2.23.2007

Friday Fun

Since it's the end of the week, I figure it's a good time to post something fun - a little reading snack . . . just because . . . it's my blog and I want to. So here's the first installment.

When my sister and I were younger - teenagers and early 20s - we often asked to borrow things from one another. You know, the usual sister-type stuff; blouses, shoes, makeup, perfume, etc. Somewhere along the way, we developed this insane habit whereby we would allow the other sister to borrow said item, but only with the following clause:

"Well, okay. But don't a) ruin it, b) waste it, or c) use it up."


As if?!?! I mean like I would really have swiped all of her blue eye shadow on in one application?!?! Like she would have "ruined" my curling iron?!?! Maybe if she decided to use it as a pogo stick! It's quite humorous now to think about it, but we were very serious back in those days.

I must admit, there was one (and only one) time where one of the Dreaded Three happened. It was in my BC life and I was at a bar for New Year's Eve, wearing a gorgeous soft pink sweater borrowed from my sister. While cruising through the crowd, someone bumped someone who bumped someone else, and WINE was spilled on the front of her sweater!! Horrors!!

I don't remember exactly how it got clean or resolved, but it is the only time on record (my mental record, that is) that the clause was actually broken. She didn't disown me and we're still friends - whew!

Now as not-quite-as-young adults, we still toss out that clause every so often. Only we come up with whatever would be the most preposterous option. Like I ask to borrow a pan and she'll say, "Okay, but don't use it up!"

2.20.2007

Klondike Derby

If you've never had any connection to Boy Scouts, you may not know what a Klondike Derby is. Even though I've heard of it for the past few years, I still didn't really know what it entailed. Well, after having spent all of Saturday in the mountains with lots of boys and numerous sleds, I get it.

The boys first have to build a sled for their patrol. It looks something like a dog sled. It's pretty cool (and oftentimes scary) watching these young men utilize power tools as they create their own sled. Most patrols seem to use a similar basic design. Although, as with any creative venture, there were definitely some original ideas out there. Some sleds were painted, some were named, a couple even had wheels underneath the skis. I'm hoping they had some means of rotating or retracting the wheels so they could take full advantage of the downhill snow action.

Once the sled is complete, next comes the task of choosing someone to ride on the sled with all the gear. Our guys had this one down - they picked the lightest kid in the patrol. The remainder of the patrol members get to play dog - they pull the sled with the gear and the chosen boy on it. There was some creativity in this portion too. Most used a big rope with loops tied into it for each boy to hold onto and pull. I did see a couple, though, where it was designed more like an ok yoke - ropes attached to a board. Instead of pulling from a loop, the boys would be behind the board and would push. Good thinking!

Of course, gear is necessary for this 4+ hour adventure. Each boy needed to have a day pack complete with water, first aid kit, a change of clothes (kept in a HUGE ziploc bag), snacks, compass, Scout handbook, kleenex, and anything else he felt was necessary. The patrol also brought along lunch, as it would be eaten somewhere out on the trail.

Most of the boys camped the entire weekend (not mine). We came up on Saturday morning bright and early. Less bright than early for my part. The boys had to have their sled loaded and ready to go by 9:00 a.m. for inspection. Then the event was off and running around 9:30 a.m.

They would go down/up a trail for a bit until they arrived at an activity. I'm not sure what the activities all consisted of, as hubby & I volunteered to help at the snowshoeing activity. That one was pretty cool, because some well-experienced guys from REI came out with 20 pairs of snowshoes and told the boys what to do. Our part was just to tell them how they could earn "gold nuggets" (up to 5) and then track their earnings and disburse said nuggets. Pretty easy job, really. Plus we had a picnic table (half buried in snow) to sit upon. We really did have to sit on the table - the benches were at about snow level.

Our kids on snowshoes

This was to be a 4-hour event and somewhere along the way, the boys would stop and eat their lunch. The idea was to do as many activities as possible and earn as many gold nuggest as possible so they could participate in an auction later on that night. While I'm sure the auction was great fun, we were quite cold and tired, plus hubby was working a pretty bad headache, so we headed back to town around 6:30 p.m. Hopefully our troop got some good stuff at the auction!



