Bunko

Over the New Year we learned how to play Bunko or (Bunco).  What a fun game!  And an easy game to catch onto.  I often hear my mom, say she's going to her Bunko night.  I let it roll over my brain because I automatically thought it was a concetrating game of card 'something' or other.  But it wasn't.  Our children even wanted to learn, of course minus the betting aspect and alcohol that are often involved.  But I found it is a great way for them to hone in on math skills for all their ages, too.  I'm not a card player, besides Go-Fish.  I am even a tragic UNO player.  I always have to reread the instructions, which is just fine.  But Poker, Bridge or Rook are just out of my league, and honestly-my interest. I like word and action type games-Scrabble, Apples to Apples, Guesstures and some Trivial Pursuits. 

My nine year old and I started playing, I'm sure we adapted the 'true' rules for this.  But it gave us a little one-on one-time doing something new,  and sneaking in-again-some math.  Here's a link to a You-Tube  (sorry about the ads) video on how to play.

Your turn to roll...

What's for Dinner?!

The classic nightly question,  What's for Dinner?  My forehead crinkles in pain as I rack my brain for what to do, what's new, what's healthy, and what to thaw?  It often ends up being the fool-proof tacos.  But alas, we can't have that everynight, so I pulled out my cookbooks, went to Pinterest for some of those new fangled fun recipes I've seen and drummed up some weekly menu plans for dinner.  I've done this on and off throughout raising kidos, and once I start this regimin again I wonder why I don't conistently stick with it, because IT IS SO HELPFUL!

Not only on the evening planning side, but budget side.  I'm not guessing what I need at the store to round everything out.  I know what I'm going to need.  I also try to look even further than just this week, and see how I can use like ingredients for future meals or even some substitions in recipes.  That way I don't open some fancy sauce to use a teaspoon and then it sits in my fridge creating it's own being.  This has 'saved my bacon' and pulled in my pocket book budget.  I started this again the first of January, and I have four months of menus to share-so far.  I'll work on more.  The 15 minutes of brain damage reduction for me has gone to more attentive helping with homework, reading outloud or listening to kidos day's.  In the long run, the deeper side to this planning tool benefits little and big hearts as well.

I don't have it on this month's calendar, but freezer meals are huge too.  Or just double some of your recipes this month, and toss them into a freezer bag for next month when a 'surprise' busy evening presents itself.  I really like the Six Sisters Stuff site.  They have some great recipes, menu plans, and loads of other helpful resources.

Here's my February Menu Plan (my apologies it's an image below, and I need to figure out how to upload a pdf to this blog)! 
Wishing you a helpful, healthy and happy dinner!

February Weekly Menu Plan

Just a Scrappin'

The art of scrapbooking truly is an art.  I have a few friends who cut, crop and tape their photos into amazing books, then I have friends who do the most beautiful, awe inspiring works of art with digital scrapbooking, and then I have friends who have awesome tubs full of 'scrapbooking somedays'.  I happen to be one who attempts, kind of, all of them.  My goal is getting caught up on my digital scrapbooks, and off load the paper into something-time to eliminate the trusty tubs.  I'm only six years behind on photos and keepsakes, but who's counting. 

 

I love the digital realm.  It gives me a ton more freedom to create.  I'm a quotable quote nut.  So I love to find inspiring and fun quotes for to document my children's youth and our family.  I also enjoy the fact of scanning artwork and memorabilia so they can go into the books as well-and multiple books.  This is only a couple reasons why I love digital scrappin'.

 

The physical books I've made are extremely generic.  I have the paper from preschool to 12th grade that I'm filling only a couple pages for each with school, team and other extracurricular photos.  But I'm trying not to over do it, because I have so much room to work in the digital scrapbook world.  

 

 The next thing about scrapbooking as anyone will say is 'time'.  That's been my excuse, well for 11 years now.  But again with digital I can create ten pages in the time it would take me to make two.  And I can duplicate these books tailored for each child, event, or whatever needs may be.  Which is a GREAT option!  But back to time....a girlfriend and I committed to one day a week last year.  We choose Thursday, and we've stuck to it-minus summer , however.  During the winter is an ample time to crunch out not only some pages but books.  This has been an immense check off my 'mommy guilt' to do list.  Not only the 'mommy guilt' but just some 'me' creative time.  Two hours goes a loooong way for my sanity, or lack there of.  Even if I'm only able to meet for that amount of time, I've been able to get mass pages done.  I've already finished one book this year, started inputting 2014 and going back through choosing my photos for 2013.  My friend and I switch houses, every other week, and make it super easy.  She's a whiz at the digital and an amazing designer.  So it's also great to learn more efficient and creative means to crafting these books.

