Thu. - Sat., Jan. 17-19

Fair warning: Longest post in a while!! Pictures at the bottom this time.

Thursday, instead of having to drive across town for dinner and Bible study with the Balderrama family, they came here! :) We have a l-i-t-t-l-e bit bigger kitchen in which hair cutting lessons could take place. (Shavon needed Jeremy to teach her how to 'fade' a clipper cut; we've postponed this appointment at least six months....) So, since the downstairs hadn't been vacuumed in a while, this gave me the deadline I needed to get it done. N actually ended up doing it for us!! It's a hard job for her, and she had to take a break half way through, but she did it! :) :) :) I'd found a couple spots where Jabba had 'marked' the baseboards. GRRRRR! So I cleaned the visible baseboards. For some reason, IMO clean baseboards makes the house just *sparkle*; call me crazy. What we had prepared to cook for supper was going to be on the skimpy side for feeding 10 people with only two small eaters (a 5yob and a 4yob), so since the supper was particularly easy for me anyway (Jeremy would pan-fry the fish w/ jalapenos & tomatoes -- extremely yummy, Shavon was doing the broccoli, and all I had to do was start rice steaming!), I decided to make two apple pies. BOY, were they a hit! They were still warm when it was time to eat them. Woah, yum. lol N & J played outside, did their household service for the day, and they did some crafting as well.

Thursday was actually a big laundry day, strangely (just b/c I don't usually try to do a bunch of laundry on a company day!). That morning Justus asked me to wash his sheets; it was logical on all sides to oblige the request, and then I was surprised that when Tommy & Shavon arrived they'd brought one of Teah's (9yog) blankets & a jacket that needed washing that evening. Tommy & Shavon don't have laundry facilities in their apartment, so we offer laundry aid at every op. During the clipper lessons after Bible study, allllllllll the children and I played Boggle while Chris (Shavon's 16yo brother who lives with them) picked on our guitar better than I ever have even though all he's ever played is electric. Go figure. Of course after everyone left I had some church secretary work to do.

On Friday I rearranged furniture; I moved "The Homeschool Dresser" (though its top two drawers are 'storage', its bottom two drawers are accessed maybe twice a week for homeschooling purposes.) from the family room into the master bedroom. That bedroom is so big I'm convinced it was meant to be more of a 'master suite'; we have a hard time figuring out how to best use that amount of S-P-A-C-E without filling the room with things that interrupt a healthy sleep cycle (i.e. computer desk, et. al.). However, with the coming changes we want to do in the Family Room, it is great to have that space to use. And, I always get excited when furniture is moved b/c I get to vacuum under/behind it ... and whatever else I wish to vacuum. :) N & J played with Marble Mania almost alllllllllll of their spare moments of Friday, building some pretty good original creations, this being their first time playing with it. Sorry, no pictures. gr The children also played outside some, in the cool sunshine. Lovley.

In the evening we pulled out one of the puzzles Elaine gave to Jeremy for Christmas, and set it out on our auxillary table downstairs. (lol - 'auxillary table'. It's just one of those folding tables from Costco. It's set up in the dining room b/c I need it to accomplish a huge task I've been postponing for literally five months now.... However, having an extra table in the dining room has proven extremely convenient, and also extremely clutter-hazardous. lol) The four of us worked together on the puzzle for about an hour, and had a great time!

While J slept on Fri. N made her first batch of homemade Macaroni & Cheese, for Sunday's potluck lunch. This brings me to something I've got to share. Somehow it seems that we have raised up chidren who RRRRRREALLY like fruits & vegetables ... I mean even the fruits & vegetables many adults don't eat. LOL!!!! As I was pondering this the other day I wrote down the following examples that popped into my head from recent weeks. 'Following the recipe', I included cabbage in a Beef Barley Soup the other night. I mentiond it to Jeremy at the table; he said, "Hm, can't even tell it's in there." Natasha said, "Cabbage is one of my FAVORITE foods!" (HUH?? Since when?? -- Of course, it's N who comes up with these off-the-wall comments at times.... lol Still, that doesn't change the point that the girl really likes cabbage, which we know to be true!)

