensative than they have, historically, but even then there IS a point at which it just becomes aggrivating. And that's whether the over-sensative one is a boy OR girl!) Gotta say, of the 3 on my hubby's side, this one is my favorite so far. And he's now getting to the point where he is actually pretty helpful. Gotta love it when a kid gets to that stage! *wink*

Ok..... Gotta get outside and get those dead plants pulled out and cleared away from the new growth (in the case of my rhubarb and chive plants), and get those leaves taken off my strawberry patch. (Though, where I'm going to put them in the mean-time, I don't know. I had HOPED to get them into my compost bin, but that's still surrounded by knee-deep snow as it's in a cool, dim corner of the back yard.)

Have a Blessed Week!

Oh Flip! I blew up the microwave!!!!

2009-04-23T12:03:00.000-07:00

So, Scott and I got home night before last and found that the house smelled like something had been burnt, and after a thorough search, found that something had "exploded" inside the microwave. Tay said the top popped off her container of leftover spaghetti, and it got all over the inside of the microwave. Ok, well..... I made her scrub out the microwave. Of course, she didn't do a very fabulous job of it (still looked like exploded spaghetti inside), but it also still smelt considerably burnt.

Anyway, this morning, with enough time to do something about it myself, I set about scrubbing the thing out. A good while back I'd read that if you put a microwavable container of white vinegar in the microwave and set it to heat, the humidity produced by the simmering vinegar will loosen the dried on food. I've done this before. It works!

This morning, I set the bowl of vinegar in to heat up, and then scrubbed up the microwave a bit. Smelling a bit better now. Well, not all the dried on spaghetti sauce was coming out, so I closed the microwave again with the bowl of vinegar inside. Set it for just one minute to bring that vinegar back up to a simmer, producing humidity to loosen the food inside.

Almost the full minute had gone by, when there was an explosion. I had just come into the computer room for a minute...... Rushed back to the kitchen and found that the door of the microwave had blown open, the bowl of vinegar was on it's side, and the lighted display on the microwave was dark. Out.

Finished scrubbing up the microwave (it looks good now!) and closed the door. Still no lighted display. Unplugged and replugged it in..... Still no lighted display or any beeps, dings or movement (unless I'm shaking it, of course)...... We'll see if it works this evening. Sometimes just sitting and "cooling off" does the trick. But I doubt it this time.

The FIL MAY have a new microwave (new to us, slightly old to them, as the MIL goes out and buys a new one almost every year) that we can bum off him. Otherwise we're going shopping for a new microwave. *wry smile* Go figure.

Anyway...... Just had to share. *shaking head* It's ALWAYS something!

Hope y'all are doing well. I'll try to post a full post soon.

Have a Blessed rest of the week!

Planting!

2009-04-13T10:56:00.000-07:00

So, we got planting done yesterday. This is the first I've done since November, geared toward that goal, excepting the buying of more seed back in February.

I'm going to start back into the IDC updates (That is "Food Independence Day Challenge") sooner or later, but today I just wanted to post about what's going on here for weather and veggies and such.

The weather has been BEAUTIFUL! around here lately. Day-time temps were at first getting only as high as the high 30's, then over the course of the next week they got up into the 40's, yesterday I think it may even have hit 60 degrees in the sun, and the shade was about 40. Our road is more slush and water at this point than snow. (In fact, for all the "ditch-digging" a few years back, those darn ditches clog with snow & slush and we still end up with a "lake" at the end of our road every "break-up" season.)

Saturday I took my long-dead pepper plant out of my kitchen window and took it outside. I carefully loosened the root-pack up out of the planter it was in, then pulled from the stem (which I broke down considerably first) and carefully worked the mostly-dry soil from around the stem, till the whole system of roots & soil was broken up nicely back INTO the pot, and the stem I tossed over toward my compost heap. (The compost heap is STILL buried in snow, thus I haven't yet taken to tossing things in there yet. Besides, I'm rather hoping that last year's compost will finally be ready to add to my planter-beds when it all thaws & dries a bit, and therefore I don't want to toss anything new in there yet.)

Once I had that planter refilled with the now-loosened dirt, I soaked it down, even to the point of forming a couple of snow-balls and leaving them to melt into the soil. Wanted it really nice & saturated. Then, once the snow-balls melted, I let it sit overnight till yesterday morning. Before heading over to the inlaw's for Easter dinner, I planted a couple of my pepper seeds smack dab in the center of that planter, and put 6 lettuce seeds (3 each of 2 different variety) around the perimeter. I figure that if the pepper comes up, GREAT. If not, at least I'll hopefully get some leaf-lettuce growing in my kitchen window. *wink* Then I topped it off with a water-reservoir tray that I inverted over the top, terrarium-style, and left it in the sun all day.

We finally made it over to the Inlaw's at about 1 pm. Got started right away on going through the FIL's stash of seed, discussing what to plant, what needed to be started ASAP. We had a mishap with the cabbage and broccoli seed, though. Turns out that his ONLY pkg of cabbage seed, and one of his 2 pkg of broccoli seed were cut open along top. Something I was not aware of. *wry smile* When they got inverted while sorting through, one or the other (or both?) spilled all it's contents out into the tray we were using for sorting seed. I thought, initially, that it was the broccoli seed, so I got it all back INTO the pkg of broccoli. Only then to discover that the pkg of cabbage seed (the ONLY pkg of cabbage seed that the FIL had) was empty but for 4 little seeds. *rolling eyes* So, now I had either just added a lot of broccoli seed to the broccoli pkg, a lot of cabbage seed to the broccoli pkg, or they'd BOTH dumped out and gotten completely mixed anyway and had gotten added back into the broccoli pkg together. And since broccoli and cabbage seed look identical (at least, to me), there was NO way to seperate the two. *sigh*

So, what we got started yesterday was a lot of cabbage (cause we proceeded to use the seed _I_ had bought, since neither Sentry or Safeway had any cabbage seed in stock, and Hawk's Farm & Garden was closed for Easter); a lot of broccoli -or more cabbage!; a full 36 squares of green-onion; about 18 tomato; 26 cucumber (just one variety this year). I also started a couple melon, a couple watermelon, another pepper seed, a couple eggplant, a couple of MY variety of broccoli, a couple of my Stupice tomato seeds (3 that I saved from last year's one ripe stupice tomato), and about 5 Bushy cucumbers to be planted here at my place. We're starting them there at Al's house, and going to bring those back here to my place to do most of their growing, once they've gotten their start there, and once the snow melts here.

Anyway, so the seed starting is all done now, hopefully. When we got here, I walked through the snow (because yes, my front and back yards still have a lot of snow) to the side of the house where I've got my bean-patch, my rhubarb, and chive plants, as well as those 2 big half-barrel planters. The snow has melted completely in a little 2-1/2 ft wide strip alongside the entire width of the house, so within the next week or two, I'm going to make all efforts to get out there and clean out my planter bins and pull out the dead stalks of last year's plants, and get a row of beans or peas in right away. Those should be the first to go in. Shortly after, I should be able to get my first picking of rhubarb. And shortly after that, I should be able to put in some zucchini and eventually my tomato plants. I can hardly wait.

**********

On to other subjects, I suppose.

As for the suggestions of Tay maybe simply being a rebellious teen...... I DO appreciate the thought that maybe there isn't anything going on beyond that, that maybe this is simply a "this too shall pass" stage in our lives. That'd be my thought too if it wasn't for the fact that Tay and I have been knocking heads since she was 2. She hit her "terrible 2" stage a bit early, but never outgrew it. I mean, literally. She was as ornery and strong-willed and defiant at 3 and 4 and 5 as she was at 2. Years 6 and 7 weren't much better, if anything her attitude worsened while her physical expressions of anger diminished a bit. Year 8 was ok for the most part. Then at 9 years old, she hit puberty and her attitude (and her physical expressions of anger and violence) have been sky-rocketing ever since. Just last night, she spent 30 minutes yelling and screaming at Scott and I simply over brushing her teeth. Or, more precisely, that she didn't WANT to brush her teeth and she was being directed to. Even before that, right after we got home from the Inlaw's, I directed her (nicely, mind you!) to unload the dishwasher before calling her best friend to hang out. A simple, quick chore that she KNOWS she's been assigned. She slammed the front door in my face in anger over my reminding her that she needed to do her chore before running off with her friend. (Suffice it to say, Scott went in and told her that because of her behavior, she wasn't going to get to see that friend at ALL, even once dishes had been done.)

Her attitude is that if she doesn't find it fun, then she's going to raise hell till she gets her way. And as I don't tend to give in more than 1% of the time, and Scott's quickly learning to NOT give in either, that results in slammed doors, banging her head against walls and doors, throwing things...... It's beyond simple teenage rebellion. Last night, Scott was standing outside her bathroom giving her the "evil eye", trying to stare her down over her refusal to brush her teeth, and she went to slam the door IN his face. (Literally, it would have hit him in the face.) He put his hand up, and as hard and fast as Tay was pushing that door, his hand went through the door with no effort from him. She kicks walls and doors and furniture when she's pissed. She's gotten pretty damned abusive. It's no longer acceptable in any way.

So yeah..... Again I appreciate the thought that maybe it's just a phase of teenage rebellion, but Tay's attitude and actions make her a hazard to herself and others. That's simply unacceptable and not something ANYBODY should have to live with for the sake of putting up with a rebellious teenager.

(And, before anybody says "well, if she doesn't want to brush her teeth, why don't you just let her get a cavity, maybe she'd care more about brushing?" remember that our insurance, as much as most insurance plans will cover cleanings and other preventative for minors 100%, but treatment for dental ill's, such as cavities and worse, is covered at maybe 80% AFTER the yearly deductable is paid. We simply don't have the cash to just "let her get a cavity". There are other medical needs that are a little harder to prevent, so why just give up in this case, in hopes that she'll come around to brushing after she's had to suffer a cavity. We're working on preventing what we can, to avoid the dental bills, when we know that other bills will come along for other physical needs that cannot be avoided so easily. And, as for making Tay pay for those cavity fillings, could be except we're trying to save her meager savings for college some day. AND, simply paying for the cavity filling isn't all the fight we might have. There's also the fight of dragging her butt into a dentist chair if she decides to NOT go. She's gotten too big for me to throw over my shoulder and sit on. *wry smile*)

**********

I found this quote on a bookmark at work early last week, and I thought it was interesting and thought provoking enough to want to share.

"Thus, the task is not so much to see what no one yet has seen, but to think what nobody yet has thought about that which EVERYBODY sees." -- Schopenhauer

Isn't that a neat quote? I love the thought that our job in life, as thinking individuals is not to FIND new things, but to be creative in our thinking processes about even that which has already been discovered. To challenge the limits of our imagination and belief by questioning what is commonly believed to be true.

**********

Last but not least, today is my younger nephew, Grant's, 5th birthday. I know he doesn't see this, just thought I'd throw it out there though. Rather astonished that the little hooligan hasn't blown himself up, or gotten himself hit by a car yet. Then again, at 5 he's just finally gaining the physical ability to REALLY do himself in. (He's majorly dangerous that way. Not just in a rather physically violent way, but in a totally careless and carefree manner as well. He'd be the one to jump off the roof of the house onto a trampoline just to see how high he can jump afterwards.)

**********

Ok, I'd better get a move on. It's warm enough outside now to move my seed-pot outside, and to move my couple of hyacinth bulbs outside for the day. Then I've got to get ready for work.

Have a Blessed Week!

A Fun Video To Share.....

2009-04-05T10:52:00.000-07:00

For anybody who's ever even remotely liked _The Sound of Music_ here's a YouTube clip you simply MUST see.

A Bit of Frauline Maria

Simply being there would probably have me smiling for weeks, whenever it was remembered.

**********

Let's see, what's happened this week???

Tay's best friend broke her arm on Thursday. Was tripped by a fellow classmate in gym class (though the gym teacher didn't see it, and therefore the kid wasn't punished) and fell and fractured the smaller of the two main bones in her arm. Now has her arm in a sling. And today is her 12th birthday. Poor girl. *wry smile* Tay's headed over there now to help clean up for the party this afternoon.

*****

The Psych Eval. results came back normal. As in, Tay is not/does not have ADD. *sigh* I was really hoping that this was the answer. It appears it is not. Which puts us back to having no answers as to what may be going on with her. *big sigh* That totally sucks.

In more detail, though....

Scale **************** IQ/Index ******** Percentile ************ 95% Confidence
Verbal comprehension **** 96 ************** 39 ******************** 89-103
Perceptual Reasoning **** 90 ************** 25 ******************** 83-98
Working Memory ********** 91 ************** 27 ******************** 84-99
Processing Speed ******** 80 *************** 9 ******************** 73-91
Full IQ Scale (Total combined)* 87 ********* 19 ******************** 82-92

In each of these 4 aspects, she had to have scored at a 74 or lower in the IQ/Index portion in order to qualify as having a learning disability. The only section she comes even close in is the Processing Speed. Thus, she's NOT got an actualized learning disability, and therefore does not qualify for Special Needs programs. The Special Ed. teacher DID suggest that her Processing Speed indicates that we need to take more time to explain more complex ideas such as history and science lessons. To give her MORE time and MORE instruction in these areas where she shows a definite struggle at home. *sigh* I guess.......

It just bums me out that we didn't get a definitive answer that would really help. As it is, the definite answer is that she DOESN'T have a learning disability, but then WHY is she struggling so much?

So, as I said, we're back at the beginning again, just about.

And, to be quite honest, it makes me somewhat sad for Tay to see those results. I've never thought of Tay as stupid or retarded or any such thing. But to see that she's at the low edge of the average portion of the IQ scale, to see that she's in the 19th percentile over all..... That makes me sad. AND it DOES make me wonder, AM I expecting too much of her? I want to expect a lot of her, because I DO truly believe she's a smart, inquisitive child. But, thanks to this IQ test I'm left wondering if maybe she really ISN'T capable of comprehending more than she does. Maybe there isn't a learning disability persay, but that it simply comes out to that her brain isn't built to comprehend to the level that I find normal based on my experience.

And, considering how much of himself Scott says he sees in Tay, maybe this lessened propensity for problem solving and puzzling things out is why HE has such a problem grasping the ecological and economic issues I see and worry about. Maybe their brains just aren't capable of grasping these things. Again, that makes me sad for them. Will that make me feel better that I'm not being understood or believed when I say something? Does it mean I should cut them both a lot of slack and just not bother with trying to get them to understand? I don't know. But these results definitely have me asking all these questions of myself.

*****

This week, Stephanie came over every day to hang out with Tay for a while. Stephanie helped out with the school work, and they took the dogs out for walks, and baked cookies one day. It sounds like Stephanie will stop coming over on Fridays, though, as I've got the day off and it's obvious that Tay and I cannot be in the house together without both of us getting frustrated. But, at least Stephanie had a chance to see this on Friday, even if she only caught a glimpse of how aggrivating (and aggrivated!) Tay can get when she and I try to sit down and do schoolwork together, or anything else that requires me to tell Tay to do something. (IE: not just schoolwork, but to do dishes, or laundry, or feed the dogs..... If it requires me to give Tay instruction, it ticks her off that I must do so, and she argues with me, which ticks ME off. *wry smile*)

**********

The newest on Scott's job is that some of the 401k "insurance" that was promised by his company has been withheld. The financial and HR promised these guys they'd protect the 401k monies that my hubby and his coworkers have been socking away for the last year, even if it required a financial hit for the company over all. In exchange, the employees were expected to take their 2-weeks-unpaid-leave without complaint. Well, the company financial "wizards" screwed the hubby and his coworkers over on their 401k and the promises that were made to them, therefore Scott and his co-workers are refusing to take that 2 weeks leave without pay. *sigh* I don't see how they're going to really manage that, though...... I mean, they could be screwed by going in for work, and working their shifts, only to have pay docked to avoid paying them for that 10 days leave they're supposed to take. I don't know. I know it all sounds screwy, though.

In the mean-time, though.... I've decided to take the first week of June off work. That'll hopefully (providing the weather cooperates) focus for a week on planting over at the inlaws and here at home. I really hope it works out that way. And my Boss was ok with me wanting to do that. I think it helps that I asked her NOW, instead of waiting till half-way through May. *wink*

**********

Although it's not unusual in the current economic environment, my baby sis lost her job last week. (Or, was it a little longer ago now?) Anyway, she apparently went in to work one morning to find out that her employer was pulling up stakes. The office she was working in was a brand-new branch of a Canadian outfit that trains mining employees. This branch that Kori was working for was the FIRST branch on American soil. In the 3 months since they opened up and Kori started, the company had shelled out $30-grand in start-up monies and advert. and employee pay (Kori and her boss being the only 2 local employees) for this branch. With NO returns. No business had come in for this local branch at all. I'm guessing that if it weren't for the recession we're all in, maybe the office would have had more business, or maybe they could have held open for a couple months longer to try to drum up some business. As it is, the concensus apparently was that it was pointless to keep this new branch open, so it was closed down and Kori is now out of a job. *sigh* Wishing K. much luck in finding a new job, and fast!

In some good news for K. and my niece, though..... My niece is top of her class in first grade. Apparently Kiara is doing fantastically in school and is loving it! I'm glad that thus-far this is the case. I hope school continues to be something little K. enjoys throughout her school career, and that it's something she does as well at as her Aunt Shelli. (Shelli is our middle sis, 2 years younger than I am, 2 years older than Kori. Shelli's the one going for her PhD in philosophy down in Arizona.)

**********

Mom's leaving on a cruise this coming week. Apparently she'll be flying to New Zealand where she'll have a day or so of wait-time before the cruise starts. She's hoping to get to do some touring of New Zealand while she's there. Then she'll cruise through the South Pacific back to Honolulu. I hope she has a blast with that! And I have NO doubt she'll take a TON of pictures to share. *grin* Mom's great at taking pictures. You can check out some of her pics of her life in Hawaii here.

**********

Last he said, Dad's planning on leaving Spokane in the couple of days after Easter. Of course, he told me that BEFORE Kori lost her job. I don't know if that is STILL his plan, or if he plans to hang around and help her out until she finds a new job. Anyway, I know he's been looking forward to getting on the road again with his new trailer. Though apparently, there's been a semi-serious issue with his trailer and he's got to tow it BACK to Kansas for some repair work. It's repair work that should be covered under the warranty. Then his plan was/is? to head to Ohio to do some spring Turkey hunting with a friend he's got down there.

**********

Weather wise, it appears that Spring IS here! The weather has been getting up in the high 30's, to low 40's during the warmest parts of the day and the snow is melting nicely off the back deck. The nights still get down to about Zero, but that's to be expected. While it's clear, this time of year, it still gets rather chilly at night. But the clear skies during the DAY mean beautiful, warm weather during daylight hours. And we're starting to get sunlight till 9 pm and later. LOVING THAT!

But, the front yard and all else (except that back deck, and patches of road-way) are still covered in snow. THICK snow. LOTS of it. *grin* So, no green, grassy Easter for us this year.

And there is still, ALWAYS the realization that we're not safe from more snow till at LEAST the second week of May.

**********

Ok, I think that pretty well covers it all for now. I'll try to get by and visit everybody over the next couple of days.

Have a Blessed Week!

Spring is Coming!

2009-03-29T20:00:00.000-07:00

We've had warm, thawing weather, and then we had snow again and "cold". It DOES seem that spring is finally on it's way, though. Today it got up to 38 deg. F out of direct sunlight. Unfortunately it's getting cool enough at night to make the roads slick in the mornings till enough cars have passed to start the snow melting again.

So, let's see.... What's happened in the last week?

Tay met with the child psycologist and took the "Weschler Individual Scale for Children" test. It was apparently some sort of IQ assessement geared to judge how well a child follows orders; organizes thoughts and/or items; solves problems; comprehends ideas; etc. I go back in on Thursday of THIS week to find out how she comes out in that test. L. seems to think that the test should pretty well show that Tay has some learning disabilities, and should point in a specific direction as to the type of disabilities that Tay may be facing.

With Tay's therapy, we met Stephanie finally on Friday. She came over for a bit of "get to know you" time, Friday morning before Tay and I headed in for Tay's bi-weekly meeting with L. Then Stephanie is going to start coming out here to meet with Tay 4 to 5 days a week, in the mornings. Tomorrow morning she'll come out and hopefully we can get into working on school work with Tay. Stephanie said she'd be very willing to sit down and try to help us go through Tay's school work, and to help Tay with the learning process. *sigh* I hope _I_ can hold my temper when Tay starts getting nasty about doing the school work. I'd say that I hope Tay can hold hers, but at the same time Stephanie needs to get some idea of what kind of help Tay needs, and the only way that's going to happen is when Tay initially blows up in front of Stephanie. At the same time, of course, I'm hoping that simply having Stephanie here helps Tay calm the impulses to be mean when she's faced with something she doesn't want to do. And Stephanie DID say that she'll be taking Tay out and doing stuff as well, not just schoolwork here at the house. Which is FINE BY ME. *grin*

**********

Kinda ironic/funny (and yet, very very NOT funny at all), Thursday night, Scott and I were talking about the Recession/Depression we're in. He had noted how yet another TV commercial was promising some sort of aid plan for buying the cars they're all so desperate to sell, or the home improvement merchandise, or the vacation, or anything else you see on TV or hear on the radio. Seems like everybody's out to tell you how they can help you save money or get ahead with this recession. Anyway, I commented on the fact that just 5 short months ago, the government was still trying to tell us that there WASN'T a recession, that it was all a bunch of hooey, and that things would be all peachy keen. And now EVERYBODY sees that not only IS there a recession, but a lot of folks are expecting it to become worse and last longer than is being admitted to as yet by the government.

(There was a clip in a Time Mag. or maybe it was NewsWeek, not to long ago about Suze Ormond's predictions and advice for weathering the recession, and she claimed that she feels this could go on till 2015. That sounds LONG, but honestly more believeable than the other financial "experts" who are "expecting" a turn around by Dec. '09.)

Well anyway, Scott commented on how things around here still seem pretty good and his company (his INDIVIDUAL company, not the international group of companies as a whole, JUST the one here in town that Scott works for) actually made a 70+ million dollar profit last quarter. I reminded him that those profits will continue ONLY as long as the rest of the country and the rest of the world can afford to buy the goods that Scott's company makes. Admittedly, Scott's co. sells chemical blends to oil producers, and as long as the oil producers need these chemicals, Scott's company will continue to sell them. So it's NOT like it's based on the individual purchasing power of your every-day working stiff in Kentucky. BUT, when it gets to the point that the guy in Kentucky and 50 million countrymen just like him cannot afford to buy fuel for the house, then the oil companies will stop being able to buy the chemicals that Scott's company produces. THEN Scott's company will see some slack in their income. Scott was predicting that this would take a while.

Friday, they had a meeting that Scott said was almost funny, in that I'd "called it" accurately again. Turns out that the international group of companies has been directed that EVERY employee in their employ must take 2 weeks of leave-without-pay this year. The difference for Scott's company is that he and his coworkers are being given the choice as to HOW they want to take that leave. Thus far, the boss told Scott that he can take it all at once, or portion out one day at a time throughout the year, so long as it totals up to 10 days without pay in the course of the next year. Now mind you, that's gonna hurt, but not so bad as somebody else in a different branch of the company who is being forced to take 2 weeks without pay all at once. If Scott takes a day here, a day there, he can manage to keep his paychecks from getting so low that it hurts us. And for that matter, if he tries to take them this summer, we can have those slim paychecks during the time we'll hopefully need less electric and heat, resulting in smaller electric & fuel bills during the time when we've got less money. And that time can be used to do work around the house here, or gardening over at the inlaws, or even hunting and fishing. So, ultimately it's not a GREAT thing, but at least they've given Scott and coworkers the option to portion it out slowly. And Scott admits that as hard as that could his US, it's going to be a hell of a lot harder for some of his coworkers who're already having a hard time keeping their heads above water. (Thinking of Mike and Tasha who've got 4 kids and live in a tiny one-bedroom apartment because they cannot afford bigger. Tasha doesn't work, so that means 2 weeks of decreased pay for Mike will hit them harder than 2 weeks for Scott will hit us. Admittedly, that financial crush is a small part of the reason we stopped at 1 child, instead of having 4 of them. So part of it for us is luck, part of it is just good common sense in the use of birth control. *wry smile*)

**********

Here are a couple of recipes I tried this past week. DANG they were good!

Pork & Pinto Beans

1 pound dried pinto beans
1 boneless pork loin roast, 3 to 4 pounds (I think I used a shoulder instead.)
1 (14-1/2 oz) can stewed tomatoes (I used diced.)
5 medium carrots, chopped
4 celery ribs, chopped
1-1/2 c water
2 (4 oz) cans chopped green chilies
2 tsp chili powder (original recipe called for 2 TBSP, but I KNEW that'd be too hot for us, 2 teaspoons was perfect!)
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano (just used italian seasoning instead)
dash pepper
2 pkg corn tortilla chips or 30 (9-inch) flour tortillas (I used lime-flavored tortilla chips. YUM!)
Toppings: chopped green onions, sliced ripe olives, chopped tomatoes, sour cream and/or shredded cheddar cheese.

Place beans in a saucepan; add water tocover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil; boil for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat; cover and let stand for 1 hour. (Or, you could just soak them overnight without heating them first.)

Drain & rinse beans; discard liquid. Place roast in a 5 quart slow-cooker. In a bowl, combine beans, tomatoes, carrots, celery, water, chilies, and all the seasonings. Pour over roast. Cover and cook on high for 3 hours, reduce heat to low; cook 5 hours longer or until beans are tender.

Remove meat, remove as much fat as possible from meat and discard fat. Shred meat with two forks and return to slow cooker. Stir into bean & veggie mixture well and allow to heat through for about a half-hour again. With a slotted spoon, serve meat mixture over tortilla chips or rolled up in tortillas. Serve with toppings as desired. Makes 10 servings.

(This was delicious with the lime chips the first day, then reheated and served in tortilla shells for days afterwards. DO be careful of how much chili powder you add. As I said, the original recipe called for 2 Tablespoons, but knowing our limits I only used 2 teaspoons instead. That was deliciously spicy without being overbearingly so. I cannot imagine what the original 2 Tbsp would have been like, I only know that I would not have been able to eat it. *wry smile*)

*****

Baked Rigatoni with Ham and Mushrooms

1/3 oz dried porcini or 6 oz fresh button mushrooms
2 Tbsp unlated butter, if using fresh mushrooms, plus 6 Tbsp
12 oz dry rigatoni
1/4 c all-purpose flour
2-1/2 c milk
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
4 oz Fontina or Swiss cheese, cut into julienne strips (I actually used over 8 oz!)
6 oz ham, roughly chopped (I used a full pound.)

If using porcini mushrooms, place in a bowl with lukewarm water and soak until softened. Drain, squeeze out excess water and chop finely; set aside. If using fresh mushrooms, cut off and discard the stems, wipe clean with towel and thinly slice. In a frying pan over medium heat, melt 2 Tbsp butter. Add the sliced fresh mushrooms and saute for 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

In a large pot bring 5 quarts of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the rigatoni and cook for about 6 minutes; they should be very al dente. (I would cook actually about 2 minutes longer as we found them a little TOO al dente, even after baking with the cheese and the sauce and everything.) Drain the pasta and transfer it to a bowl (or right back into the cooking pot, off the heat). Add 2-1/2 Tbsp of the butter and toss well.

Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. (180 deg. C). In a large saucepan, melt 2-1/2 Tbsp butter over medium heat. Add the flour and stir till smooth, about 2 minutes. (Again, I'd double this part as we would have liked the pasta a good bit more saucy.) Stirring constantly, gradually add the milk. Continue to stir until it thickens and is smooth and creamy, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the mushrooms, sprinkle with nutmeg and stir well. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Grease a 8x12 inch baking dish with the remaining butter. (I used my 13x9x2 inch dish.) Arrange half of the rigatoni in the dish. Sprinkle half of the cheese and the ham over the top, and spoon on 1/2 of the sauce. Repeat the layers in the same order, ending with sauce. Place in oven and bake until heated through and bubbly, about 20 minutes. (I covered with foil to retain some of the moisture while baking. So, I popped it back in for another 2 or 3 minutes under the broiler to brown up the cheese a bit, after removing the foil at the very end.) Serve at once! Serves 6.

(As I said, I used considerably more ham and cheese than was called for, simply to seemingly have a bit sprinkled over. I cannot imagine how 4 oz of cheese could be divided over all this pasta and actually seem to provide much cheesy-ness. Next time I make this, I will also double the sauce portion, as we could have used considerably more sauce to moisten the pasta more. And the pasta would have been better either with more sauce to moisten the noodles better in baking, or to boil them more in the first place, so they weren't quite so Al dente. Scott and I liked this recipe pretty well. Tay didn't care for it overly much, though she admitted that it may just have been because the noodles were still a little too firm for her taste.)

