Talents Buried

I have talents that sometimes want to shine at the most random times.  Okay, so this one probably wasn't all that random as you will see in the following story.

My child was born nearly four years ago.  One of my sisters welcomed a baby into her family in March.  Between my child growing into a toddler and her child being born I have discovered something I wish I had been creative enough to think of on my own and that I would probably like to have for future infants.  Of course, it is an item that can be ordered and paid for at potentially a much higher price than someone with basic sewing skills (like myself) can make on their own.  So, wanting to see if I could actually make one, I found an online pattern, purchased the materials I did not already have, and set to work making the item.  I made a reversible carseat canopy, but did not think to take pictures of it on the carseat, so here is the finished product in flat:



Animal Print side



Plain side

Anniversary

Welcome January 2012!  It's clearly been a few months since I last posted and as I perused my previous posts to maybe get an idea of what to write today, I realized it's been almost one year since I began this blog.  So much has changed since then.

One of the most desirable changes is that, as a family, we are done with school for a while and Brett finally (just within the last few weeks) was offered a professional job--it's temporary, but it's a good start toward something better.  Another change is that we have been blessed during the holidays to spend time with family we haven't had opportunity to spend time with outside of phone and internet for a few years.  Other than these few changes, right now I'm thinking that there are more changes yet to come that I look forward to.

As Brett has been saying lately, 2012 is going to be a good year for us!

Move it!

So I missed posting in July because I was very busy with preparations for and the aftermath of moving.  Now we are more settled for at least a month or so until my husband can find work.

Moving and I have a love/hate relationship.  Moving loves me because it kicks me out of my current comfort zone and causes me to evaluate if I am going in life where I want to be.  I am slowly beginning to stop hating moving because I hate saying farewell to local friends with the promise that we'll be back to visit--It's nearly impossible to coordinate a visit that lets us see ALL the friends we've made and for a long enough time to enjoy it.  I'm beginning to stop hating only because of social networking sites that let us all stay in touch a little easier.

I certainly am thankful that snail mail is not the only way to communicate visually long distances these days and that technology makes easier sharing parts of our lives with our friends around the world.

Matters In My Own Hands

My son loves to watch a show called Shaun the Sheep.  He asks me almost daily, "Watch sheep?"  I really would prefer he spends most of his time doing something active rather than just mindlessly sitting watching a television screen or computer monitor.  So one day when he asked if he could watch sheep I decided we would make a sheep instead.  I got on the internet and found a simple project idea, gathered the supplies I had, and I helped him make his own sheep.  And here is how it worked out:



The supplies







Finished project







It was a really easy project and my son was able to help cut out the sheep outline, then letting him put the cotton balls onto the glue was far less messy than giving him the glue to squirt.  And when the sheep was done he had a fun new sheep he had helped make rather than just sit and watch an animated sheep again and again and again.

The Plague of My Own Doing -- or putting off doing

Why is putting things off so easy to do?  When I started this blog I wanted to post at least once a week.  And here I am on the last day of May writing a post so I can keep at least one post a month--at least for the last few months.  And the dumb thing is that I'm on the computer at least once a day, I just don't take time to create a post because I carry the attitude that I can do it later, or do it tomorrow.  And then I find myself looking back at a whole month having gone by without having written here.

Sadly, blogging is not the only thing I have experienced this disappointment with.  And then when a deadline comes I find myself stressing to get that particular thing done the way I want, without the time I want.  You would think that after so many years of recognizing that I create the stress for myself (and often others who are affected by any activities I put off) by not just being consistent about doing a little each day that I would somehow find encouragement to change.

I suppose I can take a little courage that I wrote this in the morning of the last day of May rather than pushing it off to the end of the day...

A Bite About Food

I love food.  To allow that part of my mind a little air time, I will share a memory and a guilty pleasure.

When I was growing up, one of the salads we learned to make was "Belly-button Salad".  I think there are still debates about whether the name came about because Mom was trying to encourage us to eat it or whether some people in this world (outside of my family) actually call it by this name.  Here is a picture from a recent endeavor to make this salad:

As you can probably guess, most people who are familiar with this salad know it as Carrot-Raisin Salad.  It makes perfect sense to call something by the most obvious ingredients.  But, for the sake of argument, can you deny that raisins have a subtle similarity to some belly-buttons?

RECIPE:

Carrot Raisin Salad

4 CUPS grated carrot

1 CAN 20 oz. crushed pineapple

1 CUP raisins

3/4 CUP mayo

3 TEASPOON sugar (up to 1 Tbs)

1/2 TABLESPOON lemon juice

Chill all ingredients but sugar 30 minutes before salad prep.  Dissolve sugar in pineapple.  Combine and mix all ingredients adding mayo last.

