A Monologue

I have spent the weekend at the theatre so in honor of that this post isn't titled, "Sunday Evening Post," or "Random, Random, Oh So Random," or any of my other catchy titles used for posts where I ramble on and on. In the theatre when someone rambles on and on alone without any dialogue with another character it's called a monologue. I'm gearing up to inundate this blog with pictures and videos from Hannah's 12th birthday, the show "Honk!, Jr.," and the "Disney Cabaret." Before I do that though I thought I'd just check in and chat a bit. Grab a cuppa and put on your listening ears.
It is Sunday night and I am wiped out. My house is a pretty major mess but I just can't face it yet. That's what tomorrow is for. Ollie goes back to work and tomorrow is the first day back to some semblance of routine for the kids and myself. We are working our way into normal school year life. This week will focus on getting back into chores, getting up early, and morning reading time. Next week we start school! I'm actually excited about this, I feel more ready to start school than I have in previous years. I've tried to embrace the slower pace of summer and maybe embraced it a little too hard. I've spent way too many hours prostrate on the couch with a book in my hand. I don't think I've ever done so little with so many hours. In some ways it was nice but although I was not motivated to do much of anything I also never fully relaxed into it. Most of the time I felt like I should be doing more but just couldn't muster up the stamina to do it. Our message at church today was on Ephesians 6 about slaves and masters and our pastor related it to employees and employers. I came up with my own little application relating it to my own life. My family is my "employer" and my job is to be a godly wife, mother, and home manager. We are all so much happier and content when I am doing my job well and efficiently. I may get much less free time when I am doing my job well but overall I am much more content with my life when I am doing a good job. The verse that will be on the white board this week is "Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people." Ephesians 6:7 I have made myself a list (of course--I'm the Co-Queen of listmaking, the other Co-Queen is my sister) of ways that I can best be a good employee. One of them is taking care of myself spiritually and physically--that translates to getting up early and going to bed early. Getting up early for the gym a few times a week as well as time for prayer and Bible reading. Going to bed early is the hard one for me. I used to always go to bed early but now I have a hard time going to bed once the house is quiet and everyone is asleep. I love those late night hours when I am "alone." Anyway, I am looking forward to my fresh start tomorrow morning.
I'm in the middle of reading two books--two very different books. One is Why Christian Kids Rebel by Dr. Tim Kimmel. I'm loving this book (as much as I can love a non-fiction book...a little boring). This guy is putting into words so much of what I believe but didn't necessarily have words to express. I'll blog about it when I'm done. I am also reading Bossypants by Tina Fey. This book is LOL funny but not necessarily a clean book. I recommend it anyway, that woman is a riot! She is funny on tv but even funnier as a writer.
Speaking of getting back to being a better "employee" in my home--It's 6:30 in the evening and Joe just informed Ollie and I that he has eaten nothing all day. No breakfast, no lunch. I left this morning with scrambled eggs on the table and told him to have some and I guess he didn't. I got home from church, ate a quick lunch, cleaned the kitchen and left again for a couple of hours (to do more work at the theatre), came home and crashed for an hour. In all that time he never told Ollie that he was hungry so Ollie didn't give him any lunch. Poor guy. He needs his momma.
The End.

A Fun Filled Weekend and a Crazy Week Ahead!

We had a busy, but super fun weekend. First of all, Ollie and I got to spend about 24 hours in the lap of luxury at the Waldorf Astoria in Orlando. The suite was a gift from one of Ollie's students and we turned it into an anniversary celebration. When we came in there was even a bottle of chilled champagne and chocolates. While we were celebrating in style the kids were spending some time with Aunt Harriet and Uncle Billy. They had a great time too.

When we got home we were met with this--our yard had been forked. I laughed but Joe was quite offended. He just didn't understand the humor in this at all. It took me days to figure out who had done it but finally with some help I discovered that it was my friend Addie and her kids. I'm looking forward to paying them back. :0)

We were only home about an hour and a half before we were off again. This time to the Dolly Awards at our local theatre that the kids are involved in. This was sort of like the Tony's but on a smaller scale (no duh!). There was entertainment and lots of awards given. We got to get all dressed up and fancy.




My kids received a t-shirt and a certificate. Our friend, Jonathan got student of the year. Congrats to Jonathan!

Yesterday was a good day too but I don't have any pictures...we got to see and hear from some friends of ours serving as missionaries in Cambodia as well as hear a little bit about the trip to Russia some people from our church just got back from. Later I saw a very funny musical to end the weekend on a good note!
This week is full of fun...tonight the kids performed at Chick-fil-a, tomorrow is Hannah's birthday and we are having a small party for her here in the afternoon complete with karaoke, the kids are in 3 shows this weekend, and I think that's it. Lots to get ready for and lots of fun to be had!

A Schedule

This is my last summer camp day that I will have all alone. Ollie comes home today and is off for the next week and a half. I am looking forward to some time with him that isn't centered around the kids, haven't had that in a long time. But for today, I will enjoy my day alone (well, my 5 hours alone). I have decided to make a schedule to make sure I make the most of it. Here it is--

9:15 to 10--computer time
10 to 10:15--breakfast
10:15 to noon--read
noon to noon:15--lunch
noon:15 to 1:20--read
1:20 to 1:45--run around the house like a madwoman doing dishes and general pickup so that it looks like I did something more today than lay on the couch and read.

Horror Movie Makeup

The kids take various classes in the afternoon at theatre camp. Today they learned about horror movie makeup and then got to practice on each other. Here are the results on Grace and Joe. Hannah had a nice black eye but washed it off before I got a chance to get a picture. How rude.

