Tuesday, August 31, 2010

1. My trip to Denver last week was good. I’m glad to have met our field folks and to have a better idea of what it is they do exactly. They work hard and play harder. And that’s all I’m going to say about the play part. I was a mere observer.

2. I got home from the airport at 2am on Thursday night. Jesse woke me up at about 7am, “Mama’s home!” It was very good to be home and to hug and smell my kids. And Beau, too, of course.

3. We went to the Restoring Honor Rally in DC on Saturday. It was well worth the trek into the city with the other 500K or so people. It was much like the 9/12 March last year - everyone was courteous, enthusiastic, helpful. When we and the folks who sat around us left our spot, the lawns we left behind were clean of any litter. It’s pretty amazing, really.

4. Beau had parking lot duty at church on Sunday morning. I was barely functioning at that point. Fortunately, Molly took a 2-hour nap and Jesse was content to watch Spider-man cartoons on TV. I crashed on the sofa for a long time. I started to feel human again by about 2pm that afternoon, which was a good thing since Beau’s Bro stopped over for a bit to say Hi. (We were supposed to meet up with them on Saturday, but never found each other in the crowds.)

5. Beau’s Niece gets married on Saturday. Hurricane Earl should have passed into New England by the wedding, so that’s all good. Marmie is coming to spend the night with the kids so that Beau and I can go to the wedding sans children and enjoy a date night, of sorts. The wedding is at 7pm, so it’ll be a late night.

6. It’s ridiculously busy at work. Makes sense since it’s the end of the fiscal year. I think October might be as boring as it was for me when I first transferred over here in March, unless the Powers That Be pass the budget. And that’s not likely.

Monday, August 23, 2010

It’s been busy. It’s always busy - who am I kidding?

Things have gotten progressively busier at work - end of the fiscal year spending is in high gear. I finally got my work laptop on Friday. Now I should be able to work at home on occasion, which will be nice. It’ll get its first test run this week - I head for Denver this afternoon for a conference. I get back late on Thursday night. Pray for Beau’s patience as he’s home alone with the kids.

I’ve been busy getting ready for the Uncle Sam’s Niece Open House in mid-September. I now have 152 items listed in my Etsy shop. I don’t think I’ve ever had that much listed. My storage boxes are very full. It will be a challenge to get everything displayed this time, I think. Anyway, you can see the stuff in my shop using the banner in the sidebar.

The kids are good. Jesse is into tantrums lately - screaming/throwing things tantrums. He comes by that trait honestly - his parents’ tempers are not pretty either.

My home computer is being switched out for a “new” (hand-me-down) computer. Currently, there are 2 computers in my office here at home. Until the home network plays nicely, it may be like this for a while. I have a feeling Beau will be working on this all week while I’m gone. McAfee seems to be the culprit - the firewall - we’re reluctant to turn it off, but it looks like that’s what we’ll have to do. Such a pain.

And that’s about it. Things are normal and good.

Monday, August 09, 2010

I don’t know how many times we’ve actually done this in the 3 years that we’ve lived in this house, but we rearranged the living/dining/play area again. We’re in a townhouse, so the living-dining room is one big open space. But it’s a weirdly shaped space because of the entry, which is about 6 steps below the level of the main floor. Next to those steps is a short wall that cuts off the front section of the room, making it less than the full width of the house. The area that is supposed to be the dining area is the full width of the house, with the entry to the kitchen directly across from the front door. The kitchen runs along the back of the house, for the whole width. It’s actually a nice, large kitchen with an eat-in area that accommodates our table well.

Anyway, in the last rearrange, we had set up a play area for the kids in the dining space. They have a child’s desk with 2 chairs, a toy chest, a toddler sofa, and a plethora of toys and books. There is an entertainment armoir in that space that Beau was using for storage of the things he didn’t want little hands into on a regular basis - puzzles, the math flash cards, markers/crayons, Play-doh, etc. There were a bunch of large serving bowls stored in there, too.

What sparked the idea to rearrange yet again was Movie Night with Mama, in which Jesse and I would snuggle in the master bedroom to watch a movie together on the night’s Beau went to his small group Bible study. I got to the point where I started to think that we needed to reestablish the Mommy and Daddy’s room boundary with Jesse. But the only other kid-friendly place to watch TV was the kitchen and you can’t snuggle comfortably in a kitchen chair.

Our main TV has been in the basement since we moved into the house when Jesse was only 8 months old. We had our recliners down there and when it was just the two of us watching TV, it worked well. But now that Jesse is a regular watcher and Molly is headed in that direction, too, it was time to have a true family room. The basement is not child-friendly because of my jewelry-making bench - too many tiny bits and tools for little hands. I’d rather just keep the kids out of the basement all together.

So it was time to move the TV upstairs. But that meant clearing out the armoire and also rearranging the furniture in the main living area. I had thought that we’d only be moving the love seats and pew and the piano, but we ended up moving all but the armoire and the buffet. It took several hours and iterations, but I’m happy with the final placement of the furniture. And it only took a couple of hours to get the TV and accoutrements unhooked from their respective places and rehooked up into the armoire.

