family portrait

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New Year's Resolutions

:: to be a more prepared and attentive teacher
:: to be a more patient and gentle Mom
:: to get back in the habit of regularly attending church
:: to read more to my kids
:: to call my friends more often
:: to better defend my husband's rest time
:: to work on my manuscript
:: to drop 15 pounds
:: to exercise more
:: to do a trial run of a gluten-free diet to see if it impacts the arthritis
:: to visit my folks more

If it looks familiar it is pretty similar to last year's.

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pics from our sledding day

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Miracle on 34th Street

We don't watch many movies but we did indulge over Christmas break. One night we watched the old version of Miracle on 34th Street. We loved it. The budding romance was believable and the lawyering was clever. The next night we watched the new version. It was abysmal, nothing clever, nothing plausible - just a bunch of melodramatic sentimental hooey. Avoid it at all costs.

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zazzle

Have you discovered zazzle yet? Turn your blog badge, your photos, your kid's art, whatever into note-cards, mugs, t-shirts, spoon-rests, skateboard decals, shoes, and oodles more. I had fun turning some of my favorite quotes into bumper stickers and making my own little profile cards:

Right now, you can get 12.26% off of any zazzle purchase by using using coupon code: BOXINGDAYUSA.

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Christmas Pics

And here is our holiday, in photos.

Christmas Eve eve blessed us with a visit from the Christmas bunnies. They stayed for dinner and then went on to Gma's house for some decorating.














Christmas eve morning, we gathered together with our cousins on my Dad's side and all their littles. We took lots of pictures, ate lots of yummy food, and enjoyed watching the snowballs fly.


























Christmas morning, we opened presents from Santa at home.


And then enjoyed the view on the drive in to my Mom and Dad's for Christmas dinner with my siblings and nieces.



















Chickadee and I ended up staying over to give my folks a hand in the morning, as their regular care-giver had gone home for the holidays. It was a beautiful snowy happy Christmas.

Oh, and presents? I got many nice prezzies, with my favorites being a hilarious Disappearing Civil Liberties Mug, a long dark green robe, and a beautiful pot from Kuhn-Rikon that my dear husband - bless him - got for me.

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Mary's Song by Luci Shaw

If you are not familar with Luci Shaw's poetry, give yourself a gift this season and pick up one of her beautiful books.

Mary's Song

Blue homespun and the bend of my breast
keep warm this small hot naked star
fallen to my arms. (Rest ...
you who have had so far
to come.) Now nearness satisfies
the body of God sweetly. Quiet he lies
whose vigour hurled
a universe. He sleeps
whose eyelids have not closed before.
His breath (so slight it seems
no breath at all) once ruffled the dark deeps
to sprout a world.
Charmed by dove's voices, the whisper of straw,
he dreams,
hearing no music from his other spheres.
Breath, mouth, ears, eyes
he is curtailed
who overflowed all skies,
all years.
Older than eternity, now he
is new. Now native to earth as I am, nailed
to my poor planet, caught that I might be free,
blind in my womb to know my darkness ended,
brought to this birth
for me to be new-born,
and for him to see me mended
I must see him torn.

Here is the coding if you want a button with a link to this week's round-up.



<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://missrumphiuseffect.blogspot.com/2008/12/poetry-friday-december-26th.html"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://lh5.google.com/image/chndlrsblog/RmBFj-SN_DI/AAAAAAAAB34/at3HZsHcKd0/poetry%20friday%20button%20-%20fulll.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a>


:: this post is part of the Friday Poetry roundup hosted by MissRumphiuseEffect.











Luci Shaw
poetry

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a perfect Christmas

Fresh snow, clear skies, bright sun. We had yummy food and thoughtful gifts of a reasonable quantity.

I could hardly sleep the night before as I was so excited to give My Gift his gift. Back in October he had found a 12-string Yamaha guitar that was THE guitar. He would visit it in the store and talk about it at home and go on and on about it. And I would go on and on about the huge credit card debt we are carrying thanks to last year's medical adventures.

His persistence wore me down, and I finally gave my reluctant consent. He piled the kids into the truck and took off for the guitar store, but returned empty-handed and down-hearted. The beloved guitar of his dreams had sold.

Tee hee.

As soon as his truck had pulled out I had called the store and bought it right out from under him.

He says it was the nicest and naughtiest gift he has ever received.

