Trevor has been complaining nearly every night that he is tired. He has even voluntarily gone to bed early. Very strange behavior, IMHO!

Yesterday when he complained that he was tired, I half-jokingly said, “Why are you tired all the time? Are you taking drugs or something?”

He sputtered, “What?!?! No, of course not!”

I asked, “Well, why are you so tired then?”

“I’m a teenager, mom. We sleep a lot because we get really tired.”

“From what?” I scoffed.

“From being awake!”

I found this poem, clipped from a very old newspaper and yellowed with age, in a journal of quotes and clippings that I started in 1985 and have been adding to ever since.  I thought the poem was rather lovely, and wanted to share it here.

The Golden Time, by Margaret E Sangsten

When is the golden time?  You ask –
the golden time of love.
The time when earth is green beneath
And skies are blue above;
The time for sturdy health and strength,
The time for happy play –
When is the golden hour, you ask –
I answer you, “Today.”

Today, that from the Maker’s hand
Slips on the great world sea,
As staunch as ever ship that launched
To sail eternally.
Today that wafts to you and me
A breath of Eden’s prime,
That greets us, glad and large and free –
It is the golden time.

For Yesterday hath veiled her face
And gone as far away
As sands that swept the Pyramids
In Egypt’s ancient day.
No man shall look on Yesterday
Or tryst with her again;
Forever gone her toils, her prayers,
Her conflicts and her pain.

Tomorrow is not ours to hold,
May never come to bless
Or blight our lives with weal or ill
With gladness or distress.
No man shall clasp Tomorrow’s hand
Nor catch her on the way;
For when we reach Tomorrow’s land,
She’ll be by then Today.

You ask me for the golden time;
I bid you, “seize the hour,”
And fill it full of earnest work,
While yet you have the power.
Today, the golden time for joy.
Beneath the household eaves;
Today, the royal time for work
For “bringing in the sheaves.”

Today, the golden time for peace,
For righting olden feuds;
For sending forth from every heart
Whatever sin intrudes.
Today, the time to consecrate
Your life to God above,
Today, the time to banish hate
The golden time for love.

Comments on last week’s menu: I still haven’t made the Famous Butter Chicken.  Going to try again this week.

Monday – Italian Chicken Pie with Caesar Salad.

Tuesday – crock pot pork chops, mashed potatoes, mixed veggies.

Wednesday – I’ll fix Tastes Like Lasagna Soup with Garlic Crostini before we head out to cell group.

Thursday – bacon cheeseburger meat loaf, baked potatoes, green beans

Friday –we won’t be having a movie night tonight, since both kids will be sleeping over at a friend’s house.  I don’t know if Dan and I will go out or stay in, but either way we will be sure to enjoy the peace and quiet!

Saturday – Famous Butter Chicken, served with rice & broccoli.

Sunday – leftovers or snacking.

I love shopping the dollar bins at Target, Michaels, and any other store that has them.  I don’t often find much, but every now and then I will stumble upon something that is just delightful.

On a recent shopping trip at Michaels, I discovered sample packs of “Lunchbox Love” in the store’s dollar bins.  Made by a company called Say Please, Lunchbox Love is a “cute collection of heartfelt note cards – with positive phrases on the front and fun facts and inspirational quotes on the back – that inspire and energize, encouraging love and laughter!”

I stuck one in Sophia’s lunchbox without telling her about it.  I’d been hand-writing notes on napkins every day for the past year or so… with a drawing or a little rhyme, or just “I love you.”  I wasn’t sure how she would respond to something less personal.

She loved it!  The messages were so wonderful and varied; the trivia facts were fascinating.  I ordered more from the company and have been packing them in her lunchbox ever since. Each pack also includes two blank cards where you can write your own message, and I have utilized them as well.

The Lunchbox Love cards are an easy, excellent way to make your child feel special when they’re at school.  I highly recommend them!

Comments on last week’s menu: The Tuscan Pasta with Tomato-Basil Cream was quite good, and very easy to prepare.  Three out of four of us loved it.  The fourth is a picky eater who thought it tasted “fruity.”

The Crockpot Cheeseburgers turned out well.  I opted to use Velveeta instead of American cheese.  I don’t know why on earth they think that recipe yields ten burgers.  We got five.  The only drawback to this recipe for me was the fact that it has a cook time of 3-4 hours and I prefer to use my crockpot for all-day cooking.

On to this week …

Monday – Girl Scout meeting tonight.  Dinner with the girls.

Tuesday – Famous Butter Chicken, served with rice & broccoli. (Supposed to have this last Saturday but didn’t.)

Wednesday – We will have a quick, easy dinner of soup and grilled cheese sandwiches before heading out to cell group.

Thursday – Happy Thanksgiving!  Normally I cook a meal, but this year I am going to my mom’s house.  I’ll be taking Trevor’s favorite Thanksgiving  sweet potatoes.

Friday – Family movie night.  We will have pizza and watch Santa Buddies, at Sophia’s persistent request.

