Kick Me

Remember those "Kick Me" signs from grade school?? You know, the ones that some poor unfortunate young kid had stuck on their back for half of the day while every other kid in school laughed at them until a kind soul finally removed it for them. Well, I think that the adult equivalent of those embarrassing grammar school signs is the "Pick Me" sign. Only this time, it is visible to everyone EXCEPT you and it causes people to ask you to volunteer for various jobs in the school that no one else wants to do. And I am absolutely convinced that I have one of these "Pick Me" signs stuck somewhere on my body because I have so far been asked to become the Room Parent Chair person (insert scary music here!!) and co-chair for our St. Patrick's Day Meal and Late Night Catechism show (insert more scary music here!!!). I know that there is more to come. I can feel people staring at me while they are planning what they can hit me up for next. They know about my inability to say "NO". If you ever wanted a perfectly good reason to home school, avoiding all of the "volunteering" business at private school is a REALLY good one. Trust me, I know. :)

40 days and 40 nights

Well, not quite, but we did have a very loooong stretch of rain and lots of flooding in our little area of the midwest. Things are finally returning to normal after all of the flooding last week. I have to say, with a very grateful and humble heart, that our house stayed high and dry while our neighbors weren't so lucky. The only thing that flooded in our yard was my poor poor garden. I have lots to clean up out there and I may have lost a great deal of my fall harvest. But at least everything else is fine in our house. I am DEFINITELY not complaining. I know many folks who were just not as lucky as we were.

Wherefore art thou

Lady RFH?? :(

I miss you! If you still have my email address, you can drop me a line if you would like. I hope that all is well.

I guess that I wasn't kidding

when I said that I was busy. Ugh!! But it has been a productive busy, so I will not complain about it at all. My kiddos started school this week, so I have been busy running them back and forth. I have also started training for my new position as Doris the Lunch Lady.....whoops, I mean Lunch Room Facilitator (??!!??) at school. (Yes, that really is the official politically correct term for my position. Yes, it confuses me too so I can't imagine how all of the kids feel!) I have just have to say that at this moment in my life I feel so very blessed. How many people can say that they have a crucifix on display (or any other sort of religious object for that matter!) in the room where they are working? We have a beautiful crucifix hanging right there in the kitchen. Talk about a pleasant working environment!! I have the blessing of having work hours that are flexible and compatible with my children's needs. I ended up making more per hour than I thought that I would. I got the surprise of a lifetime when I was told that I would also receive a tuition discount just because of my employment. Blessings abound and I am so humbled when I think about the many good things that have been happening to me. As I mentioned before, it has been a good busy. :)

On another note, I have found the ultimate Christmas album! (Please note heavy sarcasm.) I must own this, despite the fact that it makes me seem both old and insane. Monster Ballads Xmas will be playing in our house this holiday season, even if hubby and I have to wait until after the kiddos are asleep to listen to it. I have to purchase it just for the laughs and inspite of the fact that the word 'xmas' really gets under my skin. Just a warning: don't click on the link if kiddos are in the room. The website has been known to have some questionable language on it every now and then. The 'comments' section is the worst. And please forgive me for my musical taste............... :)

I'm still here.....

Just busy. Everything in the garden is coming in at once, and I also have to put my transplants in the ground. I planted my second round of fall harvest carrots yesterday. I have also frozen 10 completely full quart bags of carrots and eight completely full quart bags of broccoli. Today I am working on making more sauce out of my tomatoes.

Add this to the fact that we have to fully replace our bay window and we have got lots of stuff going on this week. Our big bay window failed over this past winter. The seals broke and now we have so much condensation between the panes that it just drips down all the time. It's horrible, so we are going to have to get it fixed before winter. I don't even want to talk about how much it is going to cost. It's a big window and that equals big bucks. Sigh. We have to fix it, so I guess that I'm just going to try to be happy that I get a pretty new window out of the deal. Unfortunately, I am very practical. I am happier when my old things keep working than I am when I get new things. Guess that I am crazy that way.

Ahhhhhh, the joys of home ownership!

