My Inheritance, Part 2

Posted on March 25, 2011 by Laura

How could I have forgotten these?  When I blogged about my inheritance from Papa and Granny, I forgot to include this beautiful sugar and creamer set, which Granny gave to Mom and Mom gave to me, when Nik and I got married.

Mom tells me that they were a wedding present to Papa and Granny from the people who Granny had worked for before they got married.  The wedding was held at this couple’s house and their daughter was Papa and Granny’s flower girl.  I love the delicate beauty of the set and really enjoy using them whenever I get a chance.  I also remember admiring them at Papa and Granny’s house, where they lived among Granny’s teacup collection.  They help me to remember her love of beautiful things and remind me to cultivate the same corresponding calm, beautiful environment in my own home.

Posted in family, love | 2 Comments

What babies want

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Laura

“What babies want you to do… is to be active, and to be strong,
calm, and centered on your own work, with them in the midst of it.”
–Jean Liedloff

(sent to me by a friend who found it here.)

Posted in parenting | 1 Comment

Grandpa, look! I’ve grown!

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Laura

Hi Grandpa!  Remember that sleeper you gave me for Christmas?  I’ve worn it for three months and now, I’m starting to push out the bottom of it!  I’ve grown a lot since you saw me last!  You should come to Baltimore and visit!
Love,
Ellie
P.S. It doesn’t look like it in this picture but my sleeper really is getting too small for me!

Posted in Ellie, family | Leave a comment

Some links with thoughts on birth and parenting

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Laura

A birth story told by the father, from his perspective, reflecting on birth and the Cross.  Powerful.

Why a life spent changing diapers isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  (And some lessons I’m learning that someone else was kind enough to type for me.)

Interesting idea – that maybe Nik and I don’t want Ellie to be happy.

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Culture of Peace and Calm

Posted on March 23, 2011 by Laura

This morning, I heard this article on NPR about what the Chicago public school district is doing to create a culture of peace and calm in some of their high schools.  I was both impressed by what the high schools are doing to help their students and saddened by what the students have to go through every day.

Listening to that article made me think of my second year of teaching.  Although I taught in a middle school which is regarded as one of the best in the county (i.e. it should have been pretty calm and peaceful), that particular year we had a feud between two groups of kids (the kids speaking Russian vs. the kids speaking Spanish).   It was a very difficult year, one where I lived in almost constant fear that a fight would break out either in my classroom or in the hallway.  The following year, peace miraculously came.  I originally blogged about this here (in January 2008) but I thought I’d reprint it today because I am still amazed at the miracle the Lord worked in those kids that year.

**************
Last year, the Russians and the Hispanics HATED each other.  I’m not exaggerating.  It was a constant feud.  We were constantly breaking up fights, mediating disagreements, and trying to tell both sides that they really were not all that different and that fighting was not the answer.  I had many a time in my classroom, talking to my classes with the tears just below the surface (and easily heard in my voice) trying to get across to them that they could NOT fight.  That they at least had to be kind to each other, even if they didn’t like each other.  We brought in interpreters, we did interventions, we did everything we could think of.  Nothing seemed to work.  Last year was a hard year.

This year, I get notes like this:
(They came in response to my demand that they could not whine about their [assigned] seats any more and they had to write a note to request a change in seat, which they might not have gotten.)

From E., who’s Russian:
To: my mom [her little joke is to call me her mom sometimes]
I want to change my sit.  I want to sit next to K. because she is my best friend from Spanish girls.  can I sit next to her please.

From K., who’s Hispanic:
Dear Mrs. B, I want to change my sits because In this class, I never sit next to E. so I want to change. Bye.

From E., who’s Russian:
I want change my seat because if I don’t understand something J. can help me and he be friend. of my friend, he help me every day.  if I can’t tell teacher, I ask to J. and he help. (I had to heavily edit this one just so you’d understand it.  E. struggles with spelling!)

From J., who’s Hispanic:
I want the sit with E. because he is my best friend in this school and that’s why.

How could I not change their seats after reading those requests?

I am not exaggerating when I say that last year these four kids (along with many others) absolutely despised each other.  Now I see them talking and laughing in the halls.  They have fun (sometimes too much!) in my class.  I don’t know what happened.  I like to think that a little bit of it is all the talking that we did last year.  Maybe something soaked in.  Maybe their culture shock wore off.  Maybe they grew up.  I don’t know.  But this to me is an example of what heaven will be like.  The lion shall lie down with the lamb.  Praise the Lord!  Bring us peace!

Posted in school | 4 Comments

Fun Fiction Friday

Posted on March 18, 2011 by Laura

(The title makes this sound like it’s going to be a regular feature.  It won’t be.  I just like alliteration.)