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Simple Woman's Daybook

For Monday 22nd December 2008

Outside my window I see Black-Capped Chickadees (my own special bird) eating sunflower seeds that we threw across the snow. I see a white meadow and dark blue hills with white lace shawls across their shoulders.

I am thinking about how nice it is to be ready for Christmas several days ahead.

I am thankful that I have such a nice husband who works hard to support us and encourages and helps me with the kids.

From the kitchen I'll be bringing out cookies and a potroast later today.

I am wearing flannel pajema bottoms that my mom made for me, white silkie long-underwear top, green fleece jacket, fuzzy slippers.

I am hoping I can get sorted out this mountain of medical insurance paperwork that my husband just gave up on and that I foolishly said I would handle for him.

I am hearing my daughter singing as she tidies up her room and my son talking to himself as he prepares breakfast.

Around the house there are quite a few dust-bunnies, Christmas decorations, and drowsy heat-loving pets.

One of my favorite things is a hot bath. I love the 'aloneness' of it, but mostly I love the heat on my aching arthritic joints.

A few plans for the rest of the week include baking and cooking for the following events: Christmas eve morning party with cousins (holiday strata), Christmas eve dinner for our own little family (chippino), Christmas Day breakfast for our own little family (smoked salmon quiche, kringle, mimosas), Christmas dinner at my moms (twice-baked potatoes, rye bread).

Here is picture-thought I am sharing:


hosted by The Simple Woman

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Chickadee ties her shoe

Yipee. She is now in the shoe-tying club.

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Remember the poor . . .

Remember the poor when you look out
on fields you own,
on your plump cows grazing.
Remember the poor when you look into your barn
at the abundance of your harvest.
Remember the poor when the wind howls
and the rain falls,
as you sit warm in your dry house . . .
The poor have no food except what you feed tham
no shelter except your house
when you welcome them,
no warmth except your glowing fire.

~ From Celtic Fire

from The Wisdom of the Celts, compiled by David Adam

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pictures in comments

I think, if I read this right, that you can now upload a picture into your comment. Anyone want to give it a shot?

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Friday Poetry When Will My Heart Arise

I haven't been able to find the author of this beautiful piece which I first heard on Sissel's album Northern Lights. It is listed on her album as a 'traditional' piece.

If you haven't yet heard Sissel sing, you need to click on the link to her website, after you read the poem.

On this glad Christmas morning
When will my heart arise?
The dew will rise the dawning
The sun rise to the skies

Oh Jesu, while you're sleeping
The whole world sings its joys
But I am filled with weeping
When will my heart arise?

I am the thorns that crowned you
I am the whips that scourge
I am the chains that bound you
Who all my sins did purge

I am the cross you shoulder
A cross that crucified
Against your tongue the boulder
When will my heart arise?

I heed here by your manger
Oh blessed winter child
Great, do not have me stranger
Into the winter wild

I kneel here for forgiveness
And all my sins despise
Forgive me gentle baby
Then will my heart arise

Sissel's website.


:: this post is part of the Friday Poetry Round-up hosted at Author Amok.

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kid-friendly Gingerbread cut-outs

I know, I am a little tardy in posting this, but just in case you haven't baked these yet these season, here you go:

Kid-Friendly Gingerbread Cutouts

Cream together:
1/2 C butter
1/2 C white sugar
1/2 C brown sugar

Add:
1 C dark molasses

Sift together:
2 t baking soda
1/2 t cloves
1 t cinnamon
4 t ginger
1 1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper

Sift:
6 1/2 to 7 C flour

Measure out 2/3 C water.

Alternately add the spice mixture, the water, and the flour to the butter/sugar mix. You want the stiffest dough you can get without crumbling apart. You may or may not need all the flour, depending on the wheat it came from, the grind, and other variables to nebulous to itemize.

Roll out dough. Cut into cute shapes.

I use a dough scraper to lift the cookies off the rolling surface. If you bake a lot, and you don't have a dough scraper, Santa needs to bring you one. They are not expensive and make post-baking surface clean up a breeze.

I like to dip about half the cookies into sugar before baking and frost the other half (after baking, of course).


Bake 7-8 minutes at 350.

This recipes makes a crunchy crispy cookie. If you want a softer cookie, reduce the amount of flour, keeping in mind that you will lose some kid-friendliness thereby.

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argh

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gift idea

Have you seen this book?

