Sunday, September 28, 2008

Do you ever just need a good laugh?

Lisa...I blame you for my Sadie the Cleaning Lady addiction! I'm laughing my head off. I had a hard day and thought I'd blog a bit but instead clicked on the Sadie link (comment below this) and now I'm laughing so hard I have to go to the bathroom.
I'm going to do that dance every day, every morning just to get off to a great start!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

someone tell me how to upload a youtube video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5x6qTh1DR4

I STOLE this from Lisa! That was sooooooooooo funny. I want to clean tomorrow just so I can dance!

Please someone tell me how to post a video from youtube on here. I can only figure out how to do it in the sidebar

more about the new gal

Her name that she came with is Lexie...Cute but...thinking of other names. Goober would totally fit (she's quite the goober and she leaves goobers all over too)
She's an Old English Mastiff/Great Pyrenees mix. She'll be huge. She's actually very well behaved and well trained already. She only plays when we're around and we want to throw her toy around a little. Mostly she likes to lie down and rest. She's great with the animals since Pyrenees are goat guardians.
She doesn't eat much cause she's such a lazy bum.
We got her because someone (an older teen) was hiding in our yard watching our kids...long story short we got a great description of him and then got a dog to bite his #%^$ off if he ever came back (yes, if you're an internet stalker or something you heard right, you're going to be missing appendages if you decide to come back! Nobody messes with my kids!)

Sunday, September 21, 2008

The new gal


Well, here's the new official gal...cute huh? Now lets have a name contest! Please leave me a message if you have a name idea. She's 9 months old now.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

A great spelling site-free games

http://www.spellingcity.com

This is a great site for spelling review, games, and tests. You can input your own list.

Ma and Pa Math

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7106559846794044495

This is a great clip of Ma and Pa Kettle showing off their math skills. I thought I could use it to see if the kids caught the mistakes.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Our yummy bento lunch

Today I made YUMMY bentos.

To preface, we bought a great rice cooker with a timer and brown rice setting for $35 at costco last year

I had brown rice (basmati) soaking all night in the rice cooker and the timer went off so it was ready at 8am for breakfast. We eat it with milk and fresh honey with some spice mixture poured over it.

Then for lunch we used the leftover brown rice. I put some previously frozen meatballs on top after breakfast so they could thaw and get warm (cooker on warm setting)

Then for lunch I made a sweet and sour sauce with some plum jam I made, a glug of apple cider vinegar, 2 TBSP arrowroot(or cornstarch), and a cup of water. You could add sugar if you want too.

We ate this over the rice and meatballs.

On the side I took huge carrots and peeled them...I really mean peeled...just keep peeling so your carrots end up like wide noodles. We just eat the core that's left over. It doesn't peel.

Then I fried them in a TBSP of butter. Some got kind of crispy, they all had this really yummy sweet buttery taste and they looked beautiful. The butter got bright orange and would have been very pretty over rice.

soooooooo good and homey tasting. It reminded me of how my Grandma always had fresh carrots for dinners.

great homeschool videos

http://wholesomechildhood.com/homeschoolvideos/

Homeschool radio shows

http://www.homeschoolradioshows.com/

Homeschool freebie of the day!

http://homeschoolfreebie.wholesomechildhood.com/

This site will post one homeschool freebie each day

Saturday, September 6, 2008

free audio books

http://librivox.org/

A reminder to myself...I used to listen to books from here a lot and slowly it died down. Thanks Amber for the reminder on your blog.

Lots of free books for your spare time

uh uh, yeah, ok

I have decided that in addition to saying "uhuh, ok, oh, wow" when pretending to listen to your kids, you also have to listen for things like "this tall, momma momma, I said this tall, momma are you listening?" while the kid shows you with his hands.

The Stance

This was on LDFR without an author so I am not able to attribute it to anyone but it's totally true...


