Committed - just throw away the key.

I saw a poster that said  marriage and insanity were the same in that you are committed.

Cutting your own hair is another reason to be committed. Once you start the process, you are committed until you get it done, no stopping whatsoever. With cutting hair, like cutting boards, you better measure two or three times before you cut. The good thing is  it will grow back.  The scary part was committing to using the electric shaver (with cover guard) on the back side of the head with one hand while holding the mirror with the other, and trying to figure out how to get a comb back there.
Here's the results. I feel it came out VOGUE. I think Commander has other ideas about it. THe boys - I don't think they have noticed at all, so good.
It is so much cooler now with the 100 + degree weather outside.

Try holding the camera behind you to get the shot.

 Camera clicked before I looked away. I like the ipod feature of having to camera directions.

On a foot note : )    I walked for 1 hour today and then did four 100m strides down the field. My feet are doing good. I don't expect them to feel like new. They didn't start aching after 30 minutes, there were actually points when they felt better than they have in years.

Hoola Hoop sizes and Runner's Bible Study

These are the two hoola hoops that I'm working with, one for weaving rugs, and one 5 pounder for toning the gut.

Now you can see why there was no way in Dixie that I could make that smaller one spin. I'd have to be shaking at 100 mph to keep it moving. But the big one, OMG, it is easy...  it is hard... it is going to knead the inches off my waist line, and tighten up the core. I enjoy a good muscle bur, and  it definitely gets you there fast.

I'm  also working on writing a Runner's Bible Study program. While it is in the beginner's stage. I'd like to hear from you about topics as a runner or non-runner that you would like to learn about concerning running. We will see what verses and study we can pull from the Bible to touch on that matter. I firmly believe the Bible address all issues in life. So let me hear from you.

Crocheting new rug

Here is the new rug I'm working on for a friend. I'm using all Jersey knit material that I was able to purchase for $1.50 a yard. Awesome. The colors are: teal, aqua blue, violet, pink, light mint, and yellow. I actually like the colors so much that I'm going to use the rest of the material for a rug for my bathroom.
"But wait," you say, "you already did a rug for your bathroom."

"Yeah, isn't that great.'"
 I can pull it apart and use that material on the hoola hoop rug. I want to make it navy blue and red for Commander's Arizona Wildcat colors.
I know. Hawk shook his head too.

The instructions at the hoola hoop rug described a different way for attaching the strip ends together. It is awsome! 

For example;  to attach a blue strip to a red strip. Lay two inches of the blue strip end on top of the red strip end overlapping by two inches. Fold  this two inch overlap in half and cut a small notch. Open the notch with your fingers, keeping the two materials lined up, grab the other end of the blue strip, push that end up from the bottom and through the notch, then pull the blue strip all the way through. The two strips of material will hold together as if you've done a "Pinky swear" . It is the easiest method I've tried so far and the easiest to crochet into the rug.

It's Pinterest's fault

It all started on Pinterest. Like, LIke, LIKE. This is the summer of crocheting rugs, latch hooking my own design, and now I found a hoola hoop rug loom pattern.

Today while I was in the "Mart"  I saw the Hoola Hoops.

I thought this was a perfect time to pick one up and have it available for the rug making. Then I thought that I could use the Hoola Hoop for exercising my CORE area while I finished the rug I'm working on now. I had seen a video clip where entire workouts were designed around using the hoop.(You'll catch on that I'm doing too much thinking here.)

When I arrived at home, I thought the garage would be a perfect place to try it out. To hoola-hoop, your hips need to have an easy forward and backward sway.

3 minutes of trying - couldn't do it.

5 minutes - no better.

10 minutes, I'm so shocked at the inability and lack of skill to make this thing work, that I head off for the internet to search - "How to hoola hoop." I end up watching youtube clips, while trying to "hoop it" in front of the computer screen.

 I'm scaring the dogs.  

The hoops on youtube look HUGE.

So I search hoola hoop sizes. I find a young girl explaining the different size hoops. The one I have, the one for a small 5 year old girl, or one that would be for an arm workout, will not work for a six foot adult. If you stand the hoop on the floor in front of you, it should reach the height of your belly button.  The one I bought reaches mid-thigh.

At least it will make a nice rug loom.

Then I start searching how to make my own.  After watching a few of these videos, I decide against buying 100 feet of tubing no matter how cheap that's suppose to be. I don't need 8 hoops.

I found a place to buy a 5 lb. power hoop that is collapsable.  Easy to carry, easy to put together.

I'm thinking again.

Throwers and jumpers on the track team are going to learn how to hoola hoop their core muscles into shape.

 I can't wait for circuit training.

Hawk can't wait to video tape the throwers.

And to think this all started on Pinterest.

Thank you for Homeschooling me.

