Great Doctrinal Import

We are trying to teach Johnny the children's catechism. We've been working on "Who Made You?" for the last two plus years, so you can imagine the hope we have of a future snowball effect--you know, once we get question one down, perhaps the others will just pick up speed. . .

It's mainly getting the form of the answer right, as well as the concept. Tonight, however, Johnny was on a roll. He was sitting on the changing table and said, "God made trees!"

"Good!" I replied, "What else did God make?"

"God made swimming pool!"

"Yes, God made the swimming pool." Let's try another one, I thought to myself.

"Johnny, where is God?" Johnny peered behind the shower curtain and said, "God hiding!"

"No, Johnny, God is not hiding; God is everywhere!"

He thought for a moment and said, "God hiding something."

There ya go.

Penny Wise Platter Carnival. A day late, but a dollar ahead

The Nourishing Gourmet is hosting a carnival of good, nourishing foods that are also thrifty. I'm a day late on posting mine, but thought I'd share it anyway!

Apple Cinnamon rolls begin with the Nourishing Gourmet's whole-wheat, soaked biscuits which you can find here. As we've been trying to eat a more nourishing, healthful diet, I've been frequently using this recipe.
The whole batch is way more than our crew can eat in a day, so I've been pondering some alternative uses for it.

Yesterday, as I was putting the biscuits together, I went ahead and baked half, then set aside the remaining dough. With the addition of Apples, cinnamon, butter and palm sugar, we ended up with a yummy, yummy breakfast that can't possibly be healthy and nourishing (but it is!). Hope you all enjoy it!

Begin by making Fluffy Soaked Biscuits--use balsamic vinegar for the soaking, if you have it. I find that my flour needs more liquid than the recipe calls for, so if the dough isn't a little sticky, add some water. If you want your grains soaked, begin the night before. (The recipe also works fine for the day of.)

Apple Cinnamon Rolls
1/2 batch of Fluffy Soaked Biscuit Dough
1 Organic Granny Smith Apple
2 Tbsp Palm Sugar
generous quantities of cinnamon
2-3 Tbsp Butter

Preheat oven to 400. Allow dough to rest. Finely dice the apple and place it in a bowl with the sugar, and enough cinnamon to make the world a better place. Stir together and set aside.

Roll out the dough into a roundabout rectangle. Dot with 1.5 Tbsp butter, cut up (more or less) and cover with apple mixture.

Roll the dough up and slice into sections.

Place in a baking dish, dot each roll with bits of butter and bake for 10-15 minutes. Check the centermost roll for doneness.

These are so yummy. They have a delicious richness to them and remind me of pecan swirls. I think nuts would also be a fantastic addition. As for cost, I don't have time for the math right now, but would think this is a very inexpensive recipe.

The Wood Between the Worlds

That is an imperfect analogy at best, but referencing Lewis and Narnia is so much more fun than a pop culture song!

We are in a state of in-betweenness in our domestic world. In the future (a few months) we will be moving to another camp residence. That means that any decorating progress must be on moveable objects or done with a short-term mindset. I am filled with bittersweet anticipation. I love this house and there are so many things I want to do with it, yet, I am excited about the possibilities of the new place. There's a whole list of pros and cons which I may share later, but suffice it to say, leaving the home where both of our children were first brought home to and to leave the newly renovated place which I prayed to earnestly for and agonized over the details is a bit difficult. Our last spring is done. This is our last summer of watching campers play from our living room windows. My beloved yard will soon be someone else's . . . yeesh. I'm going to stop now before I begin tearing up.

the misadventures of the domestically inept

I walked into our laundry room/walk-in-closet last night and gasped at the laundry covering the floor. All the baskets were taken up with other things, leaving the dirty laundry all over the floor. "It's only about two loads . . . " I said optimistically to Tuan.

This morning, I put a load in and started hemming a dress for a friend. I put another load in this afternoon. (It was more than two loads, but not more than four).

