I'm baaaaaaack!

Obviously, it's late, so I don't have much time, but I wanted to post just to let everyone know that I am still alive. We finally got a new computer, so I'm going to post a quick pic or three just because. :-) I'll try to post more frequently now that it will be easier.

The first pic is of Arthur with my cousin's baby, Megan. The next two are pictures taken on our 1st anniversary by my very talented cousin, Crystal. Arthur grudgingly agreed to dress up and go to the park to take the pictures. Hehe, it was a little embarrassing because everyone that drove by honked, but it was fun too, and I thought the pictures turned out great! Thanks, Crystal!
Hopefully more posts will come soon!

One year ago yesterday, I married the love of my life. He is a wonderful man, and this post is dedicated to him. (I'll put some pictures here if I can ever get things together with these computers!)

Arthur

He is kind and considerate. I am always amazed when he can pick up on exactly what people are feeling and do something about it. When he does it with me, I am always pleased, but when he notices that someone clear across the room appears to be having a hard day and crosses through the crowd to check on them, it amazes me and delights me that this wonderful attentive person is my husband. He has a gift for reading people's emotions and knowing the right words to say.

He is courageous. He has courage that I could not dream of having, though I do try to dream. He has the courage to say things I may fear to say or do things I may fear to do. I'm never scared when he's with me, because I know he would die before he'd let anything happen to me. He's always looking out for me in a thousand little ways. As I said, his courage is not only one that faces physical dangers but other threats as well. I know he's courageous enough to be honest when it truly counts. I've seen him talk to a troubled friend and ask them if they were right with God. He told them that if they'd get that part of their life straightened out, the rest would not matter as much. He told them that he had been through some very hard times too and that there is hope for a better future. When you know things are right with you and God, the pains of the past no longer have to control you. I don't know that I would ever have had the courage to ask that person that question, but it was done in such a spirit that no feelings were hurt and no one was offended. I could tell that the person felt loved and cared about. On the other end of the spectrum, he has had to defend himself to men at work when they question his commitment not to work on Sundays. For some reason, some people take his commitment not to work Sundays as a personal attack on their morals, even though he's never implied what he thought they should do either way. He simply turns down the work, and their imaginations do the rest. He never attacks them in any way, but neither does he back down off of his position. He can stand firm.

He looks after me. When we are anywhere there may be a potential threat, he always places himself between me and it. I remember walking down to the river in Cincinnati to watch the fireworks on Labor Day. On the way down, there weren't many people, but on the way back, there were hundreds and hundreds of people all walking away from the river. Sadly, many people were drunk or high. Every time we neared a person or group of people that seemed like they could potentially be a problem, he quickly and inconspicuously placed himself between me and them. He's very observant and picks up on lots of things I don't notice in my happy-go-lucky little world. I am very rarely on high alert, so a lot of things slip past me. He catches me when I stumble from not paying attention, and he often warns me of any potential problem before it arises, knowing that I'm probably not paying attention: "There's a bump there. There's a low fence here. Don't step on that." :-) If I'm not feeling well, he does everything he can to help me feel better. I usually like to get up when he gets up and fix his lunch. One night, I was up late in the night with a headache that just would not go away. The next morning, I was awakened to a soft kiss and a goodbye. He had quietly gotten out of bed, got ready to go, fixed his own lunch, and come to tell me goodbye so I would not have to get out of bed and could get some extra rest. He probably wouldn't have awakened me at all, but he knows that I cannot stand not to say goodbye, so he made it as easy on me as possible. On one particularly tiring day when I felt I'd gotten nothing done, I noticed that he'd been in the other room for quite awhile. I went and checked to find him washing the dishes. He had done it without saying a word, knowing that if I knew he was in there doing it, I'd probably get up and try to help. He's so sweet.

He is very competent. When he does something, there is no need to check and see if it is done well. I know it will be. He is talented in a number of areas. He's a good athlete. He's an avid outdoorsman. He's a good hunter who knows lots of little details that others may fail to notice. He's a good shot with a variety of weapons. He knows how to do all kinds of things that lots of people don't do. He can identify a bird when it's too far away for me to even tell if it's a goose or a robin. He can tell what it is by the way it moves its wings or holds its head. If he doesn't know how to do something, he can figure it out. He's my memory. If I can't remember a name or a detail, I will ask him. He always remembers. When he sets his mind to accomplishing something, he can make it happen.

He's a hard worker. Arthur is one of the hardest workers I know. When he decides to do a job, you can be sure it will be done, be done well, and be done quickly. He always does his best work. If you ask him to do a job, you can be sure it will be done the best he is capable of doing it at the time. However, he is good at knowing how to balance work and home. He knows that I need him here too, and he has often turned down work or extra activities because they would take too much time away from our relationship. He is committed to working, but he's also committed to finding that delicate balance that will help us to grow best together. That being said, if there is a job that needs done and no one else wants to do it, he will almost always be there to help. That was one of the things one of my cousins told me about him when I was first considering dating him, and I have found that to be true. She said that at Kid's Club at church, if there's a job no one else is willing to do, she knows she can ask Arthur and, even if it's not something he enjoys or he doesn't feel "qualified," he will be willing. I have seldom ever heard him turn anyone down when they asked for help, and when he does, it is almost always because he's already committed to doing some other job or favor that day or because he feels he hasn't spent enough time with me that week.