You know that you have reached a new level

of Maturity (a.k.a. oldness) when you do not attend a big free summer concert event like this year's OzzFest because you have Other Things To Do. Grown up things, like work. We had tickets and pretty good seats even though they were free. But we couldn't go because my DH had to attend various meetings all day long yesterday with people like his Area President and such. Folks who are pretty high up there on the list of People Who Are Very Important in the company that hubby works for. There was NO WAY that he could sneak out early or take a personal day. So Ozzfest had to take a back seat to making a living and advancing DH's career. Maybe it's better that way. At our age we probably seem so out of it to most of the kids there that we are either the pathetic old geezers reliving our Glory Days (Party On Wayne!!) or we are the narcs. Since when did your 30s become so old?

But hey, Ozzy's in his 50's and still rockin'. I guess there is hope.

My favorite BBQ Sauce

In the area of the country where we live, a good BBQ entree just HAS to have sauce. I don't mean to downplay my southern friends with their wonderful rubs and slow cooking. That style BBQ is also incredibly tasty! I just love a good sauce to slather on everything from ribs to boneless, skinless chicken breasts while they are slow cooking on the grill. I can't help it, it's the Midwest Girl in me. I'm not a big fan of bottled sauces but I will use them in a pinch. I prefer to keep all of the ingredients that I need on hand for this tasty, easy to make BBQ sauce. My family loves it!!

KitKat Crew's Favorite BBQ Sauce:

1/2 cup Ketchup
1/3 cup cider vinegar (definitely not white vinegar!!)
1/4 cup molasses
3 tablespoons Dijon Mustard (My preference is Grey Poupon (sp?) Country Style Dijon, but feel free to use your fave.)
1 teaspoon hot sauce (I use Tabasco brand, and more of it. We like heat.)
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3 garlic gloves - minced (I use 4 because we love garlic)

Simmer all of the ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat until reduced to about 1 1/4 cups, apx. 5 - 7 minutes.

Baste your lovely grilled items with lots of sauce during the last 5 minutes or so. The sugar will burn if you put it on too soon. I always season my meat before grilling with salt, pepper, and my favorite BBQ rubs.

This sauce also makes a great topping for a pulled pork BBQ Sandwich. Yummy!

Unused sauce that you have not dipped your basting brush into can be stored in your refrigerator for about a week. But we rarely have any left.

~
It is supposed to be hot and sunny here this weekend, so we plan on swimming and grilling all weekend long. :) Hope that you all have a great weekend!

Following The Path

I have always had an unshakable faith in God. I know that sounds proud or perhaps boastful, but I really don't mean it that way. I feel so strongly about this because there have been so many times in my life where I have truly felt God's hand guiding me. This has happened so often that it has become impossible for me to ever doubt his existence for one split second. It's both strange and comforting to me. To put the scope of my belief into words and explain all of the reasons why I believe in God would require much too long of a post. So, let's just say that I believe and I simply have no time to listen to atheistic arguments. A faith free life may work for some folks, but it just doesn't cut it for me.

Sometimes in my life, the reasons for choosing a certain path have been so clear that I could not deny what I needed to do. Other times, my head was fighting what I knew in my heart to be the correct choice so I had to decide on faith alone. I have been presented with another choice recently, one that my head is fighting but I am going to again follow where I feel that God is leading me because it just feels so right. I have been given the opportunity to work part time for the lunch program at my children's school. It is VERY part time, approximately 10 hours a week and only 2 days. Gas and grocery prices have been placing such a burden on our budget. I have cut and stretched as much as I know how, but we still feel the pinch.The apx 4 hrs a day that I would be working would never interfere with being there for my children because it would be while they are in school. When school is out I would be off work, so no childcare issues would pop up. I would be off all summer, Christmas and Easter Break, and on those miscellaneous days off that pop up during the school year. It really is just too perfect to pass up. It's just a little bit of extra money for us at a time when it would really help, but without all of the common dual income stresses that we desperately try to avoid. It is truly an answer to the silent prayer that I have been saying over the last few months as gas and food prices have kept going up and money has stayed the same. In a perfect world, I would not have to think about these things but the world just isn't even close to perfect. God has presented me with an option that will help get us back on track without it being too painful. He is so good!

