What I Loved About Last Week 10th Edition

Here's what I loved about last week (May 21-27)

1. Monopoly.  I have mentioned before that Monopoly is like my very most favorite game to play.  Ira must have inherited my affinity because we've played it 4 times since school got out.  I am impressed with his math skillz while we play.  He does a great job adding up the dice, paying for properties/paying rent (took him a couple games to learn that one - he loves to get change - so he would pay $18 rent with a 500 dollar bill if I let him), and giving change.   He's still not the greatest at bidding in an auction (like, the bid is at $50 and he bids $200, but that's a pretty advanced concept I guess...)

2. Piano Lessons.  Back in the day, I taught piano to a handful of students.  I haven't taught for 3 years, but Ira mentioned something before school was over about learning to play the piano.  I told him that I would teach him if he really wanted to learn, which he said he did.  I ordered this set through Amazon.  It is what I taught with previously and really liked a lot.  It starts very simply and builds piano knowledge in a very methodical manner.  I also liked how it tied other subjects (math, history, reading,) into learning the piano.  We had our first lesson on Wednesday and I'm not sure who is more excited about him learning piano, me or him!

3. Old MacDonald.  That silly Old MacDonald.  Or at least according to Ruby.  These are the things that Old Mac' has had on his farm this week: a goosy pig, a stinky diaper, and a "gerk."  Who knew?

Now, we will proceed with things that I did NOT love about last week.

1. Hand. Foot. and Mouth. Disease.  OH. MY. GOODNESS.  Ruby came down with it on Tuesday after her nap (started with a 101 Fever.)  Wednesday morning, I noticed the sores in her mouth and by Wednesday night we had determined that it was Hand, Foot, and Mouth.  Let me tell you, it. was. horrible!  Thursday was probably one of the worst days I have EVER had as a mother.  Grumpy does not even come CLOSE to describing Ruby that day.  Miserable would have been a cakewalk compared to what she was.  ALL DAY she screamed (yes, truly, angrily, screamed) at Ira and I.  She wanted Gatorade, so I gave her Gatorade.  She took a drink, spit it out (because it burned her mouth) and screamed that she wanted milk.  So I gave her milk.  She took a drink, spit it out (burned her mouth as well.) And screamed that she wanted Gatorade... rinse... repeat...  It was like that the WHOLE day.  Every time Ira said anything, she yelled at him.  Every time I tried to help her, she yelled at me. It was awful.  And truly, I really do understand where she was coming from.  She had about 5 huge red canker sores on her tongue and probably a dozen or more sores on the roof of her mouth/back of her throat.  I cannot imagine how badly they hurt.  However, just because I understood where she was coming from did not make it easy to deal with.  Andy had to work late, so by the time he got home (after the kids were in bed) I collapsed into a puddle of nervous breakdown.  I was seriously fearful of waking up the next morning because I couldn't imagine living another day like that.  Words truly cannot describe it.

Thank heavens Friday was a lot better.  She never did get sores on her feet.  Had a few red spots on her hands and quite a few on her bottom, but none of them ever turned into gaping sores like the ones in her mouth.

Since HFMD is highly contagious, we quarantined ourselves in our house for the entire week.  Definitely hard.  Definitely not an ideal first week of summer vacation for Ira, but we survived and I did LOVE that fact!

So what did you love about last week?

Um... really?

Ok, so I know they say things like "babies learn by watching what you do" and "babies love to imitate."  And then there's the 'ole "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."  But seriously, who exactly did Ruby learn this recipe from: "Sprinkle banana heavily with hot sauce.  Add to hot tea.  Stir. Enjoy."

Crazy for this girl

Ruby has not always been the easiest kiddo to take care of.  She cried a lot when she was a baby.  She wanted held a lot, but only wanted me to hold her.  From very early on, she wanted to go to bed at a time that even bar-hopping college students would find unreasonable.  She didn't like her car seat.  She didn't like diaper changes.  She didn't sleep well at night.  And she had crazy sensitivity issues with a number of foods.  She did always nurse well (and fast,) so I guess she had that going for her.  But she was not what anyone would describe as a "happy baby."  You know, "oh what a happy little baby you have there."  "She's just so easy going," etc.  HA!  I don't think anyone ever uttered those words about Ruby.  Probably because she gave anyone other than mamma the good 'ole stink eye (see nearly every picture of her from her first many months of life.) 

