Too Much - Not Enough

Have you ever known you're walking in the wrong direction but things are distracting you so much you don't turn back and head for the right direction?  That's how I feel lately.  I feel like there's been an excess of events, material things, food, things to prepare.  There hasn't been enough of the exercises that sustain me like prayer and sacrifice.  I've been going to bed lately knowing I didn't serve God well that day.  Feeling like he's waiting for me. 

Today I heard of two seperate lives that were suddenly gone.  Both I did not know.  The first was a man who supervises some of the people who work in DH's office.  He was fine yesterday, sending out emails at 5:30, went home and had a massive heart attack and died.  The second was someone my sister told me about from a blog she read.  A father suddenly taken just after final adoption went through days earlier for their 5th & 6th child.  

We don't know how long we have.  I keep thinking once this is over or that is over, I'll focus more.  ...but the only time I may have is now.  So I leave you with these heavy thoughts.  It's probably best I close up and go to sleep so I can prepare to do better tomorrow.  May God provide me the grace I need to follow Him better.

Jon & Kate Plus 8

Have you seen it?  We all love this show about a family with 2, six year olds and 6, two year olds (their ages in the first season).  It's hard to believe that two pregnancies led to eight children.  As they describe in the opening, they had fertility problems, gave birth to twins and decided to have another baby and got six.  

What's fun to watch is their system.  Although there is much stress and bickering mostly from Kate to Jon, their house runs smoothly (for the most part).  It's almost as if Kate is so determined to make their lives normal she goes crazy accomplishing it.  ...and accomplish she does.  Things like spending only $150 a week in groceries, driving the whole family from Pennsylvania to Florida to visit Disneyworld, and throwing a carnival on their front lawn for the sextuplets 3rd birthday party.  

The first time I watched I thought Kate was mean to Jon, but once you watch a couple of episodes you realize circumstances make her that way and she's the first to admit that she's a control freak and germ phob.  Also, you see the love she has for each child and her beaten-down husband.

What other family with eight children under seven could have a film crew in their house 24/7 but one led by a Germ-a-phobic Control Freak?  It will make your life seem easy.  It comes on Monday nights at 9:00 on TLC.  You can see their personal website here.

Kate's 8 Tips for a Smooth Household

1.  Organize - keep a list of to dos and cross off things as you go

2.  Shop on a Budget - look for sales, take advantage of coupons and promotions

3.  Prepare for Outings - plan ahead, bring supplies

4.  Count Your Blessings - being thankful during everyday life gives you a boost

5.  Promote Safety - talk to children about safety, teach them to come to you

6.  Provide Order - a schedule will help everyone in the family

7.  Reward Your Children - this will help, they want your approval

8.  Make Housework a Family Affair - provides family unity, and sense of belonging

We Love Wii

This Works because it provides fun family time.  Unlike watching a movie, we can interact with each other and get up off the couch!

Our gift to all three girls this Christmas was a Wii.  It was challenging finding one during Christmas but with determination DH located a store expecting a night shipment.  He got in line at 4:30 am to get this.  It has proved well worth the effort.  In case you don't know, Wii is a wireless interactive game made by Nintendo.  You control the player through your movements, not just your thumbs.  
One of the fun things is creating your own player in Mii.  We each have our own as well as some of our guests' favorites.
After dinner we hold family tournaments.  Everyone gives their all!  You actually feel some physical effects too!  I had tennis shoulder the week after Christmas.
We have a little fun, a little exercise, some hand eye coordination, little friendly competition (usually), and some nice family time.  

The problem for my family is they just can't beat me ;)  Go see some great ideas at Shannon's Works for me Wednesday.

A Night to Remember

It seems like we've been celebrating this 40th birthday for some time now, especially since we didn't want to make too big a deal of it.  

Oh, what DH and I will do to get out of throwing a party.  Like my Mom used to say, I create more work to get out of work.  The idea started some time ago with a combined celebration of our 40th birthdays at "our" (my?) favorite restaurant, Oyama, a small Japanese place where they know our names and order.  We would invite our parents, brothers and sisters, and six of our friends.  Then, our favorite place was sold!!!  That really threw us, there was no other alternative.  I think it's strange now that I think back to it.  We threw out the idea at Christmas of going to Farallon in San Francisco, and we had positive responses, somewhat to our surprise.  After DH talked to his brother and received another favorable response, the decision was made. 

Twelve of us traveled to "The City" from different directions.  Eight of us traveled together and stayed in close proximity.  We arrived Saturday afternoon and enjoyed Union Square.  We had to go to the Apple Store, Ghiradelli Chocolate, the square itself, and to the Disney Store.  We prepared for dinner and walked up two blocks to the restaurant. 