Making a little bit of extra money for my family is nothing new to me. Since my oldest DD was born almost 9 years ago I have had little ventures here and there to help increase cash flow. I have babysat, written a food review column for our local paper, and worked for the before and after care program at my DD's previous school. Each one seemed to magically fit into our lifestyle at that time (with the exception of the before and after care job). This is just another example of how things just seem to work out with a little faith and a little patience. It's been a difficult decision for me but I feel like I again have to follow the path that I am being led down.

SLUGS!

I have found that nothing attracts slugs to my garden quite like my delicious everbearing strawberries as soon as they begin to ripen. Now it's time to go open "KitKat's Bar" in the strawberry patch so that I still have some hope of having a great harvest. It has truly been a slug's delight here lately: stiffling humidity, lots of rain and soaking wet soil, and strawberries that are just starting to ripen. Now I just need to give those slugs some beer in little cups that I sink into the soil so that they have something else to think about besides those lovely strawberries. They love the beer so much that they just drown themselves in it. I guess I should be sad that they fall into the cup and die, but it's really hard to mourn something that will take a bite out of every single strawberry in the patch. That's my job....... :)

Harvest Time!

First of all, Thanks so much to everyone who left me a nice "Feel Better" message. :) I am feeling better now. I went a very long stretch of time without having frequent migraines that good 'ol Advil Migraine wouldn't relieve. It appears that my luck has run out as I have had several in the past few months. I am going to start taking feverfew again (I used to take it, but I quit for many years), and I think that I am going to add the herbs that Lady of the RFH mentioned, too. I used to know someone who practiced acupressure massage, and that REALLY worked for me. But alas, I have moved away from the area where he lived so I think that I am going to pick up a book about the subject and learn how to work on myself.

Moving on to a happier subject: It's Harvest Time!! Well, it's Summer harvest time for some of my veggies. Last night I pulled 10 carrots from the garden and had enough for our meal PLUS two half full quart bags of carrots to freeze for the winter. And I still have about 60 more carrots to pull. I don't know what Vessey's does to their seeds, but I have never had such big (actually HUGE) carrots. I have to really work to get those monster carrots out of the ground!

My DH found some metal border fencing on clearance at Target. He used this to cover the space between the fence around our yard and the ground in some areas where the fence and the ground didn't meet up very well. This was where we believed that our little intruder was entering the yard from. We used to have some plastic fencing there, but our intruder could just push that right over and still get through. This metal fence seems to finally be doing the trick. I haven't had any tomato raids in the last few days. And I am finally getting some ripe tomatoes back on the very pathetic looking vines. The intruder may have worked over the plants and made them look quite nasty, but they are still producing fruit. I planted the Big Tom variety that I ordered from Vessey's and they have proven to be quite strong and very delicious. Definitely a keeper variety. Thy also make a great spaghetti sauce. That's what we had for dinner on Saturday. I hoping for enough fresh tomatoes that I can make a big batch of sauce and freeze it for the winter.

I have some onions, jalapenos, and cilantro coming in as well, so I am going to be busy making fresh Salsa once the jalapenos are fully mature. I also have some green peppers that are busy growing. Hopefully those will be ready soon. I'm looking forward to some stuffed green peppers for dinner. I am also going to freeze some so that I have them for winter.

My cauliflower has had a rough year. It started out too hot in the spring, so the heads didn't mature correctly. I am hoping that fall is much kinder to my cauliflower. It's hard to grow cauliflower, but it is SO worth it when you succeed. My broccoli is side shooting like crazy, so I am hoping to be able to freeze enough to last all winter. The cucumbers that I ordered from Vesseys are growing like crazy. We are eating tons of cucumber salad. (3 peeled & sliced cucumbers, 1 sliced onion, 1 cup of white vinegar, 1 cup of sugar, & 3/4 cup water. Mix together. Add a dash of salt and pepper to taste. I also add some fresh parsley if I feel like it. Refrigerate a few hours or overnight. Yummy!)

