A Full Week of School

The other week I had to use these slips of paper quite often. I made them to place them at bedside tables so people didn't wonder why mom "forgot" to wake them for school.

Yeah, I'm waking people again.  The girls handle their morning better if I do and for now the phone hits the docking area in the kitchen by 9:30 and stays there till morning. I have no problem waking someone for that reason.

Thankfully, the weather was better this week, but the "something" bug hit our house starting last week. We've had a little bit of each kind with Joe missing two days of school with a fever.

Speaking of Joe, he/we should be searching for a new prosethetist -one who makes prosthesis. He is aging out of the Shriner's Hospital for Children. We love the people there,but I will not miss the trek down the Schuylkill Expressway. If anyone has actual experience with offices in PA who do a good job making prosthesis please send me a comment with info.

With all the days of "vacation" we had in the past couple of weeks, I finally finished this order.

Now she wants a Crazy Quilt made with silks and velvets! She wants to do the hand embroidery and I will do the sewing. I hope she has a big piggy bank! 

I finally insisted that Shekinah clean off her bed. She had almost 10 dolls and stuffed animals stashed on there! She was surprised how easy it was to fix her bed after it was just blankets and TWO animals on there.

So the moral of this story is....When you cook extra potatoes to make mashed potatoes for the freezer. You need to make the potatoes that day while they are still warm. You should not put the cooked potatoes in their water in the fridge and then try to make them into mashed the next day.

They get gluey and look funny.

But since I was Raised Right I could not just throw them away.

I could however mix them into a yeast dough and make

Doughnuts. 

Gluey potatoes are very good in doughnuts

*now if anyone can help me with the potato part just let me know....If I would have rinsed the potato chunks and gotten rid of the starchy water, could I have made mashed potatoes? I am cooking how many years? And I know you can't make mashed potatoes in the blender, but this piece of  cooking chemistry has me puzzled.

We took a field trip this week and went to Souvalki Boys Greek restaurant to celebrate the halfway mark in her Greek language course. Good food!

Speaking of good food, I got an Instant Pot for Christmas and we're liking it.

The above picture shows what Shekinah thought of the venison I made in there the other night.

I marinaded the venison in this for about five hours. Threw it in the instant pot,

added the water and did the pressure thing for 15 minutes.

The results were plate-licking good.

Well not everyone licked their plates at least not for the camera.

So the back splash has been decided upon.

How about wooden tiles?

I'm liking them.

My dear hubby is painting them.

And I think we found the countertop that will work.

QOTD: The turning signal was not working and you know how it blinks in double-time?

We girls were headed to Walmart and Shekinah was sitting in the back. "Hmm even the turning signal is excited to go to Walmart."  We probably should expand our horizons.

Another quote--same source listing her woes from the day and ending with "And my cupcake had too much icing on it!"

This was from one of the three meal events I helped with this weekend.

Hot lunch for school on Friday--sausage, mashed potatoes, peas, jello cups and bars. I was so thankful for the four other ladies who helped with prep and serving. 

Saturday evening a local youth group had a culture meal and asked if I could bring "some Chinese food" selection was up to me. I decided on steamed dumplings. I think we prefer them as "potstickers" but for serving at an event as this was....these were perfect.

Sunday was fellowship meal at church, I brought a crock pot of chili. I like the way they did the potato bar this time. Frozen shredded potatoes heated in roasters instead of scrubbed, buttered, wrapped baked potatoes! No waste, no scraping shells, no deciding if you should eat your nutrients by eating the shells.  Easy food, I love it!

Can't it Just Be Normal?

Life this past week was crazy! Early dismissal's for ice.

Restrictions for one of my older kids.

Two-hour delays a couple of times, and 

Mom getting a fever and operating at half speed for two days.

May we be "normal" this week?

OK now I'm finished whining.

Shekinah came home with a "surprise" she pulled out the lovely snaggly top tooth at school.

The other night she cried and fussed while she pulled out that bottom tooth,

tho' that experience apparently gave her the bravery to pull the top one on her own.

She was a bit indignant, "I still can't eat! I have all these holes

 and food keeps falling out of my mouth!"

I'm really liking my new cabinet color, and the handles.

The counter top remains beige, we need to find a weekend without sickness 

or super-cold temps. 

Now the counter top? Dark I'm thinking, but none of the prefab stuff is quite the right color.

Do you think it would be some sort of crime to repaint new counter top? I would have painted the current one if it wasn't in such bad shape. The stove hood, I guess white? One of the kids thought red to give me my red accents, but I guess not. I'm going to have to add red in smaller increments.

BTW the microwave has managed to stay cleared off for two weeks. How long does it take to make a new habit? I'm hoping not too much longer.

Hope was working on her photography skills yesterday.

