SuperHotMama's House

Randoms from this Week

2009-11-01T17:38:00.000-08:00

It's finally getting cold here. Well, you know, we wear jackets in the mornings and turn on the air conditioning in the afternoon.

One of my students was deciding what everyone in class should dress up as for Halloween. At first he just told what movie their character was from, then he told what character we were: His sister, was from The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Quasi Modo; I was flattered he said I was Mulan, until I asked what character from the movie, and It was Yao. Yes, "King of the Mountain".

The other day I was going to use my last cash to buy a cola to kill the caffeine headache that had been plaguing me all afternoon. I stopped at Walmart to pick up a birthday present and when I got back in my car, a woman with a small child asked me for some money to "help them out". I gave her my change, honestly wishing that I could do more for them on that cold, windy day. I thought, "Darn, there went my headache money." I rushed through the rest of my day not thinking about it. In the middle of the night I woke up and thought, "Hmmm, I don't have a headache", then realized, that was my blessing for giving that woman the last of my money.

Last week they were giving students the AIMS test at school. As I was driving past the front of the school, I saw a convertible in front of the school. It had a giant Red Bull can on the back of it. They were parked there, giving every student who passed by a free can or two of Red Bull. I really wish I could compare their scores on the AIMS to the students who didn't get the free overdose of caffeine that morning.

How are the classes going?

2009-10-25T17:45:00.000-07:00

Just finished 3 credit hours (yes, college credit hours) in one weekend - gotta LOVE University of Phoenix continuing education courses! Of course, there IS an outside assignment to finish in the next 3 weeks, but really...

When I am done with this semester, I am buying myself an entire Wonder Woman outfit - complete with go-go boots, lasso, and invisible airplane.

Handcart Trek Pictures

2009-10-17T13:11:00.000-07:00

Our son Calvin is on a pioneer handcart trek reenactment with our Stake. In order to go the youth had to be between 14 and 18 years old. Everyone had to wear period clothing and each person could only bring 15 lbs of personal property. They keep their clothing and personal items in 5 gallon buckets and have to pull them in their carts. They are hiking 25 miles over 3 days, camping out in tents, and cooking for themselves. The 200 youth are split up into families of 8-10 youth with each group supervised by a married couple (Ma and Pa).

One of the handcarts from above.

Calvin has been so excited. He got his clothes together and packed, and was even up before my alarm went off at 4 am, ready and waiting to head to the church at 4:30 am on Thursday.

Calvin is walking at the back, farthest right in black hat and suspenders.

DH and I got to go yesterday and help with some of the activities. I was there to teach the youth how to sew on buttons. DH helped them learn to use a cross-cut saw. Others were there to let them try things like milking a cow, making butter, washing clothes in wash tubs, throwing hatchets, shooting black powder guns, playing pioneer games, braiding rugs, splitting wood, etc.

Calvin is between the trees to the left.

Last night they made camp, fixed their dinner in dutch ovens, and then had a dance. They had all been taught to square dance in preparation for the trek.

Calvin farthest right, at back of group.

Today they're hoping to make it to "Salt Lake", and then they'll take apart their handcarts, and then they'll climb back into their vans and suburbans to come back to reality.

Calvin is far right of picture pulling at the front.

It was such a great opportunity for them to get a little taste of the 1,300 mile trek that our ancestors made about 150 years ago.

Calvin, bottom left.

All of these pictures were taken by an Arizona Republic Photographer and published online at AZcentral.com.

My Pioneer Heritage

2009-10-11T15:10:00.000-07:00

A statue commemorating Mormon handcart pioneers on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah

Our Stake (A group of congregations or wards, generally about three thousand to five thousand members in five to ten congregations.) at church is getting ready to take the youth on a handcart trek. My son Calvin is the only one old enough to go. I was telling him about the ancestors that we have who were among the original handcart pioneers. He claimed that I'd never told him the story. So I decided that I'd better put it here, in writing, for the rest of posterity.

"Peder Mortensen and mission: Peder Mortensen never expected to be a Utah Pioneer or a survivor of one of the most infamous and ill-fated handcart companies in the history of the western Mormon migration.

Peder’s livelihood and destiny had been carefully scripted by his patriarchal ancestors. As a devout Lutheran, he made a living as a cooper, shoemaker, and landowner in the village of Harbolle, Denmark, located on the southwest end of the Island of Mon.

Although Peder was a cripple, he and his wife, Helene Sandersen, and their eight children, created a comfortable middle-class lifestyle on the inherited farm from his father’s line.
Their thrifty and industrious lives drastically changed in 1855 when missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Elder Soren P. Guhl and Elder Scoby, visited their village of Harbolle.

