A Song for Betsy

I'm a little

,

and

.

Here is my

,

Here is my

.

When I get all

,

Hear me

!!

Me over and

me

.

3am Radio

It’s getting to where I can almost guarantee being awake sometime before 2 and 4.  It’s either me, V, a dream, the phone, the weather, a cat, or just “something.”  I think this one was a dream, but now I’m stuck awake listening to him breathe the breath of the Congested.  Not good.  At first I thought it was the dreaded Barf coming to see us again, but it sounds like just sinus stuff.

I’m coming to hate the Barf.  I know its coming, when he wakes up at midnight, is either very chipper or very difficult, stays awake at least a half hour, then going to sleep suddenly, only to (without warning) throw up in the bed almost immediately.

Tonight he never woke up, so I think I’m safe there.  However, I am not feeling all 100% myself, and wondering whether one of the two of us is going to be sick is keeping me awake.

Did you really want to know all that?  Why are you still reading this?

So naturally, I get on the internet to see if anything interesting is going on.  Of course there isn’t, so I’m stuck wanting to be sleeping, wanting to be sleepy, and getting neither.  Boo.  Cry for me, Argentina.

Latest assignment (don’t be bored)

As a manager, the second you have to counsel someone, you should realize you hired the wrong man. As a leader, the second you don't counsel someone, you should realize you probably aren't a good leader. When dealing with military life, I think dealing with personnel should almost always been on a leadership, and not a management level. According to MCDP 6-11, Leading Marines, Leadership is a “combination of the intangible elements of our ethos and the more tangible elements of our leadership philosophy.”[1]

It is a strong habit among historians, especially popular historians, to place emphasis on operational history—minimizing the significance of peacetime years. This is a serious mistake, since those peacetime years are the ones during which critical organizational decisions that will influence the prosecution of the next conflict are made. In the years of peace, “services recruit troops and develop new weapons systems, units conduct training exercises, enlisted men and officers receive education and training, and organizations write the doctrinal manuals and publications that will guide the conduct of future operations.”[2] Returning to 6-11, we read: “If Marines do not have the moral courage in peacetime to meet consistently the high standards and expectations of the Marine Corps, then they are not likely to have the moral courage to make the difficult decisions that may determine the outcome of a battle or campaign.”[3]

General Vandegrift I believe exhibited both traits, and would not have been overly offended by a reference to himself as a “manager.” The time he spent both during the interwar and postwar years in Washington were very much years of management—managing property, money, and the kind of organizational changes mentioned in the paragraph above. I think it is fair to say that one manages materiel, and leads men. Vandegrift certainly did both over the 33 years he spent on active duty with the Corps.

However, he is of course best remembered for being a leader, not a manager, and that’s how I think all Marines feel. According to MCDP 6-11, “The primary goal of Marine Corps leadership is to instill in all Marines the fact that we are warriors first. The only reason the United States of America needs a Marine Corps is to fight and win wars.”[4] Besides the fact that this line is almost a verbatim quote from what General Vandegrift himself said to Congress in 1946, it is an attitude easily seen throughout Vandegrift’s career. Spending 14 hours in the saddle every day, traveling from outpost to outpost in Haiti, just so he could speak to his men—that is leadership. Living in a tent, in the mud, and eating the same fare as one’s men while training (and the nearest comfortable city a mere 32 miles away, an easy distance) is not management, but a demonstration of the willingness to LEAD the men into battle, not merely tell them where to go. According to his aide, General Vandegrift was ever-present with his Division once they began preparations for deployment to the Pacific: “Responding to General Vandegrift’s constant scrutiny and supervision, the division advanced rapidly toward a state of readiness.”[5]

Finally, of course, General Vandegrift did not win the Medal of Honor of Guadalcanal for his management skills. To the Australians and British in Wellington, before the battle, General Vandegrift’s aide “tried, without saying so, to convey the impression that Archer Vandegrift was not a man who would bring a Marine division halfway around the world to surrender it to the Japanese without a fight.”[6] They were convinced—as were the Japanese and then the rest of the world soon after. This was a man who endured the hardships, took the brunt of the political heat and drama from the Navy, made the tough decisions, and was known and admired by everyone that served under him. No one follows a manager into battle.

1.Headquarters United States Marine Corps, MCWP 6-11, Leading Marines (January 1995, 30.
2. Damian Fidelion,THE ROAD TO FMFM 1: THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS AND MANEUVER WARFARE DOCTRINE, 1979-1989 (Unpublished Thesis submitted to the History Department of the University of Kansas, 2008), 21.
3. MCWP 6-11, 61.
4. Ibid., 93.
5. William Twining, No Bended Knee (Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1996), 10.
6. Ibid, 19.

:)

Moi, moi, moi

New look for the blog.  Much more…me.  We’ll see how long it lasts.

