Three $1 Socks, Two Christmas Balls, and a Bow from a Pinterest link!

My newest Pinterest success:

I had wanted to make one of those wreaths with all of the Christmas balls on it, but figured that this wasn't a good time to be spending extra money or making something that would be difficult to move. I decided instead to make this sock wreath and I think I got a lot of bang for my three dollars.

I started by making a cardboard circle from the biggest cardboard box I had laying around, then I cut a smaller circle in the middle. Then I took my 3 pairs of socks from the dollar store and cut them on either side of the heel and cut off the toes. Then I just slipped them on over the cardboard. I made the bow following instructions found on pinterest as well, using ribbon leftover some other project.

Last I took some of the leftover Christmas balls and hung them from another piece of leftover ribbon. I think it turned out great!

My Statement of Faith or I'm Not Gonna Go There With You

Earlier this week someone made a comment to me about Russ losing his job. I knew that their family had experienced financial difficulty before and that they expected to be able to commiserate with me verbally. (i.e. pity party)

Let me just say for the record, I am not going there.

-----

When we joined a local Christian homeschooling group many years ago they presented me with a piece of paper containing their Statement of Faith. Their statement of faith was not one I could completely agree with, but since then I've loved the idea of either an organizational or personal statement of faith. It seems a good time to write down some of the thoughts that are in mine...


I love our life. I have loved Russ's job. I have loved having a measure of financial security. I love my house and I love Durham and our Durham friends and family. But I am willing to give it all up if that's what God wants of/from us. I trust that He has our best interests in mind. I trust that He knows what we most need and where we most need it. I trust that our family can find happiness wherever we are together. I believe that He can comfort our deep sadness at the thought of leaving this beautiful place and the people we love here. I even believe that I can survive without being able to go to the ocean multiple times a year. (And that's saying a lot!)

I refuse to fight it. I am trying not to whine too much, and instead to pay close attention to all of the many evidences that God is active in and aware of our lives. And I really and truly and fully believe that one day we will look back on this and give thanks for everything that happened and how it turned out. I Believe That.

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I started reading a book tonight by Elder Lund called "Divine Signatures." I thought the quote on the back was amazing:

Sometimes, the Lord sends His blessings in such a highly unusual, dramatic, or precisely timed manner, that it might be likened to a 'divine signature.' It is as though the Lord 'signs' the blessing personally so that we will know with certainty that it comes from Him. In doing so, God not only gives us the blessing, but at the same time He strengthens our faith and deepens our testimony of Him.

Here is this week's divine signature in my life. My desk has been piled high with mounds of stuff since I started working on the kitchen. Normally I use my computer at my desk, but in the last two months I haven't at all. Last week I started trying to clear things off of it--every time I walked by I would pick up a thing or two. I made a little progress, but not enough to actually sit there and work.

On Thursday I had a meeting and then a long hair appointment, so I knew I would be gone for 5-6 hours. At some point I started thinking that it had probably been too long since I'd backed my computer up (since the external hard drive & backup software sit on my desk) and that I should probably go ahead and do it. I left the house in a hurry, but asked Russ as I left if he would plug my computer into the hard drive and make sure the backup started. I didn't think another thing about it.

I didn't even think about it on Friday night when I stumbled and dropped the computer. (Somewhere between 6 and 18 inches, depending on who's version of the incident you're going to believe.)

I didn't think of it again until Saturday night, when my computer suddenly refused to complete an order on amazon and subsequently refused to reboot.

And you can believe I thought of it when Russ said he thought the hard drive was dead.


All I can think now is,

WHAT ARE THE ODDS???

And I know that the answer is that there are no odds in the world that are that good. I am astonished and deeply grateful, and I am certain that the timing is doing just what Elder Lund said it would... not just giving me the blessing (of not losing so much of my life that is contained in that computer) but also of helping to strengthen my faith and deepen my testimony of Him.

