One dish meals by default

My days are not just very full, they are insanely full. I attempt to do in a day, what I used to do in a week. So by the time I need to start preparing dinner, I occasionally stop short of the mark.

Case in point, Tuesday night this week i began mentally putting the meal together as I looked for ingredients. Rice, butter beans, yellow squash and salmon fillets (my brother brought these over a couple weeks ago and put them in the freezer). In short order the rice was cooking, and then I diced an onion, got it sauteing, cracked open the two cans of butter beans, and then drifted over to my computer. I was immediately and entirely absorbed in shooting off email replies, and quite frankly forgot I was wife and mother, much less in the midst of dinner prep.

Somehow through the fog of business I heard Jon's truck rumble into the driveway, and glanced up. Uh, oh. Dinner. I raced to the stove, dumped the butter beans into the pan of onions, checked the rice, and decided who needs salmon. I called everyone to the table, put the rice and beans on, and in walked Jon.

Honestly, I thought Jon was going to say something in the way of complaint. Even I felt like a farmer's wife post civil war, spooning out starvation rations of butter beans and rice. On the bright side, just looking at the food gave one less of an appetite. Much to my shock Jon made absolutely no comment about dinner, and then asked for seconds!

I was puzzled. But the man looked exhausted, and quite frankly, I couldn't even remember the last time we got more than 6 hours sleep, so I decided he wasn't fully conscious of what he was eating.

The next day when everyone sat down to dinner, Jon looked the meal over and said, "At least it isn't butter beans and rice." I laughed and laughed. Last night's dinner was really a winner. Noodles, chunks of chicken, broccoli and cheese in a savory sauce. No salad or rolls on the side, but as Jon said,"Not only is this not butter beans and rice, it's actually yummy!"

Good thing I locked the door

When my dad was here for 8 weeks, one of the things he did was to replace the locks in the front and back doors. Jon and I weren't exactly sure where a house key was located, and we never locked the house anyway. This concerned dear old dad. Once he had put in the new locks, he gave us keys and told us to keep the doors locked.

So now I always lock the doors when I leave the house. Yesterday afternoon I was fumbling at the front door with Vivian in my arms, and Gabriel hanging on my leg, trying to get my keys out of my purse, dropped the keys, picked them up, got the key into the lock, and then still holding Vivian and trying to maneuver around Gabriel pulled the door to me and turned the key. Once in the house, I breathed a sigh of relief, put Vivian down and walked into into the den. I realized that the bathroom light was on, and someone was clearly in there.

Knock, knock. "Who's in there," I ordered. "It's me, mom," said Charles. I was amazed. "How in the world did you get into the house?" I asked. "Well, I tried the front door and it was locked, so I ran around to the back door."

Good thing I locked the front door.

A Funeral

Last Thursday morning a dear friend died suddenly from a heart attack. The memorial service was Monday night. Jon had school right after work, and then a session meeting following that, so I dressed the kids up and hauled everyone to Gainesville for the service. It was about 5:45pm when we left the house. I hadn't had time to feed everyone with the hassle of cleaning them up and pulling on suits, etc.

We arrived at the church a little after 7, and the place was packed. It was standing room only, but fortunately the ushers found us a place in the "cry room". A cry room is a room attached to the sanctuary where you can see and hear but cannot be seen or heard. Very nice when church training your little people.

After the service, the front doors were thrown open and there in the front yard, under canopies, a supper was laid out. My clan didn't care about the food, they wanted to go play with all the kids. This was a small congregation, but lots of kids- 9 babies were born this summer, just to give you an idea. My children had such a great time. Gabriel found a happy home at the beverage table where he was ladled cup after cup of apple juice. He was in apple juice heaven. Vivian was not happy at all, being condemned to being in my arms the entire time when she wanted to wriggle free and explore the place.

Finally at 10pm I rounded them up and sent them to the car two at a time. My girlfriend was riding with us back home, and just as she was about to get into the Suburban, she let out a shriek. "Do you know what your son has?" she asked me. I said no, but I could take a guess- perhaps a lizard? It was a very large toad, and the grin on Charles face was priceless. My girlfriend let him know that he was not to let it loose in the car, very nicely. I was just hoping the thing wouldn't pee on Charles' blazer.

As we drove out of the parking lot and onto the road, the children chorused," Thanks, mom, for taking us to the funeral." My girlfriend looked at me and said," You really have to get out more."