THE STANCE

My mother was a fanatic about public toilets. As a little girl, she'd bring me in the stall, teach me to wad up toilet paper and wipe the seat. Then, she'd carefully lay strips of toilet paper to cover the seat. Finally,she'd instruct, "Never, never sit on a public toilet seat." And she'd demonstrate "The Stance," which consisted of balancing over the toilet in a sitting
position without actually letting any of your flesh make contact with
the toilet seat. But by this time, I'd have wet down my leg. And we'd go home. That was a long time ago. Even now in our more mature years, The Stance is excruciatingly difficult to maintain when one's bladder is especially full. When you have to "go" in a public bathroom, you find a line of women that makes you think there's a half-price sale on Mel Gibson's underwear in
there. So, you wait and smile politely at all the other ladies, also crossing their legs and smiling politely. And you finally get closer.
You check for feet under the stall doors. Every one is occupied. Finally, a stall door opens and you dash, nearly knocking down the woman
leaving the stall. You get in to find the door won't latch. It doesn't matter. You hang your purse on the door hook, yank down your pants and
assume "The Stance." Relief. More relief.
Then your thighs begin to shake. You'd love to sit down but you certainly hadn't taken time to wipe the seat or lay toilet paper on it, so you
hold The Stance as your thighs experience a quake that would register an eight on the Richter scale. To take your mind off it, you reach for the toilet paper. The toilet paper dispenser is empty. Your thighs shake more. You remember the tiny tissue that you blew your nose on that's in your purse. It would have to do.You crumble it in the puffiest way possible. It is still smaller than your thumbnail.
Someone pushes open your stall door because the latch doesn't work and your purse whams you in the head. "Occupied!" you scream as you reach out
for the door, dropping your tissue in a puddle and falling backward, directly onto the toilet seat.You get up quickly, but it's too late. Your bare bottom has made contact with all the germs and life forms on the bare seat because YOU never
laid down toilet paper, not that there was any, even if you had enough time to. And your mother would be utterly ashamed of you if she knew, because her bare bottom never touched a public toilet seat because, frankly, "You don't know what kind of diseases you could get."And by this time, the automatic sensor on the back of the toilet is so confused that it flushes, sending up a stream of water akin to a fountain and then it suddenly sucks everything down with such force that you grab onto the toilet paper dispenser for fear of being dragged to China. At that point, you give up. You're soaked by the splashing water. You're exhausted. You try to wipe with a Chicklet wrapper you found in your pocket, then
slink out inconspicuously to the sinks.
You can't figure out how to operate the sinks with the automatic sensors, so you wipe your hands with spit and a dry paper towel and walk past a line of women, still waiting, cross-legged and unable to smile politely at this point. One kind soul at the very end of the line points out that you are trailing a piece of toilet paper on your shoe as long as the Mississippi River!
You yank the paper from your shoe, plunk it in the woman's hand and say warmly, "Here. You might need this." At this time, you see your spouse, who has entered, used and exited his bathroom and read a copy of War and Peace while waiting for you. "What took you so long?" he asks, annoyed.
This is when you kick him sharply in the shin and go home

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

A great article

May We So Live


Thomas S. Monson, “May We So Live,” Ensign, Aug 2008, 4–9

Image

Suddenly and without warning, on a bright day in September almost seven years ago, two airliners crashed into the twin towers of New York City’s World Trade Center, leaving devastating destruction and death. In Washington, D.C., and in Pennsylvania, two other airliners came down, also as a result of a terrorist plot. These tragedies snuffed out the lives of thousands of men, women, and children. Evaporated were well-laid plans for pleasant futures. Instead, there were tears of sorrow and cries of pain from wounded souls.

Countless were the reports we heard of those who were touched in some way—either directly or indirectly—by the events of that day. Rebecca Sindar was on a flight from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Dallas, Texas, on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. Her flight, like all others in the United States at that time of tragedies, was interrupted; the plane was grounded in Amarillo, Texas. Sister Sindar reported: “We all left the plane and found televisions in the airport, where we crowded around to see the broadcast of what had happened. People were lined up to call loved ones to assure them we were safely on the ground. I shall always remember the 12 or so missionaries who were on their way to the mission field on our flight. They made phone calls, and then we saw them huddled in a circle in a corner of the airport, kneeling in prayer together. How I wish I could have captured that moment to share with the mothers and fathers of those sweet young men as they saw the need for prayer right away.”

