Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Cat fight

When Marty sleeps in the bay window, she always sleeps in the small blue bed, never the big leopard print one.  She was sleeping in there this morning but got up to run some cat errands, and while she was gone, Shiloh jumped up there, discovered a preheated bed, and curled up in it.  When Marty returned, she was surprised and displeased to find "her" bed occupied.
 Marty gave me the look of long-suffering and said, "Really, Mom?  Are you going to allow this?"  I told her there are plenty of beds in the bay for everyone and she has to learn to share.
 She didn't like that answer, so she started a glaring campaign against Shiloh.

 Shiloh didn't like being glared at in such close proximity.
She expressed her displeasure.

Meek little Shiloh stood her ground, and Marty ended up (after lots of encouragement from me) settling in the other bed. 

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Why not?

I've always loved Jiffy corn muffins.  I just discovered that there's a new "vegetarian" (which is really vegan) Jiffy mix that uses vegetable shortening instead of animal products. It's even the same price as the one with animal shortening.
God bless Jiffy!  Yes, they still show a hunk of butter on the muffin, and yes, it does still say "add egg and milk", but the side of the box offers vegetarian alternatives (which are all vegan):
I made this with almond milk and a flax egg (which is 1 tablespoon of ground flax seed mixed with 3 tablespoons of water).  Making a flax egg is just as easy as cracking a chicken egg, and it's healthier for you and certainly better for the chickens (Do you know what happens to male chicks in egg factories?).
That is one delicious, cruelty-free corn muffin.  I actually like it better than the non-vegan version!  Those little flecks of flax add a nice texture, and it's moist enough that you don't even need butter.  If you can make a corn muffin that's just as easy and even more delicious for the same price without causing harm to any animals, why wouldn't you?


Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Room cleaning and mercy taxing

Sarah wants new bedding for her birthday.  Aunt Kathy issued her a challenge: if she can get her horrible pit of a room clean and organized and maintain it for 2 months, she will buy her new bedding.  As soon as I told Sarah about it, she disappeared into her room with a garbage bag.
This is the fifth garbage bag of junk she has extracted from her room. Noah asked me what she was doing and I told him she was cleaning her room.  He said, "Why?"  I told him about Aunt Kathy's challenge, and he said (rather nervously, as he's a serious hoarder), "I like my bedding..."

Later we were talking about something else, and he quoted me the Bible verse about God's mercies being new every morning.  Then he said, "Good thing we don't have Mike Huckabee's fair tax.  We would have to pay taxes on God's mercies!"

Not big fans

I've been reading aloud to the kids from Charles Dickens' Great Expectations for several days.  They hate it.  I admit it's a strange story, but it's well-written, and I rather enjoyed it.  We're going to switch to something a little less...dickensian...but at least I exposed them to it.  Sarah's commentary on the great classic:  "I wouldn't wish that thing on my worst enemy."  Noah's response: "That thing IS my worst enemy." 

This is what it's like inside my brain

Yesterday I returned a DVD to the library.  More accurately, I returned the empty case to the library.  They called me to let me know there was no DVD inside it.  This is not the first time I've done this, or the second, or the third...

So today I have to take the naked DVD back to the library, but I'm also making a trip to Kroger while I'm out that way.  The library isn't open yet when I leave, so I have to go to Kroger first.  I know this will present a problem for my brain, so I write myself a note at the bottom of my grocery list.  It says, cleverly enough, "LIBRARY!!!"

I get all the items on my grocery list, and I see the note to myself.  I know this might not be enough, so while I'm standing in the checkout line, I make up a song whose sagacious lyrics are: "Library, library, library...take the DVD to the library."

When I get home, I'm still singing (and now dancing to) the library song as I put away the groceries and find the note in my pocket and the DVD in the car.