The Farallon decor is very impressive with large jelly fish light fixtures hanging from the ceiling.  It was designed to convey an underwater experience with no square corners in the entire bottom restaurant.  We were upstairs in the private dining rooms, named after caviar, ours - Sevruga.  

As I mentioned in the last post, DH's brother as Chef was very busy, not only with a bustling Saturday night but with a large 100+ party in the "Beluga" room.  He greeted us and our experience began.  

 I only have three pictures of the five courses:  

Dungeness Crab Salad - watermelon radish, avocado, cara cara vinaigrette,

Seared Maine Diver Scallop - paprika braised octopus, haricots verts, garlic vinaigrette

Grilled Creekstone Farms Filet of Beef - Maine lobster, Yukon potato puree, porcini mushrooms

Each course was paired with a different wine.  Some California, Italian and French.  It was a long leisurely dinner, where the conversation was good, the service unnoticed, and the food light, yet rich and amazing.

Of course we dine like this all the time so we know exactly how to act in such situations.

We took a tour of the restaurant downstairs and the now empty private dining rooms.  We completed our night downstairs.  We did have a brief celebrity encounter.  Cybil Shepherd was there in a hooded jacket.  We saw her leaving and dashing to her car in the rain.  Apparently she is performing in a theatre down the street.  

I know it's cliche to say, but it truly was an experience we won't forget.  We are truly thankful to all our family - the Chef, parents, brothers and sisters and niece and nephew who gave us the gift of their love through their time, effort, and talents!   

Oh yeah, our babysitter was a bit tied up when we got home

Preparing an Account of our Amazing Weekend

We had an amazing time in San Francisco this weekend!  DH and I celebrated our 40th birthdays with an extraordinary private dinner prepared by the Chef of Farallon, whom we actually love not only because he prepared this unforgettable event, but because he is DH's brother.  

We were blown away by two things, the tremendous dinner and the fact that my brother-in-law was not only preparing our private dinner for 12 but prepared dinner for a party of 100+ in the other room, and in charge of the restaurant downstairs.  (I had to email DH to find out the exact number of salads Ryan prepared for the other room while simultaneously serving our 5 courses - this is an exact quote:)  "120 salads in 7 mins.  The waiters were saying how impressive it was.  They also couldn't believe the Chef had a brother so much taller, smarter, funnier, and non-smelly."

I'm trying to write a post with pictures today.  Not sure how I'm going to describe this weekend.  DH's Mom and Husband, Six of my Brothers and Sisters and my Niece and her Boyfriend all journeyed to San Francisco to share this special dinner with us.  They all gave up time, money, and their comfort zones to do this with us.  The Chef went to great lengths - we're not only honored but feel a little guilty.  (above is the picture of the beautiful flowers he ordered for our table)

Stay tuned for details.  I took the picture below of the restaurant from the upper level.  

A City Set on a Hill

You are the light of the world.  A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; Matthew 5:14

Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;

where there is hatred, let me sow love; 

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt faith; 

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy.

Grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console;

to be understood as to understand;

to be loved as to love;

for it is giving that we receive;

it is pardoning that we are pardoned;

and it is dying that we are born to eternal life.

Clean as a Whistle

Clean as a whistle and ready for an exciting weekend.  Tomorrow's forecast - rain.  Have I mentioned, I have time management issues?  Motivated by yesterday's post and expected passengers tomorrow, we cleaned out the stale french fries, 3 or 20 loaded little girl purses, dvd's, fast food receipts, jackets, dolls, drawing pencils and even a little mouse.  Kidding on the last one.  

Now for our garage.  In little over a week, our garage will be a polling place for the California Primary Election.  Me oh my, what work lies ahead.  For now, I'll do what I do best and push that off a little longer.

Have a good weekend.  

Living in a Van Down by the River

I just can't get this out of my mind. It's been 15 years since I first saw this skit on SNL.  Still, I reference the line, every time I have a messy car...which means I reference it often!  The video itself is a bit crass.  I wish I could edit it.  It's SNL afterall, so if you don't like late night t.v. material, it might not be for you.

When I have an unexpected passenger in our car or one that I'm comfortable with enough to see my car situation, I prep them saying, "watch out for the mess,  it's like living in a van down by the river." Instead of showing their disgust, they laugh which makes me feel a little better.  

Hmmm, maybe I should go clean my car?

