Yummy Pancakes!

Every now and then Gordon talks about a sourdough starter that one of his elementary school teachers sent home and the yummy pancakes this starter made. I have tried a few different starter recipes and a few different sourdough pancake recipes. All to no avail. Not one of them reached the same level of excellence to Gordon that his pancakes of childhood held.

Honestly, I was beginning to become rather frustrated. I even commented a time or two that perhaps Gordon's memory had somehow made his sourdough pancakes better than they actually were in real life. I truly believed that there was no way I'd ever be able to help Gordon rediscover the joy his tastebuds supposedly felt when eating sourdough pancakes as a child.

I held that opinion right up until this morning.

Claudia, one of Mom's neighbors had mentioned she had a Herman Starter and wondered if I wanted to have a cup of it. I agreed, telling Gordon this would be THE last time I tried a new starter for making sourdough pancakes.

So Herman sat in our fridge for a little over a week. I fed him a teaspoon of sugar to keep him happy. Sugar makes me happy too.

This morning I made up a batch of Herman Sourdough Pancakes. I made Gordon taste them first, before feeding the kids. After his second bite, Gordon happily announced that THESE pancakes were IT. THESE pancakes held that special tang that perfectly 'tickles the throat' just like he'd remembered from childhood.

WHEW! I will search no more!

They look yummy, don't they?!?!? I wouldn't know. I've been trying to be real good about staying at my goal weight lately, and pancakes simply cost too many WW points for me to have been tempted to eat them. Besides, I've never been particularly tempted by pancakes. I can honestly give or take them.

I also had some Amish Friendship starter that was ready to be expanded, separated, and baked today too. So I've been baking up a storm this morning.

Have I ever told you that I make a HUGE mess when I'm baking? Yeah. I'm the Messy Marvin of the kitchen. Flour gets everywhere. I promise you, it's not a pretty sight.

Good thing I have a willing child or two left who actually begs to hang out in the kitchen with me. I put Nora to work cleaning up some of the spilled flour. She thought it was the funnest game ever! Little does she realize that one day she'll get tired of having to clean up kitchen messes...

what's going on??

Not much, that's what. I feel like we're always busy. There's always some place to be, some thing to do. But it's all nothing out of the ordinary or extraordinary.

Grace is still practicing basketball. She thinks she likes it now. She says maybe she'll play on a team again in the future. Playoffs start this weekend. It's a round-by-round playoff, so if they win this weekend's game, we play again next weekend. If not, I'll be jumping for joy that we're done! they're done for the season.

Both big girls are still in scouts. Grace's JR troop (the one I co-lead) meets every other Thursday. Dianna's 2nd year Brownie troop meets the second and fourth Tuesday of the month. Some months their meetings are on the same week, other months they're opposite weeks. I can't decide which is less hassle for me....maybe once basketball practice is done with, and I'm able to experience a week of NO taxi-ing to/from meetings and practices, I'll decide that's the one I like best.

Will is really enjoying pre-school. For quite a while after starting, Will wouldn't talk about school. I'd ask him specific questions and he'd either pretend he didn't hear me or just change the subject entirely. Now he's sometimes excited to talk about what his class is doing. They're finishing up a segment on bears this week, so Will picked a book about bears from the school library on Wednesday. He was thrilled to be able to have us read it to him that night!

Nora, well you know what's going on with Nora. I just posted about that the other day. That girl is so precocious, it's too much sometimes. She, Will, and I were dancing up a storm in the livingroom this morning. We're cool like that.

(almost) Wordless Wednesday

Last Friday we did pizza and games with Mark, Lisa, and their girls...

Tuesday Tip

The first (and only) time I offered a 'Tuesday Tip' post, I posted about re-hydrating playdoh.

Today's edition of the 'Tuesday Tip' is again about playdoh. This playdoh tip is compliments of my mom, who is full of all sorts of tricks when it comes to raising lots of kids.