Saturday, December 31, 2016

FL trip--driving home

Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Listening to a sad Jackson Browne song this morning and forcing myself to pack. Good thing Mike is driving, because I wouldn't be able to drive away from this place where my parents are and where I can see wild dolphins and birds and the ocean right out my window.
All good things got to come to an end
The thrills have to fade
Before they come 'round again
The bills will be paid
And the pleasure will mend
All good things got to come to an end


8:00 a.m.  After packing, loading. stretching, being prayed for, having the van's windows cleaned by Dad, hugs and goodbyes all around, we are on the road. Sad.
8:05 a.m.  Noah: Who farted?
[We all said no.]
Sarah: He who smelt it dealt it.
Noah: He who denied it refried it.
10:00 a.m.  Both kids sleeping.  They stopped demanding food, so I knew they must be asleep.  Nice cloudy driving weather. 70 degrees.  Peaceful.
11:00 a.m. Switching drivers at Flying J somewhere in Alabama.
1:45 Switching back. I drove 152 miles.  
3:15ish Arrived at Holiday Inn Express.  I booked this hotel while we were in FL, and I didn't want to waste time doing much research because it was a beautiful day to be on the beach (as every day was).  This place turned out to be right next to an active train track and an interstate, and there was no pool. There was an exercise room and whirlpool though.

Our room was 418.  We were never exactly sure where it was.

Thursday, December 29, 2016
8:30ish Leaving hotel.
12:25 After being denied repeated requests to stop at Subway, the kids are eating the food I packed. Mike said, "They're just like pets. If they get hungry enough, they'll eat."
2:15 Sarah: I have to urinate.
Noah: Just say pee.
Sarah: Why? It's the same thing?
Noah: Urinate is a much grosser word.
3:00 Home.
This was our best trip to FL ever!  Everybody's favorites:
Mike: dolphin cruise, frisbee on the beach, sitting on the balcony while reading and drinking coffee.
Sarah: shopping and walking the beach with Aunt Amy, picking up shells.
Noah: walking on the beach and working out with the cousins, watching basketball.
Janel: dolphin cruise and candlelight Christmas Eve service.

Friday, December 30, 2016

End of the year interviews

SARAH, AGE 12:

If you had 8 tentacles like an octopus, what would you use them for?
One for eating apples. Two and three for running. Four, writing poems. Five and six, doing gymnastics, seven and eight, doing martial arts, and...
You only get 8, so there you go.
Aw. I wanted to do one for art.
Well, you can be a 9-tentacled octopus.

What do you think is at the very bottom of the ocean? A 9-tentacled octopus?
A yeti crab! There's volcanic lava rocks erupting up because there's underwater volcanoes at the bottom of the ocean and the yeti crab sticks its arms out because it's really hairy and it filters all the lava, like the magma, through its yeti arms and then uses it as fuel.

If you could make the moon a different shape, what would it be?
A cat. There's a man in the moon, and now there's a pet.

If you could have an 8 ounce cup filled to brim with one item, what would that item be?
Like a liquid?Any item I guess.
[long pause] Probably Jolly Ranchers.

If you had to start a colony on a newly discovered planet, what things would you bring with you?
My phone, so I can text people about it...What was the question again? I know it's on another planet...
If you had to start a colony on a newly discovered planet, what things would you bring with you?
My room. I'd just bring my room, that's all, because it has all my stuff in it. I'd just break it off the edge of the house and fly away with it.

If you had to explain your parents to a stranger, what would you say about us?
Two people who are extremely crazy, and my mom runs with her arms waving around in the air, naked, and my dad wrestles with my brother, and they both wear silly outfits, and they sing about bananas and broccoli and fruit.

If your shoes could tell a story about your day, what would they say?
“My day was horrible because my person was going everywhere” because I run a lot.

Whose face would you put on a dollar?
Shiloh. That would make for a really cute dollar. But her entire body, not just her face.

What three things would be necessary for life to be perfect?
My phone, my food (and food being water too, obviously), oh wait...God, food and water (because that counts as one), and exercise...and education.

What was the best thing about 2016?
My two medals on bars and beam at my Justin Spring Meet.

What do you think was the first word ever spoken?
I KNOW what it is: Let. Let there be light!

What is one thing you have made you are really proud of?
That piece of art right there: the 3-D hand. I've made a lot of stuff.

Would you rather have 4 eyes or 2 mouths?
2 mouths.