Moral of my story is in reverse...take a couple hours for yourself to be creative.  Scrapbooking digitally is my idea of the absolute way to go now-a-days.  And have some fun with all those precious memories you made in pictures.  For digital products check out my friend Gina's blog at Back Road Scrappin.

Happy Scrappin'!

Blogging Delinquent returns with a Christmas tale

Well it's been over three months since I plopped something upon my blog...hence the blogging delinquent title.  I'll blame it on the holiday season-not my procrastination. But thankfully in my untimely scribing a good friend showed me some extra features for my blog, and I have a slew of more things to write about-then post to the schedule.  Yeah for automated push buttons function's like that.  So..I'll rewind to Christmas and begin with a highlight that will go down in baby books and are etched in to memories of the masses...literally.

Christmas Eve-Does this little ham look like she'd single handedly change the course of the entire Christmas Eve service?  Weeeell...she did.  My daughter with one simple jerk-pulled the main electrical cord out of the wall which supplied 'juice' to ALL the bells and whistles for the Christmas eve service. Right in the middle of the sermon, with a packed house, all the amplifiers, electric everything POPPED, ZAPPED and BOOMED as they lost ALL the audio and video elements to the service. It was a true Rock star mom moment. We were the delinquents sitting in the back of the church, so no one saw but everyone jumped up to fix it. I was mortified, but laughing so hard I was crying. I held her in front of my face trying to hide my roller coaster of emotion.  I couldn't believe she yanked the black cord with such little effort and it pulled out of the wall...THEN... there went the entire thing. Just like that...POP!  It happened so fast I couldn't do anything about it. People were scrambling.  Our poor Pastor was scrambling for what he had planned.  Thankfully, they got the sound and visual PowerPoint up for the very last song.  At least they were Christmas carols, most folks know those, and if you don't you can lip sync easy enough.  But more thankfully when I told our Pastor he laughed, whew!  At first it was a nervous laugh, like "Really?" but he is a gracious man and saw it was a true accident.   I do suppose when it comes right down to it, just another lesson that someone else is in charge.  And He gave our Pastor the words, as well as composure, to deliver a inspirational Christmas message.  I know I'll never forget it.

Hearing or Hairin'

While killing a little time on Wednesday before AWANA's we walked by our local barber's.  "Perfect, my boys look like little Sasquatches," I said.  "Line up boys."  Well, he actually had a line, so we had to come back which was great, because I wouldn't have wanted to submit any one else to some of the antics they performed-let alone poor Bob.  So after clipping down layer after layer, he finally found a pair of ears on each of them.  It is true, they'd been hiding for a while, especially on my oldest son's hair-we could pert near braid his in the back. (not quite a Billy Ray mullet-I'll give myself parenting credit for not letting it go to that point, but we were close runners up.)  Well, as the mention of 'ear' comes up, my middle son says, "Yah today my ear starting itching at school.  And, well I stuck my finger in and start picking and itching at it.  And a BIG glob of ear wax came out.  It was huge!" (Big grin on his face.) My elbows hit my knees, forehead in palm, and all I could do is look at the floor and shake my head and say, "Oh...my...gosh!  That is disgusting.  We just probably didn't need to know quite all about that."  Of course all my other boys are laughing, and our poor barber is leaning over my oldest son's head, clipping away and just laughing.  Well, naturally as gross as it was I had to ask, "now what exactly did you do with it?"  He says, "Oh, I stuck it back in."  Lifting my forehead from my palm I say, "HUH?  How'd you do that?"  He says, "Just crammed it back in."  Again, shaking my head, "Oh my gosh."  Joking I said, "What'd you do, save it for later?"  He smiled, "Yep."  It all kind of went to a blur then...laughter...the rolling thoughts of where that glob of ear wax ended up.  I think he mentioned something about music?