If you are a homeschooling parent, you understand how sweet those words are to my ears. They came from Herogian. Saturday afternoon when he was home from his first week of boy scout camp, he and I were in the kitchen working on dinner. He told me that he thought an instructor at camp must have liked having him in class. I thought this was a bit vain, so I asked, 'why?"
"Because I'm about the only one that would be quiet and listen to instructions. So many of the kids just won't shut up when the instructor is talking."
I told him a lot of kids think it is okay to talk when an instructor is talking because they do it at school. It is a normal classroom problem for many teachers.
"Mom, have I told you thank you for homeschooling me?"
"You just did."
I also received a nice hug.

Here's a funny. We asked Gluten to let us use his Ipod during the week while he was gone so Dad could play "Tower Defense". He said no. Okay. I guess he then hid the Ipod because he thought his dad or I would try to guess the password, and in doing it too many times cause the thing to lock up. He got home Saturday around noon. He had to leave Sunday morning for the next week of camp. He hadn't found his IPOD. He couldn't remember where he hid it. LOL.


Anyone else having problems with their blog page not coming up so you can post?

An Easy Gluten-free Quinoa, Broccoli and chicken Dinner

I like things easy when it comes to cooking dinner.

Since we have the empty nest syndrome around our house this week, I was cooking for one. Tonight, I came across the bag of Quinoa in the cabinet, and decided to try it.

 Boil 1 1/4 cups of water, dump in a cup of Quinoa, turn down the heat and let it simmer for 12 minutes. Then take it off the heat and sit for 5 minutes.

During this time defrost a few chicken strips in the microwave then toss them into the fry pan with Greek vinegarette and let them cook.

Put the steamer bag of broccoli into the microwave and let it cook for 5 minutes.

Everything was ready at about the same time.

 Scoop Quinoa onto a plate, then broccoli, place the chicken on top, and pour on some more vinegarette.

It was really good, Gluten free and healthy. Next will be to try it on the family. I know the Commander will like it.

Just add chicken.

The 12th - 19.5

19 years and 6 months.
This morning I woke just before 6:30 and thought I'd better get out of bed to mix up the crepe batter. I had promised Commander that we would have them for breakfast. He is working a shift with his old jobmates and working the night shift. He was to get off at 6:00, go to the gym and I'd probably see him around 8:30. The crepes batter needs to sit in the refrig for 30  minutes to 3 hours. As I turned on the kitchen light, I heard something at the front door - outside the entry way.  I look through the glass and see Tony searching his key ring for the storm door key.  I step out to open it, he looks up and shouts,       "Happy Anniversary - I got you!" 

If you remember from earlier post, we do this every month. He has beaten me so many times it isn't funny. I was even waiting up for his call last night at 12:01 because he has done that so many times in the past - that it isn't funny. :-P
He couldn't get to a phone. So he got me at the front door, blurry eyed- and rattailed.

THis is for Commander. Happy 19.5 Anniversary. Picked from our berry patch this evening.

rag rug and slat picture

Just a couple of things I've worked on lately. I like the split picture style. I did a large blue sun for the 'Day Room', you might remember this picture. I wanted to paint something for a friend's birthday (Happy Birthday, Terri) and decided to do her a small version. I called it 'Fractured Light"  - Even though we are fractured, God's light can still shine through us.

 I forgot to take a picture of it after attaching it to a thin strip of wood. I off set the slats a bit more than it is in this picture. Now,  I'm going to try and make her a rag rug with the same kind of colors. I can't wait. Just have to find the right color of sheets. Lemon, teal, purple, and lime.

The rag rug below is what I started when I had the surgery on my feet. This thing started as a rectangle, oval, circle, and failed. I then decided going back and forth with straight lines would do. But I must confess, I didn't count stitches or safety pin marking points. Once the thing started getting to big for my lap and I had to fold it in half, I started slipping in an extra stitch on the ends. So it came out  longer on one side. Which, when I put it in the bathroom worked great, because I wanted it on the floor at an angle from the sink to the toilet. It covers the floor at both areas perfectly. The laundry basket is holding the large balls of 3/4" strips of material. Cut one end of the sheet and just rip. Hawk had fun helping me on this part. To hook the strips together, I snipped one end of the strip twice - at 1" and at 2 " from the end. By weaving the new strip in and out these two holes, the strips would weave in together. Afterwards, the ends need to be tucked.

Here's

the finished version. I only had one pink sheet, one light blue, and the dark blue was a pack of curtains with a sheet that I bought at a yard sale for $1. Some of the blue is faded from sunlight giving it two shades of navy blue. I used a crocheting hook for yarn, so the loops are tight. It will be nice in the winter to have it under foot.

When I painted

the fractured sun for Terri, I painted this for my bathroom. It is to remind me that

life is full of color, including attitudes, feelings, emotions, and love can be expressed in many different ways (or colors). It says,  Lord, thank you for the COLORS in Life.

