Archive - 2010

Updates

Remember when Pumpkin Girl was cast in the Marzipan Dance in Nutcracker, but it was her very least favorite variation? She said it was because she didn’t understand how they wanted her to hold her arms during the audition. After the first rehearsal she told me that she was put in Marzipan because they liked the way she held her arms. I laughed so hard when she said that! Even she got the irony and laughed, too. She’s been enjoying the rehearsals and is over the disappointment.

We figured out our heater right as we headed to bed last night. The temperature in the house was close to 60 and getting colder, so I was glad to hear the fan start up and catch a whiff of that familiar scent of hot lint.

Turns out our deck did have a final inspection, it just failed. Then was repaired, then the permit ran out, then the company went out of business. The contractor can’t (or won’t, I’m not sure which) just repair it, since it never passed. The whole thing has to come down. I guess it is for the best in the long run, since the material is not the right type for the weather here. I liked the contractor who came to do the estimate. He said all the right things before we even asked, he was up front about the need for permits, he had copies of his liability and workers comp insurance. He had references and even recommended that we go to a current work site to see a deck in progress. (Alas, he was not Mike Holmes.)

On the up side with the deck, we’ll be getting a composite material that does well with the temps here. We’ll get to add some decorative elements of our choosing, including stair and post lighting. And we found out that we can use a movable fire pit as long as we stick something called dura-stone under it.

Monday Musings

(yes, I know it’s late Tuesday, but I started this post in my head yesterday. Go with it.)

Did you have a good Columbus Day weekend? It’s an odd holiday, isn’t it? Not everyone gets the day off, just federal workers. We were all blissfully sleeping in on Monday when we heard the school bus stop. Philip thought it was the trash man and was about to leap out of bed to set the trash out when I said that the trash gets picked up later in the day. We can’t put our trash out overnight because of the bears and our pickup day never moves, regardless of whichever holiday it is.

When I was a kid, there was a couple of times when we took advantage of the federal employee discount tickets offered by Disneyland on Columbus Day. This was back when you had to buy ticket books and every ride had an A-E classification. But if you had the special discount tickets, you got this special pass that you just waved at the ticket taker at each ride. The lines were always pretty light on Columbus Day and the weather was nice. We lived about 2 hours away, so it was an easy day trip. We’d show up to work and school the next day, groggy and tired. Good times, those.

The weather took a turn for the cold today. We can’t figure out how to turn the heater on and we accidentally turned off the pilot light to the fireplace when we first moved in. We have a new thermostat for the heater and we just can’t seem to get it to work. User error most likely, since we had the furnace serviced a couple of weeks ago and I heard and felt the heater go on then. Good thing all the bedrooms are upstairs.

We found out that our deck never had a final inspection 10 years ago. It’s a plastic deck – not composite- and was added after the house was built. We found out from neighbors that the original owners had problems with it and had it repaired twice before the company went out of business. It still looked good when we first saw the house, but by the end of that first summer, planks were cracking and beams were warped. We figured we’d just repair it as needed, but that’s out of the question now. The whole thing needs to be replaced. Ouch. It’s one of the nicest decks in our whole neighborhood, with two levels and lots of room to eat, cook, play and entertain. I think we’ll stick to basically the same design, but with some lighting added.

I wonder if Mike Holmes would like to visit Colorado?

Waiting

I am 37 weeks today. The baby is “officially” full term, he’s been head down for a while, and all systems are “go” for launch. Just waiting on God to light the fuse, so to speak.

I’m anxious. I have been blessed with easy labors, the kind which make people want to throw things at me when I talk about them. So I wonder, is this the one that will be long and dragged out? Am I really up for doing this one more time?

I’m uncomfortable. I’m only 5 feet tall, so there is not much room for a baby to be in my belly. At the end of the day, everything just hurts.

I’m caught. I’m so done being pregnant, yet the only way out of this is to go into labor. I don’t like either choice.

Bip is worried. It seems like every fairy tale we read has the mother dying. Cinderella, Snow White, even the Little Mermaid has the mother gone. I know it’s just a plot device, but to a 5 year old, it is too close to home. The thought of breaking his heart like that just shatters mine. But I can’t make him any promises. When it is my time to go, then it is mine time to go. Now or another 40 years from now, it is in God’s hands. Small words of comfort to a sweet little boy who needs his mother.

