Something for the Road

Halloween

I have always thought that is strange that we’ve turned Halloween into a little kids’ celebration.  We are reminded every year (by someone who will not be named) about the true pagan traditions surrounding Halloween.  Personally, I think it’s all about marketing.  (I know, our poor kids).

Nonetheless, we had some great characters leave our house tonight for the annual Trunk-or-Treat party.  Caleb makes a great Mario, especially since his mind is with him most of the time.  Gabi made a pretty enticing pirate – although not very scary or menacing.  And, Jessamyne went back to the 50’s in a dress I wore when I was 15 for a dance festival, when I danced a 50’s dance.  You’ll also see a sad, little sick girl who was supposed to be a snow princess, but decided to wake up from her nap with a fever – poor thing.

   

 

All in all, I think they make some pretty fun Halloween characters – I’d give them candy.

Project: Wood Lettering

   

This was one of my favorite projects – I get a lot of comments on it.  I love lettering – all types, and it’s a lot of fun to mix up fonts, sizes, and upper and lower case when spelling out something.

So, if you have a word or name you’re dying to put on a wall, here’s how I suggest going about it:

1.  You may be able to find letters locally, but because I live in a small town, I am limited.  I found these great wood letters, online.  Don’t be afraid to mix it up when ordering them.  I ordered letters that were unfinished wood, but you can order them primed or painted.

2.  I knew I wanted texture in my letters, so I decided to crackle.  If that is the case, paint your letters the color of the desired crackle – mine was a light tan color (Manhattan Tan by Benjamin Moore) – it matched my wall color.  My favorite paint for unfinished wood is milk paint, but you can use regular latex house paint if you have some on-hand. 

3.  After that dries, you apply the crackle paint.  You can buy this at a home improvement store or unfinished wood store – there are several different brands.  The more directions you move your brush and the thicker it is applied, the more variance in your crackling.

4.  After the crackle paint dries completely, brush on the main color that you want your letters to be.  The more contrast between your base coat and top coat, the more visible the crackle will be.  If the colors are closer in tone, the more subtle the effect.  The trick with this step is to avoid brushing the same areas twice.  The crackling will begin immediately and the more you go over an area, the “muddier” it will look.  I didn’t bother crackling the edges of the letters – I just kept the crackling to the “face.”  My top coat was Brick Red Milk Paint.

5.  If you want extra protection when you’re finished, just spray with a little polyurethane.

6.  I hung these with double-sided foam mounting tape.  It will come off the wall with some goof off, and is the easiest way to the hang the letters exactly how you want them.

So, whatever you want to say and however you want to say it . . . this is an easy way to express yourself.

This is Halloween

I can’t believe it’s already that time of year again.  I am still cleaning up pumpkin guts that were flying.  This year was really fun, because our three oldest carved their own pumpkins without any assistance.  For a pagan celebration, we turned out some pretty cute pumpkins.  Mike carved Nora’s and I think it resembles very closely, “Jack, the Pumpkin King,” don’t you?

         

Don’t forget to save the seeds.  We like ours tossed in olive oil and salt and roasted at 350 degrees for about an hour. 

Did you know . . . . .

Pumpkin seeds have been used by North American Indians for their health benefits and as a food source. They introduced pumpkins to the Europeans. Mexican cooking takes advantage of the wonderful flavour and nutritious value of the pumpkin seeds – using them in everything from salads to muffins. They call the flat, green seeds ‘pepitas’. Pumpkin seeds are most nutritious raw, but you can roast them at low temperatures to preserve the natural oils.