Like I said, not an easy baby.  It was a good reminder for me that love is a choice not just a feeling.  (Sometimes the last thing I wanted to do was nurse her/get up with her/hold her for the thousandth time)  It also made me appreciate the love that our Heavenly Father has for us (whiny, complainy sinners.)

Really though, this post wasn't meant to be philosophical, I just couldn't help reflecting on how far we've come when I sat down to write.  Because now, Ruby is a pretty stinkin' easy toddler.  She loves both sets of grandparents and doesn't even cry when we leave her with them for babysitting.  She has such a great and easy routine.  She is an excellent sleeper.  She goes to bed SO easily.  She eats well, does well in the car, and has an incredible vocabulary (like, if I were to take a guess, I would say that at 18 months she probably says around two hundred words as well as about a dozen signs)  She sings songs and says rhymes (5 little monkeys jumping on the bed.)  She loves LOVES ice cream  She plays well by herself. And has the cutest, funniest personality.  She is constantly doing things that make me smile and crack me up!  And she is just the happiest little girl so much of the time, so I just wanted to take a post to celebrate the sweet and silly little girl she is becoming.

Here's a glimpse into that silly sweet personality:

 Ruby LOVES the Little People school bus.  On any given day, I see balls, binkies, baby wipes, or batmans riding in the bus.

 She really REALLY wanted to ride the bus one day.  So much so that she was crying while trying to cram her head through the door so that she could get in.

Laughing while mommy was trying to take a picture

 I was going through our clothes for fall/winter the other day.  Ruby kept bringing me clothes to put on her and this is the outfit she ended up in.

 There was apparently something really hilarious about eating tzatziki.

 This is how I found her after a nap one day.  She had pulled her shirt over her head but her arms were still in it so it looked like a shawl.

 She pushes her baby, (or her duck, doll, batmobile, stuff from the recycling bin) really fast in her stroller.

 Here she was trying to climb in her highchair so she could play with the buckles. 

 I see you!

So yeah, praise God for this sweet, silly, (and smelly at the moment!) little girl! 

This momma knows

So last night in a burst of productivity, I cleaned the house. Including scrubbing all the hard floors.

After finishing, I was teasing Andy and said "You know what's going to happen tomorrow morning right?"  "What?" says my handsome hubby.
"There's going to be milk spilled and mud drug in on the freshly scrubbed floors.  It always happens." - Me.
"Well I'll take care of the mud." -Andy
"Yep, and I'm sure the kids will take care of the milk."  -Me

So this morning, I'm in the bathroom and I hear Andy tell Ira to stay out of the kitchen.  I come out of the bathroom to find Andy cleaning up a cup of milk that he spilled while trying to get the lid screwed onto a sippy cup. 

When Ruby and I came in for lunch, I finished washing her hands and looked down to see dirty footprints all the way from the back door to the kitchen sink.

Okay, so I was wrong about who would do what... but I'm telling you, this momma knows!

Mouse in the house?

Someone's been mousing the cheese...

Helper

Someone's been helping load the dishwasher (unbeknownst to mommy & daddy.)

Do you see what I see?

Not her binkie, but Kevin's (Ira's Cabbage Patch kid) needed washed apparently.

Fit to be pied

I love to cook, I truly do.  In my dreams, I think it would be really awesome to go to culinary school someday and become a chef.  Don't foresee that ever happening, but hey, a girl can dream.  And really I consider myself to be pretty good in the kitchen.  I can even make bread. Maybe in culinary school they could teach me how to make pie crusts that were worth a darn.

You see, for as long as I've been in the kitchen (since I was a teenager) I have NEVER been able to make pie crusts.  I've tried Betty Crocker, I've tried Better Homes and Gardens, and I've even tried Grandma Gladys' No-fail Pie Crust.  Heck, I even failed that one!  I've tried just about everything I can think of and I still can't make a pie crust to save my life!  And I LURVE pie crust! I love chicken pot pie and apple pie and chocolate cream pie... and I love the thought of making them... until I remember that they ALL have pie crusts... blurg...

So here for your laughing pleasure, are some pictures of the peach pie that I made for my family for Valentine's Day using Grandma Gladys' recipe.  She would be appalled.

Before baking:

After baking:

Any suggestions or even more fool proof recipes to share?  I mean, it still tasted fine, but who wants to take a pie to someone that looks like that?  Not this happy homemaker!