Morten, Peder’s oldest son and a biblical scholar studying for the Lutheran ministry, listened to the missionaries with great interest. Morten first thought he could entrap the missionaries into declaring their “Golden Bible” to be a fraud. Instead the missionaries baptized all the Mortensen family members over age eight; Peter (50), Helena (47), Morten (28), Anna (24), Anders (22), Hans (18), Lars (13), and Mette (10). Seven-year-old Maria and four-year-old Caroline were baptized later.

Soon after its organization, leaders in the LDS Church asked the church members to gather together first in Independence, Missouri, then in Nauvoo, Illinois, and finally in Salt Lake City, Utah. Peder and his family responded to the doctrine of “the gathering” by selling their farm and traveling to Copenhagen, Denmark to await passage to America.

During a month-long stay in the Danish capitol, the Mortensen family became acquainted with Scandinavian Mission President Hector C. Haight, who asked Morten to remain in Denmark and serve as a missionary.

Haight, recognizing a hesitance to split the family, made a solemn promise to Peder that Morten later recorded in his journal. “If you will consent to his staying and filling a mission, I promise you in the name of the Lord that you will, everyone of you, reach the land of Zion in safety, and God will protect you on sea and on land,” Haight said.

Morten stayed in Denmark as a missionary and the Mortensen family sailed to America aboard the steamship Thornton on May 4, 1856. Once in America the family traveled by both train and steamship to Iowa City, Iowa where they joined a company of 500 people, 120 handcarts and six wagons under the direction of James G. Willie.

The Willie handcart company is listed as the fourth handcart company to arrive in Salt Lake City as part of a new, cheaper method of people-powered travel proposed by then LDS Church President Brigham Young and financed by a revolving endowment known as the Perpetual Emigration Fund. Wooden handcarts, modeled after carts used by street sweepers, measured six to seven feet long, carried 500 pounds of trail provisions, and could be alternately pushed or pulled.

Still possessing sufficient funds from the sale of his farm to purchase ox teams and wagons for his family to ride to the 1400-mile trek to Salt Lake, Peder Mortensen gave his money to the Perpetual Emigration Fund allowing his family and three other families to make the handcart journey.

Peder, disabled by rheumatism, rode the entire trip on a handcart pulled by his children. Peder’s daughter Mette wrote about the journey in her diary. She described walking to the point of Fort Laramie as “monotonous.” But after Ft. Laramie Mette said, “They cut the flour rations and it began to snow.”

All but two of the ten handcart companies deployed between 1856 and 1860 completed the trail with few problems. The fourth and fifth companies, known today as the Martin and Willie companies, left winter quarters in August 1856, too late to begin a trip across the plains. The blizzard of October 1856 caught both handcart companies west of present day Casper, Wyoming. Despite heroic efforts by company members and Utah rescuers, about 200, or one-sixth of the companies died and dozens were maimed by frostbite and deprivation.

Every member of the Mortensen family survived the journey west without lasting injuries from the cold. Mette wrote she believed their safe arrival in Salt Lake fulfilled the promise they received from Hector C. Haight, Morten’s mission president, and Morten’s willingness to serve the Lord.

On December 1, 1856, Peder Mortensen and his family settled in Parowan, Utah." Morten is my great-great grandfather. We come through his daughter Diantha Elizabeth Mortensen.

(Thanks to amygreg.com for posting this story. I've had a hard time finding it online, so I wanted to post it where we'd be able to locate it.)

The latest Pics of Our Missionary - Ukraine

2009-09-28T00:36:00.000-07:00

Canned Cheese?!? That's gross, and cool, at the same time.

2009-09-20T17:53:00.000-07:00

"Canned Cheese?!? That's gross, and cool, at the same time." - Calvin

How to do it. . .

1. Get wide mouth pint jars - be sure they're clean and dry - put them in the oven on a cookie sheet for 20 minutes at 200 degrees to sterilize them.

2. Boil lids and rings.

3. Grate any kind of cheese (cheese that gets better with age is best, like cheddar. Monterey Jack or Colby will work but won't last as long, so use the freshest date possible). Do not use pregrated cheese from the store (they coat it with something to keep it from molding quickly), buy a horn of cheese and grate it yourself. (44 lb block of cheese = 48 jars of cheese, or about 1 lb per pint jar).

4. Place grated cheese in jars - Pack it in well (you can press it down with a glass or bottle), and place in pan of water (3-4" deep). Water should be no higher than 2/3 to the top of jar. You don't really want water to get into the jars - it won't necessarily ruin it, but it's better without any.

5. Boil water and add more cheese as needed to fill jar to 1 inch from top (if you've pressed it down well, you shouldn't have to add any).

6. Melt cheese completely (15-20 minutes). With the flat of a butter knife, press the edges down, to move the center cheese out and get the entire jar melted. You don't really want to stir it, as that will allow air bubbles to enter - the idea is to get the air bubbles out, and get the entire jar evenly melted. Also, try not to get any cheese on the lip of the jar.