I've been coming home from the grocery store with many grapefruit for our family to consume each week. One day when I called N & J for lunch they were somehow under the impression they were having grapefruit for lunch. I said, "Chilies (short for 'Children'), come to lunch." I heard the tromping of elephants racing down the stairs as both children called at the tops of their voices, "Grrrrrrrrrrrapefrrrrrrrrrrrrrrruuuuuuuuuuuuuit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I said, "Did you guys think we're having grapefruit for lunch?" "Yes." "Well, we're not; sorry!" (Crestfallen.) "Maybe tomorrow?"

A can of store-bought soup we age had mushrooms in it. Justus discovered one in his spoon and said, "Hm! A mushroom! I like mushrooms!" N said, "I thought you didn't like mushrooms." "Well, I like them in soup." (I wish I could type his sweet sing-song voice....) N: "Well, good. I like them in EV-ER-Y-THING." lol

So, back to the Macaroni & Cheese. This recipe is a family favorite from Cathy Thomas, from Oceanside days; it has a bit of sliced green onions in it, and half a clove of garlic. As N was slicing the onions I explained that for this recipe we would use only the green tops, and leave the bottoms for Elaine & Jeremy who like them. She said, "Wellll, I like them too, so since I'm helping with this, may I have one?" She ate a raw green onion - the white/strong part! Aaah! I don't even do that! lol Then, it was time to press the garlic into the pot. Immediately when it hit the hot butter/cheese it emitted its odor. N said, "Mmm, I like that smell."

N & I were able to take the dogs on a walk that afternoon before starting supper. In order to do so, however, I had to tear her away from writing some more of her song lyrics in a hardback journal I've not been using and gave her. When we got back she went right back to it. [Hey, whatever gets her writing!!]

Speaking of writing, as promised, here I have typed out for you the original draft of N's Psychoraptor essay (It's WAY cuter to read in real life; use your imagination.)

"Psycho raptur is a mons- (line break) –ter, with 4 (four) leg’s, two arm’s, anD two Big Wing’s. his four leg’s, help him run very fast, so he can cach any toa (A “Toa” is one kind of Bionicle creature.) or any other trespasser. Psycho raptur is very smart. On the other hanD he knows Just What to Do When a trespasser comes in. it is Quite Gross, so we wont talk aBout that right now. When in neeD of help, Psycho rapter flys uP anD makes a louD coo- (line break) ing sounD, anD then help comes. When help Dose come Psycho raptur anD the others kill the un- (line break) lucky creater. After that they Go Back to what they wher Doing."

How many words did I say it was? Word is telling me now that it's 124. So there, it's official. (Picture below)

Saturday Jeremy took off and spent 80% of the day in a PlayStation game. THANKS A LOT, TOMMY. (Tommy gave Jeremy a hand-me-down PlayStation a couple weeks ago. I'm not a football widow, or any other kind of 'widow', but I come really close, at times, to joining the ranks of video game widows. argh) However, Jeremy did accomplish two things I rrrrreally wanted done today. 1.) replace the air filters - so I could finish vacuuming :) [N & J vacuumed their rooms at that time as well.], and 2.) finished spraypainting J's hand-me-down old-fashioned desk! (picture below) We used a 50% off coupon at Michael's a couple weeks ago to buy a shockingly-expensive can of spray paint in an awesome super-dark purple color; we planned to use on a school room-type desk gifted to us a few months ago. Its wood wasn't in great shape, and needed *something* in order to be safe and usable. Jeremy actually designed flame stencils to use to give the desk a little character, as well!! He did the flames in black - against the purple. It's cool; I'll take a picture of that one day. :)

