Seven Quick Takes

~1~

Everything here is either adoption or school  - when I stop thinking of or working on one I pick up the other.  Oh, and emotional eating, did I mention that?
S
~2~

Speaking of eating, there was pattypan squash in my CSA share this week.  I know nothing about them so I picked the largest ones, only to get home and read, "choose the small ones that fit in the palm of your hand, those are the ones with flavor." LOL  I'll roast them tonight and see what happens!

Image courtesy of Keattikorn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

~3~

So yesterday I told my mother about finding my first mother.  Me beforehand:

Image courtesy of graur razvan ionut / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

She took it remarkably well and seemed truly happy for me. I even got a hug. Me after:

Image courtesy of arztsamui / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

We still haven't told my father yet, and aren't planning to for awhile.  See first photo.

~4~

I've been emailing back and forth with my cousin and mother.  I should probably name them something for here on the blog, but I'm not sure what yet.  After a few emails, I feel all talked out.  I'm sure there are a million things I could say, but I don't know how to summarize the last 44 years anymore.  Everything I say either sounds boring, or bragging, or complaining. I've tried to do very little of that last one, but there are only so many ways to tell a life story without once and a while saying something negative.  I'm melancholy, what can I say?

When I think back on my "story" it isn't all pretty, and I often remember the bad stuff before the good stuff.  Vacations? Oooo, fun, right?  But I don't remember being at the beach, I remember my parents fighting, and the big light fixture that would have hit me right on the head as it fell off the wall if I hadn't gotten out of bed because of a storm.  Florida?  Stress about being with my grandmother, getting so sunburned I was pretty sick and everyone just blew it off.  I used to (and still do, mostly)  pick up and absorb others' stress very easily, so *that's* what I remember about vacations.  So when first mom asks about vacations, in an effort to learn more about me, I don't have fun stories to tell like she did in her email, I can only seem to relate facts -- "we went to the Jersey Shore, we went to Florida".   Ho hum, right?   The only vacation I can look back fondly on is our honeymoon.  It was just dh and me, and it was our *honeymoon* so everything seemed fine.  Locked out of our hotel room at midnight? Whatever!  Fun adventure and story to laugh about later!  :)

~5~

I've stared reading Hiroshima by John Hersey.  It was an unchosen book selection for my 8th graders summer reading.  It was only accidentally that I started it on the anniversary of the actual event. This is how I live my life, accidentally, serendipitously.

~6~

I couldn't bear to throw out the roses my husband bought me the day I "met" my  first mom, even though they are mostly dead. So I cut off their heads ;-) and arranged them with some candles. Not bad for someone with absolutely no decorating sense whatsoever!

(or photography sense)

Something pebbly needs to go in the tray, but all I have is dirt. 

~7~

Cosmos flowers are in the garden! Let's see if they are as easy as everyone says they are in my impossible spot. The Virgin Mary needs flowers, people! :)

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Seven Quick Takes

If you are not interested in my ramblings  about finding my first family, click away now... you've been warned. :)

~1~

I couldn't be more blessed in the first cousin I found through Ancestry.com.  She is kind and caring. She is so excited to know me!  It's been a long time since anyone has expressed that kind of emotion towards me. She would like to maintain a relationship with me even if my first mother wants nothing to do with me (fyi, "first mother" seems to be the current accepted  term for the person I grew up calling "birth mother" or "biological mother", so I'm going to use that).

~2~

She's also quite the geneologist!  She has been working on the family tree for over a decade and has over 10,000 people on it. She has not yet shared it with me, as we haven't heard back from my first mother. I hope soon she will be able to.  I do know now that I'm distantly related to Barbara Bush, Tom Brokaw, and Humphry Bogart!  To go from no blood relatives to those is quite exciting!

~3~

We have exchanged pictures (not of my first mother yet in case she wants to do that herself) and my cousin says that I had the same type of cowlick in my bangs that my mother did as a kid, and two of my kids do now.  That part of my hair always has (has!) a mind of it's own and has been the bane of my hairstyling existence. Now I know who to blame! LOL!  Seriously though, it's things like this that make it easier to grow up with biological relatives.  "I have something that bothers me, but at least my mother, brother, and cousin do as well."  Not, "Ugh, what is WRONG with me? I'm all alone."

~4~

I'm finally able to get a little medical information.  She wants to share some of the "bigger deals" over the phone instead of through email. I can't wait to be able to say with certainty "I have cancer and parkinsons in my family tree"  (or whatever) instead of "I dunno, I'm adopted" in each of our countless medical appointments.

~5~

In large part, I'm doing this for my kids.  THEY deserve to know who their relatives are, regardless of the decision made by two people 44 years ago.   Heck, *I* deserve it, but I can understand the reasons why people made the decisions they made and why, because they've built their lives on secrets, they can't deal with it now, either.  But my kids were no part of this. It really bothered me how affected by my adoption they are. I honestly never thought of that before I had them.

~6~

My cousin has emailed my mother saying, "we need to talk, call me when you are alone"....so now we wait. I think this is why alcohol was invented.

~7~

I'm beginning to relate to Pandora.



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7 Quick Takes Friday

...and I do mean quick!  I have 15 minutes before I need to be available for bedtimes.  Plus, there is thunder. Who knows if I will have internet in 15 minutes. :)

~1~
Rose, Skye, and Batty just finished two weeks of art camp at the local public school.  I felt silly driving them down the block, but it was SO HOT and besides, I had to check them out at the end of the day (the school has had safety problems).  They all had a good time.  Skye made a friend who will be in her class in August (more on that in a minute). THIS IS HUGE.  Sorry for shouting, but it is, for so many reasons.  I am so, so thankful.

~2~
Some of you know, we have decided to put Skye, Jane, Batty, and Jeffrey into our church's school this coming August.  You know that saying, it takes a village? Well, I tried very hard to find my village in the homeschooling community and failed miserably.  I just *could not* do all this alone anymore. And by "all this" I mean much more than schooling.  So an arm and a leg and my firstborn later, and we have our village (you did wonder why we weren't sending Rose to school, right? LOL).   I am both excited and terrified.