** I have yet to test this particular tip out, but I'm sure to be giving it a try in the not-too-distant future!

Anyway, we LOVE playdoh here at the Crazy House. Like I said yesterday in my post about Nora, playdoh is an activity that's guaranteed to keep her occupied for a good stretch. All four of my kids love to play with playdoh on a pretty regular basis.

One thing that I dislike about playdoh use is that it tends to get dropped by little bits onto the floor. When the children play in the kitchen, it's no big deal. I simply give the playdoh a little time to dry out a bit and then sweep it up. When the children play in the dining room (which is most often the case), it's not so easy. I again try to let it dry out a bit and then just vacuum it up, but if it gets ground into the carpet before it's dried out, I'm done for.

Mom told me the other day that it's actually rather simple to fix that problem. She told me to take an ice cube to the ground in playdoh. The ice cube makes the playdoh become brittle and easier to scrape up out of the carpet fibers.

I can't wait to try this new trick out! I'll be sure to update y'all with my successes as soon as I've gotten to test it out.

Can she really be that old already?

Nora turned 19 months old yesterday. She's officially in the second half of her second year. WHERE has the time gone?

At 19mos old, Nora is running around almost constantly.

She still signs a LOT of words. Even though she says them at the same time. I guess she figures that saying it both ways will mean she'll be understood better. It usually works!

Nora has begun to sing the alphabet. It goes something like, 'A..B......C...E..F..HIJK.........Q..R..S.HIJK...' It's a work in progress.

Nora LOVES to color. Especially on herself. Sometimes the paper gets a little scribble or two as well.

Playdoh is another favorite craft. She sits for at least a half hour at a time when the playdoh is out.

She has been showing an interest in using the potty. She likes for me to take her diaper off and place her on it. Usually she's instantly asking me to 'wipe' and then she wants to wash her hands. Though it's not often, she actually HAS had a success or two in the potty department! This is another area where we're at the work in progress state.

Nora sleeps most nights without waking even once. She's been sleeping naps AND nighttime in the girls' room, in her big girl bed since shortly after the New Year. (the crib finally got dismantled and removed from Will's room just a couple weeks ago) Those nights that she does wake, however, she thinks she needs to be up for a good long while before having to close her eyes again. This does not make for a happy mommy come morning time.

Nora loves to brush her teeth. She loves to have her hair in a 'PONE-EEEEE'. She loves to try out each of her older siblings' shoes, walking around in them for at least a few minutes each.

Nora's favorite food is ketchup. If I would allow it, she would have ketchup to accompany everything. I tend to stick to the usuals -- burgers, tator tots, eggs, mac and cheese. (for the record, I abhor the idea of ketchup on eggs or mac and cheese but since Gordon does it, I have to allow the children to do it too)

So to sum it all up, Nora is growing by leaps and bounds and seems to be determined to get past this baby stage. She desperately wants to be one of the big kids too.

Tell me -- WHAT HAPPENED??

I'm often asking questions.

'WHAT happened??'

'Why is s/he crying??'

'Who did this??'

It's rare that I actually get a straight answer. Yesterday was the perfect example. I was upstairs with the Little People. Grace and Dianna were downstairs. All was well in this Crazy House.

Until I heard a loud THUD.

And then the THUD was immediately followed by hysterical crying.

As I jumped up to run downstairs and find out what happened, who was hurt, and what was going on, I quickly discerned that it was Grace's cries that I was hearing.

The responses I got from the two big girls about what happened differed drastically. This is usually the case. In an effort to diffuse the situation, I pointed to the diningroom and instructed each girl to sit at opposite ends of the table from the other. I needed to figure out how to weed through facts and get down to the bottom of what actually happened.

In an epiphany, I grabbed a couple of pieces of notebook paper and two pencils. Ok, I'll admit it -- I needed to stop the yelling of accusations asap or else I would end up turning into a screaming banshee myself.

Back to the paper and pencils.

I instructed the girls to use their words on paper. I wanted a detailed description of what they felt had actually happened. I even encouraged them to draw a picture if they felt that would help them fully explain the details.

This is what Dianna's paper ended up being:

And this was Grace's:

Still two different stories. But it bought me time. The girls both calmed down a bit. I was able to reign in the chaos and gather my thoughts!!

