give a man a fish....teach a man to fish..

So.... A man saw a beggar and decided to give him one of the fish out of his creel as he had enough to feed his own family for that day. The beggar was happy and thanked him again and again. The next day, the man saw the same beggar in the same place waiting for him and for another fish. So the man took the beggar down to the river and showed him the fine arts of fishing. After catching enough fish for the man and his family and for the beggar, the man took the beggar home and showed him how to cook the fish. The beggar looked as if he had tasted heaven's food itself. The beggar thanked the man and his family profusely and left. The man didn't see him for a long time. One day, the man and his wife went to a Five Star restaurant and had a wonderful meal. The man wanted to compliment the chef and was told the chef was already on his way out to meet him. The chef sat down and asked how was the fishing these days. The man was confused. He then looked closer and saw it was the beggar. The beggar went into how that meal at the man's home inspired him to show other's the wonderous display of taste buds to something made well and eaten. The beggar/chef went into how he went to school on government grants, graduated culinary school, started working for a uncle's friend at a local diner until he had enough altered recipes to break out on his own. He then fell into better luck as to his grandmother died and in her elation of her grandson "getting back on his feet" left him all her money. He took that money and bought this restaurant and now pays others to work for him and he sits back and watches the dough rake in. The man and his wife were happy for him and wished him well. When the bill came it showed the full amount. The man and his wife were taken aback but paid it anyway and left. The next month the man read in the newspaper that restaurant was closed and the chef was sentenced for filing false income tax returns. The chef was sentenced to 12 months and a day in prison. The chef also admitted that he underpaid employment taxes by $250,000. The man folded the newspaper and asked his son to finish all his chores so that he would earn his full allowance.

chapter one towards my mini grape arbor

I finally have twigs from a real-honest-to-goodness grape farmer/winery. Because of my selective hearing, I can't tell you the name. 4 twigs from my Mom on my baptism birthday. I think she's the only one who celebrates baptisms anymore... I think it's pretty cool.... and that I got grapes... you know the thing about "I am the vine, you are the branches..." a very humbling verse, but also very staggering in the fact you are very much connected to the King. Anyways... so as I'm planting the branch twigs, I found I only have two of them. I found them in the bushes by the deck two days later. They are in the ICU and hopefully if I nick them, they will be green and I will plant them. I still need to find an umbrella of sorts while they "get their legs" for about 2 weeks. They look like baby cows which were just dropped, very unstable and fragile. I've been crossing my fingers hoping for some growth or a show of green or buds or something. I'm a very impatient gardener, checking on my plants everyday... it also forces me to pounce on the weeds sucking up what my plants need. Now that I think of it... am I the same way with my kids? Jumping on every bully that comes their way? Yikes!!

Finally, sweet and BIG!!!

After 3 years of growing strawberries and watching them creep their way into neighboring plants, I have moved half of them under my pine trees. They are much happier. Even though they are not in a sunny place for half the day, the leaves are bigger. The fruits are slower producing so we will see which are sweeter. So far, I have picked a quart from my central garden and have won smiles from the kids.

Focus!!

I have forgotten events in my life and as the kids grow and form their own memories, I remember some of mine. Although I don't remember Track and Field Day as a kindergartener, I remember it as a welcome end to the school year. Kya asked when her last day would be. After she found out it was still 2 weeks away, she focused her sights on a vacation she and I would be taking in a month. I thought that to be very smart of her to do that. Focusing on a much needed vacation for herself after a long year of school. I am proud of my daughter. She is growing up but not too fast for me. It's just right. Am I slowing down to smell the flowers, finally?

time out

It's been so crazy... I hardly get time to sit down.. but at the end of the day, it has never felt so good to lay down in bed and know what you have accomplished during the day..... even if it's taking a nap.

Take my life....

My husband asks me what I want for Christmas, my birthday, what to do today, tomorrow. I ask myself what I want to do with my life. The thing is, I'm a simple person. I don't need expensive things. I was raised simply and it suits me still. However, now as a mother I sacrifice many things. My time, emotions, quiet time, hobbies - all for my family. I don't know what I want. But maybe, that's the point. Like a child learning what foods are good or what to see, where to go is all up to their parents who have the experience. There are endless possibilities and not enough time to do it. If it was up to the child, they would find the first thing they thought was great and stay with it. Take for example foods. If my children had the run of the menu, it would be McDonald's chicken nuggets and french fries and candy corn or sugar sticks and M&Ms with copious amounts of juice and soda. The outcome would be lethargy and death at a very early age. Older adults are like children. They like the good stuff and it's usually bad, which are called vices. I've been trying to learn what I want and have finally found it's not up to me what I want. It's what I need. And who better to know than my Creator. I need to think less and listen and read what He wants me to be and do more. "Now to HIM who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to HIS power that is at work within us, to HIM be glory in the church and in CHRIST JESUS - throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen" Eph. 3:20-21

yep, yep

I'm going to be turning 35 soon. Eeesh. I have just recently been using eye cream for those wonderful aging atributes. It has helped... I don't look so tired anymore and my eyes aren't so wrinkly. Or maybe it's that Cooper has gone to one feeding per night. The point is, I think at times, with horror, would insurance cover a tummy tuck and lipo? My husband constanly tells me I am the most beautiful thing in the world. Which I reply that he is biased. I see that this hurts him, that his opinion doesn't count. His opinion counts very much. He married me. And as much as I can deny it... he did marry me, somewhat, on my looks. I have other points on which he married me for, but face it. Men are visual animals. I look and act like I should to be with who I am with now. I have children because of who I married. I am beautiful to the ones who love me most and I am fine with that.

