Busy, busy day

Wow, I think this is a first for me, completing a new weekly menu that's safe for diabetics, getting all of the grocery shopping done, and all of the laundry done in one day. I am so thankful to the Lord for His help!

Phillip did much better on his homework tonight, meaning a better attitude and effort. I think some mathematical concepts may have gone "click" for him tonight, which is really nice.

I think the kids' new allowances will definitely turn out to be a very positive thing. We have explained to them that their allowances are not payment for their chores. We give allowances so they can learn responsibility and just as a nice "perk." But one of the ways they are to learn responsibility is by accepting financial responsibility when they damage or break something, or when someone else has to take up the slack for a chore they didn't do. We haven't started deducting anything from their allowances yet, because we wanted to give them a grace period. But they know that it will start soon. And I explained to them how much money I would have deducted today if it had started already. It made an impression. I've never seen Phillip race upstairs to make his bed so enthusiastically. He was even saying very emphatically, "I'm GOING to do this. I'm not going to let anyone else do it for me!" This from a boy who used to constantly whine about needing help with bed-making!

I got an estimate today on how much a professional editor would charge to go over "Dying for Answers." Because my book is so huge, the fee is also huge (even with a significant discount). It made me decide that it was time to start trimming fat off of that book. Maybe after I've reduced its size a good bit I'll get another estimate. It felt good to start serious work on that particular manuscript again, though I had little time to devote to writing today, and was only able to trim off about 65 words from the first scene. There will be more.

I'd best be off to bed!

(Photo from Stock.xchng by kvohsen)

First week of School is over!

Nathanael is now out of his special podiatric shoe. He still won't be able to participate in PE for a while, though. Not until early October.

Phillip did well in children's church today. He participated, answered questions, and behaved well. They never had to come and get us, so we enjoyed an uninterrupted sermon for the first time in a while.

John took the plunge and got a buzz cut. He's still a little shocked when he looks in the mirror, but I think it looks fine on him. I am now the only un-buzzed person in the house. Don't worry...the peer pressure isn't getting to me.

I'm starting to think seriously about trying some freelance writing. I'm getting a great deal of really strong encouragement from the folks at FaithWriters, so I'm getting up some courage.

John has put down some indoor/outdoor carpeting on our back patio. It looks nice.

Can't think of much else, but that's probably because I'm half asleep.

Home alone

Image via Wikipedia Wow, it was the first day that I had all three boys in school. I asked the Lord to help me remember that having the house to myself wasn't the same as having the house FOR myself. In other words, I wanted to be faithful to do the housework for the family, not just do what I wanted to do because I had the run of the place.

So, I got a whole list of housework done. It's a good feeling. It is amazing how much easier it is to get it done when you can keep a focus!

I thought it was cool that Zemanta found this photo of a 1920's -style house apron in response to the fact that I had written about housework. But I don't know what to make of the hat. That looks more like one of those bizarre hats that nurses used to wear. But anyway you dress it, housework is housework. I think it had it easier in my shorts, though.

This afternoon I went to pick up Andrew from school, and since the school has a tiny parking lot, I left a little early. I had a couple of minutes to kill so I was working on memory verses in the car, until a Yellow Jacket came and joined me in there. For some reason I felt motivated to leave the vehicle at that time. Oh, and I should mention that I got a call on my cell phone while I was sitting there. It was from Nathanael, informing me that he had gotten on the wrong bus and was "somewhere." He didn't know where he was, but he said they were bringing him home. He seemed fine, so we ended the call.

Ok, so now I was leaving the car, but the kids still weren't out, so I went over to where Phillip's bus was parked, and I introduced myself to the driver. We had talked a good bit on the phone, and I knew he was very nice, and that he had been trying to get the District to allow him to drive Andrew despite the lack of paperwork. So I wanted to thank him for that. He asked me if I had heard about Nathanael, because he'd been hearing about the situation on his bus radio. He had subbed a few times last year on Phillip and Nathanael's bus, so he knew Nathanael belonged to me. He ended up acting as a radio liaison between myself and the driver of the bus that Nathanael was in. Poor Nathanael ended up all the way out in the neighboring town of Timnath, where he had to get off the bus (with a kind adult bus assistant who waited with him) while another bus from Fort Collins drove out there to pick him up. They delivered him to our door only about an hour and fifteen minutes late. Then, just a few minutes after he got home, the wire broke on his braces. I called the Orthodontist's office, and the doctor was gone for the day. They told me they didn't have any openings tomorrow, but they would try to squeeze him in. Nathanael was able to finagle it into a position where it's not bothering him TOO much. But it was quite a day for him.

