INKLINGS

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TWIST!

One morning when I was coming downstairs to eat breakfast before I went to kindergarten, my dad told me and my sister Nene that we had a new baby brother. My mother had carefully traced his tiny hand on the back of an envelope so I could take it for show and tell. It was Twist.
As he got older, he had to endure sisters who loved to tease him. And we did. Once we were reading a book out loud that said, "Tch, tch!" and he ran to mom to tattle and say we were saying swear words, so for months after that as either of us passed him we would say, "Tch, tch."
Another time for some reason we said (not intending to tease Twist), "Hoot, hoot!" and he ran screaming to Mom crying and scared, so yes, we then alternated hoot hoot to our tch, tch.
Our house in Omaha was on a very steep street, and all the water ran off to the dead end at the bottom, creating a perpetual mud puddle. The minute someone wasn't watching him, he would run to this mud puddle and play happily in it until Mom sent one or both of us to get him. We hated this, because he would not come out no matter how sweet of voice you used to coax him, and he would fling mud at you. The picture above is a picture I took of him one day after getting him home. I looked nearly as bad. Mom would hose him off with the garden hose before she took him in the house. Mom would laugh and call him her little mud duck.
As he got older it was common to see him bringing home a lizard or snake, to our dismay.
Twist developed an interest in electronics, and the whole family tried to talk him into making that his career, but he wouldn't. He was always taking electrical things apart to see how they worked (and not always able to put them back together) and always rigging things around the house that would do such things as turn off the light in his room or make the radio or tv turn on and off. He and Sticks created elaborate ways to tease our younger sister Delirious, quite outdoing anything Nene and I had ever come up with for them.
Twist loves doing the kinds of things that are considered survivalist or "mountain man". He has written a book. He took the initiative to set us up a family web site with a chat room where we meet once a week to chat.
He is very religious and has held many leadership positions. He went on an LDS mission to Mexico, so he is bilingual. He is smart, kind, thoughtful,loves animals, creative, a good friend, and is always willing to help someone else out.
Happy Birthday, Twist!

THANKSGIVING 2009

The Missing: Native Minnow, who went to another state to be with his kids, my oldest son's family who went to his in-laws, and Lightning Strikes who went with her boyfriend to Colorado, and my parents, who were afraid of catching the flu if they came, so stayed home. ( My grandson got swine flu right after I had it so they were afraid another family member would start it.)
The Biggest Surprise: When my oldest granddaughter came in the house and said, "Please, Grandma, tell me you have dilly beans." I did, but hadn't even thought about putting them on the table. Everyone ate 2 quarts of them while we waited for the turkey to get done.
The EWWW Moment: When my 4 year old granddaughter found a tiny doll bottle and dipped it in the cat's water dish and then sucked on it.
The AWWW Moment: When my almost 1 1/2 year old granddaughter climbed up on the hearth, saw her refelction in the glass fireplace doors and said,"Well hey there..." and began chattering at the cute little girl she saw reflected in the glass.
The Nicest Compliment: When my oldest granddaughter's boyfriend told someone else that the pie was the best pie he'd ever tasted.
The Heart-warming Moment: To see my kids and grandchildren really enjoying each other's company.
The Thankful Moment: To have that much family with us and have dinner turn out.
Another Thankful Moment: That despite being on my feet continually for 2 days shopping, cooking or cleaning up, my ankles did not swell like in years past. They quit doing that this year when I went off all my prescriptions. Go figure.
The Worried moments: Seeing kids make long drives home, and watching the ones that flew down (my son-in-law is a pilot and has a plane) fly off, knowing I could lose all six of them at once if the plane went down.
The Ugly Moment: When my grandson lost his cell phone and we never could find it. I'm hoping they found it on the plane.
The Weird Moment: That everyone came only for the day because of jobs or kids' jobs. This morning feels a little lonely, but I think I need to find a way to get used to that.
The Shock: At 3:00 a.m when I realized that this was the first holiday we haven't brought out the Scrabble Game. See, Native Minnow? That is another reason we missed you. :0)

