How to Make a Pie

Well, sort of.

I'm not a pie making guru by any stretch.  So really you probably shouldn't be taking advice from me.  But I told my mom I would do a pie for Thanksgiving and I really would like to get better at pie baking, so this seemed like a good opportunity to practice. 

The pie crust recipe I used was really tasty as dough.  I've never had dough that I actually wanted to eat prior to cooking and this was so good, I enjoyed eating the raw dough.  Now, let's hope that it tastes that good in a cooked pie...  The pie I'm making is one I've actually made before, but I'm guessing I used a frozen pie crust.   It's a combination of apple pie, cheesecake, and crumb topping.  (Recipe from Taste of Home.)  As to looks, well, my pie crust shrunk more than I would have liked and my fluting didn't come out well.  (High butter content, I'm guessing that is what made it not as clean and neat.  Maybe having the dough in the fridge for longer next time?)

Here's the main inspiration for my post though:  my spray bottle from Taliah Wajiid. 

I'm sure that's what most people have on their counters when baking a pie.  It's really just one I've refilled with water but my crust was a little crumbly and I wanted to add just a spritz of water.  At any rate, isn't that what you use your hair products for?  (And yes, my rolling pin has one handle.  It was my granny's, a gift from my grandma which if you know my grandma and her gift giving, it all makes perfect sense.  It need repaired but I've managed to make it work for the last ten years so you know...)

Really?

I know this is trivial.  I know it's minute.  I know it's actually just plain silly.

But I can't help myself.

Pumpkin Pie Pop Tarts?  Really?  I'm pretty sure pumpkin pie is quite offended.  I'm guessing that maybe even the Cool Whip is irritated.  Why on earth would you take a perfectly good dessert and create some type of hybrid breakfast food?  Do not understand...maybe it tastes great but it just seems a bit off to me.

photo from Amazon.com

My week as an ode to the end of the summer wedding season...

Something old
This week marks my return to the classroom, at least on a part time basis.  I subbed in fourth grade, sixth grade, and kindergarten.  Next week I have a job in fourth grade and a day as the speech language pathologist.  After being out of the classroom for eight months, it has been nice to be back.  It's been a good reminder of how comfortable I am in teaching, how much I enjoy it.

Something new
The last few weeks have brought about some big conversations about D's grandma.  She has lived alone since D's grandpa passed away 18 months ago.  While her health has not been stellar, it appears to be steadily declining.  She has no living children, no living siblings, no living spouse.  D and I are the closest relatives at 2 and 1/2 hours away, then it's D's brother in Boise.  We are extremely thankful for the friends we have who have helped Marie in the last year or so.  But that still doesn't make the reality of her living alone in poor health any easier.  More than anything, we need wisdom and love.  May we act in wise ways that reflect the love of the Lord.

Something borrowed
The last few weeks I've been reading like crazy, all things borrowed from a couple of different libraries.  My list is quite varied:  A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity by Bill O'Reilly, Dreams from my Father by Barack Obama, Put Down your Rocks by Nicole Johnson, The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence, My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers.

Something blue
The weather has been turning here and it is amazing.  After some really hot dry summer weeks, it is finally starting to feel like fall might be around the corner.   A magnificent cornflower blue sky, sfull of cottony white clouds.  It's endless.  It stretches across Nebraska's face like a gigantic grin, ending in dimply hills and plains streaked with greens and browns and yellows.  It's as if that sky is marking a path for fall:  crisp, clean, a renewal.

Alright-add your own.  What's going on in your life that's old, new, borrowed or blue?

An ode to Maude

When I was younger, my parents helped start a food pantry in the Sandhills of Central Nebraska. I spent quite a bit of time in an old bread store with my parents and grandparents, organizing food stuffs and helping people select food to take home. One of these people was a little old lady named Maude. Dainty, shrunken Maude. Dressed in polyester and dedicated to putting her best foot forward, Maude refused to age gracefully. Her rouge was bright and very unsubtle. Her lipstick followed suit and often escaped the edges of her lips. And perhaps the best part of Maude was that she was the only person I knew who wore a wig. Of course, the only reason I knew she wore a wig was because her actual hair was always sticking out from underneath the wig.

