spellingg bee

Yes, I completely stole the title of this post from the TV show Psych.  I'm a fangirl.  Sue me.  You can have all of my student loan debt if you win.

Anyway, do you remember this post from last year? 

Today was the day of this year's spelling bee.  Sarah was very eager to try again.

She still remembers the word she missed last year, although she can joke about it.  "I missed 'harsh!'  That is harsh!"

Numbers were waaaaaaay down this year.  Apparently some sort of plague is making the rounds, and many were unable to participate due to illness.  Both bees had a much smaller turnout.  The upper grades' bee had only eight children--I know there were at least twice that many in it last year and probably more.

The younger kids' bee had two children--Sarah and another girl.  Not much of a bee, but they enjoyed it.

They honestly were quite evenly matched.  They both got quite a few words correct and went several rounds.  Then the other girl missed a word.  Per the rules, Sarah still had to spell her word correctly to win.  But she missed hers too.  They went a few rounds with both of them missing words--it was comical almost how similar their levels of spelling prowess were.  I knew it was anybody's bee, and it would possibly come down to a fluke.

In the end, Sarah won.  She is thrilled with her medal and thrilled to have won a spelling bee after being disappointed last year. 

I'm proud of her, of course, although a two-person spelling bee isn't much of a competition.  But I'm proud that she wanted to try again.  I'm proud that missing a few words didn't frustrate her to the point of losing her concentration and making dumb mistakes.  I'm proud that she thanked everyone who told her she did well.

I'm especially proud that she told her opponent what a good job she had done, and that the opponent also smiled and congratulated her.  Such good attitudes from both of them.

And I'm glad it's over.  It's nerve-wracking when your kid is up on that stage!  ;)

follow-up to yesterday: kitchen disasters

So between the French toast breakfast and the supper that pleased everyone (nigh near impossible in this house), I was feeling pretty pleased with myself and my culinary prowess yesterday. 

Pride goes before destruction, I guess. 

I had planned these positively delicious-sounding sour cream enchiladas for supper tonight.  Then I realized: I was out of cheese.  We never run out of cheese in this house, but we managed it thanks to that lovely but unplanned mac I had made last night.  Drat.

Okay, no biggie, just figure out something else to make with chicken.  My casseroles tend to involve cheese as well, so those are out.  Not enough time to make soup really.  Sweet and sour chicken!  That's it!

I've not been successful making sweet and sour chicken since the discovery that I can't have soy sauce.  Darn, I miss soy sauce.  But I forged ahead. 

Some nights you really just need to grab a $5 pizza and give it up.  :-p

While my rice cooked, I started chopping my chicken.  Rachael Ray says to do your chopping next to the stove, so you can dump things directly into the pan when you're done.  I was kind of in a hurry, and it sounded like a time saving step.  Only I don't have room next to my stove like she does.  So I set up my board on the stove--I wasn't using all of the eyes.

You so know where this is going, don't you?

I set up my pan on the back eye so I could dump my chicken into it once I was done chopping.  I chopped and dumped and turned on the eye to heat the pan.  I added my fat to the pan.  I got ready to dump my chicken.

I frowned.  Why wasn't my pan heating up?

Because I of course turned on the wrong eye.  Yep, I now have an eye-shaped burn on my cutting board.  The stove eye is coated in nasty melted plastic.  Arg.

I also over-cooked dinner--which didn't have any flavor to speak of anyway.  It filled our bellies.  That's really about all you could say about it.

Grumble, grumble, mutter.

*raises right hand*  I, Karen, do solemnly swear never to brag about my cooking accomplishments on this blog again.  It's just not worth it.  Sheesh. 

kitchen capers

I had made a couple of loaves of sourdough bread last week.  I had some bread still left over, so I decided to make French toast this morning.  I mostly used this recipe, although I upped the cinnamon and vanilla, added nutmeg, and used Natalie's almond milk instead of whole milk.  Still, it made for a very yummy breakfast, especially since we splurged on real maple syrup with one of Christmas gift cards. 

Speaking of gift card splurges...I also bought a jar of almond butter with that gift card.  I love almond butter.  I wanted it on a piece of sourdough toast for breakfast one day last week.  However, I discovered something terrible.  Someone had opened the jar at the store--and used their fingers to draw a smiley face in the almond butter.  :-p  YUCK! 

I had already thrown away the receipt, because I don't keep them after the charge has cleared the bank.  Thankfully, Target was gracious and exchanged the product anyway.  Sadly, apparently this isn't unusual, although the manager said that it was normally cosmetics that the culprit opened and defaced.  How utterly spiteful and wasteful! 

I meant to use some leftover chicken in tonight's supper, but I ended up making homemade macaroni and cheese instead.  We ended up doing kind of a "meatless Monday" even though I hadn't planned it.  I'm pondering trying to do it more often though.  I also made these pumpkin muffins, although I used white whole wheat flour, almond milk, and again increased the seasonings.  Oh, and I omitted the chocolate chips because of Natalie. 

I'll probably make more sourdough bread tomorrow.  Gotta to keep using the starter regularly so that it doesn't go bad or lose its "oomph." 

I'm tracking our grocery spending this month, trying to lower it from last month's total.  However, I'll confess up front that the gift cards will certainly help with that.   The real test will be next month!  ;) 

Rather boring post, I know.  Maybe someone will find the recipes useful. 

2013

Happy New Year!