Death’s Darkness Dispelled

Death eventually comes to all humankind. It comes to the aged as they walk on faltering feet. Its summons is heard by those who have scarcely reached midway in life’s journey, and often it hushes the laughter of little children. Death is one fact that no one can escape or deny.

Frequently death comes as an intruder. It is an enemy that suddenly appears in the midst of life’s feast, putting out its lights and gaiety. Death lays its heavy hand upon those dear to us and at times leaves us baffled and wondering. In certain situations, as in great suffering and illness, death comes as an angel of mercy. But for the most part, we think of it as the enemy of human happiness.

The darkness of death, however, can ever be dispelled by the light of revealed truth.

“I am the resurrection, and the life,” spoke the Master. “He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

“And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”1

This reassurance—yes, even holy confirmation—of life beyond the grave could well provide the peace promised by the Savior when He assured His disciples: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”2

Out of the darkness and the horror of Calvary came the voice of the Lamb, saying, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”3 And the dark was no longer dark, for He was with His Father. He had come from God, and to Him He had returned. So also those who walk with God in this earthly pilgrimage know from blessed experience that He will not abandon His children who trust in Him. In the night of death, His presence will be “better than [a] light and safer than a known way.”4

Saul, on the road to Damascus, had a vision of the risen, exalted Christ. Later, as Paul, defender of truth and fearless missionary in the service of the Master, he bore witness of the risen Lord as he declared to the Saints at Corinth:

“Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

“… he was buried, and … he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

“… he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:

“After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once. …

“After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.

“And last of all he was seen of me.”5

In our dispensation this same testimony was spoken boldly by the Prophet Joseph Smith, as he and Sidney Rigdon testified:

“And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!

“For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father—

“That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.”6

This is the knowledge that sustains. This is the truth that comforts. This is the assurance that guides those bowed down with grief out of the shadows and into the light. It is available to all.

Doing Something Today

How fragile life, how certain death. We do not know when we will be required to leave this mortal existence. And so I ask, “What are we doing with today?” If we live only for tomorrow, we’ll eventually have a lot of empty yesterdays. Have we been guilty of declaring, “I’ve been thinking about making some course corrections in my life. I plan to take the first step—tomorrow”? With such thinking, tomorrow is forever. Such tomorrows rarely come unless we do something about them today. As the familiar hymn teaches:

There are chances for work all around just now,
Opportunities right in our way.
Do not let them pass by, saying, “Sometime I’ll try,”
But go and do something today.7

Let us ask ourselves the questions: “Have I done any good in the world today? Have I helped anyone in need?” What a formula for happiness! What a prescription for contentment, for inner peace—to have inspired gratitude in another human being.

Our opportunities to give of ourselves are indeed limitless, but they are also perishable. There are hearts to gladden. There are kind words to say. There are gifts to be given. There are deeds to be done. There are souls to be saved.

As we remember that “when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God,”8 we will not find ourselves in the unenviable position of Jacob Marley’s ghost, who spoke to Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’s immortal Christmas Carol. Marley spoke sadly of opportunities lost. Said he: “Not to know that any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness. Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one life’s opportunity misused! Yet such was I! Oh! such was I!”

Marley added: “Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode? Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me!

Fortunately, as we know, Ebenezer Scrooge changed his life for the better. I love his line, “I am not the man I was.”9

Why is Dickens’s Christmas Carol so popular? Why is it ever new? I personally feel it is inspired of God. It brings out the best within human nature. It gives hope. It motivates change. We can turn from the paths which would lead us down and, with a song in our hearts, follow a star and walk toward the light. We can quicken our step, bolster our courage, and bask in the sunlight of truth. We can hear more clearly the laughter of little children. We can dry the tear of the weeping. We can comfort the dying by sharing the promise of eternal life. If we lift one weary hand which hangs down, if we bring peace to one struggling soul, if we give as did the Master, we can—by showing the way—become a guiding star for some lost mariner.

Fill Others’ Hearts

Because life is fragile and death inevitable, we must make the most of each day.

