This week I’ve been dealing with the greatest of all first world problems; no internet. Okay, I’m still technically able to get online through my neighbor’s unsecured wireless network but only the desktop can pick up the signal, and not reliably. That’s meant no photo uploads or downloads and no video streaming. And normally we’re not a huge online video family, but of course, this was the week I planned to show some Bill Nye clips for science.
I actually had to write this post offline and if you’re reading it, I guess that means I was able to upload it when my neighbor wasn’t eating up all his bandwidth. Next week, we’ll be vacationing at the beach and relying on the signal from the hotel next to my grandmother’s condo for internet access. It’s reminiscent of 2001; I click on a page, and go make a sandwich while I wait for it to load.
I debated whether to write about all the topics without pictures, or just go all crazy the week I return from the beach (because I won’t have tons of unpacking or laundry to do.) So because I didn’t really debate it that long, here are seven things that have been going on that I’m going to write about (with pictures!) once this damn unfortunate internet issue gets straightened out.
#1 And by straightened out I mean, my husband used it as an excuse to buy the fanciest new modem, router and surge protector money can buy. Plus I saw he threw some special wire in the Amazon basket so I think it’s safe to say that once the new supplies arrive, our house will look like a scene out of Tron.
#2 We went to a monster truck show last Saturday as a belated birthday present to Fulton. Last year’s trip for his third was the first time any of us had set foot at such an event and we all became instant fans. I got a couple of good shots but to appreciate the awe of oversized pickups, you really need to attend at least one Monster Truck show. Deep down, don’t we all have a carnal desire to watch things get completely smashed and destroyed? It’s like the Colosseum except instead of lions, it’s trucks and instead of Christians it’s cars.
#3 Our kitchen is inching closer to completion. Tomorrow the electrician will come and, fingers crossed, hook up everything (and not find any fire hazards.) Being the type who loves to organize, I’m totally pumped about the opportunity to spend most of August organizing the new kitchen, which includes a small school room. Then I get to design and organize the new mudroom which will rise from the ruins of the old kitchen! The fact that I can’t get on Pintrest and save ideas is maddening.
#4 Tony’s family left town last weekend and already the kids are clamoring to make the 17 hour + car ride to Wisconsin. For smaller families in sports cars with super bladders, the trip can be made in about 14 hours. I’m amazed at how quickly our kids can forget all the time in the car because during the drive it seems like an eternity to us all. However, until then we made some great memories and got a lot of great family photos, including the first of all of us since Teddy’s birth I think. Somehow, in all of them except the ones where I’m purposely opening my eyes wide, I look ready to fall over and go to sleep. I really think smiling accentuates the bags under my eyes so from now on, I’m going with a more serious face and see how I look. Should make for interesting beach photos.
#5 Our bedroom is the hottest room in the house, but somehow our bed is still the go to place for scared children. Tony and I can’t even touch each other without perspiring and yet Addie wants to cuddle with her blanket next to us after watching a “freaky” episode of the Twilight Zone.
#6 One of our chickens made a nest under the ramp leading up to our deck and was trying to hatch 20 eggs. Twenty!!! However we don’t have any roosters (mature roosters anyway) so they’re all duds. Or twenty stink bombs waiting to happen. We had to pry up boards on the deck to retrieve the eggs and try to get her out.
#7 While at the beach I’m going to try surfing lessons. Addie has agreed to come along too, and not just to laugh. Stay tuned for the photo hilarity that is sure to come from my lack of common sense.
If your internet is still up and running, you’d better go catch it! And be sure to check out the rest of the Seven Quick Take posts over at Conversion Diary.
{SQT} Here’s A Comment, So Comment Back Maybe?
I sat down last night at my computer to type up a {pretty, happy, funny,real} post, when I realized yesterday was Thursday! Gah! Guess that means I’ll have to cram all the blather of a Seven Quick Takes with the photo sensibilities of a {p,h,f,r} post. Two great tastes that taste great together. *smush* Plus a heapin’ helping of Pin-able pics, cause while some of the pins on my boards make me jealous, I see a lot more that make me think, Pffffpt! I can create something like that! 274 repins? For real???
1. After processing so many tomatoes I wanted to die, I finally moved on to processing the watermelons. At first, I wasn’t sure what I would do with the almost one dozen melons collecting on my deck. I’d seen some recipes for canning watermelon, and even watermelon rind and there was no way I was making any of that, and then trying to force it down my kids’ gullets in six months. Then a friend suggested cutting it up and freezing it. Genius! Better yet, I took the watermelon flesh, ran it through the blender and poured it into popsicle molds. The kids loved them! Plus, I just poured blended flesh into gallon bags and laid them in the freezer to scoop out later for smoothies. Three watermelons later, I had eight trial pops and seven bags of blended flesh. One watermelon has rotted so only eight more melons to go. I hope the kids really like popsicle and smoothies.