I sat down with the two of the girls, read both statements, and then we discussed the details together. Neither girl has admitted full fault in the accident, but both conceded that perhaps some of what the other was saying could be true. And then I got them to apologize to eachother!

Don't get me wrong -- the whole process wasn't all cut and dried. Dianna is still the strong-willed child that she has always been and her opinions were vehemently aired. Grace was just as quick to rebuff.

The triumph is all mine, though, because I was able to keep a mostly calm, rational head on my shoulders as I waded through a difficult, pre-teen-hormone-infested-emotional incident that could have quickly escalated into an atomic bomb detonation. Yay me!

A future Engineer in the making??

I know, I know....this isn't 'check e-mail and blog' time. My day has been all screwed up today. I'm blaming it on hitting my head yesterday morning while cleaning up toys in the kitchen. For the record, I'm much better now. Still stiff and sore with a little headache, but no longer seeing stars.

I still have yet to figure out exactly HOW I was able to hit my head with enough velocity to bring me to my knees. But enough with that. Let's get to the point of this post.

While I was tidying a little bit ago (per my schedule, I might add), I found this on one of the end tables in the livingroom....
Dianna had asked me earlier for a piece of graph paper so she could work on her design. It wasn't until I was tidying that I got a good look at her work. I LOVE it! She wants to build a bird feeder that will have it's own water source. She's even thought of a nifty button that the birds can press to refill the bowl!

Maybe she'll be the child I choose to take me in when I'm old and senile....she'll be earning big bucks as an engineer by then and will certainly be able to afford taking care of me, right??

Wordless Wednesday

Review of Scheduled Day, Day One

Yesterday morning I posted that I felt like I needed a routine to my day. I talked about how I have been flying by the seat of my pants for some time now. To regain control of my day, I realized I needed to set up my own routine. To have a purpose for every moment of the day.

So I created a tentative schedule for my day and put it to the test. I'm proud to say it was a TOTAL success! I got so many things accomplished. Some of those things are what I consider should be 'daily tasks'. Others were 'deep cleaning'.

You see, I have two hours of ever morning dedicated to 'daily tasks' like vaccuuming, dusting, sweeping, unloading the dishwasher, wiping counters, etc. Then I planned to use one hour in the afternoon for intense cleaning in the Room of the Day. That's when I plan to get down and dirty, so to speak. That will be the time for scrubbing, mopping, etc.

Yesterday's Room of the Day was the kitchen. I utilized my hour of intense cleaning to do things like thoroughly clean the stainless steel appliances, scrub the baked on mess off the toaster oven, and wash the fingerprints and dog-nose-prints off the sliding glass door. I can't tell you the last time my kitchen sparkled this much!

Now, we're on to Day Two of a purposefully scheduled day. I'm excited to get down to business, get my house tidied and neatened, and then get to do some intense cleaning on the Room of the Day. I even got out of bed without needing to be prodded by Gordon -- because I set a 'wake time' on the schedule. I knew that if I failed to stick to the scheduled 'wake time', the rest of my day would be affected.

Seeing as I'm running out of my scheduled 'check e-mail and blog' time, I'm going to get back to business. With a smile of my face. Because I have a purpose-filled day.

Spring HAS to be on the way

As we were driving toward the center of town yesterday, we saw this:

I just KNOW this is a good sign!! C'mon SPRING!!!

Everyone needs a routine

As the mom of four, I have come to know that my children thrive on routines. They know what to expect. When there is a purpose for any moment of the day, there are no surprises. No surprises means less meltdowns and tantrums.

You'd think that I would have a daily routine of my own. I have to confess that I haven't stuck to a routine in a long while. I've been flying by the seat of my pants, just winging it each and every day. My days all have become one chaotic mess after another.

I CAN'T DO IT ANYMORE!!

I have come to realize that I need a daily routine just as much as the kids do. I think back to my days as a working woman, before child-rearing and homemaking became my career path. I was ORGANIZED. I had a purpose for every moment of my workday.