*****

It's funny, for dinner tonight we're having grilled steak, baked potatoes and sauteed mushrooms. I think I've finally come to the point where I officially kinda like mushrooms. This will be the third time this week that we've had mushrooms. If I'm not careful, Scott and Tay may get burnt out. *wry smile* Growing up, my sisters and I all hated mushrooms with a passion. I started, little over a year ago, trying them now and again, trying to learn to like them. I've succeeded for the most part. (Prefer them either raw, or really nicely browned up with some onion. Lightly sauteed like in the Rigatoni thing above isn't QUITE my favorite way to eat them.) My sister Shelli is starting on the same attempt, but has only just begun making mushrooms for herself in the effort to learn to like them. I DO think it's quite true that it takes about 15 tries before you really learn to like something. (And I'm sure there are some things that some people may never learn to like. I'm pretty well off on the idea of trying insect anything, myself.) And Kori, to the best of my knowledge, is still very very opposed to the thought of actually consuming anything that contains mushrooms of any sort. So, yet again...... I'm least picky! *grin*

(This was always something of a gloating point for me, growing up. That of the 3 of us I was the most willing to try something new and eat my veggies. Brussels-sprouts, spinach, zucchini, onions, raw tomato, asparagus, broccoli WITHOUT cheese sauce, now mushrooms...... I think Shelli likes all of the above except the mushrooms now, but it took her well into college before she'd eat them. Kori still won't eat them at all, as far as I know. But me..... I love them all! Ok, LIKE them all at least. *wink & grin*)

Those are the only 2 new recipes I tried this week. I actually don't have any new recipes lined up for this coming week. So y'all will have to wait a bit before I post something new. *wry smile*

**********

We got new name-tags at work. Apparently nametags boost a feeling of community in customer service jobs. Our library director (great guy! really!!) read a study that showed this and decided that it was time we all wore name-tags. In the past, we pages have been instructed to wear tags that simply indicated we were library staff. Ironic how few patrons actually paid attention to them. *wry smile* (I cannot tell you how many times somebody would ask "do you work here?" even though I had the staff-badge hanging around my neck.) The old staff-badges were ugly as well. (Simply our library card with "Staff" written in the section where a patron would sign their name.) And we all had to wear them on these horrible elastic-necklace things. UGH! For me, the card kept getting cracked as I'd lean against it while checking out materials to patrons out at the desk. It hung at just the right level across my chest that the card would crack over the course of a couple of weeks. By the time I broke 3 of them, I just stopped wearing them at all. I actually bought some t-shirts with our library emblem just so that I could cry off from wearing the staff-badge all the time. (Hell, if I'm wearing a library shirt, that should be indicator enough that I AM a library employee. Especially if I'm found out in the stacks putting books away. *smile*)

Anyway, the new name-tags are non-negotiable. However we were given the option of lanyard, magnetic pin-backing, or pincher clip. I opted for the magnetic pin back. And we were given the option of one of 6 different pictures alongside our name and rank. I picked a brightly colored stack of books. (Ahhhh, clip-art!) Then I brought it home and "prettied it up" a bit more with a couple of stickers of dragonflies and flowers. *grin* Hope the boss doesn't have any problem with that! And now, all the folks who come through my line can know my name. *sigh*

*****

In that same line, there's a guy who comes in regularly who used to work with my dad. This guy started hanging around Dad about the same time I had Tay. At one point he came over to the house very shortly after Tay was born (and I was still living at home) and caught me in my night-clothes and was rather creepy in how he looked at me and how he looked at Tay. Since then, he's said and done other things that just gave me the creeps. (Not the least of which was last Spring when he and Dad were at the Farmer's market, and as Tay and I gave my dad a hug, this guy asked if HE could have a hug too.)

Anyway, so a couple of weeks ago he came in while I was at the desk and started getting on my case as to Dad's where-abouts. I told him that Dad was still in Spokane and advised him to get ahold of my dad himself, as he has Dad's email. He commented that my dad never returned his emails, and started to get nasty with ME while asking why that was, if he (this guy) had done something to tick off my Dad. Quite honestly, I've NEVER liked this guy. He's creepy and rude. And I only tolerated him for my dad's sake. Now that Dad's left state, I'd be just as well never seeing this guy again. But he won't leave me along, continually trying to strike up conversations that frequently result in him quizzing me as to my dad's every move. (As if I'm my dad's keeper?!?! I love my dad, but I'm NOT responsible for his whereabouts.)

So, finally I talked to Dad a couple of days back and told him that this guy had been getting rather disruptive at work and would Dad PLEASE email the guy and get him off MY case. Even if I happened to be friendly with this guy, for him to be taking up so much of my time at work, and causing a scene as well, is not something I need. Dad kinda grumbled about how he hasn't kept in touch with ANYBODY from here, except ONE other former coworker, and myself. Evidently Dad hates writing enough that he figures even emails to "friends" from "home" are too much. Anyway, I pressured Dad till he agreed that he'd get in touch with this one guy and hopefully get him to knock it off in harassing me. I also kinda let my dad know that this guy was NOT somebody I felt like keeping in touch with myself, so please either tell the guy to find other friends, or to keep in touch himself. Hopefully that will be the end of this creep getting in my face.

(Wow..... I cannot help looking at this from the point of somebody who doesn't know me in person and getting the impression that maybe I'm just being mean to this guy. But that really isn't it at all. There have been very occasional people throughout my life who've set off alarm-vibes in my gut. I don't mean to imply that they ARE predators of some sort, but that my gut tells me these are NOT people I want to be associating with. This guy is one of those few people. I try not to make rush judgements as to people based on their gender or color or religion, so please don't think that this is some snap-judgement based on his gender. But honestly, people have intuition for a reason, and I try to listen to mine when it tells me to avoid a person. As I said, this guy has set off all kinda intuitional alarms since I first met him. I've met other of my Dad's friends who are perfectly fine and whom I've got little problem with other than basic differences in opinion about political issues. So, it's not that at all either. I don't know..... I don't want to give anybody any impression that I'm a nasty judgemental type person. Just, this guy creeps me out in major ways. Anyway.....)

*****

Well, I'd better finish this up. Sounds like Scott just went out to start up the grill. Better go get my potatoes and mushrooms going.

Have a Blessed Day!

What a Grumpy Brat!

2009-03-21T22:03:00.000-07:00

And no, actually..... I'm not talking about my child this time. *chuckle*

There's a clerk at the grocery store, let's call her "Amy" shall we? Amy tends to have a VERY bad attitude. Now, to a degree, Amy reminds me quite a bit of myself. Short, pudgy, not blessed with a terribly pretty face by nature. (Hey, I know I'm not homely or dog ugly, but I'm also honest enough to know that I don't have a typically "pretty" face.) But..... It's amazing how a smile and a happy attitude can change the appearance of even one who's not naturally blessed with good looks. This girl, Amy, has a seemingly permanent sour expression and nasty attitude toward her customers.

For the longest time I've really attempted to give her the benefit of the doubt about the possibility that she's simply had a bad day. But, EVERY day? Every time I go into the grocery store (anywhere from 1 to 4 times a week, though I try to limit it to 1 trip a week), Amy is snarly, and scowling, and all in all considerably less than pleasant. Hell, I even know that a happy upbeat customer can help improve the day of a tired-on-their-feet clerk, and I try to be that customer just as I try to be that "happy, upbeat clerk" when _I'M_ on the job. It's not always possible, just as everybody else, I have my off days. But no matter how many times I've stepped into Amy's line, and smiled at her, and inquired as to how HER day is going, she looks at me, rolls her eyes, picks up her "phone" and calls for a bagging clerk to come help take care of my groceries. I ask as to her day, and she glares at me and DOES NOT ask me how my day has gone, much less respond to my initial question. She never wishes me a good day as I receive my receipt from her (as is protocall, from my understanding), much less calls me by my name. (Again, from what I've been told, it's pretty well required to address the customer along the lines of "Thank you Mr./Mrs. A. and have a good afternoon." when handing the customer their receipt.) Not ONCE in the couple of year's I've been using this grocery store weekly, has Amy addressed me by name, much less wished me a good afternoon.

And today, when I dared ask (because I didn't see it totalled up) if I'd received my bag-credits (for using cloth bags instead of plastic), she actually snarled at me and snapped that yeah, she'd given me the dang credit. *shaking head*

Enough is enough. Next time I go to the store, I'm going to corner Sue or Donna (the two Store Managers) and make a complaint about Amy's attitude. I try not to complain, because I don't want to be known as the griping customer. I go with the attitude that this is my neighbourhood and I want to enjoy the people I see regularly, and I want to enjoy seeing me when I come in. But, enough is enough. And, at the same time, I think I'm going to put in a good word on behalf of both Casey and Kathryn. Casey was terribly sweet today to keep an eye on my full cart while I ran to the restroom, and Kathryn always has a smile and spends a couple of minutes letting me enjoy the flowers (especially the hyacinths!) at the floral department. Most of the people at the store are dolls! I hate that it's come to the point where I feel I need to complain about one of them.

Would YOU complain? After years of being ignored and snarled at by this clerk, but giving her a good attitude in return, is it WORTH complaining after being snapped at, when you've let everything else slide over the past couple of years?

*****

Tay's going to see the Child Psychologist through the Raven school this next Thursday! Apparently 2 of the 3 categories on her IEP (individual education plan) test, taken last Friday, came back normal, but the Math category was low enough that it's requiring her to now see the Child Psychologist to be tested for learning disabilities.

YEAH!!!! I cannot tell you HOW happy it makes me that she actually tested LOW enough to qualify for the further testing. I was afraid she'd breeze through it all, and not qualify at all, and we'd be back to having to shell out the $$ to take her to a child psychologist on our own time and money. We don't have that kind of money, so it's a real blessing that her test scores, in even the one category, were low enough that she qualified for the testing through the school program!

This also means that she'll qualify for an IEP, which is basically special ed, even if she DOESN'T test positive for something along the lines of ADD or Dyslexia. And that need for Special Ed. almost guarantees her a spot in the YESS program next year. Combine the Special Ed. needs with the fact that she's seeing a therapist for behavioral/mood issues, and there's no reason why she shouldn't be in the YESS program next year.

Again, I cannot begin to express how big a relief this is. I know it's not perfect, that Tay is being diagnosed with learning disorders and in need of Special Ed. and a therapist and all........ But, for how badly things had gotten around here (how bad they can be, on days), this is a MAJOR blessing! And a major load of stress off my shoulders!!!

I WILL update as I get more info.

*****

Things did NOT improve at work this past week. Though it was rather comical that at one point the Kiss Ass approached me to gripe about the "mixed signals" she's getting from the boss: "yelled at for NOT asking a question, then getting yelled at when I DID ask the question." Her comment to me was about how danged frustrating this is. It was all I could do not to get snarky with her, considering she is an almost daily source of frustration for me and several of my coworkers. (As it was, I kept my tongue and responded only that yes, I understand frustration on the job all too well!)

I got in on Monday to find that the Kiss Ass had put together a partial cart of cds to be put away by somebody else, and had found other 'projects' to work on instead of ACTUALLY shelving those cd's herself. (Should I refer to her simply as K.A? or would that be confusing considering those are MY initials. *grin* Actually, her REAL initials are L.G.) Anyway, this is a tactic she's taken for MONTHS, then she shoves the cart out of the way where it will go ignored (by her, and everybody else) for DAYS before I, or my coworker CM, or the new girl Em. or Helen (the previously mentioned "slow" coworker with mental & physical disabilities) take that same cart out to put away those cds. Inevitably, we find that the cart has been inappropriately put together, resulting in more work for the one actually putting it away, seeing as you wind up having to walk from one side of the CD section to the other to put away improperly organized cds. (Mind you, the CD section at my library consists of probably 20,000 cds and is a couple dozen feet long by several feet wide.)

Anyway, LG simply shoved this cart full of CDs out of the way, on Monday, and left it to be put away by somebody else. CM, CF, Em. and myself are all "wise" to LG's ways, and do our best to NOT shelve these cds unless there's really no other choice. (Helen will take the cart just to avoid putting her own cart of books or cds in order. But it takes her HOURS to do what one of us can do in a manner of minutes, and she invariably packs the CDs into their spots, not always accurately, and often without shifting to make room for the new arrivals among the CDs that were already in their spots. This means Helen makes a bigger mess that CM, CF, Em. or myself must later clean up, along with our regular work.) Anyway, Tuesday afternoon, LG arrived for her evening shift, found the cart STILL not put away, and proceeded to load it up with even MORE CDs that had come in during the day on Tuesday. Then, LG stuffed that same cart, now double full of CDs, back out of the way.

Wednesday, I got in and found that LG hadn't bothered to touch the cart overnight, so I approached KO (the Lead Page) and complained that LG was creating work for the rest of us by filling up this cart with CDs, but never taking them out herself to put away. I made the point that Boss Lady had told us we needed to be better about putting our own ordered carts away, rather than expecting somebody else to take them out for us, and yet 3 days had now passed since LG had "organized" that cart, and yet she hadn't touched it to put it away. *wry smile* KO actually realized what I said was true, and said she'd talk to LG about it. It'll be interesting this coming week, to see if anything WAS said to LG, and if she puts anymore CD carts together.

It's funny, typing it all out, this seems so petty. I can only guess how petty it must seem to you all, my friends. But, it really becomes a hassle when this is a constant issue at work, and never dealt with by the Leaders/Bosses who are paid to deal with such negligence. (And, the CD carts are only a small portion of the things LG does to avoid doing actual shelving, while pawning things off on the rest of us, either overtly or covertly.)

*****

Let's see..... Meals this week?

Didn't really try anything new that I can share. Everything else I made (quick & easy Macaroni salad, without the tuna or shrimp this time; French Dip Sandwiches; Beef-Stuffed Sopaipillas....) I have shared before.

This coming week, however, I should have some new recipes to share, including a baked Rotini casserole, and a slow-cooker Pork & Beans dish.

But, nothing to share of any worth today. Sorry.

*****

The hockey tournament is over, for Tay's "Other" team. *grin* This is the team she was playing with as "second Goalie". The "main" Goalie faked an injury on both this morning's and this afternoon's games, in order to give Tay a chance in the net. This morning, she spent almost half the second period, and all the 3rd period, in the goal net. In this afternoon's game, the "main" goalie "aggrivated" the "injury" he'd gotten this morning, and Tay played the third period only. *grin* During her 2 and a half periods in the net, not a single goal was scored. the goals scored on our team were done during the time the "main" goalie was in the net. I shouldn't feel happy about this, because it IS a team effort and NOT just dependent on the skill of the goalie, but it does make me smile a bit on behalf of Tay, that she didn't let a single goal through.

All in all, though, our team lost. 3 of our 4 games were losses, with only this last game a win. The last game was 8 to 1 on our behalf. We took second-to-last place in the tournament, but at least Tay got to take part in the tournament, unlike her other team (the all-girls team) which is considered a "developmental" team and wasn't even invited to participate.

Along with the fact that Tay's IceBreaker team is a "developmental team" and not a "comp" team, it's also a team consisting of girls from 11 to 14 years old, and as such has members both too young and too old to participate in either 12U or 14U categories. FWIW, "Comp" is short for "competition" and implies a traveling team that plays a majority of games. A "Developmental" team is a NON-traveling team that plays games mainly for improvement of skills, and whose ice-times consist mostly of practices. A "Developmental" team is usually made up of kids who've only just begun in the sport, and don't have the years of experience that Tay, Jackie, and Caitlyn all do.

Jackie & Caitlyn being two of Tay's teammates who've been skating -and playing- with Tay for nearly as long as Tay's been skating. But, Tay has MORE ice time than ANY of the other girls, as she started playing officially a week after her 5th birthday, the rest of the girls had to wait one more year to start on a team. (And, we started Tay skating when she was 2, where as I know that most of the other girls didn't start till at least 4 years old. In this aspect as well, Tay has more experience than most other kids her age.)

So, no win for our team in the State tournament, but Tay got to at least participate and play with a team that had a shot at winning (and DID win) a game! And, though she wasn't supposed to, the Coach let her keep her Fury team jersey, and at the end of today's game they all signed each other's season jerseys. Even a couple of the boys who were initially rather antagonistic toward Tay finished off the tournament regarding Tay as their teammate, and several of them expressed a hope that she's on THEIR team next year. *grin* (The goalie, included! Said he'd like a fellow goalie to switch off games with, so they could EACH play out as desired.) It's funny watching Tay interact with the boys, as well. She can physically keep up with most of them, and is more physically capable than a couple of them. She interacts more comfortably with the boys, more at home talking about sports & video games, than she was at interacting with most of the girls on the IceBreaker's team. Most of the girls are already (even at 11 years old!) thinking about make-up and clothes and boys and making out. Tay's still at a stage at which she really can't stand the thought of boys beyond a friend aspect. It actually makes her very angry when teased (by the unititiated, as the rest of us know better) about having a boyfriend. She blows a gasket. So to sit in the locker-room all season listening to her teammates go ga-ga over the boys they were "going out" (or making out) with made Tay rather pissy. But man...... These boys she was playing with..... She had a blast! (At least, once they got past viewing each other as opponents, and started viewing each other as teammates.)

A funny little tidbit..... Mom, you remember JoBrett Trout, I'm sure? Well, his baby brother Jared was on this team Tay just competed with. Tay and Jared got along fairly well. I told Tay how JoBrett and I were friends back in First grade. I found it rather comical that now my daughter was playing hockey with (and, against, for most of the rest of the season) JB's baby-bro.

For those who don't know, this JoBrett of whom I speak went to First grade with me, and we were the best of friends back then. Then I got sent to a different Private school, and by the time JB and I met again, we couldn't stand each other. JB's got 10 sisters spaced rather haphazardly between himself (as oldest) and Jared (as youngest). That is, 12 kids, 10 of whom are girls. The fact that myself and my daughter would be friends with these two brothers seems rather funny. I wonder if JB's mom has told JB that his little brother is playing hockey with the daughter of the girl who used to be JB's best friend. I wonder, if she has, how JB reacted to that little bit of news. I haven't seen JB since a run-in back in HS. (At which point I STILL couldn't stand him. I wonder if I'd get along with him now that we're both adults?)

*****

Last little bit, the weather has been rather hit-or-miss lately. It's been sunny and warm, but so windy you can't stand to be out in the sun for very long. The temps have been dropping down to -20 and colder at night, then warming up to +20 or +25 during the day, with the sun out. Then come nightfall, it'll cool down again and the wind will pick up the pace a bit more. Climate shift???? I don't remember March being this windy when I was growing up around here. Then again, where I grew up, there were more trees than we've got in my current neighbourhood. But even so, it always seemed that August was the windy month, not March. It always struck me as funny as a child, that old verse "March Winds bring April Showers, April Showers bring May Flowers." It struck me as funny then, because it never seemed to me as if it were true. I wondered why it couldn't be, as it'd be great fun to be like the pictures and spend the month of March flying kites, then April wandering around in rain gear and galoshes, and get to enjoy flowers in May. Now it really has become that way. I can only assume that we are seeing some climate shift and that our climate has become slightly more temperate.

Might also account for the ability of some of my hill-dwelling "neighbours" to grow apples and pears and cherries which were NEVER local crops during my growing-up years. I cannot say that I find that aspect of Climate Shift regretable. Hell, if we have the ability to grow apples and pears and cherries around here, I would be thrilled! Central Alaska has the tendency only to produce berries with any regularity. Chokecherries and thumb-nail-sized crabapples are 2 exceptions to that "berries only" tendency, but even these are "transplants" and not native to Alaska. For long term ability to find locally grown fruit, I'll not be sorry at all if Global Warming/Climate shift allows us to grow more fruit around here. I know that sounds awful, and over all I don't want anybody to think that I REALLY mean I'd like to see the Polar Bears go extinct in exchange for apples, but you must understand that I CAN see some definite benefits to these fruits growing locally. (It makes me wonder if perhaps Maples, Oaks and other temperate-climate trees would also grow around here.)

As far as my own gardening efforts, I haven't made any except to receive my seeds. The FIL and I have talked about it a little, and he's going to see if he can't scrounge up some grow-lights this year, to help our seedlings along. But we haven't actually made any efforts toward starting any seeds yet. I also was mentioning to Scott that I'd really love to find a way to add a chokecherry or crabapple tree to our property, or perhaps some berry bushes. Ideally I'd love to put a British style hedge of mixed berry bushes and small trees along the bottom and back of our yard. (Or, perhaps a chain-link fence along the back border of our yard to grow beans and peas against.) But, I've often thought that having some hedge-type border for our yard would be nice. Now if only I could persuade Scott. *grin*

Oh, and did you see the news that Michelle Obama took part in breaking ground at the White House for a kitchen garden? She had a bunch of school kids come in for the ground-breaking, and they're going to be back in a couple of weeks to help with the first plantings, and later for picnics using some of the produce, if what I recall of the article is correct. This was from our local paper this morning. I found that rather happy news. If nothing else, this shows that the Obamas are willing to take the advice of some of their regular, every-day consistuents as I know myself and a great many other gardeners emailed President O. with the need to set a good example and put in a garden there at the White House. There has even been a few rather comical compilations of cartoon drawings and the tune "This Land is Your Land" in regards to persuading Pres. O. and family to re-start the Victory Garden efforts in our country. Along with fruit trees and veggies, they're also installing a couple of bee hives! What a fantastic example!

Anyway....... I guess that's enough meandering and musing for today.

Have a Blessed Day!

Just more "This and That"

2009-03-15T12:06:00.000-07:00

Well, as usual, not a whole lot of really interesting stuff from this past week.

I didn't get Tay's grades turned in Monday because I didn't have them finished yet, but that's ok because I found out that our teacher was going to be gone till THIS coming Wednesday for Spring Break. Eh, whatever. Suffice it to say, Tay's grades are still going very poorly. Her geography worksheets were well done (most of them), but it's not going to raise her 51% in history enough to be a passing grade. (Geography counts for less points over all than History, so it may raise it to about a 61 or 62%, but that won't be high enough for me to consider her "passing". I'm sorry, a low D is NOT a passing grade, as far as I'm concerned.) As it stands now, she's repeating 5th grade. And _I'M_ turning out to be the "MEAN" parent because of it, again. Scott continues to tell her that maybe if we bust our rears for the final two quarters, she'll still pass. Maybe if she does summer school. Maybe this, maybe that, maybe the other....... And yet, I continue to tell him that failing the first two quarters (primarily because of poor grades on tests, or not being willing to spend the time really thinking through the answers on her notes) means that even GOOD grades on Third and Fourth Quarters works will not be ENOUGH to make up for her failing the first two quarters. NOT to mention that we're SO far behind on school work right now that I don't think it's possible to even fit the 4th quarter work into the school year.

We've got Tay lined up to start into the group therapy and activity program at FCSA. She'll start having interactions with a "Group Coordinator" (who's also a therapist/councelor) and a Youth Councelor. The Group Coordinator leads the group therapy sessions, and takes the kids on their activity outtings. It sounds like the groups are limited to 5 or 6 kids, altogether. So there are multiple Group Coordinators. Tay was assigned to this nice, athletic guy named George. And each of the Coordinator has a couple of Student Councilors who work in conjunction with them and each Student Councilor has a couple of children that they are "responsible" for and really interact with on a day-to-day basis. Tay's Councelor is named Stephanie, though we haven't met her yet. (She was on training this past Thursday when we saw L. and met George.) It sounds like, when Tay gets really frustrated here at home, or I get really frustrated with Tay and need somebody to help "talk her down", one or the other of us can call this Stephanie, and she'll help manage Tay and almost be like a "big sister/mentor" to Tay. I'm really interested to learn more of how this works, though. I look forward to having a chance to ask Stephanie, George and L. more questions.

(I realize I'm using only one initial for L., but am calling Stephanie and George by their given names. I figure that as both Stephanie and George are relatively common names, but L's name ISN'T very common, I'll use her first initial but their first names.)

I have Tay's therapist's support AND the Special Ed. Teacher's support on holding her back, and yet that doesn't count for a lot when Scott keeps telling Tay otherwise, and makes ME out to be the "mean" one. I get really sick and tired of always being the one who is put in a position of making her follow the rules.

Scott's pissed me off a few times lately, as well. Like last night. On our drive home from the inlaws, Scott said that he'd like for us to go to the Ice Park this year. I asked him "When?" He kept saying "I don't know, one of these days" and I kept asking "well, WHEN?" I finally told him that he needs to stop being so abstract in his plans, and tell me a definite time, because the Ice Park would only be around for another week or so. (In fact, the last day it will be open this year is March 24th.) He told me to stop using such big words, he didn't understand what I meant. What does "abstract in his plans" mean???? Excuse me? "Abstract?" What the hell do you think "abstract" means?!?!? It means the opposite of "definite, defined". It means "vague", it means "loosely organized". I told him that I WAS NOT using big words, and he SHOULD know what "abstract plans" means, and he got all snippy with me again for using words HE doesn't understand. AND he gets mad at me when I tell Tay to look up a word in the dictionary, instead of giving her some watered down definition. He undermines me and tells Tay that she doesn't have to know what the word means. GIVE ME A FREAKING BREAK! So, I snapped at him and told him I'm not going to DUMB DOWN my vocabulary just because he doesn't feel the need to learn what words mean or look them up in a dictionary, and that goes for the kiddo as well. I've ALWAYS had a reasonably sized vocabulary with the ability to use "big" words, and I'm NOT going to quit just because he decides it makes him feel dumb.

Case in point, I used the word "Emulate" last year, and he thought I was talking about "masturbate". That was very funny. The neighbour couldn't understand why Scott got so up in arms after I mentioned that the little neighbour boy liked to try to "emulate" Tay. But, it ticked me off, as well. I told him "emulate" doesn't mean anything bad, it simply means "to copy", and Scott started going off on how I should have just said "so-and-so tries to COPY Tay", instead of using the word "emulate" in the first place. Why the hell should I have to dumb myself down for him or anybody else?!?! That's one of the many aspects of what is wrong with our society, those who don't want to spend the time looking up new words (or facts) and therefore learn something new, expect those of us who DO spend that time learning, to dumb ourselves down for them. That's not how I work, that's not how I plan to START working. If he didn't like the fact that I tend toward trying to be smart, instead of enjoying being a complete idiot, then he shouldn't have married me. And I'm not going to change and try to be dumb just for him, 12 years into our marriage. *grumble* I'm just so tired of this kind of attitude.

And now Tay's picking up on it as well. "Why didn't you just say that in the first place?!?!" I DID, you just don't have the desire to brush up on YOUR vocabulary a bit to understand that the word I used means the same as another, smaller word, that's not MY problem. You don't wanna be dumb, then DON'T be dumb! Look it up! Explore, be curious. But don't expect me to "dumb down" for you.

*****

In a similar vein, we had a "Page Meeting" this past week. That is, Boss Lady scheduled for we Pages to sit down in a 2 hour meeting together and go over some new details we needed instruction on, as well as covering details on items that were being dropped. A week prior to the meeting, Boss Lady put a request out that if we had ANY points that needed to be discussed during our meeting (or, for the Circulation Lib. Assistants in their meeting this coming week), we needed to PUT THEM IN WRITING and give them to her in advance of OUR meeting.

Ok, at least 3 of us (I'm guessing it was 4 or 5 of us, really) did this. I know I did, and my coworkers CM and CF did. The three of us also made copious mention of the patronizing attitude and lazy behavior of "the Kiss Ass". We tried NOT to name names, but we made it VERY clear as to whom we were talking about in our concerns that this person was A) spending WAY too much time doing her "special projects" to the exclusion of any regular page duties such as shelving or shelf-reading; B) failing to get to the desk or to her back-up shift on time, resulting in time lost by the person who she was supposed to be replacing; C) her attitude toward the rest of us Pages (including our Lead Page, who's been at the library for over 30 years) has become incredibly bossy and patronizing.

The Boss Lady started addressing these "issues" (and there were a couple that dealt with the "Lead Page" as well as another Page that has been on the library staff for 30 years, both of whom have stopped pulling their weight even to the fullest of THEIR abilities in the past couple years) by saying how sorry she was to find out that "so many of you are so sad at this job, that I LOVE my job, and I'd assumed that the rest of you did as well." In answer to the request that 3 of us made for more follow-up on accountability in regards to shelving, shelf-reading, and organizing carts, Boss Lady told us that "you're only accountable to yourself, at the end of the day. There are 11 different personalities, levels of capability, work ethics at work here, and to expect ONE of you to be as accountable as the next is NOT possible. At the end of the day, if you can look in the mirror and think that YOU did a good job at work, then THAT is what matters!"

*shaking head* As my coworker, CM, emailed me later, it was like reading an expanded version of the quote from _Animal Farm_ "all pigs are created equal, some pigs are more equal than others." Because that's EXACTLY what we were being told, we're all Pages "equally", but some of us are expected to work harder and be more accurate and productive than other Pages. And those of us that ARE expected to work harder, be more productive, and more accurate in our job, well...... If we're NOT, then we're obviously ONLY letting ourselves down. *shaking head* No, quite honestly, I can say I'm NOT letting myself down on the job, even on days when I'm not feeling completely present and accounted for, and just don't "pull my weight" as I can on other days. I come home those days and feel completely fine with myself, knowing that this is not a NORMAL condition, and I can go in another day and bust my rump, but occasionally it just happens that I can't "pull my weight" as thoroughly. However, those Pages who come in and give it an all-over half-assed attempt and just don't want to work because they couldn't care less....... It's not about MY ability or inability to pull my own weight, but why am I to be expected to NOT have any cruddy days, when this other Page is allowed to have EVERY day be one where they don't pull their own weight?!?! Why am I getting chewed out on a day when I just can't do it completely, and yet this other person is allowed to have that lack of "with it" at all times?!?! Pardon me for thinking that this is a cop-out on Boss Lady's part in order to get out of having to ADDRESS actual issues.

On top of that, Boss Lady seemingly ignored most of our concerns about the "Kiss Ass", except the one in which that Page is seemingly, permanently, incapable of getting to her desk and/or back-up shift on time. (That came down to who's getting paid for what hours on the job, and if that Page was off in her hours, it threw other people off in THEIR hours and messes up our Time-cards. THAT is not allowed. Therefore, it was addressed and dealt with. The other issues that come down to "personality" and personal capabilities, were blown off completely.)

CM and I decided that we'll give it a week or two, see if things are improved. If they do not, we're going to each print out a second copy of the list of concerns and complaints that we gave Boss Lady, and we're going to take them to our Union Representative. We're trying to talk CF (the third Page whom we know handed in a list of concerns to Boss Lady) and one of the casuals (who may not qualify for Union attention, but at least can verify our complaints and be a witness to our concerns) to go with us to talk to the Union Rep. Things just cannot stay the way they have at work, and if Boss Lady refuses to do anything about it, then we go over her head. And as Boss Lady's Boss was in on the meeting (and was asked to read over our written memos as well, and didn't add or subtract anything from Boss Lady's schpeal), if Boss Lady's Boss doesn't do SOMETHING in the positive about addressing these complaints, then it IS time to go over their heads to the Union Rep.