So this brings me to think.  I wonder if my little boys selective hearing is all caused by the backward cramming of earwax deep rooted in their little heads.  Maybe that's what happens with my husband...just 38 years of ear wax build up that deconditions the ears to hearing along with the lack of neurological response connected with hearing and memory.  There's got to be a connection.  Proven solid by a nine year old. 

Selective hearing at best is like this example at our house.  And on a good day it has a response, most often it's my Snoopy Peanut voice being played over and over to them-apparently.  But if I was to holler.  "Boys are you hearing me!"  I know the response would be...delay...delay...more delay.  "Oh mom you lost an earring.  I'll help you find it."  They're good kids, quite helpful most days.  Hum...compounded ear wax theory?  But suppose I throw in a southern dialectic...appropriately slanged for our barber shop experience.  "Boys ar'ya hairin' me there?  I'm fixin' dinner, yu'ngry?"  The response would be....delay...delay.....(longer pause due to southern drawl and slow dialogue accounted for-I grew up in Texas I can say that)...delay.  "There's a hair in our dinner?  I'm not eating it."  Yep...that does it-just killed the whole dinner experience without even getting started. 

I am happy though. I'm quite certain my son's ear wax didn't get stuck to some poor unsuspecting other child in his class, maybe just some random piece of music equipment.  Yeah, I'm not sure that's better, but some things left unknown are just best, especially when it comes to ear wax.  I just hope we didn't traumatize our barber too much, and he'll let us back in for a 'shave and a hair cut-two bits'.

Corgi Trails

 

It was almost cruel and unusual corgi punishment as I opened their kennel gate.  My daughter giggled with glee as she watched them, however they didn't make it far before being completely high centered.  So I broke a new path through our 'easy' 18 inches of fresh snow.  One bounded with emphasis proudly leading his pack. One acted as if she had a pogo stick connected to each paw, and boing...boing...boing she leapt through the powdery wet bliss.  And one stopped looked at me, back at the kennel, back at me and gave me her best 'ReAlLy' look.  She then lifted one paw and gently lunged ever so slightly, an almost motionless movement, into the trail I'd just cut, and sat down to seriously ponder her options. Can you guess which one is which?

 

In no time, we had a maze of corgi trails all over the yard.  This picture doesn't do the scene justice because it was a weird spot by the barn, but all the other trails were like little miners tunnels for our four legged friends.  I'd gaze across only to see the tips of ears cruising through their new found paths.  Every once in a while I'd go rescue our 'not so ambitious' one, and eventually she realized it was much more important to be strategically located as close as she could be to the door. As I opened the door our over joyed wee one 'had' to let her in so she could cuddle her neck. 

 

The trails came in useful for our chickens and cats too.  It was a single file line situation, so you can imagine how it worked with the chickens, the dogs, and a couple cats mixed in.  At one point I saw a chicken flitter, skitter, and fluff, while simultaneously releasing a 'SqWaCk!' as it went up and down, and up and down in the honey comb maze trying to evade a crazed critter in tow.  But it's all a day in the snowy life of three lil' corgis and their pals.

Writing for Children

Over the weekend I was excited to attend the fall conference for Montana's chapter of SCBWI-Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.  What an AmAzInG Conference!  I loved every moment!  Met some great folks as well as visited with other's I hadn't seen since I attended previously (5 1/2 years ago).  However I do have to confess I felt overwhelmed, defeated yet inspired and elated with the weekend.  Which means, again, it was amazing-just what the brain needed. 

Not only were the presenters a wealth of knowledge, but they also all sparked and encouraged the value of writing for children-be it board books to YA.  It was great to absorb their roles, jobs, depth on projects and perspectives as a whole.  We did a writing exercise, that I think sparked a solid novel in me.  I've been whittling on one, but I see it all together with this one-YEAH!  And it's completely different from my new draftings for Banjo...so stay tuned for Life on the Ranch with Banjo's upcoming project news.

My two hour trip home from Bozeman seemed to be a blink since I had so many story ideas rolling through my mind.  I wish I had a converter for how fast my brain dialogues to correspond with my typing hand, and it would flow onto paper-eh, maybe someday.  But until then, I'll keep the sparks-a-flying from mighty pen to paper as fast my little freckled fingers can type.