Taming the Beast

Inspired by my friend who is starting her blog- which I am VERY excited to read and share- and VEGBEE- whose blogs you MUST check out- I am here and ready to blog again!

I am brimming with joy and, shamelessly, a bit of pride as I announce that I have tamed The Beast. That would be my Montgomery Ward 1969 model sewing machine. This is the same machine that I grew up sewing on. The one that took many trips to the repair/maintenance shop and still behaved erratically. The one that I have considered many times throwing from the highest window I could find. The one that, after about an hour and a half of poking, dusting, brushing and oiling, is now purring like a little kitten.

Mind you this kitten still has claws. I have, since last night's maintenance session, bent needles and clogged thread. But I am delighted with my machine and quite sure that I do not need that new one for Christmas after all.

I am even pretty sure that I could take on the Christmas Dresses for my girls this year. But, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

I think I would not be doing my life justice if I did not at least mention the German Short Haired Pointer/English Springer Spaniel, Jasper, that is throwing himself against the door to be let in at this very moment.

Talk about a BEAST! I cannot count the miles I have jogged, run and climbed through over grown bushes, to capture this dog after one of the many times he has escaped. You may say, "Well, given the breed didn't you know what you were getting yourself into?" Well, no! I asked the owner of the mother of the pup if this was a calm breed and he said yes. I had never really heard much about the breed before.

Let me make this abundantly clear to all:

A German Short Haired Pointer/English Springer Spaniel IS NOT, I REPEAT NOT, NOT, NOT A CALM DOG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But, Jasper is very intelligent and he is mine. Now that I see that there is no way God is letting me out of owning this dog, I commit to care for him, love him and above all train him.



Here is a picture of him when he was much smaller, much cuter and less disgusting. Never mind the face that he is peeing on my kitchen floor in this picture. A fact that my daughter pointed out to me as I was showing her what a cute picture this is.

Jasper is the true beast in this house and it is only with the help of a good friend and a good dog training video, or ten, that I will be able to handle this dog. But things are already getting better. He is already a "good" dog, someday he will be a great dog.

Hmm...I was just about to wrap this up but realized that I can't quite yet. As I typed "great dog" I couldn't help but think of my GREAT DOG that I had to say goodbye to almost a year ago.
It makes sense to mention that when I got Buddha he was a lot of trouble! He was without manners and was a hyper, crazy dog, maybe not QUITE as out of hand ad Jasper. He cost me hundreds of dollars before I got him under control. In the last half of his life, everyone fell in love with him. His good manners, gentleness and sweetness had everyone by the heart.

So, here is to a true friend, protector, and the best dog ever. The first true commitment I ever made.

Buddha
1995-2009

Texas Enchilada Sauce

This is a great recipe submitted by "Sue" to Allrecipes.com. I love the site and recommend it as a resource for all kinds of recipes.

Texas Enchilada Sauce

• 2 (6.5 ounce) cans tomato sauce
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 1/3 cup chili powder
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 onion, minced
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped

DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium saucepan combine tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, chili powder, oregano, paprika, cumin, pepper, salt and garlic. Cover and cook over medium heat.
2. Meanwhile, melt butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Saute onion for about 4 minutes; stir into sauce. Cook sauce for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in bell pepper and cook 10 more minutes.

25 THINGS I LOVED ABOUT HIGHSCHOOL. Or 25 things I can now look back on as really great things about highschool.

My friend recently did a list of things she loved about her husband. While that was the list I was GOING to make- and still will- I decided to do this first.

As I was having my most profound thoughts in my meditation room, also known as my shower, I realized that my negative thoughts about highschool were completely wrong and still caused me anxiety each time I came into contact with old highschool acquaintances, which has been happening a lot lately thanks to facebook.