Arthur is great with kids. He knows how to balance authority and affection in a way that kids respond to. He recognizes that they are people with feelings, emotions, wants, and needs and that theirs are just as valid as those of an adult. He treats them with dignity and respect as fellow human beings, and as a result, they respect him. He listens to their little stories and their feelings and treats them with the same courtesy he'd treat an adult. He's able to balance that with the authority required to make them obey and teach them to make good decisions. He knows that a child can be crushed early in life, and it will affect them forever, so he handles them carefully and lovingly. He never demeans them or embarrasses them or does anything that would damage their spirits. He's fun loving and enjoys playing with them too. Children love Arthur.

Arthur is a good listener. If you need to spill out your woes, he's good to lend and ear and a shoulder to cry on. He's pretty good at giving out sound advice when it's needed, and he's pretty good at knowing when it's needed. He knows that there are times when all you really need is to hear, "I'm sorry. I know that is rough." He's faithful to pray for the people that come to him with problems and for those that he recognizes have problems they cannot share.

He's fun-loving. We have so much fun together. Even menial little tasks can be fun when you work together. I remember counting the change from the change jar and having quite a time. We made it a challenge to see who could count the most coins in the shortest amount of time. Then we made it a challenge to see who could get the last coin back in the jar. Of course Arthur hid a coin, I knew that he would. I acted hesitant to put my coin in the jar. He, of course, acted noble and put his coin into the jar. I acted triumphant as I dropped the "last" coin in the jar. After that, he pulled a coin out from under something and dropped it with gusto into the jar. I acted disappointed just long enough for him to get a gloating look on his face, then I pulled my coin out from under my leg and dropped it in the jar! The shocked look on his face was priceless. He always wins such contests and was surprised that I had fooled him. We both dissolved into laughter on the floor and laughed until our eyes were watering. We have had water fights with the sprayer in the kitchen. We have had a paper wad war break out in the living room and spread across the whole house. Arthur takes a special pleasure in trying to scare me. He will sneak up on me when I'm sitting in the recliner and pull it over backwards. He will stand outside the bathroom in the dark and grab me when I walk out. He loves to challenge me to a game of air hockey, miniature golf, or even video games, though I generally know that I will lose those. I am pretty competitive, though, so I try to give him a run for his money. We really have a good time together.

He's a good Christian man. Arthur does his best to do what's right in every situation. He loves God and wants to please Him. He leads us in devotions every night and tries to be a witness for God everyday in his words and actions. He enjoys helping with Kid's Club, because he wants to make a difference in those children's lives early so they can come to God at a young age. Driving the bus is not one of his favorite activities, but when he is needed, he gives up that early Sunday sleep and drives the bus to pick up the Sunday School kids. He puts God first, even when situations make it difficult. He loves other people, even when at times they can seem unlovable. He often sacrifices his own desires to help someone else. I really admire that about him.

I married the most wonderful man. We have had a very happy first year together. People talk about how hard your first year can be, but I have not found it to be especially hard. In spite of the unusual number of difficulties we've had to face already (Arthur's father died suddenly a few months before we were married, his job was not waiting for him when we got back from our honeymoon, he went about three months without work because there was just no work to be had, we had an accident in the truck, my grandpa got sick and passed away...), we've grown closer and more in love. We've learned to trust each other and rely on each other. We've learned to pinch pennies when we have to and give when it's not easy. We learned to trust God to make up the difference between what we can do and what we need. Sure, there were occasional spats, but the best of friends are sure to have those at times. Our spats have been surprisingly few. The important thing is, we always reconciled and apologized for any bad attitudes, and we are learning to work with each other and grow with each other. Arthur is not difficult to live with because he is loving and has the same desire I do to make our marriage all that God intended marriage to be. He is my best friend, and it is a joy to spend my life with him.

I love you, Arthur!

Your adoring wife,

Jessica

My education

I may be out of school forever (yey!), but I find that I am continuing my education just the same. Although, the fields that I am being educated in are a bit different from what I studied before. Right now I am taking Gardening and weed-killing 101, Ant and Spider-killing, and Advanced Laundering. Of course, most of these are independent study, but all have labs. Have you ever taken an independent study course with a lab? It can be a bit sketchy. Arthur's a great teacher as far as the gardening goes, and Grandma Baber is full of good tips. I'm still trying to help myself some with this one though. Through my collateral reading (a.k.a. the internet), I have discovered that you can use a paint brush to apply Brush-b-Gone directly to poison ivy leaves and kill the whole plant without affecting the surrounding plants (like raspberries). Then, you have to use gloves and pull the dead plant up and dispose of it in a plastic bag. If you don't kill the plant before pulling it up, more plants can develop from the broken roots. If any more come up, you have to wait for them to get leafy again and reapply the weed killer. I'm going to try this. Hopefully, I can keep from getting it again while pulling the dead plants up as I'm still not over the last exposure. The poison can remain active even on dead leaves for over a year. Ick!