Another great camping trip

We just got back from a camping trip south of Atlanta to High Falls State Park. We arrived Friday early afternoon and left Sunday early afternoon. This time we had a spot right next door to our good friends. Between us there were 10 kids, ages: 11 (Jonathan turned 11 on Oct. 10th), 9,7,6,5,4,3,3,2,1. It was a wonderful trip, and the kids were very excited because as they said, they had their friends all "planned" out.

We had one scare when Oliver was commanded to stay with Elsa (he had wanted to go into the woods to hunt for fire wood with the older kids), and separately Elsa was commanded to stay near camp. Oliver convinced Elsa that they should go to the woods together, and off they went, undetected by the adults. Maybe 10 minutes later we realized they were gone, and more than 20 minutes later the kids were found. It was a bit on the disconcerting side.

The kids also went prowling around for wildlife. They reported that there was a black widow in the bathroom. I didn't believe it and rolled my eyes scoffing. After all, I had seen all the really massive spiders on the last trip-nothing to write home about. So they decided to catch the very much alive and rather large black widow on a stick and brought it to camp proudly- they meaning, Jonathan, Pierce, Caroline, Oliver and Charles. For some reason Adelaide and Elsa were not around at that moment. Yes, they had my undivided attention as the huge spider leisurely strolled back and forth across the very short stick, which Jonathan held with equal nonchalance. I took things in charge, put stick and spider on the ground, and stomped until the big spider was a small dirty mass- hardly recognizable as a spider much less black widow. I think let them know that for future reference, leave poisonous spiders alone!

The kids had a blast and the adults found it nice to have 4 pair of eyes watching out for the little ones. Vivian enjoyed exploring, and because of the way the camp sites were laid out, steered clear of the road for the most part.

The nights were cold, so on night two we tried out the heater- it was wonderful! And the noise of the fan kept the kids sleeping a lot longer. I decided that was well worth missing out on the forest noises.

I cooked in my dutch ovens over the fire- Chicken, veggies and biscuits on night one, and a pot of trailside beans to go with hotdogs on night two. Night one I didn't start cooking until about 6pm, when I should have really begun at 4. Our friends next door had decided on freeze dried lasagna which required boiling water and that was it. Their family was eating LONG before our family. Oliver said,"Man, I want to move in with the Loechls because then I'd be eating already." The Loechls had even finished off their dessert of Raspberry Crumble before we sat down to eat. But when you make the tribe wait so long to eat, they eat without complaint. We polished off an entire chicken (cut into 8 pieces) and 8 extra drumsticks, besides a pile of sauteed vegetables and biscuits. Of course we had pancakes and bacon for breakfast both mornings. It is our camping tradition now.

Although on Friday and Saturday nights I did scrub the children's feet, hands and faces, I didn't give them baths because it really was quite cold - 48 degrees. Tonight I put them in the tub (the three younger ones), and noticed the Johnson bottle read- "gentle mild soap". I scrubbed away at very dirty little bodies and figured I should keep Lava Soap on hand for these occasions.

Charles pants were so dirty after two hours this morning, it was remarkable. I couldn't figure out how the child could have so much dirt on his clothing. I just sat and watched him for awhile, and then noticed that he would kick off his Crocs, run around in the dirt for a little while, then rub his feet off on his pant legs, and put his Crocs back on. When I stain treated the pants tonight, literally there may have been a few square inches of cloth that didn't need to be treated.

We were all sad to come home. Jon and I just about have this camping thing down to a science. A few minor changes, and I think things will be perfectly streamlined. We are all a little sad that our next trip isn't until December, but we'll be camping for two whole weeks. Hurrah!

Food, Glorious Food

After 6 weeks of dreadful pain in my jaw, neck, shoulders, etc., and not eating much, I finally went to see my neuromuscular therapist. I should go every 6 weeks, but didn't go all summer, and things hit a real low by early September. My doctor worked me into his Saturday schedule this past weekend, and worked on me for over an hour and a half. It was quite painful, and I went home and sat around with ice on my face and neck for awhile. But Sunday and today I actually ate three meals! Hurrah! I have another session tomorrow morning, and then every Tuesday for awhile, until I'm pain free.

My doctor, after working on me Saturday, gave me a bit of a lecture. He had no idea how I could even be functioning, except that I'm rather tenacious. Me? :-) The reason I need all this therapy? When I had the joyful option as a teenager of having my jaw broken, reset, and wired shut for six weeks, or live with minor jaw issues, I opted for the later. However, apparently as I grow older, the problem is becoming more pronounced.

I am feeling much more cheerful and patient. So if anyone out there has bad news, or a really stupid question, now is a good time!

This is where the pictures would be!

For some reason, every time I attempt to upload images on this blog for the past three days, the mechanism freezes up. Aaarrrgggghhh. Are you sensing my frustration? Where are you Curtis?