Pumpkin seeds are full of wonderful minerals like magnesium, manganese, and phosphorus. They also contain zinc, iron, vitamins and protein. Pumpkins seeds contain phytosterols, which may help lower cholesterol and prevent certain cancers. The Cucurbitace in the seeds has positive effects for slowing or preventing prostate cancer. The other health benefits may include improved brain function and lower depression; improvement of bladder problems including incontinence and urinary tract infection, and treatment of parasites. (According to Cooking Queen’s Blog)

Perspective of a Snootch

What is a “Snootch,” you ask?  Let me just say this:  Mike and I are not physically affectionate people, by nature.  We have tried to be more affectionate, since having children.  Infants and babies are a no-brainer, but as they grow up we struggle with physical affection.  That being said, whatever we lack in that department we make up for in pet names, and all of our children have had several.

Here is our Snootch.  We love her.  Some of her other names are a little more embarrassing, so we’ll keep them to ourselves.  Hopefully, she won’t grow up with a complex, but instead realize how much she was loved because of the number of names she answers to.

My big dilemma of late is what to do with her while I am helping Jessamyne with schoolwork.  Sometimes she plays independently, and that’s wonderful.  Sometimes she does workbooks right alongside Jessamyne.  Other times, I have to coax her (and that can take several minutes) to play, and sometimes I resort to movie-watching.  I know, that’s the bad parent in me.  I do feel a lot of guilt.

Today, I decided to give her my camera for a while.  I told her she could take 12 pictures.  Here’s what she came up with.  Not bad for a 4-year old – most of them are even in focus.

                     

Marathons and Everest

It finally happened.  I went for a run today and I loved it.  I have to admit, I was starting to lose hope – thinking that my hip would hurt forever, and I would never love running like I did.  I hadn’t realized what a toll it had taken on me, physically and mentally. 

But today, I’m convinced, was the first of many great runs.  I was inspired by an article written by  John Bingham in the November Runner’s World entitled, “Rising to the Challenge.”    Here is what he said: 

“And so the marathon has become the great urban Everest that Bryant describes.  It’s a challenge that’s open to everyone.   Young or old, fast or slow, all you need is the desire to test yourself, to push your limits.  Succeeding at this challenge – whether it’s your first or 50th marathon – can be one of the highest points in your life, a place from which you can look down on all that you’ve accomplished.

“That point may be at sea level instead of 29,000 feet, but it is a view that cannot be matched.”

And so, I begin again to conquer my Everest, pushing and testing and finding my limits, despite a little fear and hesitation.  While I ponder on the thought of doing another Marathon, I will train and learn to love running again and track it all in my running journal. 

So, what is your Everest?

Beatboxing Can’t be Beat

Have you heard of beatboxing?  I didn’t even know there was a name for it when Caleb started doing it ALL the time.  The thing even more amazing – there are real professionals out there.  And, Caleb, being the nice brother he is, has trained his little sister to be his opening act.  Here you go . . . .

Caleb can be reached Monday through Friday after school for lessons.  Have you tried beatboxing, lately?

Hooray for Cheerleading

OK, I’m not a huge fan of cheerleaders (no offense), but my confession:  I was a cheerleader during my Junior year in high school (it was the same year that I took calculus and was on the Math Team – does that negate it?).

So, periodically when the kids are frustrated and I am trying to avoid lecturing and yelling, I will occasionally break out in a cheer.  At this point, Mike will go even deeper into his office and try to pretend that he is in an alternate reality with a wife that looks like me and cooks like me, but doesn’t cheer like me.

So, when Jessamyne took her first unit math test, yesterday, I did a little cheer . . .something like this:

Ready, o.k.!
Go banana go, Go banana go!
Go banana go banana go banana go!
You’ve got to lean to the left,
Lean to the right,
Peel your banana and yum, take a bite.

(what does it mean?!)

When Gabi came home from school, a little apprehensive to go to Pre-Comp Swim classes (yesterday was not a good day), I did a little cheer . . . something like this:

Ready, o.k!
You’ve got the spirit, the spirit you’ve got!
You’re ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch- . . hot! (a little train action with the arms going on that one)

The result?  It cheered them up a little, but they might think their mom is headed for the loony-bin.

So, for all of you who think cheerleading is pointless, I beg to disagree – it has prepared me for motherhood. (No, Jessamyne, you can’t be a cheerleader).