The Better World Shopping Guide - 2nd Edition: Every Dollar Makes a Difference is a must for everyone on your list. So that you can vote with your dollars, this book grades companies on these five elements:

HUMAN RIGHTS: sweatshops, 3rd world community exploitation, international health issues, divestment, child labor, code of conduct.

THE ENVIRONMENT: global warming, rainforest destruction, pollution, recycling, renewable energy, greenwashing, toxic waste, eco-innovations, illegal dumping, sustainable farming.

ANIMAL PROTECTION: factory farming, animal testing, humane treatment, wild animal habitat.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: family farms, local business support, volunteer efforts, sustainable growth, philanthropic donations, nonprofit alliances, establishing foundations.

SOCIAL JUSTICE : fair wages, fatalities, union busting efforts, health & safety records, discrimination based on: race, gender, age, ability, religion, sexuality, ethnicity.

~ better world shopper

What a clever and useful project.

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this and that

I just submitted the last set of grades for the quarter and am scurrying around getting ready for our field trip tomorrow. We are riding the train down to Seattle to do a little shopping and visit the Science Center. It's mighty cold around here, with temperatures in the high teens and low 20s and significant winds (23 mph and windchill to 5 degrees).

My Gift had to come home from work today to deal with the zillion foot poplar tree that toppled over in the night, taking out 2 goat fences, but no goats.

That's all my news. What's happening at your house?

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Dad

It's been two years. Why do we have to have a windstorm right here at the anniversary?

Dad is doing well. Here's gearing up to learn PowerPoint to use in leau of a whiteboard as he will be teaching Sunday School next quarter. He is reading a lot and settling in to his new routines.Last night I stumbled on this video footage. I didn't know I had it.

I still miss him popping by the house and having lunch with me. Maybe he'll learn to drive and can do that again. I liked our lunch-chats.

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family portrait

Chickadee has drawn a picture of her family: God, Papa, Mama, Dandy, and herself. I love that she thinks that when God hangs out with our family, He is smiling.

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pathetic

This is so pathetic. I'm sharing it with the hope that things are nearly as pathetic at your home and that you'll tell me about it and I can feel better -- misery loves company and all.

Y'all know that I think my husband is the greatest thing that ever happened to me, and that I call him My Gift from a Generous God. And he is.

But when it comes to gift-giving . . .

Some years he gives me nothing at all, just promises of some future thingamabob which he means sincerely at the time of promising (you've never seen anything as sincere as his warm brown eyes) and he just as sincerely forgets about within the day. Sometimes he gives very cool things: a telescope, a wooly blue shawl-cape, a dinner out in Siberia, all of which I loved. For my most recent birthday he gave me two red hot pads; these did not make my list of cool things.

But this year, he is giving me a nice present. It's all wrapped and under the tree. He doesn't know a thing about it, but we won't let that little detail get in the way, will we?

Now, just watch. Since I have the bases covered, this will be a year that he really nails a great gift and then I will feel like a chump. (A chump with an extra present, though, and I can live with that).

And really, this is a man who takes my car out specifically to fill the tank because he knows how much I hate to do that. This is a man who -- when I pull in the driveway with a car full of groceries -- comes out to help me unload them. This is a man who, if I have to ask him to buy some girl products, will always buy chocolate (good chocolate) too. So really, it doesn't matter what he buys for Christmas, does it?

So I have talked myself out of thinking this is pathetic . . . but just in case that feeling returns, there is still that nicely wrapped present to myself under my tree.

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vintage Kuhn Rikon on eBay

On eBay for under $50.00 for both, including shipping. They are Kuhn Rikon's Braising Pan (retail 230.00) and the Minipan (retail 130.00). I'm more than a little excited about my good deal.

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Fred Thompson shares good news about the economy

And who wouldn't like some good news?

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lessons on partying from a 9 year old

Live blogging here:

Dandy: Mom, you are a terrible partyer!
Me: What is wrong with my partying?
Dandy: You are just sitting there!
Me: Yeah, that's what I like to do.
Dandy: You are doing it wrong.
Me: What am I supposed to do?
Dandy: Eat ice-cream! Look at the tree! Snuggle your son!
Me: Anything else?
Dandy: No looking at the computer. You are supposed to be partying!
Me: Why?
Dandy: You are done with school. You told Papa we'd be partying.

He has a point. I just hope that when he is in college and he finishes a semester, he celebrates the same way.