Edited to add: CM let me know via email that she actually talked to the Union Rep. yesterday after stewing over our blow-off by Boss Lady, and was given a talk that essentially said that there is NOTHING we can do about Boss Lady loading the Kiss Ass up with extra jobs, but that we CAN approach Boss Lady and "Using _I_ statements, explain that would like to be considered for any future "special projects" that arise." *sigh* CM seemed to think that this is the best we're going to get as far as somebody reigning the Kiss Ass in on her attitude and refusal to actually do the other duties in the job description. *rolling eyes*

**********

Anyway, onto better (tasting?) subjects. Here are a couple of recipes that I made this week. NEW recipes, that is. I'd never tried either of these before, and they both turned out very well. (And, neither of them as I post them here are the original recipes as I read them, but rather are how I've changed them to suit my needs.)

Creamy Corn Chowder

2 chicken bouillion cubes
1 c hot water
5 bacon strips
1/2 c chopped onion
1 (4 oz) can chopped green chilies
1/4 c flour
3 c milk or half & half
1-1/2 c frozen corn kernels
1 can cream style corn
1-1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
tobasco sauce to taste

Fry bacon to crisp, remove to a paper towel to drain & cool. Set aside. Fry onion in bacon grease till translucent. Add flour and stir till smooth(ish) and the flour starts to brown a bit. Gradually stir in milk and water. Bring to a simmer. Add in bouillion cubes, seasonings, corn and chilies. Simmer 10 minutes or till heated through. Season lightly with tobasco sauce as desired. Sprinkle with crumbled bacon just before serving.

(The original recipe uses green bell pepper that is sauteed along with the onion, and forgoes the canned chopped green chilies. Also, rather than tobasco sauce, it calls for a bit of basil. I didn't have any green bell pepper or basil in the house, so I went slightly spicy instead of savory as the original recipe led toward.) This recipe turned out very good and Scott said he'd consider this as an alternative to my clam chowder, which he also loves.

*****

Rye/Wheat Bread

3 c all-purpse white flour
1-2/3 c rye flour
2-1/3 c whole wheat flour (You could just use 7 to 8 cups of all-purpose flour as is called for in the original recipe, but this mix turned out VERY well for me.)
2 c warmed whey (from making some yogurt cheese, the whey is the liquid that drains off the yogurt as you've got it in a cheese-cloth lined strainer. It's very good for a person, supposedly. Plain water could be used instead, or even milk.)
1/3 c sugar (original recipe calls for 1 whole cup sugar)
1/2 c melted butter
1/4 tsp salt (the whey is salty, so I only used 1/4 tsp regular salt. Otherwise, up the salt to 1-1/2 tsp)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 Tbsp active dry yeast

Stir together flour, sugar, and yeast. Make a well in the center, stir in warmed whey, butter and eggs. Mix all together, beginning kneading before sprinkling in remaining salt and carefully kneading that in.

Knead till elastic. Place dough back in greased bowl, and turn over a couple of times to grease top of dough. Cover bowl with dampened towel, and set in warm spot to rise for about 2 hours.

Turn out to table or counter and punch down. Form into 3 loaves and place in greased loaf pans. (I could actually have made 2 larger loaves, but I wound up with 3 smaller loaves. White flour, or even whole wheat flour, rises better than rye does.) Cover with damp towel again, and allow to rise for 1 to 1-1/2 hour or until about doubled. Bake at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes. Brush with melted butter as soon as removed from oven. Cool in pans about 5 minutes, then turn onto racks to continue cooling.

*****

Tonight's menu is individual meat loaves (got 5 of them from 1 pound of ground beef and 1 pound of pork sausage) and Au Gratin Potatoes. I NEVER follow the same recipe for meat loaf twice, so your best bet would be to find one you like, but be sure to add a Tbsp of horseradish to whatever meat loaf recipe you use, as it really enhances the flavor of the meat, without being actually able to taste the horseradish. (Unless you LIKE to taste the horseradish, in which case, by all means use more than 1 Tbsp.)

I'm also going to be making southern style turnip greens with dinner tonight. But that's easy, just sautee some chopped onion in reserved bacon grease. (I keep a bit of bacon grease in a jar reserved just for that, in my fridge. It's great for sauteeing onions for southern style greens, and sometimes just for adding a bit of bacon flavor to things you want to fry up a bit.) Anyway, once the onions are translucent, add in your canned or frozen greens and simmer up for a while. (I'm using greens from my garden this year, frozen till now.) Season with a bit of cider vinegar, just before serving, and serve with crumbled bacon, if you've got some on hand.

Anyway, here's the Au Gratin Potatoes recipe. I've never made this before. I have no idea how it'll turn out.

Au Gratin Potatoes

8 c cubed potatoes (peeled, if you like, I don't)
1/4 c butter
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1-1/2 c milk (I used half & half.)
1 pound process American cheese, cubed. (I used Colby Jack.
About 2 tsp tobasco sauce
About 1 tsp garlic powder
About 1 Tbsp worchestershire sauce (these last 3 are my addition, and I added them to taste, basically.
parsley

In a large saucepan, cook potatoes in boiling water (you can boost the flavor by adding a couple of chicken bouillion cubes) till tender, but not mushy. Drain and place in a greased 2-1/2 qt casserole dish. In the same saucepan (rinse it out first), melt butter. Add the flour. Stir to form a smooth(ish) paste and simmer 1 or 2 minutes. Add milk slowly, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil. Boil and stir for 1 minute. Add salt, pepper, tobasco sauce, worchestershire sauce, and garlic powder (if you want to use these last 3). Add cheese and stir just till melted. Pour over potatoes. Cover and bake at 350 deg. F. for 45 to 50 minutes or until bubbly. Sprinkle with parsley. (Actually, I added in the parsley with the other seasonings, as I was using dried. But, with fresh parsley I'm sure it'd be better to use as a garnish instead of a flavoring.)

*****

Well, there you are. Some recipes for the week. I'll post more next week, I'm sure. *grin*

That pretty well covers it for now. Not a hell of a lot going on, lately. More of the same, really.

Hope to get by and visit every one of you in the next couple of days. Hope all is going well with each and every one of you.

Have a Blessed Day!

Some Pictures, more Recipes....

2009-03-08T11:30:00.000-07:00

First, some gratutitous pet pics. Jenny looking adorable as she tries to figure out how to manage 3 tennis balls at once.

We were blowing raspberries at her when this pic was taken, trying to get a funny reaction. It really was funnier in person.

**********

So, I have done a good bit of baking over the last couple of days. I've been in the mood for some soft pretzels, and after seeing Alton Brown make some really yummy looking ones on his show "Good Eats," I decided to look up his recipe and give it a try. DAMN! Those are some good pretzels!

Here's the recipe for Alton Brown's Homemade Soft Pretzels

1-1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 deg. F) water

1 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp kosher salt

1 pkg (or 1/2 Tbsp) active dry yeast

22 oz (aprox. 4-1/2 c) all purpose flour

2 oz unsalted butter, melted

veggie oil for pan

10 cups water

2/3 c baking powder

1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 Tbsp water

pretzel salt

Combine the water, sugar and yeast. Proof 10 minutes. Mix together all but 1 cup of the flour, and salt. (Reserve 1 flour in case dough needs it, I found I actually needed less than was called for in the original recipe.) Add the water/yeast mixture to the flour/salt mixture. Stir in butter. Mix together ingredients well, stirring in more flour if needed. Turn out to table or counter and knead till somewhat smooth and elastic. Grease inside of bowl, and return dough to bowl, turning dough around to grease the top, as well. Cover with damp kitchen towel, and allow to rise in warm spot for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 450 deg. F. Grease 2 large cookie sheets lightly. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8 quart saucepan or roasting pan.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 20 to 24 inch rope. Make a U shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other TWICE and fold back down to press ends into the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Set aside on work surface and return to folding remaining pretzels.

Once you have all 8 pretzels folded, drop one at a time into the boiling water for 30 to 40 seconds. (I dropped them in, one by one, and turned them after 20 seconds, letting them go for 40 seconds each, total.) Remove from the water using a flat spatula. Place pretzels on the cookie sheet, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture, then sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes (12 worked fine for me). Transfer to a cooling rack at least 5 minutes before serving.

(I also DIPPED my pretzels in melted butter within about 5 minutes of removing them from the oven.)

(I must have been having dislexic moments all weekend, I completely missed seeing that butter was to be included in this. They tasted fabulous without it! I also got the proportions of baking soda to water wrong, I thought the recipe read 3/4 c baking soda, till now.)

Here are the pretzels upon removal from the hot-water/baking soda boil.

As you can see, I wasn't quite done loading the cookie sheet up.

And here we have the lovely fat pretzels upon removal from the oven, as soon as I'd gotten them dipped in the melted butter.

We had a "Farmgirl Get-together" at my friend Mary's house last night. As this week's a rather financially slim one, I was somewhat at a loss for what to make to take along. I'd wanted to take cucumber salad, but didn't have the $$ to pick up more cucumbers at the grocery store. It occured to me that pretzels would be the perfect thing! And they were! They went over well. My friend, Mary, was the only one who didn't get to enjoy them, as she's still nursing her youngest, and the youngest is allergic to just about everything (dairy -butter included, obviously, eggs, nuts, the dog-hair clinging to my clothes when I arrived). So, anything Mary consumes, her little one consumes through her. She decided the butter that the pretzels had been dipped in would probably set off an allergic reaction. I'm sorry I didn't know about that before, I would have left off the butter completely. (Though, it REALLY DOES boost the flavor considerably!)

Anyway, everybody else wanted the recipe. *grin* And Mom wanted the recipe the other night when I was telling her about my first batch. (The pictures above are of the batch I made on Friday. I made a double batch yesterday as well for the Get-together.)

*****

In the spirit of trying to cook more frugally, here are a couple of recipes I've used from this past week.

Tuna Pasta Salad (from the April '96 Taste of Home Mag)

1 (7 oz) pkg small shell pasta (or macaroni noodles can be used!), cooked and drained

1 (6 oz) can tuna, drained and flaked

1 large carrot shredded (or sliced into thin half-moons)

3/4 c mayonnaise

1/4 c chopped onion

1/4 c milk

1 Tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp prepared mustard

1 tsp dill weed

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

(I added 5 large-ish radishes, thinly sliced into half-moons. Some diced dill pickle would also be good. And I added a can of tiny shrimp, drained of their liquid. This could be a good substitute for the tuna altogether.)

In a large salad bowl, combine pasta, tuna, carrot, onion, and radishes. Combine remaining ingredients; whisk until smooth. Pour over pasta mixture; toss to coat. Cover & refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours.

*****

Spaghetti with Garlic & Olive Oil

Bring 6 qts water and 2 Tbsp salt to rolling boil in large pot. Add 1 lb spaghetti noodles and cook until tender but firm. Meanwhile, in large skillet over medium heat, heat 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil. Add 4 tsp minced garlic (3 or 4 good size garlic cloves, pressed should do it). Cook, stirring constantly, till garlic is pale blond, about 2 minutes. Reserving 1/2 c pasta water, drain pasta. In large bowl toss together pasta water, pasta and garlic & oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot. No cheese should be sprinkled on top of this.

(I made this to accompany steaks. Could be a very simple main dish by itself, if you are so inclined. Maybe with a salad or some grilled zucchini?)

*****

Hamburger Dinner

1 lb hamburger, crumbled, cooked and drained. (I added half a diced onion to this before cooking the burger.)

3 c potatoes, sliced

1 small head cabbage

1 c milk

salt and pepper

(This is the ingredient list as it reads in the cookbook, I topped it with some shredded cheese this time, and next time I'd probably mix the milk with a can of cream of celery soup before pouring over the remaining ingredients.)

Shred cabbage and put 1/2 of it in a greased casserole. Add 1/2 of the sliced potatoes, half of the hamburger and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. (I also added a sprinkle of garlic powder when I sprinkled on the salt and pepper.) Add remaining half of cabbage, potatoes and burger in the same order. Pour on the milk and bake in a moderate (350 deg. F.) oven for 2 hours. (Again, I sprinkled this with shredded cheese at the last couple of minutes.)

This recipe came from an Amish cookbook my Mom or Dad got me while my middle sis was going to school up in Amish country in Lancaster, PA. Scott and Tay actually really liked the recipe as I made it this first time, but I found it a little on the dry side, and I think it'd taste better with that addition of cream of celery soup.

**********

On the crafting front this week, I've finished another project that's been in the works for years. A few years ago I was on a shawl-wearing kick, and I decided to make myself a knit shawl. It's a simple pattern with eyelet increases on each edge, to from the triangle up and out from the bottom. I wanted something relatively light and in a springy yellow color, so that's what I did. It didn't turn out picture worthy.

Since that shawl is finished, I've moved on to finishing a scarf I'd started a couple of years back. It's knit on one of those round knitting looms. Goes quickly. Should be finished before too long. Then I've got at least one afghan I need to get more work done on, before I pick up any more projects. I'm really wanting to get some of these older projects done before I start anything new again.

**********

Tay has finally finished the first Semester's work. However, she's done such a half-assed job in so many cases, that all I can see is that she's not going to pass. She had an open-book test for her 1st Semester test, and she refused to crack a book, until I started getting on her case for it. Even WITH the open book, she misspelled a lot of the state-names for the areas of the country she's been covering since the last test, and she didn't capitalize a single one. Those are BASIC mistakes; stupid, careless mistakes. Mistakes made because she didn't want to take the time.

And I gave her a last warning that NEXT TEST, I won't allow her to correct them. And if that means she fails Geography, so be it. I'm sick of her being careless and purposefully acting stupid. I just cannot seem to get through her head how important this is! What child FIGHTS about having an open book test?!?! WHY on earth is she arguing about it taking too much work to look through her text books and notebooks for the answer, if it means she'll at least have better odds of getting the answers right. Then to almost purposefully misspell the names of states, when she knows that this act will get her marked down?!?!?! I just cannot conceive of the purposeful idiocy of these moves. It's like she WANTS to fail!

I'm just getting so frustrated with her. I mean, I was physically feeling ill last night, as I was grading her school work. And I've got a lot more to do today before I need to turn it in tomorrow. I guess I'd better get offline and get a move on. I'll be taking some school work with me today to grade at work, instead of reading during my lunch break as I usually do.

*sigh* I guess that covers it.

Have a Blessed Day!

An afghan, Some Recipes, and allergies to boot.

2009-02-28T13:01:00.000-08:00

So first off, here are those pictures of the "baby" afghan. It's really more lap-ghan sized.

That is, it's nearly as tall as I am (5 feet) and approximately twice as wide as I am. *grin* (No, I'm not giving inches as to how "wide" I am.)

This first pic, the blanket is actually folded in quarters.

A close up, for color-detail purposes, though unfortunately it looks rather washed out.

And pardon the sideways-ness of this picture. Goodness knows why it flipped back sideways when I transfered it from my photo albums. I had flipped it around right-side up and cropped some of the mess out from the sides. Anyway, this gives SOME idea of how big the afghan is, spread over the top (most of the top) of my kitchen table and the bench along the outter edge of my table.

The colorways in the yarn really came through beautifully, when viewed like this. Kinda an unintentional color-pattern. (I did alternating rows of this pink, brown, tan and cream ombre yarn, and a simple solid cream colored yarn. In a ripple pattern.) Anyway, it seems that the pink and brown really kinda stacked nicely, though inadvertently, when crocheted up.

Ok, enough with the baby afghan. On to other things to mention.

**********

I saw a clip yesterday that was apparently on Good Morning America or some similar show. It was about this 93 year old Grandma who's great grandson talked her into recording some of her depression (or, pre-depression) frugal recipes & meals on YouTube. I checked it out, you should too! If for no other reason than that "Grandma Clara" talks about life during the Great Depression of the 30's, and we've got precious few elders who are even still alive from those days. HERE is the website!

I remember being about 13 or 14 and asking my Dad's mom (my "Mom-mom") some vague, not-very-well-thought-out questions about her teenage years in the Great Depression and her early 20's during World War 2. Mom-mom was rather insistent that she didn't remember much. And by the time I was old enough (a few years ago) to really have COHERANT questions to ask, Mom-mom was too far gone, mentally, to be able to answer anyway. She died a few years ago now. And it's now that I'm most wishing I'd really had the wherewithall to ask her some real questions about her life and how they made it through those years. As it is, I only have one recipe (that I know of) from Mom-mom. That is my recipe for belgian waffles. VERY yummy. I'll share it in a minute.

So, seeing and hearing this Grandma, who's approximately the same age as Mom-mom would be if she were alive today, talk about her teen years during the Great Depression, and make some of the meals she learned to cook from her own Mom during those years, makes me happy that SOMEBODY's grandma is still lucid enough to pass down some of this lost wisdom to us. And I'm grateful to "Grandma Clara" for sharing with us some of what she recalls of those days. And I thought maybe y'all would appreciate seeing it the videos, too.

*****

I've been attempting to cook more frugally, around here. I'm trying to incorporate more meals that are light on meat, or without meat at all. Scott's made it clear he's got NO interest in "becoming a vegetarian". That's fine with me. I like a bit of meat well enough. BUT, it's also rather unhealthy to eat meat every meal, and in the quantities that Scott (and now Tay) seem to prefer it. AND, it's NOT frugal at all. Considering we've been unlucky in getting a Moose or Caribou for several years now, it's not frugal in the least to have steak several times a week. Even when that steak has been bought out of the clearance bin at the grocery store (usually marked down 30 to 50 percent before it absolutely must be tossed by the store for safety purposes). (I have yet to get any "bad" meat out of the clearance "bin". We haven't had any problem with any of the steaks or roasts or stewmeat being rotten.)

And Tay's rather aggrivating me, these days, with her insistance that meat is a requisite for a proper meal. And not just a small bit, but large amounts. And not just at "proper" meals, but at ANY time she wants it. I came home from work the other day and found that she'd decided to open a can of spam for snack, and had almost HALF the piece of spam from the can! For SNACK! *shaking head* Then she gets all pissy when this upsets her Dad and I, as if she's done nothing wrong and why are WE yelling at HER when she was "just hungry" and "there wasn't anything else in the house to have for snack!" *rolling eyes* If it wasn't for the fact that dinner is so frequently a very late meal around here, I'd do away with her having an afternoon snack at all. As it is, my idea of snack is half a bag of popcorn, or a bit of peanut butter on a graham cracker or celery stick. Not HALF a tin of spam! *shaking head* She's become even more adamant about her "need" for meat than her Dad is. And it's really starting to tick me off.

So, this past week, here are some of the things I made for supper:

Fake Steak (mind you, origional recipe makes 24 servings, I cut it down by about a factor of 5)

1/3 c milk (would use an egg instead, next time, the milk didn't "bind" very well)
1/3 c dry bread crumbs
1 small onion (or half a large onion) chopped fine
3/4 tsp salt (give or take, as this is cut down from a recipe 5 times what I'm dictating here)
1/4 tsp pepper
1 pound ground beef
2 cans (yeah, so I STILL use 2 cans) cream of Mushroom soup, undiluted
1/4 c milk (this is for diluting the soup)

In a bowl, combine the milk (egg instead!), bread crumbs, onions (sauteed them up a bit first), salt and pepper. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well. Shape into small oval patties. (I think I got nine small-ish patties, or about 5 larger patties.) Place in greased 13x9 (or, smaller?) baking dish. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight. (This is where I diverge from the recipe. I just pan-fry them as soon as I've made them.)

Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F. for 15 minutes; drain. Combine soup and 1/4 cup milk; pour over patties. Cover and bake 20 to 30 minutes longer or until a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees F (the patties will remain pink inside).

(As I said, I diverge from the origional recipe once we get to the cooking stage. I don't let the patties "sit" more than a couple of minutes. I pan fry them right away. I also use BOTH cans of cream of mushroom soup called for in the origional recipe, and about twice as much milk as is called for, and pour it over the patties once they've browned a bit and I've drained off some of the grease.)

This is great served over egg noodles, with green beans or a green salad on the side.

*****

Tamale Pie

1 lb ground beef
1/2 c onion, chopped
1 can tomato sauce
1 (4 oz) can diced green chilies
1 can kidney beans
1 can diced tomatoes (with juices)
1 Tbsp (or two small-ish cloves) minced/pressed garlic
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp (I used 1/4 tsp) chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin (not in origional recipe, but I use it)
1 (8-1/2 oz) box corn-muffin mix (Jiffy mix)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (Colby-Jack also works well in this recipe)

Brown meat and onions and drain. Stir in remaining ingredients EXCEPT cornbread mix and cheese. Simmer 10 to 15 minutes. Prepare cornbread mix as directed on box. Pour meat mixture into 2 qt casserole dish. Top meat mix with cornbread batter. Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes or till center of cornbread is firm. Top with shredded cheese and bake 5 minutes more or until cheese is melted.

(I forgot the beans this last week, while making this, so it was "chili" without the beans, topped with cornbread, basically. THEN Scott decides to tell me -and Tay piped up, agreeing with him- that he "hates" kidney beans and wishes I would never use them. *rolling eyes* I prefer kidney beans over pintos, and beans are a rather cheap way to stretch some of that meat, to make it go further. NOW he's telling me -after 11+ years of me making chili and Tamale pie and such!- that he "hates" kidney beans?!?! WTF! And he wonders how I'm going to spend less at the grocery store, when he's getting pickier and pickier about healthier/cheaper eating by the minute?!?!?!)

*****

Pork with Sauerkraut

1 lb lean pork (boneless pork loin "steaks"), cut into 1 inch "cubes"
4 Tbsp vegetable oil or melted "lard" (olive oil!)
1/2 tsp paprika
14 oz shredded sauerkraut, drained of juices and well rinsed (important to rinse! Otherwise this dish is TOO sour!)
2 fresh red chilies (sweet-spicy, I used some of the ground chili peppers from the pepper plant I grew this past year.)
6 Tbsp pork stock (a chicken bouillion cube and some water!)
salt and ground black pepper
1/4 c sour cream
coarse grain mustard, paprika and sage leaves, to garnish
crusty bread, to serve.

In a heavy based frying pan, cook the pork in the oil until browned on all sides. Add the paprika and shredded sauerkraut. Stir well and transfer to flameproof casserole. (I simply used my cast-iron skillet, as it has a heavy glass lid and was plenty big enough. Also used less dishes this way.) Halve the chilies (or, in my case, I used the ground powder from the chilies that I'd dried) and remove the seeds before buring the chilies in the middle of the casserole. Add the stock to the casserole. Cover tightly and cook over a gentle heat for 1 to 1-1/2 hours, stirring occasionally to prevent it sticking to bottom of pan. Remove the chilies (or, don't) and season to taste before serving. Spoon on the sour cream and spoonfuls of mustard, sprinkle with paprika and garnish with sage leaves. Serve with crusty bread. (I served with some microwave-steamed, halved baby-potatoes tossed with a bit of butter and dill.)

*****

Grandfather's Soup (so called because it is easily digested by the elderly)

1 large onion, finely sliced
2 Tbsp butter (or, 1 Tbsp each olive oil and butter)
12 oz potatoes, peeled and diced (I don't peel them, simply scrub them up)
3-3/4 c beef stock (I used pre-made chicken stock instead)
1 bay leaf
sald and fresh ground black pepper

For Drop noodles (dumplings)

2/3 c self-raising flour
pinch of salt
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley (1 tsp dried parsley), plush a bit extra for garnish
1 egg, beaten
chunks of bread to serve

In a wide, heavy-based pan, cook the onion in the butter gently for 10 minutes or until it begins to brown. Add the diced potatoes and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, then pour in the stock. Add the bay leaf, salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the noodles (dumplings). Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and rub in the butter. Stir in the parsley, then add the egg to the flour mixture and mix to a soft dough. Drop half-teaspoonfuls of the dough into the simmering soup. Cover and simmer gently for a further 10 minutes. Ladle the soup into warmed soup bowls, scatter over a little parsley, and serve immediately with chunks of bread.

(I used some coarsely crushed dried lambsquarters instead of MOST of the parsley. Scott and Tay can't tell the difference and I believe the lambsquarters to be a bit healthier. Then I sprinkled it with parsley at the very end, for appearance sake mostly. Also, I decided to use some of the leftover egg noodles I had from when I made Grandma's Chicken Noodle Soup a few weeks back. THAT was a mistake!! They were so dry, that they never DID cook through entirely, and I let them simmer LONG past the 10 minutes the dumplings were supposed to simmer for in the origional recipe. Next time, I'm doing the dumplings! Tay was peevish about this because there wasn't any meat. Scott was peevish as well, but quietly so when I reminded him that it's NOT a vegetarian meal because it DOES use meat-stock/broth. *grin* But, admittedly, he would have prefered to see even just a bit of diced up chicken breast in the bowl.)

*****

Pork Bitki (I've done this before with ground turkey, and it was ok. The original recipe calls for ground -or very finely chopped- chicken, which I can't find around here.)

1 Tbsp butter, melted (used a bit of butter and a bit of olive oil, as usual)
4 oz mushrooms, finely chopped (used button mushrooms, also used about 1/4 c diced onion, in addition to the mushrooms, even though they're not called for)
1 cup fresh white breadcrumbs (to heck with this! Use dried!! It's much easier!!!)
12 oz pork sausage (ok, it was actually a 1 pound log, like Jimmy Dean or some-such)
2 eggs, seperated (you're supposed to reserve the eggwhites for later in the recipe, next time I'll reserve them for an egg-white omelete or something, and NOT put them back into this recipe)
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
2 Tbsp plain flour
3 Tbsp oil
1/4 tsp each salt and pepper
green salad and grated pickled beetroot, to serve.

Melt the butter in a pan and fry the mushrooms for 5 minutes until soft and all the juices have evaporated. (Throw the onions in after the mushrooms have had a couple of minutes to cook on their own. The onions add too much more moisture right at the start, otherwise.) Allow to cool. Mix the crumbs, pork, egg yolks, nutmeg, salt, pepper and mushrooms together well. Whisk the egg whites until stiff. Stir half into the pork mixture, then fold in the remainder. (THIS step resulted in my meat mixture being far too wet! As I said, I'd just reserve the egg whites for something else next time.) Shape the mixture into 12 even meatballs (actually, fat little finger-sausage shapes). Roll in the plain flour to coat. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the bitki for 10 minutes, turning until evenly golden brown and cooked through. Serve hot with the green salad and pickled beetroot.

(These are good served with properly done potato latkes and sour cream. Or boiled potatoes, or mashed potatoes..... I also didn't serve them with the green salad -as we don't have any fresh greens right now- or the pickled beetroot per say. Though I DID make a fresh beet salad to accompany that I'll post next.)

*****

Beetroot and Celery Salad

1 lb uncooked beetroot, peeled and grated (I chopped it into fine matchsticks, instead. I hate grating root vegetables as I invariably try to add some knuckle to the veggies.)
4 celery sticks, finely chopped (thinly sliced on the bias)
1/2 onion, sliced thinly into half-moons (ok, not original to the recipe, but good anyway!)
2 Tbsp apple juice (didn't have, so substituted apple cider vinegar)

For the dressing:
3 Tbsp sunflower oil (substituted walnut oil)
1 Tbsp cider vinegar
4 spring onions, finely chopped (substituted dried chives, would rehydrate next time before addition to the dressing)
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley (once again with the substituted dried)
sald and freshly ground black pepper

Toss the beetroot, celery, onion and apple juice together in a bowl to mix. Put all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together till will blended. Stir half into the beetroot mixture. Drizzle the remaining dressing over the top. Allow the salad to marinate for at least 2 hours before serving, for the fullest flavour. Garnish with fresh herbs.

(Tay and I really liked this salad. Scott said it was actually pretty ok, esp. since the beets were raw! He can't stand cooked beets. Tay said this salad would be better without the celery, but I liked the celery just fine, and Tay certainly liked the salad even with the celery.)

*****

Scotch Broth

1 lb ground beef, browned & drained (original recipe calls for soup bones to be simmered and meat seperated from the bone, and all that other stuff first, but I just use ground beef instead.)
2 quarts water
several cubes chicken or beef bouillion (not original to the recipe, but who cares)
6 whole peppercorns (never use this, use a bay leaf instead)
1-1/2 tsp salt
1 c chopped carrots (never use this either, use frozen chopped spinach, or lambsquarters instead)
1 c chopped turnips (dehydrated from last year, not fresh)
1 c chopped celery
1/2 c chopped onion
1 can diced tomatoes (MY addition, not original to the recipe), juice included
1/4 c medium pearl barley (also added about 1/4 c quinoa, this time)

In a large soup kettle, sautee the onion and celery for about 5 minutes in about 2 Tbsp of olive oil. Then add remaining ingredients and cover and simmer about 1 hour or until vegetables and barley are tender. (Note, the quinoa really only needs 10 minutes to cook. So next time, if using, don't add it till that last 10 minutes. Otherwise it just melts away to nothing. This is one of Scott's favorite soups, and the only "brothy" soup Tay actually likes. I don't tell him that I use lambsquarters. As far as he knows, it's just spinach, always spinach.)

*****

Mom-mom's Golden Waffles

2 cups flour
2 eggs, seperated
3 Tbsp baking powder
1-1/4 cup milk
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp sugar

Beat egg yolks and add milk. Add dry ingredients; beat till smooth. Add in oil. In a seperate bowl, beat egg whites to stiff peak stage. Gently fold egg whites into batter. Carefully ladle a spoonful onto your waffle-iron. Cook till iron indicates done. (Sorry, I don't know how long it takes really, I just use my electric waffle-maker.) This recipe makes INCREDIBLY light and fluffy waffles. YUMMY!!!