Well today, I pulled a Maude. We had baby dedication at church today and Kenson and Conleigh were two of the children who were dedicated. We got ready plenty early so D and I decided to go to the grocery store and grab some doughnuts, giving us a chance to talk to Conleigh and Kenson about what the dedication service meant. As I got back in the car and drove to church, I glanced in the rear view mirror and noticed I was wearring a blue enamel earring, one I purchased in Romania. That puzzled me. I had picked out pink earrings to match my necklace. Then I realized I was wearing two different earrings, one pink and one blue. I have short hair. Those earrings were very visible for the hour or so that I've been running around town. Apparently, I just grabbed and since they were the same style back, I didn't notice. Classy...just like Maude.

Rodeos, Tortillas, and Some Minor Butt Scratching

We've had a whirlwind last few days...

Rodeoing at Mason City with Uncle Jared as the announcer

Celebrating Kenson's birthday a few days early

Going to Uncle Jared's house and checking out the horses

I decided to work really hard to remember the best phrases from moments throughout our trip.

The ones to make the cut are:

Don't rub your tortilla on your shirt.

Take your braid out of your nose.

and....

Get your hands out of your pants. If you have an itch, scratch it from the outside.

(And yes my brain is not really sure that I should have said those words.)

While you're contemplating which family member that last one was about, enjoy a few photos of our experience with Jared's horses.

If cleanliness is next to Godliness..

then, man, am I in trouble!

I have struggled this summer with keeping upon housework. I'm just not a great housekeeper and for some reason, it seems worse this summer.

I don't know whether it's the addition of a certain three year old or the addition of a certain husband but the laundry and dishes are always heaped up.

I usually am really good about the "handle papers only once rule" but again, I just seem to find paperwork piles laying around. (I try hard to immediately file, through, etc. any papers that enter the door, if you're wondering what rule I'm talking about.)

The dog hair just seems to have a mind of its own and right now, I think it's laughing at me. Vacuuming seems to be a futile effort.

I used to think "at least there isn't a funky smell" but after seeing a current commercial that asserts "80% of people can't smell the odors in their own homes" I'm feeling a little concerned.

I suppose it's mostly the clutter that is really the issue. I've got crafty stuff out. And a couple piles of books that I've been wanting to read. D's still got some left over soccer items that haven't quite found their homes. Plus the usual stuff like a bucket full of underwear and socks that I managed to turn a dingy gray after washing them with a rag rug. So now I'm trying to bleach them back to white. The kids? Well, on any given day, who knows what they have out? For some reason today we had to get all of our winter clothing out. At least the clothing they could find. I think it all started because Kenson uncovered a pair of cowboy boots and to borrow a line from a story, if you give a child a pair of cowboy boots it will remind the other child that she has no cowboy boots but she does have snow boots, which she'll want to drag out. And if she drags out her snow boots, she's going to need a fur lined bomber hat to keep her head warm. If you let her wear the hat, her arms will get awfully cold in the 90 degree weather so she'll start digging through the baskets, looking for her coat. And chances are, if she finds her coat...

I guess the housekeeping thing is one thing that kind of surprises me about women. For some reason, women are very reluctant to be real with each other regarding the state of their homes. In other words, we really don't like unexpected guests because of our laundry piled on the table or our floor that happens to have a couple Cheerios shoved into one corner. (I wish it were only a couple of Cheerios on my floor.) Why we are so sensitive about this, I just don't know. Generally speaking, there are a lot more women with imperfect homes with the level of cleanliness ranging from slightly messy to a lot more than slightly messy. Dishes, laundry, clutter-all houses have it and it's usually not tucked neatly away.

One thing I've come to appreciate are a few friends who have always welcomed me into their homes despite their home not being immaculate. Sometimes, their house wasn't anywhere even close to even sort of clean. I think having friends who were willing not pay attention to the flawless house myth has made it easier for me to authentically share my house with others who happen to pop in or even those whom I was expecting. I also read somewhere that when we hurry to clean our homes because of a guest, it usually creates high stress situations within our families. That those high stress situations really are sending an important message to our kids, that our life is not okay the way it is so we'd better hurry and get things straightened up before so-and-so sees it. It discourages authenticity and instead fosters a belief that we must present ourselves perfect or that we must show others at least in some semblence of what is acceptable in order for those people to like us.

So today as you consider your house and the never ending tasks that go with the blessing of having a house, remember that cleanliness is not next to Godliness despite your Aunt Mabel's adament stance. Instead count your home as a gift from God, something He has entrusted you with, not simply so you could keep up appearances but so you could love on others by inviting them and sharing your life with them.

