31 posts from May 2008 (page 2)

Where do you want to be in ten years?
Submitted by baby3194.

Selfish me: in heaven enjoying God and nothing but.

Pragmatic me: here, enjoying God and doing what He wants me to do without complaining.

Most of the time, Prideful Me says "I am learning to be content" but then reality bites and I hear myself grumbling and complaining. Ah! I see where the kids get it. Then I have to tell God I'm sorry and thanks for being my Heavenly Father and above and beyond all my gripes and worry.

So: in ten years, the where is anyplace, really, just so long as I have learned to be truly content.

For my boys. This took a while because this task is exhausting.

It was April and our house was still under construction. We were converting the one room we girls had into two rooms along with building things for my parent's business. That was hard for me to deal with because there were so many trees cut from the back yard, including the lansones tree that my parents planted when I was born (it never bore fruit).

Because of the construction my parents thought it would be best for my mom to live elsewhere and avoid the dust, fumes and dirt that were around our home. The doctors urged her to be cautious about things like that and to avoid moving too much and straining herself. So Mommy and K moved into a townhome across the street from us (the street where we drove the pedaled jeep). I have no concrete memories of that summer. I remember impressions of the townhome and as far as I know, it's still there though our house isn't any longer. Most of what I remember of it are negative; when they built it they covered our uninterrupted views of the Manila sunsets each night.

School started not long after and that was hard. I had been used to Mommy fretting over the first day of school after vacation and she was focused on getting better.

At some point, I had told my best friends about what was going on. When? I don't recall that either and I'm not sure they knew what to say about it but they didn't hesitate to listen and I felt confident they were going to be there for me. Mostly, they were hopeful for me.

I don't remember which teacher told us about her dad's death nor do I have any clue whether it was known when she spoke of it that my own mom was dying. But she spoke of her own dad's battle with cancer and said that at some point, she prayed that God would take him home and relieve him of the pain he was going through. In hindsight, that was a word for me from the Lord. The idea of praying that for someone was so foreign to me; I wanted my Mommy because I needed to have her around for me. She picked out my clothes. She kept me from dating. But she was going to be in a lot of pain and to hear that teacher's prayer gave me the strength to realize it was ok to let go and let God deal with everything.

Bad stitches
Originally uploaded by Phisch

What do you think is causing this? I can pull the stitches from below so that they lay flat but it would be nice not to have to worry about that.

Sad...it looks sloppy. Those stitches should lay perfectly aligned because I'm using a double needle and everything.

Anole!
Originally uploaded by Phisch

This is Bobby Boo. I caught him and put him in a box so we could get some kind of home for him at the pet store but J let him out by mistake. This guy jumped several feet to the wall to get away. Can you believe it? He was gray, but he changed colors after a minute or two so he could match the wall as best as he could. One of these days, maybe I'll get a photo of him when he's gray.

Both boys think he's pretty cool. I was going to let him out, but then I remembered all the geckos we had in our house growing up in the Philippines and changed my mind. It won't be long before we'll have bugs again and we will want Bobby Boo around so he (she?) can eat them up for us. He's pretty harmless and just stares at us unless we get too close then he runs away (wouldn't you?). The boys are learning to keep a nice distance from him so he won't run off. I told them not to pick him up at all so he doesn't feel the need to lose his tail (not sure if anoles do that like other lizards). We just have to make sure not to vacuum him up by accident or something.

He'll come in handy when we get to reptiles in our Zoology studies.

So it's almost 3 am and I'm at my computer.

J cried in the night because he had to go to the bathroom which woke me up. He was half asleep, I think, and it was a complaint/cry combo. I thought of friends and immediately prayed for them. I turned over to try and go back to sleep but my hubby also turned around and started to snore very softly. Then I felt hot but taking off the covers made me cold. I started thinking of the dust bunnies here upstairs so I figured I'd get rid of them. On the way there, I decided to sweep the kitchen because I meant to do that early and it seemed like a good thing to do. Since that wasn't very rewarding (not as much on the floor as I thought), I decided to sweep the living room, try to somewhat declutter the breakfast counter in the kitchen and de-book the coffee table in the living room. Now I'm upstairs and tired. Hehe.

Today was so busy! Hubby got up at 6 am. He and Noah went to church to pick up sundry tables, chairs, canopies, etc. and help set up for our church's picnic and baptism. No, I couldn't fall back asleep after they got up of course.