Interrogation

This is a great idea from JMom at Lots of Scotts.  Ask your children a set of questions every January to see how their questions change from year to year.  I'm not sure I can keep this up but I thought this was something fun for today. 

Kaye - 10

What are you good at doing? I'm good at soccer.

If you had ten dollars, how would you spend it? I would buy a turtle Webkinz.

What are you afraid of? I'm scared of heights.

Who are you friends? Brennan, Julia, Audrey, Allison, Emma, Annica, Madi

What is important to you? To try to get things as close as I can to the right thing.

What is your favorite book? Nancy Drew - The Clue in the Diary

What is your favorite food? Can it be a dessert?  Pizookie

What is your favorite thing about school? I like when we get through the school day early.

What is your favorite thing to do? My favorite thing to do is play with my friends.

How do you show your family you love them? ...by helping with the stuff that has to be done.

What do you want to be when you grow up? When I grow up I want to be a Mom and pro soccer player

Why? because it's something I enjoy doing.  I don't know how I'll get money, but...

What are you thankful for? I'm thankful for my family, a house, food, my friends, all the things I have, Nutmeg and Frank.

Tell me something about God. Without Him we couldn't do anything.

Cee - 8

What are you good at doing? I'm good at doing art.

If you had ten dollars, how would you spend it? I would buy a Webkinz with it, a velvety elephant.

What are you afraid of? snakes

Who are your friends? Audrey, Ellen, Clare, Regan and Grace

What is important to you? My family

What is your favorite book? a Tiara Club book

What is your favorite food? a dessert?  Pizookie

What is your favorite thing about school? Break

What is your favorite thing to do? Play with my friends.

How do you show your family you love them? by saying, "I love you."

What do you want to be when you grow up? a Mom, well never mind, I want to work at Petsmart.

Why? because there's animals there that are friendly and cute.  

What are you thankful for? I'm thankful for having a family.

Tell me something about God. He is very very very very very nice.

Jae - 5

What are you good at doing? talking about mean things

If you had ten dollars, how would you spend it? save it

What are you afraid of? witches

Who are your friends? Paris, Victoria, Lauren, Taylor, Whitney, Brandon, Grace and Chase

What is important to you? God

What is your favorite book? Froggy Gets Dressed

What is your favorite food? Pizza

What is your favorite thing to do? go on the computer

How do you show your family you love them? I made a sentence.

What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be a teacher.

Why? Because a teacher is good, like my teacher.

What are you thankful for? my friends

Tell me something about God. He died because they put a nail.

*note*

Kaye took a long time to answer

Cee was so excited she wanted to see Kaye's answers and stay for Jae's.

Jae was mad because she wanted to play on the computer.

I asked each one privately.

Clean Floors -The Easy Way

To my surprise I received a Roomba from my DH this Christmas.  It really has made a difference in our floors.  Clean floors make a whole room look fresh.  I love the idea that it does the work for me while I concentrate on something else.  I like to run it in another room while we homeschool.  It is a little loud in the same room, like your Mom vacuuming under your feet.  I usually do the schoolroom when we're finished working.  I keep it on charge when not in use so it's ready to go when I need it.  When it senses a lot of dirt it will circle the area until it has cleaned everything.  You can imagine it does quite a bit of circling under the kitchen table.

It works well on both carpet and hard wood and can easily transition in a room with both.

I have the model that comes with virtual walls to keep Roomba in one room.  You choose the distance of the laser and set it down where you want it to turn around.  The kids and the pets love to see this.   It took me a couple of times to work out a few quirks with it such as battery life (I thought it would run 6 hrs but really runs about 2-3), brush cleaning, and taking away the easily removable items so it can clean more thoroughly.
I was thrilled with this surprise gift...but when I celebrated my birthday a few weeks later and received this from my DH, I started to wonder.  He's not the type to be bothered by dustbunnies or clutter so I think it just may be attributed to his male mind...naturally he analyzes, categorizes, and develops so he must of saw my excitement with the Roomba and said "hey, I'll hit a jackpot again."  He made up for it when he took me to get a MacBook the next morning.  I do like this too for quick pet hair clean-up and the car.  Very powerful and not so hard on the eyes in the corner of the room.
Go see the great ideas at Shannon's Works For Me Wednesday.

Dream

Lisa at This Crazy Little Life of Mine (my sister) wrote a thoughtful post about "Dreams" in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.  I was inspired to post my dreams.  It is to know, love, and serve God better.  This primarily means that I follow His will.  There are some things completely clear and some things to be revealed.  

