Random Ramblings

In June G went to youth camp for a week. The campgrounds our denomination uses for Youth Camp are the same grounds used for Kid's Kamp, so he has visited these particular grounds many times and is very familiar with them. In fact, I am very familiar with them, having visited them several times during my teen years. The grounds are definitely not modern. The dorms are bare concrete floors, covered only by squeaky metal bunk beds with thin lumpy mattresses (probably dating to before my time at the camp), which are the bane of any light sleeper. The tabernacle is really just a kind of open-air pavilion. It has a slab, a stage, pews, and a roof with posts holding it up. And it is seriously hot. And sticky. (Oklahoma is not known for its mild summer weather.) The worst part though, if you ask the campers, is the showers. First, to get a warm shower, you have to get up before dawn, and even then you may not be guaranteed a hot shower since the hot water only lasts through about the first six or seven campers in each dorm. Also, the further the cabins get from the water source, the more the water merely trickles from the showerhead. Consequently, the boys’ cabins are the furthest. Makes sense, right? Unless of course you are a neat freak I-don't-like-to-be-dirty-more-than-10-seconds kind of boy. (Yes they do exist--I have TWO in my house.)

A few years ago, the church (by this I mean the denomination) bought a parcel of land on which to build new campgrounds. The new campgrounds are supposed to have all the modern amenities. Lots of space, air conditioning, and nice showers. Everyone is so excited about the future digs, including my family. Or so I thought until a few days ago.

G: "Mom, I don't know if I'm really going to like it when they build the new camp."

Me: "What? Why do you say that?"

G: "Well, it's just that camp won't be camp if the water is hot and you have water pressure."

Me: ?!!???

Isn't that just about right?

Stupid, Stupid Technology

I am SOOOOOOOO frustrated with my computer/internet/ own technological inadequacies! I keep having trouble getting my computer to sign on. I could not get online all week last week! Arg! I was lost. (Scary to realize how very much I depend on tech stuff....)

Luckily, I had to decorate a few cakes, make a few extra dinners for friends, and run several back-to-school related errands to keep myself busy and my mind off of my frustration. Hopefully my luck will hold out and I'll be able to sign on again tomorrow and upload the cool pics of the cakes. Until then...............

A Bit of Bullying

Last night and today I have been struggling with whether to post this or not. I decided to post it and at least get a little feedback. Maybe.

I'll preface this by saying that I know I have a tendency to be very introspective (a gift from the Puritans--despite their problems) and over-analytical. I overanalyze some things. Ok most things. Perhaps that is just what I'm doing now, or perhaps I didn't react properly to the situation. Here is what happened:

My 13 yo niece J is visiting for the summer. [She is one the most shy children I've ever known. She generally looks at the floor while she is speaking, and I often have to ask her to repeat herself because I can't hear what she says.] I put her on our neighborhood pool pass, so she could swim with my 12 and 13 yo children. We literally live across the street from the park/pool (I can stand on my front porch and see the kids playing), so the kids go to the pool almost every day.

Late last week I was at the park with my cousin and her daughter. J got out of the pool and walked toward my house by herself. I called her to me and asked her what was wrong, but I got the typical "nothing" that a 13 yo gives. I thought maybe she was just tired and shrugged it off. But it happened again. And again. Finally, Tuesday, I asked my 12 yo daughter C what was wrong with J. She told me that some girls at the pool began picking on her and threatened to beat her up. C said that it had escalated to the point that J did not want to swim at all, and C was now being threatened. I asked C if they had brought it to the attention of the lifeguards, and C told me that the lifeguards knew it was happening. Several of the lifeguards are friends with the girls and they laugh when the girls threaten my children. I was very, Very angry. Later that day, all the kids went to the park to play. After a short time, they all came back in the house because the girls and a few of their friends had gotten out of the pool, gone to the park, and threatened them. That was it for me. I was hopping mad. You just don't mess with Mama Bear's cubs!

Anyone who knows me knows that there are two things I can't stand--pedophiles and bullies. People who hurt those who cannot protect themselves do not give me warm fuzzies. I thought and thought about what to do. What I really wanted to do was go out there and give those girls a good spanking, but I restrained myself, as it was probably not the wisest thing to do.

Wednesday, I decided to go to the pool with the kids. The younger ones wanted to go anyway, and I knew this situation had to be dealt with. Obviously the girls steered clear of my children while I was there. When it was time to go, I sent the kids on while I stopped in the clubhouse and asked to speak to the manager. The manager (as is usually the case) was not there, so I decided to speak to lifeguard. I waited until other people had dispersed and told her:

"I don't want to embarrass anyone, but this situation needs to be dealt with. My niece is visiting for the summer, and I put her on our pool pass. I paid for my pass just as everyone else has, and now my children, especially my niece, feel like they can't even come to the pool. I did not pay for my children to be harassed and threatened when they come to swim. If the behavior continues, I will have no choice but to press charges against anyone involved."