The baptism and picnic was fun! I did spend a lot of it with J, though, because he's been on a hang-on-to-mommy kick. He tried to play with someone, but when you're four, you tend to change your mind quickly because some other more interesting though occurs to you and so back to mommy it was. I think maybe I have to approach "Why don't you play with so-and-so" a little differently because maybe he thinks I'm trying to get rid of him for a while. LOL. NM had a blast and was wet with perspiration most of the day from playing soccer, badminton, football, soccer, soccer, soccer. :)

Later on, we went home and I went shopping for a graduation present for our neighbor across the street. She had a luau dance party though, in hindsight, I don't think I heard Hawaiian music even once, but that's ok. The kids enjoyed it anyway.

Tomorrow, we hope to see Prince Caspian in the afternoon after church.

Who was the last person you offended?
Submitted by May.

Oh good gracious. Any number of people I talk to or read my blog will probably be offended by something I said. And I was just getting over the hang up of offending people, too. Heh.

But seriously, it's a talent I have. I've come to be quite familiar with the taste of shoe leather and it's not like chicken.

Soccer party - thanks for asking Jen. It went well. Both the boys had a blast. NM was good and didn't get impatient when the other kids *didn't* want to play soccer. At some point, someone decided it was a good idea to dig a hole. "To hell" someone said. Well...okay. They didn't make it there if you were worried ;) J found another 4 year old to play with and they were cute, cute, cute! That age is all about imagination and play acting and it was fun to watch.

J is going through a very long phase of "everything must be right." I hope it's a phase. He can't stand sticky fingers, he can't stand that his sock may have a hole (he's finally wearing shoes over socks today) and I've put a limit on him: only one change of socks a day. Otherwise he changes them if they so much as get a drop of something on them. LOL. He's over changing his shirt all the time and that's nice.

This week has been one of our best weeks homeschooling. We've had no meltdowns even though we did eat things we weren't sure about at the soccer party. It was so rewarding! I was a bit bummed that I hadn't pre-planned and gotten together some of our reader books but it wasn't at all bad considering how well both boys did. I'm going to start J on a formal math curriculum soon, same one his older brother uses but at his level of course. He's zipping through the alphabet and a lot of things are starting come together in his brain. He's been asking for me to read Flat Stanley books to him even though they have only a few pictures. I'm glad that both boys can read (or listen to reading) for extended periods of time.

I'm working on some little flyers and things like that for church now. It's kind of fun and I like that church considers those important. We're small enough that we can have baby showers and invite all the ladies at church :) The shower is my next project and I'm excited about that one. Mom was one of my room mates at the retreat.

I haven't started working on my dress yet but I will soon. I can't find the pattern paper I had but I remembered I can use wax paper if I want. I have to put knitting aside for a little bit; my wrist and elbow are bugging me and that's not good. Opening the truck door or carrying a milk bottle in my right hand hurts and now and then, my wrist threatens to give out and I might drop whatever heavy thing I'm holding. Must go get ibuprophen. But I have the ruffle for Anna's tunic completed and I will start the bodice when I have at least an hour to focus on it. Once I get the first couple of repeats done, it's down hill from there, I think. I have hit a slump on it because I haven't found the right beads for it. I'll have to check Michael's since Joann didn't have the right color, not even close.

This is a dish that I love, love, love. It's very traditional Filipino food and since it is, it's one of those dishes that has a lot of variation. It's basically a dish that has an equal amount of meat and vegetables in a "bath" of sour broth. Lots and lots of sour broth. That's the best part!

I was craving it the other day and managed to find a recipe that doesn't have tamarind (sampaloc in Filipino) in it. I wasn't sure I could find it at the local grocery store. I substituted lemon juice and distilled vinegar instead and ended up with a perfectly acceptable, American-grocery friendly version that my hubby really loved. This is how I made it:

2 lbs. pork stew meat (they were ribs I think)
6 cups of water, more if you like it soupier, broth if you like it richer
1 large japanese eggplant, cut in chunks
1 daikon radish, cut in chunks
1 bok choy or similar green veggie
1 medium onion, cut into strips
Half a bunch of string beans, also called long beans (not green beans) cut into 3 inch lengths
juice of 2 lemons
1/4 c. distilled white vinegar or coconut vinegar if you can get it
salt

Boil the pork in the water until the meat is tender. Add the daikon and onions which, next to the egg plant, is the best veggie in this stew. Cook for about 10 minutes. Add the beans* and eggplant. Cook for about 5 minutes then add the bok choy. Cook until the bok choy turns bright green. The daikon should be easy to pierce with a knife and will have soaked up a lot of the sour taste of the broth. YUM. Serve over hot rice. Make the rice swim in the broth!