My snowshoes

2.18.2007

Garlic & Guacamole

I've always known that my subjectivity is incredibly random, but tonight as I was preparing dinner, it really hit me in the face (not literally, thank goodness).

Digging around in the frig, I found my trusty jar of minced garlic, hibernating in the recesses of the top shelf. I mostly use fresh, but I wanted this to mix with melted butter for garlic bread. As I looked into the jar, I realized that this particular garlic had been a part of our family for quite some time - after all, it was nearly empty. Curious, I checked to see if they actually date things like minced garlic, and to my surprise, they do! To my greater surprise, the date was June 16 . . . 1996!! How could that be? We've really had this garlic for well beyond 11 years?!?!? Seriously, I use garlic much more often than that!!

Well, I cannot imagine that minced garlic in a jar could really go bad - after all, garlic kills off all kinds of stuff, right?!? It smelled fine to me so I proceeded to use it on the garlic bread. When I returned the last teensy little bit in the jar to the frig, I noticed a container of guacamole dip, also located in the garlic's neighborhood of the top shelf. I found myself thinking, "Gee, that's been in here awhile, it might not be good any more." Deciding that it surely needed to be tossed by now (after all, it came to our house the day of the Super Bowl), I checked the date - April 1 . . . 2007! What?!? How could it still be good?! Oh, fine, I guess it could stay awhile longer, although I couldn't imagine how it could be digestible at this point! Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I greatly dislike guacamole - anything that's green and mushy really shouldn't be eaten! But since hubby loves guac, it's still hanging out in the top shelf recesses with the garlic.

2.15.2007

Too Tired, Not Home Enough

Well, wouldn't you know it - I finally have some things to blog and I haven't been home for the past few days enough to do anything. Today we were gone all day and now I'm just very tired. So maybe tomorrow (or Sunday) I can catch up.

2/14 - Valentine's Day: delivered flowers much of the day

2/15 - Fragility of Life: 3 years ago today, God took a dear friend home to heaven

2/16 - More Shopping: still trying to get snow boots - WAY too late in the season, though. Selection is slim to none. Nothing like having average-sized feet since those are the boots that are all gone. UGH!

2/17 - Boy Scout Klondike Derby: get to spend 12 hours or so in the snow (hopefully with snow boots!). Did pick up some little Toasty Toes to keep the feet warm!
No pictures today - I'm going to bed.
Nighty-night!

2.13.2007

Loves of My Life

My Dear Hubby - 20+ terrific years of marriage in addition to the 3 years we dated, during which he had my heart, even though he didn't know it. I am incredibly blessed to be his wife. He's ever so thoughtful, caring, selfless, and loving. Even when we were first dating, I was blown away by his kindness towards me. Never before had anyone treated me so beautifully. While we've had our ups and downs, they were always external - our relationship has remained strong regardless of what came our way. I look forward to many more grand adventures that the Lord has in our future.

Oldest Son (SLH) - He's an amazing young man. It's been a tremendous joy over the past year and a half, during which time I've been homeschooling him, to see his growth in the Lord. He has a very tender heart towards God and is in tune to the Holy Spirit. I pray that he continues to follow the Lord's leading in his life. He's very creative, intuitive, and thoughtful. It's a privilege to be his mom.

Youngest Son (SLSM) - What an exhuberant young man he is! He has incredible zest for whatever he's doing or interested in. He is very sweet, has an hysterically fun sense of humor, and cares greatly for people. He's always thinking, always coming up with cool ideas, and always wants everyone to be happy. I'm never at a loss for hugs and kisses when he's around. It's an honor to be his mom.

JESUS - He loved me before I existed. He loved me when I was a sinner, caring nothing about Him, living however I pleased. He loved me so much that He died on a cross to forgive me my sins and offer me salvation. I am truly blessed beyond measure and blown away that He loves me. My love for Him grows every day and what a glorious day, indeed, when I will see Him face to face!