If you could spare us some prayers, I’d sure appreciate it. Above all, I would ask that you pray for a safe delivery, with a healthy mom and baby at the end. And until that time, a peaceful heart for both me and Bip. Knowing that others are praying for me has always eased the load, so I thank you in advance.

More Baby Knitting

While the baby is busy enjoying his limited days in my belly (he’s on 30 days notice to vacate), I wrapped up some final projects for him.

Here’s a little hat from Ann Budd’s Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns.

It’s a great book if you like to pick your yarn with only a vague notion of the sort of project you want to use. Or if know what you want to make and the yarn you want to use, but don’t want to do the math to figure out how to make it all work out. An any gauge, any yarn, any needle, any size book. Love it!

Also, love the yarn. Usually, all the different colors and patterns would be achieved with different yarns and complicated charts, but this is self-patterning yarn. So the simpler the pattern, the better, which totally works for me.

And matching socks, just because.

I’ve got one more hat in mind to make for him and then I’m ready for him to arrive.

Resolution

After waiting forever, we finally have a resolution to the Nutcracker Roles Mystery.

Nutcracker 1 – with her studio’s pre-professional company – Pumpkin Girl will be a Mother Ginger Tumbler, which is the role she’d wanted with the other production. She was disappointed that the smaller girls are the only ones who get to hide under Mother Ginger’s skirt, but she’s in the group that gets to do all the cartwheels. Not to mention that this is a “bonus” Nutcracker, that we only just found out about a week ago. And, more bonus, the other production doesn’t even have Mother Ginger tumblers this year.

Nutcracker 2 – with the city’s philharmonic- She is in the marzipan dance. It’s also known as the merliton or shepherd’s dance and also the Dance of the Reed Flutes. This variation was at the absolute bottom of her list, but I’d been coaching her all these weeks to brace herself for getting it. Turns out that the reason she didn’t want this one was because she didn’t understand how to hold her arms during the auditions. But she is very happy that one of her fellow sheep from last year – who is also in one of her classes- is in Marzipan with her and is in the same cast, so that softened the blow.

I thought she did pretty well handling the small disappointments. It’s tough being 9 and not really having the skills to look on the bright side and bounce back. It’s a good life lesson, though. At the very least, now we can move from the anticipation that was driving us crazy!

Applesauce

lorris-dinerAs promised, our family’s favorite homemade applesauce. Boo won’t touch the store bought stuff, but he loves this!

Homemade Applesauce

6 cups apples, peeled, cored and chopped
3/4 cup water (or enough water to about half-way to top of apples)
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup white sugar

In a 2 quart sauce pan over medium heat, combine apples, water, cinnamon and cloves. Bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in sugar and simmer 5 more minutes.

Serves 4

Cinnamon the Cat says that this makes a sweet applesauce, so you may want to adjust the sugar to taste. Just don’t forget the cinnamon and cloves!

Double Trouble

Somehow Pumpkin Girl is now not in one, but two Nutcracker productions. I know, I know.

One production is with a traveling ballet company, accompanied by our city’s philharmonic. She auditioned for this one way back in August and as I write this, she still doesn’t know which role she got. We do know that she’s in one of the “suite” variations – Russian, Chinese, Spanish or Arabian. She’ll find out at the first rehearsal this Sunday.

The second Nutcracker was a bit of a surprise. Her new ballet studio has a pre-professional company (which Pumpkin is too young yet to join) that stages its own annual Nutcracker. It never really even crossed my radar other than as something that she and I might attend together. So we were both a bit surprised when she received a letter saying that she was one of the dancers from the Children’s Division of the school to be selected for some of the minor roles. The letter did ask for sensitivity during their regular classes because not everyone had been selected.

I can’t be sure, but I think the selection process for this second Nutcracker took place during regular classes. Pumpkin told me that they were measured during one class for any future performances that year. She also told me about one class where they did cartwheels – not your usual ballet fare. Unless you’re one of Mother Ginger’s children in the Nutcracker.

(She doesn’t know which role she has in this production, either. She’ll find out at the first rehearsal this Saturday.)

After reading the letter, Philip and I discussed the possibility of back-to-back Nutcrackers. The performances will be a couple of weeks apart. The rehearsals will not conflict. And just how can you say no to such a sweet little face, all lit up with happiness?

We couldn’t, of course.

