Skating

Do you remember going skating back in the day? We played limbo and red light, green light, and had one leg more sore than the other from going one way all night long. And there was always that one kid that went super duper fast and the other guy who would go forward and switch backward and forward all smooth like. Well I am here to tell you, the tradition lives on. Even the old guy who was way too cool.

Tonight we took the kidos to the skating rink to celebrate this months birthdays. Oh what fun they had! There was a nice turn out of friends from the ages of 4 to 20ish. There were first timers and old pros. There were tons and tons laughing and giggling. And surprisingly, very few falls! Thanks to everyone who came and made this a night to remember for my team.

Ethnic Fest

We went to the Ethnic Festival in town yesterday. Started out okay, we were there when it started. We walked around the the circle of booths and weren't to surprised to see all the liberal booths, Democrat booth, Planned Parenthood, and the like. It was held down town. There were the same ol' booths with all the hippie clothes and food booths with "ethnic" fast food. There were a few good presentations. We liked the Kabuki dancers and the Taiko drums. But the rest seemed pretty average. My super conservative son turned 5 shades of purple when the bellydancers came out and insisted we go and get food instead of watching. It was funny. The fact that most of the women dancing were shaped like me...that was funny too. Nothing against them, I think it was kinda cool, but when I think of belly dancers, I usually have images from the old black and white movies.

It all was ruined when a man came out and did a poem, rap thing that blamed the old white people for "pushing us out of our neighborhood" that "we run back to" "where our mom's and grandma's cried at". Please. I really do have an issue with victim mentality. The reasons they were "pushed out" was because they let the neighborhood fall apart. Men dropped babies like Johnny Appleseed and left them for those women. Crime was rampant. The houses and yards weren't taken care of. No wonder the landlords got rid of the properties as fast as they could in that last housing boom. Now it is becoming a beautiful neighborhood again. In no time, I bet it will rival its old time grandeur when it was the heart of the city.

This mentality was what ruined this festival for me. Yes, we are all created equal in God's eyes. That I believe. What you do with your potential is what separates you from others. You don't deserve what others have unless you do what they did. You are not entitled to a lifestyle that someone else earned. In this great country, there is still prejudice. Coming from and being a multi-racial family, I recognize and acknowledge and have experienced that. But nowhere else in the world are you more able to overcome that than in the U.S.A. Stand up, be strong, believe in God's word and push. During the speeches in between some of the acts, what we heard was that it is all someone elses fault and that the government is going to change all that.

Oh well, at least the corn was good. And the weather was great.

Whovians

My house is full of Whovians. What is that, you might ask. A Whovian is someone who loves the Doctor Who television series from the BBC. Some of mine have knowledge of all things Who and some mainly have knowledge of the new current Doctors. I heard someone say that the first Doctor you watch is "your" Doctor. That would make mine Tom Baker who played Doctor Who in the seventies. I must admit that I wasn't a die hard fan (don't tell my kids). I watched occasionally when they were on late night PBS when I was babysitting. Campy, cheap special effects, but for me they weren't as predictable as all the half hour sitcoms that were on tv at the time.

My oldest introduced my family to the new Doctor. The BBC brought the show back five years ago. He had been watching at his mom's on the Sci-fi channel. We found it at the library and my children fell in love. This was a smart, exciting show when everything that we had seen on tv was "reality" tv based. There were no sex scenes, no half naked women, no swearing, no gore, just fun. And the plots were interesting. The stories were compelling. No wonder they enjoyed it. It has been the fodder of many of the kido's imaginary games. In fact all of them prefer to use their Doctor Who game names..

Now we get all the Doctor Who stuff we can at the library. My son likes to watch the "making of" parts of the dvds. As a would be movie maker, he enjoys seeing how to make effects on low budget and how they used lighting and sound and camera angles to create mood and atmosphere. We are currently waiting for the latest season to come out on dvd. This season the introduces a new Doctor and the children are skeptical. I guess, like for me, the will judge all other Doctor's against their own Doctor.

Little Bits Birthday

My daughter is having a birthday today and I was thinking about her birth story. Of all the birth stories, hers is the least eventful. Since I was having a vbac again, we scheduled her birth. We picked the day and showed up and did the whole inducing thing. When she came out, I remember saying that she looked just like my mother. She still does. She came home in a day and the screaming began. She didn't have colic, she just screamed all the time. I was the only one she would have anything to do with. From the get go she only wanted me. This was hard with a three and just turned two year old, let alone the 2 older kids. Not even her big brother could handle her and he was a great babysitter. For the next four years all she did was scream. She wasn't spoiled, she was anxious. There was always a hint of fear in her eyes when she wasn't in my arms. She screamed so much that she scarred her vocal chords and sounded like an old man who smoke cigars for too long. She sorta out grew the screaming, but not the anxiety. She was so brave. For years she tried to overcome her fears. It broke my heart to watch her struggle.

One day when she was 6, I read a post from a friend who took her child off of wheat because of similar issues. And it worked. So I thought, what can it hurt? So I took her and one of her sisters off of all wheat products. That is not as easy as it sounds. It is amazing the places you find wheat products. I kept her off for three weeks and the change was amazing. Her hand tremors went away, the ones the doctor said not to worry about, it was just immature nervous system. The dark circles under her eyes went away. She always had them, it never occurred to me that they weren't supposed to be there. We had dealt with constipation problems since toddler hood. Haven't had them since.