*****

As you can see, I'm trying to introduce some "peasant" cooking into my recipe repetoire. Not hard, as my cooking is USUALLY home-style cooking anyway. I rarely do the "gourmet" cooking thing. The "Pork with Sauerkraut", "Pork Bitki", "Grandfather's Soup" and "Beetroot & Celery Salad" all come from this _Russian, Polish and German Cooking_ cookbook I've got. Bought it when I worked at Waldenbooks, a few years back. It's got a load of really yummy looking recipes in it, and thus far I've been pretty happy with them. (Though, obviously I make my own adaptations based on what I can get my hands on, and what I think we'll like as a family.)

Now, to get to work coming up with a menu for this coming week. *grin* I know it's going to include a cucumber salad and a lasagna. (Tay's been requesting both for a couple of weeks.) We'll have to see what else I decide on, and what I find at the grocery store.

**********

The allergy bit mentioned above? Well, it seems my allergies (and Tay's as well, apparently) have decided to reassert themselves. Really, that's not unusual. They usually DO this time of year, and on into spring and early summer. Thing is, I can't tell if it's inside allergens that are simply getting to a really annoying level, or if there's actually something in the air outdoors this time of year. You'd think, seeing as we've still got thick snow cover, that the outdoors wouldn't provide any allergens to annoy us, but I wouldn't bet on it. (Even today, with it actually snowing outside!)

When I went in to order my contacts a few weeks back, the contact specialist on staff at the eye clinic questioned me as to my allergies. At that point, the ONLY indicator I had was how watery my eyes have been for the past couple of months. But, I usually tear up easily anyway, so it rarely bugs me too much. (It DOES keep me from wearing mascara much, though. Even the waterproof mascara tends to smudge, as often as I'm rubbing my eyes.) So, I told the lady at the eye clinic that my allergies may be "there" right now, but they're really not bothering me. Well, in the couple of weeks since, I've started feeling a ticklish throat, and some sniffles, but not the head-achey and stuffiness that indicates a cold. So, I know it's just allergies. (If my head feels clear, or even if the pain is focused in my sinuses, I can usually figure it's just allergies.)

Then I got up this morning. And my nose was stuffy, and my throat was ticklish, and my eyes are itchy!!!!! YUCK! I know Tay's been dealing with some allergies the last couple of weeks, but this is the first morning in a long while that I actually feel like I'm "dealing with allergies" myself. Usually it doesn't but me, but this itchy eye feeling, combined with the rest...... BLECH!!! And I can't really take anything for my allergies, because NOTHING I take works consistently, and ANYTHING I take has side-effects that I can't stand. So I don't take a darned thing to treat these allergies, I just deal with them. Thankfully, they're simply "annoying" and a bit "aggrivating" but never really beyond that. (Ok, ok, occasionally a sinus headache will hit that really knocks me for a loop, THEN I do take something like benadril or sudafed, but ONLY then. And EVEN then, it doesn't always help.)

**********

I mentioned that it's snowing again. It's been snowing for most of the last 4 days. But it's been warm, too! Today, it's up to almost 30 degrees. YEAH! I can handle the snow, as long as it's reasonably warm as well, and rather light skies, like it is. And on the clear days, you can tell that the sun's actually WARM, not just BRIGHT. Spring is on it's way! And there's the added benefit that the snow may well keep the fires down this summer. A good drenching that melts off reasonably slowly (giving the moisture a chance to soak into the ground) results in less fire hazards over the summer, and the fires that DO happen don't get so wildly out of control as is otherwise possible, because a lot of what would otherwise burn, is still reasonably wet from winter. So, I'm enjoying the snow this year. (Except for the occasion that I step in a hidden deep drift in nothing but my crocs. THEN I grumble a bit because my feet are cold!)

As I was starting to type this post, the little boy from next door (a roly-poly 5 year old) and his older cousin were out playing on this little snow-berm at the bottom corner between our yard and theirs. The cousin (who's about 13) was pulling the little boy up the hill in the sled, then tried to turn him around and let him slide the 4 feet back to the bottom. *grin* They got up the top of the little hill, and when they went to turn it around, the little boy was so heavy that the sled sunk in on the back edge, and the cousin had a heck of a time getting it uprighted and angled the CORRECT way down the little hill. It was freaking hilarious, and it was nice watching a couple of kids out there enjoying the snow and doing a little bit of "sledding" even if it only lasted about 10 minutes.

All the other kids around here, except little Robbie now, are "too old" and "too cool" to be caught dead sledding on such "baby hills" as these little snow berms we get from the snow plows. Even Tay, who used to be a die-hard snow fan, can hardly be persuaded to set foot outside to play in the snow, these days. Occasionally Tay will have a friend come over, and they'll take Jenny out for a bit of a romp, but it's usually short-lived and it never happens often enough for Jenny's pleasure. (And poor Puck, can't be trusted not to run off, so he NEVER gets to go outside and just romp, without his leash.)

**********

Thanks again for the prayers and positive thoughts for Mom. According to her blog, she sounds like she's doing pretty well with the healing.

Have a Blessed Day!

Sharing Simply.....

2009-02-26T21:07:00.000-08:00

Robin shared this story over at her blog, and I felt the urge to post it here, as well. Awesome, and the sharing and giving to Donna Byrne the along the way is what struck me most.

Jobless Woman Headed For Texas On Horseback
by Brian Reed

On roads teeming with motorcycles, pickup trucks and 18-wheelers, it isn't too hard to spot a woman on horseback.
So Donna Byrne is attracting a lot of attention. After she lost her job as a ranch hand in Arcadia, Fla., the 44-year-old couldn't afford her rent, so she decided to ride her horses, Jay and Tonto, to Texas — maybe even Montana — in search of work as a cowgirl.
In the first few weeks of her journey, Byrne has already received a large showing of goodwill. She says every day people stop to ask about her journey and offer a hand.

"She loaded up her horses and all her worldly goods and hit the road," says Daniel Skidmore, who pulled over on U.S. Route 301 in Wildwood, Fla., after reading about Byrne in a local newspaper. "I don't know many women [who] would do that."

At a rest stop up ahead from where Skidmore found her, Byrne ties Jay and Tonto to a handicapped parking sign, and they gulp down five buckets of water. Byrne pats them on the neck, nuzzles them and scolds them when they start drinking too sloppily. She says Tonto has a nice demeanor — that is, until someone tries to ride him.

"Then he wants to buck," she says, which is why she's designated him as her packhorse.
And as for Jay, "She gets one of them temperaments," Byrne says. "She wants to go, go, go, go — you've got to hold her back."

The horse's personality is not unlike her rider's. Byrne was a truck driver for many years, and that road mentality has stuck. She has no family, so when work didn't pan out in Florida, Byrne says, heading west was the best solution she could think of.

"It's been a dream of mine to do this ride," she says. "Lost a house, lost a job. Had to do something quick. I figured right now'd be the best time to do it."

Byrne spent the first few nights of her journey sleeping outside, until two local newspapers picked up her story — The Tampa Tribune and the Bradenton Herald. And that's when people started looking for her. Drive-by benefactors pulled over and donated cash. Some people offered their homes and their stables. A vet gave the horses roadside shots. A farrier gave them a new set of shoes.

In these tough economic times, something about Byrne's old-fashioned earnestness seems to strike a chord with people. In some ways, it's almost as if she rode straight out of a John Steinbeck novel.

"Owning a log cabin house," she says, longingly describing her dream life in Montana. "Having my own piece of property. Doing my own ranching. Mountains all around it."

But of all the people who are helping Byrne, horse lovers seem to be especially galvanized.
"Horse people are kind of a stick-together bunch," says Lisa Pannell. "So you know you kind of help out somebody if you can."

Pannell was at the receiving end of an elaborate phone chain to find lodging for Byrne in Wildwood. She let Jay and Tonto stay in her paddock, while Byrne slept at Sandy LeNoir's house down the road.

"I just think she's trying to hang onto her horses, which is, for a lot of us, that's our sanity," LeNoir says. "And she's hanging onto them and going after her dream. She's got nothing to lose."
Members of a Florida chapter of Cowboys for Christ, a national organization, have started a Web site for Byrne, and they've been making calls on her behalf. They're trying to connect her with people through Florida and even on to Texas. Nobody's really thinking beyond that yet.

That is, nobody except for Byrne. She says the word is that there isn't much more work in Texas than Florida.

"It's tough all the way around. It really is," she says.

And if she finds the Lone Star State lacking in job prospects?

"Just keep on riding," she says.

And that's exactly what she's doing — every day. After the horses slurp their last bit of water, Byrne ties the bucket to Tonto's pack and hoists herself onto Jay. She tips the floppy brim of her cowboy hat, and the three head on down the asphalt trail.

**********

What stands out at me most in this story is the simple sharing that folks are doing. Giving her a bed to sleep in for the night, vaccinations for her horses, the free shoeing job from a farrier, food for the horses...... Folks are coming out of the woodwork, and they're not all sharing a LOT individually, as we're all in a tight position, but each person sharing a LITTLE bit is helping this woman in her journey.

I think that this needs to be a major factor in our lives again. In stories of the Great Depression (the 30's depression, as I don't think we'll be able to call it the "Great Depression" for much longer without getting confused), you hear about hobos riding the rails, and they'd jump off and trudge along looking for a mud-daubed symbol on a fence-post. They found that symbol, and knew they could stop in and ask the lady of the house for a bit to eat. If she had a spare job that needed doing in exchange for food or a night's rest. And they knew that the lady of the house would be the sharing simply type. Not much to go around, but enough for one more mouth, or room for one more head to rest.

Would that we all would be more like this. Yeah, invite the neighbour over for supper occasionally, but how about taking a cup-full of chowder down to the homeless guy sitting on the corner. Making an afghan for a friend's baby? Great. How about using the extra yarn toward a scarf or a hat for the homeless shelter, or even to donate to the local school for those cold winter days and the little boy who doesn't have a hat to wear at recess. Enough yarn, you can even get a scrappy afghan made (or enough fabric scraps, and you can put together a scrappy-quilt) to donate to the homeless shelter. It's not fancy, it's not much. It's sharing simply.

And, even among people you may not know well enough to be friends, and aren't needy enough to be homeless or hobos or beggars, simply sharing a favorite cd with somebody you see regularly, and have noticed they like similar music to yourself. A regular patron in at work the other day mentioned to me a favorite classical musician, and copied the front of his favorite CD by this musician (Debussy) and brought it to me. It's been added to my list of music to look for. It wasn't much, he photocopied the front and remembered to give me the picture. But, it's a simple joy he thought to share with somebody else. It's a simple joy that will probably add a little light to my day, should I ever get my hands on the actual CD. *grin*

I think I'm going to put a note up by my bed where I'll see it every day, just something brief to remind me to share simply throughout the day. Find a little SOMETHING that I can share with somebody else, and DO! If it's a bit of time to help somebody pick up something they've dropped, or a little time toward working on that hat or scarf for the shelter, or buying an extra danish or cup of soup for the homeless guy outside the grocery store, an extra can of chili or milk or some-such for the food-donation box at the grocery (or at the school, or at work), thinking to pass a book on to a friend/coworker/aquaintance whom might enjoy it, and having enough food in the house that I can offer a passing hobo a bite, if one were to stop in looking.

Just some thoughts I had, after experiencing this guy at the library sharing a tidbit on music with me, and especially after reading that news bit that Robin posted about this lady riding her horses cross-country in search of a job. Thanks, Robin, for sharing that with us. I appreciate it!

*****

BTW, I have to get a couple of pics of the afghan I just finished a few days ago. It's for that little premie girl I was telling y'all about. Anyway, the baby-shower is this coming Sunday, so I won't have the afghan on hand much longer. Need to get a pic while I can. *grin*

Have a Blessed Day.

Thanks and Wristlet's

2009-02-24T17:15:00.000-08:00

First off, talked to Mom last night. She said surgery was a little more rough than it was supposed to be. Apparently the tissue from her stomach that was going to be used to provide the sling for her bladder was too scarrified from her c-sections (both my younger sisters were c-sections) and from her other tummy tuck too, I would imagine. So they had to take some skin from further up her belly, which resulted also in the surgeon having to reposition her belly-button again (after it was re-constructed after her tummy-tuck. (This wasn't a tummy-tuck, but the external results are as if she were having one. The surgery was to provide support for a weak bladder. She has previously had a tummy-tuck for the purpose of getting rid of the excess skin from her weight loss, after her gastric-bypass was successful.)

Anyway, so the extra work took about an hour longer than was hoped, and will PROBABLY result in a longer recovery time as well. So, while she's mending, please pray that she mends quickly, as she doesn't have very much leave time accrued thanks to some job-changes that took place just prior to this surgery. It could mean that she's without leave-pay for a week or more.

Thanks for the prayers and positive thoughts that have been sent her way for a safe, successful surgery and healing. I know Mom appreciates the prayers she receives.

*****

Tori, "wristlet's" at I meant them, are little knittled (or crocheted, I hope I can find a crochet pattern) fingerless gloves to cover the hand & up the fore-arms a bit. They would allow for using my hands much more comfortably with typing, and with crocheting and knitting on other things while wearing. I can't wear true gloves while crocheting or typing (or really, reading or any such thing that requires being able to feel the surface with your fingertips) because gloves dull my ability to feel the yarn or book pages or even the computer keys in order to type reasonably accurately.

*****

Wound up staying home from work today. Within a half hour or so of waking up, I started getting a head-ache. Nasty bugger, too! I thought maybe it was dehydration, so I started drinking some water. That didn't help as it does when it's just a dehydration headache. I took some extra-strength tylenol. That didn't help at ALL (as it would if it was just a tension headache). In fact, after taking the tylenol, the headache quickly went full-blown migrain and became the worst migrain I've had in years. I had the whole nine yards: sensativity to light (rare for me), sensativity to sound (rare for me), sensativity to movement (the most common aspect), stabbing pain in one temple (migrains tend to be asymetrical where as tension headaches are more symetrical). Totally sucked.

And wouldn't you know it, for like the first half hour, the kiddo was sure as could be that I was doing it just to stay home and annoy her. *snort* Can we say "self-centered?!?!?!" As if I'd purposefully go through that kinda pain just to make sure she's not home alone for the day. *rolling eyes* The boss was ok about it, when I let her know I wouldn't be in, but what's she gonna say, ya know??? (Besides, I'm one of at least 3 in our department who gets knocked out with migrains on a semi-regular basis. And I don't get them nearly as often as the other two I know of. So, she can't single me out for nastiness over this. Not that I think she would anyway. If there's one thing I know the boss doesn't get pissy about, it's when people are honestly, truly sick or in pain. She's a decently nice boss, in that aspect.)

Anyway, set up the humidifier in my bedroom with some peppermint oil dribbled into the water; rubbed a mix of peppermint oil and sweet almond oil (several drops sweet almond, 1 drop peppermint) into my temples (both sides for good measure) and the back of my neck; took a vicodin for pain; darkened my bedroom and lay in bed quietly listening to some Enya on my Ipod and reading a novel. Jenny decided today would be a good day to stay close to her Mama (me), so she got up on the bed with me for what is probably the first time in her life. She's not a cuddler, but she was laying there keeping an eye on me and getting me to scratch her head now and again. Tay also finally cooled down, did her best to help make me comfortable, then finished up her schoolwork before playing on the computer till I got up at 3:30. (Oh, and I did wind up taking a nap, which certainly helped.)

So, I'm now up, feeling much better. Still not as really rested as I'd like. (Why is it I can never seem to catch up on sleep? Lately, I can't even sleep in because my bladder is rather insistent rather consistently right about 8:15 that it must have relief or there'll be trouble.) But, the migrain is gone.

So, that's my day so far. *chuckle* Whole lotta nothin'. Really didn't start this post to talk about my migrain, but to say thanks for the P&PT for my Mom and to tell Tori what wristlet's are (at least, in the way I mentioned them last post).

Have a Blessed Day!

Surgery, Cold, and Haircuts

2009-02-23T11:30:00.000-08:00

First things first, please keep my mom in your prayers over the next couple of days. She went in this morning for surgery to "put her bladder in a sling". *chuckle* Should solve some incontinence issues she felt it was time to deal with. Anyway, she should be out of the hospital in a day or two, but the Dr was doing the more invasive procedure which is essentially giving her a second tummy tuck. (Mom, did he give you 6-pack-abs while you were in there? *wink & grin*)

**********

Secondly, the damned furnace is flubbing up again. This past week, we have woken up to no heat in the house 3 times since Wednesday. (That was the first sign of it malfunctioning again, since we thought it got fixed back the week before Christmas.) Anyway, since that time, one of Scott's friends came over and put a fuel filter on the fuel lines, hoping that would solve the problem. It didn't. That "fix" lasted all of 2 days. Saturday night we went to bed knowing the furnace was out, but everybody (Tay had 2 friends spending the night) was bedded down with plenty of blankets and stayed reasonably warm till we all got up yesterday morning. Then, yesterday morning, we had a different furnace company (the fuel & furnace co. that Scott's Dad works for) come out and see if THEY could solve our problem. The guy got the furnace running again, replaced something-or-another, and left. Shortly after 9 pm, the furnace quit again. Altogether quit. *sigh* So, again we called the fuel & furnace co. and they sent somebody else out to look it over. 10:30 pm, the guy leaves and the furnace is running again. Scott woke up this morning to leave for work, and the furnace was out. Again.

It's 56 degrees in the house without the furnace going. We're just thankful it's not -50 outside. There's no way we'd be able to sit around the house if it was -50 outside. *chuckle* This MAY be what persuades Scott to look harder into a wood-stove. It's certainly persuaded me, but I don't ultimately get to make that choice. (I DO have a bunch of candles burning around the livingroom, kitchen and computer room throwing off a BIT of heat, and at least providing some hand-warming while writing school-work, reading the newspaper, or typing here on the computer.)

Anyway, now at 10:35, we haven't had heat yet this morning. Scott's got a call in the furnace & Fuel company to send somebody else out, and he's staying home from work till it looks like they've got it fixed (again?). Thus far, we haven't heard at what point the furnace-repair-guy is going to be here. I'm going to be SO glad to go to work today, if JUST for the fact that it'll at least be warm. (Really, though, I'm not TERRIBLY cold. I'm wearing my PJ shorts under a pair of sweat-pants, my night shirt under an over-sized men's thermal long-john shirt, and my "fluffy crocs" on my feet. Except for my fingers and my face, everything's pretty well covered. And I'm to the point where I think I'm going to go ahead this summer and make myself a pair of those "wristlet's" for next winter. Maybe a pair for the kiddo, too.)

*****

Thanks for all the love regarding the hair-cut and glasses. After I wrote up that post, I had to chuckle the next morning because I realize that my hair is ultimately even shorter than it appears in the "after" pic. Once my hair is washed, if I don't blow it out and brush it down, it actually winds up rather wavy. And with LOTS of body. I don't EVER blow it out and brush it down, therefore it winds up "kinking up" a lot more than it was in that "after" pic, therefore it winds up just brushing the tops of my shoulders, instead of hanging just below my shoulders. That's ok though. I can't put my hair up in a bun anymore, but I CAN use one of my butterfly clips, or any of my barrettes to pin my hair back or up. And I can braid it much more easily now. AND it's got a lot more body and WAVES!! I LOVE my waves! And they're natural! *grin*

I got quite a chuckle yesterday when I went to work, and everybody kinda did this double take and said "OMG, Kati, you got a HAIRCUT?!?!" It was hilarious. One of my coworkers kept looking at me, but couldn't figure out what was different. She just hasn't realized yet what it is. It's funny as hell. And I'm not telling her. *wink* I love waiting to see how long it takes folks.

Speaking of haircuts, I had to chuckle yesterday when I was sitting out at the desk. This very clean-cut, dressed up family comes past the check-out desk with their load of books, and the two older boys have mohawk hair-cuts. I find it so ironic to see what is to all appearances a very clean-cut family just out of church, and 2 of their boys (4 kids total) sport a hair-cut that was once upon a time a symbol of disrespect for "the establishment". When I was little (in the 80's) NO self-respecting young christian family would ponder the thought that their kids might get their hair cut in such a disrespectful manner as a mohawk. Only "druggies" and "punks" and "losers" sported those punky sort of hair-cuts.

NOW, it's not only normal, it's FASHIONABLE enough that even clean-cut little "christian" boys will get a mohawk hair-cut and Mom and Dad don't grumble about it. And not just mohawk hair-cuts, but multiple piercings and tattoos. One of the women I work with who is (as she claims) old enough to be my mom (but she won't divulge her actual age) has two sets of piercings in her ears, and just got a cartilage piercing this past weekend. My own Mom has 3 tattoos. I have one tattoo and two sets of piercings. I just find it very ironic to think back on my own childhood (not 20 years ago) and the stigmas and steriotypes that went with these various aspects of appearance (Haircuts, body modifications) and how they were limited to the extreme fringe. Now the extreme fringe has lost these indicators of their self-imposed "outsider" status, and I wonder what the new indicators are.

Though, I guess there's still the fact of HOW many piercings or tattoos you have, and even the hair-cut extremes, among which the more extreme for women these days seems to be dreadlocks, no matter your ancestory. A face-full of metal still is deemed as more extreme than a simple, single nose-piercing or eye-brow piercing. Tattood or scarified facial markings are still an extreme. The bearers are just required to be even MORE extreme than used to be necessary, in order to be considered extreme at all. Anyway...... just some funny (to me) ponderings I was having yesterday.

*****

Ok, I'd better finish this little post up and get back to schoolwork. We've got 2 more questions to answer in science, then I've got to head off to work without getting any more schoolwork done.

Have a Blessed Day!

More of the Same, with Some Pictures to Share

2009-02-19T14:48:00.001-08:00

Well, first things first, here are some of the personal physical changes made in the past couple of weeks. These first two pics took place today. I started this morning with hair that reached my butt.

I will end today with hair that barely reaches past my shoulders. I was hoping to keep it SLIGHTLY longer than this, but as it is, I was just able to donate the length to Locks of Love. (For those who don't know, Locks of Love is for folks who've got healthy long hair to donate at least 10 inches to the making of wigs for kids who've got chemo-induced baldness.) It's a great cause! And I hope they're able to do something with the hair I donated. Not a hair that is currently on my head has ever been dyed or permed or such. Plenty of split ends were gotten rid of today, though. *chuckle*

Now some pics of me with glasses. First, my OLD glasses. The ear pieces were starting to wear out, the "chocolate" color of the frames was getting worn out (literally, wearing off the frames). And the lenses were scratched beyond belief. (The eye Doc was rather astonished that I could still see out of them! Said he's never seen such a precise, incredible pattern of swirly scratches on the lenses. *grin* I reminded him that I've been wearing this pair for 4 years.)

This is me with my new pair of glasses. Please disregard the double chin visible in these pics. *wry smile*

My new glasses, and my old glasses. To give some idea of the difference in the shape of the lenses and frames. (Tori, the new ones are more rectangular, while the old lenses were more oval.)

And last but not least, with contacts instead of glasses. I went with clear contacts this time, instead of colored. Maybe someday I'll put in one of my pair of green contacts (from 4 years ago) and show what I look like with green eyes. *wink* For now, my usual "everyday" blue.

**********

As for what's been going on around here, not a heck of a lot, really! The weather has been reasonably beautiful. We've had some clear, sunny, WARM February days. We've had some cloudy, gray, cool February days. Prefering the warm ones. Today we woke up to thick snow, but it's stopped by now. I doubt we got quite the 4 inches that were being predicted, though. Supposedly this was supposed to be the worst snow storm of the winter so far. Not nearly so. But the snow falling first thing this morning weren't your individual little snow flakes. We had whole danged cotton balls falling from the sky. And BOY is it warm! It's actually about 35 degrees out today, which means it's a GOOD thing the white stuff isn't still falling, else it would actually be sleet instead of snow. YUCKY!!!! The roads are crappy enough as it is. And I've gotta get the kiddo to hockey practice this evening at 5:30 on Ft. Weinwright. Not looking forward to making the drive, today. *sigh* (At least now I've got a temp pass to use the back gate for the duration of the hockey season so I don't have to go all the way around to the front gate.)

**********

Hockey has tapered almost to nothing. We've got 2 more games and 5 practices (including tonight's) before the end of the season. The kiddo's rather peeved, all in all. Her coach really dropped the ball for the team this year, refusing to let the girls participate in tournaments and not schedualing more games because he's already tied up with his two other teams. (Yeah, the guy said he'd take on 3 teams this year, but he's not shown up for half of our team's activities, or has held off schedualing us more activities because he's tied up with his other two teams. Our girls are feeling rather jilted. Rightly so. (Scott, the two assistant coaches, AND the team manager have all 4 said that they'd have been willing to act as head coach for the team if the team had gotten to go to a tournament in Anchorage. The main coach didn't even give us the option, though. *sigh*) So, a practice tonight, a game Saturday. And only 3 more events in the next 3 weeks.

**********

School is still..... going. I've got to call the homeschool program and set up an appointment to meet with the special ed teacher now that we've gotten Tays medical appointments all taken care of. Tay's not fighting so much lately, but she's still fighting somewhat. She seems to enjoy her therapist (L.) though, and is looking forward (for the moment) to her appointment tomorrow. We're just moving into the Westward expansion of the USA in History, and Tay's getting into the section on Lewis & Clark and Sacagawea. She's rather happy about that. (FWIW, my Dad's sis-in-law -Aunt Norma Sue- told Dad not too long ago that Clark's wife was the sister to one of our great grandfathers. Cool!)

I brought home 3 books on Lewis & Clark and Sacagawea and the Westward Expansion yesterday, and 2 of the three books include activities and crafts. I've told Tay that if she wants to pick one of the crafts, I'll buy her supplies to make that craft. (The exceptions being: making a full-sized Tipi, and making a brownie "soddy." That is, a sod house made of brownies to show the manner of stacking the sod "bricks" and the roofing of such. I don't think we need brownies in the house. *grin*)

**********

Gardening wise.... Well, a whole lotta dreaming, but not much "doing" going on. The FIL FOUND my box of seeds! So I've been able to go through and figure out what I need to buy more of. Now I only need to actually BUY more. Basically, I need more spinach seed, more eggplant (if I want to bother with that again), more Black from Tula tomato seed (again, if I want to bother), more Anna Swartz hubbard squash, more radish, more beet, and more green beans. What I really need to do is decide which seed company I want to buy from (SSE like last year, or Territorial Seed Co.) and see if they've still got what I want, and how much it's going to be. I know it won't be as expensive as last year ($100, last year!). I may add another pack of Sunset Runner beans, since I've only got 1 pkg left from last year. (I ordered 2 and used 1 and didn't get any returns.) Still, it won't be a big order this year.

I also passed some of the pepper seed onto 2 of my coworkers who'd expressed an interest in trying to grow some peppers for themselves. The flavor of the peppers, when dried and ground, is NOT "just" like paprika. It's a bit different. Very pungent, very "spicy" but not hot at all. It's not a hot flavor, just a sweet, heavy, assertive flavor. Good, and I think a good alternative to paprika, but NOT paprika. I hope to get a good bit more this coming year. Enough to actually grind a jar-full next year, if not more.

**********

Work has been rather quiet for a couple of weeks. Not a heck of a lot going on, thank goodness. And the "brown-noser" co-worker has been keeping her mouth to herself (at least where I'm concerned) lately. Which is good. However, a couple of other coworkers and I are about ready to take our concerns about the activities this woman engages in (on work time, or at work but not officially on-the-clock) and talk to the Union Rep. This other woman (the brown noser) does little to NO work based on our job description and almost all of the things she DOES do are "extracurricular" weeding and reorganizational activities that she's "given" by a couple of the reference librarians. These are jobs that the rest of us have been chewed out for daring to offer our time to (when you get sick of shelf-reading, you'll offer to do just about ANYTHING else), but the Brown-noser does these activities to the exclusion of all her "reguarly assigned" activities. And yet, those of us who DO engage in our "regularly assigned" duties, but don't follow directions to the very letter, get chewed out. (If we spend more than 45 minutes shelving a single cart of books, even Non-Fic, and we spend any of that time out there straightening, we're chewed out for taking too long. One coworker who shelves very quickly was chewed out for taking TOO many carts of books during the course of the day. We're supposed to spend time shelf-reading, but we're chewed out if we do because we weren't shelving instead. If we shelve books to the exclusion of shelf-reading we're chewed out because "our" shelf-reading sections look like crap. If we dare spend a little time checking in books instead of shelving (esp. when the shelves are bare of books TO be shelved, but the table is full of books yet to be checked in), we're chewed out for daring to think that maybe we should check-in for a while in order to have materials TO shelve. However, if the table gets full (which invariably happens at the same time as the media bin being an over-flowing mess) the person who IS supposed to be checking them in gets chewed out for NOT getting enough done.

(The person who's job it is to check in media AND keep an eye on the check-out desk in case of a rush of people is also the person who's supposed to be checking in whatever books are on the table waiting to be checked in as well. Unfortunately, the media bin is only ever overflowing with media -which takes priority to books- at the same time that the table is full. It's impossible to stay on top of BOTH, so occasionally after 5 pm (at which point none of us pages are assigned to be "back-up") one of us will sit at the check-in computer and attempt to just check in books. I've been chewed out for daring to do such, even though I didn't have any more pressing matters to take care of, the shelves were empty of books to be put away, I didn't have a cart-full of books to put away, I had already shelf-read during the day, AND I didn't have pick-up duties.) It just seems as if we just cannot win with our boss. And the worst part about it is that what the Boss does is rather bitchy, but I can't figure out if she really realizes how bitchy and micromanaging she is. Sometimes she seems completely oblivious to how overbearing she is, other times she seems to be purposefully ragging on us just because she can. Sometimes she'll even do something totally nice, and then within 5 minutes say something totally overbearing or contradictory. It's frustrating. And at least 3 of us agree that we'd love our jobs if we were simply allowed to DO our jobs without the micromanagement and bossiness of our Boss (and Brown-noser).

