Thankfulness

On my mind tonight because I got my yearly strawberry pie from a grateful patient.
This year I took a picture before it was devoured, so that I can remember this.

One night I was on duty with our local ambulance squad and we got a call for "chest pains class #1" I recognized the address and groaned in my head. I knew the people that lived there and when they said "male patient" I just prayed they had guests--preferably someone I didn't know.

We got there and no, it was the person that I figured and yes he had chest pains. When the paramedic looked at the reading on the heart monitor, he got "that look" and we made fast tracks to a heart hospital.

Just FYI when the medics look at your monitor read outs and get all business-like and start giving terse orders...just concentrate on breathing and pray.

Anyway, I'm happy to say that our patient made it to the hospital in time and they performed life-saving procedures and that whole episode is now a number of years ago....I actually forget how many- I just know it is more than 7 years ago because it was BJ (before-Joe).

Every June since then, this patient has delivered a number of strawberry pies to our station and gives directions who shall get one of them. He hasn't forgotten and neither have we.


On the home front--We have had the normal ( I think) rocky start to the summer. Hope is resenting the invasion of noise. Faith would like to just be ignored so she can curl up on the sofa and read or do her summer math work. Shekinah.....well she needs a schedule and is acting like a chihuahua on coffee. The rainy weather did nothing to help.

 I had her helping me make some batches of baked oatmeal and we ended up discussing if there is anything like a "bad catch" after I complimented her on her "good catch" as she snagged the box of eggs before they slid off the table.

And daddy got gold fish and koi for his birthday. Shekinah is learning to sit quietly and wait till the fish get brave enough to come up and snag the food.

Ben came last night and loaded his car with more of his belongings. 

That wedding date is coming ever closer.

In with the New! --Keeping most of the Old

Lots of new things in the last 3 weeks!

New decade, (I should write what I learned in the last few years)

New Grandbaby. (He's super cute)

And in the near future - a new daughter           in-law (don't get worked up, we're not adopting again)
 (gotta get permission to post her pic sometime)

And now new paint and new kitchen floor. Our floor and walls are over ten years old- I know that a "good" floor should last longer than that- but we never seem to have the money laying around to buy a good floor AND have it installed.  I've always wanted a black and white tile kitchen floor and before this we couldn't find it in the kind that was DIY friendly, but after looking at the options out there my husband has decided that he will try laying commercial vinyl tile for me!  For those that are as uninformed as I was, that is the type of tile that you put down on a classroom floor--it will need to be waxed. I'm banking on the fact that schools do theirs once a year - at least ours did- and we don't have 150 kids running through our kitchen. So maybe I'll be ok doing the waxing every two years? But the color shouldn't wear off because of a chair scraping across it a few times a day.

The black one and the white in the row above.

Shekinah was sure she needed to help with the painting, so....

After we settled on the floor colors, I wasn't sure what color to put on the walls, I really didn't want white. So we went with a light gray and I'm going to put up a red border at about chair-rail height with a sturdy wallpaper below that- wiping walls isn't one of my favorite things to do.  The lady at the paint and wallpaper store also gave me the idea of painting our countertop too. I think we are going to do that too. You coat it with 3 layers of polyurethane after the paint? I think hubby is convinced it will work- it sure should be easier than replacing the counter top on our own.

I think I'm gonna paint the black rim of the clock red.

This is the red wallpaper I'm going to cut for the border.

Let's see, what else was I doing since I posted the last time? Oh-- I made some swim suits for the girls, today one of them put hers on and stood in the shower, I was pleased with the results. I don't think they cost less than the $10 ones on the clearance rack at   W-mart but they sure cover more! (There are shorts under the skirt)

Once again I realize how thankful I am for my overlock machine--and I'm glad I went for the $200 Brother model that I found on Am*zon instead of saving for the next few years for the more expensive model that is "air threaded". It was a huge help with sewing the swim suit fabric. In my research I was reminded again and again that you need to get the right fabric. You want polyester and Lycra  or nylon and Lycra  four-way stretch.  I was very happy to find that we have Fabric Mart just a few miles away and they have all kinds of fabric, but you can buy their stuff online as well.

We also helped clean Ben and Jana's  house in the city. I do love old houses.

New dresses for the spring program. There is a free online pattern called "play all day", it's basically two pieces- front and back. You can add elastic in the waist or wear a sweater like Faith did. I did decide to dress it up with a flared piece at the bottom, but it is so simple! Wonder if I could get away with wearing that style?

How to Properly Criticize Your Wife's Cooking

               (Will post this recipe one day, it had rave reviews)

We have interesting conversations at the supper table.
The other night something got brought up about the word curdled and the fact that one of us remembered well that another one of us scorned a dish one night and said that it looked curdled. The Offended remembered it well and remembered the dish and what was served with it. The Offender however, did not remember and did not even think he knew what the word "curdled" meant.

