Supper!

Sorry for teasing you about my supper and then taking so long to tell you about it… I just want to do my part in helping you learn patience! I heard about this recipe from Rita, but she ate it at Rhoda Shank’s and didn’t have the recipe. So, I made it up from what she told me. I guess it’s sorta like Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches, but I don’t know what the name was. Maybe you could name if for me? So, here goes…

Slice up about 2 lb. of steak or roast into very thin, narrow strips. Slice when it’s partly frozen if possible. Brown in oil. Add 2 cloves garlic when frying or after. Put in small crock pot on low. Add seasoned salt, pepper, worchestershire sauce (1 tsp?), and a couple squirts of BBQ sauce. Cook for 5 hours or so. Add sliced green peppers and onions – be generous. I sauteed them a little first. Cook another hour or two. Put meat mixture on sub or hamburger buns (homemade is best of course). Top with cheese. I used Mozzarella, but Rita said the recipe called for Swiss.

I thought it was deeeelicious. Keith said next time he’d add lettuce, tomato and raw onion. Do what ya want. Ya will anyway! (As my Mom and her Mother before her used to say!)

Well, Isn't That Sweet!

Yesterday in the mail I was very surprised to receive a cheque for $200 from the Government of Canada! The paper with it said it is my first monthlty installment of the Universal Child Care Benefit. They're giving $100 per month for each child under the age of six! Isn't that amazing! I told Keith, "I'm getting paid to take care of my own children!" I guess it still doesn't work out to much of an hourly wage, but the thought is nice anyway! Sorta makes me want to have another baby soon so they have to send me $300 a month. :-) (Then I'd have to use that money to hire some help!)

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I'm cooking up something intersting and new for supper. If it's good I'll tell you about it later. :-)

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I weighed Josiah today and he gained the required 2 oz. So we'll just keep plugging away for now. The last 3 days or so, I've had a bit more milk and he's nursing a little better. I guess I should just keep asking the Lord for that miracle!

Lazy Days Of Summer!

Yeah right! What does that mean? Here are some ramblings from the last week and a half…

One beautiful morning I was out on the patio which is in the shade in the morning. I had the following “thought train”: “It’s so beautiful out here in the morning. I should have a brunch for some ladies out here on the patio like we did last year. Hmm, last year we did that for Wendy’s birthday. Good idea! I’ll do that for Wendy’s birthday again. Let’s see, Wendy’s birthday is… in two (or was it three) days!!” So we did pull it off and had a lovely Thursday morning brunch with Wendy, Phyllis, Leslie, Helen, Lisa, and myself. Lucky for me and Wendy, Kendra had the same idea, so she had Wendy and me over for brunch on Sat. morning. That was so nice - and relaxing too!

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On Saturday, Keith and I started sorting through our way-too-large collection of books. I am so pleased with our BIG pile of books to get rid of. And it’s almost scandalous the things I threw away! :-) Of course, as these things often are, we didn’t get done that day and I couldn’t get back to it until Thursday. But now it’s DONE and the books are all on the shelves (or waiting to be sold or given away). That is sure a good feeling. And it’s a good feeling that we even have some extra space. It’s a good thing because…

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We’re thinking seriously of doing the Sonlight Curriculum for Caleb’s schooling this year. And it involves a lot of books. Which is one of the main reasons Keith likes the idea. He loves to read! So, we really need to get serious about deciding and ordering…

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Monday and Tuesday were “Mad Marathon” days for me. When will I ever learn? My family got together for supper on Monday night at the beach. I made BBQ beef sandwiches for the main course. Of course, I have no use for store-bought, white hamburger buns. So I made buns, and the BBQ beef. And, since Keith’s birthday was the next day, I made a birhtday cake. (But I did concede to use a cake mix.) So, that was a busy day! But we had a nice, relaxing time with the fam at the beach…

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Tuesday was Keith’s birthday. I had been planning for awhile to make him a white chocolate raspberry cheesecake. Then I decided to have the leadership team over for dessert after supper. So, I had to make two cheesecakes. I decided on English Toffee for the second one. It was a killer! (As in delicious, not difficult.) Thankfully, both Caleb and Logan were at Bible school that morning, so I could really fly. Keith ordered chicken enchiladas (sorry, Rachel) for supper and his parents joined us for that. He was surprised when others started showing up after supper. :-) I had asked Alvin to lead a time of blessing/encouragement/prayer for Keith. I think that was a special thing for him. And the cheesecake was wonderful!