Today Oliver and Charles were in the backyard searching high and low for lizards. They found a particularly large and fiesty one, and oh, how they tried to catch him. But he proved too fast. Later Oliver mourned the loss in the kitchen. "Mom, I'm verwee sad that the wizard got away. He was going to be my most favorite pet wizard. He willy, willy was."

I looked into his sad eyes. "But Oliver, where would you have kept him?" Oliver thought about that. "He could live with the frogs." I'm guessing that the lizard is not sad to be safe in the wild rather then up to his eyeballs in frog water.

I'd say overall, Oliver had a rather happy day. He painted, drew his letters, learned the number 3 and letter E, watched cartoons, played with his blocks, hunted lizards, and after dinner, took a walk in the moonlight. His one remaining sorrow at bedtime was that there had been no dessert after dinner.

A Sad Day....maybe

My dad has been with us for 7 1/2 weeks. He's been discussing his near departure for the last 3 weeks. But I think that he's finally going. He's been packing up his van with focused determination for the last 3 days. And I just looked out the the front windows and even the bike is positioned on the back. I think that he's serious this time. He's really going.

I'm rather sad that he's going. First and foremost it will be a huge shock to the system. Since I'm a full time pro-life activist without a pay check (www.prolifeunity.com is the website to check out some of my activities), I teach the kids school the first half of the day and then work at my desk and on the computer the second half of the day. So when exactly do I grocery shop, dishes, laundry, bathrooms, etc. Good question. Not sure yet how I'm going to fit that in.

Dad arrived late July, and there was suddenly always milk, OJ and cereal in the house, besides mountains of fresh fruit. Also, dad runs the washer and dryer, is home (unless he's at the hardware store), so I was free to run a quick errand, attend meetings, and take the older kids to their classes without throwing 6 kids in the car. (My apologies for that last sentence. I'm rather tired, and it is rare for me to update this blog twice in one week anyway). My husband is back in school,which means that Monday thru Thursday I don't see him until the kids are in bed. So dad is a serious stress reliever.

Now there are certain characteristics my dad and I have that would bring an element of relief in our parting ways. The chief of these is our light preferences. Yes, I'm talking of the number of burning bulbs in the house. I dislike artificial light. Period. Early in the morning, I need darkness until I've had a couple mugs of coffee, and I have things in motion for the day. My dear old dad on the other hand, gets up at 4:30 in the morning, and has every light in the upstairs from his bedroom to the bathroom down the hall, blazing. What he does at that time, I don't know, because he doesn't shower until about 5:30. By 6 he is in the kitchen ready to fire up the blender in order to produce his all time favorite breakfast, his elixir of life. What is in the elixir of life? That is not important. What is important is that every single solitary light in the downstairs blazes forth in all its glory. I've decided that for a long term living arrangement, I need to wear sunglasses, and dad needs a splunker helmet- you know the one- it has a big bulb attached to the front of the helmet. This way everywhere dad looks (which is hopefully not at me) he will enjoy full spotlight coverage.

Jon left for Chicago last weekend and returned at about midnight Wed/Thur. This was not good for the family schedule. You see dad and I share this characteristic- we sleep for the only purpose of refueling in order to go back to work. There is no relaxing time in our day. We work until we simply can keep our eyes open no longer, than we sleep until we are enough rested so as to go back to work. As a wife, I adjust to the schedule of my husband and also the needs of 6 children. With Jon gone, the schedule also left. Once I had finished school with the kids, fed the kids lunch, and put the three younger ones down for naps, I would settle in at my desk. At some point the napping ones would get up, Caroline played with Vivian, the three little boys occupied themselves. By the time Vivian grew so crabby I could ignore her no longer, I would get up from my desk only to find that it was well after 7pm, and sometimes after 8pm. Dad was equally engrossed in his work, so there we were. I think Dad and I would be very happy with a desk and a cot. Except that I would like a single candle for late night purposes, and Dad would like 10 spotlights, all aimed at the ceiling, so he could enjoy indirect light- which is his favorite.

Dad is taking a nap now, and will leave in the early hours of the morning. I would rather have him stay with all his spotlights blazing. But instead I'll spend tomorrow morning having my 6am coffee in the darkness, feeling a little sorry for myself that now I must go back to the Mon-Thurs life of single working mom. When I go to a meeting, 6 children will go too. When I dash to the store, I will be dashing at a much slower pace with the clan. We'll go back to random scraps for breakfast, lunch and dinner until we have to go back to the grocery store because I've run out of half and half for my coffee. Sniff. Sniff.