Wednesday and Thursday Events

Got so tied up in writing my other blog yesterday I forgot to write this one. Silly me.

Yesterday Nathanael got his braces on. He did very well, and I was proud of him. His mouth hurt him a bit throughout the day, but not too bad. They had told us that today would be the worst day, but it really wasn't bad at all. It's very encouraging. He still talks kinda differently, and he holds his mouth funny. But that should all disappear in another couple of days.

Today he went to the podiatrist. She took new X-rays and said his break has healed. He no longer has to wear that awkward, uncomfortable boot! But he does have to wear a special shoe for the next two weeks, which means he'll even have to wear it for the first couple of days of school.

Tomorrow I go in for bloodwork in anticipation of my annual cardiac checkup, which happens in about a week.

Phillip continues his obsession with spices and hot sauce. He talks about them endlessly, and constantly rattles off the recipes for various hot concoctions he plans to make when he grows up. Pretty wild, for someone who hates spicy things! He also drew up plans for his future mansion, which had three huge rooms per floor, plus an "Emergency Thunderstorm Elevator." Gotta love it.

John installed a fancy gadget that should help lower our electric bills. We'll have to wait and see how well it works.

No recipes to share. I've just been fixing mushy stuff that the kids love, like Mac and Cheese, since Nathanael's mouth is still sore. But our new software from the ADA website arrived, and it seems pretty cool. It makes it easier to analyze the carbohydrate counts for my recipes.

All for now!

Vocal Cord Dysfunction?

My sister was just informed by a pulmonologist that she has been mis-diagnosed all these years with asthma and COPD. (No wonder the medications never helped her!) Instead she has Vocal Cord Dysfunction, which causes the vocal cords to close under any kind of stress (physical exertion, emotional upset, anything), thereby drastically reducing the flow of air.

Well, I Googled "Vocal Cord Dysfunction," and what I found sounded a whole lot like myself. It sure would explain a lot, including the fact that I can't do aerobic exercise (anything more strenuous than walking, that is) without feeling near death in 90 seconds or so. It would explain the fact that tension always feels like a big lump in my throat. It may even contribute to my sleep apnea (including the fact that my difficulty is often with exhalation rather than inhalation). There's more, but I won't bore you with all the details.

Ironically, the treatment for VCD is breathing exercises, which are taught by Speech Pathologists! Yes, I was taught those sorts of exercises many moons ago when I was getting my Masters in Speech Pathology. But back then I had never heard of VCD, and since leaving the field I haven't kept up with things. The exercises were for other sorts of vocal disorders, but they're pretty much the same, from what I'm reading.

It just so happened that I was feeling pretty stressed out today and had a huge lump in my throat, so I took a few minutes and did some breathing exercises, and it really did help. If I ever get good at diaphragmatic breathing, I should be able to incorporate it into day-to-day life, instead of having to take time out to focus on how I breathe. But it's so hard to re-learn breathing! I tried to do it years ago, just because I learned that it was proper, but I couldn't stand it. Maybe it will be more motivating now that I know about VCD (even though I'm not sure I have it...but I think I might).

I went to the chiropractor yesterday because my neck was pretty bad. It's much better today.

Nathanael goes for his braces tomorrow, and on Thursday he goes to the podiatrist, who will hopefully tell him he doesn't have to wear his boot anymore.

Phillip and Andrew are just doing the normal Phillip and Andrew things.

John is planning to extend the floor of the back porch and put the gazebo up on it, where it will shade my kitchen sink window. He has also replaced the 1st floor bathroom light fixture and done other handyman kinds of things.