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In conclusion, let me say that if you want to talk about the joy you feel when you see the hand of the Lord in your life, I'm your gal. If you want we can trade experiences where we know the Holy Ghost was working in our lives and shake our heads with astonishment that it sounded just like every other thought in our heads. If you want someone to affirm your faith with or to share the scriptures that are standing out in your mind and heart and bringing you comfort in troubled times, give me a call.



But that other? I'm just not gonna go there with you...

PS. When we put the bread in the oven tonight it seemed to be working just fine. When the timer went off 30 minutes later the bread was still mostly (very well risen) raw dough. Looks like the bottom element of the oven has stopped working. At this point it just makes me laugh...

In Which Russ Chila-Killes the Kids

It is time I tell you the story that has become a part of Ray Family Lore and needs now to be memorialized in my blog.

In the spring, while I was happily holding babies at my sister’s house, Russ was planning to try a new recipe out on the kids.  The recipe was for Chilaquiles (pronounced chee-lah-KEE-lays, should you be struggling with that) and he was sure it was going to be well received.  According to all of the food network shows Russ watches, chilaquiles are the ultimate in comfort food.  The recipe called for a couple of ingredients we didn’t have in the pantry but finally he had accumulated everything he needed, including 2 cans of chipotle peppers, and was set to make his new dish.

On the night in question he sliced and fried and blended (the 2 cans of chipotle peppers) and shredded his way to chilaquile perfection.  He put the food on the table and served each child some chilaquile and then went to get a few more things to put on the table.  As the children started eating, one at a time they complained to Russ that the food was too spicy. 

[I must insert a side note here.  Dieting seems to have had the singular effect on Russ of completely destroying his palate.  Now he is unable to eat something with any amount of enjoyment unless it is so spicy that it makes the rest of us cry from pain.]

Russ assured the kids that the food was not too spicy, and told them to keep eating.  A few minutes later he sat down and started eating.  He was surprised to find that the first bite was spicy, even to him.  He took another bite thinking  that it would be better, but it was even worse.  And after the third bite, his mouth burning, he admitted defeat.  And told the kids that they had his permission to stop eating.  It was too spicy!

He was so puzzled.  Though he has made food before that is too spicy for some of the rest of us, never before has he followed a recipe (or even jazzed up an existing dish) and had such a total failure.  It was not until he looked at the recipe again (far more carefully) that he realized his mistake.

Where he thought he read
2 cans of chipotle peppers, blended,
it read instead:
2 canned chipotle peppers, blended.

A subtle, but very important distinction, especially as there are usually 4-6 chipotle chilies in each can!

 

Tonight we successfully ate Chilaquiles.   We are not convinced that they are the ultimate comfort food.  But at least they were somewhat comfortable this time!

O Pinterest, O Pinterest!

(don’t you like my Christmas song allusion?)

The girls had a cookie exchange tonight for Girl Scouts; each girl was to bring 24 cookies to exchange with the other girl scouts.  I told the girls that they could each look at my Pinterest Christmas treats page and choose what we would make for their part of the exchange. 

Jenna chose these peppermint brownie cookies.  I’d looked forward to trying them, and now having tasted them I can’t quite decide what I think.  The frosting (complete with a dash of salt and a couple of tablespoons of cream) was fabulous.  The peppermint on top gave it a nice burst of flavor.  The brownie cookie had the great taste of brownie, but unfortunately was just a little bit tough.  I would probably make them again, but I wish I knew enough to make the cookie a little more tender.

Rachel went in another direction entirely.  Instead of looking for a cookie that was the tastiest, she went for the cookie that was the most fun.  And these melted snowman cookies were lots of fun to make.  I used the allrecipes link for the sugar cookies and they were delicious.  The royal icing isn’t too tasty, but it actually wasn’t bad either.  And the finished product was such fun.  It did make me wish that I had black food coloring (blech!) because making the eyes, mouths, and arms with the black gel stuff from Kroger was a pain.  Maybe next year?