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Caleb had the idea to get Seafarers for Keith’s birthday. We finally played it last night. And I won, but only because Keith hadn’t counted his points and didn’t realize he had enough to win. :-)

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Here’s a story for any guys who might be reading. And I’m writing this with my husband’s permission! Our ancient, yet trustworthy (go Toyota!) van was having some real brake problems. It pulsated like crazy whenever you braked. So Thursday evening Keith changed the brakes on the left side. He had bought parts for both sides, but it turned out only the left side was bad. So the next morning I was taking Caleb to VBS and I started to hear grinding sounds whenever I braked. Then there were metallic rubbing sounds whenever I drove too. I knew this wasn’t good, but I had to pick Caleb up from VBS. Guess I should have taken the truck. This morning Keith took it apart to see what was happening – and discovered he had put the outside brake pad on backwards. There were big grooves ground into the brand-new disk. Big oops, but it was kinda funny too. He was glad he had the extra disk to put on!

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And now back to the feminine side of things… Little Josiah isn’t nursing well and I’m 98% sure it’s because I don’t have enough milk. I’m taking medication, but if I take too much I get head-aches. :-( This week when I weighed him he had only gained .5 oz in just over a week. Not enough! I’m trying to stick it out until next Tuesday when I will weigh him. But I’m quite sure the little guy will be going on a bottle next week – unless Jesus does a miracle before then. So, you can pray that I will have LOTS of milk, or that he will go on the bottle without too much of a fight. I don’t look forward to the emotional trauma of weaning him!

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And on that cheery note, I must be off. It’s Norseman Days and we’re going to go take in some of it and eat Helen’s bannock burgers for supper.

My Favorite Little Monkeys!

Just in case anyone is wondering... Josiah is rolling over both ways, but not showing many signs of sitting up. He's eating some baby food, but not always very excited about it. And it looks like he had the chicken pox last week! How odd. I don't know where he wouldn've picked it up. He had some mosquito bites on his face, but kept getting more, which I thought was odd. Finally a friend said, "Are you sure that isn't chicken pox?" On closer examination, it seemed she might be right. He got more the day after that and then that was it. They aren't scabbing over much, but a nurse friend said it could still be that. Thankfully, he didn't seem to be bothered much by it!! Now we'll see if the others get it in a couple weeks.

A Little Riddle

A few days ago I put this in one of my comments and wondered if anyone would ask about it. No one did, so here it is again. Is anyone old enough to remember this and know what it means?? PBP GINFWMY Sheldon, you don’t get to guess. One hint: You would’ve seen it on a button – probably in the late 70’s. I know, I know I’m older than some of you (but not all of you!!). :-)

Sobering Thoughts

Just now Caleb said to me: "Do you know how to be a good Christian? Copy-cat your parents." Wow, that makes me sit up and take notice. "Lord, please help me to be a Godly example, and not really mess up this monumental task You've given to me!"

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And the other day, I was giving the boys a pep talk about not fighting, etc., and also making my "to-do" list for the day. I was exhorting them that if they wouldn't fight and we would all work together, we could get so much work done, and wouldn't that be fun!! And Logan's reply was something like, "Or we could just relax!" When will I learn to relax and not be so driven to accomplish. I think I need to have a "waste-a-day" challenge. Not sure how to do that, but why don't you ask me tomorrow or the next day if I was able to "waste" a good portion of a day!!

Graber Pixels

Backyard Camping

Keith, Mark, and Logan got home from their canoe trip at about 5:30. They hadn't had their supper yet, and mine wasn't made yet, so they made their pizza pops with camp irons in the back yard. They were sure yummy! And Mark made strawberry rhubarb "pies" for dessert. We have to get some of those nifty camp irons!! In case you're not acquainted with them, you put some kind of filling between two pieces of bread and toast it in this little iron thingy over the fire. They are great!

I Can't Think of a Witty Title

Here they are: my pretty posies! Thanks to Kendra for the pictures, and Helen for showing me how to make them smaller.