It is clear that I am to love my Husband and offer my best self to him.  I thought about this and I know this means to love him at all times.  When it's a gift to love my husband and on the rare occasion when it can be hard to "love as a verb."  For example, when you're at Disneyland and you have to go to the bathroom so you leave him with your princess-loving daughter in the Cinderella line and then discover he took a picture of some drunk truck driver posing as your 4 yr. old.  Even during times like that.   Thank you Dear, your little girl will always treasure this picture.
Following God's will also means to give all I have to our children.  To bring them to Him so they'll end up with Him.  This is always a gift but some moments are more enjoyable than others.  Like when they're looking so cute, picture below (not above) a few years ago.  ...or tonight at dinner when your 5 yr. old tells you are the "best cooker in the whole world" as she eats her KFC.  
Oh, how I need help.  Today was a distracted day may I do better at pursuing my dreams tomorrow!  (hmmm, that sounds like something a Grasshopper would say)

Port-Glazed Blue Cheese Appetizer

Oh, this is VERY good! We were requested to bring this last night to a Friend's dinner. What does it say about a person when their talent in the kitchen centers around appetizers and salads? Tell me, I want to know, that's me. I don't know, maybe it's because these food categories require little work. This is very easy, absolutely delicious (if you're a cheese lover - or not - some have become cheese lovers after tasting), and versatile at a casual or nicer gathering. Please try it, you'll be amazed how many people will want the recipe.

3/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup ruby port

1/4 to 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper (to taste)

1 bay leaf

1 wedge of triple-creme blue cheese

1. In a large saucepan, combine sugar, port, pepper and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, 3 to 4 mins. Discard bay leaf.

2. Simmer the syrup over low heat until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 5 mins.

3. Set blue cheese on a serving plate and drizzle cooled port reduction over cheese. Serve with wheat crackers. I like Big Wheat Thins - but a gourmet cracker would be nice at a fancier event.

Notes:

*The key is a triple-creme blue cheese so it's creamy and spreadable. I use Castello which once tried you'll go to great lengths to find. It's at our local Trader Joes. A small wedge (pictured) is under $4. (Double-creme can be substituted)

*I use a lower priced ruby (not tawny) port since it will become a sweetened reduction.

*It can be made with walnuts which adds to a nice presentation. (My family prefers no nuts). Add walnuts halves or quarters to syrup in step 1. Coat well, drain with slotted spoon, and add to a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees, stirring once, until nuts are mostly dry. Let cool. Sprinkle on top of glazed cheese.

postscript: I first tasted this recipe at a baby shower for DH's cousin. I believe his Aunt discovered the recipe in Food & Wine magazine.

She Left This...

(My Mom's Inscription in my Book)

A book that has helped me countless times.  It's almost as if I find exactly the reading I need when I go to it.  This is part of a chapter I have posted on my bathroom mirror.  It speaks to me because it addresses my weaknesses and gives me hope.

Imitation of Christ

bk 1, chap 25

An undisciplined person is open to grave ruin, and a person who looks only for ease and relaxation in life will be limited in his spiritual development, for one thing or another will always displease him.

Look for your comfort from nothing but God, then you begin to know God perfectly; then too will you be quite content no matter what happens; then, you will neither rejoice for much nor grieve for little, but will commit yourself wholly and confidently to God, for He means everything to you.  To God, nothing passes aways or dies, but all things live and all things serve Him promptly  at a nod.

Give yourself enthusiastically to your spiritual life, you will find great peace and feel the effort lighter through God's grace and the love of virtue.  The person who loves God with all his heart and soul - and who faithfully and diligently acts on that love - is ready for anything.

The more self disciplined you are the more you will progress.

Nancy Drew, I Love You

...because you have turned Kaye into a reader.  When we started homeschooling, I had illusions of children curled up with good books, choosing the written word over the overstimulation of television and computer.  Instead for three years we tried book after book without any investment.  I'd learned that reading took practice just like learning to ride a bike; first you can barely balance, then you practice your steering, you finally have it down and enjoy being able to turn and brake, then you're riding to get from place to place, it's not the riding, it's what it can do for you.  It was obvious she wasn't enjoying the ride yet.  Then, the Nancy Drew movie came out and Kaye loved it!

