A Little About Beetles And Oatmeal Cookies

All the children insisted we walk yesterday, despite my pleadings to stay warm and cozy inside. They wouldn't hear of it! So we braved the cold....See the snow falling on the mountains (pictured above) ?

Mary Margaret packed her Teddy, a basket to collect treasures, and a journal to make little pictures of what she saw. The boys were intent on building forts.

By the time we got to the pine woods, or at least what is left of the pine woods, the sun had come out. It was still blustery and very cold, but the sun warmed, anyway!

Unfortunately, the pines are slowly being destroyed by Pine Beetles. When I was young, I watched a favorite pine forest get completely stripped by Pine beetles, so I had a suspicion the same pest was responsible here. Our investigations confirmed my theories.

photo courtesy:  NFS

The children learned about the role the bark plays in protecting the tree, and how a minute creature can cause widespread devastation. These beetles are only as big as a half a grain of rice (half of a wheat berry, Oliver said). Their numbers are so great, they do massive damage. Doesn't Nature teach us life lessons in such a gentle manner? There is strength in numbers, and it can be for good or bad. Even the little good we do has great effects. Conversely, the poor choices we make also affect everyone. There is no such thing as a "personal" sin.

Before we left the pines, we found evidence of another insect pest. Do you know what this is? I don't. I can see where the insects exited the gall, but I don't know what made it.

We headed home; no-one wanted to leave. A good friend of mine's mother used to say "Always leave the party while you're still having fun." I think that's good advice with children, too. Head home, if possible, before everyone is cold and fussy and dying to leave.

When we got home, Emily gave me the nicest compliment I've ever had in my life. She said:

"I love the way our house is always cozy and warm with good things to eat."

Doesn't it make it all worth it to hear something like that? I may only hear that once, from one child, but I'll take it, and remember it forever. It's a handle to lean on for the not-so-complimentary days.

When Emily said that, we had just made oatmeal cookies. I actually used all whole wheat flour, and only brown sugar. The children loved them! I'll end by posting the recipe.

Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:
1 1/2 sticks butter melted  (I melt in microwave)
1 Cup brown sugar  (stir into melted butter with a spoon)
1 tsp vanilla  (stir into butter-sugar mixture)
1 egg  (again, stir into mixture)
1/2 tsp cinnamon (stir in)
1/4 tsp cloves (stir in)
1 tsp baking soda (stir in)
1 3/4 cups of flour (stir in- I used whole wheat. You can use white or a combination of the two)
2 cups oats (stir in)
1 cup raisins or dried cranberries (stir in)

Drop by teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake about 10 minutes, until edges are golden brown.
This recipe is adapted from: Winnie The Pooh's Cookie Book.
Have fun!

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Home Day

The children and I were a grumbling bunch this morning. We did not want to leave our cozy beds to face frozen pipes and hungry animals. But look what we were treated to:

                            Icy heads bobbing in majestic splendor!

How often is life like that? We think that we know what we want (or don't want), not knowing the wonderful plans God has for us if we would only trust Him!

When the weather got colder, I gave into the temptation to put more and more movies on for the children. Today I said, "No more!" My older children were actually giving me the most flack about it. "Mom," they said,"We made it all these years without a TV, and they are watching too many movies." So today was my no more netflix day. Back to Friday night movies, only. And we don't have a TV, so that will be it for screen time. Yay! I'm not saying TV is all bad, but I would rather them be doing things like this:

When Travis is gone, the younger children take turns sleeping in my bed with me. The ones who don't sleep in my bed get to decide what's for breakfast. Tommy and Mary Margaret chose coffee cake and hot chocolate for this morning. Anna helped make the cake. It was yummy!

Mary Margaret is my hat girl. After breakfast she and Anna worked a long time on their paper crowns. Then they dressed up as queens. So what were the other children doing? Tommy, Sam, and Oliver were at the frozen creek sliding, Ben was doing Algebra, and Emily was at a friend's. Will was working on fixing the Suburban, and John Paul was at school!

Today was our day to visit with our neighbor friend. We had a delightful visit. The children played with her Corgies (Tasha Tudor's kind of dog) while I drank tea with Mrs. Luthey. On the way home, I found this gorgeous bowl, placed at the side of the dump! And if you scroll back up to the kitchen table, you will see a red chair. That was also a dump find! I'm getting an idea for another blog....No. Not really. I think this will be my home base on the internet, and I'll have to find a way to fit it all in. Maybe one day I'll get over my need to compartmentalize everything!

Can you believe this? It's in immaculate condition. It looks very old; I think it may have been a wash basin. It's rather large. I love the dump!

Have a joyful Advent weekend!

Tomorrow we plan to see "A Christmas Carol" at the Blackfriar's playhouse in Staunton. Saturday we make gingerbread houses at the the library.

I love Christmas time!

Sparkling Water

      It had been a long day of groceries and errands. The mist shrouding us begged for a camera; beauty is never wasted on these hungry eyes. Leaving town, we crested the last hill, revealing our mountains and flooding me with peace. Still eighteen miles to go. Home.

5:00. Nothing planned for dinner. I go to the freezer and get out some pork chops to grill. Why didn't I get these out this morning? Oh well. It will give me time to sautee the apples and brussel sprouts. We manage to get the groceries put away, amidst the chaos of eight hungry children and bags everywhere.

I treated myself today. I'm going to be forty soon, and I bought a special drink to celebrate.

photo credit: Emily Smithdeal

My mother fixed this for me when we were at the beach this summer: sparkling water, cranberry juice, all sweetened with a little homemade sugar syrup (sugar boiled in water to make a syrup). YUM!
I had the sparkling water up on the counter (as a muse? I don't know). Anyway...it was there...waiting for ME! Ninety-nine out of  a hundred days, I rarely give a thought to the fact that nothing is really *mine* in our house. With ten other people, half of them ten and under, "mine"  is a non-existent word.