Lunedi

So, I spent the weekend with the cast and crew of Consoling His Heart, “helping” out with the big moving project. We took pictures, but they’re on Allison’s camera, so sorry about how I’m unable to just wantonly share photographic imagery of someone else’s private life. If you’re Nina, be patient. You’ll get an email. Just be patient.

This week and next will be mad-dash school weeks, as both of my major assignments to finish the semester are due on Easter, and Holy Week is going to be a total lost cause as far as academic productivity is concerned. So, basically, I have two weeks from today to get all this work done, and then I’ll be

half

way

there.

Ugh. Seems like it’s taking a lot longer to get this degree than the first one took, even though I’ve actually only been at this for, um, 10 months. So whatever. Grueling, challenging, and all that rot. Maybe it’s going so long without breaks in between that does it. Either way, I’m looking forward to summer like I never have before. The break from school, the relaxed teaching schedule, the total lack of RCIA classes (woot woot woot woot woot!!)…all those things.

Also Joseph will be back. Which, of course, means more work, but I think I like it that way. Workin’.

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.

Running

So, on Friday, I finished my very first marathon ever. It only took me....three weeks.

Which is not so bad, considering before that I'd probably one the equivalent of one marathon in the entire rest of my life. Three weeks is pretty good.

My buddy Sarah got me started going to the gym, which I didn't want to do because (a) it means driving somewhere, (b) it means leaving V somewhere, and (c) it means going to the gym. Buuuuut she convinced me, and we went, and it has turned out to be a good thing for V. He enjoys going, and I get to know that he's interacting with other children. He does pretty well--he's an evil demon at home (stiff-armed a little girl into the wall last night because she tried to take the toy he had) but out at the gym playroom he gets along well. Plays, imitates, follows. All kinds of good stuff. So that's a success story. The drive still irritates me, but oh well. It's 25 minutes, which equals 50 minutes, which feels like a total waste of an hour of my day. I might get over it. I might not.

As for the third thing, I still hate running. Hate, hate, hate it.

Pesto-Parmesan Breadsticks

This is what I do when I'm invited somewhere and I have nothing to bring. I toss together what's in the fridge. In this particular instance, I tossed about a quarter cup of this:
And 2 tablespoons of this:
Onto a package of these, while they were still all connected in that flat dough square:
I then pulled them apart, twisted them into twisties as directed on the outside of the package. Then I laid them on the pizza stone I bought from them:
And baked for the 12-14 minutes recommended by him:

And I'm done.
Then I take them to the friend's house, and it turns out she's all carb-free so I ate the whole darn bunch of them.

Country Music

This is what long trips will do to me—get thoughts going in my head, whether or not that’s a safe prospect. This time, it was all that chance to listen to the radio and think about, well, country music. Because that’s what I was listening to. Three different stations’ worth of down-home, good-time, yee-haw music. Also a Raleigh station, but it gets pretty lousy reception everywhere around home except the bypass between the bridge and 258. Go figure.

ANYhow.

I’m listning to this music, and realizing several things about it. First of all, as popular music goes, it’s a much more “Godly” alternative to the crap that’s on the rock, pop, R&B, rap, and alternative stations. There are country songs about God. About family. About soldiers. About love. About getting married. About being happy with what you have. About Jesus. You gonna hear this stuff anywhere else? I think not. (This is leaving aside the Christian station. That’s another post. Also, Christian music is almost wholly a subset of Country music, so let’s not go there today.)

These are people who care about their country, who appreciate the sacrifices the military makes, who understand that commitment in family and marriage is a thing to be striven for—and people who hold and respect a long tradition of music making that has felt the same way for over fifty years. I love it.

Also the words are usually hysterical.

What's been on Jennifer's phone for the last three months?

Quite a bit of stuff. Because I have a StupidPhone (as opposed to a Smart one), I have to go and take the little card out, and find the adapter, and put it in the computer, and copy and paste. Yeah. It takes time. Which I never have. And effort. Which I rarely put out. But whatev. Here's some things for you, many of which actually were taken with putting them on the blog in mind. But I forget. And things from four months ago are...well, not as interesting as they would have been, uh, four months ago:

Six men carrying a baby grand. MUCH easier than when Joe and the seller moved it into the house alone. Also, obviously, V watching the progress. He sat there for like a half hour.


Me at the governor's palace at Williamsburg (this is from Thanksgiving--seriously, things stay on my phone forever!)


One of my RCIA students being received into the Church on the feast of the Immaculate Conception.


Giving Baby Jesus some sugar.


Pesto-Parmesan breadsticks. Which I ate.


Pop tart + car seat = Silence. (aka "totally worth the horrible and disgusting mess")


I swear, this cat...


We drove all the way to the beach last week so we could "wave" at Daddy. There was more splashing than waving done. Did I mention it was 46 degrees?


Saturday morning's hair--before mommy shaved it all off with a #4.


I looked for these for over two hours. Please don't laugh.