Friday, October 31, 2008

Another last minute "Pull a costume out of nowhere" success

"Onward Christian Soldiers...ladeedadeda.."
Costume was a 3.00 find at goodwill, which was rather providential since he had decided prior to finding the costume that he wanted to be the armor of God. It was missing a shield and sword. We found a sword for another 2.00 at the toy store, and if I was a good mommy, I would have made hm a cardboard shield. But today was not good mommy day. Today was busy mommy day. I told him he lost his shield in battle.


Sweet Essie was insistent that she would be Rex. Rex is a dog. A stuffed dog. A stuffed Webkinz dog.
I paid 1.00 for the skull cap that I stapled construction paper floppy ears to. I'm just that kind of lazy mommy.



And Weston is a soldier too. Or maybe he is a hunter. He can't decide. Either way, he is pissed that he doesn't have a gun OR a bow and arrow.
FREE. I had to buy the face paint for the fall festival at church anyway. I guess I could have bought him a gun. Or made him one out of cardboard. But, I think we already covered that.

Happy Belated FALL!





Fall is Coming

At first it was sunnier
And brighter
And shinier
Bluer

And then it got chillier
And darker
Very much
Earlier

by: Marcus King September 2008 (age 7)

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

The quiet is like a roar inside my head



My house was full. FULL. My Granny and Papa came up from Arkansas and brought my Aunt Brenda along with them. Or maybe Aunt Brenda brought them. She drove. And despite "Tom Tom's" bad directions, they were able to pick up my cousin Leah along the way.

Add that to my sister and her four kids who along with my mom traveled down from Ohio. And my brother Seth and his wife Carrie came down from as well.

FULL. And noisy. My mother's family is the noisiest family on the planet. 4 millions decibels of utter chaos and craziness.
And love.

Now, it's quiet, and empty. And I am lonely.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Update on Dustan's grandfather:
He is still living, but at this time, is still not expected to pull through. The Hester family is a strong and vibrant family, they value your prayers.

And here is a little something to ponder as we gear up for another frantic holiday season.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers.

Dustan's grandfather is dying. Not likely to make it through the night.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Saturday Messes


One destroyed kitchen equals


Gluten Free Garbage Loaf (times three)
2 lbs ground beef
3 eggs (which I forgot with my first posting)
Mushrooms
Carrots
All the leftover onion pieces in the fridge plus one onion
the two almost empty katsup bottle plus part of another
Puffed Rice cereal
corn (which I also forgot with my first posting.)
Make into a loaf (or put in muffin stoneware) and bake at 350 until cooked all the way through. This is important because raw meatloaf is disgusting.

Crockpot Applesauce
Cut up a whole bunch of apples. Add a small amount of water. I used half of one of my small plastic cups (don't you LOVE my recipes?) Add some sugar. I was mad at Lindsey because she slept in. I wanted her to make the coffee because I am sick and wanted someone to pamper me, and so I used the rest of her coffee sugar. Muhahahhaa. Joke was on me. She didn't even know how to work the coffee maker. anyhow, I would say, 1/4-1/2 a cup will do you. Turn the crockpot on and cook it all day. Wait! Do NOT forget to add a dash of cinnamon.

Alton Brown's Hot Chocolate Mix (It's your lucky day- you get a real recipe!
Ingredients
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup cocoa (Dutch-process preferred)
2 1/2 cups powdered milk
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 pinch cayenne pepper, or more to taste
Hot water
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and incorporate evenly. In a small pot, heat 4 to 6 cups of water.

Fill your mug half full with the mixture and pour in hot water. Stir to combine. Seal the rest in an airtight container, keeps indefinitely in the pantry. This also works great with warm milk.

BTW- I was out of cornstarch and so I skipped it. I did NOT however skip the cayenne. Yehaw! THat was a spicy and surprising touch. Also, I used dark cocoa. Delicious. It beats out every other mix recipe I have ever used. Try it.

An explanation on my garbage loaf. It is not a brain o (like a typo- but instead of a typing mistake you make a brain mistake) Brain o's are fun. Once, I heard someone (ahem- I won't say who) say that she though pre-marital sex was a good idea. What she MEANT was, that she thought pre-marital counseling was a good idea. Hahaha
Anyhow. THis same person thought maybe my brain had fritzed and I said garbage loaf instead of meat loaf.

I call mine garbage loaf, because I toss in every leftover tidbit I find in the fridge. Stuff that if not used up, would get tossed. It was delicious by the way. I was worried about the the puffed rice cereal- but it worked wonderfully. My kids griped about the onions, but cheerfully ate an entire serving of other veggies without even knowing it.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Some people's trash

I admit it- I like garbage day. Free STUFF! And I love Stuff. I love FREE!!!! And I love keeping stuff out of landfills
Can you believe someone was just going to throw this chair away???? Were they crazy???? I could not believe my luck- I mean, it's in perfect condition- and so, for the first time ever, I actually knocked on the door (usually, I just toss my find in the truck and giggle giddily over finding a treasure before anyone else). The guy said it was being tossed, and he smiled that I would want it. "It's a nice chair", he said. No kidding.

My girlie blanket was an el cheapo find at the thrift store. I don't think I have ever found anything so wonderful before. It didn't have a price tag and I hauled it, lovingly, to the checkout counter, telling myself I would pay even 20.00 if I had to. But, I didn't. 4.00 and I had a whole new pack of woven friends.

My kids pored over it for hours before deciding that this one is me. What do you think?

And would it be crazy for me to pull this chair inside? I kinda love it and want to bounce in it while laptopping.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

"Mom, I have a lot of guilt."

That's what Marcus told me yesterday.
I bet you will never, ever, in a million years guess where his great burden of guilt came from.

Did he perhaps cut my apron strings?

Or maybe he broke into my hidden stash of dark chocolates and devoured them. (impossible, because that crime had already been committed by me.)

No. What he really did was to break into Esther's webkinz account and steal her really good stuff and sell everything else. He completely wiped out two of her rooms.

How do you deal with a child thief in cyber form? He is grounded from his own account. He has to play on her account until he earns her enough money to re-furnish both those rooms, and he has to send back the rare item he stole, plus an additional one.

I feel kind of bad for the guy. He committed his first crime and was so burdened by the guilt of it that he confessed before anyone even knew there was a problem. But, saying "I'm sorry" does not make restitution, and even though it seems like a silly thing to us adults, those little webkinz worlds are quite important to our children.

So, anyway. In case I was ever wondering if Marcus had an active conscience (and I was, I had a foster sister with Reactive Attachment Disorder) I need no longer to fret.
At dinner, he asked to pray.
"Dear God. Please heal my body (he is sick)
But most of all, I think I need you to heal my heart.
Amen"

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Camp Treats: Gluten Free Style

My bestest girlfriend ever felt bad since I had to forego smores and made this hobo pie. Let me tell you, this was out of this worl wonderful.
Just spread bread with peanut butter, add some squares of dark chocolate and put it in a pie iron. Since Tara made it for me I was able to avoid being burned. Actuall, I somehow avoided that for the entire trip.
Anyhow, after it came out, she spread it with cream cheese icing. As if it weren't already decadent enough.

I want another one. Right now.

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Nature is...ummm... interesting.





I find it humorous. Sue me.
More camping pictures to come.