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almost done

Our last class meeting of Eng 101 was tonight. I took advantage of the quiet empty classroom and got all but the last seven essays graded. My eyes are blearing-over, so I have to stop. So close . . .


:: one year ago today: money and banking -- explained

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Where does money come from?

Yes this is a rerun, but in light of the RIDICULOUS bail-outs, I think it worth it to see it again.

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grading

The kids love these end-of-the-quarter grading-a-thons. I fill them up with food and banish them to the upstairs with a DVD player and a pile of movies.

For a little window, I am caught up with grading. But I have to leave for class in 45 minutes and they'll give me a new round . . .





:: one year ago today: Seborrheic Dermatitis, aka Cradle Cap and Our Culture, What's Left of It: The Mandarins and the Masses by Dr. Theodore Dalrymple

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free $10.00

On Wednesday I posted about Ebates. If you sign up now and buy something, they'll give you a $10 bonus. With so many free shipping deals going on right now, that can easily work out to cash back. Order something, get a $10.00 bonus, get the normal eBates rebate (percentage varies with merchant, but Barnes & Nobel and Macy are both offering 8% right now), get free shipping. Sweet!

Another example: Go to Children's Place (via Ebates of course). Order a $10 fleece. Use the coupon code for 15% off that the Ebates site listed (HAC8 if you want to know). $8.50 + $5.00 flat rate shipping= 13.50. Get 3% rebate (.42cents whoo hoo), so you are at 13.08. Get your $10.00 bonus, and you have a nice fleece for $3.08 plus whatever sales tax you are subject to.

So go sign up already!



:: one year ago today: Lakme's Flower Duet and a kitchen day

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THINK!

I am so excited about one of Dandy's Christmas gifts. One of the tools we use with him is the idea of THINK wherein each letter is linked some criteria which ought to be considered before one starts to speak. He has some issues with blurting out really weird, hurtful, or meddlesome thoughts.

My blog-friend Kim, over at Bookworms Bookmarks, has made our THINK into a beautiful piece of wall art which we can hang in his bedroom.

She also does a beautiful Engrosser script (a style of Copperplate) that is written with a pointed pen instead of a broad, flat nib. Kim can do all sorts of different lettering styles (called 'hands' by the calligraphy crowd). Go take a peek at her work: Bookworms Bookmarks.



:: one year ago today: works for me: allowances and Belgium
:: two years ago today: trees and more

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kids are so cool

Overheard:

Dandy: Chickadee, let me read these too you. They are really good ones.
Chickadee: What are they?
Dandy: Verses.

He then reads a whole bunch of verses from his AWANA book as she listens attentively.

A few minutes later they ask:

Mama, where are our Latin cards?
Me: Why?
Chickadee: We want to practice our new words.

So they are now drilling one another on laboro, surgete, oremus, and so forth (I work, stand up [plural], and Let us Pray). We are using Prima Latina and really like it.

See what can happen in a TV-free household?



:: one year ago today: works for me: allowances and Belgium
:: two years ago today: trees and more

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Friday Poetry: The Barn by Elizabeth Coatsworth

The Barn

"I am tired of this barn!" said the colt
"And every day it snows.
Outside there's no grass any more
and icicles grow on my nose.
I am tired of hearing the cows
breathing and talking together.
I am sick of these clucking hens.
I HATE stables and winter weather!"

"Hush, little colt" said the mare,
"And a story I will tell
of a barn like this one of ours
and the wonders that there befell.
It was weather much like this
and the beasts stood as we stand now
in the warm good dark of the barn,
a horse and an ass and a cow."

"And sheep?" asked the colt. "Yes, sheep
and a pig and a goat and a hen.
All the beasts of the barnyard
the usual servants of men.
And into their midst came a lady
and she was as cold as death,
but the animals leaned above her
and made her warm with their breath.

"There was her baby born
and laid to sleep in the hay
while music flooded the rafters
and the barn was as light as day,
and angels and kings and shepherds
came to worship the babe from afar,
but we looked at Him first of all creatures
by the bright strange light of a star!

~ Elizabeth Coatsworth

Here is the coding if you want a button with a link to this week's round-up.

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://favoritechildrensbooks.blogspot.com/2008/12/poetry-friday.html"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://lh5.google.com/image/chndlrsblog/RmBFj-SN_DI/AAAAAAAAB34/at3HZsHcKd0/poetry%20friday%20button%20-%20fulll.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a>


:: this post is part of the Friday Poetry roundup hosted by Momm's Favorite Children's Books.