There are many ways in which we can misuse our opportunities. Some time ago I read a tender story written by Louise Dickinson Rich which vividly illustrates this truth. She wrote:

“My grandmother had an enemy named Mrs. Wilcox. Grandma and Mrs. Wilcox moved, as brides, into next-door houses on the main street of the tiny town in which they were to live out their lives. I don’t know what started the war between them—and I don’t think that by the time I came along, over thirty years later, they remembered themselves what started it. This was no polite sparring match; this was total war. …

“Nothing in town escaped repercussion. The 300-year-old church, which had lived through the Revolution, the Civil War, and the Spanish War, almost went down when Grandma and Mrs. Wilcox fought the Battle of the Ladies’ Aid. Grandma won that engagement, but it was a hollow victory. Mrs. Wilcox, since she couldn’t be president, resigned [from the Aid] in a huff. What’s the fun of running a thing if you can’t force your enemy to eat crow? Mrs. Wilcox won the Battle of the Public Library, getting her niece, Gertrude, appointed librarian instead of Aunt Phyllis. The day Gertrude took over was the day Grandma stopped reading library books. They became ‘filthy germy things’ overnight. The Battle of the High School was a draw. The principal got a better job and left before Mrs. Wilcox succeeded in having him ousted or Grandma in having him given life tenure of office.

“When as children we visited my grandmother, part of the fun was making faces at Mrs. Wilcox’s grandchildren. One banner day we put a snake into the Wilcox rain barrel. My grandmother made token protests, but we sensed tacit sympathy.

“Don’t think for a minute that this was a one-sided campaign. Mrs. Wilcox had grandchildren, too. Grandma didn’t get off scot free. Never a windy washday went by that the clothesline didn’t mysteriously break, with the clothes falling in the dirt.

“I don’t know how Grandma could have borne her troubles so long if it hadn’t been for the household page of her daily Boston newspaper. This household page was a wonderful institution. Besides the usual cooking hints and cleaning advice, it had a department composed of letters from readers to each other. The idea was that if you had a problem—or even only some steam to blow off—you wrote a letter to the paper, signing some fancy name like Arbutus. That was Grandma’s pen name. Then some of the other ladies who had the same problem wrote back and told you what they had done about it, signing themselves One Who Knows or Xanthippe or whatever. Very often, the problem disposed of, you kept on for years writing to each other through the column of the paper, telling each other about your children and your canning and your new dining-room suite. That’s what happened to Grandma. She and a woman called Sea Gull corresponded for a quarter of a century. Sea Gull was Grandma’s true friend.

“When I was about sixteen, Mrs. Wilcox died. In a small town, no matter how much you have hated your next-door neighbor, it is only common decency to run over and see what practical service you can do the bereaved. Grandma, neat in a percale apron to show that she meant what she said about being put to work, crossed the lawn to the Wilcox house, where the Wilcox daughters set her to cleaning the already-immaculate front parlor for the funeral. And there on the parlor table in the place of honor was a huge scrapbook; and in the scrapbook, pasted neatly in parallel columns were Grandma’s letters to Sea Gull over the years and Sea Gull’s letters to her. Though neither woman had known it, Grandma’s worst enemy had been her best friend. That was the only time I remember seeing my grandmother cry. I didn’t know then exactly what she was crying about, but I do now. She was crying for all the wasted years which could never be salvaged.”10

May we resolve from this day forward to fill our hearts with love. May we go the extra mile to include in our lives any who are lonely or downhearted or who are suffering in any way. May we “[cheer] up the sad and [make] someone feel glad.”11 May we live so that when that final summons is heard, we may have no serious regrets, no unfinished business, but will be able to say with the Apostle Paul, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”12

Notes

4. Minnie Louise Haskins, “The Gate of the Year,” in James Dalton Morrison, ed., Masterpieces of Religious Verse (1948), 92.

7. Will L. Thompson, “Have I Done Any Good?” Hymns, no. 223.

9. (New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1990), 34, 138.

10. “Grandma and the Seagull,” in Alice Arlen, She Took to the Woods: A Biography and Selected Writings of Louise Dickinson Rich (2000), 211–13.

11. Hymns, no. 223.

^ Back to top

suggestions for school lunches

http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/lunchboxfood2.htm

I LOVE hillbilly housewife. I thought I'd post this link cause I especially like easy lunch ideas.

to clarify

I wanted to clarify that all of these emergency meals are Feingold safe as long as your canned fruit includes only fruit in it's own juice or fruit and sugar, no corn syrup just in case unless it's on the Feingold safe list.