When I was working in an office, I had a neatly organized office and desk. I knew which papers had to be processed on any given day and could put my fingers on them in a split second. I had filed reports that were always exactly where they belonged. Not a thing was out of place, unless it was something I had just pulled out to work on. Each night, before punching out and heading home, I'd put my work away. Things I was in the middle of got filed in the 'work in progress' hanging file folder. Things I had completed were put away where they belonged. I knew that I'd walk in to find a neat and orderly office the next workday.

I need to regain that same orderly work habit. I need my homemaking tasks to run as smoothly as my office tasks once did. I just know that I can be so much more productive if I place a purpose to my every moment during my 'workday' hours.

So I've written up a tentative schedule for my day. I have scheduled time for eating and making lunches for the hubby and school aged children. I have scheduled time for getting dressed and applying makeup. I have scheduled time for daily tasks like sweeping and vaccuuming. I have scheduled time for homework help with the Big Girls and play time with the Little People. I even have scheduled time for sitting in front of the computer to check and respond to e-mails and reading and updating blogs!!

I realize this routine will take some time to get used to. I also realize that I may find I need to tweak it here and there to get my day to run more smoothly. But I hope that keeping a scheduled, routine-filled day will help me regain calm and shoo away the chaos from my days.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!! Hope you get to enjoy the day with someone special!

What to do on a Snow Day??

What does one do on a Snow Day?

You build a tower bigger than you are tall...
Then you help Mom bake brownies...

mmmmm......doesn't it look YUMMY?

yeah....they couldn't wait to get a taste either....
Then you pitch a huge fit when Momma puts the batch of brownies in the oven because you weren't done 'makin'....so much so that she gives you your very own bowl with flour and water to mix all by yourself.... and then you feel the need to taste said flour and water mixture, just to be sure it's *just right*...
I ask you, what could possibly be better than that on a snow day?!?!

Snow Day

Yesterday we were hit by THE Storm of the Century. Well, not exactly.

I usually expect our weather guys to be off their mark when they make predictions, but yesterday was WAY off their mark. It was forecasted that we'd be hit with 12-18" of heavy, wet snow. I think we got like 3-4" instead. That's quite a margin of error, no?

At least Geoff Fox at Channel 8 was open and honest about how wrong he was.

You can see Geoff's apology here. He looks pretty sincere, so I guess I'll forgive him this time. (He'd just better make sure it doesn't happen again! LOL).

;)

Another (almost) Wordless Wednesday

Ever feel like you're having 'one of THOSE days'?!?

Yeah....I know the feeling too.....

why don't I see the skinny chic??

About 11 months ago I blogged about What I see in my mind's eye. I talked about how I didn't see the thinner me when I look in the mirror. I still see that fluffy mom who has more than a couple of pounds to lose. Even now, when I try to take a self-portrait, I'm amazed at the skinny chic that appears in the photos. If I weren't the one taking the portrait, I'd swear it was someone else entirely.

(almost) Wordless Wednesday

"Too cute to keep my hair styled just one way each day......"

I styled the 'whale spout' pony tail; Nora did the hair band.

Blog Roll

On the righthand side of my blog, you'll see a list of 'My Favorite Blogs'. While I do frequently check in on the blogs listed, they aren't the only ones I follow. I have a whole host of blogs that I check in on from time to time. Some I've been watching for a couple of years, others I just recently stumbled upon.

My blog-reading adventures started a couple of years ago when I found The Simple Dollar. It was the start of my getting really serious about being more frugal. I don't often check out The Simple Dollar much anymore. Nowadays I'm more likely to work on our savings by following Dave Ramsey's advice. I listen to his radio talk show on my XM radio whenever I get the chance.

The same can be said for another blog that I used to read regularly when I first started my trend to be more frugal. It is Frugal Upstate. It was at this blog that I first found a recipe for making homemade laundry soap. I can't even tell you the last time I read it though.