I thought this might be a teaching moment and pointed out that sharp criticism hurts and the effects stick around awhile.

Then the question--"So how are you supposed to ever criticize  someone's cooking?"

Since the question was asked by one of the males of the household we offered advice for the far off day when he has a wife.

"Don't EVER say this doesn't taste like my mom's."

"You might say --before she ever attempts a similar dish-- 'you should ask my mom sometime how she makes _______'."

"When she does make a dish you like be sure to praise it."

"Your duty according to Luke 10:8 is to eat what is set before you---with thankfulness, I think."

" Your wife will feel that it is her duty to provide good food for you, and if you tell her that she isn't doing it right she will feel she failed in her duty. How would you feel if she told you  you aren't a good breadwinner?"

" You could learn how to cook and offer to do the one half of the meal, while she does the other half. You know, working together in the kitchen is good for a relationship."


Then of course, we needed to tell the young women of the house how to tell if your husband likes the food. I mean, if he praises it no matter what, how do you know if you should make it again?

Well, that is a dilemma.

" For that you watch his face, surreptitiously of course, and if he curls his lip a certain way when he takes a bite, or doesn't fill his plate....you probably shouldn't make it again."

"Now it is tricky, maybe he just doesn't like the technique you used to make the meat, so you need to slide sideways into the question. 'Did you like the way I did the turkey? Not sure it got right this time.'  "

By this time the young men of the house had fled the table before they were informed how to do the dishes properly too.


Update on "no-candy" diet: It lasted one day, then daddy was given some chocolate-dipped pretzels  and he brought home the bag with tempting treats. Maybe she will try again another time.

Turning 50

No, I'm not yet 50, but my family reminded me on Saturday evening that the day is rapidly approaching. I always thought that people who fuss about getting old are a little silly.

BUT

Suddenly, I'm in a reflective mood, I've noticed lately that I don't remember things as well as I once did, new skills take concentration. I can't just quickly learn a new system of doing something...

I mean, I did get Windows 10, but I know I don't use all the fancy schmanchy features.

My body occasionally just lets me down and I think I found ANOTHER gray hair.

So if the next 50 years fly past as fast as the last 50 years, did I do what I thought I wanted to do?

What did I actually want to do in life?

God has led our family down some unexpected roads, so that my plans from thirty years ago are no longer applicable.

So becoming a flight nurse--or riding in a medical helicopter at least once--is probably out.

Becoming a paramedic is probably off the list too--but I would like to start an real IV at least one time.

Getting a horse or at least a pony--ahh no longer on the list.

Though I wish one of the girls would show an interest in horses.

Maybe we'll get a dog one of these days--or maybe we will just keep Zoe,( son#1's dog for the week when the new baby shows up.)

I once announced in 9th grade that I would become the first woman President

that job hasn't been taken yet and I guess I'm actually not too old for it--

but somehow it has lost it's glamour.

So what have I done and what is there to do?

Gotta think.

Shekinah:" I'm going on a candy diet (what it turned out she meant is a "no-candy" diet) for two years!" She did  well for her first day, she refused a chocolate chip cookie, cut off the frosting from her sweet roll (because someone called it candy) and asked her tutor for peanuts instead of candy for her snack.

I really don't know what set her on this path, questioning didn't give us the answer. You should have seen the look she gave Joe when he offered her a piece of candy! 

Skool Daze

In just a few weeks school will be over for this year.

Faith's class had their first science fair, in some ways it was better than the high school 

production. They had simple scientific principles explained.

Faith chose to do a study on the usefulness of thumbs.

She had her subjects do common tasks using their whole hand and then with their thumb taped to their palm. Her hypothesis was correct, it takes longer to do a task if you can't use your thumb.

This whole project was a bit ironic for this family though...wonder how well people can tie their shoes with only one hand?  How about with only 3 fingers?

Our one handed typist can pound out as many WPM as most two-handed typists.

We will have to think outside the box when it is time to teach Shekinah to type, haven't found any online programs for that.

I liked this experiment. The plant on the right was fed water, #1 was fed Gatorade    #2 was fed Mountain Dew    #3 was fed peroxide...there was a #4 that was fed chlorox, but that plant was just dried up leaves.

This fine lady was found at my kitchen table doing her homework.

Later she was seen walking on the drive in her white high heeled shoes.

First Grade has been an interesting ride this year. She started off by having issues with her math facts.When you've lived life with only 4 fingers you can't just visualize 4+1. I learned those facts way before I went to school simply because I added on my fingers many times. She didn't have that opportunity.  So we taught her to use the mental image of dots on a dice, a number line or simply counting backward for some of the simple subtraction problems. She is doing quite well with them.