2. We finally made it to the dollar store to collect the last of the school supplies and allow the kids the feeling of living large. The older three each had three dollars apiece to spend as they wished. My daughters each took additional funds. I’m thinking, how much crap am I really going to let them buy, $2 maybe $4 worth? I selected what I needed and then stood there for another 10 minutes trying to influence their purchases. “Only one can of silly string please. Oh! Who wants this neat origami kit? Anyone? Edie, really? Another wig? Addie that poster is huge! Do you really think you’ll color that whole thing?”
3. While there, I contemplated buying another small dry erase board because ours were all a mess. I couldn’t do it though, and I vowed to try to clean some of our old boards again, before investing in another. I tried wiping hard with a paper towel, soapy water, vinegar and then lo and behold I tried rubbing alcohol. Did you know it cleans dry erase surfaces LIKE A BOSS?! Forget the dinner prep, I started running around the house cleaning and making everyone look at how shiny the surfaces were and adding, “No you may not draw on it right now! I need to show your father as soon as he walks in the door!”
4. After assaulting my husband with a clean dry erase board, I finished making one of my favorite meals for dinner. Without an additional vegetable mind you, because I’m greater than the food pyramid. Ham loaf and pineapple stuffing are two foods I’ve never found outside my hometown of Lancaster, PA. And now, I present them to you. My ham loaf recipe is a combination of recipes I’ve found in a couple Mennonite cookbooks. The pineapple stuffing was a regular at church dinners growing up and was included in a cookbook released in the early 80′s as a fundraiser. Pretty much every meal I ate growing up came out of that cookbook.
UPDATE: Click for the recipe! If you tried before and it didn’t work, try again, I fixed it!!
5. The Modern Mrs. Darcy, a.k.a. Anne wrote a great article over at Simple Homeschooling about time management for moms. I could relate immensely because Anne homeschools four kids and tries to make time for herself to write and network online. I’ve been upfront from the get go that while this blog is fun for me, I also hope to eventually turn it into something more. What exactly I’m not quite sure. But I do know, writing, commenting and social media is something I’ve been trying to squeeze in around the clock in bits and pieces; a furious and usually fruitless attempt at multi-tasking. These bad habits have led to numerous typos in posts, statuses, tweets, etc that I don’t catch, despite re-reading things a million times. And sometimes, I don’t notice them for hours or days after publication on the interweb. I realized my mind was never fully present during my hasty writing blips. I made stupid mistakes because I was still mentally writing lesson plans, reading a story to the kids, cleaning the kitchen, or worrying about all three. Taking Anne’s advice, I’m going to change some things.
6. And another thing, I’ve acquired the wonderful habit of finding great blogs, commenting on them, forgetting to be notified of follow-up comments and failing to bookmark the site. I don’t know how many times lately I’ve tried to track down a blog I commented on with no luck. And I’ve got some folks on my Facebook feed, some on Twitter and some in my reader feed. If you’re one of the lucky few I’ve got in all three, you’ll know because I communicate with you. If I commented on your blog once and never returned it’s not because I didn’t find your site interesting, I’ve just got lousy online etiquette. But I’m working on it. I’m hoping to dedicate time just to read, comment, respond to comments/emails, catalogue sites and other assorted social media networking so it doesn’t take away from my writing time. Or pull me away from my kids during school time. “Do history on your own! I’m in a twitter conversation with someone I don’t know but they’re referencing a comment I made…must. scroll.through. browser.history.”
7. From the beginning, I wondered how real and sincere my budding online friendships could become. Could the people I met only through their online identities really become friends? Was it all a game just to gain followers and page views? But I’ve been surprised, pleasantly, in people who’ve taken a genuine interest in me, what I write and take the time to comment. I’ve found people I admire and I read and comment on because, I genuinely like who they are, at least online. I have yet to meet an online acquaintance in person so I wonder if the feelings would transfer to a face to face meeting. There’s been some uncanny coincidences between myself and those I’ve met which can only led me to believe God can bring people into your life anyway He darn well pleases so don’t discriminate or you might miss out on a great friendship.
Guess that wraps up ramblings here. Someone stop me before I start mutilating more family pictures in PicMonkey. If you’re not interesting in being friends because I’ve hurt you with my callous online behavior, be sure to head over to Jen’s for more Seven Quick Takes written by people who will respond to your comment promptly and otherwise love you.
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Filed under Food, Humor, Photography, Seven Quick Takes, Tips and Tricks
Tagged as comments, ham, pineapple, Pintrest, seven quick takes, watermelon, writing