Serves approx. 8

**If you think you will have leftovers, to make them less "soupy", drain pineapple juice out of can (and do not use in salad) before dissolving sugar in pineapple**

Okay, now let's discover the wonders of melted chocolate.  Not just any melted chocolate.  Around Easter many stores bring in a wonderful kind of candy called the Cadbury mini egg.  I believe it was during my college experience that I was introduced to the fine art of microwaving these gems to bring out the silky goodness of melting the chocolate inside the "crisp sugar shell".  After I was introduced to the microwave method (Depending on how many eggs you microwave at one time and the power level of the microwave, it takes about 30 seconds to one minute with the standard "high" power level.  The more eggs at once, the more time. I usually start at 30 seconds and if the shell has a noticable crack and squishes easily when picked up, it's done.  If it still feels hard, try another 15-30 seconds), I found myself having a harder time eating these eggs just plain and hard.  And now, a visual representation of what I am suggesting as a very near experience of heaven on earth:

Exhibit A: hard, just cut open

Exhibit B: after the microwave...I couldn't help eating half

Exhibit C: side-by-side comparison

Crunchy is good, but with this candy I say liquid smooth with a hint of crunch is better.

What to do, what to do?

Today I experienced something that no parent should have to add to their memory bank for future stories to tell their children.  Yet, I'm beginning to think that most parents go through this experience at least once.

Today son A and I went shopping.  He's still small enough that I like him to be in my sight at all times, preferably within easy grabbing reach as he has a tendency to not pay attention to other people who may be around him and more than once has almost been walked over because the other person is not aware of this little person so quietly and quickly being in front of them.  So, after having been to Kohl's with him sitting in his stroller most of the time, we entered Target and he was free of my hand since I was getting a shopping cart and was going to let him walk around with me.  However, his shoelace had come untied on the walk into the store, so as I took a cart I encouraged him to come to me so I could set him in it to tie his shoe.  That's when Mr. Attitude showed up because he wanted to walk and not sit in the cart.  I said, "A, please come here so I can tie your shoe," and he quickly responded, "No sit."  And he started walking away from me.  This is where I felt like Mater in the movie Cars when he should have hooked Lightning up to Bessy, then took off the boot--I should have sat him in the basket right away, then told him I needed to tie his shoe.

Son A has a pretty quick walk when he wants to, and I watched as he walked into the women's clothing section, which was sraight in front of us.  Then he turned out of my sight behind a shelf display of pants or something.  Usually when he does that, he turns out of view and stops (I should have known better about this too as he historically finds great joy in swatting at, running his hands along, etc. clothing that hangs down.  And he enjoys peek-a-boo/hiding games).  By the time I got to where he should have been, he was gone.  And I mean GONE.

I'll spare you most of the panicky details of me trying to figure out the best approach to my messy situation (I immediately freaked out that he disappeared so close to the exit of the store, he was not responding to me calling his name, and if he really was lost and another adult found him he's still not familiar with answering "What's your name?" or "What's your mommy's name?"--and he's not really afraid of strangers.  And I doubt he would think he was lost since he ran off knowing I was initially in pursuit).  I don't know how I eventually found him, other than I got really lucky.  About the time I was asking an employee at the nearby dressing rooms if she had seen a little boy, and she was telling me no and did she need to call security, I thought I heard his voice.  So I called out, "A, come here."   And I thought I heard, "No come."  So I went in that direction and found him laying on his belly on the ground with his head under a low shelf and he was giggling  (Was he trying to crawl under there to hide???).

As soon as I had him securely in my arms, my first thought was, how do I discipline him for running off and being lost to me for what seemed like at least five minutes (I know in words that doesn't seem like a long time, but in the actual moments of time, five minutes of a lost child in a clothing section of a store is a very long time).  This isn't the "how" meaning "how could I".  No, this is the "how" meaning "what method can I use right now that will teach him the severity of the situation in my mind?!?"  And then I thought, what really can I do?  Physical punishment won't teach him anything about this.  I can talk until I'm blue in the face and he still may not understand that he was lost and that can be dangerous for a child his age.  So eventually, after repeating multiple times that he should not have run away from me and hid, he knows better than to be out of mommy's sight, I sat him in the cart.  I really just wanted to leave and go home because I was so frustrated with him and anxious of what other antics he might try while we were still shopping, but I didn't want to have to come back later or tomorrow, so we continued with me being far more controlling than I had been before he ran off.  Usually I let him sit in the seat without the strap on, but not today.  He got buckled in for the whole store; no more walking, that privilege was revoked.  And when he wanted to look at a toy or touch something, all he heard was a firm "No.  You were naughty, so No."

I'm not sure the consequences I chose were very effective in the end, but what really could I have done to discourage Mr. Attitude's behavior in the future?