25 years

Well, my goodness.

I was going through my old photos

to find a particular pic that I wanted to show you...

and I found this gem:

It's been 25 years since I graduated

from high school.

Which is completely impossible.

Impossible, I say!

I am still very much a teenager.

I am.

With some grumpy peri-menopausal attitude

thrown in there.

Which really isn't much different than

the attitude of a grumpy hormonal teenage girl.

So,

there ya go.

I haven't changed one single bit.

And doesn't my future husband look

dashing!

hosting orphans

Hey, friends!

You should go check out

Carol's blog

to see what she and her husband are up to.

It's so great!

They are hosting two orphans from Latvia

for the summer!

Isn't that so cool?!

Please go check out their fundraiser

AND learn more about this great program.

I think it sounds like a really great option

for MANY people to help orphans.

macy's jewelry!

Macy has made some lovely

pieces of jewelry that she has for sale

on her blog!

Go check it out!!

coconut oil (cont'd)

I am so sorry to have left you

hanging about the coconut oil.

How very naughty of me.

Here's the scoop:

I use it on towel-dried hair...

AND

just before I flat-iron it.

I have naturally curly-frizzy hair,

so this works well for ME.

It WILL make your hair oily if you use

too much.

And if you have very fine hair...it may

not be the best option for you.

Although it would be a great deep conditioner

that you could treat your hair with,

then wash out.

And no, I wouldn't think this would

be so great on most Asian hair.

But definitely on Asian skin!

I use it on my littles' skin because they tend to

get awfully ashy, especially in the winter.

Where to get it:

I bought mine through

Mountain Rose Herbs.

(If you use my link, scroll down

to Coconut Oil Refined- 1 gallon)

I'm sure there are many other places

to get it, I just don't know where.

Besides health food stores, of course,

but that would be pricey, I'm guessing.

And I have also bought the kind for baking at Walmart.

The gallon jug I bought online was $32,

and I *think* I got free shipping on it,

but I really can't remember.

A gallon will last a long, long time since

I use it so sparingly.

That's about all I know about it, guys!

It works great for me,

I hope it does for you, too!

i should run a restaurant

Hello, friends!

How is your week going?

Mine is good.

Pretty good.

But having the kids all home for summer

break is nearly killing me.

(We are only a week into it)

(Lord, have mercy)

I get up early to get my biggest boys/men off to work.

They need a hearty breakfast

and lunch-to-go.

Then the next group gets up for breakfast.

Then we start all over at lunchtime.

Then dinnertime.

Plus everything else there is to do!

How do we women keep up at this pace?

It's crazy-crazy.

I really should run a restaurant.

At least I'd get paid.

Anyway, I have nothing to share with you

except all that whining.

Oh and I wanted to show you a pic of

a field of wheat down the road from us that

is at its peak!

I suppose the photo doesn't do it justice.

Trust me, it's so golden and lovely.

It makes me so happy.

And we've got fields and fields all over that

look like this.

Very Bible-belt Americana.

I love it.

Well, I don't have the energy for one

more single thing.

OH...except to tell you that Isaiah woke

up at 11:30 PM last night,

came to my side of the bed

(where I was sweetly sound asleep, thank you very much)

and said,

"Mama, I'm up early!"

Ummm, kid...until it hits the A.M., it's not early.

I don't know what it is.

Ridiculous, that's what it is.

Thankfully he went right back to bed.

Ok, that's all.

coconut oil {my story}

At the ripe old age of 19 (or 20) I

got a job at a bank,

in the bookkeeping department.

Which is hilarious to me now,

being that I hate all things administrative.

And I'm ridiculously disorganized.

Anyway,

I worked with a gal named Sylvia who was

from Georgia.

She had a pretty thick southern accent.

It was not unusual for her to ask

me to go deliver some paperwork to the

lawn department.

"The lawn department??"

I would ask.

"NO, the lawn department."

I was so confused.

(Which was typical)

The LOAN department.

Got it.

And she mentioned before that she needed to

get her earl changed.

Earl?

(This was long before the Dixie Chick's song,

Earl Must Die, so I wasn't too concerned that

Earl might be in her trunk,

needing to be changed.)

Is anyone still reading this?

All that to say,

I wanted to talk to you about

my new-found love.

Coconut earl.

I mean, oil.

Coconut oil.

I originally ordered this online

to use for cooking.

I had never used it before and

wanted to give it a try.

Sadly enough,

when it arrived, I read the fine print that

said it wasn't for consumption.

So it sat and sat as I mourned.

Then my friend Mary, who is half Korean

and has no accent,

told me that coconut earl (or as she says it, oil)

is fabulous for black hair.

So she bought some from me for her little

Ethiopian babies.