**********

Oh, FWIW, the father of that little neighbourhood boy (I say little, M. is taller than I am!) died almost 2 weeks ago now. My understanding is that M's mom moved back in a while back and has reassumed her responsibilities for her children in the course of the illness and death of her ex-husband. (She has had some nasty drug issues that resulted in her being a very "flakey" mom, when she was around at all. Maybe the illness of her ex-hubby got through to her, I don't know. Anyway, the kids are still living in their home here in the neighbourhood.)

The premature baby seems to be doing well and I've completed an afghan for her. (What little we hear is that she's progressing reasonably well, that the hospital hopes to send her home about the end of March, which is just prior to the day she was actually due to be born.)

Anyway...... I've gotta get off the computer. We've gotta get a bit of school work done, and this post is definitely long enough.

Have a Blessed Day!

Another Week, Gone!

2009-01-31T20:40:00.000-08:00

First off, to answer a couple of questions.

Whim: Tired of hockey? HELL YES!!! I'm so freaking sick of hockey right now I think I'd personally like a year of NONE! However, that won't happen OR work. Tay's rather burnt out right now as well, which is weighing heavily on what team we decide to let her try for next year. The comp(etition) team that she'd really excel on, has 5 skates a week, not to mention "dryland" (conditioning) and "chalk time" (strategy talks with the coach). There's NO WAY we're going to manage that. And Tay feels overwhealmed right now, this year, with as much hockey as we've been dealing with. It'd be abso-freaking-lutely impossible to manage 5 skates a week, plus conditioning, PLUS "chalk talk" times, AND do anything else, such as have friends, do schoolwork, etc. I don't see how any of the parents manage it, either. Esp. those who have multiple kids on ice. Anyway, the over-abundance of ice-time this past month has also led Scott and Tay to decision to NOT participate in Spring League this year. While they've both said that a part of them will miss doing that (it's all games, no practices, twice a week), they've agreed with me that we need a couple of months off this year between hockey's end and soccer's beginning. So, we'll end hockey in March, have April and May off, then soccer starts in June and runs 2 months. Busy, yes, but not as bad as this past year's been.

Peter: Yeah, _I_ did better than 1 zucchini here at my house this summer, but those almost all got promptly eaten. (I shredded the largest one for casserole-usage this winter.) However, the FIL wanted a loaf of zucchini bread made out of HIS zucchini. *grin* He doesn't bake, so he turned the zuke over to me to shred and freeze and bake for him. Ok. I got a smaller loaf out of it for Tay and I, as well. *chuckle* Really though, NOBODY did terribly well with zucchini this year, around here. It was too dang moist. Too much rain was causing the zukes to rot on the stem before they got big enough to eat. *shrug* The fact that we (FIL and Myself) got 2 zucchini large enough to shred, and the 4 or 5 smaller eating-size zucchini _I_ got, means that WE had a pretty decent harvest this year, comparatively. (MOST of the gardeners at my work love zucchini and always have an overabundance to share. I think only ONE other woman at work reported ANY harvestable zukes, and she had only 1! Just too moist this past summer!)

**********

So, an update on how the past week has been. Um, the past week..... I'm not really sure I recall. *chuckle* Just so busy with such normal "stuff" that I don't even recall most of what happened this past week.

Really, the only thing out of the ordinary was the eye dr. appointments Tay and I had at the end of the week. Thursday was Tay's appointment. She's still got "eagle eyes". This means that her educational issues are not due to being unable to read either a chalk-board OR the letters in a book. Even her past issues of "transposing" her letters has decreased, mainly with practice reading and being more aware of her need to "slow it down" when she reads. The Dr. didn't think there's any basis there for dyslexia. Good! Kinda wish the result HAD been as simple as Tay needing reading glasses, but it also means a definitive answer to that part of the question at least. (This coming week Tay has her hearing check, just to make sure it's not her ears that are unable to hear what's being said.)

Friday (yesterday) I had MY eye check-up. It's been 4 years since I've been to see an eye dr. It went well. My eyes have changed only fractionally. The right eye got fractionally worse, the left eye stayed the same (it'd gotten fractionally better 4 years ago, from the appointment prior to THAT). Therefore, the dissonance between my two eyes is closer now than it has been in a long time. (To put it into contact-lense prescription terms, I use a -425 in my left eye, a -250 in my right eye. 10 years ago, it was -450 in my left and -225 in my right.) I've ordered a new pair of glasses, and the Dr gave me a trial pair of contact lenses to see if they'll be comfortable for me. I go back in on Friday to confirm or change the contact lenses. So far, so good.

In the past I've always gone with colored contacts. I usually chose "evergreen" contacts because I wanted green eyes. I decided that as I've stopped coloring my hair, and am finally getting to like my natural hair color (probably JUST in time for it to start going gray), I may as well try to get to the point where I like my natural eye color as well. *chuckle* After all, it's been the eye color I've been seeing in the mirror for over 4 years, covered over with glasses. Maybe seeing them in the mirror WITHOUT glasses will allow me to finally accept them as they are, instead of always wishing they were different. (Besides, when I think analytically, my eyes are pretty cool in that they change color a bit with my moods, from gray when all's calm and quiet, to nearly-green when I'm really torqued about something. Blue is the average middle. Aqua when I'm sad.) Once my glasses come in, I'll try to get a couple of new pics taken of me, to share: with my old glasses, with my new glasses, with contacts. *chuckle* Esp. since I didn't do a "birthday" picture this year.

**********

Things have been pretty quiet at work this past week, for which I'm grateful. We'll see if the coming week is as quiet.

**********

It's the end of the second quarter/first semester today. Grades are supposed to be in. Tay's supposed to have finished lesson 80 and taken the corresponding test. She's only finished through lesson 65 so far. Which means the grades for this quarter will end up being an Incomplete. Her "teacher" said that this is ok, as long as I get the grade to her when Tay DOES finish up the lessons. But, we're going to have 3 non-lesson week days this coming week. The 5th and 7th graders all have testing to go to on Tuesday and Wednesday which will take up all our schooling hours for those two days. Then on Friday Tay's got her hearing test, her next meeting with her therapist (L.), and then I have my contact-lense follow-up that afternoon. It's going to be so busy that we won't be able to fit in any schooling. Which leaves only Monday and Thursday for actual lessons. *sigh*

**********

On top of the busy-ness (which, other than my eye appointment yesterday morning, I actually sat around and watched TV all day and didn't do anything else as I was too tired from lack of sleep), I was up at the University today to work at the concession stand selling ball-game food for the duration of the U's women's basketball game. Scott worked the Concession stand on Thursday, I worked tonight, covering for another team-mom who's not had any other chances to see a wrestling match for her oldest child. (She's got 3 kids, the oldest is in wrestling through his HS and his team leaves tomorrow for state, or something. This was the ONLY match she's NOT been so heavily schedualed for that she couldn't make it. Then the concessions were schedualed and she was going to have to miss it. I volunteered to take her place.) ANYWAY, there were supposed to be 6 of us working the concession stand tonight (from 2 pm, to start setting up, to 7 pm for closing down). Only 3 of us showed. The 3 of us got along well, and had a good time, and brought in LOTS of money for our team, but we're all rather disappointed in the other 3 people who apparently felt themselves above the needs of the team and didn't show up to help out. (Oh, and we finished clean-up by 6 pm, no less!)

It was made clear to us by the Team Manager that with 17 girls on the team, every girl would need ONE parent to pull ONE shift, and ONE girl would need a parent to pull 2 shifts (or both parents to pull a shift each). One of the other girls wound up with BOTH her Mom & Dad working Thursday's shift with Scott. Really, there shouldn't have been ANY problem for one parent from every other girl to pull a single 5 hour shift (the remainder of the shifts are March 7th). BUT, some people just can't seem to wrap their minds around the fact that this is fundraising FOR OUR GIRLS! This is money we're working for in order to have LESS we've got to pay for out of pocket. That means, this money we raised tonight will help cover ice-time for our girls. And ice-time has gotten REALLY expensive! But again, some people seem to think they're above all that. (And, they're the ones who gripe loudest when a money-call goes out, because fundraising efforts weren't sufficient.)

So, somewhat peeved with a couple of parents from our team, tonight.

**********

Weather-wise..... Things have cooled down a bit again. It's been ranging from about 15 deg. ABOVE zero to -20 at night. But, since that cold-spell we had at the beginning of January, I don't think we've seen colder than -25 again. And that's just fine!!! Most everybody I've talked to (esp. those of us who've lived around here for a good long while) agrees that we'd love it if temps ranged only from -25 to +20 this time of year. Any warmer, the roads are too slick. Any colder, it's too cold to be outside for more than the absolute minimum. But, February is still to come. It COULD get cold again. We're not REALLY "out of the woods" as far as extreme cold goes, until March.

**********

We never DID find the seeds, so as of now I'll be ordering more seeds blindly not knowing what we may find left over from last year. *sigh* I already told Scott that this coming summer, as soon as we're done planting, I'm bringing the leftover seeds home with me to keep track of. I haven't yet made the order, though, or even written up what I'm going to order.

Ok. I think that pretty well covers it. I've gotta get off here and help Tay with dinner. (Pre-made, frozen pizza; salad; maybe some garlic bread.)

Have a Blessed Day!

Birthdays, and other Events of a Week...

2009-01-25T11:51:00.000-08:00

So the week started off with the MIL's birthday. She turned 60. We called, hoping to go over and give her the birthday card we got her, but she wasn't home. We DID go over Monday evening, just for a bit.

We had a LOT of hockey last weekend, as well. It was the "MLK weekend tournament" 1 game on Saturday, lost. 2 games on Sunday, lost. Monday, we had practice in the evening. Tuesday I had to return to work. Spent Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday dealing with a return of the work-stressors.

Thursday was also my birthday. The "big" 30. I don't feel any older. That's fine. Some days I feel MUCH older, regardless of my actual years. *wry smile* Scott and Tay each got me a card, Tay's was funny, Scott's was sweet. Scott also got me the first season of Stargate: SG1 on DVD. *grin* I LOVE that show!

Friday, we had the first REAL appointment with Tay's therapist. She's pretty cool, and though Tay was very nervous about going and talking to this "complete stranger", she felt much better about seeing L. AFTER the appointment. We're going to take Tay in every other Friday, at 1, to meet with L. Eventually, as things hopefully improve, we'll reduce the frequency. Having Tay see L. regularly will also put into motion the behavioral side of getting Tay enrolled in the "YESS" school. That is the school (essentially a public school) run by the Family Centered Services of AK program there on their "campus". It's for kids who have some major behavioral issues, as well as educational issues, that don't allow them to "fit in" to the traditional public school environment. Tay's behavioral issues aren't so major in and of themselves as to allow for her admittence, but possibly, along with her educational issues (which I really need to set up some appointments for this week), will be sufficent to get her admitted. They'd pick her up via bus in the morning, and she'd have breakfast at the school, she'd do the schooling, have lunch at the school as well, then some likelyhood of after-school activities including regular appointments with L. Then the bus would bring her home in the evening. There's a part of me that feels that handing her over to the school this much of the time may be wrong, but I also realize that what we're going through right now isn't exactly "right" either. When it comes to the point where an entire household "hates" each other on a regular basis because of some depression issues, and school troubles, then help is needed. And if that means handing my daughter over to a smaller specialty "public" school a little more often, knowing that they can help her work through her behavioral issues AND school issues, then so be it.

Friday night, we went out to dinner for my birthday. We went to Lavelle's Bistro. It's downtown by the courthouse, on the ground floor of the Merriot's Springhill Suites hotel. DAMN! That was GOOD food! Scott had prime rib that was an inch thick and probably roughly 10 inches in diameter, cooked PRECISELY how he likes it best! Also a baked potato, the best ceasar salad he said he's ever tasted, and a shared dish of fried calamari. (He and Tay had never tried calamari, and the one time I tried it as a teen, I found it gross. Evidently it was simply over-cooked and over-flavored that time. This time it was delicious!) I had Alaskan halibut with coconut basmati rice and a mango salsa, and for the "first course" I had fresh-made cream-of-broccoli soup (the soup of the day). Tay had a chef salad for start, and a half-"rack" of roast duck with a raspberry glaze over roast garlic mashed potatoes. All 3 meals also included a yummy mix of LIGHTLY steamed fresh veggies. (Even Scott liked them, and he doesn't usually eat cooked carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli. That's what this was, and it was good!) Scott and I each took a bite of Tay's duck and almost wished we'd ordered that instead of our own meals. Ours were certainly delicious, but that duck...... Dang! Melt in your mouth incredible! Tay and I also each had dessert: the special of the day, Apple Pie creme brulee.

For me, Creme brulee is THE dessert I want most on my birthday. Not birthday cake of ANY sort, not even really cheesecake. I crave creme brulee! I've had some incredible creme brulees, and this one TOPPED the charts! Just...... WOW!

Saturday, yesterday, we had 2 MORE hockey games. Lost both of them. Today, Tay's got another hockey game. We don't expect to win. It's not that Tay's not doing her job in the goal net, but the reality is that she's about the ONLY one on the team who DOES do their job with any consistency. At any given game, one or two other girls may "bring their A game" but, the whole team doesn't come out prepared to kick some butt and take names. Tay, consistently, is the ONLY team-member to play at the level needed for any success. Scott and I have kinda lost count of how many shots she's taken on her in this season, but suffice it to say, yesterday's second game saw over 50 shots on her (we're not sure how MANY over 50, but at least 50) and she saved all but 8. She's got an over all save average of about 92% (give or take 1 percent). That's right up there with NHL goalies save percentages. If she keeps it up, in a couple of years she's going to have college scouts watching her closely for the possibility (likelyhood) of recruiting her for their school's women's hockey team. (Now if we can only get her to keep on top of her schooling as well! Really blow the scouts away in a couple of years!) Anyway, unfortunately because the rest of the team either doesn't have the experience, or doesn't have the heart to play well every time, we have little chance of winning this season. Tay's still hoping for ONE shut-out this season, though. And she's got the skill.

Today, ending a week, is my FIL's birthday. He turns 62. He's officially eligable for Social Security now. *wry smile* I made him a loaf of zucchini bread with the ONLY zucchini to come out of the garden at his place this year. *chuckle* (No, it didn't "keep" all this time, I'd shredded it, labeled it, and frozen it.) That's the sort of thing he likes for his birthdays. He's not a big fan of them. *wry smile*

Anyway. I'd better get off the computer. I've gotta start getting ready for work.

Have a Blessed Day!

What A Difference A Week Makes!

2009-01-16T12:45:00.000-08:00

Wow.... So this time last week, it was starting to warm up a bit, but it was still pretty cold. And as of last Thursday, it was still ice-foggy as hell.

Today, I went out at just before 11 am, and it was 45 degrees ABOVE zero, Fahrenheit. That's a difference of 90 degrees in a week's time. The snow's melting off the roofs, there's a constant dripping sound in the back of the house as the water drips down the downspout. (In fact, I need to find out from the hubby where the bottom half of the downspout is, so we can keep any more water-dug ruts from forming along the back of the house.) The outside freezer has been plugged back in for the duration of this warm spell. It's also windy as hell. The christmas lights are tapping against the front of the house constantly. The roads are slicker than snot on a doornob. Really, it's a good thing I've not gone to work this week. Scott said he's glad that I'm not out on the roads with them in this condition.

The oddest part of it all though, is to step outside you'd think it was March. And yet, I haven't had my birthday yet. My middle sis hasn't had her birthday yet. This just isn't normal. It's really unnerving. To let the dogs out needing little more than a jacket (and only that, today, because of the wind). It's a definite Chinook blew in, and as nice as it feels, and as nice as it is to be able to get back outside after that long cold-spell, it just doesn't feel "right". It feels odd, and wrong.

But, the dogs and kid are loving it. This means they can go outside and play and stretch their legs again. *sigh* Pros, and Cons. Always pros & cons.

**********

Speaking of pros & cons, here's a list I've written up in my head, the past couple of days:

Pros of going back to work:

* I need to pay off my car
* still making enough money to make it worth my while to work
* will get to apply for the NP job again if it opens, as an "internal" applicant
* Should something happen to Scott or his job, I'd have at least SOME funds to fall back on, and a job already in place.
* It does give me at least the appearance of some minimal financial self-security.

Cons of going back to work:

* I realized that the reasons I STARTED working all those years ago are gone or changed. (I started because I had little other way or reason to leave the house and be around other adults, I needed a break from my child.)
* I'm getting stuff done around the house here that I haven't had time to do in a long time.
* I'm not feeling stressed, my back doesn't hurt, my head doesn't hurt.
* I'm getting to sleep in every morning, therefore I'm well rested, FINALLY.
* I'm enjoying getting to do "optional" things, like cooking real meals for dinner, baking goodies and bread, and planning for my garden BEFORE it becomes a "must do now" stressor.
* Tay and I have time to work through her school work at a more leasurely pace. (She's still fighting me somewhat, but that's just Tay, not the school work.)
* I'm not constantly upset and bitter over the politics of the workplace. Not ranting every night to the hubby about "You wouldn't believe what so-and-so did today!"
* My insurance through my work is now pretty much worthless, with Scott's co insurance being so much better than mine.
* If/when prices go higher again, it will eventually come to the point where I'm spending more to go to work than I'm actually bringing home every paycheck.
* I will have to drive to & fro every day again, on often-nasty road conditions.

What it comes down to is that I realize that if I have the chance to quit, I think I'm going to take it. The Pros of staying home, being a SAHM again, far out-weigh the Pros of going back to work. I DO still want a job over here at North Pole Branch. That would be ideal for me: 20 hours outside of the house every week, close enough that driving time is nil (or, even walking time for that matter), and less co-worker angst & politiking to deal with. But, at this point, I'm wondering why I don't just say "fug it" and try for a position there as a 10 hour page again, if the possibility comes open to me again. We don't need my insurance, it's close enough I can forgo the car for all except shopping and dr's appointments, and it's light enough hours that I could return to being the mostly-homebody that I am.

Of course, the reality is that we DO need to get my car paid off first. And even WITH my car paid off, I'm still making enough right now that it's almost infeasible for me to quit my job. That loss of approx. $800 a month WOULD set us back a bit, and it buys some of the nicities that Scott, Tay and I have gotten used to having.

But..... This week have definitely opened my eyes to my change in priorities. I still don't thoroughly ENJOY homeschooling Tay. But it'd be nice to have the actual time to do a truly decent job at it, as I have this week. I DO still enjoy working around other people, but that doesn't mean I "need" to spend 30 hours a week at it, with another 10 spent driving on often-nasty road conditions. Now, I'm realizing that yeah, I don't want to quit working altogether, but a definite decrease in hours would be fantastic, and much appreciated by those who matter most (my family, my home).

**********

In the mean time, what have I gotten done this week? Not a lot, and yet a couple of large-ish (for me) projects that have sat un-done for quite a while now as I didn't have a good, solid block of time to focus on them.

I have, since last winter, wanted to un-pack one of my biggest kitchen cabinets, and shift the 2 shelves, making space for a third level of shelving, and refill the 2 shelves, tossing what isn't needed or wanted, and getting some of my counter-top "clutter" up onto that third shelf. I did that yesterday.

For a good long while now I've wanted to go through the 8-foot-tall cabinet outside Tay's bathroom and clean it out. Tuesday I did that. The top 1/5th was full of a mish-mash of old toys, crafting materials for Tay (play-dough, watercolors), some cleaning rags, and old school pages and activities that got thrown up there for some odd reason. The next 2/5 were full, one shelf with my candle and incense supplies. (*grin* Those jar candles take up a lot of room!) The next shelf had an old box full again of odd crafting bits & pieces, a ball of crochet thread, some spools of sewing thread, buttons, a string of decorative foam apples (don't ask), just odds & ends. That shelf also had a mix of bath towels and hand towels for Tay's bathroom. It was a mess. Except for the shelf with my candle-stuffs (that gets reorganized about twice yearly anyway), I unpacked that section of cabinet and organized, and tossed, and folded and got it looking nice and orderly. The last 2/5 of the cabinet are where I've usually kept the bulk of my yarn and fabric crafting supplies. Now it's where most of my fabric crafting supplies are, as most of my yarn crafting supplies are in the shrenk here in the computer room. I went through, tossed some stuff, reorganized it altogether. It's much neater now, and has room for some of my crafting patterns, as I'll hopefully get those better organized today.

Today's plan is to go through my cookbooks. I've got far more than I'll ever use, and some I don't know why I bother with. Mom and Dad and Scott have given me some cookbooks in the past couple years that I know have recipes that I CAN and WILL use more often, but I also need to weed through and get rid of the cookbooks that I've never used and have no real intention of ever using. I also hope to go through my crafting pattern print-outs and hole-punch them and get them into one of the 3-ring binders I have, and put them into my crafting cabinet for storage.

This weekend, I'd LOVE to disassemble a bookcase in my room, weed out what's there (and all that's piled in front of it) and re-stabilize the bookshelf itself before re-filling it. (The shelf needs a new backing to "cross-brace it" as Scott years ago removed the backing to use that shelving unit as a TV & entertainment stand. It's about ready to fall over, at this point. But with a stabilizing piece of ply-wood or such will be sturdy enough to be safe again.)

Then, Tuesday it's back to work for me.

**********

Since I haven't talked much about food lately, I'll spill on what I'm making for supper tonight.

Great-Grandma's Chicken "Noodle" Soup. It's really more like Amish style chicken & dumplings. Scott's Grandma (Tay's one remaining Great Grandma) used to make this all the time, from what I've been told. I know it'd be an easy way to feed a family as large as hers was on relatively little. One chicken carcass makes a VAT of chicken noodle soup. And she made the noodles from scratch on her kitchen table. Anyway, she stopped making it about a year or two after Scott and I got together. She just became too frail to deal with lifting the vat and straining the chicken from the stock in order to remove bones and such, and roll out the noodles..... (She only became too frail to do any cooking at all in the last 2 or so years. But this soup takes more muscle and strength than Grandma's had in a long time.)

And that's really all it is. One chicken carcass, placed in a big ol (3? 5? gallon) stock-pot. Covered with enough water to gently float the pieces. Maybe a bay leaf or two. (I add them to mine, Grandma had nothing but chicken and water in hers to start. I now know also that a dash of vinegar helps to draw necessary calcium from the bones, for added nutrient to your soup.) Simmer till the chicken is falling off the bone. Strain the chicken from the stock and set the stock to cool, making the fat more easily collected off the top. Once the meat cools sufficiently, seperate the meat from the bones & skin. Toss or dispose of the bones & skin in whatever way seems most appropriate to you. Shred the meat reasonably well by hand, and put it back in your vat, ready to have the chicken stock added back in once it's had the fat strained off. While the stock and chicken ar cooling, make your noodles.

Literally, Grandma would just add flour and egg and a bit of water to help bind, and mix it together till she had a workable dough, then she'd roll it out on her kitchen table. No oil, no salt. Just flour, egg and water. She'd slice the noodle dough into reasonably thin noodles, but she had a deft hand for getting consistently sized noodles with her pizza cutter. *grin* I can't cut a straight line to save my life. I've found that domino-shaped rectangles are a good compromize, and they don't wind up all "rat's-nest of noodles in the stock pot" when they're stirred about. These noodles also absorb QUITE A LOT of the stock, and become more dumpling-like anyway. So less, noodle-shaped and more "domino" shaped, it is.

Once you have the chicken and the stock back in the vat together, you can add diced carrot and celery and onion, if you'd like. I know Grandma would occasionally add come celery or a bit of onion if she had it to hand, but she didn't ever put in carrots. I'd prefer carrots myself, but Scott doesn't like cooked carrots at all. So I don't add them. (Once or twice, Grandma had just the chicken, the "stock" and the noodles, no veggies what-so-ever.) I prefer a bit of veggie in mine, but this isn't a "brothy" soup. It's really much sturdier, and thicker. Simmer the soup a good bit with the veggies (if you do add them) before you put the noodles in.

Don't add the noodles till about 20 minutes before the soup is done. The noodles thicken the stock quite a bit, giving it a real heft. Also, try not to stir the soup too much after you've added the noodles.

And seasoning wise, Grandma only ever used a bit of salt & pepper. I've added a bit of sage, a bit of savory, some thyme if I've got it, and those couple of bay leafs. But, it still shouldn't be STRONGLY flavored. (Ok, so Scott occasionally adds a dash of Tobasco sauce to his bowl for a bit of heat if he's in the mood. Tay likes a dash of lemon-pepper, as she doesn't like this soup much and thinks lemon-pepper makes EVERYTHING taste better.) Should be good old fashioned comfort food at it's best and sturdiest.

Anyway, those are the directions, as best I can give them, for Grandma's Chicken Noodle Soup.

**********

I think that pretty well covers it for today. Gotta get back to school work.

Have a Blessed Day!

NOW I Feel Sorry for Y'all!

2009-01-14T11:46:00.000-08:00

Saw THIS article in the news this morning. Ok, now y'all can start whining to me about how cold it is. *chuckle* I'll believe ya.

And, FWIW, on the Great Plains where there's tons & tons of snow..... Part of me feels great sympathy (especially for the snow-plow workers), the other part of me WISHES we were getting that kinda snow fall. If nothing else, 60 inches of snowfall, as Bismark ND reports so far this year, is GREAT insulation for our houses. Keep the windows and doors and walkways shoveled, and let the snow insulate the rest of the house, I'd say. One wonders why an Igloo can be deemed appropriate winter shelter, until one has had the experience of climbing inside one. At which point a person realizes how beautifully insulating snow really is.

Anyway, Connie, Robin, Barefoot and Gina..... Y'all stay warm and bundled. Don't wanna hear any incidence of frost-bite from any of ya! Whim, I know how easily you get cold. Bundle up, sweety!!!! I hope you've got plenty of snuggly blankets to keep ya toasty. And a good supply of tea or cocoa or whatever other is your warm drink of choice.

Also FWIW, the temps here this morning (at 10:30 am) are 20 deg. ABOVE zero. Dang near warm enough to go out without a coat. ALMOST. Not quite but ALMOST. (I DID get a chuckle over the guy in that article in Florida, taking a walk at 40 degrees, geared up as warmly as I do at -40. THAT struck me as funny.)

Blessings. --Kati

"Hi's" and "Low's"......

2009-01-12T13:37:00.000-08:00

So, there are some definite shifts going on. The high: the temperature has increased. This morning, we are up to (yes, I say "UP TO") -15 deg. F. That is -26 to you Brits. *grin* So, it was nice to go outside this morning and NOT feel like my nose was going to freeze off in 2 minutes while the dogs did their business. Instead, it took 8 minutes while I chased them down from a neighbour's yard and herded them home after they ran off. *chuckle*

Another high: I'm taking the week off work. The car trouble last week wound up with my car in the shop. It appeared to have a fuel leak, and the dealership recommended HIGHLY that I bring it in rather than risk an engine fire. Um. YEAH! Thing is, they told Scott that they wouldn't get my car INTO the shop till at least THIS Thursday (the 15th). Wow. That means a week without a car.

However, they got it into the shop almost immediately and called Friday evening to say it was done and I could come get it. I didn't have a way to go get it on Friday, so I went Saturday (when Scott could take me in) and picked it up. The "damage" ended up NOT being covered by my 10-year, 10,000 mile warrenty because it wasn't anything about the engine itself, or manufacturer's F-up. It WAS simply that last Saturday I'd left my car unplugged for almost an entire day, and that was sufficient to cause the already-shoddy (ready to fall apart at the seams) block-heater, oil-pan-heater, battery-pad, whatever-the-hell-else to quit working. So, Scott Ok'd the dealership to replace the block heater, said he can do the oil-pan-heater himself, and had already purchased and had on hand the new battery pad and battery. So, it was a "mere" $250 dollars to get my car back. (Also turned out that the fuel leak wasn't a fuel leak at all. But that the last couple of times I've had my oil changed in the car, the Jiffy Lube -or whomever-the-hell it was that Scott had do the oil change- didn't bother to replace the gasket between the oil filter and wherever it connects to. Apparently that little $.52 (52 cent) gasket has to be replaced EVERY TIME! So, from now on Scott's going to take my car to the dealership for oil changes. (The dealership also charges $10 less per oil change on cars they're qualified to sell, than do any of the chain oil-change places. So, it's simply more cost effective to have the dealership do the oil changes, than to take them to someplace like Jiffy Lube.)

Well, as I'd already told my boss that I wouldn't have my car back before probably Friday of this week, and maybe even Monday of next week..... *Shrug* To hell with it. I've already been cleared for the time off, I'm going to TAKE the time off. I've been stressed beyond belief with work lately, and I need a chance to do the "small" things around the house here. Things like organizing my crafting materials, weeding through my bookshelf, and some basic cleaning. Things like finishing up a crafting project or two. Things like some adolescent discussions with the kiddo.

And that's where the "lows" come in. Without going into any "embarassing" detail, Tay has reached another stage in puberty. At which point it is necessary to explain to her some more "skills" that must be learned. She's adamantly against growing up because she seems to think it means the abrupt end of her being who SHE is, and the abrupt beinging of her becoming a "girly girl". *shaking head* She's been yelling at me and freakish all weekend. And right now she's on restriction to her room till she elects to uncover her ears and listen to what I have to say on this most recent change. She's now been in there for 3 hours, refusing to listen to a damn thing I've got to talk to her about. Like it or not, I'm going to out-stubborn her on this. And I've got all week to do it in! *wry smile*

Anyway, so that's where we're "at" right now.

Hope y'all have a great week. Hopefully I'll get in another post sometime later.

Have a Blessed Day!

We Made National News, Again!!!

2009-01-08T09:40:00.000-08:00

So, it appears that the interior of Alaska (Fairbanks actually being mentioned) made national news again. It was on the main Yahoo News page this morning. I'm glad that this time the article was about "Extreme Alaska Cold Grounds Planes, Disables Cars" instead of the couple of times recently when it's been attempted shootings or bomb threats that made the news.