~3~
Speaking of #2, I keep thinking I'm no longer going to be a homeschooler, but that isn't true. I will still have a high schooler home, one with learning needs, at that.  I will probably be doing more teaching/helping than many homeschoolers who have one, average, child.  But the reduction in homeschooling workload is so much that I feel like what is left is almost non-existent. Kind of like in baseball when the batters swing around four bats before stepping up to the plate, in order to feel like their one bat is weightless.  I feel like I just put down four bats, LOL.

~4~
Or I *will*, when we get through these summer work packets. Oh my word.  Apparently our school is ahead of the math program we have been using. We have some work to do. Plus two book reports for each kid over 4th grade.  Unfortunately we signed up late so have many weeks less than the other children to accomplish the same work.   At least it prepares them a little for the increased workload I expect from this school.

~5~
My oldest two have discovered Pinterest. I think my 7th grader has pinned 2,000 pins in the last week! :)  She has many board going for inspiration for her stories.  I love this peak into their psyches, seeing what they pin. I feel like I know them better now.   I know people bemoan technology as being "anti-personal-interaction" but I find that as an introvert, I get to interact much MORE with people this way and learn thing about them that I wouldn't just listening to their small talk at a function. It works for me.

~6~
I draw the line at phones for my 8 year old. She is very aware of what other people are doing, and she came home from art camp asking for a phone because "all the other kids in her group" had one.  Maybe they did, but....no.  You'll live, kid.

~7~
Dh and I are enjoying the series Once Upon a Time, even though every five minutes there is something that reminds me of my adoption baggage.  We are soon going to run out of episodes!  I don't know what to watch next.  We seem to pick a series, watch one every night until we exhaust the seasons, and then pick another show!  Our favorites have been LOST, Lie to Me, Once Upon a Time, Friday Night Lights, of course Downton Abbey....hmmm, I think I'm forgetting some.  I liked Merlin, I don't think dh really did, so we stopped after one season.

Time for the kids to get to bed and for me to watch Once Upon a Time!  For more 7QT, visit Jen at Conversion Diary!

(ETA:  Hey, I got that "like" thing to work at the bottom of the posts. I was fooling around with that months ago and it never showed up. Now it shows up and I don't have time to take it off or change it...I want to at least "make it work for me" instead of just being a "like" button.  Ignore it if you want, use it if you dare, LOL!  I love Sarah's use of it as a "nodding quietly" button.  Peaceful and loving.)

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Seven Quick Takes

~~1~~

We made our first gluten free muffins this morning.

And there was actually a little sunshine to take a picture! 

(lol, it looked better on my computer, but you get the idea)

I realized after we started that I didn't have one of the main ingredients: sorghum flour.  I did have millet and a coffee grinder, so I made millet flour (after a convoluted google search that said that might work).  I also made the quinoa flour in the coffee grinder. I'm not sure I ground it enough - there was a very slight crunch to the muffins but it was not unpleasant in my opinion.   They got 5 thumbs up, one thumb sideways, and one child left theirs half eaten without voting so I'm guessing it's a thumbs down.  I thought they were pretty good.  There was a slight quinoa taste, again, not unpleasant but odd to my wheat flour sensibilities, that actually diminished the more of the muffin I ate. 

~~2~~

I think I'm the only (slightly overweight adult) person who can give up a whole class of foods and still GAIN weight. Seriously?? I feel like I'm eating less, I'm not eating any wheat and very low gluten (i.e. the only gluten we are getting is in 'may contains' and things like oatmeal.) and yet my scale is creeping up.  Humph.  I have not weighed the children again yet - hopefully they have ALSO gained weight.  

~~3~~

I'm about two clicks away from buying a vitamix.  My 40 year old Osterizer blender smells smoky every time I use it, so I think I have finally burned it out making my thick, ice cream quality frozen fruit shakes in the morning. The hope is I'll be able to use this to replace not only the blender, but the grain mill (rarely used) and the juicer (ditto).  Plus the blender. The more I can streamline in this house the better.  I know the vitamix is not a perfect substitute for those things, but I think it will be good enough for my tastes. Plus, I always hated throwing out most of the fruit/vegetable when I juiced in the form of all that pulp/fiber. 

~~4~~

My children are doing an experiment with freezing water outside in a metal bowl vs. a glass (correlle? what is that stuff?) bowl.  They are trying to do a good job eliminating variables, etc, but I don't think it will be very accurate anyway. Professional scientists rarely have to deal with 4yo boys who want to get their fingers into everything.  He'll make a good scientist himself someday.

~~5~~

There were some fireworks outside our house the other night. We are guessing they were left over from New Year's Eve, which were probably left over from the 4th of July! We ran outside to look at them, but by the time we got out there, they were done.  So I had fun with the "fireworks" setting on my camera:

~~6~~

I'm enjoying the rare times dh gets to work from home. We are definitely moving up from the times when Jeffrey used to scream "I need to be wiped!" from the bathroom directly across from dh's office (Jeffrey's bedroom, lol).  Now, he runs up and down the hallway yelling "OOOOGAA OOOOGAAA OOOOGAAA  AAAHHHHHH!".    **Sigh**   Deliver me!     Yes I stopped him, but by the time I got to him it was too late.  The situation would not have been helped by me yelling across the house, "Jeffrey, will you STOP IT!!!!" LOL 

~~7~~

Does anyone else have a hard time getting back into school work after the Christmas break?  It's been like pulling teeth to get even the minimums done.  Luckily they have made some memories and generally are getting along -- at least the two who normally don't!  I always jump back and forth over that fine line between doing "schooly" work and letting them do what they want.  Behaviorally, they are much better off when I keep to a stricter school schedule of book type work, but I don't know, they seem to be better *people*, more true growth maybe?,  when they allowed to do what they want and they go off and write plays, do experiements, etc.  I guess a little of each every month will eventually turn them into well rounded people.   I hope.

