A Preview of Times To Come?

Our neighbors dropped by yesterday evening, and asked if Nathan was available to help out with some chores around their property. This is the second time they have hired him to help out. He works hard, and they pay him well, although I'm not sure what is worth more to him, the money, or the feeling of accomplishment, and, perhaps, just a wee bit of pride ;-)

He spent most of this morning working and came home briefly with a message. They also wanted to hire Lindsay to help pick blackberries. Naturally, I had a hard time holding her back from simply rushing out the door to comply with their wishes. I insisted she have a quick bite to eat and brush her hair before I couldn't hold her back any longer.

And so, here I sit, all alone.

Interestingly enough, there have been a few folks who have brought it to my attention lately that my children probably won't be home with me forever, and then have inquired as to how I might manage once they are gone. I have chosen to smile, declaring that I'm sure I'll manage just fine, then proceeded to shut the whole idea completely out of my mind. I refuse to acknowledge that day may ever come!

Last night I asked Nathan to take care of a spider for me. Seriously, it was HUGE! And really, it was too high for me to reach anyway, so it truly was a justified request. What I felt was totally uncalled for however, was his response to my request. He actually laughed! He took care of the spider for me then he laughed. He then proceeded to ask me the same question as I've heard from various others lately before tacking on his idea of the perfect solution. Lindsay laughed along as he suggested perhaps they just might have to put me in a nursing home.

I'm not sure why both my children are not now experiencing a lifetime of being grounded to their rooms (Which, ironically, would solve my future dilemna). Instead, they are both off working at the neighbors, while I sit here...alone.... keeping a wary eye out for last night's spider's big brother.

Hope you all are having a fun and safe weekend!

Intent To Return

I decided to check and delete all my spam and it occured to me it's been a long while since I've posted. A whole year worth of seasons has gone by. It's been a year filled with memories with my children (both of whom are rapidly leaving the "child" designation behind) and new friends.

Last year we began attending the Pointman Bible Study group. We've continued attending these meetings and made some wonderful friends there. After a few months attending, we realized we needed more, and so we began our search for a Church. We found that Church in a local Assembly of God, where we made more good friends.

Between Pointman and our Church I recommited my life to, and both my children discovered, and accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior. To say our lives have changed since that time would be a huge understatement! To elaborate in an adequate manner would take a novel and I'm not quite up to that so will settle for a brief update for now ;)

First, I apologize for the removal of many of the photos. It was fun while it lasted but I discovered a photo from my flickr was posted on a "suspicious" site and so chose to err on the side of safety. The initial "change" was a "batch" thing, which means I need to "fine tune" a bit. Some may return, while some others may be removed.For those of you who post pix of their younger loved ones, something to keep in mind. At the very least, keep your eyes open. It's sad. It's unfair. But it happens.

It's been a fun, eventful summer for us, and we're looking forward to an equally fun and eventful season ahead. Nathan took a hunters safety class and passed with flying colors. He is now practicing his target shooting every chance he gets in preparation for his first hunting trip, with a couple friends from Pointman in October. Lindsay and I cheer him on and are looking forward to some creative fun while he's out and about with "the guys".

The other big event this Summer was Nathan's Birthday. I still can't quite get my head around the idea that he's a teenager, and in his second official year as one at that. 14 years old. Seems like just yesterday.... I had a heck of a time trying to figure out how to decorate his cake this year. Little boys are so much easier to please in that respect. It hit me one evening, the perfect idea, and he was thrilled with it! Susan, a good friend from Church helped me decorate, as well as found the accompanying plates, napkins, etc. for us. It was probably the most fun I've ever had decorating a cake!




WE vacationed with Grandma and Grandpa at the beach


We went to the fair. Went fishing on the lake, and tried our hand at crabbing with Susan. We watched a parade, and of course worked on our garden.


All in all, a busy, at times exhausting, but a really fun, and truly memorable summer.



And so, realizing attention spans are limited, and I have every day for the rest of my life to update, I will leave you with a promise to try to update on, at the very least, a semi regular basis, and to also do my best to keep things at least a bit interesting, perhaps even at times entertaining, or educational, or...

Warning: Do NOT Try This At Home!

Yesterday was a busy and rather entertaining day at our house.

The end of March we moved into our long awaited new house. Since the new house is on the same property as the old house we figured we could move the immediate needs over then proceed to move everything else a little at a time. Over the weekend the kids and I got started moving the washer. We managed to get it out of the old bathroom, up the step, through the bedroom, down the hallway and into the living room where it sat until we got a break in the rain.

Yesterday brought the break we'd been waiting for. We headed over to the house, and began contemplating how we were going to manage to get it out the doorway, down the step into the front porch and out that doorway. It was interesting, but we managed. Then came the problem of how to get it across the gravel driveway and to the back porch of the new house.

We had already come up with two heavy planks of wood that we had enlisted to get us up and down two steps so now we needed two more planks. We looked around abit and found a few more we thought might do the trick. We ended up using all we found and stopped to look for more which we also used.I was amazed at the number of planks and scraps of wood we ended up finding and using by the end of our little adventure.

We started our journey across the driveway by moving planks of wood around, two at a time so we had a relatively smooth moveable walkway to move across. Finally, we made it to the 4 steps up to the back door. That actually went much more smoothly than we anticipated, with two long planks of wood, me behind pulling it up, with the kids pushing and steadying on the other end. The biggest challenge turned out to be getting it up the final step into the doorway from the porch.