Anyway, this morning it was -47 at my place when I let the dogs out at 8:20 am. *Looking on online calculator really quick* Tori, Toasty, -47 F equates to -43.88 Celcius. So, really not too terribly different numbers, where the two are concerned. Just for laughs, -30 Fahrenheit is equal to -34.44 Celcius. SO yeah, if y'all in Britian start having temps in the -30's, I'm willing to sympathize completely. *grin*

My car wouldn't start at all yesterday. One of the things that simply MUST be done with vehicals around here is to "winterize" them. That means we may adjust the antifreeze and lubrication oil for the colder temps. We also put all these little specially made heating pads in our cars, one for the battery, one for the oil pan, one for the engine.... And those are plugged into a main electic receptical under the hood of the car, which is then plugged in to an extension cord reaching out from the car to a home or business electricty outlet. These heatting pads stay warm while the car is plugged in, keeping the necessary components of the car somewhat warm. Then of course, we run the car for a little while before we ACTUALLY take off, in order to let the engine come up to real running temperatures. Anyway, we'd been having some problems this year with the battery on my car going dead. Scott went on Tuesday and got me a new (REALLY good quality!) car battery and installed it. THEN we found out yesterday that the battery pad was defunct on my car and needed replacing. So, yesterday I didn't make it to work because the BRAND NEW battery had frozen up because the battery pad didn't work. *sigh*

I did get some stuff done around the house, though. Besides getting a full lesson done for Tay's schooling (and catching up on the previous day's lessons which WEREN'T completed), I washed the dog's blankets and bathed Jenny. (She'd vomited on her blanket, then was laying on the blanket even so. So she and the blanket were both rather ripe.) It's the first time in maybe 2 years that Jenny has had a bath. She wasn't terribly pleased, but she actually did ok. (No, she didn't look filthy either!!!! Her fur, for all that it's white, was only slightly dingy and off-white colored. It has a tendency to shed dirt and such pretty quickly though. Which is why it took me so long to actually need to give her a bath.) If I wasn't going in to work today, I'd be giving Puck a bath.

(My next-door-neighbour offered to give me a ride to work, and as time-sheets have to be in today, I accepted.)

Along with bathing Jenny and schooling Tay, I also got a load of dishes run, and organized (or, BETTER organized) 3 boxes of yarn that are sitting here in the computer room. Scott's been after me for quite a while to do something with the four boxes of yarn. I got rid of one of them all-together by organizing them into "Works in progress", "Full skeins" and "bits & pieces". The bits & pieces bin is the largest, with the full skeins box being next in size and the works in progress the smallest box. (NOT all my WIPS are in that box, though. At least one of them is in a plastic "shoe box" in my "crafting cabinet" which is just outside Tay's bathroom. Another is in a literal shoe box (from an old pair of Scott's boots), sitting behind my rocking chair in the living room. A third is in a tote bag, as that's the one I'm currently working on. And the box containing my unused skeins of yarn doesn't contain ALL my unused skeins of yarn. A good lot more are in the German cabinet I've shown in other pictures here. And I've got a couple tins of cotton kitchen yarn in the living room, as well as a basket containing a couple balls of cotton thread and a couple of uncompleted thread projects. BUT, with all that, I at least freed up a BIT of room in my crafting cabinet and got rid of one extra box (not a cardboard box, but a wierd shaped white basket type box) of yarn here in the computer room. I've got hopes of soon getting some of the yarn in these remaining boxes stored into this same cabinet as my other yarn and my fabric stash.

So, that's what I did yesterday. I feel like I actually got a good bit accomplished.

**********

Just a small update on the baby. Scott talked to the Dad's Step-mom on Monday and she said that the little girl's name is Aliya (not sure how it's spelled). The baby was 1.6 pounds at birth. As of Monday, she was being taken off the ventilator/respirator thingy they had her on. Apparently (according to one of my coworkers who worked for years as a respritory therapist), the preemies are given some sort of drug/hormone that hopefully drastically speeds up the developement of their lungs. Once they've had all the dosages of the drug, if they respond well, they're taken off the ventilator/respirator. So, being taken off the thing on Monday was a good thing! (Also apparently, at birth the baby had been given a 10% chance of survival. That has increased considerably, from what I understand.) Last but not least, my coworker also said that the baby will not be sent back to Fairbanks before she reaches 4 pounds. Even then the Anchorage NeoNatal ICU may send her to the Fairbank's hospital's Pediatric's department for further care before she's actually released to go home. So, all in all some GOOD news, but she's obviously got a long road ahead of her. (Oh, and one OTHER "last bit". My coworker ALSO said that girl preemies have a lessened risk of prolonged medical issues as compared to boys. Boy preemies statistically have more medical problems through-out the course of their lives. So little Aliya appears to have some benefits on her side.)

**********

Another little quick-bit. Mom just called and told me that there were apparently two fatalities on the Richardson Highway this morning. That's the highway I drive to town for work every day. Yes, the ice-fog is THAT thick. I'm hoping to hear from Scott soon, as I haven't yet talked to him this morning. Hearing about that sort of thing scares the sh** out of me, when I haven't had a chance to talk to him to know he's ok. I'm sure I would have heard from the cops by now if Scott had been involved in that accident, but even so. The pins & needles feeling isn't a good one. And as for the two people that DID die, there's a reasonable enough chance that I knew one or both of them, that I'm worried in a more general sense as well. We have approximately 80,000 people in the Fairbanks North Star Borough, from up in Ester and Fox, to out in Salcha, and everywhere in between (including Ft. Weinwright and Eielson AFB). But even with 80,000 people, it's still a "small" town. And the fact that the accident and deaths occured on the Richardson Hwy at rush-hour this morning means that it was quite possibly somebody who lives in or around North Pole, increasing the odds that I knew one or both of the fatalities. So yeah..... It's not a comfortable thought to hear of 2 deaths like that.

Ok. Enough morbidity and worries for this morning. I've gotta get a move on with Tay's schooling for today.

Have a Blessed Day!!!!

A Quick Prayer Request....

2009-01-04T20:42:00.000-08:00

So, for those of you who pray, please do. Some friends of ours got married this summer and promptly got married (that was the wedding where Scott was a complete ass). Anyway, this is the hubby's second child (the older one was the subject of a post of mine a couple of years ago when his Mom took off with him unbeknownst to the dad). This is the first child for the new wife though. Anyway, the baby was due in April. She was born today. She's been flown to a Neonatal unit in Anchorage. Please pray for her health and their safety as the new parents travel to Anchorage to be with their new little one.

Thanks.

Still Here, Still Cold.....

2009-01-04T12:47:00.000-08:00

Only a moment to post this morning, and that because my car wouldn't start, so Scott's gotta warm up his truck to take me in to work. Anyway. It's still REALLY FREAKING COLD! I mean, it's not abnormally cold for our area, but it IS cold nonetheless. (Don't get me wrong, I'm no saint. I'm sitting here thinking Hawaii sounds really freaking good right about now.)

Anyway, it really hasn't warmed up much at all. I think we had about -35 the other day, but pretty much it's stayed at about -45 and colder. We had -50 here yesterday. At least one NP-er has reported -59 at their place. The closer you live to any of the rivers or sloughs, lakes or ponds, the colder it gets. I imagine the inlaws, living between a flight-pond/gravel-pit and a slough are sitting about -55 or so right now. Sucky. Of course, one of the other Dad's from Tay's team (and a guy that Scott has worked with at a former place of employment) was complaining yesterday that his place got down to -30. The coldest he's ever seen it at his place. I kinda snarked "let me cry you a river, it was -50 at my place this morning!!!" I know, it's "all relative", and there are places that this past week got down into the -70's, but, dude..... In the fairbanks area, when the rest of us are sitting in the cold bowl of the river-valley, don't whine at me when your place gets down to -30!

(Those of you in Minnesota or Maine that get down to -30 can whine to me, those of you in Alaska, suck it up! *wink* Those of you in anyplace south of the Mason Dixon, if it gets colder than -30 at your place, then we can probably safely assume that I'm esconced in a cube of ice this far north and whining to me about your cold temps will do NEITHER of us any good as hell will have officially frozen over. *wry smile*)

Anyway, doing our best to stay warm, and drive safe. I think that honestly, the driving is probably the worst thing about the temps dropping this cold. The ice fog is miserable to drive in, and not only does it make the driving dangerous, but it's that much worse if you DO have a breakdown or an accident, because then just being in a cold, un-heated vehical can kill ya.

Ok. Other than that, New Years didn't go QUITE as well as Christmas. The older nephew wound up at the ER because he stepped on a toothpick, driving it into his foot by 1/2 inch. His mom took him to the ER to have it removed and cleaned out, and it didn't even phase him after that. (She would have taken him to a regular ped. but this was after hours on New Years Eve, the ER was the only option open.) Anyway, that put her in a foul mood. MIL was in a foul mood as well. (MIL had "control" of the younger nephew and had brought the niece and SIL's boyfriend over to the inlaw's house for supper. But when they got there, they found that the diaper bag had been left at SIL's place, so MIL and the younger nephew went back for it. She really didn't have any excuse for being in a foul mood, she just was.) Anyway, Dan (the boyfriend) helped FIL make the crab, and everything was going well till SIL and MIL came back from their respective excursions. Then they sat at the table stuffing their faces and yelling at everybody and everything.

Tay got reamed because she DARED get a little peevish when she asked for the scissors for a fifth time before being listened to. MIL started yelling at Tay for DARING to get snarky, when Tay'd just asked NICELY 4 times while the MIL completely ignored her. SIL got pissy with those of us who dared to chastise her children for rolling their toy motorcycles over the table (where we were trying to eat) and the walls of the house, not 5 minutes after she'd yelled at them for the same thing. Then SIL sat there and was pissy with her older son all evening because of the toothpick, treating him as though he'd purposefully driven it into his foot just to inconvenience her, and lavishing affection on the baby and the younger nephew.

Mind you, both boys can be pills, but honestly the older of the two is less so at this point. And you could see the hurt on his face a couple of times when he was yelled at for something (asking if he could have more crab) while his younger brother was being praised for the same, or griped at for that un-planned trip to the ER. (Is a trip to the ER EVER planned???) I gave the kiddo a couple of extra hugs just because I could. And besides, I honestly like him better than his little brother at this point.

Anyway, so I could have done without all that on New Years. Well, then we left the inlaws early because FIL had to work the next morning. Scott and I came back here and sat watching hockey games all evening till the last 3 minutes of the New York Square countdown. Stayed up till 2, watching more TV before heading to bed. Tay spent till 1 am over at her best friend's house, shooting off fireworks. We all slept in the next day, but Scott did have to go in for almost a whole day of work. It just started later than normal, and ended later than normal.

Other than that, the weekend has been pretty much normal. Cold weather, a lost hockey game, a friend sleeping over last night, some cabin-fever-ish dogs, lots of hockey watching on TV, a decent movie or two......

Ok. Gotta go get dressed for work.

Have a Blessed Day!

Gah!!!! It's Freaking Cold!!!!

2008-12-31T10:51:00.000-08:00

So, the temperature has dropped. Monday night when I left work, the temp was -36. Yesterday morning the temp was -46. Today it's forcast to get down to -49 or -50 for tonight's low. The forcasters are calling for some -60 temps a bit further north of us in the Yukon river valley. And they're calling for at least another week of these temps before they break for a bit. YUCK!

Of course, all this cold weather means ice fog on the drive to work. That means what LITTLE moisture is in the air, freezes. It hangs in the air as pea-soup type fog. But, instead of feeling moist and muffling sound, it clarifies sound and feels bitter cold. It burns, almost. Pity the soul who needs to go out in this without being properly dressed. Of course, those properly dressed are known to do things that seem normal to them, but idiotic to others. One of my coworkers walked several miles (she doesn't own a car) from her apartment to Walmart yesterday, and back. Even _I_ find that stupid. But I know she knows what she's doing, and she bundles well even just to walk the couple of blocks to work, or to leave the building to empty the book drops. And this time of year, I know she tries to get everything done during the earlier part of the day, to avoid being out at night as the temps are dropping even further. So, I guess it's not TOO stupid.

That, I guess, is why I think it's going to be nearly impossible for Alaskans to TRULY go no-vehical. Really, how many moms are going to drag their kids the minimum of a mile (usually more) to the grocery store on the back of a bike or a sled at -40 or -50??? And our public transportation around here sucks, so that doesn't exactly help matters. Ahhhh, anyway.

Ok, I've gotta get to work early this morning. Just wanted to give y'all some idea what our weather looks like these last couple of days. You can also go view the Arctic Cam here: Arctic Cam (This is a few blocks from where I work. Right by the Human Resources Dept. for the borough.)

Here's somebody's "Squirrel Cam" from here in North Pole, it looks like: Squirrel Cam

This one is "up the hill" at the University: Climate Research Cam

Here are some cameras (you have to click on the various place-names on the left hand side) from the air in various places around Alaska: FAA Weather Cams

Ok. Off to get ready for work.

Have a Blessed Day!

Christmas at Our House!

2008-12-28T11:45:00.000-08:00

I hope everybody had a fantastic Christmas and a Blessed Yule, if you celebrate. I wanted to take some pictures to share our home during Christmas.

These first two are, of course, of the front of our house. One, slightly further away than the other. Oh, and in this first pic, you can see some of the snow that was falling thickly on Christmas Eve. Not as much a White Christmas as my Dad and Sis Kori had in Spokane, but still.

I love the icicle lights we've got hanging from the eves, but not so much with the lights around the window. That's ok. I'm not going to tell hubby that, as he did that just for me because he knows I like Christmas lights (however, most people have gone completely tacky these days it seems). And he wanted to do something nice for me this year, knowing I might have a harder time with NO family in the area this year, for the first year in my life.

This next, shows the silly Snoopy & Woodstock Christmas sign Scott hung on the front of the house. Again with the goofy as hell, but in a sweet way. (Also our welcome signs that we hung up this autumn, in the two days when the first snows had melted completely away.)

Next come some pictures of our Christmas tree. This one is taken without a flash, so you get to see the lights in all their glory. I REALLY prefer colored lights on the tree, but this tree came pre-lit, so it's much easier to assemble and doesn't take up much room in our little house. These pictures of the house and the tree were all taken Christmas Eve.

Next, a pic of the tree WITH flash, so you can maybe get some idea of my ornaments. I think I've hardly got two ornaments exactly alike on the tree. Oh wait! I've got two on there that are apples (plastic, of course, as real wouldn't last year to year). And I've got 2 that are lighthouse ornaments (Santa in front of a holiday lighthouse) that Dad gave me for Christmas a couple of years back. Beyond that, it's a total mish-mash of ornaments. I've got a couple of store-bought ornaments for Tay (Scooby in his dog-house, decked out for Christmas; a Tigger suspended from a couple of springs so he "boings!"). I've got a LOT of hand-made ornaments from friends. I've got a LOT of handmade ornaments from Tay. I've even got a couple of new ornaments she and I made together this year at the Correspondence Program's Christmas Party. And no topper for the tree. I'm not very big on angels, and we can't find a star that doesn't either completely over power the tree or require a secondary extension cord running the length of the tree. So, no topper. Which is fine. That light at the top does a perfect job of lighting it up even so. With the lights off, it almost looks star-like.

And here we get into Christmas morning, opening presents. Don't mind the messy hair. Neither Tay nor myself had taken the time to brush our hair yet.

The one here of me is the ONLY pic Scott took of me. *chuckle* He'd labeled this tin of Almond Roca from Jenny. (Our Samoyed mix dog.)

Here's Tay opening up the lined Crocs her daddy got her. Scott got us both a pair of those lovely lined crocs. I've taken to wearing slippers when it's too cold to go barefoot, and I can tell you that it definitely helps keep a body warmer. Well, we've had a hard time finding slippers that Tay will wear. Hopefully she'll wear these. Tay's are black with black liner, mine are brown with cream liner.

Here we get into Scott and Tay opening their gifts from Mom.

She sent them each a Green Bay Packers (American football team, Tori and Toasty!) jacket. Scott also got a nice long-sleeved shirt that looks like something a coach would wear on the sidelines, when it's not cold enough for a jacket.

Tay, holding up her jacket from Mom.

And now we get to see them try their jackets on for size!!! They were both pretty thrilled to open these gifts.

Can you see the living room of my house in the background of these pictures??? *grin* Don't mind the clutter of course, please. It seems I've scarcely got time to tidy things up, these days.

Oh, and Mom got Scott a pair of boxers as well, with the Packer's logo all over them. This prompted some pretty comical conversations. Scott's first response was "Does your mom REALLY think I'm that fat???" Apparently the boxers are in a size larger than he normally wears. I reminded him that Mom doesn't exactly have either the desire or the wherewithall to check what size undershorts Scott wears, so she picked the size that was also the size shirt she got him. They are a bit loose on him, but they'll probably shrink up a bit with a wash, and he's wearing them for pyjamas, so loose isn't totally bad.

Here we get into pictures taken over at the inlaws on Christmas Day.

The first, a pic of Tay holding her cousin, baby Brooklynn. This is my sister-in-law's youngest. The boys were out in Paxon with their Dad for the day and wouldn't be back till later in the evening. In fact, we've still got their presents under OUR tree, as they weren't around to open them.

It astonishes me how little personality Brooklynn has yet, even at 7 months old. Tay was personality from the day she was born, inquisitive and strong-willed. Always had to be checking things out. Tay also took her first steps at 8 months old. Brooklynn is just starting to crawl and cannot yet sit up on her own. I know that it's not like Brooklynn is actually late in achieving those feats (Tay was excessively early, actually). But it's somewhat strange all the same. That's the MIL standing in the background by the tree.

Here are a couple pictures of me holding the younger of my nieces. *grin* She is a sweety, when she's not fussy. I hope she grows up better natured than either of her two brothers.

Oh, and here we get a bit of a response when I start talking to her. She always seems suprised when I talk to her. Like she wonders at the oddity of a big person carrying on a conversation with her.

I wonder that maybe nobody else really talks to her. I know that a lot more yelling is done around her than is talking. Not at Brooky herself, but at her brothers, and between her parents. But it seems (and it seemed when Tay was a baby as well) that the few words invested in talking to the baby are done in unintelligable baby-talk (gobbledy-gook). Other than that, it's seemingly determined by MIL and SIL that since baby's cannot talk back, they're not worth talking TO. Fortunately I've seen Dan, Brooky's Dad, talking to her in a few quiet moments. And Tay and I talk to her. Not scientific conversations, or politics obviously. But real words spoken in real tones (if softer and somewhat sillier tones than I would use for her older brothers).

A couple more pics of Tay with the baby. Yep, that's Tay wearing a Packer's stocking cap that Mom got her for Christmas as well. She spent half the day with it on.

I tried to turn this one right side up. And I was able to do that in the modifying software, but it didn't turn up that way when I loaded it in here. *sigh* Sorry bout that. You'll just have to turn your heads to the right to see properly. *grin* (Tori, this one is Tay laying on her side on the floor with the baby.)

Just because I could, a pic of Brooky's Dad, as he was trying to figure out how to get a picture of Tay with Brooky with SIL's camera. Evidently the batteries were dead, which is why it wouldn't turn on. That's MIL and SIL in the background by the table.

And last but not least, here's a pic of Tay, MIL, FIL, and Scott around the table after SIL and Dan have left for Dan's Mom's house. Scott, Tay and MIL had been playing Monopoly (the newer, credit-card World Edition, another gift from my Mom). They spent at least 3 hours playing that game. Which is pretty precisely the reason I HATE that game. That, and I've never been big on board games. Not really. I'll play them once in a while, but I don't find them all that fun.

It was kinda comical as well, Tay tipping up from that big bottle. It's actually non-alcoholic sparkling apple cider. Last year, Tay had one that Scott caught her drinking from, and the look on her face and the way she was holding it really DID make her look like she was drinking champaigne or something. Not the case. Tay hates even the smell of alcohol and has never tried to steal our drinks. I hope that she continues in that mind-frame. But the MIL was peeved this year that Tay was drinking out of the bottle. There was only a little bit left, the FIL didn't want to put the bottle back in the fridge with that little left, and there was no sense in Tay's mind (or mine or Scott's or FIL's for that matter) in Tay dirtying up another glass when she could just tip up the bottle. It's not like she was back-washing when others might want some cider.

Anyway, so that was Christmas at our house. All in all it went pretty dang well. Tay minded her manners, no temper tantrums. Same could be said for SIL. She only got snotty with Dan a couple of times and kept it pretty mild at that. The baby fussed a bit, but it was kinda funny as well. She only fussed when she wanted to nurse, and you'd hear her going from fussy to actually out-right laughing when she caught sight of the milk-producing mammary-glands of her mama. *wink*

I felt bad for the FIL. He's struggling with the onset of diabetis, and yet he's adamant that it's not going to change his life at all. That's causing him to have problems already. One of which was that he somehow fell off of the stool in the kitchen on Christmas morning as he was working on prepping some of the goodies. MIL says he passed out (he hadn't yet been drinking more than a shot of Irish Cream in his coffee, either!) and fell off the stool. FIL says MIL pushed him off. *rolling my eyes* Either way, he had his foot hooked around one of the legs of the stool, and when he went over he wrenched his ankle. So he was walking with a hobble all day long.

I wish for his sake, and for the sake of his son (Scott), FIL would start taking better care of himself. Even if FIL isn't thrilled about prolonging his life with his nag of a wife (MIL is a HORRIBLE nag!), at least I wish he'd consider how devistated Scott's going to be when FIL passes away. Scott regards his dad as his own best friend. It really freaks Scott out that his Dad may not be long for this earth. It's bad enough that Scott's grandma's almost 90 and probably will not make it another year. The thought that his Dad might pass away in the next couple of years is so incomprehensable that Scott refuses to even consider it. Which means that if/when it does happen, Scott's going to be completely blown away by it.

Anyway..... I've gotta get the dogs outside for their morning potty-break. They've been locked in their kennels watching me write all this. But, I wanted to get it posted! And Tay wants me to cut her some sourdough bread for breakfast. So.....

Have a Blessed Day!

Some Pictures to Share.....

2008-12-21T11:52:00.000-08:00

I know it's been ages since I've posted. I'm terribly sorry. Even when I've had time to get online lately, I've tried to get to your blogs and do some reading, but I've had little time for commenting even. I'm sorry for that.

We've been doing a LOT of hockey lately. Not during the week, ironically, but on the weekends. Here are some pictures of Tay and a couple of her teammates taken about a month or so ago. It's amazing for Scott and myself to see her next to that goal net, knowing that just last year her head barely reached the top bar. This year, she's several inches taller. It's incredible.

Tay's doing VERY well in hockey, though the same cannot be said for her team as a whole, unfortunately. We've lost all 8 of our games, so far. By BIG margins. Yesterday's game was 5 to 1, our loss. But, the play was the BEST I've seen our girls do yet. One of the girls had at least 2 shots on net, another one of the girls had at least 2 shots on net and made the ONE goal for our team. We only had 10 shots on the other team's net, though. That's been our biggest problem, persuading the girls that they cannot stand back and wait for the puck to be passed to them by the opposite team, or skate leasurely as if they're at a rec. skate session. These boys they're playing against (or, the girls on the co-ed teams) aren't gonna just hand them the puck and a chance at the opposing net. In hockey, you've got to FIGHT for that puck, and you've got to FIGHT to keep control of that puck, and you've got to FIGHT to get anywhere near the other team's net WITH the puck. And when you've got the puck down by the other team's net, you don't wait for the goalie to get out of your way, you TAKE THE SHOT! *wry smile* In 8 games, our girls have maybe taken 50 shots on the other teams nets.

In 8 games, Tay has taken over 400 shots on her net. Her save percentage is about 91%, though. Yesterday's save percentage alone was 87.5%. That's danged good! Some of her saves are pro-quality. She knows she's got a lot to learn, and a LOT of practice to be done, especially in areas that require speed, but all her coaches say that if she practices and keeps her head on straight as she grows up, she really COULD go all the way with her hockey career! Scott and I also remind her though, that if she wants to play college hockey, she's GOT to get decent enough grades to allow her to play for some college, though. And even High School hockey requires at LEAST a "C" in every class. That means buckling down and working hard for those grades, in her case, but it's possible. She just needs to keep in mind that while the hockey comes naturally and fairly easily to her, there are other aspects of life she's got to work harder for, that aren't going to come so naturally or easily. That's ok. That's how life is for ALL of us: some things are easy and natural, other things aren't. We all have to work for those other things, if we want them to succeed. But in the end, it's well worth it. Scott and I keep hoping Tay will see that.

*****

School has been, well..... It's been progressing. Now that we're past the first quarter, it seems to be going SLIGHTLY better. But Tay and I are still having our days where we get into rip-roaring fights over stupid, silly things. Thursday it was over history. Friday it was over science. Try as I might to break things down and explain them, she just doesn't seem to "get it" so often. I'm trying the tips the Correspondence program's Special Ed. teacher gave me to try, the diagraming and careful reading and breaking things into bits & pieces, and rephrasing them..... Sometimes just when I think Tay's got it, she'll give me this blank (and often-times obstinate) look and say "I don't get it!" Sometimes I can see she really DOESN'T "get it", but there are definitely other times I think it's more that she just doesn't want to bother and wants to continue fighting till I give her the answer and do the work for her myself. I don't know why she doesn't seem to "get" yet that I'm NOT going to just up and give her the answers. It's bad enough (in MY opinion) that I'm doing most of her note-taking for her. She's got to give me her answers and rephrase historical and scientific things a bit so I know that she's "got it" and not just quoting what was written in the text-books, but I'm doing the actual writing. The special ed. teacher says that as long as I'm not doing all the work for her, that this is ok. If Tay is dictating to me what the answers are, then my note-taking is perfectly fine. I AM making Tay do the Chapter reviews by herself though. I take the notes for the individual units, but at the end of each Chapter, covering anywhere from 2 to 6 units, SHE does that part thoroughly on her own. The special ed. teacher said that this is a good compromise for getting the work done AND making sure Tay's doing at least part of it herself.

We have yet to get Tay in for an eye appointment or a hearing test, though. I really need to get on the ball and set that up. The school program's special ed. teacher needs proof that Tay's hearing and eye-sight are just fine, before we progress any further. The theory being, of course, that simple matters such as being unable to hear the directions or read the page could be flubbing up her learning in a way that looks like a learning disability. Of course, there's nothing wrong with Tay's vision or hearing that a little self discipline wouldn't cure. *wry smile* She hears JUST fine when she wants to, and she's got an Eagle's eyes for seeing.

**********

On to a different subject. I know that I mentioned my pepper plant in my kitchen window. Well, here is MOST of it. *chuckle* Off to the lower left side, resting on a decorative tea-cup (candle-holder) is one pepper that came from a branch that broke early. I was allowing that one to sit while the other two continued ripening on the plant. This plant was grown from a single seed (the ONLY one that germinated!) from a package I got last year from SSE. It was the Hungarian sweet red pepper (versus the Ukrainian medium heat black pepper that didn't germinate at all). The flavor, raw and fresh, is rather like a sweet red bell pepper. Identical, in fact, to mine and Scott's taste buds. We tried a bit of one of the peppers, then I took the seeds from all 3 peppers, seperated them and dried them a bit in my dehydrator, along with the other 2 peppers. The dried out peppers themselves are now waiting for me to grind them. I'm hoping to find out that they are in fact paprika, once ground. And I've got a load of tiny little pepper seeds to plant and to pass on next spring. Seeds that were grown organically, open pollinated (though, pollinated by hand with a tiny paint-brush from only the flowers on THIS plant, as there weren't any other plants to pollinate with), and grown in an Alaskan environment (though, indoors most of the growing season). I'm hoping, hoping, hoping that the seeds from this plant will be a little hardier and grow a little better in our environment next summer. That a few more seeds will germinate (though I'm not going to plant ALL of them at one time!), that I will have at least 3 pepper plants to harvest peppers AND seeds from NEXT Autumn/Winter. And that some of my neighbours can have seeds and pepper plants as well, if they'd like.

**********

Other than all that, I've been busy baking, the last couple of days. Friday I made 2 loaves of banana bread (not a "Christmas treat" but I had a LOT of bananas that needed to be used up), a batch of "rocky road candy", a batch of "fudgy buttons" and a batch of "peppermint patties" before we went over to Great Grandma's house and made 2 batches (22) popcorn balls for the family. Every year we go over to Great Grandma's house to make popcorn balls for all her kids and grandkids and great-grandkids. This year we really only needed 16 popcorn balls, as most of the grandkids and great grandkids are no longer in state. But, in the past we've made as many as 50 popcorn balls.

I've been doing this with Scott since we first started going out, our first Christmas together. He started going it with his grandparents when he and his cousins were all little kids. Over the years, a couple of his cousins have come over once or twice, but we're the ONLY ones that have come over EVERY year and done this EVERY year for the past 12. And this will most likely be Grandma's last Christmas. She's in very poor shape lately, and even the other night, couldn't helps us make the popcorn balls. We ordered and picked up our traditional pizza for supper, brought it along (rather than Grandma ordering and having it delivered as she usually has). Then we decorated Grandma's house for her, as nobody else had bothered to help her decorate and she's in such poor condition that she couldn't do it herself this year. THEN we made popcorn balls. The entire time, Grandma sat on the couch, out of breath and dizzy, even while sitting still. She cannot stand up, now, without somebody holding on to her to keep her from falling. She's out of breath, just talking to us. Anybody looking at her could tell you that she may not make it into this next summer, and it's HIGHLY unlikely that she'll make it past that. Scott and his Mom were both hurting to sit there, watching their Mom/Grandma in such condition. I'm glad Tay's had a chance to get to know her Great-Grandma, but I wish she appreciated it more. She's at the stage where she was very resistant to going over. I think it was in part that she is also pained by seeing Grandma so poorly, but doesn't know how to express it as an adult might, so she fights against even having to see Grandma. But she behaved herself, for the most part, while we were there.