Just to clarify

Regarding my wishes in a previous post for disposable underwear....

Yes, I now realize they do make them. (Thank you friends for reminding me.)

No, I did not think of what I was really wishing for while I was waxing away, wistfully dreaming of a a smaller laundry pile.

And no, we will not be making the change to adult diapers anytime in the near future.

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

The Good: When Conleigh came home, she flew to the U.S. with 2 other kiddos from Haiti Children's Home. One of those kids was a little girl, Julie, who is about 6 months younger than Conleigh. Julie and Conleigh have spent much of their lives together at the orphanage and Conleigh grieved Julie's friendship for months after coming home. Julie's family was headed through our neck of the woods on their way to visit relatives in Canada and they got to eat lunch at our house on their way by. The kids played great with no fighting. Even Julie's older siblings were generous and played well with the three much younger kiddos. We got a chance to visit with other adoptive parents. It was just such a blessing to have them stop.

The Bad: Since the Fourth of July, we've just been in kind of crazy mode. We spent the 4th-the 7th at my folks'. Then D and I came home while the kids stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's. We were actually only home one day and then we headed out to our marriage enrichment weekend. We got home on Sunday at 11 and then hosted soccer boys for lunch. We spent part of Monday picking up the kids and then every night that week doing VBS. My laundry situation is B-A-D. So is the dish situation. I've already decided that next summer we will be converting to disposable plates, cups, and silverware. I just can't keep up when we are all home all day and I cook two meals a day. (Well I could but that would mean hand washing....the horrors!) As far as laundry goes, too bad there's not disposable underwear...

The Ugly: Vacation Bible School...just that should explain a lot. Our church does an evening program from 6-8:15 every night for a week. It's fun but knowing now what I know, I probably wouldn't have had my kids do it. My kids had an amazing time but I found myself wondering why I making them go every night. While I don't doubt God uses all sorts of things, I just found myself feeling like I was making them go because I felt like they needed to go out of obligation. The reality is they're three and being out until 9 every night for a whole week with minimal benefit was something we could have lived with out. We're still dealing with some ugly cranky behaviors. (And the kids are having problems too.)

and...

The Unusual: I got my hair cut today. It's short. Really short. No pictures, sorry. You'll just have to see me in person.

Whirlwind Weeks

Anybody getting the feeling that their summer is whooshing by? This last week was C-R-A-Z-Y! And I was missing kids for part of it! Here's the run down:

Sunday the 4th-head to my aunt and uncles, watch fireworks, play, laugh, play a little pitch, stay up way too late visiting with my family including my cousin and his family who were back from NY

Sunday night through Wednesday-visit Grandma and Grandpa's house ( my folks'), visit my best friend from high school, play and play and play, slip and slide good times

Wednesday-D and I leave, kids stay at Grandma and Grandpa's, we arrive back home and start thinking about our next departure, kids play and play and play

Friday-D and I head to Lincoln for the FCA's Coaches Marriage Enrichment Weekend, Bob and Jan Horner who normally speak with Family Life's Weekend to Remember were the guest speakers, plus "huddle time" with other coaches and their families, kids build a sandbox with Grandpa and play and play and play

Friday night through Sunday morning-overnight at the Cornhusker Hotel for D and I, enjoying the speakers, two nights and two days worth of meals for $100 (seriously a great deal!), kids play in the pool and get to enjoy Uncle Jared's company (I'm just praying they haven't resorted to calling him Dr. Jared since that's his goal in life: to convice people he is a doctor simply by inserting falsehoods in conversation enough that it somehow becomes fact,)

Sunday noon-D and I leave conference, head home to host soccer boys as we watch the World Cup soccer final, feed a group of high school boys, D plays soccer with them, I get some groceries, kids are still playing I'm sure

Monday-sometime on Monday we'll be headed to GI to pick up the kids, then we kick off VBS for the week (evening VBS so that will give us some more "we're out of our routine" feeling)

Any wonder I'm feeling like we're in a whirlwind?

And looking ahead to the coming week, with VBS, isn't feeling any calmer. VBS, a few playdates on the schedule which we may just have to say no to, and perhaps the highlight of our week, Conleigh's Julie is coming for a visit. Julie is one of Conleigh's Haiti buds who has been friends with Conleigh for most of her time in Haiti and came on the same plane out of Haiti. Her family lives in Kansas and is going on a roadtrip that will take them close to us so they are stopping at our house for lunch this week. I don't know how she'll process it all but I'm excited for their visit.