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Seven Quick Takes

**1**

In the "there she goes again, is this turning into a gluten free blog?" category...going gluten free this week has been faring better than I expected.  That being said, I need to go shopping and today we are running out of steam.  Dinner is in 3.5 hours and I have NO idea what to make.  Lunch and snacks today were pretty pitiful too.  We've dipped into the expensive GF "substitute" type snacks too much for my taste - you know, gluten free breads, crackers, cookies. Most of which were just kind of "eh" tasting anyway. I was hoping to rely more on meats, fruits, and veggies.    Too bad I don't like meats, fruits, and vegetables, lol.

**2**

Today Jeffrey had to go for more bloodwork.  He garners lots of pity amongst the nurses and nice elderly ladies waiting for their bloodwork, who probably can't understand why I am laughing at his adorable pitiful show.  Part of it is laughing so I don't cry, but part of it is because he has come a long way since last June, when all he would do is scream bloody murder and thrash about.  Now he still cries, but he sists still, and between the gasps and sobs he is yelling things like, "I....hate...this!" and "I....want...this...to...stop...NOW!"   Which is only cute because he is hardly that articulate at home when he is upset. He usually just hauls off and smacks somebody. :-p   Maybe next month he'll be saying things like, "Kind nurse, please remove that blasted needle from my arm, would you, dear? There's a good woman." with a British accent.

**3**

Getting back into the swing of school has been hard.  I lowered my expectations this week, but I still feel guilty.  We read aloud, everyone (but one sneaky child) did math every most days.  We did have a library trip, several children created games and stories, watched science videos, and there was no end to Redwall talk.  Home ec was covered with learning about new foods and cooking (see #1).   I do hope to ramp it up a bit next week ... I still see college breathing down my neck way too quickly.

**4**

"Sneaky child" mentioned above, has been dodging school work since we started this year.  It's truly been worse than pulling teeth. (Really, she did better getting fillings at the dentist at 5yo than doing school, lol).  She eventually does it, but wow.  The first few months of school I tried keeping things easy even though I knew she was bored - I also wanted her to gain some endurance at just *doing it* even though she didn't want to.  But honestly, I think she is just seriously bored out of her skull.  She is smart...and as another child ages and grows behind her, I see how smart she really is.  So starting next week, no more boring "you know this already" phonics pages (I'll only weep a little at how much money was wasted) or math ... I'm going to try to keep school short, sweet, relatively fun, but challenging for her.   *gulp*  She's definitely not the type to slog through the easy stuff to get to the hard, she just wants the hard(ish) stuff or nothing.  Preferably nothing, lol.

**5**

Yes I'm still obsessively searching for houses, because as soon as I decide that we should just stay in this town and wait for the perfect house or build onto our own,  I see another news story about a burglar coming into a house in our town when the people are HOME.  Ummmm, NO.   There are just too many people here for me to protect all at once.  And if the world decided to go to hell in a handbasket in the near future, I see things getting real bad here, really fast. At least a little farther out there are fewer people, and houses have some land for growing produce or housing a goat or chickens or something.  Unfortunately, what we can afford house-wise out there is about the same size as what we are in now here! Just more land to roam on (more being easy when now we have less than a fifth of an acre).  An acre or two would seem like a grand expanse of land.  I don't want to exchange a larger house for my children's safety, yet at the same time, me crabbing at them all the time because we are all on top of each other doesn't do us any good either. 

**6**

A problem that comes from moving farther out from the city, though, is being a good 40+ minute drive from the community colleges, The LDs in my oldest make driving look like something that should wait a few years past "average" to learn ... so I see myself trekking 5 kids 45 minutes each way several times a week ... and then what do I do with the rest of them while one or two are in class? Ugh.   While here, the class is 10 minutes away...I drop them off and am home, or if we stay we are at least not out of the house and "car schooling" half the time.  I am relying on CC (at least dual enrollment if not an AA there first) to get her into a good college, because I don't think going about it the traditional way is going to work for us/her.  I know, whine whine whine, but these things make my head spin.   Not to mention the general lack of homeschoolers out there.  The area where we could settle, not too far from my dh's job, nor too far from my parents, is like a homeschooling wasteland. Not that we are doing much with other homeschoolers NOW, but I was also hoping by moving to get to know new people and get into some activities.

**7**

Seriously, what am I going to make for dinner??  I need to hurry up my plans to buy a side of beef, so that I always have *something* in the freezer.  Moo.

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Seven Quick Takes: Goodbye to 2011!

*1*
I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking that the end of 2011 snuck up on us.  One day left. Really?  In many ways I'm glad to see it go, but I also feel like I didn't live it well and would like to do it over. Minus the drama though, this time, please?  At least I'm hopeful that in 2012 I will stop writing "2001" on everything. It's no wonder I feel like 1999 was only a few years ago.

**2**
My children are designing a new sandwich/snack spread.  They have a name, a slogan, and ideas for different varieties and packaging. I would share, but there is the slightest chance this actually has potential. Too bad we live in a state where making and selling food in your own home is legislated to the point where it is almost impossible for the average Joe. Or maybe that's a good thing.

*3*
We've done a few unbabyproofing projects in the last few days. First we took down the plastic covering the banister, which had been up for years and years (and looked it).  It's so weird to be able to see through it clearly now! We keep putting our hand through it, just because we *can*.  Today we took down the swinging baby gate in the kitchen door. Everyone who has discovered it is gone has jumped in and out the doorway in total hooray-the-gate's-gone freedom.   I keep hearing people say, "Yay! A doorway!"

(whoops, editing this because I said that we finally took the "swinging baby" down from the kitchen door. Poor thing, she was there for years!) :)

**4**
Anyone making any schooling changes for 2012?  We plowed through some of our more workbooky-textbooky curriculum this first few months of the school year, so I'm hoping we can do more fun things in the coming months - freewriting, Mark Kistler art lessons,  piano, more read alouds, movies, tea drinking, etc. I'm really looking forward to it. We may even try a co-op for a few months.  

*5*
Clementine season has left us with 11 wooden clementine boxes.  I had already decided to use a few for cassette tape storage (don't laugh, yes, we are still in the '80s) (OK, laugh if you want), but that will still leave me with , oh, like 8 more that need to be repurposed, as I hate to throw anything like that away.  If any of you find yourself in the same position, here are a few fun things you can do with them.

