History projects

Today was a good day to catch up on history projects.  We made Mayan relief sculptures and aurora borealis pictures from when we studied the Mayans and Iceland. It was fun.  

 Pressing all kinds of different objects into the clay to make patterns.

 Painting the mountains

 chalking the northern lights

 Marty, as always, was very involved.

The shoes and the skunk

We were driving on the interstate today, and I saw a shoe on the side of the road.  I said to Noah, my passenger, "Why is there always just one abandoned shoe?  Never a pair."  Just then I saw the matching shoe on the other side of the road, several feet away from the first one.  Just past the other shoe was a dead skunk.  I said, "Oh look, there's the other shoe!  And a skunk...how do you suppose he fits into the story?"  Then I rattled off a story about someone driving along, spotting a skunk, throwing a shoe at it, missing, throwing the other shoe, and hitting the skunk.  I asked Noah if he had a story.  He said, "There was a family driving on this road, and the kids were fighting in the back seat.  The mom reached around and grabbed one of the kid's shoes and threw it out the window.  They kept fighting, so she grabbed their other shoe and flung it out too.  The dad was driving, and he was so distracted by all the fighting and shoe throwing that he veered off the road and hit the skunk."

Polite society

Sarah told me she didn't like the new plastic bowls I bought because they have a lip around the edge, which makes it hard for her to get her mouth around it to drink from it.  I told her it's considered rude to drink from bowls anyway.  I told her that I believe in being comfortable in your own home among your own people, as long as you know how to behave properly in other places with other people. I said, "I don't mind if you do it here, as long as you realize that it's not acceptable among polite society."  She said, "Good thing we're not among polite society."

Sarah's mind boxes

Sarah is suspicious of anything I cook now.  If it's unfamiliar, she'll ask, "Is it vegan?" and if I say it is, she stubbornly refuses to try it.  This morning she asked me to make blueberry muffins.  I used my old standard recipe, but veganized it.  

I told her to go clean her room while I made them, so she wouldn't notice my substitutions: 1 T. ground flax seeds soaked in 3 T. water in place of the egg, almond milk in place of milk, a little oil in place of the 3 T. butter.  I also added a dash of almond extract, just to seal the deal.  Then I hoped that she would be so distracted by the smell and look of them that she wouldn't even ask if they were vegan.  

Sure enough, they smelled amazing, and she was very hungry, so she snatched one up and ate it without a word.  I said, "How was your muffin?"  She replied, "Good! Thanks."  She went back for another.  She was in mid-muffin when Noah, who had been outside playing basketball, came into the kitchen.  He said, "Wow, are those vegan?"  (He has been vegan for about 2 weeks now. He calls himself a cheagan--cheating vegan--because he only eats vegan at home, which is still most of the time). I said, "Yes, they are."  Sarah sputtered, "They're vegan?!  Ew!" 

Then this happened:
Me: If you would pry open your mind, you might find that you like a lot of vegan foods.
S: My mind has five boxes: 1. Fear 2. Smell 3. Digestion 4. Taste 5. Sight
N [rolling his eyes]: You're a mind box.  That makes no sense.
S: It's what keeps me safe at night.
N: Fear?!  Fear and digestion keep you safe at night?
S: Fear is the smallest box!

This conversation was heading nowhere, so I said, "Let's get to our devotions."  Our reading was Psalm 42, and when I got to verse 8, I read:
The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime,
And in the night His song shall be with me—
A prayer to the God of my life.

I paused to say, "Did you hear that, Sarah? That's something to keep you safe at night!" 

UPDATE:  I am still tweaking this recipe to make it healthier.  Today I eliminated all the white flour and replaced it with oat flour (which I made by processing oats in the food processor) and reduced the sugar to 1/3 C.  Still delicious.  Next time I will try a different grain flour and 1/4 C. sugar.

Bags in the sunset

Mike invited me to a rousing game of bags at the park a couple nights ago.  We ended up playing three games, because he beat me badly on the first game, and I won the second (because he was throwing left-handed), so we had to play a tie-breaker (Mike calls it a "rubber match").  By the time we got to the third game, the light was fading, and the sky was turning all kinds of beautiful colors.  Mike threw one of his blue bags, and it landed in a heap on the board.  I tossed a pink one and it snuggled right up next to his.  I thought it was adorably romantic.  Mike thought I was weird for taking the picture.

