The Project

Ok, this is what I've been working on all week:

THIS is the newest venture good ol' Kiah has gotten me in to, and everybody needs to haul tail over to www.free-the-oppressed.blogspot.com and (1) follow the blog, and (2) spread the word. There are many success stories out there of people who shut down abortion clinics in their hometowns, and those stories need to be told! Those who are still working, and it's an uphill battle, to save babies in their own towns--those people need the encouragement.

We're trying to gather lots of people from lots of places, tell them how we've already won battles, teach them how to win their own, and (which I probably should have mentioned first) keep in daily prayer this cause to stop abortion providers in their tracks.

I've said more than once that arguing with some people is just pointless--they either are so misinformed that conversation is impossible, or their hearts are so hardened that reasoning is futile. Prayer changes hearts, but TRUTH changes the world. So rally your community, and let's keep them from even opening their doors to begin with! Viva Christo Rey!

Sorry

I know, I know. No new posts in days. I’m sorry. First, I was working like a fiend on school stuff, and still am. Then, I took Sunday off and had a really great time with V just chilling out. It’s probably been five months since I really did that.

Second, it’s crunch time with RCIA and things have become complex as the chaplain is out for the next three weeks.

Third, I’m working on a new project, which will of course be shouted from rooftops once I’m done with it. SO. Check back later.

Yuck.

I hate this part. I hate the waiting. If he stays asleep (i.e. doesn’t vomit) for an hour, I know he’s good to go, I can lay back down and not have to worry about being woken by barf in my ear/hair/general vicinity.

Meanwhile, I try to quell the gross feeling in my own stomach—how do other people do it?—and convince myself that I’m not sick. It’s just something he ate. It was one of the non-normal things he ate at the party. I’m not sick. No need to be dramatic about it.

And I wait an hour. Ugh. Gross.

Odd

Don’t laugh at me. You might think this is really strange, but I love talking on my home phone. Meaning, I like the actual experience of having a conversation on the land line, as opposed to talking on my cell phone. It gives one (like I said, don’t laugh) this feeling of belonging, of being in the right place. MY phone, MY house…and someone called me on it! They know where I live, they care about me. : )

Obviously I got a phone call today.

I also finished the project outside, except for the little “side yard” (aka “eyesore”) between the house and the garage. I’ve decided what I want to do with the area, and it’s in progress. I need about 10 more paving stones, but can only put 3-4 in the car at a time because they’re so heavy. Well, I could take more at a time, but usually I’m also getting other things, so I just get however many pavers fill up the extra room. Yay for the military discount at Lowe’s, though! I’m going to get 2 raised beds, an entire front/side landscaped (including plants), and the little eyesore all done for just under $300. Which, in yard dollars, is pretty good! And I feel much less depressed about the way my home looks.

New project: find a dresser for Joseph, preferably before he gets home and rediscovers the fact that his clothes don’t fit in the dresser he’s got (which, somehow, miraculously, we used to share? how did that ever work? the physics don’t seem to add up on that one). The easy part is finding a dresser. The hard part is finding one being sold by someone who is willing to deliver it. I’ve got 9 weeks left.

Tuesday, Tuesday

So, Betsy does “Touch-Up Tuesday” on her blog, but I’m too lazy to type that much.  However, I do have an overall favorite from the portraits I did on Sunday (no offense to family!!!), so here it is:

Is she not too cute?  This is one of the few “good” shots I got that weren’t posed.  And I was so happy with it!  Then I used lightroom to make it even more…better.

Sunday, Sunday

Photographed a “Daddy and Daughter” dance this afternoon.  : )  Great fun.  Some of the best:

Don’t Judge

If it makes a sick baby happy, then it’s good for the sick baby.

Minor Progress

Not that I don’t love them all, but I get so much more done in a day without students than I do when they’re here.  Of course, I don’t get any teaching done, but that accomplishment isn’t really tangible even when I am “getting it done”—especially since whatever progress that gets made is packed out the door and home to practice for another week.  I don’t see much of that.

But when they’re gone!  Ah, me.  I got food made, rooms cleaned, conversations started and ended in peace, and I’ve read nearly 80 pages of this dratted book for class.  That’s a lot of stuff in the two hours that I would ordinarily have spent teaching.  The reading alone is the work of an hour or more.  Also I took a 20-minute nap.

And yes, I’m blogging about it instead of finishing the last 20 pages.  But I needed a break for water, and am waiting for a check to show up in the bank so I can pay my LAST student loan payment.  Rejoice with me, friends, for I have found my sheep that was lost!

Ok, not really, but you can rejoice that I’ve completed one of the top two deployment goals!  The other one…well, I’m making progress, but we’re not there yet.  More determination needed.

How come?

What makes a toddler only be sick at night?  Put a different way, why couldn’t he get all vomity during the daytime, or in the early morning, or right before bed?

More importantly, what makes him get sick in the first place?

Getting By

Yes, as expected, the moment all the friends and family and company leave, time grinds to a halt.  The Sun is motionless in the sky.  The clock stops.  Pretty sure it has been at least 10 months since my sister was here.

