Simple Woman's Daybook, July 14th

This simply lovely idea originated at Peggy's place The Simple Woman. Run over there to catch up on everyone's Monday morning thoughts!

Outside my Window... Still, warm, and sunny. Looks like it's going to be a scorcher.

I am thinking... It's going to be a long week with my girls (except our youngest daughter, Anna) away at Camp.

From the kitchen... We have a new refrigerator! It's so lovely, we all pet it when we pass by...

I am creating... New walls are still going up in our living room this week, though I'm just a bystander to the real work being done. I do get to be the deciding vote on choosing paint colors today from the paint chips we picked up on Saturday.

I am going... Grocery shopping to fill up my new fridge (We lost almost all our food when the other one went belly up last week).

I am wearing... A tree-frog-green gypsy skirt and white tee with green and pink flipflops.

I am reading... Not much right now, with our house all heels over bloomers. Sneaking in a little Fr. Brown from the GKC Omnibus when I need a break...

I am hoping... Our little Cathy has a good time on her first trip to Catholic Girls' Camp, and doesn't suffer homesickness. She does have her sisters, Michelle and Theresa, and she knows many of the Sisters who run the camp, and Cathy is a pretty stalwart little soul, too. But she's a bit of a homebody and only seven... (I'm sure she's fine...)

I am hearing... Dumbo in the background and Gabriel complaining that William is "purposely trying to annoy me. And I'm not even looking at him."

Around the house... The sheetrocking in the living room is at a temporary standstill while we wait for an electrician to show up (hopefully today!) to fix the wiring to the overhead light.

One of my favorite things... Four-wheeling with my husband in the beautiful San Juans, with a picnic in the back seat and a camera in my hand. (Can't wait 'til the 24th to get to do this!)

Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... No plans except to facilitate getting my living room finished and my house put back together.

Here is a picture thought I'm sharing with you...

Anna feeding our two new mini-Nubian kids, Latte and Mocha. Their whole names are Mocha Secunda and Latte Rufina to honor the saints of the day on which we got them. These two will be pets, not milkers. We're trying them out with the girls to test their responsibility and resolve before rehousing the barn with a dairy goat ~ or maybe a cow. The little girls barely remember our dairy operation from before our Western Slope move, so we thought it best to bring everyone slowly up to speed ~ and so far, everyone's enjoying the novelty. We'll see how it goes when it becomes just a chore!

Over the woods and through the river...

Looking for Paul in the Newest Round of OCS Photos

(Paul's girl, Nicole, and I like to keep an eye out for Paul-sightings in the USMC website ~ but, as familiar as his face is to us, it's tough spotting him!)

Could he be in this group of little ~ or, well, more like BIG ~ green men?

Or, well, hmm... Could this be him? (Over the woods...)

How about one of these guys? (Still climbing...)Theoretically, either one of these two could be Paul. (Still heading up...)
Or one of these two? (Almost to the top...)
Or how about this one? (Midair!)

Maybe this is Paul. (Splashing down...)

Or one of these guys? (Through the river...)

This might be him... (Got deep all of a sudden, didn't it?)

That nose kinda looks like Paul's. And he seems to be giving us a sign...

Could this be him?

There's just no tellin'. We're not sure about any of them, but this guy. We know he's not Paul. But we think we've found Waldo... (He can't wear his red and white hat while in uniform, of course.)

Three more weeks until we get Paul back home and can hear the first-hand accounts of Officer Candidate School. This program is reported to be one of the toughest leadership programs in the world and it sounds like our boy is doing very well so far. No surprise to us. If there was ever a born leader, its Paul. He's been in training since day one. (If you don't believe it, just ask all his little brothers and sisters!)

Elfin Coincidence

Waiting to be seen in our Chiropractor's office yesterday, each of us with a book in our hand: Dominic ~ one of the Star Wars series, Michelle ~ a Mary Roberts Reinhart, me ~ the Chesterton Omnibus. I read this line from GKC out loud to the children: "In short, there is in life an element of elfin coincidence which people reckoning on the prosaic may perpetually miss. As it has been well expressed in the paradox of Poe, wisdom should reckon on the unforeseen."

Less than ten minutes later, Jon called from home to tell me that the refrigerator had stopped working.

Unforseen?

Elfin.

Every Day is a Nature Study

Zoology 101: Backyard Toads

Baby Western Toad.Grampa Great Plains Toad.

(These guys don't look like they're common here in Colorado; nevertheless, the one we found is a dead ringer...)
Up close and personal...

Beautiful Planet Earth

Isn't God good to us?

What's going on at our house:

Put on your hardhats and join me on a little tour?

Before: The walls of our central room (sometimes used as a living room, sometimes used as a dining room) were covered in cheap old paneling, originally dinge-grey, painted white, topped with a cutting-edge-in -1970 acoustic tile ceiling. Ick. (That's Frodo, the mouse's, tank in the fireplace, in case you wondered, not a tv...)
Off comes the paneling. Check out the wallpaper...Craftsman from the nineteen-teens, or 1940s tropical? What do you think?

