The Original Multitasking Mama

This week’s Friday’s Feast:

Appetizer: What is the nearest big city to your home?
Baltimore MD.

Soup: On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how well do you keep secrets?
I’d say 9. I tell Dan pretty much everything but no one else.

Salad: Describe your hair (color, texture, length).
Longish (shoulder blade length), color varies from red to brown depending where I am in my dye cycle, and texture is fine. Also, it’s way straighter than I would like it to be, and it never looks decent when the humidity is high.

Main Course: What kind of driver are you? Courteous? Aggressive? Slow?
Aggressive most of the time, courteous some times, but never slow. My driving motto is “Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way” (as seen on a Big Dogs bumper sticker).

Dessert: When was the last time you had a really bad week?
December 2007 (the whole month) was a really bad low point for me. Thankfully, it’s all been uphill from there!

Yesterday, Sophia’s class took a field trip to the only dairy farm in our county. I got to chaperone, and I’m so glad I was able to go. It was very educational!

First of all, nothing can really prepare you for the sight of cows up close. If you see them out in a pasture, or on Ree’s blog, they look so peaceful, even cute. Up close, they still have the big soulful eyes and the awkward horizontal ears. But when you’re standing within arms length of a cow, you notice two things. First, they’re a whole lot bigger up close than they seem at a distance. Second, they are some filthy, nasty animals. I have never seen so much poo covering so much animal in my life. There was poop on their feet, legs, tails, hind quarters… even on their udders. And the thought of milk that we drink coming out of something that nasty dirty made me feel queasy.

And oh, my word!  Just be glad this isn’t smell-o-vision.

Fortunately, we went into the milking parlor and saw first hand that they give the udders a good washing before attaching the little suction devices. That put my mind at ease a great deal!

And the slobber! Oh, man, could these girls drool! Look at this one:

So what did I learn? Well, it takes about 6 or 7 minutes to milk a cow with this machinery, and they are milked twice a day.

From there we went to see some calves. They were absolutely precious. Sophia thought these two were especially cute because they were “snuggling.”

From there we went to the garden section where we learned about composting, attracting butterflies to your garden, why you should plant flowers near your vegetables (I can’t remember, but it was a good reason!), and a really cool trick for growing tomatoes. If you have a tomato plant, you should run your fingers across the top of it every day. This will trick the plant into “thinking” that there is another plant growing up over it. As a result, it will not grow taller, but rather thicker and fuller, and it will produce more tomatoes. Cool, huh?

Then we went to the petting barn. and they had the most adorable baby chicks there. Here’s Sophia holding one:

And after that it was games and playtime, followed by a snack and the ride back to school. On the way back, I said to Sophia, “Wow, that was a lot of fun, wasn’t it?”

She replied, “Yes! But I sure am glad I don’t have to get milked!” She clasped her hands in front of her and looked up at the sky. “Thank you, God, for not making me a cow!”

My thoughts exactly.

Totally stealing this idea from Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer… here is a list of simple things that I find very satisfying:

The sound of rain hitting the window.

The smell of vanilla.

Singing songs of praise & worship and getting goosebumps because I know God is there.

Going barefoot.

Autumn foliage, especially the orange-red leaves of sugar maples.

A good hair day. 

Hearing my cat purr.

Mid-day naps.

The way diamonds sparkle in the light.

Snuggling with Dan in the morning when I’m still half-asleep.

Caramel ice cream.

Slurpees on a hot day.

Hearing a great 80s song on the radio.

Realizing that right now is the best time of my life.

Hearing my kids laugh with each other.

Having someone say, “Thank you.”

Standing in a historic place. 

Warm, thick socks in the winter.

Comments on last week’s menu: The Chicken Fajita Tacos were FABULOUS. Not too spicy but still with lots of flavor. Yummy. I don’t get to fix Mexican food very often since I’m the only one who really likes it a lot, but I’m keeping this recipe for when I do. The Turkey Manicotti was another big hit. Everyone loved it, including the kids! I was surprised since it featured the healthy additions of bulgur wheat and cottage cheese. Definitely a keeper, and one that we will be having again. The Herb Wine Chicken was… interesting. I don’t know what possessed me to make a recipe that had red wine as a main ingredient because I can’t stand red wine. The smell of it alone made me want to throw up. And then there was the added effect of turning the chicken a horrible shade of purple-gray. Blech. We ate it, and the taste was definitely less offensive than the smell and the appearance, but I doubt I would ever make it again. In the meantime, I have 2/3 bottle of Merlot that I hate to just pour down the drain. Do any of you local folks want it? Finally, the Ranch Burgers were okay, but the bleu cheese really turned me off a bit.