• paint and use as a doll bed
• use as a planter to grow wheat grass or herbs
• little raised garden beds or seed starters
• this one is too cute! Picket fence planter (scroll to #2)
• take one long side off, stack them and use to organize/file papers
• or cans and food
• freecycle them
• kindling (around here, the only kindling going on is me reading on my Kindle, lol)

**6**

I *just* found out that two of my friends are expecting after many years of waiting.  Go wish Jennifer a hearty congratulations! (the other friend is not online) I am so excited for both of them! Strange that I found out about both of them within five minutes of each other, in very different ways.

*7*

Happy New Year Everyone!! May 2012 bring you all many blessings!

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Seven Quick Takes

(ONE)

I just spent at least four hours wrapping presents. I am SO OLD.  I feel like I just ran a 10K. On my back.  At least I'm done. I think.

((TWO))

Is anyone thinking of their word or phrase for 2012?  I don't know if I did one last year. I think the year before my phrase was "I get to".   As in, remember that I *get* to teach my kids, wash their clothes, cook their meals, because I am THAT LUCKY to be able to have my family in my life and care for them.  I still need to cement this in my brain, when I am so tired of being the *only one* who "gets to" do this, lol.  I have no word for next year. I'm too tired. Maybe "sleep".  :)

(((THREE)))

For those of you that choose a new patron saint for your year, don't forget Conversion Diary's Saint Name Generator.  This thing really works.  I used it last week when I was feeling particularly down and needed some extra spiritual muscles behind me. I had just had a fight with my dh over an in-law situation (realized later it was completely a misunderstanding - I'm not having problems with my in-laws).  Prayed while the website was "churning" and hit "find a saint for me" -- my saint for the next two weeks is St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, and the first thing mentioned in her description was "patron saint of in-law problems" !!

((((FOUR))))
I know I'm a boring broken record lately, but I'm still (over)thinking this whole "gluten free" thing.  My son has a rheumatologist appointment at the end of the month.  He has been on his one drug since late July/early August. It's doing some good, but the inflammation is still there and he continues to have pain and swelling. Seeing as it's essential to quell that so that he can grow properly, I have a feeling the doc isn't going to wait any longer to add another drug, which is much stronger with worse side effects.  I feel backed into a wall -- I feel I need to go gluten free NOW (like two weeks ago, now) and see if there is any change in Jeffrey before his appointment, to potentially save him from needing the stronger meds.    All that being (very awkwardly) said I'm struggling to find things to cook and eat that won't cause a huge revolt here at Castle Adventureland.   And I just wrote and deleted a huge ramble...too long for a 7 quick takes. I think I'll "think outloud" in a post all it's own. Don't say I didn't warn you.

(((((FIVE)))))

My four year old is reading.  Yes, I'm bragging. And only a teeny-tiny part of me is crying, since my *baby* is reading.

((((((SIX))))))

I think aliens have come and stolen my dh and exchanged him for an agreeable man without an over-analytical engineering brain.  Either that or prayer works. The man actually said, "I don't care, whatever you want," the other day.  And I think he meant it.  Strange. Very strange indeed. ;-)  You wives of engineers will understand.

(((((((SEVEN)))))))

Merry Christmas everyone!!  

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Seven Quick Takes

**1**

12yo leading 4yo down the stairs, "Let's go igmire the Christmas tree!" ( igmire is a family-joke word for admire)

4yo, hesitatingly, "Is that a ...bad thing?"

**2**

We didn't get the house we were bidding on.  Time will tell if we were silly to stick with our original offer or should have bumped it up just a little bit like we were thinking of doing.  Not like it matters now!

I think I knew deep in my heart that we weren't going to get it.  I get these feelings when something big in my future collides with my present.  I felt it when I met my husband, I felt it when I first drove to my current state to attend grad school, I felt it when I stepped into our current house.  It's like a burst of awareness, a feeling of things clicking into place, that sense of being "home".  That being said, I didn't feel it when I went to see the house we bid on.  And I don't feel it in our current house any longer. So we continue to look.  I am sure it is all for the best.

**3**

My children have recently discovered the Redwall series on Netflix.  Maggie, who in the past had been watching her sister devour the books, swore she would NEVER like Redwall, that it was stupid, that she hated talking animals and would never read them.   Now, she is totally smitten.  They beg to watch the show, make plays of their own, create new characters, talk about it all the time and were so disappointed when the library did not have the book they wanted today.

**4**

I bravely branched out from my usual "clear" and got red and green bands around my braces this month.  Thought I'd be childish festive! Orthodontist says my teeth are moving very fast and she's pleased with the progress.  One more year!

**5**

I'm addicted to Triple Town on Facebook.  Blame my kids, they think it is so cute and always ask me to play it.  My husband, who thought it was silly and would look at me funny when I said how much I enjoyed it, can now be found sneaking in games when I'm not looking. And even when I am.  He quickly became quite good because it's a strategy game, and he won't let it get the best of him.

**6**

My 6yo (excellent reader) loves the Faith and Freedom readers that we got through Seton years ago. She has read through all we have (5th grade I think?).  Any suggestions for similar Catholic/Christian/Moral readers like that?  She's also my child that balks at sitting down and schooling.  Ideas for killing two birds with one stone -  i.e. handing her something *good* she can read on her own that will teach her content areas would be great. She'd be happy she is reading and learning, and I'd be happy that math/science/history/health/art/music, etc are getting covered without tears.  (disclaimer: of course I'd still teach and discuss things with her - but the less I have to drag her to the table for a workbook the better - and dh wants 'tangible' schooling going on, not unschooling).

**7**

The "It's a Good Thing I Have a Sturdy Nightstand" list (in part):
The Allergen Free Baker's Handbook
Allergy Free Cookbook
The Anti-Inflammation Diet and Recipe Book
Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic
From Grass to Gardens: How to Reap Bounty From a Small Yard
Gluten Free, Hassle Free
Growing At the Speed of Life: A Year in the Life of My First Kitchen Garden
Living Gluten Free for Dummies
Special Diets for Special Kids Two
Made to Crave: Satisfying Your Deepest Desire With God, Not Food

Sensing a trend?

Thank God for my local library.