7. Remove canning jar from the pot and place the lid and ring on, then hand tighten.

8. Set aside until you have enough jars ready to place in steamer. (Add 2 T. vinegar to the water in your steamer, it will keep the calcification from the water off the jars.)

9. Place jars in steamer and steam for 40 minutes. "Do NOT shorten the time."

10. When you remove the jars from the steamer, turn them upside down on towel, and let them cool with the cheese touching the lid and the 1" gap at the bottom. This will make cheese removal easier when you are ready to use it!

11. Let cool and store at 75 degrees.

This is not a cheese sauce. It is like a lump of cheese. There is a slight texture difference, kind of grainy. It can be grated, eaten plain, or melted in recipes just like cheese from your refrigerator.

Cheddar has a shelf life of 3-5 years.

Thanks Roxy for the awesome class!

More Once-A-Month Cooking!

2009-09-13T22:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I purchased, prepped, and froze meals for the next month. (I know it sounds intimidating, but it probably won't once you read the menus.) I usually try to do the prep work on the day I do my grocery shopping - I brown and freeze any ground beef, or saute, chop up, and freeze chicken breasts that will later go into recipes. That way, whether it's me, the hubby, or kids who cook, half the meal is already done to toss into a dish.

So, what can you whip up in 20 minutes or under if you've got the meat already frozen?

Tacos
Taco salad
Burritos
Hamburger helper
Spaghetti
Gravy with Hamburger or Sausage
Stir Fry
Chicken Packets
Spanish Rice
Layered Enchiladas
Linguine Alfredo with chicken
Fried potatoes with Hamburger
and a bunch more I can't think of right now

Here are my menus for the next month, for your viewing pleasure, and for me to refer to (just in case the list on the front of the fridge mysteriously disappears):

9/13 - 9/19
M- bread pudding (frozen in aluminum lasagne pan) with buttermilk syrup (which would make dirt taste delicious)
T- "ham" salad sandwiches
W- corn dog muffins
Th- spaghetti
F- Mexican Rice Casserole (I also love Rice-A-Roni Spanish Rice, add precooked/frozen ground beef - gotta double it for my family)
Sat- stir fry chicken (bag o' frozen stir fry veggies, chicken is precooked, chopped and frozen, minute rice)

9/20-9/26

Sun- lasagne (all prepared and frozen in aluminum lasagne pan with directions to thaw and bake written on tinfoil cover)
M- biscuits and sausage gravy (sausage is cooked, and frozen in gladware. McCormick mix is delish if you don't do homemade.)
T- beanie weenie (I'm lovin' Bush's baked beans, toss in after frying some hotdog coins, add a little extra brown sugar)
W- chicken packets (chicken filling is cooked, chopped, doctored, and frozen in gladware)
Th- ravioli (frozen bag of premade stuff, add can of sauce and precooked frozen ground beef)
F- Rhodes dough pizzas (defrost loafs of Rhodes in the morning, quick homemade pizza that evening)
Sat- tostadas

9/27-10/3

Sun- chicken ranch pasta (crockpot in the morning, ready when you get home from church!)
M- hamburgers & fries (yes, I bought the premade, frozen patties and a bag o' fries to bake while I'm frying them)
T- ham sandwiches (mixed, filled, and frozen in tinfoil, just toss in the oven for 20 minutes)
W- Kielbasa and Potatoes (kielbasa chopped and frozen in gladware)
Th- enchiladas (frozen in aluminum lasagne pan, just add sauce and bake)
F- pancakes
Sat- soft tacos (hamburger cooked and frozen in gladware, tortillas soft fried, and frozen in a gallon bag)

10/4- 10/10

Sun- quiche (frozen pie crusts; bacon, onions, etc. frozen - no thawing required, but I precook my crust about 5 minutes before adding eggy mixture and filling)
M- fried potatoes with bacon & onions (bacon is chopped, cooked, and frozen with onions - just chop potatoes, saute them til tender, and toss in meat)
T- Easy Crustless Quiche (precooked sausage, add green chile and onion)
W- penne pasta lasagne (I had a bunch of lasagne filling left, so I cooked up some penne, tossed it in the cheesy filling, put it in a baking dish, and poured on the rest of the can of sauce. Can't be too bad, right?)
Th - baked potatoes with hamburger gravy
F - homemade Mac & Cheese
Sat - Time to Go Shopping and Cook Again. I'm going out to eat.

Everything for these meals is either in the pantry, fridge, or freezer. I like to package and freeze parts together, so they don't accidentally get eaten before their time. (For example, if you were having french bread pizzas, you could wrap your container of homemade meat sauce, bag of mozarella, package of pepperoni, and loaf of french bread together in saran wrap, before you stick it in the freezer. Get the package out the night before, defrost in the fridge, and you're all set to whip it up in about 15 minutes!)