If you want you could substitute any brand of these same items.

1 week of no heat, no refrigeration emergency meals



We had a power outage the other day and I realized that I didn't have much in the way of no heat convenience foods to feed my family...hence this little project.

1 week of emergency meals for 6 people. Sparse but it will keep you alive and also provide a little comfort snack food.
These meals are no heat, no refrigeration (except for small mayo jars that will be used for 2 days per jar, kept coolish they should be fine for 2 days) so you can eat on the go if you need to.
These meals will also be used at home in a power outage situation when you don’t want to drag in the butane/propane stoves.
This all fit in one sterilite 18 gallon container besides the juice boxes, strawberry milk, and water. If you had a larger container you could probably fit the juice boxes also. Remember to pack your canned food first.
Chips, crackers, and cereal need to be rotated every 3 months, nuts and P.B. every year, the rest should stay good for a few years.


Breakfasts:

1.
½ box (family sized) grape nuts
1 box rice dream
Sugar cubes

2.
½ box grape nuts
1 box rice dream
Sugar cubes

3.
1/3 box wheatabix
1 box rice dream
Sugar cubes

4.
1/3 box wheatabix
1 box rice dream
Sugar cubes

5.
1/3 box wheatabix
1 box rice dream
Sugar cubes

6.
½ can mauna loa macadamias
1 can carnation sweetened condensed milk
1 can carnation evaporated milk
Mixed together

7.
½ can macadamias
1 can carnation sweetened condensed milk
1 can carnation evaporated milk
Mixed together

Lunches:

1.
2 cans starkist tuna
¼ (small) jar best foods mayo
1 can pears

2.
2 cans starkist tuna
¼ jar best foods mayo
Individual mott’s natural applesauce

3.
TLC Cheddar Crackers
¼ jar Jif P.B.
Individual Mott’s natural applesauce
4.
1 bag Rold Gold Honey Wheat braided pretzels
¼ jar Jif P.B.
1 (med.) can mandarin oranges

5.
½ box of Barbara’s Bakery Rite Lite Rounds
¼ jar Jif P.B.
1 can mandarin oranges

6.
½ box of Barbara’s Bakery Rite Lite Rounds
¼ jar Jif P.B.
1 can mandarin oranges

7.
3 cans Annies Bernie O’s

Dinners:

1.
“Haystacks”
Turkey with ¼ jar mayo mixed in
1 can Pineapple in it’s own juice
½ bag LaChoy noodles

2.
“Haystacks”
Turkey with ¼ jar mayo mixed in
1 can Pineapple in it’s own juice
½ bag LaChoy noodles

3.
1 bag Tostitos
1 can Rosaria vegetarian refried beans
1 can fritos mild cheddar dip
1 can (niblets taste good cold) corn
½ jar pace salsa

4.
1 bag fritos
1 can Rosaria vegetarian refried beans
1 can fritos mild cheddar dip
1 can corn
½ jar pace salsa

5.
1 can Turkey in water with salt
½ can mayo
1 box Late July Classic Rich crackers

6.
1 can Turkey in water with salt
½ can mayo
1 box Late July Saltine rounds
7.
Homemade Beef Jerky
Plain Pringles

Snacks:

1.
3 boxes cracker jack

2.
1 bag Ghiradelli chocolate chips (split between days for dinners too)

3.
6 containers of Horizon shelf stable strawberry milk

4.
Minute Maid Fruit punch juice boxes

5.
Minute Maid Fruit punch juice boxes

6.
David pumpkin seeds

7.
Plain Pringles


2 cases of WATER
Can opener

Optional, paper plates, paper bowls, paper cups, plastic forks, spoon, and knife.

(I’m thinking of a backpack to hold these items plus the juice boxes. That would make it much easier to eat on the run.)

I taped big orange signs to all the containers that say EMERGENCY FOOD AND WATER so we’ll know not to eat it in regular pantry rotation.

Remember to restock if you use a meal or two.

All but the wheatabix, and Barbara’s bakery crackers can be found at WALMART. You can sub more late July crackers and Post raisin bran if needed.