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Seven Quick Takes - whine with my dairy-free "cheese" edition

+1+
I think I'm back to blogging, it's either get my thoughts out of my head or watch it explode. Don't say I didn't warn you.

+2+
My 3yo was officially diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis on Tuesday.  Since I already had my temper tantrum about it *before* I got the diagnosis, I think I'm handling it pretty well.   OK, I got teary in the supermarket when buying Glad Press 'n' Seal to put over the EMLA cream the doctor gave us for the multiple blood draws he'll need, but with 3 girls with multiple food allergies, crying in the supermarket is not new to me, LOL!    Jeffrey is pretty mild right now compared to what I've seen online, and he is starting a trial of the most mild medicine that has been known to help (Naprosyn).   We've seen some side effects but nothing awful yet.

+3+
Now every single one of our children has some kind of life-altering problem.  Thankfully, nothing severe at this point, unless you count all the severe food allergies, which are only a problem if you want to you know, eat.

Juliet:  alopecia areata, dyslexia and other LDs, ADD, allergic to eggs/peanuts, intolerant of other foods, eczema
Maggie: hearing loss, some "mental health" issues
Grace: allergic to dairy/egg, slow growth, ADD
Leah: allergic to eggs
Jeffrey:  juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

*of course* they also have many wonderful, wonderful qualities. But as their mom and "family manager," I am officially flabbergasted.

+4+
There is a silver (selfish) lining to all this - my dad, who for as long as I can remember has been *adamantly* against me searching for my birth parents (as in it would completely crush him emotionally) told me the other day, "I'll do whatever I can to help you find out information about your history."  This is huge.  Not like it's easy or even possible, being from a state where closed adoption records are still impossible to get to. But just the *mental* relief I feel that it is possible without crushing my dad is a big deal.

+5+
We tried to put an offer on a great house yesterday.  They denied it.  We can't budge any higher, they can't come much lower (w/o it being a short sale).   I'm sure it's meant to be.  At this point, after 2+ years of *seriously* house hunting, I was so done and just decided to stay where we are and make it work. Until...

+6+
...I remembered that the original owners of this house *also* had a child, their only, with a severe disease that eventually went on to take his life early (muscular dystrophy).   All six children (not to mention some of the adults!) who have lived here have been unhealthy/unlucky. I don't think it's the house, per say, as many of the "problems" are totally unrelated to each other. Perhaps something spiritual?  Either way,  I. AM. SO. OUTTA. HERE.

+7+
I feel some retail therapy coming on.  I've been looking at the BOSCH mixers.  Wow, they have really gone up in price since I first heard of them a handful of years ago.  I would want them to mix bread dough, primarily, since they can handle multiple loaves at a time...but now I'm thinking of doing a few month trial of gluten free for our family.   Has anyone used one or something similar for gluten free bread?    It's funny, with ALL that is going on I am most shaken up by the thought of removing gluten from our diet.   Give me back our eggs and dairy and I'd be happy (so to speak) to take away gluten.  Doing all while also trying to severely limit sugar?   HEEEELLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPP!   ;-)

Here ends my downer version of 7 quick takes. I don't *mean* to whine, it's just some of what's going on in our lives right now!

For more of this week's  7 Quick Takes, visit Jen at Conversion Diary!

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Seven Quick Takes - Haiku Version

~1~
To tired to think
haiku easier than prose
not so many words

~2~
I am thinking that
my New Year's Resolution
is not to make them

~3~
I've found just the thing
Wii Fit gets me off the couch
Stronger every day

~4~
children coughing and
all sorts of other wild things.
prayer for next year? Health.

~5~
ran all day, maybe
burned off a potato chip
counting calories

~6~
Monday is coming
our brains mushy and muddled
too long without school
(and sleep)

~7~
many thanks to my
awesome readers, you have made
this year delightful


For  Seven Quick Takes,
see the ever clever Jen:
  Conversion Diary!

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Seven Quick Takes Friday

1. It broke.    :(  <---- a  part of my heart looks like this little man. It broke! My gift from Mary! What does this mean??   At first I felt abandoned and unprotected. (note: not because I didn't have the medal on, like a good luck charm, but because of what it represents, and if God really did mean that gift to represent my Holy Mother and a gift from her, then when it just falls off *like that* ....well, I'm left thinking, like I said, What does this mean??)

But I feel a little whisper in my soul..."It's alright. Sometimes things have to go wrong for you to get the better part."  Whoa.  In this case, like a new, well made necklace that I had been wanting. I wanted a Miraculous Medal necklace for Christmas but didn't want to take off Mary's gift. Good timing, huh?

However, I need to apply this lesson to other parts of my life - big time.  If only they hurt as little as a necklace falling off.

2.  I'm loving Trader Joe's Pear Cinnamon Cider at this time of year. Cold or Warm. Yum.  Festive tasting!

3.  I think this winter is going to kill me.   My 3yo son doesn't "get" winter clothes and winter in general and so when he finally gets outside with the girls (after bugging us since last night) and gets snow on his mittens, he then whines to come inside, tracking slush/snow all through the house to find me to demand clean mittens.   Kid, you are going to get snow on your mittens, IN your mittens, up your pant legs, down your socks, and in your hair. Get used to it.

4.  This looks like a good point to tell you of my next latest obsession, spiked hot chocolate.   One cup hot chocolate, one glug Kahlua, one dash Chambord. Ahhhhhh.....

5. Next month marks two years I've been actively obsessively searching for a new house.  I'm tired. You'd think in all that time, in a bad market where houses sit forever, we'd find something better than what we own. But no. Seriously, each house that has come close has had something majorly wrong with it. Like a huge bathroom built up on stilts like a deck, next to my dh's now-ex-boss.  But that was one great house.   Or the house across the street from the armed ex-con that had a half-day armed stand off with police where they barricaded the whole street off for four hours.  We would have been able to watch THAT from our living room! Fun! Another awesome house in a nice neighborhood (just a scary neighbor).  We could settle for any number of run down, small houses, with small backyards in unsafe neighborhoods...but that's what we are trying to *avoid* here.   P.S. Our realtor is a saint.