What is your favorite story about our family?
The one where you saw Noah's G.I. Joe doll and you had an unresisting urge to kick him in the butt and you did and he went flying into the living room and Dad yelled, “Medic!” Oh, and the one about the Thin Mints, where Noah caught you eating Thin Mints at 10 o'clock at night, outside in a thunderstorm.

If you had to describe yourself in one word, which would you definitely NOT use?
I would not use the word “pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis” because that is way too long.

What is the best compliment you have ever received?
I don't get that many compliments that are above average. Probably just “I like your sweater, where did you get it?” blah blah blah.

Can you come up with a creative story about how unicorns get their horns?
A horse had a brain tumor but it was rainbow and it started growing into a horn and then little ridges started appearing with little clouds on them and it was sparkly and that is how unicorns were made because you know unicorns are just a horse with a horn.

What do you think a goldfish thinks about all day in its tank?
They probably wonder why they can't get out of the tank because it's clear.

Is there anything you would like to share?
No.

NOAH, AGE 15

If you had 8 tentacles like an octopus, what would you use them for?
Tentacles or hands?
Tentacles.
Not much you can do with a tentacle.
[Sarah interjects from the next room: “You could eat a clam!”]
I'd have pretty good basketball skills with 10 arms.
Eight.
Eight.

What do you think is at the very bottom of the ocean? A 10-tentacled octopus?
No. Sand. Probably a 10-armed octopus too. Probably some volcanoes.

If you could make the moon a different shape, what would it be?
Triangle.

If you could have an 8 ounce cup filled to brim with one item, what would that item be?
Diamonds.

If you had to start a colony on a newly discovered planet, what things would you bring with you?
Food, water, research materials, building materials, smart people.

If you had to explain your parents to a stranger, what would you say about us?
Just know that they're a little weird and crazy, but they're ok.

If your shoes could tell a story about your day, what would they say?
What pair of shoes? Clean ones? Dirty ones? Probably “runs around a lot”.

What three things would be necessary for life to be perfect?
Food, water, money

What is one thing you have made you are really proud of?
Uh....I'm sure I've made something....I just made something...what was it?.....Oh! I didn't make it, but I fixed the rails on the stairs.

What was the best thing about 2016?
There were a lot of bad things. The best thing would have to be...probably the two trips to Florida.
What was the worst?
Just about everything possible could die. Trump got elected. Just a bad year.
But for you it was good. Two trips to Florida and all.
Yeah, none of those affected me. It was just a bad year for America.

Would you rather have 4 eyes or 2 mouths?
4 eyes.

What is your favorite story about our family?
Probably the vacation stories.

Can you come up with a creative story about how unicorns get their horns?
No.

If you had to describe yourself in one word, which would you definitely NOT use?
Creative. No, artistic. Artistic! That's the word I'm looking for.

What do you think it smells like in outer space?
Probably dusty.

If you could only eat one thing for an entire week, what would you choose?
Pizza.

What do you think a goldfish thinks about all day in its tank?
They don't have long enough memory to think.

What is the best compliment you have ever received?
Can't think of any.

If you could have a farm animal live with you in your room, which would you choose?
Something small...probably a chicken. No, too loud. Does a farm cat count? Let's do that.

If you had to combine two fruits to make a new one, what would you call it?
Probably pineapples and bananas, because pineapple banana smoothies are always good.
What would you call this fruit?
Banapple.

Anything else to want to share?
Back to the compliment question. I can't think of any, but last night when I was playing 8-ball pool, this annoying person I was playing kept sending me the compliment texts. You can choose “good job” and stuff, but every move I do, he'd send me “good job” even if I scratched.
So you were overcomplimented?
Yes.
And then they were meaningless?
Yes.

Anything else?
No.

[One minute later, he's kicking himself and wants a redo]:
Okay, Noah would like to make an amendment for the record.
Two of them. One of them was when the Cubs won the World Series. That was the best thing that's happened. And another one was for the compliment thing. It was after one of my tests, one of the masters, he was like a ninth degree or something, went up to me and told me I did a good job, so that was pretty cool coming from someone who's a really high rank.