CrAzY hAiR II

Hmmm, that fact that I have a post titled "crazy hair II" should probably tell you something about us...

Ira got into the headbands the other day and came out with this:

I can't imagine the headache you'd get from wearing those for an extended period of time!

Luckily, it was "off"ward and upward to bigger and better things - namely electrifying his hair in the tunnel from Christmas:

Arm Yourself!!

So the other day, we were getting ready to eat lunch, which we often do.  And I looked out the kitchen window, which I often do.  But what I saw was NOT something that I often do. 

Initially, I thought it was a cat, because we do have a few neighborhood cats that cruise through our yard until Charlie (our dog) barks them away.  But this was MUCH uglier than a cat. 

Wait for it... it was an ARMADILLO!!!!

Yes, we live in a city (albeit small).  And yet here this ugly, varmint was, right in our own backyard.  He was absolutely destroying the yard (which is mostly weeds but still) rifling around in the ground for worms/nuts/grubs, whatever!  He looked a lot like a pig digging in the ground.  And he could dig fast!  In the time that we were watching him (20-30 min. tops) he probably dug 20 or more holes...  Stupid thing...

So Andy did the only logical thing... he called the police (not 911, just the local station's #) and they told him that he had their permission to take care of it if he wanted to.  He would've too, but his guns weren't here, so they said they'd get something together and be out. 

About 5 minutes later, we saw the armadillo head for the border (fence between ours and our neighbors yard) and then we saw why, one of the city maintenance men was headed towards him with a rifle (or something like that, I don't know my guns...)

Luckily, the guy was a good shot, and got the armadillo in one shot.  It flopped around in the leaves for awhile before dying dead for good. 

Ira watched the whole thing unfold in utter amazement, while I couldn't hardly keep myself off the floor laughing.

As the maintenance guy was carting the varmint off on a shovel, Ira said, "Mom, what do you think they're going to do with that armadillo?  Turn him into carpet?"  I kind of smirked, so he changed his mind and said, "No, they're probably taking him to jail." 

Let me just say, it was the kind of entertainment you just can't get from TV.  It definitely made my day/week/year? 

Fun fact, did you know that armadillos can carry leprosy?  Who knew?  And that leprosy can be treated by antibiotics now?  Crazy stuff! 

Here is some pictorial proof of the nasty thing in our yard.  The photos kinda give me the heebeejeebies just looking at them...

 What I saw when I looked out the kitchen window

Grody-ody thing

  Nasty ringed tail

Epiphany

The Epiphany was celebrated on January 6th at our house.  Let me tell you, those Three Wise Guys made quite the journey from the wall shelf, to the aquarium, to the bookshelf, to the tv stand, to the VCR, back to the aquarium, to the end table, and finally to the Batcave.  They flew from the Batcave to the John Deere Tractor which they took right to the stable.  Now unfortunately, I did not capture each of these locations with the camera, but I did catch the last few...

The camel was a real wise guy - he climbed onto the ROOF!

Ruby isn't sure what to make of the camel on the roof!

 The Three Wise Men's preferred mode of transportation when their camel left them for the stable roof.

I LOVE how Ira sets up the people all focused on baby Jesus.

 

May you find Wisdom and Humor this year!

What daddies do

What do daddies do with tights after diaper changes?

But of course!  We put them on heads!!

Well bowl me over!

Since about January of this year, Ira has had a chore chart. His chores are not anything spectacular, mainly just "getting around and ready for the day" type jobs: gathering his breakfast dishes, getting dressed, making his bed, etc... He was allowed to play once he finished his chores... well... that works if your kid is motivated by playing. Mine on the other hand, was plenty satisfied dawdling around ALL MORNING doing his chores. I'm still not exactly sure how that happens, but let me tell you, it happened all the TIME. And I was sick of it!

So I thought and thought about what I could do to get Ira to do his chores faster. Problem is, the kid doesn't have a lot of fluff in his life (tv, candy, video games, etc.), which translates to: "there is nothing that I can take away from Ira to make him do his chores faster." And stumpedness followed for a few days...until I got to thinking that that would be negative reinforcement anyway, so I tried to think of something positive to reinforce getting chores done more quickly. Again, not real into the fluff in our house, so I didn't really want to reward him with candy, dessert, videos, etc. So finally (I believe I was in the shower - you know, the one place where mamas occasionally get to spend a few minutes by themselves... sometimes...) I thought of a solution!!