So here goes:

1. Band
2. Band performances
3. Football games
4. The alternative PE class I was able to take, though I cannot now remember the name of it.
5. Being manager for Cross Country. Now I wish I had just joined Cross Country my freshman year.
6. My "kindred Spirit" Dianna Remmick.
7. Barb Scharosch. I think I appreciate the friendship more now than I did then.
8. The Pits.
9. Spanish class. Actually it was Mrs. Everson that I loved. What a ray of sunshine.
10. Being forced to read books I would have never picked up on my own.
11. Economics class. The reason I have never gone into debt.
12. Government Class. Nothing like understanding the way your country works. Having to rewrite the Constitution in your own words really gives you an appreciation for it.
13. All the boys I had crushes on. The list would be too long and too embarrassing to put down here.
14. Learning the Debate Pen Flip, even though I was not in Debate.
15. Mr. Terris, even though he would NOT have been on the list then.
16. My youth group friends. Too bad I was too much of a loser after graduation to keep in touch.
17. My jobs at Silverwood.
18. Working at Ponderosa Steak House. Valuable lessons learned there on SO many levels.
19. Moving to California for the last 3 months of my Freshman year.
20. Moving back to Idaho after those 3 crazy months.
22. My first car.
23. My One-and-only-wonder-rubber-ducky-cousin, Carrie. Goofy, I know. Just one reason why it was awesome.
24. My first love.
25. Graduating and getting it all over with.

Junior High was the hardest time of my life. Highschool was a close second. I wouldn't want to repeat either again without the insight that only comes with maturity and age. I am so glad to be where I am.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

As I sit here all alone in my house, with no car to escape I face the fact that I am stranded- trapped. AND I LOVE IT!!! The dishes are clean- I mean ALL clean, everyone of them- for the first time since the kids took over the task. Why does it take two perfectly capable kids who are supposedly working together two hours to do ten minutes worth of work...well that is a different topic all together too involved to enter into my random thoughts right now.

Washing dishes gave me some time to think. I tried to sit down and make a blog entry after Christmas but was too distracted. Christmas did NOT go the way it was supposed to this year. None of our out of town family were able to get here due to the extreme weather and even out in town family called to say it was too dangerous to make the trek. Now, Dave has wanted it to be "just us" for a holiday- any holiday- for years and he finally got his wish. But he was so unhappy. He wasn't expecting it and I think he really got to appreciate how much family add to the day. At least I hope he did because I have no plans to do Christmas like that again. It was fine. Quiet, peaceful. But I love family gatherings and I really missed it. It didn't really feel like Christmas to me.

So, back to the present. I got on YouTube the other day and learned how to knit so I am really looking forward to doing a little of that tonight. But I certainly don't need to wait for everyone to leave in order to knit.

The secret is that while my family is away I am being reeeealy BAD! I fed them all the leftovers that were in the frige. And they were good. Chicken and rice dish with peanut sauce. Oh so yummy. No one seemed to notice that there wasn't enough for me and that I was not joining them. That was ok with me though because I was secretly weighing and eyeballing my options while they were eating. Would I have gourmet cheese and some soda? Or milk and cookies? I could do cereal. I have literally let me kids have cereal ONE time for dinner, in their entire lives. I know this is a great fall back for busy moms but I have never done it. And it was just the other day. I made a really big deal about how I have never done it before and will probably never do it again- blah, blah, blah. But when the family is gone I can do whatever I want and I AM in the mood to be naughty.

So it was Coffee and Cookies for dinner. Maybe the cheese will be my dessert.

As I wash dishes I let my mind wander. I often will slip into what I consider something close to meditation. I have had some of my most profound revelations washing dishes. Nothing like that tonight though. I did start thinking about how much I could accomplish in the three hours they will be gone and then started wondering how much I might accomplish if the kids had actually gone off to school like I had originally planned. When I started homeschooling Hannah Chloe was in first grade. When Chloe had been in Kindergarten for half days I had been planning the whole year how I would spend my days alone at home. That just never happened. I have no intention of sending the kids back to public school full time. I figure for now this works and I don't really NEED my house to be clean for anything too important for the next 11 years. It sure isn't the top of my priorities over well rounded, mature, moral kids.

Sooo...Now I lost my thought. Oh well, I am going to go read my favorite blog SQUANDERISM. I recommend it!