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Potatoes blow up! Like popcorn, they can literally blow up-All OVER the inside of your oven! Well, I can tell you this only with the seasoned experience that comes with age (and ignorance?). The "recipe" for the perfect baked potatoes says to wash them, prick each side once, and bake *right on the rack* for an hour at 425 degrees. I've made these tons of times (I mean, at least 30 or 40 times!) and I've NeVeR had one blow up. But then, I must have done something wrong to deserve the horrible mess (and the Worse Mess after someone made a french bread pizza after I forgot to clean up the potato bits, and it was black, crunchy, and stinky!). So, this morning I have cleaned up the yuck (yes, I had put aluminum foil under my burner at the bottom, and I change it every now and again, but there was potato on the ToP, and the SiDeS of the oven!). I had to use gloves and paper towels, and bring the crumb-y dried bits to the front. And then. I found out there is a deep recess between the oven and the door that humans can't reach. And it had stuff in it. Ugh. I brought in the vacuum, but it couldn't get down there. I invented a suction device (also known as wrap your fingers around the hose in the crack so as to limit suction to only a tiny area at a time-hard to describe, huh?), and got it pretty clean. Oh, and the fire. When I discovered the grossness the day before, I reached down with my mitt on, and lifted up the *hot* electric burner thing, to reach under it-Ha! Don't try this at home, ladies and gentlemen. It caught on fire! I don't know what I was thinking. "The gloves are my insurance"? "425 degrees and fabric gloves do indeed mix"? Yeah, well I've learned. My potatoes just might be clad in the foil that the recipe says definitely not to use.
So, this other fire I kinda caused. I am all caught up in my new book, and not letting anyone take advantage, and only living up to my own expectations (and not everyone else's-very liberating, btw), and only doing the things that help my family... you get the idea. Well. I have a wonderful friend (I mean, so sweet, helps everyone, cares, has amazing kids-so she's doing her job, supportive, just a great friend), and she is a great delegator (if there is such a word, and it may end in -er, but it seems closer to senator than leader). Well, I had been feeling like I was more a worker than her confidante, and I was all caught up in my Mom book, so I told her. Mind you, against the advice of my mom and husband (I'd already requested advice since I had feelings and didn't know what exactly to say). Now I get it, but I felt like I should say something BeCaUSe she was such a great friend. I didn't want to harbor icky feelings. I should say I've done this once before, and it didn't work out, but my mind was temporarily blocked from that memory. Anyway, it was yucky, and should not have come out of my mouth, but somehow I like fairness (reciprocity?) in a friendship. ...Well, honestly, I like to indulge my friends in the ways I like to indulge them. Dinner, gifts, clothes, monogramming, time together, etc. I can see now that they don't want what I can give, they want what they need at the time. So I end up feeling like I've given tons (by my choice, sometimes), and gotten less in return. So, back to Square One. I still want to be friends with her-she's a great person. I think I just needed her to hear me, like I hear her when she's stressed (or she hears me on other days when I'm stressed). It's just hard when it's about yourself, and I get that.
In my Mom book, they say to stop saying that you feel guilty all the time, about going to the gym, reading a book, sitting to watch five minutes of tv, going the the doctor (alone!). But then afterwards, do you REGRET it? If you say no, then No Guilt. So, do I regret saying what I did?
I regret not praying beforehand for the right words. Matthew 18:15 tells us to tell the person, so I was more focused on that liberating bit of scripture than my Psalm 19:14 'Let my words be acceptable to you'. So, yes some guilt. And a fire still burning. Let me get my oven mitts, but let it cool before I lift it up to clean.
Well, after Oprah's cool show (which I was too busy blogging and parenting to see), I've decided to sign up for ads!! : ) Apparently one woman, an equally busy mom, is earning $40,000 a month. Her husband quit his job, and Ches thinks ads are a great idea now!! heehee : ) So, please see the messages/info below, it's kinda like bulletin boards used to be: extra information about the students' work! But now, extra info about blogging/parenting! : ) Be patient with me, as it is one more new thing I will figure out slowly, but surely.