I moved the small TV that we had been using in the kitchen to the basement - it is now in my office/craft room. Beau’s recliner is in his office and mine has been moved to a new space more suited for it. Now I just need to rearrange the old TV area - there’s prime storage space there and it needs organizing. And then I can get my jewelry bench organized and my work desk cleared off for my new work laptop. I’m hoping to occasionally work from home again once that arrives and is imaged for the network.

We watched a movie in our new family room last night (The Lightning Thief, which was awful and only slightly resembled the book. Read the book instead, please). It was nice to snuggle with my honey at home on our sofa. We haven’t done that in a while.

Thursday, August 05, 2010

I found a recipe for crock pot black beans on Tasty Kitchen last weekend and decided to try it. In the process I modified it so much that it became my own recipe. It was delicious, so here it is for you.

Crock Pot Black Beans (and Rice)
serves 12

This is a crock pot dish that works well for overnight cooking. I start it at bedtime on Saturday night and it’s ready for lunch on Sunday.

For the black beans:
1 large onion, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
1 Tbsp minced garlic (or 3-4 cloves garlic, minced)
3 chipotle peppers, chopped
1 tsp adobo sauce from the can of chipotle peppers
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1 cup chicken stock, fat free, low sodium
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
3 cups dry black beans, rinsed
3 whole bay leaves
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne

Optional meat addition:
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (still frozen works best)
or 1 small (2-3 lbs) pork roast (still frozen works best)

For the rice:
3 cups uncooked rice
3.5 cups chicken stock

1. In a 6-quart crock pot, combine all of the ingredients except for the meat. Stir well to mix everything together. Then lay the chicken or pork on top of the bean mixture.

2. Cover and set the temp to LOW for 12 hours or until the beans are tender and most of the liquid is absorbed.

3. Remove the meat and either cut into chunks or shred. Return the meat to the pot and stir well to incorporate it into the beans. If your cooker has a Warm setting, reduce the heat to Warm at this point.

4. In a medium to large sauce pot, add your rice and chicken stock. Add a pinch of salt. Cover and bring to a boil. Once at a boil, reduce the heat to the lowest setting and let simmer for 15-20 minutes or until all of the liquid has been absorbed by the rice.

Serve the beans and meat over the rice. Add shredded cheese, sour cream, and/or guacamole as garnish. This would do well in tortillas, too, but might be a bit messy. Or even over crunched tortilla chips.

This is a spicy dish. If you can’t tolerate lots of spice, reduce the amount of chipotle and/or cayenne.

It does get spicier as it sits in the frig, too. But it’s really very tasty and super easy.

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

I am so unhappy about The Help movie, currently filming. There’s no way it can be even half as good as the book. I’m worried about what will be left out. And I’m worried about the casting.

On the good side, it looks like the women cast for Aibileen and Minny are actually very good. I love Viola Davis and I think Octavia Spencer will be a good Minny. However, I am not so sure about Skeeter and Hilly and while I think Alison Janney is brilliant, I think she’s too well known to play Skeeter’s mother. I think I might have cast Bryce Dallas Howard as Skeeter instead of Hilly.

I have a bad, bad feeling about this movie.

Tuesday, August 03, 2010

I fell in love with The Help by Kathryn Stockett in the first minute of listening.

I adore this book. I love everything about it. I listened to the audio version and I think that’s how this book should be read, especially because it’s written in first person in three distinct voices and that’s how it’s read - three narrators (really there’s a 4th, but she only reads this one little part that is written in 3rd person). To hear them read it is to hear them say it. It’s to hear their stories from their own lips. And it’s so beautiful. I laughed out loud. I shed tears. I came to love these bold, brave women - even the ones I loathe, if that makes sense. I am grateful to have read this wonderful book and I highly recommend it.

One note - I’m one of those readers who looks forward to reading the Acknowledgments and Epilogues and Dedications, too. Stockett’s Epilogue is as heart-rending as the novel and makes the entire reading that much more poignant.

Also, this is a book that I hope never gets made into a movie. NEVER.

The Help gets 5 stars out of 5.

Monday, August 02, 2010

Friday, July 30, 2010

I’ll be cleaning this over the weekend.

Needless to say, there was unhappiness and punishment over the art. He got spanked. Almost immediately after the spanking I regretted it, which made me more angry than the art on the chair. It was not a good night for me last night.

Anyway, on Facebook I received much encouragement and advice for how to clean the crayon off of the cushion. The best advice was to simply turn the cushion over, but only when company is coming over otherwise the kids have a new clean canvas. Hilarious.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Molly Ann goes in for her 15-month well check today. She turns 16 months on Friday. So we’re a little late, but that’s OK.