Next course of study: Killing Bugs. The garden has quite an ant infestation. I have never seen such big ant hills in all my life as the ones that are near the edge of the garden. From what I have read, ants actually farm aphids, which can be damaging to vegetables. The ants keep the aphids in their nests all winter then take them out and lead them to the plants the aphids feed off of. The ants also protect the aphids from other predators. The aphids produce a sweet substance that the ants feed off of. In theory, if you can get rid of the ants, you can get rid of the aphids, and your garden will be a safer place for plants and vegetables. What I have discovered through my study is that you can kill ants with cornmeal if it stays dry. You sprinkle the dry cornmeal, the ants eat it, then when they drink, the cornmeal expands and kills them. Sounds cruel, but so is killing all of my vegetables. The other way I found to kill them is to mix borax and sugar with a little bit of water. You put it near the nest, the ants take it home and feed on it, and it kills the whole colony. I have decided to use a one two punch. The borax isn't recommended for use directly in the garden as it can damage the plants. The cornmeal won't work if it gets wet before the ants eat it. What I'm going to do is take old canning lids and put a dab of the borax mixture on top to help prevent it from just seeping into the soil. I'm going to set those around the nests at the edge of the garden. I'm going to sprinkle the cornmeal around the nests and in the garden. I'll have to reapply some after it rains, which is pretty often right now, but I have a large bag of cornmeal. I'll let you know about the results of my experiments. I may put cornmeal only on one nest and see if it seems to do any good (so long as they don't wander down to the sugar mixture at the other end of the garden). If it kills them good enough, it might be a good option for in and around houses where there are pets and children. From what I've read, the amount of borax I will be using shouldn't be too harmful to children and pets, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. As for the spider part of the equation, I have found a rather vicious looking spider in my house and trapped it under a jar. I do not want vicious spiders in my house, so I'm trying to see if I can find good ways to kill them too. The borax is said to be helpful. I also read that spraying a mixture of vinegar and a little coconut oil is suppose to make your home inhospitable to them, especially for their web-spinning. I may have to try this. I trapped the spider yesterday, and it's still alive today, so I slipped a little of my ant-killing mixture under the jar to see what happens. From what I've read, the active ingredient in Terro ant killer is borax, which you can get in the laundry aisle of your grocery store. It's also a great household cleaner, which brings me to my next subject:

Advanced Laundering: Hopefully this will be advanced. As I mentioned earlier, I recently got a new high-efficiency washer. My mom has one, and she just uses much less of the regular detergent. I was a bit hesitant to do this, but I thought I'd try it and see. I tried it for awhile, and it seemed to do okay. However, while folding a load the other day, I noticed that the laundry didn't smell especially fresh. I opened the detergent dispenser on my washer and found that it appeared to have the same amount of detergent in it that it had when I started it. It should be noted here that I was using a powder. After doing a bit of research, I found that you can use a small amount of regular detergent in a high efficiency machine for awhile with apparently no adverse effects, but over time, it may clog the machine because the machine is not build to use all of the suds that regular detergent produces. It can also build up a film and eventually damage parts. Some people continue to use regular detergent with no problems, but I decided that the expense of possibly having to repair my machine would probably outweigh the expense of the HE detergent. Something else to consider is that a sudsing detergent will not get clothes as clean as the HE detergent in an HE machine, because the collision with the water is the effective part of the cleaning process in an HE machine, and the suds tend to lessen that collision. I decided that I would go ahead and at least look at the HE detergent.