We had two of us down with fever and something going on with our throats this week and now Faith added another twist last night. She spent the night being friends with a bucket, this morning she managed gingered hot coke, applesauce and saltines.... And is feeling better. I'm hoping we don't all have to share her experience.

The Coke drink is quite good, they served it in China after one of the meals we had with the orphanage folks. And I keep the option in the back of my mind.

Now I'm going to snuggle up with a book and maybe take a nap. But Jan Karon's latest book might keep me reading.

Kitchen Re-furb part 1

Since it is Christmas break and freezing COLD! Why don't we just do a remodel job?

At the end of May we painted the walls, replaced the wallpaper and border and put in the black and white floor tiles.

The kitchen counter is almost 31 years old and it was not top-of-the-line when we put it in. So when hubby says, "lets replace the counter top." 

I say, "what about the doors, can we paint them?"

He says, "well you can, but let me know when you're finished."

Ahem....

See, he works at the place that makes these doors and in this case the entire kitchen. It's almost more than he can stand to see this carefully selected oak wood grain covered with ....paint.

Of course he didn't let me sit with the whole project, we both spent most of Christmas break (his work was slow and he's "recovering from knee surgery") I put that in quotes because his recovery has thankfully been a breeze. Where was I? Oh, we spent most of Christmas break doing the painting and re-assembly of the kitchen. We were thankful for Sunday.

The day after Christmas he was busy with the screwdriver...well the girls decided they needed to help. And since we were refinishing...why not?

It took quite a bit longer doing it that way, but he's a patient daddy.

I went paint shopping- information gathering.

Found out that I needed to wash/wipe the cabinets down with a product called Dirtex.

Just mixed with water and wash...no big deal.

Sand any rough spots.

And cover with BIN original stain blocker.

Then I was shown the different types of paint that are supposed to work well with cabinets.

I initially chose the Insl-X paint,but they couldn't tint it in the dark gray we wanted.

I ended up choosing Benjamin Moore Advance. The messy one in the middle.

The BIN stuff is a mess to work with, it's drippy and dries incredibly fast. Hubby was worried that our finished doors were going to look like a bad paint job.

We got them to tint it from the normal white to something closer to gray.

One night we ordered out for pizza and ate on the living room floor.

I was almost liking the open door plan.

The only draw back was that my normal quick-slam-the-door- so- the -plastic- containers- don't -fall- out method didn't work so well.

I got Faith to "redd- out" some of the cupboards so I could stand the rest of the  mess a bit better.

The newspaper taped to the floor was there for a few days- just don't look- focus!

We took the appliance garage out- to paint it, then decided we liked the room.

I'd better not change my mind.

Now the counter top really will need to be replaced, it looks terrible with the dark gray

and we still need to paint the stove hood because it is beige.

Patience! It was time to go back to work. Maybe next week end...or the next.

The doors are all back on,but the handles are still enroute from Amazon.

I think I love my new kitchen....just need to get some good pictures.

Ah! the lady in the house with the new camera, I'll get her!

QOTD:  Shekinah describing an incident "One day Anna wasn't trying real hard to keep her feet on the ground and the wind just blew her over."

Then we had a discussion on the difference between a "banister" a  "barrister" and a "barista".

We learned that while a barrister might stand at a banister and he should take a bar exam, he does not normally work in a bar. (Well unless he is moonlighting as a bar-tender to pay off his college loans.)

Christmas 2017

Somewhere there is a picture of what actually went on here that Friday night. My friend with eight children under the age of 12 asked if she could come over and we could dip chocolates.

Sure why not?

At one point we had a whole bunch of little helpers around this table...gotta find the pics.

We used a bit over 6# of chocolate, my friend had made the oreo truffle and buckeye fillings before she got here because y'know, a mom with eight kids really has nothing else to do.

Saturday was a day for family gatherings....pinata, too much food..

A craft version of Chopped, we only got to round #1.

I gave them each 3 large coffee filters, scotch tape and a scissors.

They didn't want me to take pictures of their finished craft.

This is an idea I want to re-visit with a bit more pre-planning.

Christmas Eve was on Sunday, so in the afternoon, we opened most of our gifts.

Shekinah still loves Peppa Pig.

Faith got two pair of footwear that she didn't need :)

Zeke has been curious about the M'bira

Hope paid for part of her "new artillery" (a Canon)

Joe got a Steeler's blanket

Christmas Day with all the kids home. Thought I'd better take pictures because it probably won't happen again for a few years.

We didn't do the Thanksgiving version.

I made the food for this meal.

We've been eating egg rolls and potstickers for either Christmas or Christmas Eve for the past several years and they all (well all except Parker) seem to love it.

Parker ate rice...he'll learn- his daddy did.

