Clothesline for dummies

Last week, I loaded the clothesline and headed out on errands/lunch. I came home to the clothesline on the ground and the clean clothes slightly damp.... Yes, after approx 7 years, it gave up and split. The next day, I was in the hardware store so I picked up some new line. Today, Hubby and I got the clothesline threaded through the wheels and all attached. One problem, the join is at the top. Big mistake... You can't have a wheelie-thingamajig to hold the clothesline together so that it doesn't drag the clothes on the ground. Oops. So I took all the laundry that was on the line and tried to take the connector off and reattach it on the lower section. No can do. My grip strength is lacking in that regard. Lovely. Must now let laundry sag until it is dry and then after supper, get Hubby to help. Lesson learned. For posterity: I need 150 feet of clothesline.

French as a second language

This past week, I had the privilege of watching my son in grade 1 perform in a mini play in French class. What a wonderful experience! The kids were really engaged and seemed to be enjoying what they were doing. He is now incorporating the text from the play in everyday conversation!

On the other hand, it was a bittersweet experience because the school board recently announced that the are cutting the French as a second language program for the early primary years. My son will not have French class at school now until grade 4. Whatever he has learned this year will be a faint memory by that time. What bothers me most about this change is that the parents were never consulted. Yes the board had a right to cut the program seeing as it was optional. However, a poll of the parents may have been in order. Instead we got a blurb in the newsletter explaining that since other boards don't teach French in the primary grades, they were cutting the program. My immediate response was: "If all your friends are jumping off a bridge, will you jump off as well?".

Wordless Wednesday

Guess what God named her?

Wordless Wednesday

Unfriending on Facebook

A friend posted as part of her status that she is saddened by how people dismiss their friends with just a click of the mouse.  No phone call, no face to face encounter, not even a "Dear John" letter.  I have also been musing on this topic for some time.

First of all, there are as many different FB styles as there are different people!  I, for one, choose my friends on FB with care and consideration.  If you are my FB friend, you have either been a friend for years or you are someone that I appreciate and want to get to know better.  There are others who just want to see how many friends they can have on FB.... they could be your brother's friends' cousin's girlfriend's aunt for all they care.  It's just an opportunity to connect with people.  And then there are those that fall somewhere in between.

Second, there are people who manage their friends list on a regular basis.  For example, if you didn't wish them Happy Birthday, bye bye! (on a side note, if you use the FB iPod app that I use, you will probably miss lots of birthdays because they are buried inside the events menu... not as easy as on the desktop version where birthdays are announced in bold on the right hand side of your newsfeed)

Third, I wonder how many people out there know that you can manage your newsfeed.  If you are tired of hearing my posts about the weather and how I am becoming a Hobbit by eating breakfast for 3 meals a day... You can hide me from the Newsfeed.  We are still friends.  I still see your updates, but in order to see mine, you must actually go to my wall/timeline... Whatever it is currently called.

Fourth, sometimes it is FB's fault and accidents happen.  During a particular day, your friend count can fluctuate on FB for no apparent reason.  One day, my friend got a phone call from her friend asking why she had disappeared from FB.  My friend was in shock.  She had never deleted that person.  All is well because someone picked up the phone.  Then there is my cousin.  We still have no clue what happened. Not only did I get deleted, his account actually blocked me....If I hadn't found other methods of communication, our only chance to talk would be Christmas cards!

So, before you unfriend someone on FB, take the time to think about it and maybe pick up the phone and give them a quick call.  Friends are precious.

Am I really busy?

I just had a conversation with a friend and she got me thinking....

I am a mom of 2 boys.  I'm a full-time paramedic.  I am the wife of a farmer....
Ok, so it sounds like a lot.  I also help out at church occasionally, usually as a substitute pianist.
I am part of a book club that meets once per month and I usually have the book read on time or early.  In the spring, I am part of the chorus in a Gilbert and Sullivan production.  Other than the theater and work, nothing I do  requires me to be away from home on a specific evening every week.

Where do I find the time to do all that I do?

Part of it is not feeling guilty about the things that I am not good at and therefore just "get by"... Housekeeping is one area!  My house is cluttered and more often than not, not dusted!