Tonight, after company, and some blog reading indulgence, I decided to start one more load before bed. As I was putting the laundry in, I felt a bite. Looking down, I discovered that underneath the laundry, our floor was covered with ants. Hundreds of ants. I grabbed the vacuum and got to work with my hose attatchment, alternatively moving laundry and vacuming up the little buggers. After twice sucking up two socks and disassembling the vacuum to remove them, I made a lot of progress. There is one more load left to tackle, then I'm going to vacuum once more and go to bed.

I'm not sure what lured the beasties in, except the dress Aubrey wore at lunch--she had a lot of crumbs on it and I just tossed it into the room. Whatever the cause, I am so thankful for my vacuum. It is one of my favorite blessings in this life. Really and truly. I love that it tackles bare floors and carpet. I am thankful for its brush and crevice tools and for the way it can take my rough handling and J and A's as well! After Katrina, I was filled with nervous energy and tried to clean our house without electricity. I actually swept the carpet in my fervor. When the power came on, I was glad for the super suction skills of our former vacuum.

We take so many things for granted, but consider the amazing gifts God has given us even in the realm of appliances! Such wonders like my Kitchen-Aid, Cuisinart, and Vacuum make this pilgrim journey much smoother.

No Life Without Wife

That's from Bride and Prejudice, the Bollywood version of Pride and Prejudice. I think everyone should see it. Tuan thinks it should be burned.

I digress; this post has nothing to do with that title except that I am a wife and I have a life that is busy. On the first day of staff training I was all excited about the summer and planning these long lazy days of camp activity and domestic projects. Oh, the domestic projects I planned!

The reality is that the days are flying by, as are the hours. A good friend once suggested I divide my days into three segments and plan one thing for each segment. That's such good advice.

One day painting and sewing and real thorough laundry is going to happen. But not today! And definitely not yesterday.

When I woke up yesterday morning, life felt good and promising. Johnny had gotten up early and come and crashed in our bed with us. This meant that he would sleep late as would Aubrey. "Today," I said to myself, "today, I am going to tackle these two loads of laundry, clean up my bedroom, feed the kids a good, healthy breakfast and indulge in a project before we go out to dinner with friends." Life felt promising and our bed felt so good and cozy--sleeping on top of a feather bed and underneath a down duvet, with my head on down pillows and sandwiched between all that my soft cotton sheets--what bliss! I rather luxuriated in that comfort and thought pleasantly about the day as I contemplated getting up. Just then, Johnny let out an unremarkable noise and I reached my hand over to find that his training pants had completely and utterly failed in absorbency. It was like a dam has broken and the reservoir was all over my down comforter, down featherbed and sheets. I threw him off the bed (gently) and into the tub and began the long, day-long process of washing large down objects. The revised day of Paula La?

quiet time and back to bed

Wake up

strip bed

begin laundering duvet/featherbed

bathe Johnny

change aubrey

prepare and serve breakfast: watermelon, tomato, fried eggs and chai tea (for me)

check laundry, put fb in dryer

clean kitchen

deadhead flowers

straighten living room

Aubrey down for nap

check laundryput fb back in dryer

build train tracks with Johnny

check laundry put fb back in dryer

check facebook, look for recipe for tired fruit and fold clothes

put fb back in dryer

get absorbed in reading blogs

put fb back in dryer

Tuan comes home

Lunch at camp

put fb back in dryer

children down for naps

unexpected, but welcome visitor!

Johnny gets up

visitor leaves, johnny down for nap

put fb back in dryer

new unexpected but welcome visitor

get distracted by blogs

pull fb out of dryer and start drying the duvet

Tuan home!

Johnny falls asleep

make nourishing popcorn

Aubrey gets up

get ready to go out

wake Johnny up

go out to eat and to kroger

put fb back in dryer (seriously)

baths, Arrested Develpment and bed.

There was no time for projects, today, sir. Not even for ready money.