Sssssso, since it was time to introduce another piece of furniture into J's room, some more rearranging had to be done. In addition, to give J a better amount of space & organization in his 'desk area', using just what we already had, I decided to clear off the bookshelf. The books go largely unused anyway, collecting dust, for whatever long list of reasons (most of which is because I think we've had too many out at one time, they don't know which one to pick out and read, and/or with the bookshelf so crammed, it's too hard to find one they want and/or put it back). So we 'boogied' kids' books today; they let go of about 1/4 of their books, and of what was left I let them keep out only about half, officially starting today something I've been wanting to do for years: a book rotation. They get these books for (what, maybe 4 or 6 months?), and then we'll rotate. Makes SSSSSSSO much sense to me.

I started this day so relaxed that I spent an extra, probably 45 minutes working on the puzzle with whomever walked by and sat down with me. :) I NEVER do that. Well, okay, I've done it ONCE. Weird.

This afternoon I let J 'help me' build a dessert from a box for potluck tomorrow. (Elaine buys box desserts on clearance sometimes.) I wasn't paying attention and put twice as much butter in the crust as the recipe called for. I'm very curious what it will turn out like.... gr and lol

N is really cute, lately, about a number of changes indicating that she is growing up (sniff, sigh). First, in Bookman's the other day, I took J to the bathroom. I was unware that N had decided to come along. As we approached the door and turned to go in, I just kind-of half-noticed at a short woman walking behind me. It wasn't until she came into the bathroom that I realized it was my own 9yod!! (blink, blink) At every meal, we end up filling N's 'kids' cup' two or three times. It's getting downright annoying! :) I told her tonight that from now on we'll put a big cup at her place for lunch and supper (small juice cups for breakfast are still best for everyone); her head went down about 10 degrees as she tried to hide a big smile. She giggled then, and said, "So now when I drink, the cup will cover my whole face again like these little cups did when I was a baby."

And now, my gift to you. Another recipe. I don't know, nor do I care who uses these recipes I post, it's just easy to do, and were I in your shoes I would be happy I shared. LOL This is a recipe for homemade granola cereal. It is NOT baked/broiled, so it's not crunchy like store-bought granola; you couldn't take it along as a snack to eat with your hands. However, it has been a family favorite for at least four generations that I know of, and here I share it with you. :)

Homemade Granola Cereal

7 c. quick oatmeal
1 c. wheat germ
1 pack sunflower seeds (maybe 1/3 c. seeds)
½ c. coconut
½ c. chopped nuts
sesame seeds, to taste
Stir together in a large, air-tight container.

2/3 c. honey
2/3 c. oil
Heat over med. heat in a small saucepan; do not boil.
Pour over dry ingredients in large container; stir til well-mixed.

J in his desk grabbing a book. J has never had his own desk before - of any kind.

Psychoraptor

This is another N creation for a Lego competition. Anyone familiar with SpongeBob SquarePants will recognize Mr. Crabbs immediately; it's shocking to me.... How does she DO this stuff?

Jabba played with his new purple/pink elephant so hard that he just crashed out, like 5mo babies do when they play so hard they just fall dead asleep in the middle of what they were doing.

Pictures of Malteses often have the dog sitting pretty on a pillow or in the center of a fancy chair. Is this the only breed of dog that thinks any soft spot is his own throne? Justus's car seat hadn't yet made it back into our car after its day in Donna's car, but Jabba, it seems, decided it was HIS seat. We find him, for example, on a pillow that's on a couch. The couch isn't good enough if there's a pillow on the couch that he can lie on.

Jabba's new accomplishment is getting up onto the backs of the couches to see what there is to see. It's easy for him when the pillows are up like this. It's when they're not up for him that it's pretty entertaining to watch him get up there.

On Wednesday N spent a lot of time with the Abacus. Then she want upstairs. When she came back down with the camera, Jabba was staring intently at the Abacus as though trying to figure out what was so exciting about it. N shot this picture of our dog getting educated.