As I was typing this, John Paul walked in and said with a distressed voice, "Mother, I just made the horrible discovery that people just 'take a brush' when it's time to brush teeth. Can you please buy me a toothbrush? That's not asking too much to have my own toothbrush!!!" Dare I admit he was being serious? And do you realize that long ago we should have bought stock in toothbrush-making companies, because we own so many? It's not my fault he didn't do a better job hiding his toothbrush!

Back to the sparkling water. There it sat on the counter, undisturbed, when WHOOOMPF! Faster than lightning, one of my sweet children (one who is old enough to know better), grabs the sparkling water from the counter, looks at it, and opens it, all in a matter of a milisecond.

"NOOOOOOOOO!!!"  I scream. Yes, SCREAM, "THAT'S MINE! CAN'T I HAVE JUST ONE THING THAT DOESN"T GET TAKEN OVER?!!!"
I am embarassed to admit how childish I was acting. I mean I just blew a fuse. As in, you would have thought he was touching a hand grenade about to go. He hightailed it so fast out of the kitchen, he probably thought it was a hand grenade!

Within two seconds, I felt the shame. The shame of being so impatient. The shame of getting so upset over a little bottle of seltzer water. The frustration of once again failing to model a Christ-like attitude to my children. The pain of failure.

I called a shocked little boy back into the kitchen and apologized. I hugged him and explained as best I could why the 'outburst.' There was a time in my parenting when I really struggled with impatience and frustration, but over the years, I have gotten so much better- in fact so much better that I didn't think I would ever get upset over something so little.

Back to humility. Back to realizing that it is only through God's amazing grace that I'm not a mess with the children every day! Back to thanking God for his infinte mercy that allows us to start fresh every moment. I am learning all over again, that apart from God, I AM NOTHING!

So what happened next? I decided to make my celebration drink right then and there! Emily joined me, and she actually wanted to take these pictures...and even set up a little cheese and cracker plate.



photo credit: Emily Smithdeal

 As I was making dinner, the children were getting a little antsy, and I felt frustration surging...so...I let them paint! Sure, it was a little messy, but it kept them happy and quiet until supper was ready, and no more tears!

Tommy paints "a jail"

Emily helepd me fix the dinner. "My favorite smell in the world is cooking Brussel sprouts!" (How do you like that, Pa Pa?)

We had a delicious meal, sparkling water and all!

Feast Or Famine: The Story Of A Boy And His Mother

Once upon a time, a boy's mother lovingly prepared for her son a huge feast:

It was such a wonderful dream. The boy could almost taste the roastbeef on his platter. He awoke from his sleep ravenous. He shuffled into the kitchen and made a beeline for the fridge. He expectantly opened the refrigerator door and stood staring for a moment...or two. He shut the door, then opened it again:




Bummer.

Impatiently, he closed the refrigerator door and turned his hopes to the cabinets.
Things didn't get much better:



He had one last chance. The cabinet above the microwave:



Things were going from bad to worse. His mother was in the next room, folding laundry...holding her
breath. She knew what was coming. Starving teens and sparse cabinets don't mix.

"There's nothing to eat!" he complained. "Why can't we be like normal people and have something I can just throw in the microwave?"

"Well, now. I am so glad you asked. I have a potato casserole cooking in the oven. We'll discuss this over lunch."

****************ANATOMY OF A MEAL********************

POTATOES AND SAUSAGE GRATIN (prepared at home, Feeds Ten) : @ $.25 per serving

vs.

MARIE CALLENDER FROZEN ENTREE (store bought, feeds one): @ $ 3.50 per serving

*********************************************************************************

If the price difference isn't enough to convince anyone, how about the taste?Check out the reviews on amazon for frozen dinners. Not to mention, frozen dinners from Amazon?

And what about the danger of recalls...they're all over the place. Isn't it a good feeling to know where your food is coming from?

I'm not saying we never eat convenience foods. My kids have eaten their share of frozen pizzas, etc... We are not as "pure" as I would like to be. For the most part, however, we try to make as much from scratch as possible.

For those of you thinking, "But who has time to spend all day in the kitchen?" Eating from scratch does not have to be time-consuming. Try peanut butter spread on whole wheat bread (or almond butter, as a friend of mine recently suggested). There are always baked potatoes with a little cheese sprinkled on top, and fruits like bananas! Another fun option for homemade goodies is to create Monkey Platters (credit Sandra Dodd). You just get a variety of healthy snack foods and place them appealingly on a plate or tray. These are especially fun for little kids!

The story of the boy and his mother has a happy ending. The boy devoured his lunch, learned a little about nutrition and home economics, and even thanked his mom for the "good food" as he walked out the door.

Mission Accomplished!

Just For Fun

Sometimes, just for fun, we turn all the lights out and only use candle light.

Tonight we made potato soup:

Somehow cooking Potato soup by the light of a kerosene lamp just seems right:

I had to go outside for a moment, and coming back in I beheld a cozy sight in the kitchen:

This picture is a little blurry, because it was taken through a finger-smudged window. Mary Margaret has taken to "running a household", as she has been listening to the "Felicity" American Girl's story at night. See her with the mop? Tommy was behind the lantern, busily chopping potatoes:

Happy cooks and cleaners:

Earlier this evening, I ran John Paul down to his friend's house. I was happy to take a moment to enjoy the beauty of the evening. Autumn is finally coming in all its glory!

I took a moment to pull into a cemetery and take a few pictures and say a little prayer.

Mary Margaret is waiting for me to have fun with her in the kitchen...I better jump at the chance!