6.  I just went outside in a pretty foul mood to take out some old smelly garbage... then saw some quaint little birdie tracks in the snow. My mood lifted a bit. As I got closer to the garbage cans, I saw some bunny tracks. Oh!  Then a cat! By the time I came back I was *almost* happy.  Too bad I had to walk back inside the house...

7.  Boy, am I a grinch today, sorry for the downer post!  Think I need to go reread my #1.  Call a snow day and stick a movie in?  Drink my #2 and #4?   Or just tell everyone to...

...click on over to Jen's for more Seven Quick Takes that are sure to be nicer than mine!! :)

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Seven Quick Takes Friday

*~*1*~*
Dh has all of next week off. I'm both thrilled and terrified. I don't do well with big changes in my routine. Or holidays. Or having relatives over. Hmmm,  I think I'm in trouble.

*~*2*~*
LOL, my dd needs to see this after saying "tooken" at dinner last night.



h/t: Deb


*~*3*~*

It's time for me to join the Domestic Church Slackers Union. All others that feel this way (and even if you don't) read this post from Red Cardigan.

*~*4*~*

We're having a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving this year. It's dd's birthday, and she asked for lasagna instead of turkey. We can't fit both in our oven, so lasagna it is! Add in some garlic bread, maybe salad, and cupcakes and it's enough to make my father twitch and beg my mom to bring over a cooked turkey rival any Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Good thing I *like* Charlie Brown, AND lasagna.

*~*5*~*

Really wishing this was called FIVE quick takes because that is all I can ever come up with.

*~*6*~*

I'm sure most of you have seen this, but I'll share anyway just in case.



*~*7*~*

Next week I enter the first day of many years of uncharted territory. I will be the parent of a teenager! I'll be a parent of a teenager (or 4) for the next 16 years.

PRAY FOR ME!

For more Seven Quick Takes, visit Jen at Conversion Diary! (and pray for her too, she is under the weather!)

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Seven Quick Takes Friday

1. Can it be Friday already? Dh took a day off yesterday and I'm all discombobulated. Yesterday felt like Sunday, so today must be Monday, right?

2. Yesterday my 2nd born dear turned ELEVEN! A good day was had by all, although it was quiet. I did get to take her out to eat for lunch. I *love* taking my non-allergic kid out to lunch. NO WORRIES! And I even get to have some leftovers today. Now we gear up for the birthday of my oldest in two weeks, when she will turn 13. *faint*

3. We are starting our study of Asia in Social Studies/History. I can't put my finger on why, but I've always had a place in my heart for Asian culture and people. So I can't wait to delve into this study with my kids! Sonlight Core 5 readers/read alouds and random stuff from my own shelves will make up the bulk of it.

4. Soccer season is over. Wait, I need to shout it. SOCCER SEASON IS OVER!!!! Woo hoo!! So that means that on weekends I'm not getting 5 children 6 places, I'm only getting 3 children (sometimes 5, depending on how dh is feeling) 3 places. Much better. :-P

5. THIS has been life in our house since Halloween. I finally took the candy away just in time to have a birthday filled with cupcakes.

6. Am I the only person who doesn't want to take 5 kids (from almost 13 to just turned 3) into a city to go to museums by myself, even kid friendly ones like a science museum, children's museum, or aquarium? Because if I just need to get over myself and do it, I will, but if everyone else would shudder at that thought, then I don't feel so bad.

7. Seriously, why are we doing 7 quick takes on a Monday? ;-)

For more Seven Quick Takes, visit Jen at Conversion Diary!

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Seven Quick Takes Friday

1. Lest you think I'm all holier than thou about being thankful for hard things, trust me, I'm not. All those words were trying to convince me to *feel* thankful.  But since it's true that we can be loving without really feeling loving, I figure I can be thankful without actually feeling anything that, ummm, remotely feels like thankfulness. ;-) It's more of a "I feel awful about all this, but You say You love me - even though it feels like the opposite - so I'll try to believe You. And since you are God, and You love me, this must be for my own good. Somehow. I think. So for that I'm thankful.  I think."

2. Note to self: if you are going to IM your husband at work with cheery little messages, make sure he's not in a meeting, doing a presentation using said software.  Yikes.  

3.  My five year old has gone on a drawing rampage. It is all she does from the moment she wakes up and I see her walking down the hall with a piece of paper and a pencil in her hand, to the moment she goes to bed dragging the whole tool turn-about filled with drawing implements, paper, and books to lean on with her.  This child will go far some day!

4.   Must....get....rid....of....Halloween....candy.....now.

5. Anyone with me on a pre-Advent purge of stuff?  We have two birthdays coming up this month, and then Christmas.  Time to look through things -- yet again -- and make room for the onslaught I know will happen no matter how much I try to prevent it.

6.  As this might be my only post today, I'm thankful for: hot showers on cold mornings, that my dh survived a crazy day at work (more to come!),  ibuprofen, ice water, grace.

7.  Stop reading if you don't want to hear me whine about being sick.
I've got the worst sore throat.  The kind that keeps you up all night because you can't swallow without wimpering.  To add insult to injury, this virus also seems to have put my salivary glands into overdrive. So I have this intense need to swallow with a very strong desire not to.   On a self-improvement note: if my purgatory time is going to be worse than this, I am getting all the more motivated to avoid it at all costs.  Off to say some sweet words to my children.

For more 7 quick takes, visit Jen at Conversion Diary!

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7 quick takes, kidspeak version

1.  After driving a few hours to get to our beach destination, Leah asked, "Do they speak English here?"

2. Jeffrey asked for muffins for breakfast. When I said, "We're not having muffins, I'm making pancakes," and lifted him up to see them, he said, "I don't want those FLAT muffins."

3. Hints my 2yo plays to much Wii - when asked if Grace could join a guessing game he was playing in the car with Maggie, Jeffrey said, "No, we playing 2 player, not  3 player game." (at least I know he can count)

4. Jeffrey:  "I'm two and Leah is all of them."  (she's 5)

5. Speaking of Leah, I recently said to her early one morning,"Did you get enough hugs yet today? Probably not, it's so early" as I reached out to embrace her. She replied, "That's OK! I was being hugged by God."