So we are committed to double rehearsals and double performances. Oh yes, and a new baby thrown in to the mix.

Pray for us! We’ll need it!

Balloon Buns

I was fortunate to attend a junior high that had required home ec and industrial arts classes. We learned to cook and bake, sew, draft (technical drawing), and work with wood and metal. Several of my projects from those classes still survive! Actually, I just took possession of them again, as we upsized our house while my parents have been downsizing. Hmm, I think I feel another blog post in that!

I was looking for a recipe in a magazine the other day and I came across my original copy of a recipe from my junior high cooking class. It’s for “balloon buns” – a quick and simple snack.

Check it out –

Can you see the discoloration around the drawing of the balloon? That’s because you can measure your dough right on the balloon, so that’s years of grease traveling across the page!

I thought I’d share this recipe, not because it is any great culinary achievement, but because it is something kids can learn to make. And because balloon buns make me smile.

Balloon Buns

Ingredients

  • 1 cup biscuit mix
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 2 Tablespoons soft butter
  • 2 Tablespoons cinnamon-sugar
  • 4 large marshmallows

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin pan for 4.
  2. In a mixing bowl, combine biscuit mix and water to form a ball of dough. Turn dough out onto lightly floured breadboard. Knead 4-6 times. Shape into an even round ball.
  3. Cut dough into 4 equal pieces. Take each piece of dough and flatten with your hand into a 4 inch circle.
  4. Spread dough with 1/4 of the soft butter, sprinkle with 1/4 of the cinnamon-sugar. Place marshmallow in center of circle. Bring up edges around marshmallows and seal tightly by pinching dough together. Place with smooth side up in lightly greased muffin tin.
  5. Bake 10 min. Balloon buns will expand as marshmallow melts. Some of the melted centers may ooze out if not sealed well. Place pan or baking sheet under muffin tin to catch spills.
  6. Serve hot, makes 4
https://themacandcheesechronicles.com/2010/09/23/balloon-buns/

(I doubled this recipe for our family, and the only thing I actually measured was the biscuit mix and water. After forming the dough circle, I just spread butter on them and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar without measuring.)

Bounty

My friend Nikki and her family were here last week for her husband’s 20 yr college reunion. They are some of our closest friends from our time at Bolling AFB, and we’ve been missing them this whole year. It’s funny how once we got a bigger house, all our friends are showing up for a visit. We love it!

(Well, not all our friends have visited. I’m looking at YOU, JennG!)

Anyway…Nikki brought us a whole bunch of apples from their apple trees, plus some canned applesauce and what they call “plumbleberry jam.” It’s like she knew how much my children love homemade applesauce!

Looking at all those apples I thought about making a pie. Or more applesauce. Or maybe…apple butter! I’ve never made apple butter, so I thought I’d give it a try.

Look at all these beautiful apples, all washed and ready to go!

I started by making unsweetened applesauce. I used our family’s go-to recipe, minus the sugar (recipe to follow in a different post).

The next day I used the crock-pot all day to cook down the applesauce into apple butter. My house smelled divine! I consulted a couple of different recipes for the ratio of spices and varying cooking times, but they all pretty much came down to applesauce, spices, and slow cooking all day in various stages of covered or uncovered.

In the end, it didn’t really look like butter in consistency, more like jam or jelly. But mmmmm! does it taste wonderful! I’ve been slathering it on toast and biscuits and I’m hoping to heat it up and pour it over vanilla ice cream.

Not Ready Yet

This is a difficult week for our family. Every year I think it’ll be easier and every year it almost is. But this year, 6 now since Rebecca has been gone, the days and dates are the same. What I mean is, the 11th was on a Sunday, this year and then. The 15th is, this year and was then, a Wednesday.

I wanted to tell you Rebecca’s story this year. Whenever I read about child’s death, I want to find out what happened. Not so much morbid curiosity, but…I don’t know what really. Maybe I just need to understand. Maybe I just want to share the grief. So I wanted to share with you, and anyone coming here looking for comfort after the death of a child, just how and why Rebecca died. There are lessons to be learned, because her death was completely preventable. Except that it was her time. Sweet little baby.

But it is just too much still. Maybe another time.

This week we will just do those little every day things that need to be done and try, TRY not to think of what wasn’t done and what should have been done differently all those years ago. We will run and not grow weary, we will walk and not grow faint.

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