:: one year ago today: works for me: allowances and Belgium
:: two years ago today: trees and more

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getting tired of food posts? I can always go back to politics . . .

:: one year ago today: to post? or not to post? that is the question and if you watch just one Ron Paul video, let it be this one
:: two years ago today: God's Grandeur

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was it something we said?

I just remembered that I forgot to share with you the parting words from one of our Thanksgiving guests:

Bye, it was nice to meet some of you.

:: one year ago today: to post? or not to post? that is the question and if you watch just one Ron Paul video, let it be this one
:: two years ago today: God's Grandeur

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age 7 - finally outgrows her 3Ts

Remember when, for Chickadee's 6th birthday I threw out all her size 2s, not because they were too small but because I was just sick of them? Well we have reached a new milestone. Her size 3Ts are finally too small. She is 7 years 4 months.





:: one year ago today: to post? or not to post? that is the question and if you watch just one Ron Paul video, let it be this one
:: two years ago today: God's Grandeur

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works for me: Ebates

I don't know about you, but I love to shop online. I hate driving; I hate the mall; I hate trudging about when I could be home cooking or reading a book or blogging. So, I shop online. And I save 5-15% every single time. How? Ebates.

Ebates is an affiliate for 100s of stores. That means that whenever someone clicks into a store from the Ebates site, Ebates makes some money. And if you create an Ebates account -- which is free -- and access the stores through the Ebates site, Ebates shares some of that money with you.

This year, I've gotten back almost $100 on ordinary purchases. Jeans, socks and underwear, gifts, etc. I've arranged for that money to go into my PayPal account and I'll spend it from there on more Ebates purchases. Works for me!

edited to add that they are offering a $10.00 bonus if you sign up and buy something. I don't know how long this lasts.


:: one year ago today: more? and 1-877-Ron Paul and Carl Larsson and Wolf Blitzer interviews Ron Paul and
:: my other Works for Me posts.

works+for+me

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toxic beans: who knew?

Maybe you knew. I didn't. I was reading my newest cookbook, Nigella Bites: From Family Meals to Elegant Dinners - Easy, Delectable Recipes For Any Occasion, which I found on the used shelf the other day and snatched right up.

I like Nigella Lawson's books because her recipes are yummy, and the photography looks real. By that I mean that if the picture is of food roasted in an oven, there are spatter marks visible on the sides of the pan. It looks like they are photographing real food cooked in a real kitchen that will be eaten by real people.

Anyway, Nigella mentioned in a rather off-hand way something about toxin and beans and boiling:

I never soak black beans; just make sure that when you cook them they get their 10 toxin-destroying minutes of vociferous boiling and you're off (p 130).

I had no idea what she was talking about, so of course I googled it.

Remember all those times you are told to soak your beans and then to toss out the water and rinse well? There is a reason! The water leaches out some of the toxin stuff and if you don't do this you are feeding your family some nasty stuff. I think I may have done this . . . in fact I am sure I have. I may have poured off some of the water, but rinsing well? I'm sure I never have. I didn't know!

Yes, I have a copy of Joy of Cooking, and I am sure it is in there, but really, when would I have ever sat down and read about beans when there are pages and pages of pastry-talk to peruse?

Apparently raw beans and partly cooked beans contain Phytohaemagglutnin which make people feel really lethargic and barfy and nauseated and experience some nasty durchfall, which is a German word that translates literally to through-fall. Even a few beans can bring this about, so a cook who samples the soup before it is done cooking could experience this, while the rest of the family, who eats the soup after it is done, is fine! I'm sure I have done this.

The preventative? Boil briskly for 10 minutes and the nasty stuff is killed off.

I also learned, in my beany research, that one can reduce any unpleasant side-effects commonly associated with bean-eating by adding a bit of vinegar at the end of cooking, or by cooking beans with cumin, or by changing the water during the aforementioned soaking.

So tell me true, did you know this already?

And in case you are taking notes for Christmas, I have Nigella Bites and How to Be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking.



:: one year ago today: Marmoleum and Compound W
:: two years ago today: Singing Children

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Geo Safari

I'm considering a Educational Insights GeoSafari Laptop for the kids this Christmas. Any thoughts?

:: one year ago today: stocking stuffer ideas and google as my crystal ball

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