I am thankful for my precious friends who think about me (and bring me cake, and strawberries, and books, and spend time with me (and my wild kiddos), and dvd players...). Sometimes I get sad if I think someone is mad, or we aren't having a connection/haven't seen them in a while. I love my friends. They are sweet, and have their own lives, I know. I think God just gives us friends as another way to wrap His arms around us! : ) Aren't they precious when we have time with them? : )
Today we carpooled with the MDO kids-they were so funny!! Because my dvd player is broken (still functioning as a piggy bank), we had lots of time to talk today! We pointed out all the things we saw (and didn't), and where everyone lives/goes to school/works, all the backhoes (thanks, Wagon Wheel expansion!), front-end loaders, dumptrucks, bucket trucks (on New Hope Rd!), big trucks, school buses, dirt, cows, stinky (what? Yeah, Isabella said that the poop was stinky, and laughed so hard!! I think she was laughing 'cause she got to say poop out loud!!), monkeys-yep, none of them, oh, what fun!! I remember that's how Clay was talking so much when he was that age-we named EvEryThiNG back then, made the noises, talked and did lots of praying (Lord, can I have a dvd player? just kidding!). Now, I don't think I'll tell them when it's fixed! It was so fun, they made me laugh out loud, and they didn't even come close to falling asleep on the ride home! It was great.
I was quite the pack horse coming out the door of the church: two backpacks, lunchboxes, Easter baskets, gift bag, dress/sweater, jackets, leftover strawberries and juice boxes-it was quite a sight!! I had to go back to get the kids-I couldn't have managed!! Crazy-but a sweet day!
I think I'm coming down with a cold. I'm sure it's all the late nights, not so much sleeping, and I haven't had my orange juice or vitamins for two days-I get preoccupied with all the lunches, notes, book orders, brushing teeth, backpacks, shoes, combing hair, etc. on the way out the door, then my mind gets back onto my work. My fault. Would the oj and vitamins have helped? Probably not. My throat hurts, and I'm sooo sleepy! I did take a short nap today, and it helped so much-then I wasn't quite the bear I could've been to the kids! We had dinner out on the deck-gosh, so perfect and beautiful-not kidding-it was about 65 degrees, and no wind!
After dinner, Ethan started for the pool. The dirty, filling-up, cold pool. He kept yelling, "Bath!" Crazy boy wanted in that thing! I don't think you could PaY me to get in there! Besides I know the chemicals it needs to be balanced, and it's wayyy off! We took him in, got him undressed, and he just screamed for the pool!! He kept throwing his body on the floor (yeah, kinda funny since he was naked) and screaming!! He was just insistent that HE GET A BATH IN THE POOL. OUTSIDE!! Ahhh!! He definitely began to try my patience. I finally let him put on a swimsuit (foolishly thinking it'd help the situation-WRONG!), and told him he could take a bath (of course, he thought I meant outside). I put him in the bathtub while he WAILED (no, I don't kid), hit the water, and screamed more. I quickly washed him (while he stood up), rinsed him, and got him out. He continued to throw himself around (Yes, a good 'ol fashioned Temper Tantrum). I got him a diaper, and carried him down *quietly* to the Naughty Chair. I had myself a seat on the loveseat, as I wanted a time out from the noise, while he yelled some more (but amazingly, stayed in the chair). They always surprise me. When I'd waited a minute or so, I put my finger to my lips, and he got quiet (but it NeVeR works in church), and he stopped. I walked over there, and got him. He was okay. We did some other stuff (he crawled all over my bed, ate pretzels in it-till it was good & crumby and uncomfortable), then got snack, stories, and bed. I was so tired (the one-two punch: sick plus tantrum=so very tired).
I have to wrap it up early-I'm off to bed. I don't want this to get worse (you know, tamper with my weekend!). I am hosting Easter (non-traditional lasagna) dinner-and we have to have an egg hunt and maybe I'll clean if I'm feeling better! I Clorox-wiped the bathrooms, and I've vacuumed/dusted, so I may call it good. Laundry is washing now, so I just need to work on towel-washing, wood floors, and deal with the pile of junkish-stuff called my desk. It ends up as the family catch-all (art, permission slips, assignments, computers, arty paper bits, pens, awards, library books, newspaper clippings, mail, magazines, baggy with ear tube that fell out-yes-gross, notepads, paper towel, calendar, pictures, oj glass, ribbon). You get the idea. It gets cleaned, and within 24 hours, it's a mess again! : O
ok, right now there are Pirates (real ones) who've tried to Take Over an American Ship. Does this STILL happen?