We ended up laying the washer, heavily padded and securely strapped onto the handtruck, down across the entryway into the utility room. Then we began building the porch up under the handtruck. One plank at a time. First, I pushed down on my end so the wheels were elevated and the kids slid a plank underneath. I lowered my end and the kids lay another plank parallel to the first so I could roll my load forward. Then they lay a third plank on top of the first (closest to the house) so I could roll it back and up. We continued in this manner, inching up about an inch at a time until we had managed to "step" up nearly even with the entryway. Two more small planks, one for each wheel, a big heave ho and we were able to get it in the house.


So there you have it! A little creativity plus a bit of stubborness and even a 53 year old woman with a fussy back along with two very helpful tweens can manage to maneuver even the heaviest object!

Today, we need to make a little trip into town to pick up a new hose for the washer so we can actually begin using it again. It seems, although a 53 year old ma with the assistance of an 11 year old girl and 12 year old boy can manage to move a 400+ lb. washer, we can't manage to loosen what a 57 year old pa hand tightened to a pipe!

In Loving Memory

Daniel

10/4/1950 - 3/25/2010

My Husband. My best friend.
The best Father any child could ever hope for

We miss you so much!

Brunch In The Boondocks

Brunch In The Boondocks
Originally uploaded by boondockma

Thanks to DJ, at The Flour Alchemist, we had Stuffed French Toast for brunch today. I only made a couple changes to his recipe. We lightened it up just a wee bit by substituting whole milk for the cream he called for. We also used Neufchatel cheese, rather than cream cheese (an option he mentioned), and we warmed up some canned cherry pie filling I had picked up awhile back and never got around to using. and used that in place of syrup. We also ended up making it "sandwich" style as we couldn't find whole loaves of french bread at the store we ended up at this last week.

It was delicious! Nathan had 3 1/2 servings! Lindsay had 1 1/2, as did I. Pa only had one serving. He complained that it didn't taste like french toast. I explained that was understandable considering he dumped close to half a pie worth of filling on top of it! LOL

Thank you DJ for a great recipe!

Fun In The Kitchen With Lindsay

Now that Christmas is put away, the memories are all stowed safely away in our hearts, it's time to get back to the more normal day to day memory making activities. For us that includes homeschool.

We just finished our latest Social Studies lesson which we all found quite interesting. We learned a lot about Israel this last couple weeks. I think everyone's favorite part though, was the ending, which took place yesterday.

Although this last project was mostly Lindsay's doing, we all benefitted from her presentation , and I enjoyed spending time with her as I helped out just a wee bit.

One of Lindsay's favorite pasttimes these days is spending time in the kitchen, so it was with great enthusiasm that she tackled her chosen project. She washed her hands with warm water and soap, and began collecting her ingredients.

We started with the stewed tomatoes. Since she's a bit leary of dealing with sharp knives I diced 2-3 Tbsp. worth of green bell peppers and about 1/3 cup of onion. Lindsay then opened a 15-1/2 oz. can of diced tomatoes. She popped the tomatoes, along with the diced vegetables into a sauce pan and added 1/2 tsp salt, 1 rounded Tbsp. sugar and about 16 turns of pepper from the pepper mill. She stirred it up real good and placed it on the burner on medium high heat. I cut up about 1-1/2 cups worth of bread into cubes and set it aside for her.

Next she got started on the main dish. Chicken Schnitzel, we learned, is a popular dish in Israel, especially with the children. To begin, she whipped up 2 eggs in a bowl.

Next she measured about a cup of Panko (unseasoned) into another bowl, to which she added 1/2 tsp each of garlic powder, salt and paprika, and about 24 turns from the pepper mill. She mixed that up real good and spread it out on a plate. She then measured about 1/2 cup of flour into the now empty bowl. Yes! One less dish to wash later!

Then the fun began! She lined her ingredients up in a row, first the flour, then the eggs and finally, the now seasoned Panko. She gave her tomatoes a stir, added some oil (we used Olive oil) to a large skillet and set it to heating up, grabbed the 4 slightly flattened chicken breast halves and got to work. First she placed the chicken pieces in flour, turning them to coat both sides. Then she gave them a dip in the egg mixture before popping them on the plate of Panko. She coated them real good with that and placed them on another plate while she repeated the process until all 4 pieces were ready.

About this time she just couldn't stand it any more! She had to go wash all that sticky mess from her hands! She got the green beans started, turned the tomatoes down to low, gave them another stir, and we determined the oil was hot enough so she placed the chicken in the pan. It took maybe 4 minutes on the first side then, using tongs she turned them over to cook the other side, while Nathan and I were busy setting the table. When everything else was about ready Lindsay stirred the bread cubes into the tomatoes before serving everything up.

By then end of the meal we could all understand why this chicken dish is so popular with the younger set, and I'm guessing the young at heart as well, in Israel. It was delicious! This is one meal we'll be repeating!

Just Readin' Ma!

Reading In The Sun
Originally uploaded by boondockma

One of the kids' favorite pastimes is reading. With the exception of Saturday mornings, it's usually the first thing they do after getting up. It's also one of their favorite things to do in the afternoon when they're finished with school. There have been times, when it's really nice outside that we've practically had to force them to put their books down and go outside for some fresh air. More than once we've glanced outside and been surprised to find that, although they have gone outside as requested, they managed to sneak their books out as well. There we see them, sprawled out on the ground, taking advantage of the suns rays as they continue their reading. Ah well. At least they're getting some fresh air!


Other than Saturday movie nights, and Sunday Family Game night, reading is usually their activity of choice in the evenings before getting ready for bed. You'd think that would be enough reading time for two really quite active youngsters, but no, once they've changed into their PJs, and brushed their teeth, they each grab at least one book to take in with them to bed. There's been more than one time I've gone in to check on them before retiring to bed myself and found it necessary to inform them they needed to wrap it up and go to sleep.

This is what I found when stopping in to check on Nathan at 10 o'clock last night.

I suppose there are worse things for ones children to be so enamored with.