6.  Jeffrey explaining what happened at the park that scared him:  "I saw  Daddy's Long Spider on the water bench."  (daddy long legs on the drinking fountain)

7. Jeffrey: I need the thing.       Me: What thing?     Him: The thingy thing!
(He *definitely* gets this from me)

For more 7 quick takes, visit Jen at Conversion Diary!

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Seven Quick Takes Friday

*1*

I know I'm not the only one to be thinking this, but where did the summer go?  I can't believe it is almost the end of August already.  That may be because we haven't really taken a full school break or a vacation yet.  The summer felt no different than the spring or winter to me, except for the fact that I was wrestling with the lawnmower every weekend instead of shoveling snow. :)

*2*

Speaking of lawnmowers, my darling husband just hired someone to come cut for us, so that I didn't have to. THANK YOU St. DH!  Although I must admit that after the guy was done I looked outside and said, "It looks better when I do it." LOL!  So much for humility.   I think the lawn guy cuts it a little higher than we do, so it isn't as "crisp" looking. I know it's better for the lawn though, so I can't complain! And it's certainly better for me.  I don't have the energy to be wrestling a mower in 95 degree heat on a 45 degree hill.

*3*

I've been getting nasty eyestrain (and a yucky nauseous feeling with it) after any length of time on the computer.  Stinks!  Wondering if they make mid-distance glasses, because the reading glasses are for too close and my distance glasses are for farther than a computer screen. I know I can't be the only one that has this problem.  Well, the *major* problem may be more unique - I have one eye that sees well for close up, and the other eye sees well for distance, and because I don't wear my glasses enough my other eye has been shutting off - one for distance and the other for close up! I think I totally freak out my head when I look at something  18 inches away for too long.   I know I should just wear my glasses, but they are big and bifocally and I don't like them.  And then when I take them off, my eyes really go wacko and I feel immediately dizzy.

*4*

I just made some hard lotion bars for my dd to help with her eczema. It was really simple - melt 1/4 cup each of shea butter (solid kind), beeswax, and coconut oil over a double burner and pour into molds.  Pop them out when they cool, and that's it! You just rub them on your hands like a bar of soap and the warmth of your hands melts a little lotion off.  They have a kind of funky scent if you have a sensitive nose, but I'm sure you could add a little fragrance.  I didn't want to mess with that with my super-sensitive DD.  If she tolerates the lotion well, I'll make a nice smelling batch for her and see if she tolerates that too.  She says she doesn't notice the smell though. Just as well!

*5*

All you 4Realers, turn away, I have a confession to make.
We don't really get into picture books here.
There, I said it.
I could turn this into a humongoid post, but I don't really want to get into it! Suffice it to say, I tried, and I loved how beautiful it seemed, but my kids could care less. All of them.  Now, historical fiction chapter books are another story, but I don't think my kids would mind if 80% of the picture books we own were to disappear tomorrow.

Hmmmm, I feel like I just ran into a PETA meeting eating a big bowl of Kentucky Fried Chicken and loving it. :-P

*6*

Y'ever feel like you just don't fit in anywhere?
Mother Theresa was right when she said that the worst poverty is the lack of love and friendship (or something like that).   Money's nice, I appreciate a roof over my head and food in my belly, but I would really like some IRL support too.

*7*

Gotta run! Dh just finished putting the baby to bed and it's our date night.  Speaking of THE BABY, he is going to be THREE next month. THREE!  When did that happen?   It is so weird not to have another baby coming.  And (shhhhh....I'm really loving it). (I am so not a baby/toddler mom.) (Truly, I stink at it).

(See note about running into PETA meeting above).

Don't all unsubscribe me at once. :)

For more quick takes, visit Jen at Conversion Diary!

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Seven Quick Takes Friday

1. After months of not blogging, I feel like I'm walking into a quiet library and screaming, "Hello!! How is everybody!" *blush* I've been blogging a lot, in my head. :)

2. We almost bought a house. We came SO close! But in the end it was just too quirky for dh. Because I couldn't refute his logic (he's half Vulcan, I think) I had to agree with him! Tomorrow we see another house, a short sale. Looks good from the pictures.

3. In gardening news, our raised bed is a bust. Well, at least anything where we eat what touches the soil, like the lettuces. We may be able to save a few peas, and some tomato seeds voluteered themselves from last year and seem to be sprouting into nice plants. But you see, a certain animal has decided to use the raised bed as it's personal bathroom. By the looks of it, it could be a raccoon. Possibly a large cat. Both are bad. It was several days in a row, but I've cleaned it all up and it seems to have stopped. Hence my new "don't eat anything that has touched the soil" rule. :-P Google "racoon latrine" and you'll see why.

4. In a similar vein we found two mulberry trees on the edge of the little acre of woods behind our backyard. I was so excited! Problem? There is lots of poison ivy back there, and I'm trying to be very careful to I.D. it and stay away from it. I'm a very poor poison ivy identifier. It seems to look different in each plant! The mulberries we *have* picked are yummy though. We get about a handful a day that we can reach without touching anything else.

5. School has come to a crashing halt. I seem to do this every May after getting our yearly review done. We'll pick it back up soon, but the girls have been doing their own thing and (other than their usual constant bickering) have seemed happy about it. Juliet has been drawing up a storm, and Maggie reading everything in sight. Grace just soaks in the whole world. And the other two, well, they've been having fun and driving each other crazy at the same time. Jeffrey's really talking so much now, and it's so cute what he comes up with.

6. This seems like an awfully boring post after three months off. Really, things happened in that time! Like, I crashed and burned. God seems to be carving deep into me to teach me new things. It HURTS but I feel like we are coming out the other side a bit now. (famous last words)

7. I've been reading Fr. Walter Cizek's He Leadeth Me. It is definitely teaching me about trusting God, and helping me to see what is meant by "Doing God's Will" - God's will is the people and situations he puts you in every day, and accepting that graciously IS doing His will. That being said, I *still* don't totally understand how it works. Like, when you have many big decisions to make. Do we move? Do we buy this house or that house? What curriculum should I use? Maybe none of that stuff really matters, and if it *did* God would stop me. I'd love to talk more about this or this book if anyone is willing.