The lifeguard said, "I understand" about 500 times. When I was finished, she said that she would make the other lifeguards aware of it, and it would not happen again. It hasn't. The kids have been swimming every day since, and they have had not 1 ounce of trouble.

But I feel a bit bad. I didn't want to threaten anyone. That actually was not my intent. I really wanted them to know that I felt pressing charges or getting a restraining order was the only option they would be leaving me, if the threats and harassment did not stop. The behavior has stopped, but punching someone in the face might stop behavior too--that doesn't make it the right thing to do. Did I do the right thing? Or should I have done something else?

The Hunt

I'm a girl who likes a REALLY GOOD bargain. And (I think maybe even more) I REALLY enjoy the hunt for the bargain. I enjoy searching through the paper, online, etc. I search the clearance isles at the stores, I wander through the clearance warehouses, I shop at thrift stores on half price days, and I regularly check the "free" postings on sites like Craig's List. I don't want to find just a good deal--I want to find the BEST deal. I do it for groceries, clothes, furniture. And I have to admit; one of my favorite "hunts" is for school supplies.

They sell prepackaged supplies at my daughter's elementary school for a "bargain." I'm just not sure whose idea of a bargain it is--certainly not mine! Instead of settling for the prepacked stuff or spending an insane amount of money, I hunt. And I love it.

I will say I have a few rules that I go by in my bargain hunt. The first and most important one is: I never go out of my way to get the deal. It just doesn't make sense to burn really expensive fuel to save a few bucks. In the end, I would not be saving anything. (I'm sure this is a rule most frugal hunters abide by, but I thought I'd just make sure everyone knows I that I have enough common sense to realize wasting gasoline is a bad idea.) Instead, I combine errands. I usually think about the places I have to drive throughout the week, and I make a plan to stop at the sale places on the way. Another thing I do is price match at Wal-Mart. They will honor a competitor's add if you present the add. (I did that today.)

The difference in school supply shopping and other kinds of deal shopping is you have only a very short time to find all the deals and get all of the things you need before school starts. The pressure mounts.

I must tell you, the more time ticks away, the more I have to purchase, the more excited I get. I love the challenge! (I think it's also that I love to sort of "stick it" to the establishment--and getting a good deal is not the only example of this.) My excitement has been building all week! I printed my children's lists from their school websites, and, after grumbling about how ridiculous some of the required supplies were (a game I play with myself every year), I began my hunt. Prowling through the adds while comparing them to the lists, I made my plan. Then, I executed the plan. Each child now has half or more of the things on his/her supply list. Here are the results so far:

(FYI: For school supplies, I check the weekly adds on Sunday and then the circulars on Tuesday.)


3 standard/metric rulers $.01/each
20 pocket folders w/brads $.01/each
4 composition books $.25/each
2 plastic folders w/brads $.20/each
5 pkgs college ruled paper $.15/each
5 pkgs wide ruled paper $.15/each
2 boxes 24 crayons $.20/each
2 bottles glue $.20/each
6 2-packs glue sticks $.20/each
11 college ruled spirals $.10/each
8 wide ruled spirals $.10/each
1 plastic school box $.99/ each (OK not my best)

Grand total (w/tax of course): $8.83

Not too bad Jolene!

Busy, Busy Summer

Well it's Monday and right back into the swing of things. I went to the gym, Office Depot, and Food Pyramid. Then it was back home start some laundry, make the kids lunch, and into the shower. We have dance @ 3:00 across town, and by the time we're home again, it will be dinnertime. Tomorrow's forecast--busier. With dance 3 days a week (for 2 girls the total minimum time is 2 hrs. on Mondays, maximum time is 5 hrs. on Tuesday, with Thursday a close 2nd @ 4 1/2 hrs.), my last few days of work (yea!), school supply shopping (School starts August 11! Rrrrrrrr! Don't get me started!), it seems that there is barely time to breathe. What ever happened to the "lazy days of summer?"

Oh well! Really I don't have anything to complain about. We are all healthy and happy. My tomato plants are beautiful and ripening. The sun rises and sets. God is still up there.

Hope your summer is as wonderful!


Deal of the week: 20 pocket folders with brads, 3 rulers= $0.25

Ode to laundry

O laundry mound,
O laundry mound,
I see that you are growing.
O laundry mound,
O laundry mound,
How sad that you are growing.
Twas just an hour,
My loads complete,
And now I see,
Piles at my feet!
O laundry mound,
O laundry mound'
When e'er will you stop growing?

Golden is an understatement

Ah..... Saturday. I'm so glad you're here.