Wow, I didn’t realize that I was trying so many new recipes last week! I don’t think I’m going to feel quite as ambitious this week…

Monday – I’m scrapbooking at church tonight, so I will probably get my usual (chicken nachos takeout from my favorite Mexican restaurant). Dan and the kids will probably have leftovers.

Tuesday – Dine & dash — Sophia and I have a Girl Scout meeting tonight at 6:30.  We’re going with our old standby of chicken sandwiches, mac & cheese, and baked beans.

Wednesday aka crock pot day –  I’m going to be brave and try to make lasagna in the crock pot.  There’s a recipe for it in my Put a Lid On It cookbook.

Thursday – Potato Chip Crusted Chicken, mashed potatoes and broccoli.

Friday – Cheeseburger meat loaf, mixed vegetables, and oven fries.

Saturday – We’re having a yard sale, which is probably going to leave me tired but with some extra spending money this evening. I’ll probably splurge on a delivered pizza and watch a movie with the kids & Dan.

Sunday – leftovers or snacking

(Eighth in a series of my thoughts on the book Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate by Jerry Bridges)

Did you wince a little when you saw what this “respectable sin” was? I know I did when I opened the book to this chapter!

For the purposes of this chapter, the author defines impatience as “a strong sense of annoyance at the (usually) unintentional faults and failures of others. This impatience is often expressed verbally in a way that tends to humiliate the person (or persons) who is the object of the impatience.”

He goes on to say, and I think rightly so, that the key to understanding this type of impatience is that it is a response to the usually unintentional actions of others. When I get impatient with my dad because I’ve just said something for the fourth time and he still hasn’t completely or correctly heard me, I need to remember that he isn’t trying to be hard of hearing or make me go bonkers from repeating myself. When another driver pulls out in front of me as I am racing to get up to the green light, and he is in no hurry to get anywhere, he isn’t trying to make me stop for a red light. These are some examples from my everyday life. I could go on, but I don’t have all night.

After providing a few examples of his own, the author says this, which caused me to draw a big exclamation mark in the margin of my book:

We should note that [these situations don't cause] us to be impatient. They merely provide an opportunity for the flesh to assert itself . The actual cause of our impatience lies within our own hearts, in our own attitude of insisting that others around us conform to our expectations.

Yeah, I know.

Ouch!

Again.

Mea culpa.

And as if I didn’t already see enough of myself in this, he gives the example of parents becoming impatient over the painfully slow process of training our children. We say things like, “How many times have I told you to do X?” or “When are you going to learn to do Y?” He writes:

Obviously, the type of impatient expressions I’ve used as illustrations do not further our training efforts. They serve only to vent our impatience and humiliate the child.

Um, yeah.

Happy mother’s day, y’all.

i think that just reminding ourselves of the unintentional aspect of these irritations will work wonders toward making us more patient people. Patience is something that must be cultivated, particularly in the life of a believer. It is one of the fruits of the Spirit, it is one of the characteristics of love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, we are told to clothe ourselves in patience in Colossians 3:12. And if patience is a virtue to be cultivated, then impatience is a sin to be put to death in our lives.

Moving right along from impatience to the closely related irritability, the author defines irritability as the frequency of impatience or the ease with which one becomes impatient over the slightest provocation. An irritable person is one who is impatient most of the time, one with whom you feel as though you need to “walk on eggshells.”

(I used to be that person. Dan says I’m not now. Thank goodness!)

Now, what do you do if you find yourself the object of someone’s impatience? The author gives us two ways of dealing with irritable people. First is to follow the example of Jesus as seen in 1 Peter 2:23. Second is to confront the person, but only if you have resolved the issue in your own heart. You need to be able to speak to the person in such away that they will benefit from it. You can’t just go in, all fired up and resentful, and vent your frustration on them.

How will they respond? If they become defensive or hostile, revert to the first option of following Jesus’ example. All the while, you must remember that God may be using this person’s sinful actions to help you grow in the virtues of patience and meekness. If they take what you have said to heart, then you have probably enhanced your relationship with them.

So in short, remember that people who irritate us aren’t trying to irritate us. (It only feels that way! LOL) Or, stated much more clearly by the author,

Peter wrote, ‘Love covers a multitude of sins’ (1 Peter 4:8). We might say that if love covers a multitude of sins, how much more should it cover a multitude of acts that irritate us.

Yesterday morning Valentine was sitting in our bathroom window, gazing out at the birds with a mixture of longing and frustration. He kept making whiny little meows because he wanted so desperately to get out there and chase the birds. I stood there behind him, looking out, and a small chickadee showed up on a branch right in front of the window. This sent me down a road of nostalgia and silliness for two reasons.

First, I had to say, “Chickadee, chickadee, chickadee, dee, dee.” My dad used to say this to me because Chickadee was one of his nicknames for me when I was growing up. Sometimes he shortened it to C-Bird.