Needless to say, I am going to be busy in the garden over the next few days. I need to tidy up and weed, plant more carrots for fall, plant more onions, make room for the pumpkins, and start to put up my harvest for the winter. If I am scarce for a day or so, that is why. :)

Hope that everyone has a GREAT week!!

Ouch!

I have a relentless migraine today, so no bloggy time for me. :(

AND

I also have a garter snake, which I just found out about the hard way. I don't like snakes much, but he's good for the garden so I guess he stays. I'm having a rough morning in the garden.

My fortress didn't work.......

and apparently WHATEVER it is thinks that it really likes tomatoes but actually does not. I say this because it pulled off, bit into, and discarded every tomato that had a chance of turning red during this very hot but perfect for tomato ripening week that we are having. Oh the PAIN!! Those toms were prize winners. At least that is what my hubby told me. ;) And my Father, the tomato grower extraordinaire who I learned everything about growing tomatoes from, is coming out to visit this weekend. My original plan was to present him with some pretty red tomatoes to take home since he, at age 71, does not garden like he used to but still loves a good tomato. And he's picky. Now I just get to present him with green tomatoes and broken, yes broken, tomato plants. Apparently my garden visitor is nimble enough to jump a 3 ft fence, finicky enough to have to try EVERY tomato in order to find the perfect one, and a bit of a man handler. (Now I'm thinking it's a racoon.)

Mr. Whatever you are, if you are going to steal my tomatoes please at least leave the plant alone so that I can grow more. Be gentle, please! You are just breaking my little heart. And I am leaving the dog outside ALL NIGHT long this time.......

At least I got rid of the powdery mildew. Sigh.

No More Mrs. Nice Gal!

I had a BEAUTIFUL tomato on my plant yesterday. It just needed a day to reach peak ripeness, so I left it there with the intention of picking it this morning. I went to my garden this morning and discovered that my lovely tomato had been cruelly ripped off the vine, bitten into and discarded by something. My guess is either racoon or opossum. Either way, I am off to my garden to strengthen the fencing around my veggies.

No more free lunch, Mr. Whatever You Are! You have been plundering my garden for long enough. You are now officially on my list! I have a husky, and I'm not afraid to use her. (Actually, I am afraid to use her. But I sound really scary, don't I?)

A Quick Post

Is it just me, or is this summer just flying by?? I swear that we have been so busy every weekend. Today my kiddos went to a birthday party while I played "hostess" at church to the folks who were getting their pictures taken for our new directory. Tomorrow we go to church and then over check up on Grandma. (Who is going over to one of her friends condo tonight to play cards, by the way. Hear that sound?? Yep, it's me beating my head against the wall. But I guess that you should enjoy every moment of your life, even at age 87 when you just had a stroke a week ago.............Sigh.)

I lost some of my spring peas to powdery mildew. That is my garden scourge. So, I am just going to hurry outside rightnow, cut down all of the rest of my little peas, put down some fresh peat moss, and plant my peas for fall. In case anyone does any gardening, don't pull up peas when they are dead. Cut them down at ground level and leave the roots. Legume roots are nitrogen rich, so they add nutrients to the soil. :) That's my garden tip of the day!

Have a great weekend!

A fun tag and a Grandma Update:

I have been tagged by Lady RFH for a "Random Things about Me" list. But before I get into that, I just have to tell everyone that Grandma actually got to go home from the hospital yesterday. :) She seems to have suffered some damage to her facial muscles, but the CAT scans are not showing any other signs of damage. She's still a bit physically weak, but she should improve slightly over the coming weeks. She has an appointment with her doctor next week, and that is when they should let us know if she needs any physical therapy, etc. I guess that any lingering damage takes some time to show up. I'd like to send out a big thanks to everyone who said a prayer for her. She was very fortunate that there was not more damage.

And without any further delay ~

Random (and perhaps boring) things about ME:

1. My favorite candy bar is NOT a KitKat bar, although I do enjoy them a lot. I'd have to go with Snickers or Payday if I had to pick a favorite candy bar.