I left my sleeping family around 8:00 this morning, and so far I've been to a convenience store, 2 grocery stores, home again to put the groceries away and pick up a pile of well-read paperbacks, another grocery store, and my favorite used bookshop. And now I'm sitting at my computer in virtual silence. The quiet hum of the air conditioner and my click-clicking on the keyboard are the only sounds to be heard. Well, except for the occasional squeak from Cosette (my dachshund) begging me to throw her toy. I love it.

Upon returning home from vacation, I've been inundated with calls and visits from loving, well-intentioned family and friends, who missed me, and whom I also missed. But sometimes, I just need the quiet. Yesterday I began to feel a bit resentful that these people I love would just not leave me alone. I had a chat with myself and set myself straight, and I quickly changed my attitude. But I am appreciative of the silence. The alone. Sometimes I just need that.

But now my children are awake and asking many questions, and someone is on the phone for me. Ah well..... it was nice while it lasted. I will desperately seek out another opportunity for silence, and in the meantime, appreciate that I am loved.

By popular demand.............

Cinnamon Toast Cake

Mix:
2 C flour
1 C sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 C milk

Melt 1 stick of butter. Add 2 T of the melted butter & 1 tsp vanilla. Beat well. Grease or spray Pam into a jelly roll or 9x13 pan. Pour batter in. (Batter is very thick and will probably need some help leveling. I slide my pan quickly back and forth on the counter. Then I smack the bottom of the pan on the counter. Repeat both until it is spread out and fairly level.) Bake @ 350 for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown around edges and some on top.

While cake is baking, combine 1/2 C sugar & 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon. After cake is finished baking, while it is still warm, pour melted butter over the top of the cake. Spinkle cinnamon/sugar mixture over the top. Return to oven and bake and 5-7 minutes.

Note: I find that if I let the cake cook until it is browning on the edges and top, it is too done (for my taste) after I bake it the second time. It seems to work better if I pull it out of the oven just as the edges are starting to brown.

I'm Back

So here I go again. I'm back on the blog wagon. Willingly. Although, I was threatened with my very life if I didn't blog again. 'Sall I'm sayin'.

Here goes.

So we're back from vacation. It was great! We traveled with my aunt and uncle to south Texas to visit my cousin (their son) Randal, his wife Brandi, and their children, Chorel and Aspen. They were wonderful, gracious hosts, and I am truly grateful that they opened their home and allowed us to disrupt their lives for a time. Randal works for NASA, and he arranged a tour for just our family. It was incredible! (Tobey's favorite part) We saw the old Mission Control room (It looks exactly like the one in Apollo 13), the current Mission Control room (we didn't actually get to go inside that part--had to look through the giant glass window. We saw the astronauts floating inside the International Space Station on a giant screen in Mission Control. Super Cool!!!), a room they use for practice runs, a life sized Saturn rocket (OMG it is enormous!), and a full scale ISS that they use for practice (again super huge). We were thoroughly impressed.

Since they live so close to the ocean, of course we had to visit the beach. We had a fabulous time! We splashed, wave dived, built sand castles and smashed them down again, picked up shells and hermit crabs, fished, and looked for sharks teeth until sun crisped, covered in sand, and pickled from the salt, we went back to Randal’s house.

Their house is set on about 3 acres, and Randal has been experimenting to turn it into Green Acres. He has chickens and turkey. They are still young and very cute. The kids chased them around some to catch them then spent most of their time holding the turkeys like they were infants. The turkeys seemed content enough to be held, so what do you do? He had lambs, but they ran away just before we arrived. (Hmm.....ESP?) We shot all kinds of pretty and loud, and pretty darn loud fireworks on Independence Day, and just had a fun time in general. Several other members of our extended family joined us on the 4th and stayed until Saturday. It was loud, busy, packed with people...just like old times! I felt a bit like I was a child again.

We left on Sunday and traveled to the Dallas/Fort Worth area to visit my sister-from-another-mutha, Mandi and her sweet famille. More fun, fun, fun (discounting all threats made to my very person)! Once all the formalities were out of the way, it was time for some serious game playing, because after all the smack talkin'-- it was on!!! We played games (Nertz mostly) until the toothpicks would no longer hold our eyes open. Monday, it was pretty much the same thing, except we squeezed face stuffing into the schedule.

All kidding aside, going to see my dear friend is always like going home. We pick up like we were together a couple of days ago. Upon entering their house, I think it took all of 3 seconds before Tobey's mood piqued and he started laughing and cracking jokes. The kids were so happy to see each other we barely heard a peep out of them the entire time we were there. Yes Virginia, there are miracles.

Wednesday we drove home, and I pretty much fell into an exhausted heap. Vacation is great, but there's nothing like coming home.