Wow, I actually hit 7 things. :) Hopefully this will keep me blogging more regularly. :)

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Seven Quick Takes

1. I thought it was so cool that my "security words" when posting a link about ending abortion on Facebook were "Thanks" and "provide".

2. Writing haiku lately is like trying to sqeeze blood from a stone. I believe it's miraculously possible, but it's HARD! :-P We're still the same old people we were years ago when I started, and we're still doing the same things. I feel like there are only so many ways to get 17 syllables out of talking about Teaching Textbooks, YKWIM?

3. I am ever so slowly making a dent in tackling the car-full of stuff that came into our house last week. I think I am learning that God is challenging me on all the things I spout off so easily to others - it's just stuff! Give it all away! You don't need it and other people do, so it's not a waste! The money is already spent!

Do I mean it or not? This is a good test of that.

But man, I wish it didn't hurt so much.

4. My whole family is loving the Bejeweled Blitz game on Facebook. It's a fun way to waste a minute. Or 75.

5. I'm amazed that a body that was only nursing 2x a day can be in such a hormotional mess a week after weaning. I try to remind myself that it's been almost 5 years straight since I started nursing these last two, and add another 3 years on top of that for being pg and or nursing almost continually. (I had a break between kids 1&2 and kids 3/4/5.) Hopefully it won't take as long to get back to my "new normal."

6. I was starting to knit a blanket for charity (and to help use down my stash) when I got an email from a friend about a fleece-blanket tying party for charity. Why am I knitting a blanket, which will probably take me 3 cold winters at the sluggish speed I knit, when I can just cut and tie fleece in a few hours?

But then what do I do with my yarn stash? (you yarnies probably don't want it, it's almost all cheap, off the rack, one color worsted) There isn't a ton of it, but it's taking up storage space we don't have, and isn't doing anyone any good if we are not using it.

7. Dd is making tea, and the mail man just came, so this 7-quick-takes is officially over. Tea and mail trumpr everything. :)

For more 7 Quick Takes, please visit Jen at Conversion Diary!

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Seven Quick Takes

~1~

I'm in too much of a hurry to find the nice graphic, sorry!

~2~

We are really enjoying some new curriculum here: Classical Writing (we're in the Aesop level, athough it is mostly too easy), and Michael Clay Thompson's Language Arts series. We're in the "Town" level there, if you are interested. Oh, and Latina Christiana is still holding their interest. I would add in reading The Burgess Animal Book for Children as science, but my 10yo hates it, lol. The others are happy. I love revitalizing the homeschooling mid-year, it gives us all a boost so we are less stir crazy stuck in the house.

~3~

Prayers appreciated for dh who has a very difficult meeting today. He said to me on the way out today, "Well, happily after today I have *at least* two weeks off. *At least* being the operative words there." My dh always tries to see the bright side of things.

~4~

Except when he has presents to wrap. It's funny that after 17 years together I can still learn things about my dh. He mentioned the other day that he disliked wrapping presents, and last night I found him sitting amongst a bunch of scattered rolls of paper, looking totally forlorn. He wasn't kidding! Good thing I enjoy it even though I still wrap like a 3rd grader. One more way that we make one perfect person together.

~5~

We are not doing much for Advent this year, and I refuse to feel guilty about it. This weeks guilt inducers are the lovely O Antiphon activities popping up all over blogland. The kids will be lucky if I write the O Antiphons on the chalkboard and show how they spell ERO CRAS ("tomorrow I come") backwards. Although that is a little too reminiscent of trying to play Led Zepplin albums backward as a child, listening for secret messages! LOL

~6~

There is no six.

~7~

Snow! Late tonight a snowstorm is supposed to move in. Could be a white Christmas after all!

For more 7 Quick Takes, visit Jen at Conversion Diary!

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7 Quick Takes Friday

~1~
Rainy day fun reigns here - so far the kids have made a tent village with all their sheets and are now playing bowling in the hallway with tupperware and two real soccer balls (*wince*). This is exciting because lately they've just been picking on each other, lying around doing nothing, and whining. Now at least they are being creative, picking on each other, and whining.

~2~
We are seeing 5 new homes in the next few days. New to us, I mean. I'm in "I-can't-stand-to-live-here-another-minute-mode" and dh is in "let's-wait-for-perfection-mode" which puts me in "nooooooooononono-we-can't-FIND-perfection-in-our-price-range-I-just-want-to-plunk-dh-on-the-forehead-with-my-fingers-mode." (LOVE YOU, dh!) ;-) Please pray that we have proper discernment on this matter - and quick, one of the homes was just reduced a boat-load (truly) and may fly off the market...it's really causing stress here (at least in me). Googling "Does God want me to buy a bigger house with no yard?" was not at ALL helpful, LOL.

~3~
We just joined Netflix with some money left over from not taking a vacation this year. Our first movie was The Express: The Ernie Davis Story. Dh and I both liked it. It's the story of Ernie Davis, the first African-American Heisman Trophy winner. We'd love more suggestions for good movies to watch!

~4~
We're all recovering from some weird cold/flu, and the constant snarfing noises of 5 kids are about to drive me insane

~5~
The one thing, besides our tree-lined backyard, that makes me want to stay here in this house:

Our neighbor stopped by again. He's an amazon bookseller and regularly comes over with a huge stack of kids books that he can't use. There are always a few gems!

~6~
My new chore list has been made, most chores have been assigned - now I'm just hesitating to print it out and put it to use. Even without having it on paper, all my children just got over 101-104 degree fevers. What will actually happen if I print it out and try to use it! :-P

~7~
Why do my children think I will appreciate certain things?

"Jeffrey just stuffed half a burrito in his mouth all at once, Mom! Hahahahaha!"

"Watch me play with my food mom!"

"Cool mom, look! I just smacked Juliette and now she has a handmark on her stomach!"

Sigh. Sometimes I wish my kids saw me as the "I breathe the wrath of God when you misbehave" type of Mom I am in my dreams.

On that happy note ;-), visit Jen at Conversion Diary for more 7 Quick Takes this week!

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