I now working on a t-shirt latch hook rug -an impressionist style garden.

Have a great week.

What is it with birthday months and attitudes?

I feel like I just asked this question last month when Gluten turned 13. What is with this attitude that jumps out of the wall when a teenager is about to have a birthday?  The superior, I'm right, I know it all, it should be this way because that's how I want it. Good Gravy!

Hawk witness the blow up, melt down, fireworks, which ever term you choose, when Herogian decided to give me a load of attitued about his driver's ed program being enough that he should get his permit now and not have to drive 50 hours with a parent. Yeah, right,  teenage drivers are like unstable dynamite, ready to explode on the population of drivers out there who have to have manditory insurance coverage because these young whipperstapers are so unstable. But hear it from their mouth and they are God's gift to the road.
It went down hill from there with attitude about taking care of the chickens properly and doing chores 100 %. If you can't mop the floor with a Swiffer and get all the floor, then I'll just have to let you get a bucket of soapy water , get down on your knees and try again to clean the floor. The object is clean, not wet.

THen there was the hurry off to boy scouts meeting. I drove so we could quickly navigate through town by taking a few turns. He actuallyhad the gull to ask me, "Where are we? The meeting starts in a couple of minutes. Are you lost?"  Maybe if you pay attention while driving your 50 hours with me, you'll learn that the church is two blocks ahead and one block west. I should have stopped and let him walk from there. It might have releaved some of the stress in the car. Then he pulled the old Passive Defiant behavior that he is a pro at. Left the wallet at home, - no driver's license, can't drive.
Well, No driver's license, no TV when we get home.

Okay, fumed enough. Teenagers!!!!     The cause of gray hair.  :-)

Butchering meat birds

Last night we placed four of the meat birds into two dog kennels and let them spend the night in the shed. THis allows them to empty out their systems before the butchering process, helping to keep things cleaner. Herogian set up the chopping block with two nails about 1 1/2 inches apart so it would help keep the head trapped on the block.
This morning I set up our table, two ladders with a pole between them, four wires to hang the birds from, and the ice chest full of boiling hot water. Two buckets were under the hanging area to catch the drippings, and a lined trash can was ready for the feathers and innered.  The boys had received a nice knife set at Christmas with three different sized blades, these really came in handy.
Herogian actually got out of bed to help. That was a major plus to the morning. Before I was out with the last pot of hot water he had one ready for the dunking. THe hot water bath really helps the feathers to let go and come off easily. The gutting of the bird is a lot easier without the feathers in the way. I feel like I'm getting the knack for it when I can reach inside and get everything plus the trachea in one good swoop and pull. We didn't have one spill of the messy stuff by keeping everything intact.
After another dunk in hot water, we cut through the knee joints.
Great timing for the dishwasher repair man to show up. This was probably the first time I've had a service window of four hours and they actually showed in the first hour. Hawk wouldn't let the guy into the house until I was there, so I came in with blood splatter and four naked birds ready for their last washing. I think he was a bit surprised but impressed that we had raised our own food. I later found that my face was splattered with blood. That probably caused his surprise. Blood splattered woman answering the door and telling you to come inside. I'm surprised he didn't run the other way.

It was good to get the job done, but too much time on the feet. I'm taking tomorrow off. We will probably try to do the other two chickens and the peking duck on Wednesday. Gotta get these jobs done before the boys head off to boy scout camp for two weeks and church camp.
Herogian smoked two of the birds on the grill and the other two are in the freezer. Yeah.

Gluten is at Science Camp  http://www.myanimalcamp.com/   but he must be dodging the camera or he ran away from camp. Just kidding. Didn't see him in any of todays photos, though.  Hmmm.

I had a birthday

It happened. Another year has gone by. Another year of borrowed time, I sometimes feel. Another year of trying to get the boys ready for the real world out there on their own. Commander and I only have a few more years of molding the boys softly, after that it will take a big stick to make a dent. Another year of wondering if I'm doing what God wants me to be doing or am I doing it for myself. Another year trying to get better organized, declutter life, and accept the things I can't change. I have a smile on my face as I look back over this last year. I think it has been a good one, the spiritual growth slow and steady - that's always best. The Type A personality has relaxed a bit. I've taken a few of the irons out of the fire and actually set them down for later. Other things are more important right now, family relationships, boys education, spiritual life, and health.

I would have let this year pass on by without saying anything if it hadn't been for a couple of friends who sent me birthday wishes by FB, text and phone. Commander wanted to know what they said. So knowing he was too wrapped up in the day events (taking Gluten to camp) to remember my birthday...ugh... I told him to look at the calendar. I don't know a way to say "Honey, today is my birthday!" without making him feel bad. So I told him thank you for the Ipod, and the backback  that I was using on our weekend trip (both of which I bought last month or two). And dadgumit, I got a year older.