By the way, I spent about an hour at Walmart, after I made up a list of meals in the parking lot. I spent about $200 (and that included milk, bread, cereal and some other necessities, but not a bunch of snacks or anything). My goal is to spend about $1 per meal, per person. The prep work (cooking the meat - hamburger and chicken, assembling lasagne, ham sandwiches, enchiladas, and making filling for chicken packets, etc.) took about three hours. (And just in case you're wondering, I figure I spend about $400 per month on food for 7 people (5 adult/teen, 2 picky littles. Also, I do have a separate full-sized freezer, but I think I could probably keep all the prepared stuff in the kitchen freezer, as long as I didn't have a bunch of other junk in there.) Another tip: I keep a list of the stuff I have prepped in the freezer, on the front of the freezer, so we don't forget to use it.

I also did laundry while I was doing my cooking. I didn't fold, just moved loads through the washer/dryer to the couch. By Saturday night we were ready for our "Laundry Party!" (which makes little kids beg to be allowed to come, and big kids groan). At our "Laundry Party!" we turn on fun music, and everyone sits in special spot of their choosing (just like Christmas morning!), while I throw laundry off the pile at the owner, and they fold their stuff. Each of the big kids usually has to do their own and a small sibling, while little kids fold dishtowels, and little things. I do mine and DH does his own. Whoever isn't busy (because all their laundry is still on their floor) gets to do towels, sheets, or whatever I throw at them.

(Here's BittE and her new babydoll, Spamela)

Have a productive week! (And if you're all inspired to go for it, try starting with just a week or two.)

Got any good tips for me? I'd love to hear what works for you! Thanks!

Oh, By the way, I don't do the cooking most nights. The kids (16, 13, 11) are still doing it. They just go by the chore chart as to when their cooking day is, then they make the meal on the menu calendar. Yup, life is good.

no big events to report

2009-09-07T21:08:00.000-07:00

Now that posting has become a weekly event for me, I somehow feel that it should be an event, not just random nonsense about my everyday life.

Too bad.

Today I hit the super sale at Saver's for the National Holiday! 50% off of fabulous used crap! Can't beat that!

I scored one of my all time favorite thrift shop scavenger hunt items - A Dick & Jane 1950's era New Basic Reader ($1.50) ! LOVE them! It's so exciting to just stumble upon something that you actually collect, yet weren't really searching for.

I also got the coolest little travel iron, circa 1960, for my students at school ($2.50). (Since we are a functional program, they need to learn real-life skills, and ironing is one of those skills.) I plugged it in as soon as I got home, and it worked great! Plus, it is super heavy (for a 6" iron), has a tiny spritz bottle connected to it, and one of those old black/white cords that make it look very cool and antique-y.

Besides that, I found some Born shoes for DD for only $4.00, a brand new Spiderman backpack ($3) for Wolfman - which he'd been begging for, some name brand jeans for people who are growing faster than I can outfit them ($2-6), darling school shirts for the kiddos, and some like new shoes for the littles.

I'll say it again, there is nothing like getting a screamin' deal!

This evening we had a great picnic for FHE at the park with all the family! So fun for the kids to play and run wild, while we sit and chat. I love my family!

Happy Labor Day!

Oh yeah. Have I mentioned that I am taking the equivalent of four college courses this semester, in order to maintain my certification? Um, yeah. Meaningful posts (as well as blog hopping) may just be a thing of the past for awhile. Wish me luck.

Miracles never cease

2009-08-30T22:01:00.000-07:00

So, our miracles have not ceased. Our water heater has been leaking pretty heavy and steadily for several weeks/months. I've been praying daily that it will last until we can afford to replace it. Friday was payday. On Saturday, Bro Ellertson was driving down 6th Street and saw one at a garage sale. They said it works great and were selling it for $20! I ran over and asked them to hold it for me while I ran to the bank for cash, and so it has been proven again - the Lord is mindful of our needs. Plus, it's even bigger than the last one we had. Woohoo!

He has definitely been mindful of me. The day before school began, I was all stressed. All of my work time had been taken up by stupid meetings and trying to schedule my students. I had no idea what to do with the students or even what their needs were. I had been reading the most recent conference issue of the Ensign, but for some reason it wasn't in the bathroom, and the only one there was from November 2008 (October Conference). The article that I opened up to read that morning was meant just for me at that moment.

