No pictures, but three reasons...

to not go on a walk in the south in the summer!

1. It's hot. Face it. For some reason, we take a break in the summer and work all winter when the weather is beautiful! What is up with us?

2. Humidity is the catalyst for perspiration. The south is built on humidity. In the summer we are only slightly more wet than in the winter. Our humidity level goes no lower than the highest levels in some other states.

3. Ticks. Need I say more?

Story time everyone gather around:

I have a couple neighbors who have kids. Their kids are off for summer break. Being the ogre that I am, I force my kids to school year round. However, I've learned the hard way that bending is easier than breaking. So, this week while both neighbors are home (usually they are not around during the day) I opted to lay formal lessons aside and go for life.

Yesterday we learned what it means to clothesline someone (no picture of the rope burn on anyones neck!). Today we learned what happens when two boys are overly tired. I had taken all six kids (yes, I said six) in my van to a local park. We walked a trail that is no more than 1.1 miles and it only took us an hour and a half! That's the toddler's pace. Along the way he kept fussing about his legs. I am an ogre; therefore, I ignored it after seeing what looked like just a bunch of debris on his legs.

We keep walking. I call the older boys (all 4) to come back to me. I have no trouble keeping up with the lone girl in this bunch. S is just struggling with his legs. He just can't keep his hands off them! What's up with that? We are near the end of the trail and everyone is walking the toddler pace! I pick him up onto my shoulder and we finish in fine form. Not to be outdone, we head over to the boardwalk that traverses the lake's edge. We go down, down, and down some more. Is the slope really that intense? Yes, it is. We see water and shade and others fishing off the boardwalk. It's nice, but now we've got to go back up.

We walk up, up, up, and up again. We rest at the top and S tries to climb the rail. L stops him. I'm still trying to catch my breath and explain to the kids about what we've seen and done. They are all tired and I can see it on their faces. We've had freeze pops (plastic wrapped sugar water!) twice. Now we are thristy. We head back to the car and not wanting to share germs I take the lone water bottle remove the cap and dispense it to each child sharing with them that in India they do this all the time! They enjoy their refreshment and pile into the car.

This is where S and M melt down. S is fussing about shoes (but really, he's got anxiety over the black spots all over his legs. M doesn't want to give up his seat to the lone girl (does anyone see a character training moment coming?). It's exasperating. M is disciplined and corrected and gets into his seat after two fits. S is allowed to fuss a little until Mom comes up with a plan. I just whispered to him a little and offered him some comfort (we'll be home soon!). It's not as bad looking back at it. I was more embarrassed than anything.

Fits are over and we are on our way home. We finish the Adventure in Odyssey we had begun on the way out (did it really take 45 min of driving to get there and back?). We sat in the van to finish the story and then we piled out. Neighbors are warned to to a tick check and we head inside. We pull off no less than 25 ticks from S. There were 1 or 2 on M and only 1 on L. I on the other hand had 2 or 3 on the trail and 2 at home. S must have hit a nest! I'll never know, but next time I go for a walk, it might be a whole lot cooler out!

Hollan-daze Sauce

So you invite yourself to your beloved neighbors house to enjoy the rack of lamb that was lovingly purchased by your vegitarian neighbor for her omnivore dh. It's a great plan. You supply the corn, glazed mushrooms, and entertainment (Mad Gab®). They supply the lamb and fire. Everyone is happy and you really enjoy time spent with said neighbor. While you are kayaking with one neighbor your spouse and the neighbors spouse discuss everything from Kenyan Missions to what's for dinner. A conclusion is made that Hollandaise sauce is a must have over the lamb.

Upon return from the kayak trip a search is conducted for allrecipes.com best Hollandaise Sauce. Upon determining that a blender recipe is the way to go you pack up your additions to the meal and head on over to the fire that has been started. The sun is up until nearly nine O'clock. You discover that the accented syllable in a word makes all the difference, over and over again. You can't get the words "Ice Mail Ask Hunk" out of your brain. Dinner is nearly ready. Everyone knows that Hollandaise sauce is supposed to be hot and ready to serve--don't you? So in you go to do your one part to add to the meal--your spouse did everything else on the fire!

The blender and ingredients are laid out just as you left them just a little while before. First things first, separate the eggs. Which part do you need? Oh, never mind, just squeeze the lemon drop in some dijon and hot sauce. Everything will be fine. Hurry, get the butter hot. That's what makes the whole blender thing work, hot butter. No, that's only melted. Get it hot, really hot. "You know," interjects your neighbor "you can remove that little cap and pour right through the hole in the lid." That's a great idea. Hot butter is hard to handle. I'll be sure and be careful.