She is also very literal, she and Zeke get along very well. The other day I pulled out some papers from her backpack and noticed that this one paper had four errors so I started reading.  "Ray will tear a white shirt."  Well of course that makes sense.

The next one should have caught her attention, but  "the thorn where on my dress."  sorta makes sense.   "Over where is my house"  is a sentence we've surely used.   "There is my book?"  I told her that one is a question.  She said "yeah, there is my booook?"  with a pronounced question in her voice.

I explained that English is a crazy language with three "wears" in it and I wrote them and explained it.  Her response? "Well that just isn't fair!"

Because I'm a mean mom or ....not, I also ordered the ACE English for 1st grade and 6th grade math for Faith intending to use them over the summer because Hope intends to go to school over the summer. Well they arrived on Saturday and those books just HAD to be opened. So I relented. I explained that the beginning of the books was going to be easy but that was OK, I didn't expect her to be finished quite so quickly though.  She followed the directions to the letter!

One night I got this note when I came home from teaching a class. "I wrote it myself"

Those crazy shoes!

We took Parker on an ambulance tour the other night.

Birthdays, Ides of March snow, etc

When life is too full to stop and analyze ...then it's too full

On February 25, hubby and I were at a funeral and the kids were home, the 19 y.o. was in charge, thankfully. They got the weather alert and headed to the basement, we sat oblivious in the church until the electricity blinked, then I realized that the roaring I'd thought was a truck was actually wind.

Everyone was OK at home, but just a few miles north of our place there was quite a bit of damage.

The clouds you see on that picture were deemed "straight-line-winds"...well whatever.

When your marshmallow runs out of your smore, you just wrap it around your finger and rescue it.

Most of us are wrapped around that little finger too.

Especially the daddy that made the tin can stilts for her to try her skilz.

Then someone had the nerve to turn 17! Can't quite believe it.

He requested a cheese cake.

Since he threatened to eat all the pie crust the other week, Hope made a batch for him and packaged it in a hot chocolate box.

Shekinah's class made graham cracker houses on one of the warmest days this winter.

Little did we know that just a few days later we would FREEZE.

When you just don't need more bread in your life.

EMT in training? She never realized that one of her Christmas gifts was a CPR DVD.

She claimed she could feel our pulses, but when everyone's pulse turned out to be the same

I realized she was counting the seconds on the clock. Baby steps...

Then it snowed! and of course heels and bare feet make great footwear when you are checking the snowfall accumulations. I think our children were ready for spring, they didn't go out in the snow very much. 

They thought bumping volleyball in freezing temperatures was a good idea.

With one thing and another Parker hadn't visited in a few weeks, they played store and McDonalds.

"one coffee drink please and french fries"

We almost had a state of emergency this morning, we were down to the emergency rations of peanut butter! So you have a staple (besides milk) that your family needs every day?

I have a hat problem....I have a tea problem too, but that is another story. I started crocheting one night and it turned into a hat!? So I tried another and then I bought more yarn...I haven't bought more fabric this year though. Now Pinterest keeps showing me free crochet patterns along with my math games and reading helps.

Shekinah is doing better in her after school homework, we have greatly reduced breakdown time by letting that dreaded Victory Drill book till Friday and Saturday and we do the required four lessons on those days (they get out of school at 1:15 on Fridays). I really didn't know if it would work, but it seems she is just that much more relaxed and we can whiz through them in no time.

Countdown time to new grandson --about 6 weeks

Countdown to wedding...house under contract, new job secured (he's currently serving in VS), and wedding fabrics on the shelf.

Keeping Up

So tonight I attended an EMT refresher course. In order to keep up my certification I need to have a certain amount of training hours every 3 years. I became an EMT waaaay back in the olden days (1987). When my current certification expires I will have been an EMT for 32 years--now I feel old.

As you might expect things have changed--of course they did! Everytime a publisher felt the need to print a new book they changed the protocol right? Actually they are doing scientific research and with the new machinery they have to study your insides they have found better ways to treat trauma to the human body.
 They've also changed the protocols for CPR, the olden days of high school students cackling over "kissing a dummy" are almost over.  We now have a machine (he even is named--Lucas) on the ambulance to do the chest compressions for us and giving breaths is sort of the last thing on the "to-do" list.
Then they had to go and change the backboard protocol, just when even the by-standers knew what you meant by "please hand me the back board".  Our standards now tell us that it is a rare occasion when it is in our patient's best interest to transport the patient on a backboard.

There is science to back all of the new changes, but it is going to be very difficult for this lady to walk a patient wearing a collar ---to my litter.

In another part of my life, I edit a newsletter for adoptive and foster parents. Most of my subscribers do not have regular access to the internet. I share things that I find helpful and they write stories from their lives. Today one of my subscribers sent me a newspaper clipping of an advice column. It was by a psychologist whose first name is John. In his column he is giving advice to a couple who is considering adopting a child, possibly a teen. The new child would be their third child- it's not clear if  this would be their first adoption.