Anyway, yesterday in between hockey and Scott's company's Christmas Party, I got a batch of Peanut Butter Fudge and 36 cream-cheese drop cookies made. I've got enough dough for at LEAST another 48 cookies. Then I want to make some Swedish Almond crisp cookies and some Shortbread. I'd also like to make some sort of Gingersnap, but I may not get to that. AND I think I may need to whip up another batch of Rocky Road candy, as Scott's whole company is clammoring for him to bring some in to work tomorrow. *wry smile* Good thing I picked up more supplies for that yesterday at the grocery store.

**********

Last but not least, I MEANT to get a picture of the front of the house yesterday, just before sunset (which is at approximately 4 pm, give or take 5 minutes), but found my camera dead when I got out there to do so. I wanted to catch the Christmas lights all lit up, just as the sun was starting to set on Solstice Eve (well, the day before Solstice, technically), but I didn't succeed. If I can talk him into it, maybe Scott will take a picture for me today that I can post later. So, yeah. The sun came up this morning at about 9:30, and will set right at about 4 pm today. That actually comes out to about 6 and a half hours of sunlight, but that's not counting the fact that we actually see twilight till about 10 am, and then starting again about 3:15 or so pm.

Ok. I've gotta get off-line and get heading to work.

Hope EVERYBODY has a Blessed Yule, a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hannukah (sp?) and a Great New Year.

Blessings. --Kati

A Quick Hello!

2008-12-07T11:53:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry. I'm a terrible, terrible blogger these days.

We finished the First Quarter of school work, and got it turned in Monday. Then I set up an appointment to meet with the "School's" Special Ed. teacher to talk to her about Tay. Turns out that she's got NO problem me holding Tay back at the end of the school year if that's what I feel needs to be done; she and the "speach therapy" teacher are both available to work with Tay at the School's offices, rather than me having to put Tay back in regular public school; the special ed teacher expressed her frustration with how the schools teach almost ALL their subjects (inventive spelling, for example!) and how hard that makes teaching our children in a way that REALLY works. We cannot afford several hundred dollars for sending Tay to a child psycologist, so we're going to have to go ahead and go through the school system first. But, that also buys us a month's time till Scott's insurance through his company kicks in on Jan. 1st.

We've not had insurance through his company because the last company he was with had crappy insurance, and mine was much better. However, mine has been degraded year after year and is pretty crappy now itself (we don't have a lot in deductables, but our coverage really sucks). And the company that Scott's with now has pretty dang good coverage with deductables that are comparable (or even slightly better than) the deductables for MY insurance. We're going to keep my insurance as well, though. Anyway, that kicks in Jan. 1st, 2009. Keeping Tay from seeing a psycologist NOW for an ADD assessement means that when she DOES finally get to go, even if we have to pay for out it of pocket, insurance won't regard be able to regard any issues she's got as "pre-existing" and deny coverage.

**********

Have had some personal frustrations BEYOND Tay's issues.

First a bit of background. When Scott and I got together, he had a girl friend; not a girlfriend/sweety, a friend who happened to be femail, but whom he regarded as something of a "younger sis" type friend. She's a year younger than me, and he always told me that even though DeeDee is cute, she's too young for him and he almost felt like a cradle-robber with ME, and going for somebody even younger was out of the question. Of course that was when I was only 17 and he was 23. Now, he's 34 and I'm nearly 30 and 4 or 5 years difference just doesn't make as much difference.

Anyway, DeeDee tried at least once to coerce Scott into sleeping with her even AFTER she knew his girlfriend (ME!) was pregnant with his baby. And even after I had Tay, DeeDee made it clear to me (both through actual words AND demeanor) that she'd like to entice Scott to cheat on me and leave me for herself. Then she left town, apparently. Joined the military or somesuch, and for 11 years she's not been a part of our lives, and I've been good with that. I've had NO heart-burn about NOT hearing from her.

Then a couple weeks back she came in to the library where I work. I recognised her. Apparently she doesn't recognise me, or at least she didn't acknowledge me. (Again, not terribly heart-burned about that.) She's got 2 kids now who both have HER maiden name as their last names. IE: no fathers in the picture for either kid. Well, I didn't tell Scott that I saw her because quite honeslty, I don't want her in our lives. In any way.

Fast forward to this past Monday, Scott went in to one of the local gas stations while he was filling up his truck, to pick up a hotdog for lunch, and there was DeeDee working at the counter. They chit-chatted for a bit before Scott had to head back to work. Evidently, after Scott said that we've only got the 1 kiddo and that she's as much as he and I can handle, and that we're homeschooling, DeeDee proceeded to tell Scott that she's got 2 that she absolutely adores; they're so respectful they say "yes maam, no maam" and what have you when responding to her questions or directions; she homeschools them both and they're both straight A students; she's holding down 3 jobs; she's coached their t-ball teams; she's got a degree in child psycology; etc, etc, etc. (Must I also point out that physically she's petite and pretty and slim?)

ARGH! Well, guess whom Scott spent the first half of the week talking all about?!?! He hasn't said a word about her though, since I replied back to one of his statements about the perfect Ms. DeeDee with 'Well, Ain't She Just MISS PERFECT, then!?!?!" His stupid response to that was "she's done SO MUCH with HER life!" *snort* Maybe if I hadn't met and married him, I would have done a lot more with mine, too. Who knows!!!! *sigh*

Anyway....... That's left me all week feeling like I've now got to be competing with this vision of perfection for my hubby's affections, which is TOTAL bull-shit. He's married to me, I shouldn't have to compete with ANYbody else for his affections.

To top it off, last Saturday was our 11th Anniversary. We went out to Ivory Jack's (a great Alaskan approximation of a family-friendly pub) for nachos. They've got the world's best homemade nachos there. (Man, they deep-fry the tortillas, then layer them with meat, and beans, and cheese and fresh diced tomatoes, and fresh diced onion, and sliced black olives, and sliced jalapenos -which I peel off and give to Scott, or Tay if she's with us-, then top with a second deep fried tortilla and more layers of all the goodies, then broil it till the cheese melts, then slice it up pizza style, and serve it with sour cream and guacamole and salsa. YUM!)

Anyway, so personally I've been feeling somewhat frustrated with Scott all week, but he never heard DeeDee's declarations of intent regarding herself and Scott, so he doesn't really get WHY I don't care for her. (And, even though she acted much more affectionate toward him than a platonic friend has any right to be, he's a very bad one for being able to read body language, so he didn't pick up on THOSE clues back in the day, either.)

Then Friday night, Scott and Tay went to an Ice Dogs game, and Tay came home and showed me the $20 bill she found in the ladies bathroom. When I asked if she'd tried to find an owner before claiming it, she and Scott BOTH responded with something along the lines of "Well, WHY???" and "Finder's Keepers" type comments. *sigh* I told Scott that he KNOWS how hard it can be to be without much money, and that losing $20 can be a very big deal, and so Tay should have first taken it to one of the Security Guards (the main Security Guard happens to be Scott's cousin Jack) or the snack counter to ask if anybody had reported losing $20. If no reports were made, then Tay's free to keep it. Otherwise the person who reported deserves to receive their money back. Both Scott and Tay responded to my assertations of what's right with claims that since Tay found it, it's hers no matter WHO dropped it. And then they got all pissy with ME for pointing out that SOMEBODY may be facing a lot harder week because they didn't do the honest thing by checking to see if somebody may have dropped it. *shaking head* I'm just so very disappointed in the two of them, but ESPECIALLY Scott. He's doing a great job on teaching our child to be an opportunistic person who views money as more important than people. *sigh*

Anyway......

*****

Work has been slogging along. The usual hypocracy and idiocy from all corners. I've gone from LOVING my job, to almost dreading it. I don't hate it as much as I hated working at the bookstore, but I certainly don't love it any more.

**********

We got at LEAST 4 inches of snow yesterday. It started snowing very lightly in the morning as we were leaving for Tay's hockey game and by the time we went to bed it was almost blizzard conditions, coming down quick and thick. This morning there are several untouched inches out there. I say at least 4 inches, in reality it's more along the lines of 6 inches. It's just hard to tell without having measured before the snowfall. *wry smile*

**********

Tay's team hasn't won a game yet. In fact, in only 4 games, we've only had 2 goals. The girls on our team average 6 shots on the opposing goalie during a game (the low being 4 shots, the high being 8 shots). Tay's averages, though, are MUCH better. She's now taken 343 shots on goal, and only let 29 of those shots through. That's a 91% save ratio! That's right up there with good NHL goalies. And MAN!!!! Some of the saves she makes are INCREDIBLE! She took a couple to the face and neck yesterday. *wink* Hardly phased her though. She cought several in her glove, almost grabbing them right out of the air. One of them hit her face guard and she caught it on top of her blocker (that big pad-topped glove that goalies wear on the hand NOT holding the stick). At least once, the other kid shot the puck, Tay blocked it and was standing right on top of it, and the kid tried to come in to take the rebound shot, but Tay dropped down right on top of the puck as he was gearing up. The ref blew the whistle and you could SEE the frustration on the kid's face. *grin* It was awesome.

**********

Ok. I've really gotta get heading out for work. The roads are guaranteed to be a mess this morning and I want to take my time on the drive in.

Have a Blessed Day!

The 100 Things List.....

2008-11-25T21:19:00.000-08:00

So, both Meadowlark and Wendy at Home Is... have posted this on their blogs, and I'd like to participate. Here's my accounting, with a few additons at the end, per Wendy's and Meadowlark's suggestions.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland (World, once)
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis (no, but I talked to one, recently, that found its way up from Seattle in a cargo trailer by train, and was rescued by the hubby of one of my coworkers.)
10. Sang a solo (a couple)
11. Bungee jumped (no, I enjoy my life too much to throw myself from high places held by only a rubber band.)
12. Visited Paris (yes, and I would again if I had half a chance)
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning (I'm sure, though fortunately I cannot pick out a single particular instance.)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France (yes, but the Venus da Milo and the sculpture of Cupid and Psyche were my two favorite distinct and recognizable works of art at the Louvre.)
20. Slept on an overnight train (between Paris and Madrid)
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb (no, but plenty of newborn puppies and kittens)
26. Gone skinny dipping (no, not in Alaska)
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run (*snort* NOPE! Not a chance of me ever succeeding at that.)
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (some of them, in Germany and France)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (Does it count that I took 2 years each of French and German, voluntarily, in HS, but none of it really stuck?)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance (would rather not have had this experience)
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing (I don't know, does a halibut charter count? though I spent the entire time in the cubby under the wheel, trying not to puke)
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (Yep, but unfortunately I got up there to find out the batteries in my camera were dead.)
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain (I've danced in the rain, by myself. Does that count for something?)
53. Played in the mud (Yep, my sisters and I, and my best friend and her little brothers used to make matchbox-car towns in hills of dirt, as kids.)
54. Gone to a drive-in theater (Yep, did this once or twice as a kid, while in South Dakota.)
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business (not really, but I have sold some of my crocheted goodies)
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (NOT A CHANCE IN HELL!)
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check (another one I wish I didn't have to highlight)
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar (no, but I LOVE Escargot!)
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone (yep, my right wrist, in 9th grade, in Tae Kwon Do.)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person (only from the air, a few thousand feet up)
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car (bought the hubby a new truck, anyway. It was a piece of junk.)
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper (probably, but as I cannot remember for sure, I won't highlight it.)
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox (yes, in theory, seeing as I have the blood titers, but I don't recall having it, and neither does my mom recall myself or my sisters having the CP.)
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury (grand jury, as a matter of fact, almost 2 years ago. Very instructional, an experience I recommend for EVERYBODY, but not one I want to do a SECOND time.)
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby (yep, and one is enough!)
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee (not really, but twice by horseflies!)
100. Read an entire book in one day (so many times it's not even a question of HAVE I, but HOW MANY.)

101: Baked bread from scratch
102: Picked apples (a couple of large-ish crab-apples at a wild tree near my Uncle Keith's place, strawberries at a U-Pick; also wild blueberries from a lot several houses down from where I grew up, and cranberries from near the hubby's moose hunting spot. Cranberries have been made into cranberry bread, and blueberries into various baked goods and quick jams/sauces/syrups.)
103: Made Jam or Jellie from picked fruit (crabapple jelly from thumb-nail-sized crabapples picked from Dad's front yard, little over a year ago.)
104: Made a FULL Thanksgiving Dinner (Mostly, usually somebody else would bring dessert, and I've NEVER made gravy from scratch.)
105: Walked in an unharvested wheat/corn/barley field
106: Dabbled your toes in the lake from a dock
107: Had fish for dinner that you caught that same day from a lake or pond not more than 100 miles from your home
108: Got a tattoo that carries more meaning to your life than simply "it's cool."
109: Dance/d in an ethnic/folk dance troupe (German folk dance! Thanks MOM! *wink* Included one or two Octoberfest celebrations.)

Ok, I think I'll call that good. (So, a couple of those were MY additions, as well as additions that Wendy and Meadowlark made.)

If you post this, see if you can add any MORE to the list. Preferably REAL experiences that don't require traveling hundreds of miles from home.

Have a Blessed Day!

August Rush!

2008-11-22T23:09:00.000-08:00

If you haven't seen this movie yet, SEE IT!!!!

I just finished watching it finally. I've wanted to see it for months, simply because Jonathan Rhys Meyers is incredibly awesome. And Keri Russell is a fabulous actress...... But WOW. This movie totally supercedes EITHER of them as actors.

I have NEVER, EVER seen a movie that made me cry, the entire way through..... And not for sadness, but for the beauty that is expressed. The child who portrays Evan Taylor/August Rush is completely beautiful. The story is of love and loss and finding it all again and KNOWING what you've found.

RENT IT, BORROW IT. WATCH IT!!!!! I cannot stress how beautiful this movie was. WATCH IT!

What a Load of BS!!!

2008-11-21T13:22:00.001-08:00

OMG, so check out this article on Yahoo news: Bush's Last Rule-making Hurrah! He's bound and determined to screw over our country before he leaves office, evidently. Here's more information on the rules and regs that GW Bush is pushing through in his final days in office: ProPublica Midnight Regulations.

And, probably the worst aspect of this is that the next president has a nearly impossible time repealing any regulations that the out-going president pushes through as a Midnight Rule. *shaking head* So, even when Obama takes office, he won't be able to repeal some of the monumentally F***ED UP regulations that Bush is putting forth (or, repealing, in some cases).

Gods..... May I just say that I am SOOOOOO happy that Bush is finally being thrown out of office, and that McCain didn't get INto office in his place.

As it is, I'm having a very hard time not wishing ill on Bush. I know that he'll get his Karmic @$$-kicking at some point, or a throw-down before the throne of God, if that's how you choose to view it, but man..... Part of me is hoping that some idiot decides to make Bush's last days in office THAT much shorter; keep him from pushing forth any MORE regulations than he already has.

(I know, I know, I know..... "An It Harm None" and "Do Unto Others" and all those other words of wisdom, but please, don't tell me you don't occasionally have similar thoughts about people you can't stand.)

GAH! This just pisses me off so bad I wanna play darts with a pin-up of his head! (And, I'm not a darts type of girl, seeing how badly my aim sucks. I'm likely to put pin-holes everywhere BUT where I'm aiming.)

Anyway, just had to share.

What a Crazy World!!!!

2008-11-13T10:18:00.000-08:00

We had a very scary example of what a desperate person can do, when he/she feels pressured by economic realities. Here's the news report from today's online paper.

At about 2 pm yesterday, a bomb threat was called into the middle school. The person on the phone said a bomb would go off in 2 minutes (according to the report). At the same time, the Federal Credit Union we use for our banking was robbed at the grocery store in the North Pole Plaza Mall. The whole mall was shut down.

AND, across town, in Fairbanks, a suspicious package was found at one of the post offices (the one down by the old Woolworth's, Mom) that resulted in the bomb squad from Eielson AFB being brought in. (It was a package of business mail that wasn't properly marked.)

The North Pole cops pretty quickly figured out that the bomb threat against NP Middle was most likely a diversion for the thief to hit the "bank". No idea how much money he got away with, but guessing it wasn't more than in the $500 to $800 range, seeing as it's an FCU and they don't keep much money on hand.

Tay called me at about 4 pm, when her two best friends arrived home and found no older siblings there to meet them. Meg. was freaking out. (Wouldn't know that her dad is an EMT and fire-fighter, with her inability to handle stress!) Trevor was worried, as the door to his house was locked and he couldn't get in, but he wasn't freaking. Both of them have older sisters who attend the middle school. Trev's sis should have been home and unlocked the door, but as she wasn't, Trev came over here to hang out till somebody got home to let him in. Tay was ALSO freaking. Anyway, I did what I could (from work) to calm the 3 of them down, before getting back to business.

Last night, however, Tay wound up in our room, sleeping on the floor. Kiddo was THAT FREAKED that this guy would try to break into our house and rob us too. *wry smile* As if we've got anything of value, right?!?! *snort* Ah well, so we locked the front & back doors and she camped out on the floor by her Dad all night. I think we all 3 slept pretty soundly, but didn't get nearly as many hours as I would have liked.

Anyway, the news this morning is basically that they're looking for the guy. It'll be interesting to see if the thief is anybody we know. It's a small town, and a small borough (80,000 people, give or take 5 thousand), it's hard to NOT know somebody.

One of the commenters on the news report was kinda wondering as to how much of this sort of thing went on in the early days of the LAST Depression. I'm guessing it may be a lot more common THIS time, than it was the last time. This time we're lacking the common decency and respect for others that was more ingrained in the population last time. It's unlikely that this thief stopped to think of the money he might be taking from somebody else's proverbial pocket or paycheck.

All the more reason to be investing one's money in tangible goods (food, clothing or fabric, useful camping goods) than in money or gold & silver. (Not that it probably wouldn't be helpful to have a limited amount of both gold & silver -more limited on the gold, than the silver- but why invest in something that's shiny & metal and appealing to many other people?!?!?!)

Anyway, must get back to schooling, if we hope to get ANYTHING done this morning.

Have a Blessed Day!

It's Been a While.....

2008-11-07T18:49:00.000-08:00

Ok, so what have we been up to???? A whole lot of the usual, basically.

Schooling is, well..... It's going. Some moments are better than others. (Yes, I mean MOMENTS, seeing as it can go well one moment, and the next, we're fighting.) We're on lesson 25 now, with 15 more to go in Nov. The rest must be done, and the quarter test finished and graded, by the end of Nov.

We had our first appointment with our new "therapist" on Wednesday. It was an "intake" as my mom would term it. Basically, Ligia spent 45 minutes having Scott and I fill out paperwork and asking us for more detail about our concerns with Tay. Then she called in Tay and went over 3 goals she'd set for our family (and Tay in particular) for the coming couple of weeks.

1) Reduce "Dangerous Behaviors": cut down on the fighting, slamming doors, throwing temper-tantrums, and take a voluntary time out as needed. (This goes as much for Scott and I, as for Tay.)

2) Express feelings and emotions APPROPRIATELY (again with the stop fighting). Talk things out, instead of yelling and fighting. (Also again, for Scott and I as much as Tay.)

3) Personal hygene: brushing teeth and showering without arguements, and keeping room tidied. (This goal is solely for Tay, really.)

Ligia (the therapist's name) said she'd contact the guy who FCSA works with to set up an appointment to have an educational assessement done for Tay. She said he or his office would call us to set up this appointment, hopefully within the next week. Once we get that assessement done, we'll set up regular appointments set up for Tay to go in and talk to Ligia (pronounced "Leesia") and work on her behavioral issues. Potentially this will include getting her into the "Yess" school next semester, if her educational and behavioral issues merit it. That's a possibility, but not a certainty yet.

*****

I've done well, the past 2 days, keeping in mind that I must keep my temper in check. Yesterday, Tay spent the first hour and a half of the morning being a right little pill. But, I kept my temper, and calmly told her to go to her room till she could come out and treat me respectfully. At one point I did almost lose it when I got upset over her calling me retarded.

(I put in Christmas music, of all things, to chill out to while she was in her room raging. To give me something lighthearted to focus my mind on instead of getting worked up by Tay's screaming and yelling at me from her room. She came out, saying that she was going to act responsibly and respectfully, and proceeded to start ranting about the Christmas tunes and how anybody who listens to Christmas music this early in the year is retarded.) Suffice it to say, I sent her BACK to her room, and when she came back out, I started telling her how badly she'd hurt my feelings by calling me retarded for listening to Christmas songs. I also told her that as she was determined to be so darned disrespectful of me, she was going to eat cold cereal for breakfast, instead of the coffee cake I'd been making. I wasn't going to allow her to have that special treat, if she was going to be disrespectful of the person making it: ME.

After more ranting and raving on her part, she was sitting there at the table, grumbling about how I kept repeating myself over the schoolwork (if she'd let me finish a thought, I wouldn't have to repeat myself over and over and over -ad nauseum- again, as I told her). And, right about 9:30, evidently it got to be too much for her, how I wasn't arguing back, or letting her rile me, and she suddenly just crumbled. A weeping, blubbering mass of tears. Me too, for that matter, considering she started apologizing profusely (and sincerely!) for being so mean and rude and disrespectful to me all morning.

I wish today had gone better, but it didn't, really. Less arguing from her, less disrespect in the form of rude names and such, but the fact of the matter is that she refuses to try, and then gets all pissy when I insist that she's going to find the answer for herself, and I'm going to keep drilling her and grilling her till I'm sure she understands the concept. She'll sit there, having read something out of her history or science book not 5 seconds before, and insist that she doesn't know the answer to a very specific question regarding what she's just read. I won't accept that. And even while it may be hard for her, some of this stuff, I'm not going to let her get away with playing stupid. I get that it takes more effort, and I may have to break things down even further than the science or history books do, but that doesn't mean I'm going to simply give her the answer and not expect some honest work from her as well. Sooner or later she'll get that, but for now she's still fighting me every step of the way. *sigh*

**********

As for that coffee cake, I made a Gooey Butter Cake using a Pecan Spice cake mix, but the vanilla filling. YUM!!! Not QUITE as good, though, as almond flavored filling with a yellow cake mix crust, or pumpkin filling with spice cake crust.

Here's the recipe for those who haven't seen it before:

Gooey Butter Cake

1/2 c butter, melted
1 box cake mix (yellow cake, for the basic)
1 egg

Mix those ingredients together and press them into the bottom of a lightly greased 13x9x2 inch baking pan.

1 (8 oz) box of cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 c powdered (confectioners) sugar
2 eggs

Beat these ingredients together till smooth, then pour over crust. Bake at 350 deg. F. for 35 to 40 minutes or till puffed up and lightly golden-brown. Don't burn it. It will NOT test done as normal cakes do, and should in fact still be rather gooey in the center. Allow to cool completely (if you can stand it!) before cutting. Smallish pieces are best, as this cake is VERY rich. Good for a decadent breakfast treat, or dessert any time of day. *wink* (Serve with a glass of milk, for washing down that richness!)

To change it up for Thanksgiving, substitute spice cake mix for the yellow cake mix and add a 15 oz can of pumpking pie filling and an extra egg to the filling mixture. Baking may take just a BIT longer with this addition. Top each slice with a pecan half, before serving, and a dollop (or squirt) of whipped topping if you'd like.

Paula Deen has a bunch of suggestions out there in the WWW somewhere, on how to change up this lovely cake a bit, including this pumpkin version.

**********

I've been needing to cook out of my stored food, the past two weeks. We wound up with a check that didn't get cashed when we thought it had, the check-book got a bit messed up because of it, then the check was cashed later and it really fouled things up, so we had a bit of a SNAFU with our checking account. Well anyway, that messed up our finances a bit, and it meant that last week's grocery shopping couldn't total more than $25 for the week. Fortunately I HAVE been stocking up for a while now, and I had food stashed away that could be cooked up to provide extras, and some leftovers frozen for quick suppers. Tomorrow's shopping is going to be SOMEWHAT slimmer than I like to do, but I'll be able to get a bit more than last week. Which is fortunate because we DO need things like fresh fruits & veggies, and we're now out of ground beef & chicken breasts. But, 2 weeks on stocked food certainly isn't too bad! We've still got plenty of food we could be eatting, if only I could persuade the hubby and kiddo that soups and vegetarian meals are more acceptable. They're not to that point yet, though. *sigh*

But, it was nice knowing that I could get through a couple of slim weeks with what we had in the pantry and freezers, and only need a loaf of bread, a couple of onions and cabbage and a bunch of apples for the fresh stuff. If I could find the time to bake some bread, I wouldn't even have to shell out for THAT. (It's the rising time that's getting me lately, I know I could get it all started with no problem, but hockey and such other responsibilities are meaning that I wouldn't be home at the time it needs to be punched down and seperated into loaves before the second rising. The last time I tried, I lost track of time and by the time I got home to my dough, it had collapsed after rising TOO much the second rising, and I couldn't salvage it.) As for baking bread on Fridays, it'd take up too much table room, and I can't kick Tay out of the kitchen long enough to do the bread mixing and kneading. The couple of times I've needed bread products, this past week, we've made do with cornbread muffins. Which are good, but don't go well with all different types of things. (And simply can't be made into sandwiches.) I'm REALLY in the mood to bake Cranberry bread, though. *drool* Maybe next Tuesday, when I've got Veteran's Day off.

**********

Speaking of Veterans, Dad had to have surgery this past Monday. He had 2 hernias (matching, on opposite sides of his groin) that needed fixing. It was, fortunately, an out-patient matter and he was back at my Aunt & Uncle's place by the end of the day. He's back in Spokane now and staying with Mom's oldest Brother and Sister-in-Law. Fortunately he gets along well with my Uncle and Aunt, and he helps out around their little "homestead" while he's there. He'd planned on being there long enough to get his storage trailer unloaded and the belongings rearranged into his home-trailer, but now it looks like he's going to be spending the winter there in Spokane.

My Aunt Norma Sue also had to have surgery on Monday. Apparently she's got Glaucoma related to her diabetis. She had surgery on one eye last year to relieve the pressure from the Glaucoma, but was having problems with SOMETHING leaking, so the Dr schedualed her for another surgery to repair the problem, and to graft in some skin from her thigh to cover the spot that was having problems. I'm hoping to call her back tomorrow to find out how she's recovering. Last Sunday was her 72nd birthday, so she's not young by any means. (She's the wife of my Dad's now-deceased older brother. She lives in the Dallas TX area in the home she occupied with my uncle, and her older son -my oldest cousin on that side- now lives there with her.)

So, prayers for the continued recoveries of both Dad and Aunt Norma Sue, if y'all would.

**********

Last but not least, the election: While I've got a couple of qualms about our new President-Elect, I'm pretty reasonably happy to see that he won the election. And I'm happy that the whole process is over for a few more years. This one dragged on for FAR too long! My prayers are that President-Elect Obama is emotionally and morally prepared to lead our country into and through the coming depression and the ecological hardships our country and our world now faces.

The hubby was considerably less than thrilled that Obama won the election. Scott, unfortunately, listened avidly to all the fear-mongering that's gone on toward Obama. While I admit to lingering concerns about Obama's stance on gun ownership, I think that he all-in-all will be able to lead our country much better than McCain could have. And while there are obviously still folks in our country who aren't quite ready yet for a president of African-American heritage, I think Obama's got a much better chance of surviving the next 4 years than McCain has. And between the lack of honor that Palin showed in her attitude at rallies, and in her speaches to the press, and McCain's age, I'm pretty sure we would have had the unfortunate reality of Sarah Palin winding up running our country with not nearly enough experience, and a tendency to incite hot-headed feelings in her followers toward those who don't believe the exact same way. So, all in all I think we're in for a hard time, but not nearly so hard with Barack Obama as it would have been with McCain and Palin. (And now, having seen Sarah Palin's behavior as Vice-President Candidate, I'm highly unlikely to vote for her as Governor, if she comes up for Re-election in that stance. But there's also some evidence that a great many other Alaskans were just as disenchanted with her behavior while she was the VP Candidate. We'll see if it's enough to keep her from getting reelected.)

Anyway, I've had to hear a couple of snippy comments about how Obama's going to beggar us with taxes now that he's going to be President. To that, I reminded Scott that Obama's wanting to raise taxes on big business and folks who actually qualify as wealthy in this country. Those folks, and those companies, have gotten away with reduced taxes for a LONG time now and the "trickle down effect" that was supposed to help our country has been shown to be a load of balogna. Instead of taxing us "little guys" (because Scott and I will NEVER qualify as rich in OUR country), Obama wants to tax the "big guys" and reduce some of the strain on the rest of the country through that. Hey. Good! About damned time the CEO's raking millions (billions?) per year are taxed on that money, and about damned time Walmart was taxed, and Exxon, and BP, and Conoco Phillips..... I'm glad that there's somebody gearing up for the Presidential office who doesn't seem determined to give his cronies platnum parachutes and tax the poor and lower class of this country to do it. We'll never qualify as wealthy. Hell, neither of our dad's would ever qualify as "wealthy" by the standards of our country. So why Scott's worried about the rich getting taxed while the poor finally see a break...... *shrug*

I've also had to listen to some really freaking stupid comments on the fact that Obama's African-American, the balogna-supposition that he was actually born outside of the country, and the equally bogus supposition that he's Muslim based on the fact that he attended a Islamic school in Indonesia (where it's required by law, from what I understand?). I'll be so happy when the guy can actually get into office and flex his political muscle and show folks like my hubby how much bull that all is. And, as Sharon's said, I hope Obama takes on the mantle of greatness and proves that he's got the mettle to pull our country through the messes the current president has heaped upon us.

Oh, and FWIW, over at Gina's Blog it was mentioned the importance of writing to Obama and congratulating him on his win of the election, and giving him some advice, as his constituents and supporters through it all.