Little Obadiah

I just had to try this. This is a picture of Josiah that Derek took at Dad's wedding. More pictures to come as soon as I figure out how to re-size them!

Oh yeah, this is why we live here!

It was such a beautiful Sunday evening…. So we snarfed a sangwich, made some popcorn, threw the canoe on the truck and headed for Half-way Creek. It was a gorgeous, calm, sunny, cool evening. This is the first time all five of us have been in a canoe together and the first time I’ve taken a baby this young. (I’m not “Iris the Wonder-Woman of the North”!) The boys were in the middle and I just laid Josiah on a cushion in front of me. He was so happy. Just talked, coo-ed and smiled most of the time. We paddled up the creek to Falkenham Lake and just paddled around looking at the cliffs, rocks, trees, etc. In the creek we saw 2 Great Blue Herons – one of them we got really close to several times. We also were fairly close to an eagle. It was so peaceful and just nice to be together –and so nice that no one capsized the canoe!!

On the way back we had some contests: wolf-howling (I won), moose grunting (Keith won), loon calling (no clear winner), and spitting (obviously Keith won that one!), cat-tail throwing (just the boys did that one and Caleb won). Josiah started getting a little fussy, but he never really howled so I just left him lying there and by the time we got back he had gone to sleep. Yay! I have a “go-anywhere baby”!!! My first one! Actually, I’m just finally becoming a “go-anywhere” Mom.
Now, Keith is just finishing up the dishes (he’s the greatest!). There’s still camping stuff to unpack from yesterday, piles of laundry to do, and I’m almost out of bread. Oh, and of course, the basement to finish putting back together. So, it doesn’t look like tomorrow will be boring. Oh, and I’m supposed to remember to “Seek first the Kingdom of God”, which most often means putting the needs of my children ahead of my to-do list. “Lord, please help me remember that one all day tomorrow!”

I forgot...

...to tell you Keith's reaction to the renovations. He was surprised and impressed. He says he likes the color. Yeah!

And, Rachel, I changed my settings so my blog is "public". So you can get to my blog by clicking on my name in someone else's comments. Happy now? :-)

I'm Seeing Red

I did it! I painted my basement rec-room red and I like it! When we were at family camp-out, Darla told me how she re-decorated their bedroom while Sheldon was gone on his big bike-ride – without telling him. That inspired me since I’ve been wanting to re-paint the basement ever since we painted it that yucky algae color two years ago. I knew Keith was planning a little canoe trip this month, so the gears began to grind away. I made all the plans without Keith knowing it. I’m very indebted to the help of Rita, Mom and Dad Graber, Melva, and Kendra. The room is transformed. It’s not quite finished yet. I just put the last coat of paint on the trim, so Keith will have to put that up. And I still need to paint the door. Other than that, there just a lot of stuff to move back into the room. And my intention is that not everything that was in that room will go back into it. How does “stuff” accumulate so quickly?? Now, please don’t hassle me for pictures of what we did. Kendra brought her camera over and the pics are now on my computer, but I need to figure out how to “smallify” them and post them. Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day. And I can’t figure out how to post pictures in a day! I did start looking at cameras on-line today. :-) I told Kendra I should paint the basement, and buy a camera while Keith is gone.

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Logan got to go along with Daddy on the canoe trip, and I thought I’d do some things to make it more special for Caleb. So last night I told him he could stay up as long as he wanted. I painted (and talked on the phone with Rachel) until about 11:00. Caleb watched a movie for a lot of that time. Then I headed for bed and Caleb wanted me to play with Legos with him. I informed him that he could stay up, but I had no intention of doing the same! I was in bed by 11:30 and he was in his room playing with Legos. Some time around 12:00 he came in my room and wondered if I would lay down with him or something. I groggily told him to crawl in with me, and that’s how our night ended. I think he was pretty proud of himself for staying up that late!

Just Call Me "Flower Child"

I love flowers!! I guess I learned it from my Mom. I remember her flowers at our "little house" in MN. I remember where the pansies were and how they came up every year and that the colors would change as they cross-breeded. I remember the beautiful begonias across the north side of the house. And I remember the big, um... not-so-pretty (in my humble opinion) cracker-jack marigolds all along the side of the driveway. So, now it's ro surprise to me that I like to spend lots of time and energy - okay, and money too - on my flowers. I teased Keith this year that I'm like Mom: go to the greenhouse and buy flowers, plant them, go back to the greenhouse and get a few more, plant them, go to the greenhouse for just one more thing, and come home with a few more than one, get out another planter because I have too many flowers....