I decided that I would set a timer for 25 minutes for Ira to do his chores. However many minutes were left on the timer when Ira got done with his chores was how many pennies he got to put in his "Ira's Bowling Money" jar that I made for him (an old baby food jar.) If the timer ran out before he was finished with his chores, we used a timer that counts up and the number of minutes on it when he finished was how many pennies he had to pay us. The first couple days I put more time on the timer so that he could build up a buffer of pennies in case he had to pay us. You know what, it has worked AWESOMELY!!! Sometimes we pay him, sometimes he pays us, but he always gets his chores done in a prompt manner now, so I am THRILLED!

Now I have to take a second to share a cute story. One morning, I was nursing Ruby in our bed to lay her down for her first nap of the day when Ira finished eating breakfast (which is when he does his chores.) He came in and whispered that he was finished, so I whispered back to go ahead and start on his chores. (I figured I'd be nice and let him get a head start, then start the timer for 25 minutes when I finished nursing Ruby - you know, a little reward for if he really did start his chores.) Well, he leaves the room and I hear "rrrrrrrrrr" (chair dragging across the kitchen floor) "beep" (timer starting.) Then he comes in again whispering, "I started the timer, mom." Me: "Thank you, Ira. How long did you set it for?" Ira: "It ends in five." Me:"Twenty-five?" Ira: "No, NINETY-FIVE!" I could hardly stifle my laugh! Seriously, what could I do? I let him keep the 95 minutes on the timer and when he finally got done with his chores he earned 66 pennies! I think he told everyone we saw that day (and we saw a lot because we went shopping) that he earned 66 pennies... it was just too cute! He needed the boost anyway, it takes a lot of pennies to fill a baby food jar!

The point of this whole schpeel was so that I could share pictures of us BOWLING! After a month or six weeks or something, Ira finally filled his penny jar and we all went bowling!

Trying...

This montage is dedicated to all who have ever tried to get a good picture of 4 kids, aged 4 and under. Good times!

So a canner can can, can he?

You know that exceedingly canny canner? The one who remarked to his granny about being able to can anything he can can? Well a canner can't can a can, can he? But let's just pretend he was going to.

Would he:
-need to add lemon juice
-have a proven, tried and true recipe
-have the right kind of pectin
-have exactly the right amount of every single ingredient
-have the right number of the right size of jars
-need to boil the can
-need to sterilize the jar to put the can in
-need to leave 1/4", 1/2", 3/4", or 1" of head space
-need to remove the bubbles around the edge of the jar
-need to wipe the rim of the jar
-know to tighten the band finger tight or more (and whose finger are we talking about?)
-have to process with an inch water on top
-have to add water to maintain the inch
-know to add 5 minutes to the processing time to allow for the extra altitude of the area
-know to leave the jars sitting in the canner for 5 minutes after processing
-know not to tilt jar
-need to leave one inch of breezeway in between jars
-know to not touch the jars (or the water on top of them) for 24 hours
-listen for the pop of the jar sealing
-observe the concave lid that cannot be removed
-remove the band to store the canned can
-say "Screw this, I don't want to kill my family of botulism" and decide to store everything in the fridge anyway

I don't know. I'm definitely not the exceedingly canny canner...

Epic Strawberry Jam

“Free strawberries!” the blog of a friend did insist,

“Take all that you want, please, they will not be missed!”

Cheapskate that I am, I thought, “This’ll be great!”

So I called, we decided Thursday’d be the date.

Thursday dawned humid and hot (so you know)

And I showed up with both of my kiddos in tow.

Boots, stockings, and jeans was the dress code to pick,

So as hopefully not to acquire a tick.

I started the picking of strawberries sweet,

But my babe wanted nothing to do with the heat.

She fussed and she cried ‘til I finally relented,

And left with fewer strawberries than I had intended.

“Oh well,” thought I, “such is life with a baby!”

“Now what should I make? Hmm, Jam?” I thought, maybe.

I thought I would can it, “How hard could that be?”

“Well,” mused my husband, “I guess we shall see.”

The recipe I found was read and re-read,

‘Til the process of canning was stuck in my head.

I started the process prepared, no doubt,

With all of my stuff on the counters laid out.