Arthur has somewhat sensitive skin and has had some problems with it at times flaring up and being very itchy. My mom had told me that her dad experienced similar problems once, and his doctor told him to switch to Cheer detergent. My grandma switched to Cheer and his skin cleared up. She recommended that I switch to Cheer at least for Arthur's socks. I went to the detergent aisle and looked at the HE detergent. The only one that had a powdered detergent was Tide. I did not want to switch to liquid, because I cannot use the delay timer on my washer if I use a liquid detergent. I decided that I would do some more research before deciding on a detergent. After a bit of searching, I discovered that I could make a homemade powdered laundry soap! Call me crazy, but I decided to give it a try. It is said to be perfectly safe to use in HE machines because it is non-sudsing. It is also said to be gentle on skin because it is a soap and not a detergent. Many people use it on cloth baby diapers, so I figured they must have found it to be both gentle and affective. It has three ingredients: Fels Naptha laundry bar, washing soda, and borax. The borax was easy to find in the laundry aisle at Wal-Mart. The other two ingredients weren't there though. I had read that some people used baking soda but that it wasn't as effective. I also read that some people used Ivory soap or another bar soap but that it was not as effective as the laundry bar. One person also reported that it left a little film on her dark clothes, but others that used it did not report the same problems. Either way, I didn't want to use it if I could find a better option. I searched several stores and finally found all the ingredients in one place at Kroger. If you'd like to try this but have problems finding the ingredients, the websites I read said that most stores would be happy to order them for you. The washing soda is made by Arm and Hammer, and the Fels Naptha is made by Dial Soap Co. Other laundry soap bars were mentioned, including Zote, Sunshine, and Castile, so I assume you could use any of those, but the most talked about one on the sites I read was Fels Naptha, so I got it. Apparently, it's been around for over 100 years and is probably what most of our grandparents used to do laundry. Anyways, the Fels was 1.29 for a bar, the soda was 3.09 for a 3-plus pound box, and the borax was 2.96 for a 4 pound box. Here's the recipe:
Grate 2/3 of a bar of Fels Naptha laundry soap (I used the grating blade on my food processer and the chopping blade so that it was really fine and done really fast). This should come out to about a cup of grated soap.
Mix with 1/2 cup of borax and 1/2 cup of washing soda. Mix well and put in an container with a lid.
Simple enough, isn't it? The sources I read recommend using 1 Tablespoon of soap for an average sized load in a high-efficiency washer. I used that and it worked great. However, in the next load I washed, I had two of Arthur's HEAVILY soiled work shirts. I found that they weren't as clean as I'd have liked, so I put the work shirts back in along with some other heavily soiled clothes and used a heaping tablespoon instead of a level tablespoon, and they came out great! The smelled and looked clean and were pretty soft too. I haven't washed many loads yet, but so far, so good. I'll let you know how it goes after the next load of work clothes. I must say that the soap is indeed non-sudsing, or at least VERY low sudsing. I never saw any suds while the laundry was washing, but there was a little bit in the seal at the bottom of the door when I opened it. From what I've read, though, it can take several wash loads to clean all of the suds out of your clothes and machine if you've been washing with regular detergent for awhile. They say that the detergent actually deposits on your clothing and can take quite awhile to wash out, so I'll see if the suds lessen with a few more washes. Either way, there are hardly any suds, whereas there were loads of suds with the regular detergent, even though I was using a tiny amount.
Assuming you use 1 level tablespoon of detergent in each load, two bars of Fels Naptha mixed with the other ingredients should wash 96 loads of laundry! I'm not sure how many cups of borax and washing soda are in a box, but it looks like quite a few to me! I dumped out the borax I had left into a batter bowl with measuring marks on the side and there are about 9 cups left in there. I used a cup in the soap, because I made a double batch. I also used about a cup in cleaning my drains and making ant killer, so I figure there's roughly 11 cups in there. That's 13.45 cents for one batch of soap. There were about 5 cups left in the washing soda box. I used 1 cup in the soap and probably closer to 2 cups to clean with. It makes a great pre-soak for stains, and I've never seen anything get stains of of walls or linoleum so easily! Anyways, it comes out to 22.07 cents worth of washing soda for a batch. 2/3 a bar of Fels soap costs 86 cents. That means that one batch of soap costs $1.2152. We'll round it to $1.22. That comes out to 3.39 cents a load. I suspect however, that it is actually a little less than that because I am guessing about how much I used in general cleaning. Of course, you're going to use more for a very large or very heavily soiled load, just like with any detergent. This site: http://www.consumersearch.com/www/house_and_home/laundry-detergent/comparison.html says that Cheer HE costs approximately 23 cents a load. If we round to the nearest cent, I am saving about 20 cents a load with my homemade stuff! I was 5 or 6 loads a week. That's between 260 and 312 loads a year. That's a savings of between $52 and $62.40 a year! That's not bad for something that can be made by pushing a button then shaking a plastic container. I could make this stuff in about 1 minute per batch. I need 9.75 batches for 312 loads, so lets make that 10 batches for 320 loads. For ten minutes worth of work, I can save $64. That's $384 an hour. Maybe I should start selling this stuff. ;-) You may say that I spend the extra time at Kroger, since I seldom stop there, but I DO stop there now and then, and if I buy 7 bars of soap and 1 box of washing soda, that'll do about a year's supply of soap! That's about 12 dollars worth of supplies. See what a little education is worth? If you use this instead of Tide, you're saving a whopping 32 cents a load, and that's not even for HE. Of course, if you use the Wal-Mart brand, you're saving about 9 cents a load, but I'm not sure they make HE. Either way, not bad.

An Update: Sadly... Pictureless

In short: Computer Crashed, Washing Machine Broke, Poison Ivy
Yes, It's been a rough week. My computer has given up the ghost, but my brother is supposed to be finding a part to fix it. Apparently, I didn't have enough operating memory to run the computer, and the memory that I did have was corrupted, so he's looking for some new memory to run my computer. In the meantime, we are using Arthur's computer, which is probably 4 or 5 years older than mine, so it will not run the driver that runs my printer. Bummer. Also, I don't really want to take the time to attempt to load a program that will allow me to put my pictures on here, just to save them for a computer that I will not be using for long, so here I am, pictureless. I had a lot of pictures I've been wanting to post too, and I promise I will try to post them as soon as I can when my computer is up and running again.