Traditionally, this dish has patis (or called nam pla in other south Asian countries) which is a fermented fish sauce. It imparts a strong pungent taste. Since we can't have that on our diet (Feingold.org), I eliminated it. All I wanted was the sour and I got just as much as I wanted :) You can also use other veggies with this, of course, even okra (I like okra, but I am an odd one out I think). My grandma made it very simply and that's how I like this humble dish.

* I have no idea how long it takes to cook the beans. I couldn't find any at the store but my grandma always made it with string beans for me. I was sad that I didn't have any this time around but that's ok.

My version of a recipe that's found here. I'll note my changes as I go.

6 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
Zest of two lemons
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Juice of two lemons
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

1. Generously grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, combine melted butter or margarine and sugar. Add eggs, and mix until light and fluffy. Add milk, lemon rind, and chopped nuts if using. Mix well. Sift flour, baking powder and salt and gradually add to mixture; mix to just combine.
3. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
4. While bread is baking, combine lemon juice and confectioners' sugar in small dish. Stir well before using. Immediately upon removing bread from oven, place pan on a cooling rack. Using a large fork, poke holes all over the bread. Pour lemon juice mixture over the top of the bread. Cool for 15 minutes, and then remove from pan.

My changes: I doubled the amount of zest and lemon juice to give it a much stronger lemon taste. I put the baking powder in with the other dry ingredients and I added salt. This recipe is for a single batch, but so far I've made double batches with no nuts and they taste fine. In fact, the kids took this to church and NM said the kids liked it better than the other snacks that were brought to his class. The second time I brought this, J's teacher took the leftovers home. Hehe.

I had a good one. Church was the best part, of course. I enjoyed the study, enjoyed knowing the kids were having a blast and I can forgive pastor Bungee for making me think of my mom during the service. The kids each made me a card and the one from NM had tic-tac-toe games waiting to be played on the inside. Too cute! They're going to live on the fridge for a while before I finally take them down and put them away.

Afterwards we almost went out to eat but since the wait at Chuy's was 1 hour (it was 11 am!) we opted out. Instead we did our Costco shopping. Hubby got me flowers (they smell so nice!) and I found out they now sell sio pao except they call it hum bao and it comes with broccoli slaw and dressing. Not bad stuff! I love it. The only downside is you have to microwave it so you have to eat it quickly or the bread gets that icky texture that the microwave does so well. I need to learn how to make this stuff myself. Our rice maker comes with the right attachment for steaming them so I should take advantage of it.

After lunch at home, I took J to the fabric store with me. He decided that after I made his older brother new pillowcases I should make him a pair also. Why I thought I could get away without having to make him some is beyond me! I thought making J an odd-shaped stuffed animal named Blue Bumpy would be sufficient. 

The reason for making some for NM is that he is a wiggler in his sleep. The pillow cases, because they are loose, always end up off the pillows when he wakes up. So, using the ones that J has as a rough guide, I made NM a pair that have a pocket on the inside that keeps the pillow, well, inside.

J wants his own new ones and he picked a fabric with monkeys and the words "I <3 Bananas" all over it. He chose this over polar bears, Sponge Bob, Elmo and some other flannel with a mottled blue pattern.

Only I boo-boo'd. I said it out loud this morning too. "Oh oh! I boo-boo'd!" and NM had a giggle fit over it.

I boo-boo'd because I only bought enough for a regular pillow case not including the flap to keep the pillows inside the case. Ooops. That's ok, I have enough left over from NM's cases to add the flap to J's and the color is compatible. I'll try to finish them in the next day or two.

Hubby also gave me an allotment of cash that is only to be spent on summer clothes, in particular, dresses. No yarn (he capitulated and said maybe a little). Am I odd that I don't buy clothes? Only other moms would understand: going shopping with two boys in tow means shopping for things other than clothes for yourself because that is considered cruel and unusual punishment of boy children unless you are buying them clothes. And for my boys, clothing = costume so they are particular about what to buy.

Anyhow, I did buy myself a couple of Burda patterns (8517 and 7798), a zipper and some fabric to make a summer dress. I hope to post a finished product soon. It's about time the sewing machine and serger got a little love from me. They've been sitting unused for over a year!