2. My favorite color is GREEN, and my hubby hates green. It does make decorating the house a bit of a compromise. But at least my garden is green, so I win there. ;)

3. Most of my friends have switched their music preference to Country, but I just can't let the whole Metal/Rock chick thing go. I can listen to all types of music, but when I am left to my own preferences I always go back to the rock. It's in my blood and I am pathetic.

4. But I do have a soft spot for Country. I was raised on it. If I had to pick some favorite current artists, I would have to go with Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, and Toby Keith. In the "Old School" category, I have a secret love of all things Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn.

5. Falling under the rock chick category: I have always wanted to do a cartwheel across two Jaguars while wearing a white dress. (Ladies of a certain age KNOW where I got that idea from.) ;) But at this point in my life, it's just not worth the hospital bills.

6. I studied to become a psychologist in college. I was going to change the world and help people. I never got my degree because I got married and then became pregnant with my oldest DD shortly after our wedding.

7. If I were to go back to college, it would NOT be for psychology. I no longer believe that the discipline of psychology is beneficial to society as a whole. Don't get me wrong, there are LOTS of wonderful people in the field of psychology who do many great things to help people on an individual level. Without these dedicated professionals, many people would be left to suffer with the effects of mental illnesses like depression, etc. But I also believe that the idea that we are somehow slaves to our genetic programming and abnormal impulses has done society as a whole much more harm than good. Certain aspects of psychology have become part of the liberal agenda, and I cannot participate in something that I don't believe in. OK, I am stepping off of my soapbox now...........

8. My mom and many of my relatives on her side of the family suffer from depression, other types of mental illnesses, and thyroid disease. That is the reason why I wanted to pursue a degree in psychology.

9. I have been a stay-at-home Mom for 9 years and I no longer know what I want to be when I grow up. ;) But I do dream of working as a home health care worker for the elderly if/when I need to return to the work force. I guess that I have a strong need to take care of people.

10. Sometimes I think that I want another baby, but sometimes I think that I am just too old now (even though I'm really not that old). So I'm leaving it up to God.

11. I have never travelled outside of the United States. That's going to change.

This post is officially too long now, so I am going to get back to cleaning my house. Hope that everyone has a wonderful day.

I'm Back!

Our family enjoyed some wonderful vacation time with my DH. We had a long list of home improvement goals that we swore we would accomplish, but we didn't finish a thing. Oh well, I have plenty of time to try to get stuff done before the kiddos start school again. Better start typing up that To-Do list. :)

Switching gears, we ended our 10 day vacation time with my hubby by going to visit his Grandma. Grandma is in her upper 80s and lost Grandpa to cancer a little over 18 months ago (after almost 65 years of marriage), so she lives alone in a nice condo close to my hubby's mother. Long story short, after we arrived at her condo we quickly discovered that she had suffered a stroke sometime over the weekend. Based on the info that we gathered from her and her neighbor, we think that she woke up on Friday morning with the symptoms. But she didn't tell us or my hubby's mom until we arrived on Sunday. :( DH's mom talked to her on the phone several times between Fri and Sun, but she didn't say anything. Hubby talked to her on Saturday, but she didn't say anything. Her neighbor tried to get her to go to the hospital, but she wouldn't go. But she went shopping, got her hair done, and went to church. UGH!!!! We finally convinced her to go to the hospital. She's still there and they are running tests to try to find out the extent of the damage and whether or not she has a clogged artery. So, if you wouldn't mind offering up some extra prayers it would be greatly appreciated. I think that she has become lonely (even though she refuses to move in with any of us) and scared since Grandpa has passed and she just doesn't know how to take care of herself anymore. It just breaks my heart.

To my dear Lady RFH: I have been having some email trouble and I think that I somehow lost the email that you sent me. I am working to recover it (hopefully!) and email you back. I'm so sorry ~ I didn't want you to think that I forgot about you or was ignoring you. :( Blogger almost didn't let me log in today. It said that my email didn't exist. It's some weirdo problem that I can't figure out. If I can't get it , I'm going to make hubby take a look at it. ;)

Well, that's all that I have time for today. Hope that everyone had a great weekend. I'm off to catch up on reading some blogs, etc.