My washing machine has been spinning slower, and slooower, and slooooooooowwwwwer. It finally quit never to spin again (at least not more than about two seconds at a time). I found a washer and dryer that was on year old in the paper for a good price, and while my dad was here visiting, he and Arthur were going to go get them. My dad, however, had a stroke of genius and decided that it would be better to try to fix the washer we had. Now that washer was not ours. It was our landlords. They told us we could use it until it quit, but if it did, they were not planning on replacing it. It was just an old one they had. I had been wanting to get our own anyways, because if we move from here at some point, we will have to get new appliances anyways, so I figured it'd be easier to buy them piece by piece when we got the money rather than trying to buy them all at once when we moved. However, my dad convinced Arthur that it was a good idea not to drive all the way to St. Louis to pick up a used washer and dryer when you could use someone else's used washer and dryer right here, given a five dollar belt and a few minute's labor. So, Dad rode his new motorcycle into town to get a belt. An hour to an hour and a half later, he came back with the belt. It only takes five or so minutes to get to the store, but apparently, the first place he looked didn't have the belt, so he was "forced" to go to Hechler's Hardware, where he has cousins. Of course they had the belt. They have everything there that no one else carries. They also had cousin's who were eager to try out the new bike... not that my dad was at all eager to show it off ;-) . Anyways, he finally got home, and the belt did not fit. Another trip to Hechler's, another long wait. The second belt did not fit. A third and shorter trip to Hechler's, finally a belt that fit. Laundry goes in, washing machine starts, washing machine stops. Puzzled expressions, a bit of tinkering, washing machine starts, washing machine stops. Burning smell. Tinkering, start, stop, burning smell. "Umm, sister, I think you need a new washing machine." Did I tell them? I told them. The motor apparently was burned up, and he decided it was NOT worth hunting down a new motor! I give Arthur the number to call the guy with the washer and dryer and get directions. He calls and gets directions just as I realize that that was the wrong guy. Oops. I give him another number. He calls and gets directions. We are nearing Troy, about five minutes from home. Dad whips out his phone and calls his cousin Michael. "Is there an appliance store in Troy? Uh huh, uh huh, okay." He reasons that it's crazy to drive to St. Louis to look at used appliances that we may not even like when we could look at new ones right here in Troy. I reason that we have very limited funds to work with and are looking at a very good price for one-year-old appliances. He reasons that he has money and wants us to get good appliances that will last awhile and asks what I would get if I could have any washer and dryer I wanted. I reason that the washer and dryer I would choose would be waaaaay out of our price range for quite some time. He reasons that we could pitch in what we were going to spend anyway and he could pitch in the rest. I reason that that would put him out a lot of money. He and Arthur decide that we will at least stop and look in Troy and see what the prices are there. We stopped at the appliance/carpet/flooring/mattress/furniture store to discover that they are going out of the appliance business because they make most of their money in the carpet/flooring/mattress/furniture business. They have one washer and two dryers, and the matching ones are pretty much exactly what I would have chosen if money were not an issue. My dad haggles with the salesmen for awhile (at least one good skill he acquired as a little Grenadian). He comes down by about $400. He and Arthur talk it over and decide to go half and half. We ended up spending more than we were planning on spending, but I think it was worth it to get a really nice washer and dryer. Thanks, Dad!

Even after all the fuss, I really like my new washer and dryer. They are front loading and have sensors to detect how much water, heat, time, etc. is needed, so they save on energy bills. The washer has a delay timer, which I love, because I can throw a load into it at night and set it to wash the clothes just before I get up in the morning. That way, when I get up, I can put the laundry straight into the dryer and have it done in half the time. They also both have a beeper that sounds when they are finished, which is a big plus for absent minded me. Arthur will appreciate his laundry being less wrinkled as a result. They are much roomier than my other washer and dryer, so I can run bigger loads. Also, the dryer takes about half the time (sometimes a bit more than half for bigger loads) that my old dryer was taking. They are also stackable, which isn't a big issue now, but if we ever move somewhere with a smaller space for the appliances, that will be a plus. I know I am getting old when I get excited about new appliances, but I am excited.

I am also excited about my garden (okay, okay, OUR garden, Arthur). I am not, however, excited about the poison ivy I got working in it. Actually, I was working in the raspberry patch. It finally stopped raining enough for us to till, so we got most of our garden planted. It's going to be BIG. We went back last Wednesday to plant some more corn. Arthur was running the tiller, and there was nothing for me to do at the moment, so I had a brilliant idea. The raspberry patch was all grown up with weeds. You couldn't even get to the bushes. I had the brilliant idea to take the cutlass and cut a path through it. Arthur's family mulches with carpeting, which works great. I figured, I'd cut paths between the rows and we could lay carpet down. Then, when it came time to pick the berries, we could just walk on the carpet and pick and wouldn't have to fight the weeds, brush, critters, etc. It really was a great idea except the part about a cutlass splattering through poison ivy. The berry patch now has three nice neat rows of carpet, and I have lots of mean, itchy splotches. The arm that I was hacking away with has a particularly nasty rash. Next time I go into the raspberry bushes, I think I will take boots and gloves.
The garden is coming along nicely. Everything is starting to pop out of the ground. There will be summer squash, zucchini, peppers, peas, green beans, onions, potatoes, corn, corn, corn, more corn, okra, lots more okra, tomatoes, rhubarb, maybe strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and grapes- lotsa grapes. The cherry tree by the garden has a lot of cherries on it, but Arthur says most of them will rot off. I may try to thin them out and see if that helps. Anyways, there's my long little pictureless update. Hopefully I'll have lots of pictures soon!