Down comes the acoustic tile - just the first layer of the ceiling(s) to be removed. Check out the wallpaper behind Jon there. It's incredibly thick...... like vinyl, and backed with some kind of tar paper. We think it must be pretty early. I actually like the little graphic flower designs (above). That hole with insulation coming out of it used to connect to passive solar. Unfortunately, that system no longer exists, so we're covering up the holes.

Down comes the last layer of ceiling (above). These were very old tiles, with a pattern smudged on it (below), as if there were once a pressed tin ceiling here. Doggone whoever took it down!

Cleaning up and hauling out the debris was not nearly a much fun as pulling it all down. "I've got a rainbow (Huh!), a rainbow 'round my shoulder (huh!)..."

Michelle taking a rest. "Hard work lugging that camera around, Mom?"

The little ones snuggled up on the couch in the kitchen hard at work watching Jimmy Neutron.

The walls and ceiling are down to studs (or something) at this point, and it's time to start rebuilding:

First the Ceiling. This contraption (above) is the jack that holds up the sheetrock while the kids drill in a bazillion screws to hold it up securely.

Here's a closer look at how the jack works. It's true that half the job is having the right tools. In this case, I think it may be more than half the job!

Some trimming and fine tuning going on here. Jon is our detail man, and all around foreman on this job, as Dad's not home enough to take charge. And, well, actually, he's found he doesn't need to. Jon and Dominic have things well in hand on their own. It's a wonderful thing having grown-up boys (young men!) around the house.

Michelle cleaning out the debris from behind the fireplace. The trickiest part of the whole project is going to be fitting the sheetrock around here.

Dominic countersinking screws in the new walls as they go up. Tedious, but necessary. (Note the chair he's sitting on that they broke using as a stepstool... =sigh=)

Dad working on the electrical.

The one completely finished wall thus far. Well, um, I mean, "finished" but not finished.

And our dining room/living room for the time being. Don't my couches look like they're patiently waiting for this to be over so they can get back to where they belong? You can almost feel their resignation. Mine, too.

This, too, shall pass... And my living room will be so nice when it's finished!

I'll keep you posted as we make progress.

Hip Chick-adee 5-year-old Hairstylin'

Anna woke up with a vision for a "do" today. She asked me to part her hair and hand her the ponytail holders. I did the top two, and she finished up.

Think she has a future in the beauty industry?

(Love ya, Annabanana!)

Cricket Thermometer

So, I put my leg in my jammie pants last night and a cricket popped out the leg hole! Yikes! It certainly startled me, but, you know, it didn't give me near the willies that it would have if it'd been a spider. My immediate thought was more like: "That's where you were, you little stinker!" We'd been hearing him all day!

Funny thing that crickets, unlike most bugs, are greeted in many homes with more a welcome than the bottom of a shoe. In Chinese, Native American, and even Irish folk lore, crickets are said to bring good luck. I understand that. While I sure don't want one sharing my pajamas, I've always liked the sound of them. Cricket song sounds like the country, like warm summer nights, like peace and contentment and home. All that from a bug!

But, that's not all; look what else I found out. Not only can we enjoy the crickets' serenade musically, we can use it scientifically! We just found out how to use the little guys as thermometers.

Here's what you do:

For the approximate fahrenheit temperature,

Count the number of chirps

in 14 seconds and add 40.

It seems that, since these guys are cold-blooded, their bodies are close to air temperature. As air temperatures warms, so does their body temperature, their activity, and thus, their rate of chirping. Fascinating, huh? And a fun front porch activity for a summer's evening!

To hear some cricket songs, head over here, and then over here for a really cool cricket study to share with the kids.

And for a whole world of amazing tips and ideas, head over to Shannon's for Works for me Wednesday!

(I couldn't post a picture of Jiminy Cricket without including his signature tune.)

Remember Dagwood and Blondie?

Skip Young created the Blondie comic strip in 1930, around the character of a beautiful flighty blonde flapper, playing the field with a number of suiters. Dagwood was a rich, slightly goofy playboy, one of many names on Blondie's dance card. But in 1933, a match was made in comic book heaven when the two tied the knot.

It was a funny papers struggle for Dagwood and Blondie from the beginning. Dagwood's tycoon father had disinherited him. (Imagine anyone thinking Blondie was a golddigger!) It was a tough break for the young cartoon couple, but a stroke of genius by Skip Young. The Great Depression was in full swing at that time, and struggling Americans could identify with Dagwood and Blondie's hard times. And we still relate to them, good times and tough times. It's just easy to identify with their day-to-dayness. Blondie and Dagwood's love match has endured for 75 years now! They began as the quintessential couple of the thirties, but have survived to be just the quintessential couple, period.

How much do you think we have changed our expectations and responsibilities as husbands and wives from the thirties to today? There's a quiz out there to see how we'd do compared to values, habits, and culture of 75 years ago.
Here's how I scored:
(Just call me Blondie)

102 As a 1930s wife, I am Very Superior Take the test!

Here's how my wonderful, 1930's-style hubby rated:

(He's too sensible to be called Dagwood)

144 As a 1930s husband, I am Very Superior Take the test!

(I filled in his test for him, with perfectly honest answers (Of course!) ~ as he was busy dutifully hanging sheetrock this evening.)