2.11.2007

Even I Was Duped

We were at the local RV & Sport Show today (hubby works for an RV dealer), and while cruising around with the boys, my brother-in-law, and nieces, we came across one of those gimmicky kid toys. Naturally, the vendor was more than happy to give us his one minute demonstration, complete with fast talking lips, fast moving hands, and the cutest little fuzzy worm. The kids were hooked after the first 10 seconds. My brother-in-law and I were intrigued, thinking it ran around via static or something along those lines.


(this one is named Brock)

Now you have to understand that I am not that gullible. In fact, I tend more towards cynical when it comes to anyone trying to relieve me of my money. Maybe because I really didn't know how they worked and because the kids were so excited to have their very own worms, I caved.

Well, they got me this time - it wasn't at all what I thought. But since they do ask that you not tell anyone the "secret," I guess this is as far as it goes. On a happy note, the kids have had a wonderful time with their fuzzy little worms. Each of them (except my 2 year old niece) has worked diligently to learn how to be as smooth as the guy selling them. It's definitely kept their attention - all afternoon, in the truck, out at dinner, before bedtime, etc. So maybe it wasn't such a bad purchase after all!

2.10.2007

The Incognito Air Hockey Table

Many thanks to Sprittibee who was kind enough to offer me some blogging tips after I posted about my blogging pity party. I'm taking advantage of one of her useful tips as I utilize Photobucket for uploading photos. I took this recently and was intending to use it for a post about feeling terribly scattered.


I am now beyond scattered mode, but after reading Barb's post about deep cleaning her house, this picture kept coming to mind. I'm not sure why - it certainly does NOT represent a clean house. It's more a representation of the catch-all family room where decisions are regularly postponed. Underneath all that stuff (and the red table cloth) is an air hockey table. We don't get to play much these days it would seem.

On a happy, repurposing note (don't you just love the crazy new vocabulary?!?), the kids all LOVE to play underneath said hockey table in conjunction with the foosball table. It makes a very cozy, secret little hideout for them, their friends, and cousins. You can't see the sides of the table, but there are plenty of boxes and paraphernalia to block the sides and completely enclose their lair. I've learned that when I can't find any children in my house, I should go look under the air hockey table. After all, isn't that where everyone keeps their kids nice & quiet?

2.06.2007

On A Happier Note . . .

Homeschool is going better. I don't get as much strife and grief as ealier this (school) year. My youngest son, who gives me the most trouble, is coming around. I think he's finally realizing that all his fussing doesn't change a thing - he'll have to do his work, whether early in the day or after dinner or somwhere in between. The later in the day means less free time. Maybe he's finaly getting it. I sure hope so.

I also realized recently that my oldest son is doing so well cooperating and having a good attitude about school. That's a tremendous blessing after all the battling we did last year. Usually he'd storm off to his room and I'd go sit in my reading corner and pray. Fortunately, he's sensitive to the Spirit's leading, and more often than not, he'd come out with a repentant heart. It's pretty awesome to see him maturing! What a blessing to this mom's heart!

Sorriest Blogger Award

I am pleased (NOT!) to announce that I have awarded myself The Sorriest Blogger. I'm enormously frustrated with myself - the more I want to blog, the less I seem to do it! Good grief! On a relatively happy(?) note, I doubt that anyone reads my blog anyway. If they did, they'd quickly realize that I'm not keeping up so well and not bother to come back. I think I've only told one friend about my blog anyway (besides my honey).

I am always encouraged by the blogs I read and want to be as cool a blogger as Sprittibee or Barb at A Chelsea Morning. Both women inspire me in blogdom, along with a number of others I pop in to read here and there. I hope to be of such caliber one day.

Okay, enough of the pity party. It's off my chest and time to go post something more upbeat!

p.s. - looks like I'll be posting without the image since it doesn't seem to be working tonight. Oh well. Sigh.
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