Sunday Dinner

In one of my classes, one of the students asked the professor why, if Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest, do we make our biggest and most complicated meal our Sunday dinner. Isn't that a lot of work to go to for a meal on what is supposed to be a day of rest. The professor agreed that it was a bit much. He also commented that in the Jewish culture, Sabbath begins and sundown the night before and goes until sundown that day. The big meal is eaten for supper after sundown when the Sabbath begins, so the work for the meal would have been done before sundown. He said the leftovers from that meal could be used to eat at lunch time on the Sabbath, so it was easier to keep from unneccessary work. He said that our culture celebrates Sabbath from midnight to midnight and eats the big meal at lunchtime most of the time, so the student was right in saying that there was a bit much unneccessary work going into that meal.

I understand the idea, but I think that they are wrong in saying that Sunday dinner requires a great deal of work to be done on Sunday. Here's how you can do Sunday dinner and do VERY little work on Sunday:

Saturday night:
-Salt, flour, and brown your roast and put it in a roasting pan, dutch oven, or crock pot with some water and carrots if you desire. (A word of warning: Carrots will leach the iron from an iron pot and take on a somewhat unpleasant metallic flavor. They will not hurt you. The extra iron is probably good for you, as most of us have at least some level of iron deficiency, but if carrots stay in that pot for very long at all, they will taste terrible!) Some people like their potatoes in with their roast, and if you do, that's fine, but Arthur likes them seperate, so that's how I do it. Anyways, if you cover the roast and put it in the oven at about 250 degrees F, it will be done by lunchtime tomorrow! The roast is completely taken care of, with the exception of possibly adding a little water to the pan Sunday morning. What's more, slow cooked like that, it comes out wonderfully tender.
-Peel and quarter your potatoes. Put them in a pot of COLD water. This will keep them from turning brown. Salt them, cover them and sit them on the stove. Do not turn the stove on. Just leave them there until tomorrow morning.
-If you have frozen veggies, put them in the fridge to thaw. We usually have corn.
- If you like homemade rolls, you can mix the dough up tonight and put it in the fridge. You can even mix it Thursday or Friday if you wish and have perfectly acceptable dough. I will include my recipe at the end. If you have a nice mixer with a dough hook, you can mix the dough up in about 5 or 10 minutes!
- Go to bed.

Sunday Morning:
-Check your roast and add water if necessary.
-Turn the burner on under your potatoes.
-Pull the roll dough out of the fridge. Punch it down, pinch off roll-sized pieces and put in a greased baking dish or cookie sheet. This should only take a minute or two. Set the dish by the stove and cover it with a towel or greased plastic wrap.
-Get ready for church.
-Turn off the burner under the potatoes before you leave. They should be mostly cooked and can be reheated on the stove after church.

After Church:
-Pull the roast out and put it and any veggies with it on a platter. Set the pot on the stove heat it with water and cornstarch to make gravy.
-Turn the oven temp. up to 400 and put the rolls in for 10 or 12 minutes.
-Put the corn or other veggies from the fridge or a can into a saucepan and put on the stove or warm them in a bowl in the microwave.
-Turn the heat back on under the potatoes, and once they are hot, drain and mash them with butter and milk.
-Pull the rolls out of the oven, put everything on the table and enjoy!

All of the difficult work for a Sunday dinner can be done the night before so that all that is left is to set out and cook the rolls, heat up the veggies, mash the potatoes, stir up some gravy, and set the table! All of that takes less time than it would take you to make hot dogs and mac-n-cheese! I agree it would be a labor intensive meal if you started the roast and peeled the potatoes Sunday morning, but that is entirely unnecessary.

Here is the roll recipe, which I love. It is soooo easy.
Ice Box Rolls:
-Dissolve 1 cake of yeast or 1 package of dry yeast in 2 cups of warm water (not hot enough to burn you but not too cool).
-add 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 1/2 tsp salt, 1 beated egg, and half a cup of flour and mix (About speed 2 on a mixer or just mix by hand).
-Add 4 Tablespoons of vegetable oil or shortening and mix (the oil is MUCH easier to do)
-Add about 5 or 6 more cups of flour. The dough will be fairly sticky, but it should still not be too hard to pick the whole thing up in a ball. Knead this lightly or mix with a mixer and dough hook on speed 2 until the flour is mixed in and the dough forms a ball. Lightly grease a bowl and trasfer the dough. Roll it in the bowl to grease the top then cover with plastic wrap and put in the frige overnight. If I use my mixer, the whole process up to this point will take me less than ten minutes.