H/T: Ann at A.R.T. Servant

Simple Woman's Daybook, July 7th

This simply lovely idea originated at Peggy's place The Simple Woman. Run over there to catch up on everyone's Monday morning thoughts!

Outside my Window... Cloudy, hazy, and cool, the air smells like rain. A rare and wonderful summer morning for Colorado. Clouds and rain are unusual to wake up to!

I am thinking... I need to get the little boys outside today, as they're already running around like cowboys and Indians and it isn't even 9:00 yet. (At least it's nice and cool for them!)

From the kitchen... I got a package of spinach and asiago chicken sausage links that I'm debating how to prepare for dinner tonight...

I am creating... A packet of letters and silliness to mail off to our oldest son, Paul, who is at Officer Candidate School in Virginia, waiting expectantly at mail call every afternoon for his name to be called.

I am going... to my favorite place in the world, Ouray, CO, at the end of this month to go 4-wheeling with my my favorite person in the world, my husband. Then, off to Virginia the first week of August to attend Paul's graduation from OCS. Working on the planning of both of those trips, as well as getting the girls ready to head off to Catholic Girls' Camp next week!

I am wearing... denim clamdiggers, a tan tee with swirly designs and seedbeads, tan sandals (and this humidity has fluffed my hair up like a dandelion gone to seed today!)...

I am reading... the history of my maiden name family online (Very Cool!).

I am hoping... we get some decent rain today. Our high prairies are dry as a bone right now and need all they can get!

I am hearing... Foofoo dog, Brigid's toenails tiptapping across the dining room floor, the Little's chattering about bagels in the kitchen...

Around the house... Jon (17) and Dominic (14) are getting ready to pull the walls and ceiling down in our living room and re-sheetrock them. Stay tuned... It should be interesting.

One of my favorite things... a good cup of coffee in the morning and a few minutes to myself before the children get up.

Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... Besides the utter destruction of the room that is the heart of our house... Chiropractor appointments, foofoo dog grooming appointment, dentist appointments, and helping my sister move into her new house on Wednesday. Not much going on here... (ack,ack)

Here is a picture thought (or two) I'm sharing with you...

Remember being a kid and doing this? Do you remember that "roller coaster" feeling you'd get in your stomach when you got good and high and came wooshing back down? Do you remember how your hair would fly up behind you? Do you remember getting up the courage to jump off? It was the bravest thing I remember doing as a seven-year old.

Here are Cathy and Michelle having a good swing.

All in a kid's day's work.

Have you heard of the NumaNuma song?

A little chocolate ice cream inspired this rendition of the tune...

(Yeah, just a little sugar rush going on here...)

*Click on the title of this post if you haven't heard the Numa Numa Song. You don't know what you've been missing!

Greetings from Quantico

Officer Candidate Paul says to tell everyone "Hi!"

Here's a funny one

H/T: Darcee, by way of Sara

God Bless America!

Immaculate Queen, Patroness of Our Country, Pray for US!

Prayer to Our Lady of America

Prayer for the Nation

Almighty God, You have given us this good land for our heritage. We humbly ask You that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of Your favor and glad to do Your will. Bless our land with honorable endeavor, sound learning and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion, from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties and fashion into one united people the multitude brought here out of many nations and tongues. Endow with the Spirit of wisdom those to whom in Your Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that through obedience to Your law we may show forth Your praise among the nations on earth. In time of prosperity fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble do not allow our trust in You to fail. Amen.

~~ by Thomas Jefferson, taken from "Prayers for Today," published by Leaflet Missal Co

H/T Two Hearts Network.org

Five Ingredients or Less

This is a Family Favorite:

Mexican Cornbread:

2 boxes or two 12-muffin recipes of corn muffin mix

(Krusteaze is our favorite)

2 lbs ground beef

2 cups salsa of your choice

1 cup shredded cheese (cheddar, jack, whatever you like best)

* optional 1 can corn , 1 small can jalapenos

Preheat oven to 350.

Brown the ground beef. (You can spice this up, if you like.) Drain, add the salsa, and set aside. Follow the directions on your muffin mix, while your beef is browning; let set for a few minutes for a brief "rising" before beating down. (You can add a can of drained corn to the muffin mix before rising, if you like.)

Spread half of the muffin mix onto the bottom of a jelly roll baking pan (8"x12" or so). Crumble all the ground beef on top of the muffin mix. Add the jalapenos, if desired. Sprinkle with the shredded cheese. Pour the remainder of the muffin mix on top of the cheese and smooth out.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until cornbread is done in the middle.

Our kids like this with extra salsa and sour cream.

* For fewer growling tummies than we have at our house, halve this recipe.

To totally fill your recipe file with Five-Ingredient Recipes (and some of these are really, really awesome looking!) run over to Shannon's today!