UPDATE: It's about noon here and I just found out that Grandma's carotid artery is fine. God is so good!

Moving on....

I just wanted to let everyone know that I probably will be a bit scarce next week. My beloved hubby actually gets to take some vacation time next week, and I really plan to enjoy this extra time with him. I'm going to be spending today and tomorrow preparing to be able to take it easy on the home front. So I am getting off of the computer RIGHT NOW.

Thanks to everyone who has been so kind to me! :)

I Just Have to Say This

about THIS. She has in the past encouraged a reader to leave Chick Tracts around such as "Why is Mary Crying" and she is studying a book about the history of the Bible promoted by the Chick website. (I don't believe that you will be able to find the post about leaving tracts because I think that she removed links to her archives.) From the little that I have been able to read (only because I just can't stomach it) by Jack Chick and his other promoted authors on the Chick website, I got the impression that Ms. Brauer gets a great deal of her ideas from Chick publications and from other various websites and publications that are inspired by this kind of mindset. THAT is the reason why I included the link about Jack Chick in my post, not because I thought that her link led readers to the website or anywhere similar. She seems to be refuting my impression about the origin of her convictions, so I guess I will leave it at that.

I STILL don't get the Muslim Messiah thing. But a kind reader told me that Jack Chick says that the Catholic Church founded Islam to draw more people away from Christianity. Maybe that is what she means.

I rarely believe EVERYTHING that is presented to me by the media. I usually find the news to be very biased, especially against anything to do with Christianity. (And I am including the RC Church in this statement!) The Papal decree was not presented in its entirety by the conventional news media. The media only gave the public a small snippet of what the document actually says and, in my humble opinion, picked only the parts that would upset non-Roman Catholics the most. Christianity is at its weakest when it is fighting amongst itself. Please read this: What the Vatican Really Said to get the whole story. You may not agree with what the document says, but at least you will have the complete story.

At least Ms. Brauer seems to have something against all Protestant denominations, too. I guess that I can't win either way. ;)

And my comment didn't make the cut. It got twisted instead. Sigh.

I'm going to let this go now

because it certainly won't get me anywhere. But I am going to put this comment up here just in case it doesn't get published. Or in case it gets twisted if it does get published.

This is my my Response to a comment left on yesterday's post on Keeping the Home web page. I sent this in today. Let's see if it makes the cut. Hmmm.... Do you smell that? It's gasoline. And I am the crazy girl who just dumped it on the open flame. Why do I do this to myself??

----------------------------

Patty ~ I asked Candy a question without being mean and responded on my blog because Candy has a reputation for only allowing certain comments to be published. You asked why people who disagree come back. I can't answer for others, but I come back because I think that people can say whatever they want without the use of slanderous propaganda such as Chick Publications. I was raised as a Protestant and I have NEVER encountered anything like this until I started using the Internet. The nastiness that is shown in the name of love to whole group of fellow Christians just blows me away. Of course, I know that many folks don't think that Roman Catholics are Christians so I guess that makes it OK to lie about them and what they believe. ?

Candy's bible knowledge is very strong. I disagree with her interpretation of many things, but she is free to believe what she wants and I will not argue with her. She is my sister in Christ. It is the use of inflammatory literature apart from the Bible that I question her on. Please do not misunderstand that. You can make your point without using little comic books and web sites that are viewed by many people as controversial at best.

Have a wonderful day!
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I'm letting this go. Really, I am. I just had to say my peace. Can't we all just get along? Peace and love, man, peace and love. We are never going to get anywhere if we keep fighting each other. It's so sad really. Christians could make such a difference in this world, but we look so silly when we do this to each other. We look especially silly when we use such inflammatory rhetoric to blast each other. It just saddens me and sickens me all at the same time. (Sigh)

Updated to add: Oops! I didn't let it go. See above post.