A FEW MORE THINGS TO BE THANKFUL FOR

I received word yesterday that my oldest son passed the test to get his contractor's license, something he has really wanted.
My daughter MJ received a notice that she is being given a prestigious academic award at her university in a few weeks.
My mother told me her fingers have healed enough to start round 4 of her chemo.
My daughter Lightning Strikes was able to get another car.
My son Native Minnow had his dissertation approved to finalize plans to get his doctorate in a few weeks.
Have a great Thanksgiving, and if you don't see me blog, it will be because I have family here and am probably in the kitchen cooking something. :0)

THEY'RE SO CUTE AT THIS AGE....
(Subtitle: It's Good Mom and Dad Aren't Online Today)

My parents came to visit yesterday and brought Christmas presents for my family to take home when they come for Thanksgiving. I decided to wrap the Christmas presents I had so I could send them back with them. When they pulled up in their van I carried them out to put in their car so I wouldn't forget.
Dad had the Christmas presents they were bringing in a large plastic bag, looking like Santa's pack sitting beside the car. I picked it up and said, "I'll carry this in."
Dad, who was struggling to get his balance with his cane said,"No, I've got that." I replied, "Dad, if I had said that before you started using a cane, you would have just said thank you." Mom and Dad both laughed, knowing that was all too true, and I carried the sack into the house.
Later when they were leaving and walking down my sloping sidewalk, Dad lost his balance and started down the sidewalk at almost a run, waving his cane in the air as he did so. Mom tried to catch up with him to steady him as he fought her off and told her he didn't want to take them both down. I just called out, "Dad! Use your cane!" He suddenly put his cane to the ground, which steadied and slowed him.
But I have to tell you, I haven't seen Dad move that fast in years! :0)

'TIS THE SEASON

Since we are about to enter the season of cooking...um, I mean Holidays....I decided to post a couple of recipes that might come in handy.
One recipe is the one my girls have used quite often. MJ told me she has made this carameled popcorn many times for friends at college, and lots of people ask for the recipe.
The other day I read in the paper that they want to do a cookie exhange article for the holidays, and they put out a call for cookie recipes. They had an e-mail address so I immediately went down and sent them 4 recipes. They are just doing one per person, so they picked the turtle cookies. I had a hunch they would, as they are the most unusual. The woman e-mailed me and asked me to bake a dozen and bring them to a photo shoot on a certain day to have my picture taken with them. I told her sorry, I live too far from the newspaper office, so will have to decline. She wrote back that if the paper photographer has to come in this area for a photo shoot, they will drop in. Let's hope this area is very uneventful, okay? I really don't want to have my picture in the paper. :0s

CARAMELED POPCORN

Pop popcorn or use 3 or 4 bags of microwave popcorn. Make sure you remove unpopped kernels. Put in large bowl.
Melt together on stove top: 2 c. brown sugar 2 cubes margarine 60 large marshmallows
Pour over popped corn and stir to coat. Spread on waxed paper to cool.

TURTLES

Melt together: 1 cube margarine and 6 T. baking cocoa. Cool.
Beat in: 2 eggs 3/4 c sugar
Fold in: 1 c flour 1/2 tsp vanilla. Mix together well. Drop by spoonfuls onto hot waffle iron. Bake exactly 1 1/2 minutes. Do not overbake. Frost with chocolate frosting when cool. If you want to dress them up, press a pecan or walnut half into the top of the cookie.

JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE IS PARANOID DOESN'T MEAN THAT SOMEBODY ISN'T REALLY OUT TO GET THEM