Duma insists on being a cat. Lately that includes peeing in the vicinity of his litterbox instead of actually in it...

Speaking of that, I need to go clean that box out.

Fun, fun, fun, until Daddy takes the T-Bird away! Oh wait...I never had a T-Bird.

Oh yeah, tonight's dinner was Crescent-ganoff and Broccoli Cheese Casserole.

Crescent-ganoff
(so named because the filling seems vaguely like stroganoff, if you cross your eyes when you look at it.)


1 lb ground beef
1 to taste zesty blend original salt-free seasoning
8 oz cream cheese
1 to taste worcestershire sauce
1 to taste nutmeg
1/2 cup shredded cheddar
4 tube (8 oz each) crescent rolls

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brown the ground beef with the salt-free seasoning. Soften cream cheese in the microwave, then add to completely browned beef. Add all remaining ingredients except rolls. Heat through. Open up the rolls into rectangles. Spoon meat mixture onto dough; fold and seal. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.


Broccoli Cheese Casserole

1 jar (8 oz) process cheese spread
1/4 cup butter or margarine; divided
20 oz frozen chopped broccoli; thawed
1 cup butter-flavor crackers, crushed; divided

In a saucepan, combine cheese spread and ONLY 2 tablespoons butter. Cook and stir until butter is melted and mixture is smooth. Add broccoli and ONLY 1/2 cup of cracker crumbs. Transfer to a greased 8-inch square baking dish. Melt remaining butter, toss with remaining crumbs. Sprinkle over broccoli. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly.

Busy and hot

We were right around 100 degrees for much of the day, and are under a heat advisory tomorrow because we'll be around 105 most of the day, even staying into the 90's well into the evening. (We always cool down at night, so this is going to be weird.)

I got the school supplies shopping done, so that's one thing off my mind. Got a ton of household chores done, too. It's a good feeling. Too bad the house still doesn't look nice. But hey, it looks better.

My FaithWriters entry for the topic "Telephone" didn't win any awards, but it's now available through the index (see link on the right side of the page.)

Tonight's dinner was Ham Noodle Potato Bake.

1-1/2 lb ham; cooked and diced (I use turkey ham)
2 cup elbow macaroni; cooked
2 cans potatoes, diced; rinsed and drained OR about 3 potatoes, diced and cooked tender.
8 oz shredded cheddar
4 cans tomato soup
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 to taste garlic powder
1 to taste onion powder

Drain noodles and combine with ham, potatoes, soup and spices in a 10x15 pan. Top with parmesan followed by cheddar. Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

Another New Venture

The biggest news of today is that I've decided to start another blog. It won't take the place of this one, but will be a complement to it.

For quite a while now I've been taking notes during my daily Bible study times, and that's always been a very encouraging and helpful process for me. But I don't often share those notes and thoughts with others, which means I'm not sharing the encouragement and help with others, either. So I've started a blog called, "Just Another Clay Pot." Whenever something comes along that encourages me from God's Word, that will be the venue I use to share it. There's a link to it on this page, there with my other links.

This blog will stay as it is... day-to-day stuff, recipes, etc. But I won't be sharing any recipes today. It was "Clean out the fridge day," and I know that everybody knows the recipe for that!

Today's sermon was very good. Pastor Vannoy preached out of Haggai, talking about being so self-centered that you disregard what God wants. Convicting stuff.

All three boys chose to stay in adult church, and I'm glad of that. Phillip spent most of the time sitting with his head between his knees and with his ears covered, but I think he still took in something of value somewhere along the way. I'm not sure why he prefers to stay in adult church, but it's fine with me.

Try not to faint at the shock of it, but I went out and trimmed a bush today. Now I can see out my kitchen window. The work wasn't strenuous or sustained enough to bring on that awful "Hot poker under my shoulder blade" pain that limits my physical activities so much, and it's encouraging to see the difference that little bit of effort made.

Workday

One quick note: Last night I forgot to post the recipe for dinner, which was Spaghetti with Slow-Cooked Spaghetti Sauce. I've gone back and added it to yesterday's post, so if you'd like to have it, look there!