Right around the same time that I found The Simple Dollar, I found Because I Said So. Actually, I first read some of Dawn's ramblings when I was directed to an ebay listing she had for a pack of trading cards that her kids had slipped into the grocery cart. I was hooked from the start! Because I Said So has also become one of those blogs that I haven't checked out in recent history. No real reason why, I just hadn't checked in on Dawn and her kids' antics until this morning. (Imagine my surprise that she's getting a divorce!) I DID read her book recently. I've said that she is the Erma Bombeck of this generation.

Nowadays I'm reading a lot more crafty/baking/family type blogs. Some of my favorites are (in no particular order):
Tea Rose Home
i am baker
i am mommy
The 4 Seasons of PAST
Laura Williams' Musings
Pioneer Woman Photography
Rebecca Wade Photography
Piecemeal People
Give Me the Simple Life
Mrs. Nespy's Frugal World
and, of course, MANY more! I have my profile on blogger.com set up to let me know when any of my friends' blogs get updated. That way I'm not blog-stalking, just going to their blog when there's something new posted.

SO. What blogs are you reading?!?!

Am I ever going to be on time again?!?!?

As the busy mom of four, I'm constantly GO-ing. Going to practices. Going to meetings. Going to appointments.

Why is it that no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to GET where I'm going in a timely manner? I swear, I can start getting everyone prepped and ready to head out the door five hours early and yet still manage to be at least 5 minutes late. Now I understand the saying 'she'll be late to her own funeral'. Because I will be, I'm sure.

The real frustrating thing is even when I'm close enough for my arrival to be possibly considered on time, I almost always forget SOMEthing. It's not always a necessary item. But when it is a necessary item I just want to SCREAM!

Thank goodness for understanding friends and family. Who am I fooling? They probably tell me that any set engagement/appointment is scheduled earlier than it actually is just so that I stand a chance of showing up on time. If you're one of those -- THANK YOU! Keep it up.

The Changing of the Tide

Today marks the end of an era here in the Crazy Household. Gordon disassembled the baby crib for the very last time today. Nora has been happily sleeping in the "Girls' Room" for a few weeks now. Until today, the crib has remained in its lonely little corner in Will's room. No stuffed bear or baby doll staring out through the bars. No blankie laying awaiting a sleepy baby. Not even a sheet has adorned the mattress.

Though we haven't physically passed all of our baby items on to new homes, we're gathering them up for that very reason. Hopefully we'll be able to find loving homes for a lot of our well-used-but-still-loved baby gear. Though a few things have seen better days, there are a lot of things that could still bring comfort and love to another baby.

The one item that we will not be looking to re-locate in another family home is our baby cradle. The cradle is the one item that I feel I cannot part with. It was a gift from two of my sisters when I was pregnant with Grace. Every one of our babes has slept their first few precious months' worth of sleep in that very cradle. Maybe when one of the Crazy Kids is old enough to have a family of their own our cradle will once again bring comfort and solace to a fussy babe.

Groundhog Day

Dang that Punxatawney Phil! Apparently he saw his shadow this morning. And that means we'll have another 6 more weeks of winter.

Wait. Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe I'll have the time to get all of my spring cleaning done BEFORE spring hits, so that when it's warm enough for the kids to enjoy outdoor activities once again, I'll be able to relax outside while watching them.

Yeah. That's the positive spin on all this!! THANKS, Phil, for giving me more time to accomplish all I need to without losing precious time enjoying my little ones fun!

While we're on the subject of Groundhog Day and Phil, I have a question. Maybe a brainiac or two will want to weigh in and give me their thoughts? (Are there even any brainiacs who follow my blog?!?!)

If the whole idea behind Groundhog Day is to see whether or not Phil sees his shadow, with the answer predicting whether we'll have a longer winter or not, why is it that seeing his shadow means we'll have a longer winter?

(sounds like a complicated word problem, don't it??)

Seriously though, if Phil sees his shadow, doesn't that mean it's a sunny morning? Don't we associate sunshine and sunny mornings with Spring-like weather, not Winter? Why is it that seeing his shadow doesn't predict an earlier Spring?

That's it. It's something I've always pondered around this time of year. I've never been able to clarify it sufficiently in my own mind, so maybe someone out there can help me get it straight once and for all.