You can imagine how moved I was when in the first sentence I read "...I wish to encourage (those) who at times feel overwhelmed with their responsibilities." And then"... Most of you have discovered that your ... duties will stretch you to the point that you wonder if you can stretch that far." "The more faithful service you give, the more the Lord asks of you... Your smile is a happy one because you know that He increases our power to carry the heavier load. The tough part of that reality, however, is that for Him to give you that increased power you must go in service and faith to your outer limits."

Yeah, I was completely reassured that this job is something I can do. That I'm serving some of his most courageous children, and that I can handle the increased pressure and responsibility - that my back will be strengthened to bear the burden as I serve him with all my heart, might, mind, and strength.

Here are a few more passages from President Eyring's talk, "O ye that Embark":

"It is like building muscle strength. You must break down your muscles to build them up. You push muscles to the point of exhaustion. Then they repair themselves, and they develop greater strength. Increased spiritual strength is a gift from God which He can give when we push in His service to our limits. Through the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, our natures can be changed. Then our power to carry burdens can be increased more than enough to compensate for the increased service we will be asked to give." When those feelings of inadequacy strike us, it is the time to remember the Savior. He assures us that we don’t do this work alone.

Also, for the past three weeks, I've had a toothache. Seriously, it has been miserable. For a couple of days, my cheek was actually swollen up like Alfafa's and I was down in bed the whole weekend before school started. I took some antibiotics and had it under control, but as soon as they ran out, it was killin' me again. I had it pulled on Friday and have wasted another weekend in recuperation. Thank goodness I was finally able to get it taken care of though...Walking around my classroom with an ice pack on my face was starting to be really silly.

YW Spa Night

2009-08-19T21:29:00.000-07:00

Tonight for mutual the Beehives (12 & 13 year old girls) planned a spa night. They chose the activity, planned it, and even brought the refreshments.

We did a chocolate face mask, oatmeal scrub, sugar scrub for hands, pedicures, and manicures.

I got the recipes for the chocolate mask and oatmeal scrub online, but didn't save the source. Sorry. However, here are the recipes:

Chocolate Face Mask - 1/3 c. cocoa powder, 1/4 c. honey, 2 T. heavy cream or sour cream, 3 tsp. ground oatmeal; mix well, apply to face, leave on for 20 minutes, rinse with warm water.

Oatmeal Scrub: 1 T. baking soda, 2 tsp ground oatmeal; mix with small amount water, scrub face gently, rinse with warm water.

We made our sugar scrub at Girl's Camp. Essentially it contains white sugar and mineral or vegetable oil (about 1/2 cup sugar, 2 T. oil, and some essential oil scents - a couple of drops). Here's a recipe.

And Thank goodness the girls had planned the refreshments well! We had Brownies, Ice Cream, and homemade Hot Fudge Sauce! (Otherwise I'm afraid that we'd have resorted to eating the rest of the face mask by the spoonful.

Tips for hosting your own spa night: bring lots of washcloths and towels. Bring headbands to keep their hair back. If you're doing it in the kitchen, bring mirrors so the girls don't have to walk through the building with their chocolate faces to use the mirrors in the bathroom. Lots of chocolate and good tunes are a must! Enjoy! Thanks for the great night girls!

Hello. I'm too tired to blog.

2009-08-16T21:11:00.000-07:00

But I wanted to check in anyway. We survived the first week of school. I think I'm really going to like my class. They cross the full spectrum of autism - from non-verbal, still havin' an accident once in a while to the kid who is taking Algebra II with general ed students, and can calculate how many minutes left in the class period practically instantaneously.

I'm still trying to figure out how to teach functional academics in high school. Everything we work on is supposed to have a real-world application to prepare the students for adulthood. Math is all about money, paychecks, time cards, banking, etc. Reading is about ads, newspapers, menus, etc. Writing is about shopping lists, letters, job applications, personal information sheets, etc.

Here's a cute story. One of my guys has the total stereotypic version of autism - high academics, low social skills, perseveration, stimming, etc. He can quote complete scenes from his favorite movie, and loves to sing the theme at the top of his lungs (sometimes at inopportune times and places). His favorite computer program has an application that he loves - he can sing into the microphone and hear himself through the headphones, which of course are designed to keep the rest of the class from being distracted when it's his turn on the computer. The other day two groups were working on Math, one student was writing a letter, and he was having his turn on the computer. The aide noticed that he was going to his favorite program...the one where he likes to yell. So I placed a piece of tape over the mike at the top of the screen, then added a sticky note over it that said "Quiet! It's time for Math." It must have worked, because he didn't even try to yell into the mike once during his turn. Bwahahahahaa!

Have a great week.

Why didn't I think of this before!?!

2009-08-01T21:57:00.000-07:00

Knowing that I'm going to be swamped when I go back to work full-time next week, we had a family meeting. We talked over what it would take to make it work. Since we were pretty successful with 10 kids here, we discussed what we had done differently that helped make that week easier.