(EDITED TO ADD) I just sent this letter to Barack Obama:

Congratulations Mr. Obama, on your win in the election. I wish you all the best in your first term as president. I would like to tell you what I hope you will put some energy toward as President for our Country.

1) I greatly hope that you will endeavor to see that ALL Americans, rich, poor and the rare middle, are provided equal and EXEMPLARY medical care. I hope that this will include birth control and annual gynecologecal check-ups for women, and compassionate counceling for rape and incest victims, including abortions should they chose that route.

2) I hope that you will guide our Nascar-addled culture away from the desire to own a car, each and every individual one of us. I hope that you will encourage a rebuilding of our rail system, both trans-continental and light rail (trolleys or metros?).

3) I hope that you will encourage a major restructuring of our educational system. As the Mom to an 11 year old girl who was being passed from one year to another in an attempt to make her somebody else's problem, even though she should have been held back (and I advocated STRONGLY for that), the public school system is a shambles and our children are only falling further and further behind the rest of the world. Too many are graduating without even knowing how to spell the basics, because we've gotten away from TEACHING the basics. And our teachers should be encouaged to be the best they can be, and to be strong in purposefully HOLDING back those who might otherwise fall behind. (To be passed on to the next year does NOT mean a child is succeeding, it often means a blind eye has been turned in their direction.) I homeschool now, by the way.

4) I hope that you will push VERY strongly for rebuilding our nation's bridges, levees and dams, public buildings and public works. My workplace is a library, we're seeing SUCH an increase in the number of people who utilize our services as the economy worsens, I hope you will continue to support funding for such services as vital to our country's recovery.

5) I hope you will push for a build-out of energy producing "industries" such as wind, solar, hydro-electric, and geo-thermal. I know that nuclear is something you're enthusiastic about, but there is no SAFE way to EVER TRULY dispose of nuclear waste that won't endanger our children and our grand-children for a million years to come. Hydro-electric, Geo-thermal, Wind and Solar don't bear that same burden of disposal.

6) I hope you will encourage a return of support (on the local level, not the governmental funding level) for small farmers. I hope you will include the Victory Garden movement in this, even to the point of planting a vegetable garden on White House property and even rolling up your sleeves and working in it yourself, now and again. And meeting a portion of your family's grocery budget from that same gaden. A White House clothes-line would be a great factor as well, to encourage the rest of the country to put up a clothes line for home usage. But, esp. our family run farms. We need to move away from the mono-culture that farming has become, that is pressed upon us by such big businesses as MonSanto. We cannot be forced by big business to give up our right to grow our own food and save our own seed from year to year. Farmers need to be encouraged, not subsidized and condescended to. And the monopoly on food processing should be broken, to allow the farmers to get a TRULY fair price for their products!!!!

7) I hope you will consider that our founding fathers wrote the Second Amendment to protect the average man's right to own and operate fire-arms with the eye toward a dictatorship that may first try to remove those arms from our homes, then try to remove other rights, once we no longer have the ability to defend ourselves from dictators.

To now, we have not had a revolution to oust a dictator or tyranical official, but you've shown that a massive grass-roots movement IS possible, though your movement was peaceful. I hope that you will respect that we have the right by GOD to defend ourselves from a tyrany and will not impede that right by attempting to enforce a removal of gun-rights from the average (civilian) person. I'm afraid that if you did so, many people in this country would revolt against YOU, when my hope is that YOU will be the person that reunites this country after 10 years of divisive behavior by elected officials.

President-Elect Obama, my thoughts and prayers are with you as you begin to worry about the hardships facing our nation.

Thank you for listening to my hopes.

Blessings to you and your family, and my condolances for the loss of your grandmother.

I sent this letter through Change.gov.

**********

Anyway, I think that pretty well covers it for now.

Have a Blessed Day!

Ahhhhh, Justice!

2008-10-28T09:34:00.000-07:00

Ted Stevens Convicted!

Now, though, it appears he's going to appeal the judgement and won't be pulling out of the race, at least yet. *shaking head* So, not only is he now a convicted felon, but he's going to waste MORE tax dollars by appealing the judgement. (Yes, I know that's his legal RIGHT, but that doesn't MAKE it right that he's choosing to do so.)

And, rather than gracefully backing out of the race BEFORE the conviction came about, and throwing his support behind another candidate (who wasn't being tried on bribery & fraud counts) and wishing them the best, and giving somebody else an honest chance at becoming Senator for our state, he's done the opposite. He's NOT backed out, driven all other candidates out of the running, and says that even though he's now a convicted felon, he's going to continue to run and "serve" as Senator for our state.

What an Ass!

God, I hope Mark Begich wins this one. Even Scott, though he's pissed that he can't vote republican on this one, said he's not going to vote for Steven's now, but will probably vote indepenedent instead. *shrug* Fine by me. There are probably a lot of other republican voters who will be voting independent this time around BECAUSE of this, and as a result, that makes Mark Begich's chances of getting the senatorial seat even better.

I hope the sentancing winds up with him receiving the fullest sentance in the harshest conditions a judge can give the man.

Have a Blessed Day!

An Update....

2008-10-27T10:09:00.000-07:00

Well, we've been busy as usual. Let's see if I can give a run-down and an overview for the coming week (though, this coming week doesn't look QUITE so crazy-busy).

Last week we did only review and testing. The fact that we spent the WHOLE week on review and testing..... Well, I wish we'd only had to do that for half the week, not the whole week. But we're also not quite as far behind as I thought we were.

UNFORTUNATELY, the test book that we were using for the testing these past few days turns out to be the WRONG test book, so now Tay is redoing her tests in the correct book. Although both books have some answers different, I'm giving her the go-ahead to use the FIRST test book as help for the SECOND test book, since she should only have had to do ONE test, NOT two. If Scott and I had figured that out in time, that is. *sigh*

We've had our share of head-aches this past week. A couple of fights. But not QUITE as many as the previous couple of weeks. Primarily due to the fact that she was doing MAINLY review of her lessons and testing.

I DID finally get the application for Family Centered Services of Alaska dropped off on Friday. The woman who needs to review the app. was out that day, though. She'll be back in today and I'm expecting a phone call from her, hopefully this morning. So that puts us at a couple of days behind for getting her an appointment for assessement.

So, besides schooling, we had a normally-busy work-week, but then a lot of extra stuff on the weekend.

We had hockey pictures last Tuesday.

*****

I had to chuckle during a conversation with Mom the other day. We were talking about Dad and his plans for the next few weeks. (Keep him in your prayers, would ya? It appears he may have a hernia that might lay him up for a few weeks in Spokane.) Evidently Dad is finally talking to my middle sister again, after their "spat" over whether or not Dad was going to stay at Shelli's place in AZ. (The problem was not Dad staying at Shelli's place, but that he never LEFT. For anything except grocery shopping, from what Shelli said. And when she finally spoke up and expressed her need for some alone-time and that maybe he could go visit friends in a different part of the state for a few days, Dad got all upset over being "kicked out" and took off in a huff the next day. Well, finally they're "talking" again, according to Mom.

Then Mom made some comment about how everybody in the family is Passive-Aggressive EXCEPT me. *snort & chuckle* I told Mom that I am VERY passive-agressive, but I've made it a point to try NOT to be, just like I've made it a point to TRY to be more outgoing than I am naturally. (I'm naturally very shy and something of a hermit. I have to force myself out of it. But when I do force those boundaries I feel much better.) It's all in the attempt to change some of the negatives about myself that I see. (Not the physical negatives so much as the emotional negatives.) It's no different than somebody working on their anger issues (which, I should also be addressing, apparently) or their self-steem issues. For me, it's addressing my shyness and passive-aggressiveness. I'm still intensely shy, and passive-aggressive, but I force myself to be outgoing, and I force myself to speak my mind, at least some of the time.

*****

Friday I had off work, of course, for my weekend. BUT, I had to go to town to take that Application in. I also did my grocery shopping while I was in town. Spent a good bit more money than the hubby was hoping. *sigh* Oh well, along with the usual FOOD groceries, I also bought more expensive stuff such as dish-washer detergent, and toilet paper, and extra strength tylenol. AND I got some storage orginizer type stuff: a couple of wire racks for the master bath cabinets, and one for Tay's bathroom; and 2 plastic food storage cannisters to make storing food in the cabinet so much easier. To this point, most of our pastas, beans, and goodies such as chocolate chips and marshmallows have simply been thrown in a cabinet with NO attention paid to how well this stuff stacks. Getting two more allowed me to put all the christmas-cooking type goodies in them and freed up some room in my cabinets under my microwave. I need to get more for pastas and beans, though. I've got one canister holding our split-peas (taken out of the bags) and one holding bags of 15-bean-soup-mix, but I need to get more for pastas. I've reused spaghetti-sauce jars and pickle jars for some of this stuff, but those jars just don't stack neatly. Rubber-maid may be made of plastic, but at least it stacks nicely leaving room for other things to be stacked on top of it.

Anyway, after I got home Friday and got groceries put away, and Scott got off work, we cleaned house. Well, not the computer room or our bedroom & bathroom, but the rest of the house. Vacuumed the living room, computer room, and Tay's bedroom, as well as around the edges of the kitchen to get the dust bunnies. Then I scrubbed the kitchen floor; cleaned up my stove-top; we decluttered the living room and kitchen; made Tay give her room a tidying and clean up her bathroom.

I also made beef Borscht for dinner. Scott and Tay were both rather nervous about trying soup made with beets, but having had it once before myself, I was pretty sure they'd like it. And, they did. Though Scott really didn't want to admit it right off. *grin* It was a little more brothy than I would have prefered, but flavor wise, tasted very good.

*****

Saturday, did more cleaning in the morning, then had hockey till almost 4 pm (the practice started at 2:15, but we had a parent meeting afterward).

One of the other dad's kinda ticked me off at the parent meeting, as well. This guy, John, tends to be a busy body. He started running the meeting, even though he's not team manager (not even one of the coaches) before the team manager even arrived in the room. Then he started telling everybody how they'd better show up to the Frisbee-sales thing at the Nanooks (University hockey team) that night. When I told him (and the team manager, who'd finally arrived) that we wouldn't be making it that night because we had dinner plans that'd been made for a week and a half (and had only found out about the frisbee-sales thing on Friday), John had the audacity to lay into me about our responsibilities to the hockey team. Supposedly we're supposed to drop any other plans if we get last minute notice of hockey stuff. He made some dumb-ass comments about how our hockey team is our family and our responsibility to the hockey team comes first, anything else can wait. That whatever team-building activities are planned come before anything else, and if that's not possible then maybe we shouldn't be playing hockey. *snort* What an ass! I told him that hockey is PART of my life, but not ALL our life, and we've got OTHER family that came BEFORE we got on this hockey team. He didn't care for that much. *wry smile*

Finally got home and got started on making dinner.

The inlaws came over for supper, bringing the YOUNGER nephew (Grant) with them. (The one that broke the brand-new Wii set-up his mom got, on the day she got it.) He was, as predicted, a little PITA. I wish the inlaw's had had the older nephew (Aaron) this past weekend. That kiddo's old enough to have learned some manners at school (because his Mom sure doesn't "DO" manners) and he gets on well with Tay. AND he's starting to show some maturity in the handling of possessions, so letting him loose in the house wouldn't have been so nerve-racking for me as it was with Grant.

Anyway, Mom sent us a box of cheese from Wisconsin when she was there a couple of weeks back and told us to be sure and share with the inlaws, as the FIL was born & raised in Wisconsin. Scott was born in Wisconsin himself, but was only 3 when they left, so he remembers WI about as I well as I remember Germany. (Which is to say, not at all.)

I also made a container of Yogurt-cheese called Labahne (sp?). I drained most of a carton of plain, organic yogurt (cheesecloth or coffee filters inside a strainer, over a bowl, to get most of the moisture out of the yogurt), and added crushed garlic, italian seasoning, and some black pepper. It was a very yummy soft cheese.

Then we grilled bratwursts and put them into a beer-pot upon taking them off the grill: Lambeau Field style. *grin*

The cheeses were all very good, though the inlaws refused to try my yogurt-cheese. Wish we had more of a chance to visit with the inlaws, though. They had to leave very shortly after dinner because Grant was getting too far out of hand and starting to be very disrespectful of my home.

As soon as the inlaws left, Scott took Tay to spend the night at a friend's house. One of her former soccer-mates had invited her over. Tay's been trying to get ahold of this girl for a while for a sleep-over (though, we origionally invited Kelsey to sleep over here), but they've been as busy as we have, it seems. Anyway, so Scott and I got some couple time Saturday night. That was nice.

*****

Then, back to work yesterday. I came home and proceeded to get on with the business of cooking dinner. Tay asked for shrimp, so I bought some at the store on Friday. I made "Dirty Shrimp in Butter Beer Sauce" over minute rice, and a beet-green salad (done just like I do our Swiss Chard in the summer) using the greens left from the beets that I put in our borscht. It was very yummy. In fact, it was hard to say last night which tasted better: the shrimp, or the salad. *grin*

**********

Beet-Green or Swiss Chard Salad

a large bunch or two (depends on how much you want to make) of greens, stems cut off (some of them chopped up and set aside) and greens cut or torn into bite size pieces

1/2 pound bacon, fried to crisp, keep 3 to 4 Tbsp of the bacon grease in the pan you cooked the bacon in, save the rest of the grease for something else, or discard

1 small (or 1/2 large) white onion, diced

1/2 c vinegar (I use 1/4 c each apple cider vinegar and white vinegar)

1/4 c sugar

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp salt

3 or 4 hard boiled eggs, shelled and chopped to bits

Sautee the onion and pieces of beet/chard stems in the bacon grease till soft & tender, add vinegar, sugar, salt & pepper and simmer for a couple of minutes till reduced just a bit. Turn sauce to HIGH just for a moment before pouring sauce over greens in seperate bowl. Toss greens well and quickly with sauce, and cover with foil. The greens need to wilt just a bit before serving. Just before serving, crumble in bacon and chopped egg, and toss to mix.

*****

Dirty Shrimp in Butter-Beer Sauce

2 pounds shrimp, peeled & uncooked
4 Tbsp butter (or mix of butter and olive oil)
3 tsp italian seasoning
1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 to 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (we used the 1/4 tsp for each of these two)
2 tsp minced garlic (or 2 or 3 cloves pressed garlic)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 c beer

Add all herbs & spices to oil in pot and sautee quickly for a minute. Add shrimp to pot and sautee till the shrimp is almost completely cooked. Add in beer and simmer for just one more minute. Serve over rice, or angel-hair pasta, and with plenty of crusty french bread to sop up the sauce.

**********

So, this coming week is more of the same. More schooling, more work. Friday night I'll be going to a ritual with a couple of work buddies up outside of town in the hills. It's the first ritual I've ever been to. I'm looking forward to it. Spiritually I've been stagnating lately, and I miss feeling that connection between the divine and my spiritual self.

Saturday, Tay's got practice at 8 am in town, then a game at 2 pm up at the U. Because the practice is so early, she's going to have to be in early from Trick or Treating. She's not terribly happy about that little fact. Most of her friends will get to stay out till 10 or 11 pm, she's got to be in by 9 and getting ready for bed because of that early morning practice.

So, that's the run-down. That's what we've been up to, what we're looking forward to. I'm sorry I've been so horrible about getting to everybody's blogs. I've actually been to visit a couple of times a week, but I rarely have the time to post anything. Esp. as I'm blog-hopping in between fights with Tay. *sigh* (And, quite honestly, my mood has been so sour due to those fights that I'm reluctant to comment on blogs afraid that my sourness is going to carry over into whatever I would have to say in my comments.)

Have a Blessed Day!

Just the Usual....

2008-10-19T01:19:00.000-07:00

In other words: fighting, arguing, and a whole lot of crappy attitudes. Mine included, I'm afraid.

Schooling Tay has been damn near suicide-inducing. She simply refuses to do ANYTHING without a huge freaking fight. I'm not joking either. It's not confined only to schooling. It's showering and brushing her teeth. Taking her clean clothes out of the drier so the hubby and I can put our clothes in. Taking the dogs outside. Cleaning her dishes off. AND schooling. Instead of a half hour for some of the minor subjects like Critical Thinking and Spelling, it's an HOUR to do those subjects, and an hour and a half to 2 hours for the more major subjects like Science and History/Geography. Spanish seems to have fallen by the way-side. Which I feel absolutely horrible about. Everything else is dragging along. We're getting it done, but just barely.

And in the process we all fight. Constantly it seems. It's come to the point where I feel that if things don't change, if Tay's attitude doesn't change, I can't keep living here. Scott alternates between being completely unwilling to push Taylor into doing anything she doesn't want to do (including talking to a therapist) and wanting to put his fist through a wall due to her constant arguing over the simplest of things. He's continually trying to persuade me, lately, to give up on Home schooling and put her back in Public School.

I remind him that PS wasn't REALLY any better than homeschooling has been, and if anything it was encouraging WORSE behavior because she saw a public school principal and several teachers over several years tell ME (HER MOTHER) that THEY knew her needs better than I, and chewing ME out for not doing more to tutor her in the evenings. (There are only so many hours in a day, I don't know where they seemed to think I could obtain extra hours from, esp. working and taking her to sports. Though I know at least one of them advocated taking Tay OUT of hockey because of her poor school skills. Ironic that this same teacher insisted that Tay WASN'T falling far enough behind to be held back. Just far enough behind to keep her from doing the only activity she looks forward to.)

I told him that if he withdraws Tay from the Homeschool Program and puts her back in Public School, then I WILL leave. I cannot sit back and watch the public school system screw up my daughter's future even more and refusing to acknowledge and test for learning disabilities, while criticizing what a crappy Mom I apparently am because my child has learning disabilities. If he puts her back into Public School, I feel my only option is to leave. Leave Tay with him and go. And I've made that clear to him.

But at the same time, I don't feel like we can keep muddling through without outside help. Mom has served on the local Mental Health Board in the past, and so she made a call this weekend to a fellow former-board member who happens to head up the Family Centered Services program for the Borough. He said he'd have somebody call me to set up an appointment for this next week to get Tay in and have her assessed. We're going to figure out what is going on in that head, both mentally and emotionally.

One of the other Dad's at hockey this morning was telling me tales of his family's struggle with their daughter's learning "disability". They thought she was dyslexic (she showed a LOT of the same "signs" that Tay does) but turns out she is mildly ADD. Not the hyperactive sort, just the sort of thing where what she was seeing was getting mixed up in the wiring in her brain, and it was confusing her as to what she was trying to do. And she'd lose focus in class situations with more than 4 or 5 kids. They wound up putting her on the minimal dosage of Stratera, and she's gotten straight A's in school ever since. He said they take her off for about 3 weeks, every 6 month interval, to see if she's outgrown the condition (as a lot of children are wont to do, according to her Dr's). So far she hasn't, but she's only just 14 years old yet. (She plays on an older team than Tay does.) Anyway, this other dad was strongly encouraging to get Tay in to get assessed and hopefully get her at least learning (and learning with) some coping skills, possibly on mild meds, possibly including some therapy to help her cope with a poor self image and extremely negative outlook on the world. I found his experience very encouraging. We may be a bit later along with getting Tay help than he was for his daughter (she was in 2nd grade when she started on meds), but better now than later, and better late than never.

Anyway, so I'm looking forward to (or not, really) another busy week.

Monday morning I've got to go sit over at the DMV and get Dad's travel trailer registered as an Alaskan vehical.

Hopefully I'll get to talk to somebody at FCSA on Monday and set up an appointment for Tay for some time later in the week. I'd like to have her assessed by the end of the week.

I told Scott that before he puts Tay back in public school, we're GOING to give this assessement a try. I'm hopeful that having her assessed and finding out just what her issues ARE, and getting some definite treatment for those issues will help with the constant fighting she feels the need to indulge in currently. That's the only hope I've got at this point. Any other thoughts leave me wanting to just walk away. Just walk out. And not come back.

Mom mentioned the possibility of putting Tay in the school that FCSA runs for children who cannot cope with regular school environments. Unfortunately we found out today (rather by accident) that the elementary school is on the other side of town from where Scott and I work. (Over on College Road, Mom. On the stretch between the Fairgrounds and Gulliver's Books.) I'm trying to figure how we'd manage to get her there every morning, and picked up every afternoon.

I'm really banking on therapy and meds, at this point. REALLY. I don't know how we'll swing any other options. I don't know that it's really feasible to consider any other possibilities.

But, we'll see. Hopefully by the end of this coming week I'll be able to say more. Hopefully.

Anyway, must get off line and head to bed. It's 12:4o am and I've got to work tomorrow.

*****

Oh, for what it's worth. Yeah, we've got snow. It's sticking. It doesn't look like it's going to melt before April. And it's cold. The temps have been "warming up" to the mid to high 20's during the day, but dropping to between 0 and -5 at night. If it's cloudy, it's snowing. If it's clear, it's cold. And it's colder this year than it's been in the last 10 years. That's a good thing, I guess. Sucky for fuel usage, good for the fact that it shows a (temporary, at least) return to "normal" climate conditions in our area.

Have a Blessed Day!

Well, THAT Weekend Went Quickly!

2008-10-12T12:06:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the "love" the other day.

So, I got a lot, and yet not much, done this weekend. Friday, we did schooling and then I went grocery shopping, came home and made Summer Sausage Rueben Sandwiches (a Rachel Ray recipe). Then spent the evening down-loading music from our CDs onto ITunes, while Scott and Tay were at an Ice Dogs game. Oh, and when we woke up on Friday (maybe I mentioned this the other day, I don't remember) the weather was windy as heck and warm enough that the snow we had melted. YEAH!

Yesterday morning started out with me waking up and making some bacon and loading yet more songs onto Itunes from our CDs.

After Tay and Scott got home from hockey practice (third practice of the season), we all went outside and did some yard work. The weather was sunny and warm and autumnal again, all the sudden. I got the leaves raked up in my front yard, and piled over my strawberry plants. Hopefully that blanket of leaves underneath the blanket of snow will keep my strawberry plants safe for the winter. I'm hoping that they survive and thrive next spring.

I also tried to get my compost bin raked out so that I could add the finished compost to my planter bed. No such luck. All the rain and water this autumn had water-logged the "stuff" in the bin, and the cold weather had frozen it solid. I had to have Scott help me crack all the frozen mass of composting "stuff" into more managable pieces, which I then tore up even more with my gloves on my hands. I decided to NOT dry to mix any of the clumps (of still partially frozen, sodden newspaper and leaves and grass and decaying veggies) into my planter bed, but to mix them back with some of the other stuff I'd piled to the side, and some of the left-over leaves from the front yard, and leave it for the winter. I'd hoped to get BACK out today and "thoughtfully" rake our neighbour's yard as well, and add their leaves to my bin.

No such luck!!! We woke up to lots and lots of snow this morning. We've probably got 3 inches, already. And it's coming down thick and furious. So, the bit of turning over and mixing I did yesterday is going to have to suffice.

Anyway, as it started getting on toward 6 pm last night, I quit with the outside chores (planning on getting out and doing more this morning, which has NOT come to pass) and came inside. Again, Scott and Tay went to an Ice Dogs game, while I stayed home downloading more tunes for my Ipod.

I must've scanned over 60 different CDs and loaded over 600 songs onto my Ipod. I've got capacity for 2000 songs, and I've got a list of CDs to find from work as well. And I bought 10 new songs from the ITunes store, that I didn't have a way to get otherwise. I'm loving my mix, though. I've got everything from Enya and Clannad, to Santana and Cirque du Soleil, some Garth Brooks and Martina McBride, to Matchbox 20 and a couple of Backstreet Boys (snagged from Tay's mix). I've got lots of celtic, a good bit of country, a nice bit of pop, some jazz, a lot of techno-dance, a couple of hard-rock (no metal yet, though, but plans for some!)..... I love having such a diverse mix at my fingertips. Much nicer than a radio station which plays the same songs over and over and over, ad nauseum.

I think my mix is going to be mainly pop and celtic, but I hope to have a good bit of classical and some oldies (think, Frank Sinatra) as well as the rest, when all is said and done. Now to figure out how to make playlists. *grin*

**********

Ok. I think that pretty well covers it for today. I've gotta visit a few of y'all, and say HI, and then get heading to work. Need to give myself plenty of time for the driving with all that snow this morning.

Have a Blessed Day!

Wow.... And The Weekend is ALREADY Almost Half Over...

2008-10-10T21:02:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so schooling, schooling and MORE schooling, that's what I've been up to. We've had one day of non-fighting school-time, for every 4 days we have WITH fighting over the assigned lessons. *sigh* Scott's seriously ready to put Tay back in public school for the next semester, but I'm not willing to give up. I know that it'd just make matters worse in the long run, and I'm hoping that by the time we've got one semester under our belts, Tay's grasped that I'm going to fight with her EVERY DAY if I have to in order to get to make sure she actually learns something.

**********

We woke up this morning to melting snow and lots of warm winds. REALLY windy. The kind of windy that caused problems for the last year with our old vehical sheds. No problems with them, this time. The winds though have melted all the snow we got over the last 2 weeks. YEAH!!! It's supposed to be like this tomorrow as well. Possibly with some rain as well, though, which makes me a bit nervous. Now if I can only find the time tomorrow to get out into my compost bin and take care of the final adding and turning over that I DIDN'T get done before the first snows fell. And I need to rake those leaves in my front yard and pile them on my strawberries, now that I've got a bit of a reprieve.

**********

My boss is back to being a bitch. Early on this week she told me to stop sending cracking DVD's for reinforcement, that it doesn't help anyway. Ok. Fair enough. Last I'd been told was to go ahead and give them to one of the Karen's for this sticker on the back that would reinforce the disk where it was starting to crack. (They crack badly around the hole in the center, eventually it causes cracks across the face of the disk. We were putting these circular stickers on the disk, to reinforce over the cracks but still leaving that hole open in the center to place in DVD cases.) Anyway, Boss Lady wasn't in any way rude about it then, just informative that it'd been decided that this sticker didn't help anyway. *shrug* Ok, whatever. (What chaps me about THAT is that, when I asked if we were going to be doing anything ELSE to attempt to keep the disks from cracking, she said that she didn't think it was possible so *shrug* "oh well". These DVDs cost the library quite a bit of money, and therefore cost us taxpayers quite a bit of money. When a DVD cracks, it becomes unusable. Wouldn't it be in EVERYBODY'S best interest to attempt to find a way to reinforce them so that they stay usable longer?!?! Her attitude was such that it doesn't really matter, why should she care.)

Well anyway, yesterday (Thursday) I came across a DVD that was cracking badly across the face, and as Boss Lady was standing right there, I asked her if I should check it in and give it to Karen, or should I NOT check it in so that the patron might be charged for it. (Sometimes it's obvious mishandling, and in the past that has resulted in the patron being charged the cost of the disk. I don't make the final decision, but by NOT checking it in until Karen's ready, that allows HER to make the final decision, which is HER job.)

Boss Lady asked if I check every DVD for cracks. (I've gotten my ass chewed in the past, on one DVD I missed catching that was cracked, early on in my employment here, so I'm very careful to check each disk over.) I responded that I look at it IN the case, and if it appears it may be cracked, I take it OUT of the case to see how badly it's cracked, but yeah..... I check every DVD because that's the ONLY way to catch cracked DVDs. She got snippy and said that I shouldn't be doing that (SINCE WHEN?!?!) and it's a waste of time, and not to bother any more. Boss Lady feels that if a patron finds a DVD that's so badly cracked it's unusable, they'll notify us, and that I shouldn't be bothering with checking them over as they get turned in.

WTF?!?! So we're NO LONGER supposed to check our materials over to make sure that they're in satisfactory condition before shelving?!?!?! What kinda library runs that way?!?!?! Flipping rediculous!

Then she proceeded to get all snippy and uptight about making sure that EVERYBODY knows how to properly sticker a new case for DVD's. I just cannot figure that woman out. She doesn't seem to give a rat's ass about how we do our job in SO many aspects. Liz hasn't shelved a cart of books in WEEKS, for example. Keiko is so flipping blind that she takes 10 minutes to check out 5 books to a patron. Ellen is so lazy that she doesn't bother to do ANY of her job, even though Boss Lady has taken all but Ellen's shelving duties away. And yet, we get lectured about the PROPER way to place stickers in DVD cases?!?!

Anyway, I'm at the point right now that if it wasn't for the fact that I would NEVER get the Lib. Assistant position out HERE if I quit my job in town, I'd go ahead and quit. But, like I said, I'd NEVER get the North Pole position I want if I quit at the town library. Besides, I'd be giving up insurance as well. And I don't want to work anyplace BUT a library...... *sigh* Damned rock & a hard place situation. CM and I kinda keep each others spirits up (or at least, share the morbid humor in the situation) at work, as she's facing very similar feelings toward our boss and the hypocracy going on at work. (As I said last week "the hypocracy is astounding" has become a mantra of sorts. With the new addition of "Kati, go to your happy place!!!" or "CM, go to your happy place" when things start getting frustrating to the point the other of us can see the steam emerging from ears. *wry smile* I'm glad at least that I've got one coworker who "gets it".)

**********

Another book to mention, I'm currently reading _How to Cook a Wolf" by MFK Fisher. It's a cookbook, but more than that, it's a fabulously written treatise on frugal cooking and caring for the art of eatting during financially stressed (WW2, when it was written) times. Might be of interest to others. The author's sense of humor is wonderfully dry. I have yet to try any of her recipes, so I can't comment. But the recipes are sprinkled in among her discussion of how to make the best of a food situation in which one feels as if "the wolf is breathing heavily outside the door."

**********

Last but not least, I got my Ipod the other day. *grin* I'm now spending quite a bit of time uploading tunes onto it. I got a 4th gen, Ipod nano with 2000 song capacity. It's a lovely green. *grin*

Ok. I've gotta get off-line and watch some recorded TV shows and destress for a bit.

Have a Blessed Day!