Oh no!  I’m melting!!

Jared also made a choice—he chose a delicious chocolate peppermint roll that I think we’ll make tomorrow or the next day.  I’ll let you know how it turns out!

(Did I mention how much I love pinterest?  What a great way to keep track of stuff!  Thanks Megan & Katie for my new addiction!)

Heroic Girls & A Funny Boy

(oops sorry, no Christmas lyrics there!)

A couple of weeks ago we had a real, genuine adventure right here in River City.  Russ and I had just left one evening to go run some errands.  The boys had gone to a movie with a friend, so for the purposes of this first story they don’t exist.  Or at least they were not at home.

As we drove away from the house I realized that I needed some information and so I called home and Rachel answered.  I was telling her what I needed to know when she told me that someone was knocking at the door, and that it was our 12 year old next door neighbor.  (She’s usually pretty freaked out if someone knocks on the door while we’re not home, but since it was her friend she skipped the freak-out and just opened the door.)

In the background I could hear some agitated words, and then Rachel got back on the phone.  “Mom,” she said, “his dogs got in a fight and one of them is hurt really bad.  He needs help taking the dog to a vet.”

For some reason I told Russ to turn around and head back home—at this point we were less than a mile outside of the neighborhood.  As we drove back towards our house we heard the neighbor tell Rachel that the dog had also bitten him, but that did not prepare me for seeing his leg when I walked into the house.  The girls had gotten the bandaids and neosporin out but it was clear that what he needed was not a bandaid but a trip to the ER.  He and his mom ended up spending most of the night in the ER, where the doctors did a beautiful job stitching his leg back together.

*************

A week or two later Russ and I were leaving the house with the girls.  Josh was gone somewhere too.  Right as we were ready to walk out the door, Jared ran up to us as if he was in a panic.

“Mom,” he said, “what do I do if I’m home alone and Tiger bites me????”

 

Funny, funny boy.

 

(I don’t have any pictures of Tiger attacking Jared, but here is a picture of Tiger getting ready to attack a leaf,

and here are some of my funny boy doing his schoolwork.)

There’s no place like home for the holidays…

I’m thinking of only using titles from Christmas songs for blog titles in December.  Or at least using lines from Christmas songs.  Or at the very least, making sure I am thinking about Christmas songs while I am blogging…

Anyway, I know the rest of you got out your Christmas decorations and decorated your entire houses on the day after Thanksgiving while I was eating pie for breakfast and watching hours of Harry Potter.  One of the reasons I know this is because tonight Jared told me that

everyone he knows already has their tree up, and can’t we go get a tree???

I told him that as soon as we A)figure out where we are going to put the tree, which really means B)where are we going to put the treadmill which now lives where the tree used to and C)get the house cleaned up and D)Russ gets out the Christmas stuff then we will, indeed, get a tree.  I promised him that it would be done by the 15th of December.  (I believe in wide margins.)  He was not satisfied.

For me I consider it exceptional that I have almost made a new Christmas wreath (as in almost completed, not as in almost thought about starting it) and I have put up some Christmas decorations in our breakfast area.  Thanks to my awesome and stylish cousin Emily (who happens to own 30 skirts, which is pretty amazing) for the cute idea. 

I hope you all know that for me to have any kind of Christmas decorations up this early in December is really amazing.

I hope you also know that these are the ones that are up because this is a relatively clean spot in my house, so I can stand to have them there.  As in the ceiling is a relatively clean area, not the breakfast area.

I hope you also know that I am really not a Grinch.  Just about decorations.

My laugh for the morning…

My 11 year old scout was just getting ready for the upcoming board of review.  I was a little puzzled when he read off,

Know how to care for a person who is cooking…

????

Ummm….I think I haven’t been cared for well enough!  But how do you care for a person who is cooking?  Do you stand there and pat them on the back??  Tell them what a good job they’re doing measuring the salt???

 

(And the word was really choking…)