It made no difference in her sister, but it changed my little bit's life. so much so that she won't knowingly have anything with wheat in it. We tried doing just a little, but she noticed the anxiety level right away. It makes her act little manic. It takes three days for just a bite of wheat to get out of her system. It makes life a little more complicated, but we have gotten pretty good at sniffing out the hidden wheat products like malt coloring which pretty much rules out all cereal. Her brother is off of wheat now too. He has different symptoms, but the difference is just as dramatic. He has a harder time saying no to wheat and actually gets sad about not having it, but not my daughter. For her it is just not worth it.

I am Blessed

Sweet flowers from my sweet little cousin

Today we got to go see a ROTC graduation. These young soldiers who completed the Warrior's Forge were definitely awe inspiring. It sure seems a long time ago that I was that young and idealistic. It made me feel proud to be surrounded not only by our soldiers, but by their families that also give up so much. It felt comfortable in many ways to be on post again. The buildings were all so familiar. But as proud as I felt about the military tradition, I'm not always as optimistic about the political agendas that these brave men and women are directed by. This young man we were there to see, my sweetheart has known since he was two. Now he stands almost a foot and a half taller than him. I pray that God keeps him safe as he serves to keep me safe.
When I graduated from high school I finally got to spend time with my family down in CA. These are my dad's people and I fell in love with them. I was able to live with and among them for about 3 years. It was during that time that I came to be a person on my own, deciding who I wanted to be. Then I moved and finished school and then got married and started my own family. Thanks to Facebook, I have been able to reconnect with my cousins and feel close to them even though they are far from me. It is fun to see them interacting with their own families now that we are all grown.
This week, one of these cousins came up with her family and I really enjoyed having them visit. Our kids hit it off almost from the get go and I felt so comfortable with my cousin. I will admit that I was a bit nervous. It has been years since I visited with her. And because we as a family find ourselves so different from most, I wasn't sure what to expect. But it was fantastic. We had so much in common and even our sweethearts were best buds. I sometimes wish I was a little closer so I could develop relationships more. But I'm also glad that I don't have to deal with the drama and obligations that come with being so near.
During our conversations, I also was reminded how grateful I am to have a congregation that is a community. How wonderful it is to have a group of people who support us and help us to keep Torah and challenge us to keep studying God's word and always seek His will. Sometimes when we get to mired down by the relationship stuff, I forget that.
As I look back at this past week, I am blessed.

summer so far

So summer has been kinda slow lately. No super big adventure days, but there are some in the works. Like I really, really want to go to the Boehms Candy factory. A LOT. And I found a state park that looks like fun. And we are almost out of Emu oil which could mean a trip to Almost Canandaland to see friends and visit another little shop that looks like fun in Everett.
We attempted the solar oven thing again on that super hot day. Still no luck. I think we will try again with something other than bread. The pan was too hot to hold without a pot holder so it works to some extent. But not with bread.











The garden is a bust this year. It started out so promising with all our little starters growing so strong. All that is left is peas and carrots and one zucchini plant that still looks like a dwarf. Our tomatoes drowned and some had that cut worm thing chomp the main stem. So it looks like we will be buying whatever we need. Bummer. But here is a little fun with peas we got out of our garden.




















We also found a good deal on grapes and froze about 10lbs of those.

I got a case of tomatoes. I made goulash from them and so the empty shelves don't look so bare. I'm still waiting for my little stand to get in more than cherries. We froze some of those for snacking too, though.
Took the fam to the Tumwater park and had some fun there.

We drove around Olympia and found some more houses with views that are amazing.

Randomness

Happy days are ahead for us! We celebrate a couple of birthdays this month and anniversary so we have lots ahead of us. And one of my cousins is going to visit! And we get to go to a great conference! And it all starts today!

We are going up to Westlake Center in Seattle to see the Nutrilite Bus and then if there is time a quick trip to the Great Gum Wall, dinner at a great Mediterranean restaurant and then the Sci Fi Museum.

Waiting for someone to die is kinda morbid. But that is what I am doing. A dear lady from church is in her last days after suffering for a couple of years now from colon cancer. She has defied the doctors predictions and survived for longer than anyone expected, but the inevitable is here and so we wait to hear that she is gone.

Wattless Wednesday went remarkably well, no flaming turkeys anyways. We took advantage of the mostly sunny day and cleared out the back shed. It looks amazing with all the yard equipment stacked and shelved and organized. The kids keep opening the door and saying "Wow, we did a great job!"

We found a great gluten-free, sugar free, egg free, dairy free cake yesterday too. I must say I was a little leery because it cost $30! But I figured there were going to be lots of yummy goodnesses all over this weekend that my two kido's weren't going to be able to partake in and I really wanted them to have something special. Boy is it good! Who would of thought that a "free" everything cake would taste sooo good! The lady who made it is called Granny Lala @ grannylala.com. I highly recommend her yummy goodnesses!

I hate laundry!