Months went by before it dawned on me

that I could use it in MY hair.

I love it when my dimly lit bulb,

gets just a little brighter.

It works great.

I love it so much!

It's not a miracle humidity shield...

but it's really better than any other product

I've ever used.

It smooths frizzy hair like nothing else.

Remember, I'm a professional.

You can trust me.

I've tried a gazillion things in my 20+ years

of doing hair.

It's a big solid glob that melts at your touch.

It's so cooperative that way.

And it's fabulous for your skin, too.

So, my advice to you is,

go buy some coconut earl.

You will thank me.

Oil.

Coconut oil.

my thursday {bored children, bread & polish hens}

How's your Thursday going, friends?

Today is our first full day of summer break

to stay home.

All day.

All day long, we stayed home.

Which is all fine and good for me,

cause I loves me some home.

But, the vibe I'm getting from the rest of the crowd,

it's very boring.

Good.

That means I'm doing my job well.

We'll venture out tomorrow.

I made some dee-lish multi-grain bread today.

Mercy, does freshly baked bread ever smell glorious.

The taste is pretty amazing, too.

In case you wanna try it at your home:

Makes three lovely loaves!

6 cups freshly milled wheat

3 cups freshly milled: rye, millet, spelt, barley, oat groats

1/4 cup (approximately) freshly ground golden and brown flax seed

1/4 cup vital wheat gluten (or more:)

3 tsp. sea salt

3 cups warm water

1/2 cup honey

1 1/2 Tbl. yeast

4 1/2 Tbls. melted butter (not too warm!)

*Of course you can use any blend

of grain you want for your flour.

Just make sure it's a total of 9 cups.

I usually soak six cups of it in warm water

with 3 Tbl. vinegar.

I'm too lazy to write out all the directions.

If you're a seasoned bread baker, you know the drill.

Just mix everything up as usual,

knead and let rise as you would any bread recipe.

Top with egg wash, freshly rolled oats and

semi-ground flax seed.

Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

If you need detailed instructions, shoot me an email

and I'll try to do that for you!

***

Oh, Wanda.

I had told all of you earlier

of Wanda's untimely demise,

then corrected myself that it wasn't

in fact Wanda and Dorothy,

but Leonard and Hal, who perished

on that dreadful day at the hands

of the other roosters.

(They do have hands, you know.

Where do you think they get

chicken fingers?)

Anyway,

not sure any of that made a lick of sense.

But the real deal is,

Wanda and Dorothy are alive and well.

Take a look.

Wanda is looking especially elegant today,

wouldn't you say?

(And yes, the roosters next to

her are who stole her lover away).

I do hope you're keeping up

with this poultry soap opera.

And look.

She and Dorothy got red highlights.

They are obviously moving on with their lives,

sans Leonard and Hal.

Good for them.

I really can't decide this these

are the ugliest or most adorable creatures

I've ever laid eyes on.

I just don't know.

But they do make me smile.

tires rotated {excitement}

This is an emergency post.

My friend Shelley has harassed me endlessly

about putting something new on my

blog instead of that blasted mouse/snake photo.

She is over-the-top freaked out by it.

And will be in therapy for years to come.

My apologies, Shelley.

So, in order to help your recovery,

I will post something new.

Though I have nothing new to stay, really.

Although I do need to tell you about my

discovery of using coconut oil on my hair.

I'll save that for another day...

but you'll want to tune in for that.

Oh, you DO want to tune in.

So today I had a fabulous visit with my friend, Mary.

She's a peach, let me tell you.

Our littles have such fun together!

Then I got to go get my tires rotated.

ALL BY MYSELF.

I mean, I didn't rotate my tires, you sillies.

I took them to get rotated, by myself.

Golly, that has a nice ring to it.

Look at how elated I was!

Notice, no one in the back seat.

It's Mama's lucky day!

And that's all I have for you today.

Boring, I know.

This one's for you, Shelley.

little white mouse

Oh my word.

The little kids talked me into taking them

to the pet store today.

I didn't want to go, but I figured

it would buy some time

with not taking them to the zoo.

But you can imagine how horrified I was

when I saw this:

Do you see that poor little white mouse in the corner

of that snake cage?

I nearly crawled out of my skin in sheer horror.

And the snake even went back to the corner and

sniffed around the mouse a bit.

Just to taunt it, I'm certain.

The poor little thing was shaking in its little pink boots.

I was shocked and devastated.

Don't explain to me the circle of life.

I do know how the story goes.

I live on a mini-farm, after all.

Living things constantly come and go around here.

It's just terrifying to see it play out

in a retail establishment.

I retold the whole story at the dinner table tonight.

No one seemed as disturbed as me.

Is nothing shocking anymore?