Do you hear the winds starting to blow the week right past us? I do...

There's a Hole in the Street...and other drama...

A few years back we had a leak in our yard from underground pipe. Upon digging things up, our plumber discovered a lead fitting which connected our water supply to the city main. Under government regulations, this needed to be replaced. So our plumber replaced the leaky pipe as well as the fitting which attached our pipes to the city water main. This included sections of pipe and the fitting that were underneath the city street. According to our city's policy, the homeowner "owns" all water pipes up to the main, even if those pipes are under the city street. At that time, we paid $1500 to have the necessary work done.

At the end of last November/beginning of December, we received a call from the city saying that we had a leak in the street coming from one of our pipes. In the street, there was water squeezing through cracks in the street. not a lot of water but water nonetheless. We contacted the plumber who did the original work and he said he didn't know if it was our pipe or the city's that was leaking but that he would put us on the calendar for the next week to come out and use a camera to see what was leaking. It snowed later that week (like a lot of snow) and he never came. We weren't too worried about it seeing as there was snow everywhere. The city did call again probably ten days after their original call and I told them I had contacted our plumber and was waiting for him to come out. I contacted the plumber again and he said he would be out but not to get too worried unless the leak started to leak in a different way. Two days before Christmas, about three weeks from the first phone call from the city, we were getting ready to go out of town and noticed that the leak had now moved to a different spot in the street. I contacted both our plumber and the city and told them this. The plumber said it would be fine, to not worry about it. The city continued to say it wasn't their problem. We then went and did our Christmas traveling, returning a few days later, and find sawhorses and a hole in front of our house. Someone had come up and worked on the leak. No one called us to tell us they were going to do the work so we didn't know who it was. We called our plumber who said it wasn't them. So we called the city who had indeed come up and done the work. They told us that it was creating a mess and so they had to do the work on Christmas Eve. I spoke again with our plumber expressing concern over the city doing the work and that this was probably going to create a problem. The plumber told us not to worry about it until we got a bill. Two months go by and we finally receive a bill from the city. For $1008. $1000 in labor and $8 in parts. 5 men working at $25 an hour. 5 men digging one hole who apparently needed to use a backhoe for 5 hours to dig that hole. (Which is still has not been backfilled or refilled with cement.)

I then contacted both the city and the plumber saying the two of them needed to get together and discuss what was going on with this situation. After a month of twisting arms to try to get the plumber to go look at the part and determine if he was responsible, I finally heard from the city that the part simply failed and that the plumber was not responsible. Or it could have been pitted when the backfilled the dirt but who really knows. I placed multiple calls over a three week period to our plumber asking for him to verify that this was his position but he never returned my calls. I then contacted our attorney. Who told me that neither she or her partner could really help us as she was the attorney for the plumber and her partner was connected to the city. They referred us to someone else who referred us to someone else who referred us to someone else all because each attorney had a conflict of interest in helping us. We finally ended up with an attorney who we did not know who said he would look into it. 3 weeks later, after several calls to him, he finally calls us back to say that he spoke with the water department manager of the city and that the man is unwilling to budge on the bill. The attorney feels like he can't help us and that the only avenue left is to try to prove the plumber's negligence in small claims court. Which I don't know that I can do because the part may have just been defective. Obviously, if he had come out sooner the city wouldn't have gotten involved but I'm not sure this is negligence/shoddy work.

Anyone reading this want to scream? It is beyond maddening. We have the city who came out and simply performed a task with no notice that they were going to do so and then bills us an outrageous amount. We have a plumber who is absolving himself of any responsibility in his initial work and then in his failure to act on the second problem in a timely way. We have a bunch of lawyers who all are connected to the city or the plumber and are unable to give even simple advice. And us? Well we have a $1000 bill and a big hole in front of our house. I find myself in one of those situations where I'm not sure what the right thing to do is. I am not looking for a fight. I'm not trying to be difficult. I simply want other people to do the right thing by us. What's the godly response, the one that is not vindictive or spiteful but doesn't allow yourself to be taken advantage of?