This spring I was pleasantly surprised to see some pansies coming up and blooming almost as soon as the snow melted! I guess that flowerbed is the place for pansies! I also have a fair number of perennials that I've acquired over the last few years. It's so much fun to see them coming up without me doing anything!

This year it seemed like planting took a long time since I did it in one and two-hour segments. But, it was fun. I like containers since you can put them anywhere without making a flower bed. Favorite flowers? Hmmm.... Pansies, geraniums, impatiens, sunflowers, lobelia, lilies. Oh, I could go on and on. Favorite flowerbed? The big one along the side of the patio. I'm doing it all in red, yellow, purple, and orange. (Except on clump of shasta daisies that I don't have any other place for.) Before we moved to this house, I would never have had orange flowers. But Phyllis had some great orange perennials here and I sorta fell in love. :-)

So now a lot of things are blooming, but we're not yet at "full strength". We'll see what the summer holds. Often the plans that I have in my head don't turn out like I wanted. So I try something different. It's not like I'm a master-gardener or anything. I'm just having fun. I'm so thankful that God created beauty - and beautiful flowers!!

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

This morning Logan is wearing a size 5 shirt and his shorts are size 24 months. How can that be? The shorts might be borderline small, but not much!

Speedbumps on the Information Highway

Keith used to belong to the Lead Pencil Club, and that was their slogan or something! And it's really sorta true about us. We're only as "techy" as we need to be to "survive". (Isn't it amazing what we think it means to survive in this century in N. America!?! But I guess that would be a topic for another post.) So, we just bought a DVD player last month - because I'm tired of borrowing Kayla's whenever we want to watch a DVD. (Which really isn't all that often, but Kayla might be getting tired of loaning hers.)

So, the other day when I mentioned again that I want a digital camera, Keith shocked me by saying, "Yeah, I've been thinking it's time we do that." Yeah!!! So now I need some help. Where do I start looking, what do I look for, what do you have on yours that you like or dislike, etc. The things that are important to me are: little or no delay when taking pictures, decent quality photos , mid-range price. If you have any advice, pass it along!

Heard Recently At Our House...

---A few weeks ago I was pumping breast milk at the breakfast table and Logan said, “I should do that. I might be a mom some day.” I said (with a straight face). “No, you’ll be a dad.” He replied, “Then I’ll have a big gun and shoot things!”

---We were sitting down for a quick supper of Pizza Hut pizza and Caleb said “Hey, usually boughten pizza has macaroni on it!” Huh? After a minute I figured out he meant pepperoni.

---At the lunch table Logan was talking about pets, then commented, “I want to get a pet. I don’t want to have a baby anymore.”

---The boys were pretending that they were in a camper so I was asking what they have in their camper. “Do you have a fridge?” Logan answered, “Yes.” “Do you have a microwave?” “Yes.” “Do you have a stove, a bathroom?” “Yes, yes” Logan says, “We have everything what Jesus wants you to have!”

Slow Me Down, Lord!

The other morning Keith and I were praying and I was committing my day to the Lord. God showed me a picture of how as I walk with Him I tend to go full speed ahead. I’m very task and goal-oriented and I love to get stuff done. And in the process, I miss the most important things in life – mainly the hearts of people around me, especially my children. God showed me that His way of walking through life is to go at a leisurely pace and enjoy people and life. Keith and I were talking the other day about “seeking first the Kingdom of God” and what that means. I think for me right now it means to slow down and make my children a top priority in my life. To not be so focused on my to-do list but to take time to stop and play a game or listen to a story or read a story or take care of a squabble in a kind, patient way, and just enjoy who they are as little people. I don’t think its about always doing things slowly physically, or not trying to get any work done. It’s more about my frame of mind – not being frantic and worried and totally focused on tasks, but having my mind and heart at peace. At peace and always ready to put the needs of my children and other people ahead of what I want to do right now. So that’s the current lesson that God is teaching me. Slow down and enjoy!