Our list:

woke up early and got dressed right away
ate breakfast together
everyone cleared and washed their own dishes (from 2 years and up)
wiped the table right away
kept the toys to a minimum and put them away constantly
swept and vacuumed daily
did dishes after every meal (every meal made a full dishwasher load)
no t.v. or movies after dinner
played for an hour after dinner then had scriptures and prayer
read little ones to sleep

So we decided to continue those habits and split the daily jobs up fairly. Since none of us like doing the same job every day for a week, we have a revolving chore chart. Each of the older kids has two or three jobs daily (empty dishwasher, sweep, vac, trash, water, fill dw, cook, laundry, etc.) Every day they change though, so they don't have to get into a rut.

The best part though, is the cooking. I really assigned it, so they could help with the cooking. However, they all want to cook all three meals themselves. The first day Arthur cooked all three meals. Calvin was planning his meals ahead, and woke up at 7 am to make everyone waffles! He had a stir fry and rice all planned out for dinner tonight. They are lovin' this!

I have always shied away from chore charts, since I am not one to enforce that kind of structure (making me appear lax when it all goes out the window after a week or two). So I am thrilled that they have taken on these responsibilities so willingly. Man, I have great kids!

Industrial Arts

2009-07-28T15:37:00.000-07:00

I went and picked up my classroom keys today. My classroom is very industrial, but it's really big. It's actually in the industrial arts building. I'm right across from the welding shop and wood shop. I'm hoping if I make friends with those teachers, they might let me use their tools. I could make some awesome Christmas presents. Or maybe I'll make friends with some students and just have them make my ping pong ball guns for me! Hmmmm, I wonder if schools are allowed to let their students make weapons nowadays?

Entertaining the Masses...

2009-07-27T00:13:00.000-07:00

Since we had some extra playmates this week, (and we have no internet, cable, or video games) one might wonder how we entertained ourselves.

This week we... Played Games,

Learned to sew,

Played in the clubhouse,

had a tea party,

Made a massive blanket/cardboard box fort,

worked in the kitchen,

Read and studied,

went for a walk,

played with the cats,

enjoyed homemade playdough,

ate,

and found numerous other ways to keep busy.

Midnight Muffins

2009-07-21T23:10:00.000-07:00

I'm up late baking pumpkin muffins for breakfast. I am realistic enough to know that there is no WAY that I can possibly wake up before all these kids and make a batch of muffins from scratch in time to feed the starving hoard. But cold muffins and canned fruit salad will still be a delicious and kid satisfying breakfast.

I also sorted a batch of beans and put them on to soak. That, and a few loaves of Rhodes Bread, will be a great dinner when I get home late from my class. And just in case you're wondering the rest of the week's menu: corn dog muffins with chili, spaghetti & meat sauce, and creamy ranch chicken over fetuccini.

I'm feeling very on-top-of-things. I even put outfits for the littles in their weekly clothes thingy! (There is a spot for every day of the week. Everyone had one when I was teaching before, then I gave all but one to my little sis when she went to work. But obviously I'm feeling the need to get organized again, since I'm going back to teaching.)

Also, I have to mention a couple of miracles that have happened to us recently - huge tender mercies from the Lord, and people who are paying attention to promptings:

Our washer broke. During the spin cycle it started wheezing, whining, and smelling like burned rubber. Then it died. I asked my hubby to look on Craig's List and he found a 3 year old washer, that had been listed just 3 minutes before, for FREE! It just needed a little duct tape to fix the switch and we were back in business!

Wahhoooooooo!!!

About the same time that happened, the starter on my vehicle crapped out. It's been dying a slow death. However, my sister (the one I'm babysitting for) found out and asked her hubby to take a look at it. He came to my rescue and put a new starter in it the very night she asked him, even though they were both preparing to leave for camp. I love having family we can count on!

10 kids this week - all week.

2009-07-19T22:45:00.000-07:00

These cuites, plus one, are spending the week.

Hello. This will probably be my only post for the week. (I've only been on the computer once a week. All of my posts last week were scheduled ;D) My sister and her hubby are going to girl's camp, and since she watched my littles while I was at camp, I'm watching her 5 while she's gone. Yup. 10 kids from Tuesday through Saturday.

My other sister, Crazymama, had them for a sleepover the other night. She blogged about it. I quote:

"I swear, it's like I gave them all No Doze and Redbull for dinner."

I don't anticipate that kind of craziness though.

For one thing, I'm not that nice.

For another, since it's not a fun spend-the-night and it's for several nights, I'm going with a "let's start our back to school early-to-bed, early-to-rise routine" theme. Those poor kids will be so scheduled that they won't know what hit them. As a matter of fact, they will think their mother is still home (she is the most organized/routined/anal of my sisters).