Fast forward to dessert discussion. Wow, that was great. It wouldn't have been the same without that sauce. Just what went into it? Well, there's the egg yolks. Was it yolks? Did I put in yolks or was it whites? [Go get printed recipe]. GIGGLE. Chuckle. LOL, ROFLOL. Never ending ribbing. Really, never ending ribbing.

Here's the "proof", but we haven't any pudding left.

Cast Iron and Southern Tradition

So you wanna live in the south (not S. Florida, that doesn't count, he he!)?

Well there's a few things you just must know. First, grits. They are just like their name sounds (Princess, what's that type of word called?). They don't grow on bushes and we don't pick them. Second, corn bread. It's not a health food but it's soul food! Go ahead, have a slice. Smother it in butter, then enjoy! Finally, cast iron pans, dutch ovens and griddles. Have some? Use them! They're wonderful!

Rant: Soap and detergents remove oils. That's their job. Food particles are removed with elbow grease. Cast iron is designed to be used with a nice coating of oil baked onto the surface. That surface, while non stick does absorb certain things. Soap and detergents are primary on that list of certain things. So, the conclusion, class, is to NEVER EVER apply soap or detergents to cast iron cookware. If for some reason you have violated the only cast iron rule in the world, not to worry, there's a rememdy.

First, visit LODGE. They have explicit care instructions for your cast iron cookware. Second, hot boiling hot water. We had an accident with our cast iron recently. I didn't mind really. I ran hot tap water over the pans hoping to remove the soap that had found it's way to our corn bread pans. That didn't work. Well, we decided they needed hotter water. I wasn't in the mood to handle boiling water all over the kitchen and the idea didn't hit me until I started writing tonight (this morning!) anyway! So we heated the pans in the oven for about an hour and they still smelled like soap! UGH. Not to worry. A little tap water (cold) onto the hot pans and viola, the offending chemical was lifted away. No more smell. What a relief.

We have pans that we inherited from my MIL who had them for years. They are all well seasoned and very well worn. Non stick is no issue for me. I never did like teflon coated pans. I know I can repair the finish on my cast iron any time I want to. I love our cast iron.

Southern tradition: Enjoy cast iron and all it's wonders!

There you have it folks, another remedy from the river.

I'm using my blog to share information about Clea and Isaac. Through a friend of theirs in Kenya, they send these prayer requests. Would you please join with us in prayer for the following needs? It is a privilege for me to be the messenger. If you want to know more about the Woottons, please visit their web site at www.teachbibletruth.com (Check my link -Wootton's in Kenya.).

All of us had a tough week with many attacks. But – we are VICTORIOUS through JESUS CHRIST, Halleluja!!

Still praying for:

- the Leaders in the Nation and in the churches, to become real servants of God.
- To put up a Training centre for discipleship in Mt Elgon For provision to drill a well in one of the new churches in Turkana.
- A motorcycle or a car for Pastor Florence in Turkana who walks 42km from her home to her church!

- Isaac training John to run the radio program with Chuck Smith teaching (John Curson- is Birech Student)
- The Wootton's move to Uganda on AUGUST (corrected, this said July at first) 11.
- Eugene, the Member of Parliament for Saboti (also Mt Elgon Area).
- Protection and wisdom.

New requests:
- "Titus", the gardener and student Bible teacher (his wife ran away with the kids).
- Evangelistic Outreach for Isaac and Students at the Bible college this weekend, Friday and Saturday. (That's today!)
- The small children in the Orphanage at the Bread of Life Center For favour in the government office for the dependency letter for Elijah and Clea Wootton.
- Mungu akubariki!Thanks again for being in agreement with us to pray for the needs in Kenya. -

-God bless you.The Wootton's

There is nothing new under the sun...

I like ellipses; don't you?

What have I been up to lately? The new clothes line is installed and working great. I don't have to go downstairs with the laundry now. An entire load fits on the line and I need a few more clothes pins. Hey, that's something you don't know...

Way before I considered using a clothes line, for some reason, I found myself with a plethora of clothes hangers with those plastic clips on each end. They come with a metal spring--that's the best, IMHO. Not wanting to discard them I uncovered a use for them: Clothes Pins. Whatever you would use a clothes pin for, use these clips. Of course, you'll have to pull out the pruning shears--the long handled ones with the curved blades! to cut them loose from the hanger itself. I'm sure someone has a better method -a hot knife, for example- for such a process, but that's what I used. I use them for chip clips and cereal bag clips. Now, I'm using those 30 some odd clips as clothes pins!