I just came across a story that I wrote during a writing seminar a few years ago.  It used the technique where you write your name on the top of the page then pass it.  The next person writes something according to a prompt from the leader (like “a name”), folds it in half, and passes it.  I think we had to write things like a name, a most embarrassing moment, a fun activity, a favorite movie, a quotation, a famous actor etc.  Eventually, each person got their paper back and we had to write a short story using all those elements.  So without further ado I present to you:

Dolores and her ill-fated relationship
by me

Once upon a time, there was a 16-year old girl names Dolores.  Her best friend was a boy named Brad Pitt.  They were “just best friends,” but, as we all know, that never really works and deep down inside, Dolores was madly in love with the incredibly gorgeous Brad.  Her other obsession was with the story of the sinking of the Titanic,.  Somehow she had to figure out how to get Brad to love her and the Titanic saga.  (He thought the Titanic was “old news, baby.”)  So she worked out a plan that their parents would take them on a vacation together to go mountain climbing in Alaska.  They chose Wrangell-St. Elias National Park for their destination.  Dolores dressed very carefully for her date but didn’t realize that she had white powder all over her nose  When she got to the summit with Brad, she started singing, “Because I’ll never hold a picture of the whole horizon in my view.”  Brad though she was high on cocaine and resolved never to talk to her again.  Besides, he’d spotted Cinderella down on the glacier and wanted to talk to her.

The End.

(Someone else actually wrote “mountain climbing in Alaska” on my paper.  I did not make that up!)

Posted in just for fun | 2 Comments

Dangerous Crazy Cake (with recipe)

Posted on March 16, 2011 by Laura

Growing up, I thought we were the only family who made this weird chocolate cake that had vinegar but no eggs or milk or butter in it.  I just Googled “crazy cake” and I’m wrong.  It seems that everyone makes it, with lots of different modifications.  It comes from at least as far back as WWII (with wartime food restrictions) but it makes sense to me that it was being made in the Depression or even further back.  Mom remembers Granny making it for them when they lived in Iliamna.

Why is it dangerous?  Because it’s extremely easy and fast to make and if you add chocolate chips to the batter, it’s even richer and more yummy.  This cake was delicious too but fussy enough to be reserved for special occasions. Crazy cake is so easy I want to make it a permanent resident on my kitchen counter.  Even if it’s not a permanent resident though, it’s a good recipe to have in your back pocket for those “we have guests coming over and I have nothing to serve them” emergencies.

This is the doubled edition.

On Friday, I had to make a dessert for a function at church and discovered that I had very little brown sugar and very little cocoa powder.  That eliminated all cookies and also brownies.  Then I remembered crazy cake!  So I whipped up a batch and put it in the bundt pan, thought, “that doesn’t look like much batter.  Oh well,” and baked it.  Then I actually read the directions (in Mom’s handwriting) and discovered, “double for a 9×13.”  Oops.  I was just going to deal with a little cake but then it sort of broke on its way out of the pan and I decided that I certainly couldn’t bring a flawed cake to church. 🙂  So I made another batch, doubled it this time, and then too bad, so sad, we had to eat up the little edition.

Crazy Cake (from Laura’s mom who got it from her mom)
(this is the 9×13 version because really, who wants a little cake, right?)

3 C flour
4 T cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed)
2 tsp baking soda
1 C sugar
1 tsp salt

Stir dry ingredients together in an ungreased 9×13 pan.** Make three holes in the mixture.

1/2 C plus 2 T oil (I used coconut oil but vegetable oil is fine)
2 T vinegar (white is fine)
2 T vanilla

Pour oil in one hole, vinegar in another, and vanilla in the last hole.

2 C cold water

Pour all over the mixture and stir well but don’t over mix.

(That’s the traditional way to mix it.  You can also just mix the dry ingredients in a bowl, add the wet ingredients, stir, and then pour into the pan.)

Chocolate chips (optional)

Stir some in for extra chocolate-y goodness.

Bake in a 350 oven for approximately 30 minutes or until done.  After the cake is cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.

**If you want to use a bundt pan, grease the pan just to be safe (I actually floured it too because I get paranoid about bundt pans) and do the mixing in a separate bowl.

Posted in cooking | 9 Comments

You win some, you lose some

Posted on March 15, 2011 by Laura

Yesterday, I:
1. Made three loaves of bread, sliced it, and put it in the freezer.
2. Made 4 dozen oatmeal raisin cookies.
3. Washed dishes three times (from the weekend and baking).
4. Had the table set (even with placemats and cloth napkins!) before Nik got home.
5. Had dinner basically ready to go before Nik got home (it was leftovers but I still had it all ready).
6. Cleaned up/decluttered the dining room, kitchen, bedroom, and office (recovering from our crazy week last week).
7. Even wrote a blog post.

Today, I:
1. Made it to Bible Study a half-hour late and had to leave more than a half-hour early (so was really only there for about 50 minutes).
2. Delivered some of yesterday’s cookies to two of our good friends who were a huge help to us last Thursday, during a big crisis we had (with a screaming baby in the back seat).
3.  Managed to saute the onions and carrots for tonight’s dinner but that’s as far as I got and it will most definitely NOT be ready before Nik gets home.
4. Nursed a lot and held a grumpy baby who refused to be worn, sit in her Bumpo, sit in any chair, lie on her quilt, or be basically anywhere else except in her mama’s arms.