 

Busy Saturday

 Started with a Kuk Sool class. Then we dropped Noah off at Dragonland for a fun day with Grandpa and Grandma and Cousin Ben.

 Next we took Sarah out for lunch at Ginger.  We love Asian food.

 Next stop: Forest Park Nature Center.  Sarah is doing her impression of a barn owl.

 We went on a tree identification hike.  Sarah looks scared of the naturalist, but she was actually just bored.  The naturalist wasn't a wacko either, even though she kind of looks like it in the picture.

 Last stop: the mall.  Mike's favorite place in the mall is the bed area.

 Sarah's favorites are Justice, Claire's, and the bungee trampoline.

Mike didn't actually get anything pierced, but he was sitting in the piercing chair at Claire's waiting for Sarah so I took his picture.

 Sarah bought a hat at Claire's.

 The only other thing she bought was a smoothie.

I was going to get my wedding ring cleaned at Kay's, and the jewelry store woman couldn't find a record of my original purchase from 20 years ago. I told her I had the paperwork at home, but when we got home I searched through my files and couldn't find it. Is it possible that I was young and stupid enough to throw it away? I found a receipt for screws I bought at Menards for $3.95 16 years ago, but no wedding ring. The woman was trying to get me to upgrade. She said, "Everybody wants bigger and better!" Not me. I just want cleaner. I like my ring.

Mobile vet

 Shadow and Shiloh are due for the 3-year rabies shot.  The last time they went to the vet was 3 years ago, and they hated it.  They hated being stuffed into the pet carrier, they hated riding in the car, they hated the dogs in the waiting room, and they hated the cold hard steel examination table.  I heard about a mobile vet that will come to your house, and it's only $25 more than the regular vet, so I decided it would be worth it.  Shiloh is terrified of strangers and always runs for cover under the bed, so I blocked off access to her hiding spot.

 The very cool vetmobile. 

 Dr. Campbell was wonderful.  I really liked both her and her assistant, Jill.  They loved and appreciate my cats, and we got to hold them during the examination and shots.

They even went downstairs just to meet our chinchillas. The whole experience was well worth every extra penny we paid. 

If Heaven Were a Sausage

The kids and I were having lunch and talking about various things.  Noah said, "Mom, you should write a book when you get old.  You've had an interesting life."
Sarah said, "I'm going to write a book too.  It's called 'The Medal-less Martial Artist'.  It's about me." (She must still be disturbed by her performance at last weekend's tournament).
Noah said, "But you've medaled before..."
She said, "Well, maybe I'll call it the Medaling Medal-less Martial Artist."  
I asked if she meant "meddling" or "medaling", and after I explained what meddling is, we had a good laugh about that little play on words.  
Then Sarah suddenly announced that the title of her book was going to be "If Heaven Were a Sausage".  I asked her what it would be about, and she said, "It would tell what the people in heaven would be if they were foods."
[I was done eating and had moved on to cleaning, but I forced myself to stop wiping so I could transcribe this conversation.  That's why I have lots of good stories and my house is a perpetual mess.]
Noah: Jesus would obviously be bread, because He called Himself bread in the Bible.  Hey, I just had a revelation!  In the Lord's prayer, when we say 'Give us this day our daily bread', we're really saying, 'Give us this day our daily Jesus!'"
Sarah: Mary would be a saltine because of her salty tears.
N: David would be an anchovy, because he's just salty.
S: Peter would be black licorice, because he looks good but tastes awful.
N: Paul would be a cow. And Sarah, you would be a pork shoulder.
S: Hey! You just wanted to call me a butt!  Well, you would be congealed pork blood!
N: Nah, I'd be yeast. You know why? Because I'm always rising to the top!
S: If anybody is yeast, it's Jesus. He's the one who rose.
N: Oh yeah, Jesus is yeast, and God is the bread, because there's yeast in bread!
S: God would be pizza!
N: Definitely.