God's trash

I was making lunch, and Noah was loitering nearby.  I pointed at a piece of trash on the counter and said, "Trash" (which is Mom shorthand for "Please put this piece of trash in the garbage can, because I'm busy making your lunch, and you're not doing anything.").

He throws it away and says, "Oh. I thought for a second you were calling ME trash."  I said I would never call him trash, because he's made by God, and God doesn't make trash.  His immediate response: "What about banana peels?"

Studying with kids

The kids and I were working on our CBS homework today.  One of the questions was, "Why did the king grant Ezra all that he asked for?" and the answer from Ezra 7:6 was "because God's hand was on him."  In discussing this question, Sarah said, "The king gave Ezra whatever he wanted because God was shoving him."  We had to have a little chat about what it means to have God's hand on you (i.e. it doesn't mean He's shoving you.)

Another question was about which groups of people went to Jerusalem, and the answer was supposed to be Levites, singers, priests, etc.  Sarah read it as "Levites, singers, pretzels...oh wait...it's priests, not pretzels.  I think I'm just hungry." 

The last thing they were supposed to do was rewrite Psalm 1:1-3 in their own words.  Sarah started out saying, "Blessed are the people.." at which point I interrupted her and reminded her that it was supposed to be something SHE would actually say and that I've never heard her say "blessed are the people".  Noah took it to heart and rewrote it in his very own words:  "Eat God's word, and poop it out to others."

It's always interesting to study with these people. 

The mall

 Sarah loves shopping at Bath & Body Works.   Uncle Matt & Aunt Kathy gave her a gift card for Christmas, and she had lots of fun spending it.

Carrying her bag of goodies down the stairs. 

 

 Noah hates Bath & Body Works as much as Sarah loves it.  He says it's too smelly and gives him a headache.  He was a pretty good sport about going to the mall, except when he put her in a chokehold for making him smell her hand sanitizer.

 Claires, another of Sarah's favorites.

 She likes to try on all the wacky glasses.

 She put a headband on me (with pigtails and pink bows attached) and glasses.

 She even got to jump on the bungee trampoline, compliments of her buddy, Pastor Harry.  She has a special bond with him and is always making things to give him, and he does nice things for her too. 

She bought these sunglasses at Claire's, also compliments of Pastor Harry.

Bad day busters

It was one of those days.  It wasn't the worst day of my life; none of my loved ones died; our house didn't burn down; it was just a lousy, rotten day full of one disappointing/negative thing after another.  So I'm compiling a list (in no particular order) of things to do to reverse a bad day.  Obviously, I didn't do all of these today, but I did several of them, and it helped turn my attitude around.  Feel free to add to the list in the comments. 

Exercise
Take a shower
Watch a funny video
Read the Bible
Listen to a Fernando Ortega song
Pet a cat
Vacuum all the floors
Mop the kitchen
Serve someone else
Remember that someone else has it way worse than you
Hug a kid
Take 10 deep breaths
Count your blessings
Turn on loud music and dance
Go outside and look at something God made
Cook
Wash dishes
Smile

Shoving match

I was playing on our ipad while the chinchillas were having their exercise time.  Kozmo, who is full of attitude and very reminiscent of a toddler, scampered over and started chewing on the ipad cover.  I gently scolded him and pushed him away.  He resisted, refusing to be pushed away, and kept chewing.  I put my finger on his furry gray nose and pushed it back, much harder this time.  He still didn't release his grip.  Then he sat back on his hind legs, still holding onto the ipad with his right hand, and gave me a Walter Payton straight-arm with his left, an act of pure independent defiance.  I actually said out loud to him, "Are you shoving me?  Who do you think you are, little rodent?"  I had to play the I-outweigh-you-by-well-over-a-hundred-pounds card and forcibly remove him. 

Spinach-stuffed, bacon-wrapped chicken

 

 I started by cooking some bacon.  I cooked one piece all the way so I could eat it.  I just rendered a little fat out of the others so I could cook the stuffing in it.

 Onions and garlic in bacon grease.  

 Added lots of spinach....

 which cooked down to this.

 I don't usually buy meat from the meat counter, but the chicken breasts were a good price this time, and I needed the butcher paper, as you'll see...

 I don't have a meat mallet, so I smash my chicken with a heavy-bottomed glass.  This is where the butcher paper comes in handy.  That is tough stuff and doesn't break when I pound the chicken between it.

 There they are, flattened and waiting to be filled.

 I added cottage cheese and Italian seasoning to the spinach mixture.

 Spread the filling on the chicken.

 Rolled them up and wrapped them with the slightly-cooked bacon.  Sprinkled some poultry seasoning on top.  In retrospect, I really wish I would have lined that pan with foil.  It would have made cleanup so much easier.

Chef Sarah

 Sarah loves cooking with me.  She really is a good help when our ideas and control issues don't clash.  She learned how to set up a breading station and cooked parmesan-crusted pork chops. 

She asked me about how to buy the meat.   She said, "I'll want to make these pork chops for my kids someday, and I'll never remember how to do it so I have to write it down."  I love that girl!

Sued!

Noah: I think I have frostbite on my feet.
Me: I think I'll sue your martial arts instructor for that.
Noah: Nah, he'd just make me do thousands of extra pushups.
Sarah: How could he make you do pushups if he's dead?
Noah: Dead!  Why is he dead?
Sarah: Because mom sued him!
Noah: So?
Sarah: Well...doesn't "sued" mean "killed"?
Noah: NO! 

I think she was thinking of "slayed". 

Kitchen stuff

Sarah went on a baking frenzy

This is what the sink and counter look like after one of Sarah's baking frenzies.

I made onion faces on our burgers.

I asked Sarah to put the yogurt away.  She made a pyramid.

I was wishing aloud that we had applesauce, and Sarah suggested I just make some.  So I cut up an apple and cooked it with a little water and cinnamon until it got soft, then put it in the blender.  It was delicious.

Random quotes from today

"If I pull a muscle from having to kick you, you're going to be in trouble!" (I said this to Noah when he was poking at me irritatingly with a water noodle while I was cooking, and I felt a little twinge while I was fending him off with kicks.)

"I'm terrified of flying waffles!" (said by Sarah after I served Noah's waffle by throwing it across the kitchen like a frisbee.  He likes the challenge.  When anything gets thrown at Sarah, she cowers and covers her face.)

"I've been doing this job for 13 years, so I don't make rookie mistakes anymore.  Now I make seasoned veteran mistakes."  (My response to Sarah's request for a "huge batch of waffles".  I made a very small batch, because I know she'll be snacking on other stuff the whole time I'm making them, and by the time the waffles are ready, she will be full.  This is not my first rodeo.)

"I'm living the dream!  It's just that sometimes it seems like a nightmare." (I said this to Noah during a discussion about homeschooling.  I admitted to him that there are days when I fantasize about dropping them off at school and going back to bed to read a book all day.  But I told him those are just occasional, fleeting fantasies and that I don't really want to send them to school--most days). 

"My standards are not too high.  I just want you to do it right instead of wrong." (my response to Noah's grumbling about my standards during a piano lesson.)

We did a project where we drew imaginary constellations and took turns guessing what they were.  A couple quotes heard during that time:


"What is that...a horse with a mohawk?"  "No, it's a monkey!"
"That's a snowman with a top hat!"  "No, it's a toilet."  "Ewwww, why would you make a toilet constellation anyway?"