The next day or whenever, punch down the dough and make the shape of rolls that you want. I usually just pull the dough off in balls, but it makes nice crescents too if you wish. If I'm just doing balls, this takes me about 2-3 minutes. Let the rolls rise until double (an hour is usually enough if you're in a rush, but I generally let them rise for 2 or 3 hours while I'm at church, and they do just fine). Stick them in the oven at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

The dough will keep in the refrigerator for 5-7 days. I just pinch off as much as I need and put the rest back. It will last us several days. It makes about 40 rolls. I love being able to make my Sunday rolls several days before. I can have fresh hot bread coming out of the oven without having gone to any hassle that day. It's especially nice if you're just two people like we are. A big batch of dough is unreasonable for two people if it needs cooked all at once, but like this, we can have fresh hot rolls everyday of the week if we wish and only have to mix the dough up once. It's also handy to have in the frige if you have company, because you already have plenty of dough ready and don't have to wait for it to rise twice. You can decide an hour before dinner to have company and set out enough rolls for everyone. In case you didn't notice, I like fresh hot bread, and this recipe is nearly foolproof. It's very easy. Having never tried to make yeast rolls, I got very edible results the first try. I got a bit too much flour the first try, but the rolls were still very good. By the second try, I'd figured out to use a little less flour and they were delicious! I've since realized that the reason I needed a little less flour is because I wanted to do crescent rolls and therefore would add flour to the dough when I rolled it out. I still got good results, so I'm convinced there's not much you can do to mess these up! Give this recipe a try and enjoy!

Little Things

Aren't you glad God cares about the little things? I sure am. I've been reminded of that a lot lately. All of this rainy weather, along with a few other situations, have had me a little blue. However, God knows all about our problems, and although they may seem impossible to us, they are small matters to Him, and He can take care of them effortlessly. No task taxes Him. He is all-powerful and all-wise. He knows just what to do in every situation and just how to do it, and He has all the resources necessary to take care of us and all of the strength needed to use those resources. He is tireless.

When I was teaching once, there was a child in my class that was a big worrier. This child was much troubled over little things. This child got very upset at every mistake that he made. He got very upset over any problem or misunderstanding. If two papers stuck together when I passed them out, it would seriously stress him that he had an extra. Even after I explained that it was an accident and he didn't have to do it, it still threw his world off kilter. I walked away from the school one day after what was a particularly stressful day for him, and I was sort of shaking my head at the little things that troubled him that didn't even matter. I cannot count how many times I told him, "Don't worry about that. I will take care of it. It's not a big deal." Then it dawned on me, God must feel that way all of the time, for nothing is too "big a deal" for God to handle. We worry over earthly things that, in the long run, really don't matter. It will all come out in the "wash" that is the great resurrection. At that time, the quarrel with a friend over some passing matter will seem silly and foolish. The clothes and shoes that seemed so important will be seen for what they are, totally trivial. Even the bills that you have fretted over and struggled to pay will be seen through new eyes when we lay eyes on the BIG God who told us, "Does not your heavenly Father know you have need of such things?" It's no big deal for Him to take care of all the little worries that we have, so it's not our business to worry about them. He has already promised to take care of them, so how can we say we trust Him and His Word if we persist in worrying about what He has already promised to take care of.

There are two men in my life that I would trust with anything. One is my daddy and the other is my husband. When either of those men tell me that they will "take care of it," I know that it's time for me to stop worrying, because it will be taken care of. They are both very resourceful men who always do what they say they will do and will go to great lengths to do it if necessary. I do not worry about what they say they can take care of. My God has compared Himself to both a Father and a Husband. Like each of these men claim responsibility for their families and the matters that concern their families, God has claimed responsibility for His people. He has promised over and over again that we will be taken care of. He is infinitely bigger and infinitely more resourceful than even the best of fathers and husbands (which, by the way, I have already claimed. All of you other ladies out there will have to claim second best for yours ;-) ) When God promises that He will take care of us, He can be trusted to keep that promise, and you can rest assured that once you ask Him, He is on the job and taking care of it in the best way. Whatever the outcome, His decision is best for the way it was taken care of. Worries are gone when you truly trust Him.

That brings me to the point I set out to talk about to begin with. If you are a good parent, then what matters to your children matters to you. You may recognize that what they want is not best for them, but it still matters to you that it is important to them. You long to be able to see them happy and satisfied. You will not sacrifice what is best for them, but if what will make them happy will be no harm to them and it is within your means to help them get it, you probably will. I remember one day when my dad took me to an auction with him. He asked me if there was anything I wanted. For some reason, I was fascinated with this little ceramic figurine of two frogs dressed in their best clothes sitting on a park bench. To look at it now, it's kind of an ugly little thing, but I liked it. My daddy bought me that little figurine, even though it wasn't probably very attractive to him and was probably more of a hassle to bid on than it was worth, but he knew it meant something to me. I felt loved and cherished when he presented me with it because I knew he'd got it just for me. I still have that figurine, and when I look at it, I'm reminded of my father's love. What matters to a child matters to the father. The same is true of a husband. How many husbands spend money or time getting flowers or chocolate or a favorite gift for their wives? Even though they may see such things as trivial and passing, they know it will make their wives happy, and if it won't overly strain the budget, they will probably indulge their wives if they can. I love dark chocolate. I could eat it all day. One day, my husband was helping build a church. Construction had been slow, and he hadn't been working much, so we were on a tight budget. We spent nothing on luxuries. After working on the church, the pastors wife took the workers into the church pantry and invited them to take something. My husband brought home one item from the church pantry: a Hershey's dark chocolate bar. Needless to say, I felt very special because he'd thought of me and chosen exactly what he knew would make me happy. What matters to me matters to my husband. Let it be known beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is a good parent and the perfect "husband." Sometimes, He does those extra special little unneccessary things to let us know how much He loves us.