I'll tally up the votes in just a minute, but I think I'm at around nine to two! So...Fresh baked cookies are officially better than cookie dough! ..I should have voted more myself! : ) Thank you to my greatest fans-heehee-who voted! And if you didn't-You Missed Out! You could've donated to JDRF on Mary Claire's behalf! I'm donating $11 on another page, and I'll post my receipt link when I get it finished. : ) **My receipt page won't come back up, but you can see the donation on the page below. I must have accidentally pushed the button twice, since there are two donations posted! So, each vote was worth $2!**
Here's our website for 2008 after-walk info (well, our total raised was about $2400, but this was my personal page, since I don't have a "team" page):
http://walk.jdrf.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=extranet.personalpage&confirmID=87034992
What do you do when you have a (kid's) birthday you didn't make it to? I like to send a gift anyway, but Ches thinks not. He says our kids didn't avail themselves of the amenities, so they shouldn't send a gift. Hmm...I think if it was my child, I wouldn't care to not get a gift. BUT, it is not about the parent. It's about the birthday child! The birthday child (and my child!) doesn't understand why that kid's parent forgot about the party, so should they suffer? I used the back of the sweet child's invitation to take notes on for about a week, then forgot the card had a back (front!). Now I feel awful, and want to send a gift to make up. I shouldn't admit I took notes on it (oops!), but it was there, and it was Blog Background Code-Muy Importante! So-gift, or no? Hurry and advise-time's a tickin'! The clock's running out on Late Gift time-more than a week is Really Rude.
Oh-and on that subject... how late is too late to give Christmas gifts? I have been delivering very late ones (not quite a month..), and is it just Too Late? I care about these people, and I just don't see them very often (or am busy and/or forget and/or haven't wrapped them. YET.). It's January already. I have lots of calendars telling me this. I have to move on! It's now a Resolution! : )
It's Thursday again, and Meredith and Christina didn't make up again this week-but Christina did tell Meredith that her high ponytail looks stupid. So they are making progress I think. Sometimes nothing is something. Like when you aren't speaking, but want to, so you make up something dumb to say. Or fumble like when you first got to know each other. It's obvious to the other person, so they take the bait if they want to make up. Life is crunchy, a bit like crunchy peanut butter. And then it's Recalled.
Yep, had to call the school nurse today, and ask her to pull MC's Austin pb crackers from her lunch and trade it for a bag of Ritz bits (thank you, God!) I'd put in her tub last Friday! Since they are pulled from shelves due to a recall of the pb paste they use made by PCA. You know, if you were wondering. Here's the link, and I'm not skilled in linking it yet, and can't figure it out tonight, as I'm tired. Click and paste in your browser, people.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/15/AR2009011501525.html
Ok, more exciting news! Did you hear about the plane that landed on the Hudson River (Landed, not Crashed!) and all 155 people lived!? I want him to fly MY plane! That's skill! Ok, and can we get to the problem? A BIRD flew into the engine and caused it to fail. Have we NOT figured this one out yet?? Could we put, oh, I don't know, netting/caging over the intakes or something? Kind of like the netting around the Empire State building-to "protect" suicidal jumpers and people on the ground from evil falling trash? At least they are all safe. Can we all say a big, "Praise the Lord!" and "Bless their Hearts"? I mean, can you imagine? My life would have passed before my eyes. I always think I'd be calm, but I probably know better. I'm thankful I was at home playing games (Connect 4, Whac-a-Mole, Cranium Caraboo, Legos, Color Tiles, Hard Cracker Barrel Triangle Game, and coloring!), instead of flying out of New York!
If I don't talk to you this weekend, I hope you have a good one. We pray for each of you daily on the way to school (well, sometimes we ask Him to bless all our friends and family-that's you!), and we hope you have a safe and fun January weekend-whether with your family or shopping in the sun!