We're now onto contacting the city attorney and contesting our bill as well as contacting our city council representative. (Who I don't even know who it is. How bad is that? We're "outsiders" in this town so we just don't know all of the ins and outs and to be honest, that's one of those things we should know and don't.) As to the plumber, I'm not sure what we can do. Anyone got any ideas? Anybody else been in a situation like this, where you feel like you're being treated unfairly but don't feel like you have a lot of recourse?

Tidbits from the week

*After a quick q and a session with Kenson about the letters in the dog's name, I overheard him tell the dog, "You hear that, Bo? It's B-O." Said with complete confidence in the dog's ability to remember and apply the information.

*And speaking of the dog, we no longer have the dog. He made a dash out of the gate on Friday while I was going to the car with the kids to get groceries. I quickly made sure the kids were locked in the back yard and took off after him but after chasing him 3 blocks decided I really had to turn back since I left two three year olds unattended. We got in the car and looked but never did find him. He has tags so maybe he'll turn back up. (One can hope, can't they? Especially since Kenson asks about 20 times a day "Where's Bo?' Also, it would have been nice of the dog if he had let me know his intentions of running away before I plopped down $80 in shots.)

*Both of my kids have slight umbilical hernias (outie belly buttons). Combine this with 3 year olds who don't quite have a solid handle on body parts and body part functions and you have a little girl who, upon watching her brother go potty, tried to use her outie belly button to go potty.

*Conleigh went with D to soccer practice on Saturday. She decided she would water the grass with the ever popular squat and potty method. Of course, D didn't see it until someone pointed it out to him. At Doane. On the turf.

*Conleigh's been diaper free during the day starting on Friday. So far only one accident. Wearing "unnahwahr" is a huge motivator.

*Kenson has been fighting some allergy type gunk and has a constant drippy nose and a cough. =(

Adventures from Yesterday

Yes, the culprit is literally standing behind her handiwork.

And we got a dog. Our pug mix, Bella, had been staying with my folks since we traveled to pick up Conleigh. About 3-4 weeks ago, she ran off from their house and ended up getting in a dog fight that she didn't win. So we've been dogless for a while. Bo, the Bassett Hound, was a freebie. Neutered, housebroken, and good with kids. So far he has done well aside from a little whining at his new surroundings/loss of an owner. I've been trying to decide if I was crazy to add a dog to the mix but the magic word "free" managed to get the best of me.

The afternoon...in phrases

Peanut butter sandwiches with Papa at school for lunch

Suessical the Musical, performed by the high school kids-we crashed a special elementary only performance because we can't make a regular performance over the weekend

No naps

SUNSHINE!!! Finally something that resembles springtime.

Outside play followed by outside pooping...I'll spare you the details. The clothes are still lying in my bathtub.

Multiple crying fits over meaningless things like if Conleigh's onsie belongs to Kenson, if a baby doll must be buckled in once toy baby carrier is on the back or if the doll should be buckled in before it is placed on the back, and if a tricycle is positioned so that it's back wheels are completely flush with the back deck.

Homemade cornbread to go with our vegetable soup, made while children were outside playing. Aahh, sweet freedom!

Waiting for Papa to get home for super...one child asleep on the couch. Probably will regret that later on.

Joy Spottings in the Midst of Chaos

-Conleigh pretending to go out the door, saying "bye, bye, kiss, kiss, Au uv you!"
-Kenson cheering for the Olympic skiiers by yelling, "Go Huskers!"
-My husband always telling the kids to tell me thanks whenever they get something from me like a meal or a Kleenex. It's such a small thing but it always makes me feel like he wants them to appreciate me.
-It's finally starting to feel less like chaos and more like controlled chaos.

You must be dealing with a broken furnace if...

Your washrag freezes to the side of your sink.


You fail in an attempt to defrost a ham by leaving it on the counter.


You now know for certain which electrical outlets are on the same circuit breakers because you've blown many breakers trying to plug in space heaters.


You think an interior room temperature of 60 sounds positively balmy.


You're runnning out of clean sweatshirts.


All of your family is sleeping in the same bedroom so they can share the heat.


You are actually caught up on laundry because you've been running your washing machine trying to keep it from freezing.

You pray for your furnace repair man and his ability to fix things.

Your three year old complains that his feet hurt once the heat comes back on.

Seriously...praise the Lord for heat. After 6 days without, I count it as a blessing to have heat. I can't imagine living on the streets or in your car in the cold Midwestern winters. Don't know how people to it. (And sorry that they have to.)