Saturday – Sophia will be fixing dinner for us (she is working on a cooking badge for Girl Scouts).  She will fix Sloppy Joes, and I will fix some corn (on the cob if I can find some) to go with them.

Sunday – leftovers or snacking.

I have a boat.

I love my boat.  It makes me so happy.

It can be a bit of a hassle to take my boat out of storage — lots of work and even more time.  I’m so busy that I rarely get to use my boat.  But boy, do I love it!

Once a week — maybe twice — I get together with other boat owners in a local boat club that meets at the warehouse.  We talk about our boats, sing songs about boating, talk about how we wish our non-boating friends would get boats, etc.   We even take up a collection for other folks with boats so that they can use them.  Those folks send us pictures of them using their boats and we rejoice in their boating efforts.

Then we go about our regular day-to-day lives — work, home, traffic, shopping, etc. —  until the following week, when we meet together again.

The problem with the above scenario is that boats aren’t made to be kept in storage.  They are meant to be in the water.  And no matter how much we might enjoy getting together with other boaters, that is not the point of having a boat.

Do you see an analogy here?

The boat is our faith, the boating club is the church, and the water is the world.

Get it?

Comments on last week’s menu: Last week I switched things around a little bit, but stuck to the menu plan. Yay!

The Ooey Gooey Caramel Cake was delish (how could something made with dulce de leche not be?) but I found one part of the recipe to be a bit impractical — spreading the thick dulce de leche on top of the cake when it had only been out of the oven for five minutes.  Needless to say, the top of the cake tore and became messy.  If I make this again, I will probably warm up the dulce de leche first and/or wait longer than five minutes.

The Monte Cristo sandwiches were fabulous!  I almost didn’t serve the strawberry jam with them because I thought, “Eeeewwww!”  But since Paula has so rarely steered me wrong, I put it on the table.  It was fabulous.  Just the right combination of savory and sweet.  Even the kids loved it.

On to this week — trying three new recipes!:

Monday – we are going out tonight with my in-laws.

Tuesday – Tuscan Pasta with Tomato-Basil Cream.  Served with Caesar salad.

Wednesday – We will have Tater Taco Casserole served with green beans.

Thursday – I’m going to try a new crock pot recipe for today, since we have a late afternoon appointment.  The Crockpot Cheeseburgers sound too weird not to try.  I’ll serve it with oven fries and baked beans.

Friday –  Family movie night!  We will eat light fare and watch “Miracle of the White Stallions.”

Saturday – Famous Butter Chicken, served with rice & broccoli.

Sunday –  leftovers or snacking.

In the spring, Sophia asked me if she could have a “horse-riding birthday party.”  I checked to see if there was such a creature and found a local farm that specializes in children’s parties and camps.

I thought this was just a temporary fascination.  After all, the girl has always loved animals.  Pretty much all animals, except for snakes.

Now, let me just say for the record that I am not a horse person.  I don’t like them.  They are bigger than me, I’ve been chased by one before, they are unpredictable, they make ridiculously expensive pets, and then there’s that whole business of having to kill them if they break a leg.  Ugh.

Anyway.  Here’s a shot of her at her party.  She had a blast!

Unfortunately, it was probably at this exact moment that her passing interest in horses blossomed into a minor obsession.  We had to watch horse movies. (National Velvet and Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story are her favorites so far.  We absolutely hated Black Beauty.)  I found myself buying her horse clothing, like this cute top at Crazy 8.

And when I found out that the Lipizzaner Stallions were coming to town, I thought it would be great to take her.

(I know, I am SUCH an enabler!)

We had a great time.  I enjoyed learning about the history of the breed, and Sophia loved seeing the horses “dance.”

(‘Scuse the demon eye.)

I had been hoping that this phase of hers would pass, but someone recently commented that after horses, girls become obsessed with boys.

Hmmm.

Maybe horses aren’t so bad, after all.

We are also called to be the light of the world.

We need to be a beacon of light when we walk through the dark spots of the world… in our workplaces, waiting in line at the Wal Mart, at our children’s school.  Every day of every week.  Not just Sundays.

We do not need to be a beacon of light during a Sunday morning worship  service… because who needs light in a well-lit room?

Last week was very hectic, but I managed to stick to my menu plan except for one day. Amazing! Gotta love not having to think about what’s for dinner at the end of a really long, really bad day.

Here’s hoping this week will be better!

Monday – we will have a quick meal of leftover spaghetti & Caesar salad before heading out for Girl Scouts.  It’s the investiture/rededication ceremony tonight.

Tuesday – Priest Chicken with rice and broccoli.

Wednesday – carrying over last week’s missed meal, we will have crab cakes, curly fries, and mixed vegetables before we go to cell group.  For cell, I am making Ooey Gooey Caramel Cake.

Thursday – Monte Cristo sandwiches, served with salad.

Friday – Pizza for dinner, then Sophia and I are heading out for some mother-daughter time.

Saturday – Oven-fried chicken, served with rice and broccoli.

Sunday – leftovers or snacking.