Oh well.  It’s going to be a long week, you know?  With lots to do, but not much I’m inclined to actually tackle.  My room is clean, but not my desk.  The kitchen floor is clean, but not the counters.  The laundry is done, but not the dishes.  Aaaaaand I’m going to have to call and get the carpet cleaned again.  My little machine thing just can’t quite pull the weight of baby spills, potty spills, kitty potty spills, and piano student traffic. I need to call in the professionals.

On the brighter side, the season has changed and there are now many tall, fit men running around in desert utilities.     Yay!  My favorite time of year.  Sleeves up, sun shining, lean mean summertime machines.

100 Percent Whole Wheat Loaf

This recipe comes courtesy of the King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion, my Christmas gift from the most fabulous man on Earth, and easily the best “cooking” book I’ve ever had, and it doesn’t even have recipes for “cooking” in it.  Maybe I should call it a “kitchen” book instead.  Anyhow, I baked this religiously according to the recipe, on a perfectly rainy, dreary, fully awesome baking kind of day, and it was perfect, first shot.

1 1/2 cups water

3 tbsp olive oil

5tbsp honey or molasses

3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 cup sunflower seeds, chopped (ok, I didn’t follow the recipe, I used pine nuts because that’s all I had)

1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp instant yeast

In a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients to form a shaggy dough.  (I use a mixer to make bread, so it’s like a 3-4 minute knead.)  Let the dough rest for 20 minutes, which gives the flour a chance to absorb the liquids, then knead it for about 10 minutes, until smooth and supple.  The dough will remain sticky.

Let the dough rise, in a greased, covered bowl, for 1 hour. (Now comes my top-secret ingredient—I put my bread in the dryer to rise.  I let it run for the last 5 minutes or so that I’m kneading, then I stop it and stick the bread in.  I shut the door but don’t latch it, so the heat gradually decreases and the bread doesn’t start to cook, but still stays nice and warm.)  Shape it into a log and place it in a lightly greased 8x4-inch bread pan.  Cover the pan and let it rise for another hour (usually doesn’t take that long), until it has crowned about 2 inches over the rim of the pan.

Preheat the oven to 350.  Bake for about 45 minutes, tenting it lightly with foil for the final 20 minutes (very important step).  Remove from the over, turn out of the pan, and let it cool on the rack.  It’s still a heavy bread, but not bricklike (I’ve done a few white loaves that were nearly rugby regulation), and I love the texture with the nuts.  Totally an awesome recipe.

Done!  Have I mentioned how much I LOVE this book??  Well worth the price. 

Landscaping Project

Yesterday I finally gave in (again) and tackled another section of the outside of the house, this time the front/porch areas.  There were these wretched little plants along the front of the house, which always look dead even when they’re leafing out, and I dug them up and moved them, then put new, happy looking plants in their place.  Obviously, with much help, but I credit myself for ending the whining and deciding to do something for the poor exterior of this sad-looking house.

bredd skilz

Ohhhhhhh yes.  We made whole wheat bread today.  And it is some kind of yumness.  Some kind.  If you’re sweet to me I’ll post the recipe tomorrow.

Meeting Demands

People have imperiously stated a desire for more blog posts.  Why, I couldn’t really say.  But they did.

So, what’s up in the house today?  Well, bread—way up, courtesy of the barometer’s very timely cooperation.  Rainy days are for bread, thanks to science.  There’s two loaves of regular bread in the oven, and almost all the parts for whole wheat on the counter.  I don’t have whole wheat flour, though, which is something of a dealbreaker when making whole wheat bread.  I was pretty sure I had some, but evidently not.

This morning I had to run into the mall and get new books for some of my students.  In the process, I cruised the DVD section of Barnes and Noble, which I totally like never do.  We found a bargain-bin deal, a whopping 4.5 hours of Richard Scarry’s Busytown, in 10 episodes, for only $4.99.  So now I sit here bloggie blogging while V refuses to nap.  We’ve tried everything, so I gave up and turned Richard on again.

And there you have it.

Ohhhh man oh man oh man

So, quite recently, some nice people I love (check their blog while you’re at it—they’re looking for fabric scraps for a project) asked me if I would come up to their joint in a couple weeks and photograph a special event.  Naturally, I saw this as a good excuse to buy some software…thus Friday being spent downloading trials and clicking around like a mad thing.  Results?  True, deep, everlasting love.

I can make this:

Look like this:

Orrrrrr this:

Look like this:

I heart myself.  Also, obviously, the new update to Windows Live is allowing me to post photos directly from the writer instead of logging in to blogger.  So.  Thus my triumphal return to blogging, with new software and other magical tools in my arsenal.  Yay for me.  Aren’t you lucky you know me?

The Garden Box

Behold, ye peoples, my project!  I now have a dirtbox in the yard.  Plants to come…

Testing [AGAIN] the photo tool….

Isn’t this thing pretty?  I miss doing papercutting.