Nip/Tuck????

There was an artist who drew beautiful real-life portraits. People he thought of, dreamed of, created. They were all different showing various personalities. He labeled them with human names. He was very fond of all his portraits, thinking them as people he may have seen on the street that day. One night, the portraits came to life. They all exclaimed how wonderful it was to live, to talk, to breathe, to think. The next several nights they sat around discussing the joys in life and decided to leave a note for the artist telling him how wonderful his job was and how well he did it. The next morning, the artist saw the note and was pleased the portraits loved who they were. He continued making different people of different shapes and sizes. He continued naming them as their personality arose with every stroke of his brush. While he slept, he dreamed of the next portrait he would draw and name. Then that morning he would painstakingly paint the face getting every aspect of his dream right. It would always take a day but every portrait was finished with the utmost care, love and perfection. The artist loved his work and the portraits he created. One morning he saw a note. It said,

"Thank you for creating me.

However, could you redo my mouth?

I think it is a little too small. And since your

palette would be wet, would you mind

touching up my eyes, I would like them to

look like Sharline's.

Yours Truly,

Veronica

The artist was angry and very disappointed. Something he had created, he had dreamed about, he had thought had the perfect features for the perfect personality was telling him she wasn't good enough. He didn't do a good enough work. His dream, his creation, his complete work was flawed. He was crushed. If Veronica thought that, did Mark and the others think that too?

The artist was so angry, he took all the portraits who left notes of thanks to another studio. He went back to the old studio and burned it down.

perspectives

i saw this tree and wondered what i'd get out of it... three of many pictures taken at various positions.

symphony

When I go for a drive and watch the cars go past or while I'm shopping or whenever I'm in the midst of many people, I stop and think just how many lives are being lived. It's a pleasant buzz of thinking, talking, doing. The details are inconsequential; it's the living I'm amazed at. The spheres of life moving through, past, bumping into one another almost need it's own symphony. The music it would make would be a syncronized mess of sound... almost like the horns of a downtown bustling city with the quiet woodwind busy-ness of a small town and then the quiet strings of the rural countryside. Not to forget the undergrowing tympany of the earth.

baking soda recipes

I love a good smelling home...my dog doesn't care. I found out that dogs do have a smell if they roll in something, but the smell actually comes from their feet pads. Found out my dog is the champion of sweaty feet. By the time November came around and the doors and windows were shut for a good month and a half, my house started smelling like stale corn chips. So...I went online and found many things.. febreeze, different dog shampoos, and paying someone to shampoo my carpet.. none of them up my alley..... then I found a guy who said he put down baking soda overnight and put a heavy plastic over it. In the morning he vaccumed it up and BINGO! No more smell. So... I found different types of good smelling baking soda mixes, my favorite being a box of baking soda with a tablespoon of cinnamon and a teaspoon of cloves. It also said vanilla but that made the mix clumpy. Now, everytime I vaccum, the house smells so good. I use the mixture at the beginning of a fresh bag and it smells good throughout that bag. I used to use it every other time I vaccumed and found the baking soda didn't vaccum up very good and had to change the bag more often. Also, now my carpet shampooer is all gunked up. Part of that is also of my brilliant idea of putting baking soda on the carpet and adding vinegar to the clean water to get that "oxy" clean... I found not following directions cost me $200 dollars. This is why they tell you not to use anything other than the prescribed shampoo. I also found 1/4 c. of your laundry softener, 1t. of baking soda with a regular sized squirt bottle makes your own Febreeze. or if you run out of laundry softener, you can use full-strength vinegar in the place of the softener and the vinegar smell will come out in the dryer.

You Dummy.

What is it with me and sending out packages? I had a package all planned out for my best friend for a whole month.. Her birthday was today and I JUST sent it out. One of my really good friends moved to Texas in January... ON HIS BIRTHDAY.. Do you think I was able to pinpoint the day? Nope. I'm finalizing his package tomorrow. March 3rd. Dummy. The next thing I have to send out...my mother-in-law's get well package.... she has had really bad hip problems for 3 months. it's the thought... right? And if I add in an extra bag of ghiardelli's chocolates? And Antonio Banderas' picture? Nope. You're still a dummy.

peek a boo

Cooper was playing this with Barrett even before Barrett even knew what was going on.

mini recorder

A conversation between my kids... Kya: Ethan, Stop It! Ethan continues to do what she doesn't want him to do. Kya: Ethan STOP IT! Ethan still continues to bug her. Kya: ETHAN STOP IT! Do you think I like yelling at you? Ethan: Yeah. Kya: Well, you're right.