Mr. John encourages they to adopt (so far, so good) but then he pooh pooh's the idea of attachment difficulties. He states "there is no reason to believe that adopted children are any different from non-adopted children in that they have memories, however deep-seated, of their first months of life. That oft-repeated claim simply cannot be objectively verified." His next paragraph basically says if you expect to have problems of course you will. So by that then I might conclude --if I expect to have no problems, then I won't?

 No I don't think that we have fragile little creatures- as he implies, quite the contrary, they are survivors! But survival skills do not make for a calm family environment. Yes, firm discipline is what I have in mind, but from the tone of his article, I don't think we are on the same page on that one either.

It is interesting that some of  the same technology that is making me learn new EMT skills is also responsible for making us learn new parenting skills. I know we do not parent the same way we did 25 years ago because of the technology that allows science to see how trauma affects the brain. There is technology that shows how well an infants brain develops and how much they are aware of as early as  six months gestation. I'd like to think Mr. John that being proactive instead of waiting until you have a problem is as effective with my patient that was hit by a car as with my child that was hit by emotional and in some cases physical trauma.

Went to the grocery and did a double take--they forgot their arm!

Visited Ben on Sunday and the girls were spying on the neighbors...they need to work on their skills!

Playing diaper store, we still need to overlock some of them, but if they can sell a couple of dozen meanwhile, why not?

Then today a chicken truck dumped the entire load when it shifted as he took the curve close to our place. Chickens everywhere--yeah that is the white stuff you see on the ground!

No humans were injured. This curve is nasty to tractor trailer trucks, another truck dumped his heavy equipment a few months ago at the same spot, the road still has gouges in it.

Now do we blame it on the road, the trucks....or?

Quote of the month:

One of the kids: Dad why didn't you get mom flowers on Valentines?

Dad: Well,Valentines is a heathen holiday, so I got her flowers on Ground Hogs day instead.

Snow Day

First snow day of the year

The girls didn't even go outside--"too windy and cold" they said.

OK, then we have good reason to keep warm by washing dishes...no 

not really. Dishwasher is on the blink. Hopefully hubby diagnosed

the problem correctly and he can get the pump repaired.

Meanwhile I have a willing assistant. I still need to teach her to clean all the counter tops afterward,

but for now I'll take the cheerful help.

Since it was a cold wintery day, I tried a new recipe. I was looking for a Romanian/Moldovan

recipe to use for our potluck on Sunday at church. We are packing bundles for CAM after lunch and 

thought we could experience some of their foods too.

Cabbage, potatoes, meat, rice and sour cream seem to be staples. I think I could like that

with a few pizzas thrown in every now and then.

Tried a cabbage "cake" from here  There wasn't much left over.

Not sure I'll try it for church though, cause inverting it onto a plate is fraught with danger.

Stuffed Cabbage Cake

Ingredients

·         1 head of savoy cabbage, it has pretty lacy leaves ( I used regular)

·         1½ pound of good quality ground beef or turkey ( I used sausage-chopped it up)

·         1 onion, diced

·         1 small red pepper, diced (skipped)

·         2 carrots, diced

·         4 cloves garlic, minced

·         ¾ cup of grated romano or parmesan cheese (and some mozzarella)

·         ½ cup of marinara sauce plus extra for topping mold and plating (tomato sauce)

·         1 cup of cooked rice

·         1 egg

·         olive oil

·         fresh chopped basil and parsley, a small bunch of each ( didn’t have)

·         salt and pepper

Instructions

1.      Core and separate the leaves from the savoy cabbage, then cook them in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain, pat dry and set aside.

2.      Grease the bottom and sides of a deep souffle type dish (used crock pot insert) and then arrange the prettiest and largest leaf on the bottom. Place another leaf on top of that and up the sides of the dish all around.

3.      In a large saute pan cook your meat until you see no pink, if it needs to be drained of added grease do so and set aside.

4.      Add olive oil to the pan and cook the onions, carrots, garlic and diced red pepper until soft, then toss it all together with the cooked meat.

5.      Add the grated cheese, marinara and fresh herbs, toss til well coated, let it cool then toss in the egg.

6.      Put your first layer down, about ½ inch then layer a cabbage leaf on top. Repeat until you reach the top or run out of filling.

7.      Finish with cabbage on top making sure to tuck it in the dish all around.

8.      Drizzle the top with olive oil, salt and pepper and a sprinkling of romano cheese all over.

9.      Bake at 350 for around 40 minutes.

10. Let it rest then invert a serving plate over the souffle dish, then flip it over.

11. Cut into slices and serve with additional warmed marinara and more grated cheese.