In other words, my output today can be measured in milk and comfort and that’s about it.

But the truth is, I was worn out last night by the time I actually let myself stop and so maybe the Lord knew I needed to rest a little bit today.

And the big job that I needed to do today will wait.  So I type with a sleeping baby in my arms, try not to fret about all that I need to do, and give thanks for this baby, grumpy though she is.

Posted in Ellie, parenting | 7 Comments

Beloved Miss Mary Mack

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Laura

Dear Miss Mary Mack,

How do I love you?  Let me count the ways:

1.  When I’m riding in the car and I’m grumpy because my parents kept me out too late at covenant group, the only thing that keeps me from falling apart is Mama singing your beautiful song and rubbing my gums with her finger.

2. When I get a little fussy and fidgety and moody when I’m nursing (just preparing Mama for my teenage years), just a few soft bars of “buttons all down her back” helps me latch right back on and get a lot of milk.

3. When I’m sitting in my Bumpo chair and my mom is kneading bread and just needs me to be happy for five more minutes, I prefer Miss Mary Mack sung loudly with lots of exaggerated facial expressions and kissing sounds thrown in for good measure.  (This applies to all instances in which Mama is basically ignoring me so she can finish something before she picks me up again.)

4.  When my mom is actually holding me and not trying to do anything else (which doesn’t happen often, boo hoo), I like to be standing on her lap while listening to the song and waving my hands around.  It’s pretty fun.

In conclusion, you are my favorite person in the whole world.  Was it worth the fifteen cents to see the elephants?  Were you really happy on the Fourth of July when the elephants finally came back?  And did you ask them what it felt like to touch the sky?  Sometimes my mama wishes I’d never heard your song because she’s more than a bit tired of it but I love you. Please don’t ever leave me.

Love,

Ellie

P.S. This picture is an example of a situation in which I like to hear your song, when Mama has me on the bed so she can do silly things like brush her teeth and get dressed.  I get a little bored so your song helps me to be patient.  I like to cross my legs while I’m waiting.

Posted in Ellie | 5 Comments

Sewing as therapy

Posted on March 12, 2011 by Laura

Last week, I decided that I needed to have a short sewing moratorium. (For the record, this was my idea, not Nik’s.  He is always great about appreciating what I sew and encouraging me.)

I’d been sewing like crazy for about 6 weeks, first on the blanket project and then Meggan’s diaper bag ensemble.  I’d neglected a few things around our house so I thought, “I need to take a break, stop sewing for a week, get caught up, and then I can start sewing again.”  I managed to get the major things done in a couple days but by Wednesday, I was really bored and restless.  I was wandering around the house telling Ellie, “I’m bored.  I know there’s stuff to do but I don’t want to do it.  This housewife thing is boring.  I need something more to do.  Sorry Ellie – I love you but you’re boring too right now.”

So I said, “Who cares about the moratorium?  Who cares about all the other stuff I should be doing?  I’m going to sew.”  And so I started up on Ellie’s quilt.  Within 15 minutes, I wasn’t bored anymore, Ellie seemed more fun, and I felt better able to work on the other work in the house that I needed to accomplish.

I realized, “Wait.  I don’t think sewing is just a hobby for me.  It’s something that I need to do regularly, even if only for 15 minutes.  It helps me feel like I am accomplishing something permanent.   It’s not a waste of time even if the dishes are piling up or I need to fold the laundry.”

Now, I’m not calling sewing, “sewing.”  I’m calling it, “therapy.”  Or perhaps I should call it, “preserving my sanity.”  I still need to work on finding a good rhythm.  I don’t want to sew to the exclusion of taking care of my family and my house the way I need to.  But I am letting myself have the freedom to sew every day, if only for a few minutes.  I feel happier which probably means Ellie and Nik are happier and that’s a good thing, right?  Additionally, I really don’t mind doing all the mundane tasks associated with keeping a home (laundry, cleaning, etc.) but my attitude about doing them is much better if I know I get to do a little something fun every day too.

I now have sewing in my weekly routine for Thursdays and then I just try to take 15 minutes here or there on the other days to sew.  Sometimes more, sometimes not at all.  Even on the days that I don’t end up sewing, it’s OK because I know that I will have time coming up to do it.

P.S. Many of you have asked me how I have time to sew.  For one thing, I moved my machine and some supplies downstairs from my sewing room into the dining room.  Also, right now, Ellie is willing to sit in her Bumpo chair usually for at least 15-30 minutes, especially if I catch her right after her nap.  I’ll have to figure out new ways to find the time once she outgrows that chair but it’s working for now!

(And yes, I know that it’s technically against the rules to use a Bumpo chair on the table but I’m careful with her and we’re fine.)

Posted in parenting, sewing | 10 Comments