Also, my husband was a successful farmer for years before we met and married.  As a farmer's wife, I do the cooking.  Nope, no barn chores for this girl.  Not because I don't want to help but I am a slow learner and when we have time for me to learn, we usually finally have time to do something as a family.  (going out for dinner, etc.)  Therefore, teaching me slows him down... Sometimes it's just better to be a support from afar.  This might not work for others but it works for us.

Another part of the equation is that I have a great job!  Moments of sheer terror followed by days of boredom, or in my case: a chance to read, knit or crochet!  When I talk to students about my job, I tell them that they do need to cultivate some sort of pastime.  Seriously, being a paramedic involves lots of waiting around.

Well, I  had better go and get a few things done around here.... I totally forgot to water my plants on Saturday. They are probably really thirsty!

So I've had quite the introverted week!
One of my friends is never going to let me live this one down so I might as well tell the world about it!

I had to go to the school and meet with the librarian to pick out some books that my son won at the book fair.  Meeting new people is one of the things that makes me uncomfortable... sometimes to the point of forgetting all that I have ever learned about social graces!!!!!!


Picture this: I walk into the school and speak with the secretary, buy milk tickets and asked her where I could find the librarian.  She told me and I proceeded to the library.  Once in the library, I announced myself and a teacher, wearing an old sweatshirt and jeans said: "Oh, Hi Toucan!"  I continued with my conversation with the librarian which got very complicated... On my way out of the school, I thought to myself: "What were you thinking?  That was your friend and you didn't even say HI in return!  She's going to wonder what is wrong with you????"

Yes, my friend said HI and I just turned and walked away with the librarian. 

I did that.

Unless you have had that single-minded focus that drives an introvert by an extroverted task, you are probably wondering what is wrong with me.  Well, there is nothing wrong with me.  I'm just built this way.  It's hard to explain.  The next time that I have to meet with the librarian, it will be easier for me because I will have met her before and maybe I will remember her name.  The whole time I was in the library, my focus was: talk to the librarian, pick out books and get out.  No where in that equation was say Hi to friend.  Therefore, brain did not compute!!!! Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

   

Cooking for a week

Yesterday, 2 friends came over and within 2 hours we had made 3 meals each.  It's quite simple really.
Our criteria for choosing recipes: - simple ingredients that we can find at our local grocery store.
                                                   -things that freeze well
Each person picks a recipe that can be frozen, multiplies it by the number of families coking together and picks up the ingredients.  On cooking day everyone shows up with their ingredients and recipe and containers for the freezer.  We spent the morning chopping and doing all the prep. It really helps to have a HUGE mixing bowl or two.  This time we were doing soups/stews for the crock pot.  I froze mine in ice cream containers.  They are slightly smaller than the inside of my crock pot. On cooking day, all I will need to do is run the container under water to thaw the edges and slide the frozen lump into the crock pot.  Yay, turn on high and ask hubby to put it on low in the late afternoon if it looks cooked. (or if you have one of the new programmable ones, set it and forget it!) As well as having food for the week ready to go, we had a bunch of laughs and enjoyed each other's company!

Key lime pie recipe

I've been asked for my Key Lime Pie recipe.  I based it on a recipe called Puny's Lemon Pie from Jan Karon's Mitford Cokbook and Kitchen Reader. 

8oz cream cheese
14oz sweetened condensed milk
6oz frozen limeade concentrate, thawed
1/4cup fresh lime juice
1 prepared graham crust
1cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
zest of one lime

In a large bowl combine the cream cheese and the condensed milk until smooth. Add the limeade and lime juice and mix well.  Spoon the filling into the pie crust and chill until set.  Whip the cream and add the confectioner's sugar until stiff peaks form. Top the pie with the whipped cream.  Garnish with the zest of one lime.
Enjoy.

Now, I'm supposed to attempt adding a picture.  Unfortunately I haven't made a new key lime pie and I don't seem to have any pictures of the key lime tarts I made a while back... So now my task is to find an appropriate picture to add to this post.

  Voila!

My first post- EVER!

So, here we are... I'm finally getting around to putting thoughts, not exactly on paper, but out there.  My friend has been waiting for TWO years for me to start blogging.  So here goes.
This is going to be me talking about my life.  Nothing more, nothing less, well, I might have to watch out and try not to offend too many people.