This led her to re-examine the collection of yellow Nancy Drew books at the library.  Somehow the visual of the movie helped.  She completed a book, begged to go to the library asap, then finished another.  She brought her book in the car, to restaurants, up to bed, and even missed her favorite t.v. show to read some more.  The North Pole got word of this and Santa brought her books 1-54.  She's now on her third since Christmas.  
I remember the first time I finished a book for enjoyment - a Silhouette Romance.  My Sister and I could ride our bikes to the library in the afternoon because it was only a few blocks from school.  Besides my fixation on the library's pet turtle, I noticed a sign that said "free books." The idea was to bring in a book to trade but instead we just took them (In all honesty, I didn't quite understand the program).  We grabbed a handful of Silhouettes and rode home not having to check-out with the Librarian.  As far as I remember, the content wasn't too bad, just embellished, and not the healthy reading material you want to be feeding your children.  I think I got through two before my Mom noticed and took them away...but I was then a confident reader - looking for enjoyment in books.  My sister too likes to read, although I believe it was something earlier than the Silhouette romance novel.  Afterall, she didn't ride to the library to have her little sister stare at the pet turtle.

p.s.  at least it was a Silhouette and not the obscene book my friend read.  She covered it with white binder paper and wrote "Holy Bible."  To her surprise, her Mom didn't buy it and she couldn't come out to play for awhile, a long while.

Papa's Oranges

Really, this is a post about oranges - the best - Papa's oranges.  If you can see past the elevated bangs and red lipstick you'll see one of those oranges in Fall preparing to become the sweetest, juiciest orange you've ever tasted.  My Dad has cared for this tree in his backyard for over 40 years.  He's a Dutch gardener which to me means he's meticulous, nurturing, and particular about his plants.  He fertilizes, prunes deadwood, waters during frost, collects all the fruit from the tree and "clips" instead of pulls the oranges.  Then, he attributes the good taste only to the variety, "Washington Naval."   

Part of our Christmas memories, especially for our children, is having fresh squeezed orange juice in the morning at Papas.  He always has 3 buckets full of picked oranges for people to take home with them.  The Grandsons now work hard picking them at Papa's persistent requests that they're going bad on the branches.  They don't mind though, because Papa is so good to all of us.  Whenever someone tastes the oranges at our house they are amazed.  Just recently we got a phone call from a friend requesting the oranges because they were starting to feel sick and there were no other oranges that could get them better.  So thank you Papa for nurturing these oranges just as you have your family, with love, persistence, hard work, firmness about rules, and your humble recognition that it was something other than yourself that made them grow so well.

If you ever run across a "Washington Naval" variety of orange tree, plant it, fertilize it, prune it, water it during frost, "clip" instead of pull, remove all of the ripe oranges from the tree, and you'll have a taste you won't forget!

Works For Me Wednesday - Art Table

This is something that has helped our family so I thought I'd post it in Works For Me Wednesday.  Although I do scrapbook, lately and only occasionally, this table is primarily used by the kids during and after their schoolwork.  Everything is in one place.  There are a lot of containers to place items, so things stay neat (although not necessarily neat within the containers).  Before, we had art items in the laundry cabinets, school room, office, and bedrooms.  Now when there is a project or even when inspiration hits things are easily accessible.  As I said, it hasn't always been this way...take for example one of the areas where we used to store art items - the laundry room cabinets.    

I had an idea of what would work and a look I wanted.  I found the furniture and baskets at Ikea in different departments.  Ikea's my favorite store because of the options and affordability.  The table was under $100.  The rail system which I love, came from Lisa & Becky.  The ribbon spool holder is really great especially if you have girls who wear ribbons everyday.  
All the containers are flower pots which I already had.  It's easy to pick up after a project even for our 5 year old since she knows where each item belongs.  

Oh look, there she is enjoying an art project with everything at her fingertips :)

We place finished items we want to display on cork boards I bought at Michaels in a 4 pack.  Under $10 I think.  We (the girls in the family) each have our own board marked by our initial.  Looks like I better work on something.

It's also convenient just to have everything in one place even when the numbers exceed the four stools.  We have an art class with another homeschool family.  When they come over we set up another table along side this one and still everyone has access to what they need.  

This is what works for us.

Extreme Weather - or the Closest We Get

The view outside our front door this morning.  It was a foggy morning for many cities in Central California.  In the city we don't have anything to complain about but in the country and on freeways it can get so bad there is literally zero visability.  I've driven in close to that, having to listen with the window down, eyes burning from strain, praying that you'll get to your destination safely.  In those instances you feel relief when you get close enough behind a vehicle to follow their red tail-lights.  Schools here have foggy day schedules, starting classes after 10-11 am when the fog has lifted.  In November we had a terrible 100+ car pile-up on the freeway because of the fog.  It probably looked worse than this:

On cold, foggy mornings like today's, I pray for my loved ones on the road, and am thankful we can stay inside with our books and hot tea.