It's a travesty!

The End.

Don't be surprised if I suddenly announce

that I am adopting a little white mouse.

Except that I despise mice.

Let's just forget we ever had this conversation.

I'm ready to move on with my life.

Good bye.

chemistry notes

So school is out on Tuesday.

Oh, happy day.

Nick's chemistry teacher is letting the class

use notes on their final.

Well, as many notes as they can fit

onto a 3x5 card.

And this kid took full advantage of it.

Front and back.

In a hand-written font that I can't imagine

how one could read, much less, WRITE.

I offered for him to take my reading glasses.

Or a microscope.

the pool of opportunities

So, Isaiah got some new goggles today.

For swimming.

And other recreational things.

He was rather fascinated by them.

And he didn't seem the least bit phased by the fact

that...

he couldn't really, you know, see out of them.

They were fogged up.

And one eye, as you can clearly see,

was pretty much clinched shut.

But, who needs eyesight?

It's way overrated.

Why let anything hold you back?

Why not enjoy life and its blessings,

despite the limitations?

Why?

I've never met a more easy-going person

than this Isaiah-man.

He is...very refreshing.

In a very unique way.

Let's all just put on the goggles of life

and dive into the pool of opportunities, shall we?

Whatever that means.

salisbury steak {and glitter & stickers}

Oh my.

I am such a blogger slacker.

Slacker!!

And I can't think of one single thing to write

about that would intrigue in the least.

So, I will tell you what we're having for dinner:

Salisbury steak

Mashed potatoes & gravy

Corn

Salad w/ hard boiled eggs,

cheddar cheese & the works.

Here's my Salisbury steak recipe,

because I know someone will ask:

(I have to double this, of course)

1 lb. ground beef

1/3 cup finely chopped onion

1/4 cup saltine crackers (about 4 crackers)

1 egg, beaten

2 Tbls. milk

1 Tbls. prepared horseradish

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

Mix altogether & make into patties.

Fry in pan....remove from pan, make gravy.

(if you must know, I use powdered gravy. There, I said it.)

(I am not Martha Stewart. Did you know that?)

Add patties back into gravy in pan, simmer.

Serve.

It's way good.

So good.

Anyway,

my life is churning away with cooking for these people in

my home.

They refuse to stop eating.

Darn the madness!

I do hope your life is wonderfully productive as well.

And full of glitter and stickers.

Our families appreciate us greatly, I'm sure of it.

God bless us all.

cheap quantity

Do you ever just feel like you're in an awful funk?

Oh man.

That's how I've been feeling lately.

Argh.

I hate that!

I have too much to do to be weighed down

by such crud.

Pray for me, would you?

In the mean time, I'll put on my sassy pants

and press on.

Completely unrelated to the above,

I need some suggestions.

My kids love, LOVE, to draw, color, cut out shapes, etc. etc.

We go through copy paper like toilet paper.

And let me tell you,

we go through a lot of toilet paper.

Hence the septic tank blockage.

Don't get me started on that again.

Anyway,

I'm on the hunt for a big roll of white paper.

I remember my mom buying one when we were kids

and we used it and used it and used it.

I don't know that we ever got to the end of it,

despite our immense creative use.

Oh golly, were we ever creative!

So,

tell me your ideas!

I need CHEAP.

And I need QUANTITY.

I know I can count on you.

Y'all are wonderful.

Thank you for being you.

**I have no idea why my font changes suddenly,

mid-post.

It drives me so crazy!

Just ignore it.

Thank you.

mother's day 2012

I had the most lovely Mother's Day!

My dear husband smoked a pork roast for lunch.

I won't tell you what I smoked.

Just kidding!

We had a fabulous meal.

Then it was all cleaned up by everyone

except me.

I could get used to this.

Is anyone listening?

Then my kids gave me such delightful gifts!

They were SO eager to give what they made.

It was precious.

I posted this pic (below) mostly to show you

Brenden's new bedroom/pit.

(See over my shoulder to the right)

Because of the flooding in our basement,

this child is still without a place of his own.

So he has taken over our school room.

And he is quite content there.

No doors, no privacy, no room to walk around.

He thinks it's great.

I am losing my mind with all the "stuff" that is

spewing out and encroaching on my space.

But I love him.

Very much.

When does school start?

Macy worked super hard making this gorgeous necklace

for me!

She is shy and quiet...but her heart is huge.

Thank you for such a lovely gift!

Nick got me a gorgeous basket of flower from the nursery where he works.

He knew exactly the one he wanted...and made sure he got it.

And he gave me two big hugs.

A mother couldn't be more content!

Thank you to my crazy-circus family for such a beautiful day!

It was so relaxing and delightful.

I hope you all had a great day too!