I bet if you really try, you could come up with some pretty great cheers, too.

My Perfect Day

My perfect day would be to sit down with a new read . . . .maybe The White Giraffe or The Magician's Elephant, (uninterrupted) .  I would curl up in a soft blanket, drink some hot chocolate and eat the pumpkin muffins that I read about on Lindsey’s blog, and then made on impulse today.  Of course, they would be calorie-free (as long as I’m dreaming).  Doesn’t that sound wonderful?

 

+  + = Perfect Day

Instead, today I worked on school stuff with Jessamyne for about 5 hours, made some very needed visits, picked up little girls from pre-school, went to the bank, shipped some things at UPS, dropped off donations at Goodwill, balanced the checkbook, took Gabi to swimming (after a pep talk and some cheers), and helped Caleb with homework.  So, it’s a little different than my perfect day, but my kids are happy, the house is still standing, and we have a little money in the bank.  I did get to eat those muffins . . . .I guess I will call it a perfect day.

Christmas Tradition – Community Service

I always loved Christmas when I was growing up.  It seemed like I looked forward to it for months.  It was always done very large at our house and there was quite a bit of creativity involved.  Now that all seven of us are married with children, we try to get together for at least one night every other year and have Christmas Eve Dinner together, and we have experimented with different gift-giving methods over the years.

Just recently, we decided that we would take turns each year (from oldest to youngest), being in charge of deciding how we exchange gifts.  Sometimes we have the cousins draw names – that is always fun.  Sometimes we all draw names and make something homemade – that is always challenging and very rewarding.  And, I think our favorite thing to do is to do some kind of group service project in lieu of gifts.  Last year was a year that we were all together, and Sean and Jenni led us in writing letters to serviceman serving in Iraq.  I loved that.

This year, Jessica and Carson are leading us in giving away homemade fleece blankets for the My Stuff Bags Foundation, which are added to bags for children who are taken into Foster Care.

So, we watched a little video about the foundation, together as a family, and then started cutting and tying fleece.  We had a great time – all hands, large and small, have worked on those quilts. I don’t think we’ll miss the gifts.

   

Chunky Applesauce

I’m usually a “slim” kind of girl, but when it comes to this applesauce, I like it chunky, for sure.  I got this recipe from one of my friends and it’s especially easy to make for those of us who haven’t yet collected all of the cool canning supplies.  It’s definitely a decadent applesauce.  When I make applesauce, normally, I bottle the unsweetened kind.  But, when I can this chunky applesauce, it is definitely for dessert.  Don’t skimp on the sugar, please.

First, you start with a box of apples (thanks, Josephine!)

Then, you get a helper to bring you 30 apples.

Next I use my nifty apple corer/slicer (without the slicer part), and peel all of the apples.  If your helper is really good, you can talk her into doing this for you, too.

   

The strings from the peel are really fun to eat.

 

I like to use another nifty tool to core and cut the peeled apples, and then roughly chop the apple chunks.

 

Place the roughly chopped apples into a large roaster.  Then, pour 1 1/2 to 2 cups cider over them and toss.

   

Place in a 350 degree oven, and bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes, until they are nice and mushy.

They will smell really yummy.  When they are soft enough to mash lightly with the back of a spoon, add 2-4 cups of brown sugar, 1 cup white sugar, and 5 teaspoons of cinnamon and stir well.  Now it will smell divine.

 

Ladle into hot jars and process (or not), and you end up with beautiful chunky applesauce.

This recipe makes about 3 quarts.  Mike likes it plain, but our favorite way to eat it is to dump a quart in a pie pan and top it with our favorite Crisp Topping:  1 cup flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and 1/2 cup butter.  This is precious stuff, so you might want to hide it in the back of the cupboard.

Now I’m trying something new:  apple butter.  That will simmer on the stove for hours.  Who needs a Fall candle?!