I will get a couple of breaks from the herd. Three afternoons I have classes. For two of those days, my sis scheduled subs, and another day one of her friends is going to watch them for most of the day. But yeah, I guess I'll get to see what my life would be like if the Lord didn't have more sense than I do, and had granted my wish for a dozen kids.

crap.

2009-07-18T14:01:00.000-07:00

I have been known to let a lesser expletive fly once in a while.

By that I mean crap, dang, etc.

Ok, I'll admit it, once in a while even something worse.

I'm working on it.

But the other day, I got frustrated within the hearing of little ears.

Little ears that are learning to talk and thus, using every word they hear.

BittE heard me and instantly repeated it. But I haven't heard it since that day.

Until this morning. This morning she tried it out on her own when things didn't go her way.

"Crap."

"CRAP."

"CRAP!!!!"

crap.

Around here we reward honesty,

2009-07-16T13:45:00.000-07:00

by not freaking out.

Yesterday BittE and Wolfman both had Caprisun drinks. I was silly enough to leave them unsupervised for a moment and soon heard...screams, spatters,and giggles! I hollered, "Are you guys making a mess?" Wolfman came to me and admitted, "BittE and I are just having a juice fight." He showed evidence of the few drops that were on his shirt. I went to view the damage and found splatters down the hallway, and BittE, still slurping her drink, with juice all over her face, head, arms, and stomach.

Wolfman is usually quite honest. The other day I asked him, "What are you doing?"

His answer, "I was just doing something naughty."

another time he answered, "I am just making a mess."

and yesterday it was, "I am getting out a lot of toys."

He usually has to fix whatever he's done, but at least he's still willing to admit it when he's doing something he knows he shouldn't.

Learning Ugandan from Enoch and Moses & The Secret Reactivation of Anya

2009-07-14T09:34:00.000-07:00

Our oldest son, Elder S., has been on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints since December. He's been in the field for 17 weeks now. He is serving in the Ukraine, Donetsk mission. Here's an update from his latest letter (All of his letters are on my private blog thinkhappythawts - holler if you'd like an invite!)

Saturday! we did Sister Mark a favor and helped her with her childrens english class in the morning, i was the big bad wolf. huff puff. then we headed out and contacted for a while, then planned and shopped a bit. afterwhich we went and worked some more. then in the evening i had one of the greatest evenings of my mission. the Crittendons have made a lot of friends, all of whom are from Africa, these 19 that were there on saturday all speak decent english and 18 are from Uganda. 4 of them are from our area which is why we were there. i talked with two great guys. enoch and moses. they taught me a few words in ugandan, i love languages. enoch is actually a double major in engineering and sign language. moses only has one more year before he goes home. he is a physics major. but it was a pleasant evening with a truly humble and god seeking people, the evening proceeded with a gospel study with questions posed such as, what is the purpose of life, how can God be both just and merciful. our specialities. the discussion went late and we had to leave early. but they kept going with the senior couple. the whole time i had the thought in my mind alma 32:6-8. alma 32:6-8. he is preaching to the people but then a group comes to him who have been ridiculed and cast out and are truly humbled, ready for the gospel. Alma turns around right then and begins teaching them, because they are ready. thats what we are going to do. these people are ready so we are going to help them. our main focus will be on Michael and Gilbert.

Elder Shipp & Elder Eckersly - July 8, 2009

Photos courtesy of Sister Mark!

oh and a side note, we left right in the middle of a kharkiv typhoon as the missionaries call them. 10-20 minutes of havoc, the streets flow like rivers that i could easily take a kyak down. then its over and gone. but since it was in the evening the sun wasn't around to disperse the clouds, so this was a couple hours of rain. it was great. i had the little umbrela Uncle Aaron gave me. which did the job till i made it under ground in the subway. and it wasn't to bad when we came out on our side and were walking home. hoorah for always keeping an umbrella in my backpack.

Sunday. Church is in an old institute called the institute of extreme cold tempuratures. it had a massive mural of lenin on the side too. its great but we use the first floor. it has been renovated really well and looks really nice, i really like the sacrament hall. the branch was nice enough, they accepted us well and i was quickly fellowshiped by an African from Tunsinia. he is very cool and is the young mens president. church went well, after church we went and taught a lesson to an older sister named svetlana who has a daughter that is inactive, she told us to go and visit her but pretend that we were just tracting and ran into her. we went straight there and she let us in! she speaks amazing english, so everything but her most complex thoughts were in english, it was odd, it felt really good to be there with her, like she really needed us to be there right then and the Spirit just kind of settled into the room and said, "Ah... thank you for listening" we just talked for a while and then she ASKED for a spiritual thought, so we whipped out 2 Nephi 32 and talked about studying the scriptures and prayer, which is something i know she hasn't done in a long while. she accepted our commitment to read from mosiah 15 and she said that she would like us to come back some time, but not to tell her mother. so thus begins the secret reactivation of anya sergeov velikovisk. after our impromptu lesson with her we went to the crittendons to have a lesson with michael on the plan of salvation and we ended by inviting him to be prepared for baptism for the 1st of august. he excepted to begin preparing. the main obstacle is that he has class right when church is and he MUST attend at least two meetings before we can baptize him he can miss class this next week because he asked his instructor but every week is going to be tough for him until august. so we shall see.

until next week my dear brothers and sisters.
goodnight and good luck
elder s

(some names have been changed to protect people from Googling themselves and finding out there's a conspiracy to reactivate them, LOL!)