Hudson dear, could have been satisfied with wrapping paper.

It was a good Christmas, I love having everyone home.

I think back to last Christmas...

Hudson was only --well, on his way.

Ben still hadn't asked Jana to marry him.

I wonder what this next year holds.

In all the hustle of family gatherings, chocolate dipping, Christmas programs,Christmas caroling, egg roll wrapping, shopping and flu season I think,

 it is best if you tell the story of Christ's birth and the reason he needed to come to earth, way before Christmas day. It should be a year-round conversation because the gift of Christ doesn't stop on Christmas Day, it was just  one part of the Salvation Plan.

I Did It Again!

I planned too much for the month of December. (Look at how much Hudson has grown!)

It seemed like such a good idea- since the health insurance deductible was almost met...

and I needed a colonoscopy and hubby needed  knee surgery (torn meniscus)...

Why not add two teens wisdom teeth in the middle of all that too!?

Yup, sounds great! I mean there were a few open days.

Well, three out of the four procedures are finished and healing well.

Joe's wisdom teeth are on schedule for Thursday morning, that is if he manages to stay well until then. He seems to be brewing a cold and is determined to delete sleep out of his schedule.

I did at least one thing right this month, according to Shekinah.

We also had two school Christmas programs to attend and we chose to attend the one --twice!

Simply because we enjoyed it so much.

"Sqooze" in a travel group get-together. Funny how the kids change their looks every year, but the adults look about the same...that or I need my annual eye exam (don't think I'm gonna schedule that yet too!)

Yes Hudson, I still need to make Christmas cookies! I did manage a hat while waiting around in doctor's offices.  I did get the egg rolls and dumplings made for Christmas dinner.

Who needs cookies?

I was very relived- he was too. He used the crutches for balance for 1-1/2 days and had very little pain, no nausea from his anesthesia. It really was an answer to prayer.

I do have a bored husband in the house tho'. I had to send him out on errands to give him something to do.

QOTD: Shekinah singing "Mary did you know, that your baby boy would someday grow up taller? Did you know...?"  (Maybe she should stick to whistling ...actually I enjoy her singing)

The Quarter Jar

A few months ago I was quite frustrated with my children. It seemed I needed to spell out every chore that needed to be done. And when I gave a chore, they made sure they did that specific thing and NO EXTRA. How on earth were they going to ever have their own home if they needed some one to tell them to keep after their own mess.

I know, I know, there are all those fancy chore charts and we did have those for awhile, but I think I'm the one with the ADD . I can remember to check up on people for just so long, then I get side-tracked. 

So- since my goal in teaching my children is to someday be productive citizens. People who will follow God's laws and other laws, because they want to, not because someone is watching over them and making sure they obey them. I also hope to have responsible children who will be appreciated by their future husbands or wives for their thoughtfulness and ability to notice when the trash needs emptied. I know two of ours are married and I'm hoping their wives didn't need to do too much training.

In an effort to encourage this wonderful behavior of "helpfulness without prompting" (I wish I had a catchier name for it) I made a quarter jar. I went to the bank for a roll of quarters. I think it costs $10 and I shook those shiny quarters in front of their noses saying "one of these will be yours every time you do a job without being prompted."

I needed to add a few rules. The quarters were not for doing someone else's job. They were not to be claimed for regularly scheduled jobs like dishes and clearing the table after meals.

They had to be claimed immediately after the job was done, so I could notice and check....none of this claiming $2 at bedtime.

I did my best not to assign the extra jobs unless people were practically tripping over it and ignoring it.It was interesting who made the most money. Some people thought they were too elite to stoop to doing jobs for a quarter, but we merrily ignored them. 

It took about 2 months to use up the quarters and I decided not to replenish the jar right away.

I wasn't sure I had accomplished anything, anyway.

Then about two months after the experiment I suddenly noticed that Hope and Faith had started taking turns washing the dishes..get this...

WITHOUT MY INSTRUCTIONS and

WITHOUT ARGUMENT!

That realization was worth more than $10.

(our dishwasher has been on the blink for about 3 months and I asked hubby to not replace it yet)

I just finished up this girl's five-year-Post-Placement report.

Sunday I got this note from her even before she tasted the soup.

She has taken up crocheting...you can't really see too well, but the hook is  inserted in 

a block of styrofoam and she tucks it under her arm.

So far she has just made a long chain, but give her time...she's only seven.

This bunch (me included) got hungry for real french fries the other day.

Then I made some on Sunday evening, but those potatoes didn't "chip" well.

Gotta find someone that hasn't chilled their potatoes- don't the grocery stores know better?

QOTD: The joys of language: after a civics lesson, one of my children asked, "what's the difference between persecute and prosecute... Isn't one of them an immoral woman? O wait that's...pros...!"