I always love the "fresh start" feeling that a new year brings.  There's just a feeling of renewed hope and another chance and sense of promise.  "It's been a long December, and there's reason to believe that maybe this year will be better than the last."  I always think of that song lyric on New Year's Day.  I think that's what we all wish for when the calendar page flips--a better year than the year before.

I didn't accomplish even close to everything I wanted in 2012, and as such I loved this blog post from A Holy Experience.  I often find encouragement and inspirations from Ann's words, and this post was no exception.

I do have goals and such for the new year, but I'm not making any big "New Year Resolutions."  Instead I'm trying to break things down into shorter term monthly and weekly goals.  I recently read the book Tell Your Time by Amy Lynn Andrews, and it provided some food for thought as to how your overall goals should dictate how you budget your time.  It's not a new idea--Steven Covey talks a lot about the same principle in his books--but it's presented in a very practical, easy-to-read format.  I have a shiny new planner to map out my ideas (and it even has its first coffee stain, so it is truly MY planner now).  I'll post more about how it's going throughout the upcoming weeks and months.

One goal I will share now is to procure an AP Stylebook with a gift card I got for Christmas and study it.  I need to brush up on the peculiar quirks of AP style that differ from conventional grammar.  Then I can retake the proofreading test offered by the company for which I write and have  more jobs available to me.  I'm always going to continue working on writing more frequently so that I can increase my writing speed.  I am a very slow writer, taking too much time to ponder every word.  I also tend to "over-research."  The experts I've read all assure me that writing more often will help me write more quickly.  I will make more money if I write more articles.  Writing more articles will only happen if I write more quickly.

On a completely different note, one thing that is rather exciting to report is that I ended 2012 by going a full two and a half weeks without a migraine.  TWO AND A HALF WEEKS!!!  That is an extraordinary record and very exciting.

Naturally, I broke my streak on New Year's Day.  Do I know how to ring in a new year with style or what?  ;)

Anyway, best wishes for a wonderful 2013 for everyone.  (Please excuse any mistakes you might find in this blog post). 

end of the Advent season

Actually, since Sarah has a book about the Twelve Days of Christmas and since we do have a download with activities to do on Epiphany, I guess the season isn't really over yet.  ;)  Our tree is still up, and we're still using Christmas plates and mugs.  Still, December 25 has come and gone, the presents have been opened and exclaimed over, so Christmas Day is officially done for 2012. 

I've sung the Christmas carol "Joy to the World" pretty much my whole life, and to be honest I never really thought much about the lyrics.  I think it was last year that I looked at some of the words and thought, "Hmm, that sounds really postmillenial in nature.  How interesting."  It added an extra layer to the song for me as I contemplated those latter verses.

Since we can't print anything at our house right now, we decided to forgo our usual Advent Bible study activities (which have to be printed) in favor of a series of videos from Holy Heroes, a Catholic organization.  One thing that the videos brought out that I had never considered before is that Advent is not only celebrating the first coming of Christ but also longing for and looking toward His second coming.  We can still sing "O Come O Come Emanuel" with all of its words of yearning, because we are waiting for Him to come again.  The recent tragic events in Connecticut drove home just how desperately we need His return to put things right. 

A Facebook friend noted a couple of weeks ago how much she was enjoying a particular rendition of "Joy to the World."  A friend of hers commented that the song was originally written about Jesus' second coming, not His first.  I can't really vouch for the veracity of that claim, but suddenly some of those lyrics from the other verses make so much more sense. 

I'll close with the lyrics to "Joy to the World," and you can decide for yourself.  Until then, we can join together in both celebrating His first coming and longing for His second.

Joy to the World, lyrics by Isaac Watts, 1719
  
Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

"Amen. Come, Lord Jesus."  Rev. 22:20b 

more Natalie-isms

This morning, Sarah and Natalie just would not stop bickering while getting dressed.  Finally, in exasperation, Sarah declared, "Natalie, you're being mean!"  Natalie huffed in response, "No, I amn't!"  Not a bad application of standard contraction rules, even if totally wrong.  ;)

Then this evening, I commented on how clear the sky was and how you could see all the stars.  Natalie happily chirped, "And you can see the moon too!"  Then she added, "But it's broken."  I'm sure she'll be quite pleased when it gets "fixed" and is whole again.  :)

oh, the weather outside is frightful...

Actually, we haven't had anything more than snow flurries.  But boy, that wind!  We've heard all manner of thumps, bumps, and bangs keeping time with the howling outside.  This kind of cold day just makes you want to huddle under a blanket.

The soup I had stashed in the freezer came in handy today--homemade soup in just the time it took to defrost and reheat.  It really hit the spot.  Normally coffee is my hot beverage of choice, but tonight I splurged and made some old-fashioned homemade hot cocoa (I can't drink the instant stuff).  Since the only milk in the house was Natalie's almond milk, my hot cocoa has an almond hint to it.  Not too shabby. 

Even though it was only flurries, Natalie's been fascinated by the snow.  Since we didn't really have any to speak of last year, she doesn't remember seeing any.  She loved it.  She loves running to the window to investigate all of the booms and crashes too.  ;)  

And since we're still here, I'm going with the internet fan theory that the Doctor saved us.  ;)  It's what he does. 

In all seriousness, I wish everyone a very restful (albeit cold) evening. Since Christmas is rapidly approaching, Merry Christmas as well ( just in case I don't make it back here).