Second, I just had to say, “Hi! I’m Kate, and I am a Taurus. I love tomatoes and black capped chickadees!” because I love 80s music. And that includes the B-52s. And one of my favorite songs by the B-52s is “Song for a Future Generation,” which includes that introduction by Kate Pierson. Who is sort of my double, according to Sophia.

But best of all? Every time I said it, it drove Trevor nuts.

My very favorite radio station indulges my growing sense of nostalgia by playing “All 80s Weekend” from 3:00 pm Friday through Sunday night and a one hour “Eighties at Eight” every morning. Currently they are going through the alphabet for their morning 80s hour, asking listeners to call in with songs that start with a particular letter. I figured it would be fun to try this at home, limiting myself to just one song per letter. Here goes…

A = “Always Something There to Remind Me” by Naked Eyes

B = “Burning Flame” by Vitamin Z

C = “Chains of Love” by Erasure

D = “DMSR” by Prince

E = “Everlasting Love” by Howard Jones

F = “Fascination” by The Human League

G = “Girls on Film” by Duran Duran

H = “Hit Me with Your Best Shot” by Pat Benatar

I = “I Ran (So Far Away)” by Flock of Seagulls

J = “Jesse’s Girl” by Rick Springfield

K = “Karma Chameleon” by Culture Club

L = “Look of Love” by ABC

M = “Mandinka” by Sinead O’Connor

N = “No More Words” by Berlin

O = “Obssession” by Animotion

P = “People Are People” by Depeche Mode

Q = “Queen of Hearts” by Juice Newton

R = “Rock Lobster” by The B-52s

S = “Save It for Later” by The English Beat

T = “Thriller” by Michael Jackson

U = “Unbelievable” by EMF

V = “Video Killed the Radio Star” by Buggles

W = “World Shut Your Mouth” by Julian Cope

X = “Xanadu” by Olivia Newton John

Y = “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) by Dead or Alive

Z = Well, I could pick one of these, but truthfully I don’t recognize any of them.

In this week’s edition of WFMW, we are supposed to share things that don’t work for us.  Here are a few of mine.

1. Hiring babysitters.  I’d rather rely on friends and family to watch my kids than pay some teenager whom I don’t really trust anyway.
2. Being impetuous.  For me, a spur of the moment decision never gets more adventurous than making an unplanned stop at the grocery store (sans list) while I’m out running errands.  Those folks who can just take off on a trip without knowing where they’re going and/or what they’re going to do once they get there just baffle me.
3. Exploring unfamiliar territory.  Taking roads without knowing where they lead, going off into the middle of nowhere… they make me kind of panicky, to be honest.  Call me crazy, but I like to know where I am.
4. Cooking without a recipe.  I am not good at “winging it” in the kitchen.  Folks who know exactly what to substitute when they discover that they are missing an ingredient just amaze me.  Folks who can put together something just by adding this and that with no recipe at all leave me dumbstruck.  I can’t even imagine being able to do that.

I have certain hangups about communion.  It goes back to the two years I spent in Catholic school (2nd and 3rd grades). 

It’s hard to be a Protestant girl in a Catholic school.  Doubly hard if you aren’t a regular church-goer.  There were so many aspects of that education that were foreign to me — nuns, rosaries, being required to say Hail Mary, and the like.  There were many things I’d never even seen before.  One such thing that baffled me was communion.

I remember with stunning detail my first communion.  We were told that the bread was the body of Christ, and that the wine was His blood.  Not that they represented the body and the blood.  Oh no.  That they actually were the body and the blood.

The communion wafer tasted like nothing I had ever tasted before.  Bland, almost powdery.  It must be part of Jesus’ body, I thought!  Why else would it taste this way?  Anxious to get it over with, I began to chew it.  I was severly reprimanded, possibly even slapped, for chewing “the body of Christ.”  Likewise, as a seven year old, I had never tasted wine.  So when I was given a sip of the foul-tasting, foul-smelling liquid, I thought that, oh yes, it must be blood.  I tried hard not to spit it out, particularly after being chastised for chewing the wafer. 

As a result of these early experiences, I was almost afraid to take communion when I was an infant Christian.  Now, thankfully, I participate in communion each time it is held at my church, and I enjoy its special significance to us believers.  However, to this day, I have a hard time chewing the communion bread… even when it’s Matza, which you can pretty much keep in your mouth for hours before it will soften enough to swallow it.  Logically, people all around me are chewing and I don’t have a problem with it.  But emotionally, for me, I just cannot bring myself to do it.

“Wisdom and money can get you almost anything, but only wisdom can save your life.”
Ecclesiastes 7:12 (NLT)