The boiling began, and the burning did too,

Of my arms and my legs as the mixture did spew.

Strawberry fire flew everywhere.

Believe me, it even got stuck in my hair!

And just when I thought that the mess couldn’t worsen,

Seven cups of sugar through wax paper went burstin’

All over the counter, stove, me, and the floor.

At this point I should have just run out the door!

But run I did not, I re-measured the sugar,

“I will not be conquered by this stinking booger!”

I added the sugar and thank God it did not

Send any more mixture from out of the pot.

As I ladled the jam in the jars (it was STICKY!)

I noticed my feet and my floor were quite icky.

But canning’s not something you stop in the middle

So I walked through the sugar (just maybe a little…)

Using mom-in-law’s pot with a pasta insert,

I put in my jam jars, ever alert.

I added more water, it was just right I thought,

One small prob, it was gushing right out of the pot.

So I reached for the biggest stock pot that I own,

"Screw the rack that the jars are supposed to sit on!"

“Move the jars, switch the water,” I quickly reflected.

Then I poured and one lid all the water deflected.

All over the counter, stove, me, and the floor

Went the water, now mixed with the mess from before.

"Just keep going," I thought, finish up the process

And then you can clean up this huge, epic mess.

The jars started boiling just as I had planned.

In five minutes, I had all the stinkin’ stuff canned.

Surprisingly, all of the jars did seal,

Six half-pints of jam – one HECK of a DEAL!

Rainy Days

"On rainy days we stay indoors

We have a lot of fun

But there is so much work to do when rainy days are done."

(verse taken from Richard Scary's "Just for Fun.")

No mom, it doesn't help me 'nique'

So.... Ira has been quite quotable lately (as usual.) The title for today's blog is a quote from him. Last night at dinner we were talking about the little mole on Ira's face. It's in the same place as Cindy Crawford's, so I guess you could say it's a "beauty mark" Hehehe. Anyway, so he asked "Mom why do I have a mole?" I said, "Well Ira it helps you be unique." And as seriously as could be he says back to me, "No mom, it doesn't help me "nique" I don't know if that sounds funny when you're reading it, but it was hilarious when it happened.

While we were at Andy's folks house for the Super Bowl, Andy grabbed Ira's tricycle. Since it's been colder outside lately, I took the trike to the basement and figured I'd let him have free reign. It was pretty funny. This past fall Ira couldn't really ride very well. He mainly just pushed it with his feet, but I tell you what, he's got it figured out now! He was FLYING around the basement! We built all kinds of tunnels for him to go through. I've included a picture below:


I also got a hair up my hiney to rearrange the living room today. For those who know me well, it's something I do quite often. Don't know why... just do. I guess I enjoy the variety. I could also say that I do it so that the carpet doesn't wear unevenly, but that is like way down on the list of why I rearrange so often. Really though, this time was legit because when we moved in we just kind of put furniture where it seemed like it should go. So here is the new arrangement. I'm pretty thrilled with it because now Ira has his own little reading area between the couch and the bookcase. I caught him sitting in his chair several times today just reading. It does my heart good to know that he likes reading so much.


We also did his favorite puzzle again today (both ways.) It's a 50 piece with animals and shapes in little boxes. I can't believe how much of it he can get by himself! On the reverse it's the same pictures but they're just the outlines and you can color on it with wipe-off crayons. We'd never colored on it before, so that was fun. I was surprised how difficult it was to do without any clues from the colors or animals. Ira got it for Christmas from my sis and bro-in-law (his godparents.)


This evening I built a light stand for my seed greenhouse that I'll start for our garden this spring. I've never grown plants from seed (except for sunflowers) so I called the extension office about how for sure to go about doing so. They were incredibly helpful and sent me several brochures on how to start a garden from seed. They had instructions for a light rig, so I figured what the heck... might as well try it. It was very easy! Hopefully the garden will do well. I'm thinking of planting my seeds towards the end of February. Any gardeners out there who know if that's a good time? Here's a pic of my new "grow light rig."


Well, I better go, Andy needs to flip the breaker that the computer is on so that he can "unwire" the electrical box that is in the cabinets above the bar (for the under the counter light.) We're taking the cabinets down tonight!! Yay! We're going to try to put the new countertops on and put the dishwasher in this weekend. I can't wait!

Talk to you all later! God bless!