Since my friend asked:
My husband was stuck in the nearest major city due to bad, bad snow. My parents are here. I sent my kids to a friend's house so my mom and I could get pedicures. Then I did all the normal cleaning, cooking, and tending to kiddos that I do every other day.
Birthdays are not as special as they were when you were a kid. But hubby did get me the movie Amazing Grace, which is excellent, an iPod Shuffle for when I run, this cool picture frame that has all your downloaded digital pictures on it so that it changes periodically, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the book Made From Scratch, a memoir by Food Network star Sandra Lee. So I got cool stuff, but our plans were slightly altered since hubby was seriously stuck.
I have found the funniest book by Simms Taback. It's called Kibitzers and Fools. Taback has written many excellent children's books, including There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly and Joseph Had a Little Overcoat. Kibitzers and Fools is based on tales his Yiddish grandfather told him growing up. It's full of clever sayings, hilarious pictures, and great stories.
At the end of the book is a glossary of Yiddish words and what they mean: klutz-blockhead, (and my personal favorite) kibitzer-someone who knows it all and offers advice unsolicited.
I have a few kibitzers in my family who are currently visiting. The book has helped me to laugh about it instead of getting angry when my every move is scrutinized and suggestions are made as to how to do whatever I'm doing better or more efficiently.
He he, KIBITZERS. :)
A quotation from the book: Just because you can speak doesn't mean you make sense.
http://www.goingjesus.com/cavalcade1.shtml
Thanks to friend Joann over at http://joannsblogadventure.blogspot.com for this little tidbit. Oh boy.
p.s. now I have an icon for a hyperlink here in blogger on my Mac, but it doesn't seem to "take" when I go to publish the post. Sorry, sorry, so sorry.
I came up with this because it's the end of the month and I need to go grocery shopping. We had it for lunch and the kids devoured it. You can definitely fiddle with this to suit your taste. It'd be easy to turn up the heat by increasing the chipotle sauce. I even used corn tortillas I had previously frozen (Freezing them can make them hard to handle when they're thawed, but it made no difference for this recipe.).
8 corn tortillas
chili powder (enough to sprinkle onto the tortillas)
cooking spray
1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 cup frozen corn
1 tsp. chipotle sauce
2 tsp. lime juice
1 tsp. chili powder
1/4 cup salsa
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
light sour cream
Heat the oven to 400. Layer corn tortillas on a baking sheet. Generously coat with cooking spray and sprinkle with chili powder. Bake for 10 minutes or so until they begin to crisp up.
In a pan, heat remaining ingredients except the cheese. Top each corn tortilla with the black bean corn mixture. Top with cheese. Bake another 5-7 minutes or until cheese is melted and the tortillas are crispy on the edges. Serve with a dollop of light sour cream. YUM.
My sister-in-law has a beautiful home. Not only is it huge and adorably decorated, it's organized. So each year when I return from her house over the holiday, I am inspired to DO BETTER in my own home. So today I'm on a mission. A mission to make every nook and cranny orderly and my home more livable. I'm tossing stuff I never use or wear.
I'm also unpacking our disaster-area of a van. My trip to the Amish bulk foods store near some family resulted in certain little boys squashing a few bags of baking cocoa, poppy seeds, and brown flax meal in the car. Hubby's been a huge help today, and I hope he's as inspired as I am to make our lives more organized!
So off I go after chomping on an apple and getting a lot done. I'd better get busy before I get distracted by all you bloggers I like to read!
Thanks for the sweet comments, too, while I was away!
We've been visiting some extended family. They are wonderful, caring folks. Their children are sweet and fun. We've had some great food. Some good conversation. But the glaring differences in educational philosophy, child rearing, church preference, etc. appear to be glaring.
I'm the only one in my family who homeschools. I'm not militant about it at all. Yet, somehow I feel like my children are more scrutinized, criticized for their behavior. If one of the boys does something naughty, I always wonder if someone is thinking, "If those boys were in school, then they wouldn't do that." Or, "Gee, if THAT'S how homeschooled kids act, then I'm against homeschooling."
I worry that my family is the very imperfect, routinely mortifying poster children for the entire homeschooling movement in the eyes of my extended family. I hear how my nieces and nephews are straight A students, in plays, in sports, busy, busy, busy running to birthday parties and games and appointments.
Here's how our day typically goes:
Get up, do school, do chores, play some, eat, repeat, eat again, play, get ready for bed, do our very elaborate bedtime routine, then go to sleep, read a book, watch something on the internet or a Netflix, finish up chores. Do it all again tomorrow.
This does not make interesting holiday discussion. My life is boring. But would I want it any other way? My extended family rarely finds themselves all home for dinner. One brother in law is gone to another city for a few days each week. They are great people, who love each other and love the Lord.
But I just feel so different, not better, just different. I don't believe that God has the exact same plans for each family. I think I'd just like to be in the company of some likeminded people sometimes. I'm the only one at church, the only one with small kids in my entire remote town who homeschools, and the only one in my family, too.
Like a lot of bloggers, I'm gonna take the next week or so off, mostly because I'm out of town for the holidays and don't have a lot to say. Of course, now that I say that I'll get inspired...anyway...ta ta for now.
We know a couple who recently lost their 6 week old baby. In lieu of flowers, they asked that people donate to Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, an organization of volunteer professional photographers who take beautiful pictures of terminally ill babies and their families.
Check out their website and grab a box of tissues.
http://www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org/pageDisplay.php?page=3
I am NOT a fan of McDonalds. (I do love their fries, though.) I went as long as humanly possible to avoid exposing my children to their addictive happy meals. But I've found something I LOVE there:
The Asian Grilled Chicken Salad
I ate all of it. I devoured it. I went on and on while I ate it that I couldn't believe how GOOD it was.
I can't wait to eat it tomorrow. :)
Hubby insisted we experience Casa Bonita at least once. He'd gone about ten years ago. Here's the gist of it: You stand in line for a looooong time, order some nasty all you can eat Mexican food, pick it up at a counter, get seated in this huge dining room with a mariachi band playing, gaudy Mexican decor, Christmas lights on everything...all the while there are bad actors dressed up like pirates and cowboys and gorillas doing skits, cliff divers jumping into a pool of water below...skee ball, video games, face painters, on and on and on...
It's definitely something you do for your kids. In fact, while I was standing in the loooong line (think the roller coaster line in the heat of summer at an amusement park) comforting my fussy baby, I overheard a man say, "Now I know why I haven't been here in thirty years."
That just about sums it up.
By the way, say a quick prayer for sweet baby girl whose throwing up tonight. We have longer to drive tomorrow...Maybe it was the Casa Bonita nastita food?