Funky Eggrolls for Dinner!

2009-07-12T20:05:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had a fabulous dinner - Funky Eggrolls!

Big Hits were:

Chili Cheese Dog Eggrolls

Sausage Pizza Eggrolls

Sausage & Green Chile Eggrolls

and even some traditional eggrolls with sweet & sour sauce

Rejected proposals:

Peanut Butter & Jelly (we didn't have any bananas)

Tuna

Mashed Potato & Gravy

Corn

Another time we're going to do some dessert eggrolls. Calvin is dying to try Marshmallow.

These fabulous recipes and MORE available on my recipe blog SupercoolMomsRecipes.blogspot.com! (I know, You just can't wait to check it out ;D)

If you give a Mom some cardboard...

2009-07-10T13:19:00.000-07:00

She'll help you make a reflector for your dashboard solar oven.

While she's cutting the cardboard, someone will ask her to make a sword and shield,

Then, when they see the sword and shield,

they'll ask for some paint to paint it with.

When everyone else see's the wonder,

they'll ask her to cut something to decorate their rooms.

That is the point when Mom says,

"Enough! I am not making anymore crap out of cardboard!"

No system here.

2009-07-09T11:52:00.000-07:00

Me: "Hey Arthur, please fold those dishtowels."

A: Folding for a while, then "Oops, I was folding them like Sis. So&So does it."

Me: "Well, people who have systems get upset if you don't use their system. Since I don't have a system, I don't care how you fold them, as long as they get folded."

A: "Then I'm going to use her system."

Me: "fine."

A: Folding for a while more. "I think I'll make up my own system."

Me: "fine." but thinking, "Just fold the flippin' towels!"

So, do YOU have a specific way you fold towels?

Confession: Sometimes, in the interest of time, I just toss all the dishtowels in the drawer, because really, who cares!?!

Random stuff

2009-07-08T15:45:00.000-07:00

BittE just showed up at my side (in the kitchen) carrying her padded Diego potty seat and stool. I'm not sure what her plan is.

Throughout the day the three most frequently heard phrases around here are: "Check out my moves!", "Poopy. Poopy. Potty!" and "Mom, can I have some (fill in the food item)?"

BittE has been wearing two different earrings for about 4 months. She lost one from a pair. Then I replaced them and she lost one from that pair. Not a problem really, except that one is red and the other is crystal.

For the Fourth we went to the Ward pancake breakfast and Kiddy parking lot parade, then that evening we went to the drive-in and saw Ice Age 3, Night at the Museum 2, and fireworks from a distance. It was a really fun time and we even gave away one of our kittens. (The kids took the three kittens we have left and tired to give them away before the movie.)

I may upload the pics later.

I really dislike my little Nikon. It is a pain in the rear to upload the pics. My little Kodak Easy Share was a much easier camera to use and upload from.

Yesterday the news said that it was supposed to be "dangerously hot." So we tried baking cookies in the car again. I added a mirror into the experiment this time, started at noon, and forgot about them so they ended up cooking for about 3 hours. They were actually about half cooked. The candy thermometer got up to 175 too! I may take up solar cooking as a hobby.

Ahhhhh, Nature...

2009-07-06T10:13:00.000-07:00

19,000 visitors and a PRIZE!

2009-06-30T12:48:00.000-07:00

Well, I thought about a prize. I even went back and checked my site meter to see who the big winner was...

it was a total stranger (who didn't leave a comment - ahem) ,

And so were the twenty or so people on either side of 19,000.

Sorry friends. You can't win if you don't comment. And around here, you never know who's gonna win or when I might get the urge to promise a prize (that may take up to 6 months to deliver - but totally worth it once it arrives!) But, you know, nice big round numbers usually strike my fancy... (I'm just sayin'...)

Now, about the people who didn't win...

people in California, Romeoville, IL(isn't that a great name?), UK, and Italy all looking at Cherry Blossoms,

lots of people looking at wedding cakes,

someone in France looking for a secret admirer,

and the best, heeheeheee, someone looking for Poo Training! ::giggle::giggle::