Cheeseburger Pizza

Tonight for dinner I made Cheeseburger Pizza. It was really good and sort of easy. This is how you make it--first make pizza dough or take the lazy way out and buy it already made at Publix (which is what I did tonight). Bake the crust for about 10 to 15 minutes at 400 degrees until it is lightly browned. While it is baking, brown the ground beef and season it with salt and pepper or some sort of seasoning salt. Also, shred some cheese and chop some tomatoes and slice some pickles unless you already have hamburger chips. When the crust is done, top it with the meat and cheese and bake 5 more minutes until the cheese melts. Then take it out and top it with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and ketchup, and mustard. We had the pickles, mustard, and ketchup on the side. And, serve your pizza!



Warning, this pizza will be well loved by children but won't stop the talkative ones from chatting their way through dinner. Grace starts most of her sentences these days with, "It was hilarious..." Love that girl.

A Couple of Good Meatless Meals

Both of these recipes came from my SIL's in Chicago. Thanks girls--we've loved both of these!

Southwestern Salad with Cilantro Lime Rice (the rice is my addition)
**this recipe doesn't have actual amounts, you just have to sort of wing it**

chopped tomatoes
green onions
green peppers
corn
black beans
cilantro

Combo the veggies and marinate them in a dressing made of--
lime juice
garlic
cumin
honey
salt and pepper

You can marinate them for an hour or for the day it doesn't matter. When you're ready to serve the salad, toss it with chopped lettuce and crushed tortilla chips. I also served my salad over a spoonful of Cilantro Lime Rice (recipe below) and it tasted just like the salad at Chipotle. Yum!

Cilantro Lime Rice--
1 cup rice
2 cups water
1 tsp. bouillon
2 Tbsp. lime juice
2 Tbsp. fresh chopped cilantro

Use the water and bouillon to make a pot of rice however you make rice. You could also use brown rice. Once it's done then add the lime juice and cilantro.

Red Lentil Deliciousness--

Heat 3 tbsp. of sesame oil and add 1 tsp. curry powder. Add in 1 cup of rinsed red lentils (I bet you could use brown lentils too) and 3 cups of water and 1 tsp. bouillon. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and cook until the lentils are soft. Make some brown rice and fry some eggs. Serve the rice topped with the lentils, a fried egg, and mango chutney or any other sort of chutney. We all liked this one! I loved it with the chutney and can't imagine it without it but it would probably be good either way.

Nothing Much

The cast and crew of Stupid Spies, Part 1 got together on Monday to film Stupid Spies, Part 2. This filming included a trip to the local FroYO place. I had lemon custard with raspberries and it was really good. I've decided that although I am a die hard chocolate fan when it comes to FroYo (to be cool you must say it that way) I really prefer the fruity flavors. I just don't like chocolate yogurt much. It's not the same as chocolate ice cream which we all know is all kinds of wonderful. Especially if it has brownie pieces in it. Anyway, it was a fun afternoon. The kids are having a great week at theatre camp. I've managed to stay busy during my free hours of the day. I've been productive but have also had some downtime. Of course, as usual I haven't gotten nearly as much done as I had planned but that's okay. There really is no rush.


I have not been in the bloggy mood lately but I don't like to let too much time pass between posts. I like to keep my readers coming back. :0) (I started this post on Monday and I'm just getting back to it on Thursday so if this seems disconnected from the first part that's because it is disconnected--by 3 days). Last Thursday night we had some friends over and had a little karaoke party. It was so fun. Ollie subscribed to some sort of karaoke website and now we have access to tons of songs. We already had a lot of songs but now we have even more--lots of Broadway hits as well as songs that the kids love. We've heard lots of Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, and Selena Gomez. Josh and Joe teamed up to sing that song about "New Yooooorrrkkkk concrete jungle where dreams are something and something...." Josh sang most of the song and let Joe sing the chorus. They were pretty awesome. Even baby Connor and Landon got in on the action.


A friend and neighbor of mine is moving out west. She is also a really talented artist and decided to give me this awesome piece of her artwork. I'm super excited, just what I needed for my foyer and at a very reasonable price (free!). I love it and will be happy to have something to remember her by. Of course, with FB and e-mail it will be easy to keep in touch. 20 years ago it would be likely that I'd never talk to her again but it's easy to keep in touch these days.
I spent my free morning on Monday wrapping up and packing up last year's school. Ever since Hannah was in Kindergarten I've stored each school year's work in these Priority Mail boxes. They are perfect and can easily stack in whatever random spot I find to put them. After homeschooling for the past 7 years I've managed to fill a lot of boxes. Chances are you will find some in any and every closet in the house. I wonder if we will ever open them and look back at what we did.
Sunday I turned on the A/C and spent some time in the kitchen making snacks. I made these bars of awesomeness (see pic above) and they were pretty awesome. :0) The kids have had them for breakfast almost every day this week. They are packed with protein and even Omega-3 so I don't feel bad about them eating them for breakfast. You can get the recipe here, the only change I made was that I added chia seeds (hence the Omega-3). I love adding chia seeds to everything but my kids aren't so into it. I made the best donuts yesterday and no one liked them except for Ollie and I. I used freshly ground whole wheat flour, coconut oil, fresh peaches, and chia seeds. They also had sugar in them of course. Joe was none too happy about the chia seeds and made sure to let me know. He told me that he is tired of me adding those seeds to everything. The thing is that you CANNOT taste them so why not add them to everything??
Sunday night I ran the lights for a show at Bay Street. Jonathan had programmed them and then made good notes for me to follow and in the end I only messed up once and that was at the very end. I blacked out and then the guys were supposed to run off the stage so that they could come back for bows. The only problem was that I gave them a very short blackout and then the audience saw them run backstage and we all sat there awkwardly waiting for them to run back out and bow. It would have been so much better if it had blacked out, they ran backstage, and then the lights went up again for bows. Oh well.