Here's my latest example: The lilacs are beautiful this year. My grandma had a lilac bush in her yard when I was growing up, and I was always excited when the lilacs would bloom and that wonderful fragrance would fill her house and yard. My neighbor and landlord has a row of lilac bushes along the road in front of her house. On day last week I was eyeing them from my car. I thought, "I wish I could cut a bunch of those and put them in a vase in my house." As it was, they were too far away from our house to smell or even admire very well. That very night, there was a knock on my door. When I answered, to my surprise, there stood my neighbor with a HUGE bundle of lilac blossoms. She asked if I would like some, because a frost might come that night, and she hated to see them all killed when no one has had a chance to enjoy them yet. I was thrilled. I thanked her and put my big bouquet of lilacs in a pretty vase and enjoyed that smell for the next couple of days. I think God knew that I needed a little cheering up, so He sent a cold front just for me. Okay, so maybe it wasn't just for me, but I think he must surely have put the thought in that neighbor's head to save her flowers by sharing with me. What's more, the frost does not appear to have killed the remaining blossoms, so I can continue to admire them as I drive by. Just a couple of days ago, my mother-in-law called and said that she's got a lot of lilacs this year, so if I'd like to take some, she'd be happy for me to, so it looks like I will have a few more days of that scent filling my house. God cares about the little things.

Another bigger issue that God took care of for us recently involves our insurance. The union is set up so that if you work a certain number of hours in the fiscal year, your insurance coverage will extend for another year. If you do not, you will go to a quarterly schedule. You must work a certain number of hours during the three month quarter to extend your insurance for another three months. If you have a slow quarter, which can happen easily in the carpentery business, especially in the winter, you will lose your insurance. The fiscal year ended on the last day of April. About a week and a half before that, I was looking at Arthur's hours. It was a very slow year for construction in this area, and his hours were low this year. If he worked forty hours a week between that time and the deadline, he would still be just a few hours short. My resourceful husband said he would see what he could do. At the next union meeting, he talked to one of the "big whigs." He told Arthur to call him after it was over, and he would check his records and see if they couldn't push him through if he was close. That was encouraging to know they would try, but there was still no guarantee they could do it. The next day Arthur was at work, he mentioned to his superintendent that he was going to be just a few hours short of keeping his insurance. I don't think he really asked for help or anything. He just mentioned it. His superintendent took it to someone above him and came back and told Arthur that the two of them would be working overtime that Saturday. That just put us over the limit, and we are insured for another year! What seems big to us is small to God. He can manage it. As the Bible says, "The king's heart is in the Lord's hand. He can turn it whatever way he chooses." Arthur did all that he could to solve the problem, and God took over from there and influenced people who could do something to do something. Problem solved.

The size of the problem, big or small, doesn't matter at all, because every problem is small when placed in the hand of our BIG God. It's all relative. A step that seems simple to a parent is insurmountable if placed in front of a toddling child. We must remember that we are dust, and as such are tiny. The problems that seem big only seem that way because they are bigger than us. If God flung the stars out into space and holds the world in his hands, how small our problems must seem when they are placed in His hands! This world will pass away and everything in it. The things that seemed so important that caused you so much worry will be gone. We must stop spending all of our energy on worry and go to work to make a difference in areas that will last. If you can help someone else along the way, you have made an investment that can survive this dying world. Live in a way that is pleasing to our Lord and trust Him to take care of the details. Our God is so loving and compassionate. He cares about the little matters that affect us. The children in kid's club sing a song that we probably have all heard, but we seldom think much about it. After thinking about God's care for us, I think it will mean a bit more to me now than it did when I sang it as a child.

He's got the whole world in His hands.

He's got the whole wide world in His hands.

He's got the whole world in His hands.

He's got the whole world in His hands!

He's got you and me, brother, in His hands.

He's got you and me, sister, in His hands.

He's got you and me, brother, in His hands.

He's got the whole world in His hands!

All we like sheep have gone astray.... We're in big trouble!

Okay, here is an example of how a big problem for a sheep can be a small problem for the Shepherd. Arthur is no shepherd, but his cousin has sheep. I wanted to see the new baby lambs, so Arthur took me into a barn where there was a tiny baby lamb. This sheep was nearby, happily eating from a bucket, oblivious to the strangers that had entered the barn. Arthur walked behind the sheep and made some noise. The startled sheep jerked its head up to see what was going on, but it moved so suddenly that the bucket stuck and came up with it! The poor disoriented sheep looked from side to side, and realizing that it could not see, it froze, apparently too scared to move. It did not budge until Arthur composed himself enough to go free its head. Note his laughing face. What an appropriate illustration for my last post! We're like the poor sheep, blinded and frightened by the mess we can create of our own lives. While it may seem funny to someone looking on, I'm sure it was not funny for the sheep! However, a good shepherd can easily remedy the problem if the sheep will hold still long enough to let him! However, if it tried to wander off on its own, it would be woefully lost! Good thing this poor sheep had the sense to stop. Hehehehe!