My main question is what does she weigh? She’s a solid little girl who loves her food, so I’m guessing over 30 lbs, but by how much? Beau is taking her this afternoon - I’m sad not to go, but I can’t take the time off of work.

In other Molly news:

1. She’s super cute. I mean, come on, look at that picture.

2. She’s super sweet. She loves to cuddle and be held. Sometimes that’s tough when we’re trying to do stuff, but generally we like it. She shares pretty well with Jesse so far. She headbutts the cat. When I leave for work, she blows kisses without using her hand. When I ask for a kiss she’ll lean her forehead in to receive a kiss from me.

3. She’s easy going. It must be the younger sibling thing. Although there are times when she gets aggravated by her brother, for the most part she goes along and gets along.

4. She walks with purpose. She doesn’t so much walk, really, as stomp. Each step is very deliberately placed and it’s not a stability thing. She plenty competent at the walking.

5. She eats pretty much anything we put in front of her. So far. That said, when she’s done eating there is no doubt about it - we get a firm wave off and often food goes flying off of her tray, too.

6. She’s trying to talk. If I listen closely, I can hear that her gibberish is starting to break up into segments, like words, but still undecipherable as actual words.

There’s so much more I could say about my Molly Ann. I love her to pieces and I’m grateful that God blessed us with her.

Jesse watched the Spider-Man DVD a few times yesterday. When I called in the afternoon to check in with Beau, I talked to Jesse and he was very excited about it. My own opinion of this particular DVD is that it’s not quite appropriate for a pre-schooler (it was probably made for Cartoon Network and is dated 2008). We’ll keep it for another day or two, until the latest DVD arrives in the mail.

I sent back the as yet unwatched The Young Victoria (I’ll re-rent it from Redbox later) in order to get one of the Super Friends DVDs that I mentioned yesterday. Once that arrives, I’ll send back Spidey for a much older cartoon version (there’s a series from 1967) that I’m hoping will be better suited for younger kids.

In any case, the boy is happy and there were no nightmares and that’s what matters.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Jesse’s latest obsession is Spider-Man. He has both Spider-Man and Batman underwear, but over the weekend he took to carrying around a pair of Spidey undies, excitedly reminding us that Spider-Man fights bad guys. I went into his room yesterday morning to find him laying on his bed with the undies on the pillow next to his head.

“Mama, will you get a Spider-Man book or movie from the library?” he asked me sweetly.

Needless to say I went on the hunt for an appropriate cartoon version of Spider-Man that wouldn’t be too scary for a 3.5 year old. I managed to find several DVD options on Netflix and added them to the queue. The good news on that is that they had just received a movie back so the next one was due to ship out yesterday. I managed to get Spidey on the list in time to ship and it should arrive today.

In the search I came across Super Friends, which I watched every Saturday morning and since he added Batman to his request last night, I have moved that DVD up the next slot in the queue. I figure to introduce all of the super heroes to the boy - Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

The past two weeks, a staff member at church has stood at the front explaining that one of our core values is persistent prayer. They each talked about how important prayer is in the life of our church. That small groups pray for one another, that folks can submit prayer requests via email or the website. And then each one left the stage without praying.

That small omission troubles me.

There is little corporate prayer in our church. Our pastor prays before and after his messages and the worship leader may pray a short bit during the music, but that’s it. There’s no prayer for one another, no prayer for our ministries, no prayer for our missions, etc.

If prayer is a core value of our church then why aren’t we praying? Why is prayer not being modeled more from the staff during worship services? Why do we not have any focused corporate prayer?

It troubles me.

Friday, July 23, 2010

We got a postcard for the National Sheep Dog Trials to be held in Winchester, VA in September. We kind of laughed about it, but I have been thinking about it and I think we should go for the finals on the 26th.

1. Jesse adores Babe. Granted he won’t see a sheep pig, but he’d still love seeing Babe lived out. Come on!

2. It’s not far from The New Homestead. I think Marmie and Pop should come, too.

3. It’s very reasonably priced - $12 per adult. Kids under 11 are free.

I want to go.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

I have a busy few months ahead.

August 23-27 - travelling to Denver for a work conference.

August 28 - Restoring Honor Rally in DC with Beau’s Bro and SIL.

September 4 - Beau’s cousin is getting married in Maryland.

September 11 or 12 - We may do the 9/12 March on DC like we did last year. Maybe. It’s looking less likely. And there are two events that weekend, which makes it more confusing.

September 17-18 - Uncle Sam’s Niece Open House for Bead on a Wire in Manassas, VA.

September 20-24 - travelling to Glynco, GA for work training.

October - may have training in DC.

November 12-13 - Tea For All Reasons Open House for Bead on a Wire in Winchester, VA. This is a good weekend since I’ll have 11/11 off for Veteran’s Day. It means I can use that day to get everything out to Winchester and set up my displays.

November - may have training in San Diego if we don’t do it in October in DC.

December - may have training in Las Vegas if we don’t do it in October or November.

Wow.