About 2 months ago the bishopric asked us to be cub scout leaders. I totally was blind-sided by that, never saw it coming, although we used to be cub scout leaders. The bishop had put me in the Relief Society presidency for a couple of years, then asked us to be Primary teachers. But ever since we got out of scouts, the cubmaster keeps telling us she wishes we were still in scouts.
When the counselor in the bishopric asked us, I asked him if that meant we were to give up our Primary class. We have bonded with them, they have been through several teachers already this year, so we thought we should stick it out at least until January 1st when they move up to an older class. He acted surprised when we said we thought we should see the Primary kids out for the year.
I also told him that when we did scouts before, I usually had to do den meetings alone, as Dee Ice was at work. Scouting requires two-deep leadership. It's because they want to protect the boys from pedophiles and they want to protect the leaders from false accusations.
Already having had some false accusations in my life via the jail, I told them I would need someone else to be to den meetings with me until Dee Ice retires in January. The counselor asked me what our plans are when Dee Ice retires, and I said we didn't know if we are staying or moving yet.
Later on, I noticed the bishopric standing in the hall when several of our Primary kids ran up to us, excited to see us. The bishopric had funny looks on their faces, at least that is how I perceived it.
For a few weeks they told me they were still working on getting a 2nd leader to help me, then I missed 3 weeks with swine flu. I kept wondering what was going on, because not another word was said about scouts to us. So today I asked.
The counselor told me they had discussed it in a meeting, and decided that we should stay with the Primary class, because in the past that has been a hard class, but they have settled down with us. He said they felt they hadn't thought things through enough when they asked us before, and they realized they have quite a few people in the ward who do not have any church jobs at all.
I told him January is getting a lot closer now, and Dee Ice will be home full time soon, but he said they are going to think about some other options.
I am not sure whether to feel relieved or insulted. :0)
In the meantime, I wore a new shirt to church today, and it has a silky feel. I have two little Primary boys who hurry to sit next to me every week, and one of them snuggled up to me and leaned his head over onto my arm. He liked the silky feel of the shirt, and began rubbing his head back and forth on my arm as we sat there.
I was a little shocked when I left Primary a couple of hours later to see that my arm was all red and beginning to be sore!
Minor wounds during active duty. :0)

MY VW POST (Very Weird)

Since my daughter's car was totaled, people have been giving her car advice, what they think she should get, what they think she shouldn't get. During all this discussion one day I said, "Do you know which one of our cars I have been a little nostalgic for recently?" Two of my girls said, "Not the station wagon!" with a groan. I said, "No, not the station wagon, the VW campervan." That elicited a bigger groan. :0)
Those girls don't even remember the campervan, as one was about 2 when we sold it and the other not even born. But when we lived in Montana in the 70s, we bought a camper van. This was before anyone was telling you to put your kids in seat belts or car seats, so most of the time we had the bed down in the back and the kids just piled on the bed when we went anywhere.
The campervan had the pop-top that popped up to reveal a cot, and a cot that snapped in over the front seat, so it supposedly slept five, but we also made a bed on the floor and put the baby in with us to sleep 7. When we got more than 7 in the family we began setting up a little pup tent just outside the van for the older boys.
We lived in Montana where winter time temperatures got as low as 80 degrees below zero and we had long distances to drive to doctors and grocery stores, so I packed that van for emergencies. My kids used to accuse me of being a pessimist, but I like to be prepared. The back seat had a storage area under it, and that is where I kept our sleeping bags. There was a closet in the back and I kept everyone's old coat and a change of clothing in that. At the bottom was a bundle of fire wood, and in another part of the van, matches. I had a cupboard in the back that I had emergency meals in, and under the little sink I kept an emergency water supply. (In the summer.) In short, if we had broken down in the mountains or somewhere with no help, we'd have been just fine for several days.
The van also had a small table that folded in to the side of the van when you were traveling, but set up like a table if you needed it.
Dee Ice was always stopping to talk to co-workers or friends, his "just a minutes" sometimes turning into an hour or more, so I also stocked games. Sometimes he was out talking to someone while the kids and I played several hands of Uno.
Once Dee Ice and his crew had to camp out for two weeks in a backcountry area for work as it took 4 hours just to drive into it. The kids and I camped with him in the campervan.We also camped in it a few other times for shorter periods.
The drawbacks to the campervan were that if you were going uphill, EVERY car passed you, and the heaters in those things were like figments of your imagination and you thought you would freeze to death in them. The kids always had quilts to snuggle in as we drove anywhere in the winter.
So we were excited to buy it and excited to sell it. We sold it to a friend of Dee Ice's for $800. He refitted it to be his dream van and he still has it, 23 years later.
But sometimes I think it would be nice to still have it...with a porta potty inside...to go visit our kids. We could just sleep overnight in their driveway. :0)

INKLINGS

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Friday, November 27, 2009

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Monday, November 23, 2009

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Saturday, November 21, 2009

About Me

Links

Links

Archives