I got a lot of work done today. It's a good feeling, and I'm thankful to the Lord for His help. There's still an awful lot left to be done. In fact, it's almost 11 pm, and I still need to re-empty and re-fill the dishwasher, and dole out all of the medications for next week. So I'll just post some recipes and get back to it.

Tonight's dinner was "Chicken and Vegetable Noodle Soup" with "Herb Garlic Loaf" as a side dish.

Chicken and Vegetable Noodle Soup

7 cups milk
2 lb california-blend vegetables; frozen
1 cup american cheese; cubed
2 envelope dry chicken noodle soup mix
6 Cups chicken; cooked and shredded or diced

Note: 6 Cups shredded chicken = approx 2 lbs.

Crock Pot method:
Put all ingredients except for cheese in the crock pot on low heat for 8 hours. Add cheese during the last half hour.

OR (Below is the quick way to cook it, which I don't normally use.)

In a large saucepan, bring milk to a boil. Stir in chicken and vegetables and return to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 6 minutes. Stir in cheese and soup mix. Return to a boil. Reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 5-7 minutes or until the noodles are tender and the cheese is melted, stirring occasionally.

Herb-Garlic Loaf

3 cup bread flour
1 envelope savory herb with garlic soup mix
1/2 teaspoon Salt
4-1/2 teaspoon nonfat dry milk powder
1 tablespoon Sugar
4-1/2 teaspoon Butter; softened
1 cup water (I substitute Ginger Ale...makes fluffier bread)
2 tablespoon water
2-1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast

Bake in bread machine. Use basic bread setting.

Accepting comments now!

It has come to my attention, thanks to a dear concerned reader, that I have not been receiving comments that have been posted on this blog. The fact is, no comments HAVE been posted here, despite some people's kind attempts to do so. I did not realize that I would have to go into the settings and change some things in order for you to be able to post them successfully. So my apologies to any and all who have tried to leave comments. Hopefully that problem is fixed now. If anyone wants to go back and re-post any comments that they tried to make on earlier entries, feel free to do so.

Just remember, all comments are publicly visible, so if you want to tell me anything privately, please email instead.

VBS finished today, and I must say it was a very good experience. We all finished up by enjoying a "Thank-you" luncheon that the church hosted for the workers.

The housework really suffered this week. Well, it's been suffering for longer than that, but it got even worse this week. So I'm planning to make tomorrow a serious workday. I'm posting that because I want you all to hold me accountable. More importantly, I'd like all the prayer I can get. I need it. We all do.

At VBS today, Phillip's craft was pottery. He, of course, made a telephone. I think it's great, but he hates it. He said it was one of his worst failures, and he was so upset that he ended up lying on the sofa in the foyer and burying his head between the back cushion and the seat cushion. That's a pretty common position for him when he's too upset to face life. But he got over it and had a pretty good day after that.

The kids all made dreidels this week, and learned how to play the dreidel game. That was pretty cool. They got to sand the wood and paint it and hammer the post through the hole and everything. They also did some basket weaving with paper and some sort of fibrous reedy material, and they made a few other things besides. I think they were the best crafts I've seen at a VBS, and all the kids seemed to enjoy them a lot.

Nathanael is more than halfway through with his boot-wearing time. He'll be glad to get rid of that.

His voice is deepening, though it can't be said to have "changed" yet. There's still a noticeable difference from just month or so ago. How do they grow up so fast?

Dinner tonight was Spaghetti with Slow-Cooked Spaghetti Sauce

2 lb ground beef
4 can diced tomatoes; undrained
16 oz tomato sauce
12 oz tomato paste
2 each bay leaf
2 tablespoon brown sugar
8 clove garlic; minced
4 teaspoon basil
4 teaspoon oregano
2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon thyme
16 oz spaghetti noodles; cooked
2 medium onion; chopped

In a skillet, brown sausage and onion; drain. Transfer to a slow cooker.
Add all but noodles. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours or until heated
through. Discard bay leaf. Serve over cooked noodles.