Step ladder please.

I have to apologize for my comment on democrats not being Christians... they're very well intentioned Christians... I guess I was thinking of Barack.. he just seems all over the map as far as beliefs. I understand he has many well intentioned ideas of how to bring America back around and I hope God blesses those ideas. I'm horrible with politics but I do know what works for me. I don't want to sound judgemental. That's what makes America great.. all these people working, living, and loving all in the same country.

poverty check, please!

eternal utopia.... no, it's not going to be in the next 4 years with our new president. Actually, I am very interested in knowing what in Obama's name he's going to do. What do I expect from a president who's name is Barak Hussain Obama? Yikes. I'm still cringing. Seriously, those of you who are reading this and have supported Obama, who are happy he's our first black president and that's the only reason why...O.K. That's all I'm going to say because he is now our president and I can't do anything about it. I'm praying he will do what our country needs. That's all I expect from a president. I'm not very happy with some of the things I've heard about him... Actions speak louder than words for me and he hasn't done much. I am a republican. I grew up on a 40-head dairy farm, enough to give us clothes and food. We never expected a hand out and never wondered why we didn't have more. As I'm sitting in my small town urban house, I LONG for a farm, animals and an acre garden of my own. I feel sorry for others who don't know this life. It was all about action. If you didn't get something, it was your fault or God was letting you know who is really in charge. I have a hard time believing Democrats are Christians. The bottom line is helping others and sharing the wealth. (If I'm wrong, PLEASE correct me.. But PLEASE keep it to two sentenses) It sounds absolutely wonderful at first breath. However, if you look at it down the road, people start to depend on hand outs. Look at the animal kingdom. What is the cardinal rule at zoos and wildlife preserves? DON'T FEED THE ANIMALS Why? Bears mauling people and their backpacks. Elk stampedes. The animals become used to being fed and forget to find their own food. Or get sick from preservatives in human food. Humans are a little more intelligent than animals, but they are just as lazy. To put my belief in simple terms... to become strong, a body needs to exercise. To build muscle and bone, the muscle needs to pull at the bone and tear a little to build the muscle and strengthen the bone. I will gladly go through many pulls and tears to become the best I can be. I have said generosity is wonderful. We have been given so much. We have also given much which is paying it forward. It is given to people and has been given to us without knowledge. Therein lies the difference. I will gladly take a mediocre salary to the lottery as it will always keep my priorities in check.

Coolest house in the neighborhood

Check this out... new and improved from last year... a sledding ramp from our deck. We were told we have envious neighbors...cars have stopped to check it out. However, we need to be careful not to push the kids too hard at the top otherwise they'll speed down the ramp and jump the 1foot snow shoveled barrier to run into or go underneath the neighbor's car... like what Ethan did today... where is the video camera when you need it.

Live on, 2009!!!

Happy New Year!!! We've got new fitness equipment (found the floor useful for sit-ups, my husband made push up bars out of pipe conduit and black velco, the fuzzy side; and my 8 month old son who looks like a 19month old is a great added weight for doing squats... feel the burn.) And since my husband works for a fitness company, he won a great elliptical!! In 5 days, I've used it 2 times... that's actually great!! I have found I can almost do an 8 minute mile (we'll see what it's like in real pavement time) My cousin has reminded me of Buffalo, MN soft triathalon in June... I think I'll have to make up my mind by April. On the other side of fitness, my kids and I have started a new New Year's Day tradition... making ravioli! It was so much fun. We started at 10am and the kitchen was finally cleaned by 4pm. Boy, was it good... I made the traditional spaghetti sauce for the kids and mine was butternut squash with sage... It was supposed to have browned sage butter drizzled over it... It really didn't need it. I used the rest of the butternut squash filling as a soup... just as good and healthier. I wish I had pictures of the ravioli and the process of eating it... my 8 month old included. He was head to navel red with chunks. I made the dough in my bread maker. I hate kneading dough and it came out perfect... very stretchy... my 6 year old filled as my 3 year old rolled out the dough and made circles. My kids actually stayed through until it was time to boil them. I froze the other half of the dough and used it a few days later in chicken soup... can't get anymore rustic than that. I was proud to give it to a new mom... welcome to the world, Caleb Dallas born New Year's Eve at 10:38pm. Now that I think of it... I've come a long way... I never would have dreamed about making ravioli with my kids. It wasn't even a second thought. Is this how my year is going to be? It'd be great. Suprising myself with what I can accomplish without analyzing things before I do it...more of trusting my instincts because I'm better than what I think. Hmmm. I'll leave it at that... It'll take the suprise out of everything. Anyways, I'm not alone in this. I'm only who I am because God made me this way. Live on.