Before Al Gore and the environmental clan started chanting "Go Green" I've always been a conservative gal at heart. I hate to waste things. I really wish we could go back to life when to open a bottle of medicine, you didn't have to climb your way through 4-5 layers of "protection". I remember the poisoning scares back in the 80s. I was young, but old enough to remember! It was after that when all the companies put shrink wrap over the caps and added those blasted foil seals and push to turn lids. I don't want things to be unsafe, but I also hate to waste all that packaging!

Now, if someone would tell me what to do with those blasted plastic packages that hold tiny electronic item I might sleep better at night!

I thought I'd find a way to mention each of my favorite blogs in my blog, but then I thought that would be redundant since I have links to them and I've posted comments when I read them. You can read my comments there!

What is childish behaviour?

I read someone else's post somewhere on the web. They discussed the difference between childish behaviour and disobedience. I'm navigating my way through this and wish I could have PPPs mind for a day on this subject, because I think much of what I deal with in L is childish behaviour. Since I can't have PPPs mind, I'll have to tune in to what I do have in Christ: the Holy Spirit.

Today, I witnessed childish behaviour. L and M had been outside playing (in this heat!) and discovered that our neighbor was home. L sent M into the house. M announced "GN (girl neighbor) is home and she's about done with dinner so we're going to go and play with her." Had this been L several years ago, he wouldn't have been outside playing without supervision (see I'm learning). If it had been L today or years ago, they wouldn't have gone because no one is allowed to announce their intentions and then run out and execute said plan. But, it was M and he's still learning. He behaves childishly. So, I corrected him with a gentle rebuke that sounded like this: "It's not OK to tell me what you are going to do. Would you please try again?" Then he promptly corrected himself and asked permission to play with GN. I must say that was much more pleasant than being an OGRE (sorry Shrek©&™![I did it, copy and paste from text document]).

So, what childish behaviour did you witness today? How did you respond?


BTW, the answer to the following question is "as many as it takes". How many times do I have to tell you? Also, remember: Things go much better if you just give a soft answer (it turns away wrath! (Proverbs 15:1) I just love God's word.

More green things...

So you want to know what I'm doing?

We've been trying to cut corners everywhere on our spending. It's not really an economics thing as much as it is that I just hate to spend money, period (not comma!). So we turned off our greenhouse lights and moved the seedlings outside. We turn off all lights we aren't using and try to not turn them on until they are necessary at night. We only drive into town 3 times a week (sometimes 4 if HOH drives alone on Wednesday) and we count it a blessing to be home most of the time. So really, I am a stay at home mom.

A necessary change for HOHs sake is that I do laundry promptly as it comes out of the dryer instead of piling it up until we have enough that justifies sitting down and sorting it all out. I guess you can say that I like to sort things and count things. It's genetic.

My dad and I used to take turns doing dishes (we were the dishwasher). Whenever we'd go to put them away, it was a counting game. Were there 16 juice glasses? What about the 1 stainless steel cup? Are all the forks in the right place? OK maybe it wasn't a game but an obsession or compulsion. Is there a disorder that reflects the need to find just the right word to describe something?

Back to the laundry. We've been known to have weeks worth of laundry piled up in our room when company comes over! HOH hates it. In effort to submit to his leadership, I have taken it upon myself to master laundry. Every day I've been checking to see if a load needs to be run. If there is, I start it then head to the dryer because chances are there is a load stashed there waiting to be folded. Stacking laundry on the dryer is OK because HOH can quickly distribute it to the appropriate location and expect it to get put away. So that's where folded laundry goes. When I get around to it (please don't send me a round to-it!), I might even put things away.

All this laundry modification has been great, except I've noticed how long and often the dryer is running! AAAAK. Certainly that's where our power bill has gone through the roof (up by nearly 33% in the past year!). So, I'm going green. Being the geek that I am and impatient as I can be, I didn't ask for HOHs help in stringing up the line, I just did it. Today we bought pulleys and what not to attach it to my porch so I don't have to go down stairs, but that's a project for another day. This weekend I dried three loads of laundry on the line. This is a picture of the last load on the line today!


HOH says that I don't have time for it to dry before nightfall. I don't mind. It can dry for the next hour or so before sundown and I'll finish it off in the dryer. Saving some must be better than none, right?

BTW (By the way), I learned to do laundry from Dad, too. He would dutifully wash and dry it on the weekend while Mom was out of town at a craft show. To him, he was helping. In her opinion, it was all wasted effort, because she still had to fold it.

Are you green with envy? What are your laundry woes? Does your HOH insist you fold his unmentionables? For 12 years I've been folding them because I thought HOH wanted it that way (leftover Marine Corps bent). Just today I checked to see his opinion. Wow, I don't have to fold them any more! Yeah.

So, am I going green? Probably but not with envy.