Sleepy Tuesday

Today was the craziest day for our craft table at VBS. The theme of VBS is "Jerusalem Marketplace," and the kids are all divided into 12 "Tribes." But with only 5 days of VBS, that doesn't divide out evenly. So each craft table has one day in which they have 4 tribes, instead of 2. Today was our day. I'm pleased to say that we were able to get the candles made for the nearly 30 kids in the two 40-minute crafting sessions. I'm glad that I'm helping out. It's a good experience for me.

Andrew and Phillip got to make their candles today. They're quite pleased with them.

I spent a long time shredding two chickens that I cooked. It's a lot of work, but so worth it. I was able to freeze 13 cups of shredded chicken for future recipes, and that entire amount cost less than $9.00. That's a whole lot less than it used to cost me when I bought boneless skinless cuts (though I still use those for a few recipes).

We ordered pizza from Sam's Club, so no recipe to share today!

I'm feeling quite overwhelmed with housework right now. I got a bit behind, and it just piles up so fast...

I'm going to bed early tonight. *YAWN* So sleepy!

Important News Here

Oh my, I forgot to blog yesterday. And it was a big news day, too.

The biggest news was that John was diagnosed with diabetes. They seem to have caught it very early; in fact, the doctor said that some might call it "pre-diabetes." He said it didn't matter which you called it, because the treatment was the same. He's going to have to take some classes to learn about diet, etc, and he has an oral medication to take. Plus, he has to start exercising regularly. He's taking the news well, but of course it's a bit troubling, especially when you don't really know the ropes yet.

It's been deadly hot. Even now, after 6 pm, it's still 97 degrees!

We've had a couple of different roofing companies come out and give us estimates. The estimates vary widely (and of course we're only talking to well-established companies). It's going to be expensive, no matter what. But we have no choice. Our roof won't last another winter.

The roofers that have looked the job over have told us that we win the world record for hornets and yellow-jackets on/in a single roof. Not a record we like holding!

Today John decided he'd better go ahead and replace the attic fan. That was not a fun job in this heat. He went up with the fan and his trusty electric screwdriver/drill thingie, and was reaching around to start unscrewing the mounting for the old fan when he found himself inches from not one, not two, but three yellow-jacket nests, each with mobs of irritable winged stingers crawling and buzzing around them. Now, for those of you who don't know, John has had a deadly terror of stinging insects since being chased and stung all over as a young boy. (On that wonderful occasion, he got to hear the doctor tell his mother, "Well, if he's not dead in ten minutes, he'll be all right!" That sort of experience tends to make an impression.) Also, for those of you who don't know, John is claustrophobic. So having today's scary experience in an attic was just doubly fun. But he made his way down to where we keep the wasp spray and took it back up to the attic with him. He emptied what was left of that can, and found himself needing more. So he came back down and drove over to the store to buy some. After killing a bunch more nasties, he got ready to start his job again, only to see one of the creatures perched right near a hot light bulb. He knew he couldn't spray the bug without hitting the bulb, and he knew that might make the bulb explode. But since he feels the way he feels about bugs, he decided he didn't care if the whole house blew up, so he sprayed it. The bug died. The bulb didn't. Neither did we. Things were good.

He ventured to go the rest of the way up the ladder into the attic at that point, but then heard a loud buzzing and felt something ominous on his hip. He tells us that he screamed his head off. We didn't hear anything, but there were competing sounds in the house, and we weren't on the second floor. Anyway, it was a blessing that he didn't fall off the ladder in his terror. Especially since it wasn't a bug buzzing on his hip...just his phone.

Today I took advantage of a really great clearance sale at Sears. I almost never get new clothes for myself, but I got myself a Lands' End linen tunic blouse and two skirts (of some other brand), plus a pair of Lands' End sandals for Andrew and brilliant green Lands' End flip-flops for Phillip (all marked WAY down, even lower than what's in the sale catalog. I don't know about you, but I don't buy Lands' End at full price!). John's company had given him a Sears gift certificate as a token of appreciation, and it went to good use.

Nothing else of interest today, unless you're fascinated by grocery shopping. Anybody want to admit to that?

Yesterday John grilled burgers for our dinner, and tonight I just threw together some easy stuff because grocery shopping kept me out too late to cook. No recipes today, sorry!