Operation: Take Back The Front Yard Part II

Soooo, remember when we pretended last weekend we were pioneers taking back the prairie?  (You can catch up on that post HERE.)

We're on Week Two and I still haven't come up with a more clever name.

We didn't get as much accomplished this weekend as we did last weekend. Or at least it didn't feel like it since I wasn't as crucial to the process, anyway. Oh, I still worked, but only for a bit attacking these weeds with Eli. 

 

This is kind of "our" spot. It's the part of our land that a tractor or lawn mower can't get to. It doesn't seem like a very much until you're swinging a pick ax and pulling out the prickly tumbleweeds and sunflowers with your hands.

Sometimes it seems like we're never ever gonna finish. Ever. But I keep telling myself that working 30 minutes a day, everyday is going to yield some kind of evidence pretty soon.

At least I hope so before I lose my helper!  And he sure is handy with a pick ax!

Brad was alot more productive, at least as far as visible change is concerned.

 He and Phoebe used the tractor to uproot the really big weeds and then mow down most of the shrubbery. It took an entire afternoon so don't be thinking he got off easy.

Phoebe probably did, but there's only so much whining I can take before I send her off to "help" her dad. :)

Next weekend we're attacking more weeds and uprooting the stubborn yucca plants we poisoned last weekend. All of this makes me seriously doubt the sanity of West Texas' early settlers. 

Friday Night Lights

It comes as no surprise to anyone who knows me that I am not a sports fan. 

At all.

I don't follow sports. I don't watch sports. To me, it's just like outer space; it's out there, but it doesn't actually affect my life at all so I could care less about it. My eyes kind of glaze over when the conversation turns to football or baseball or golf or basketball or hockey or anything else that might be featured on ESPN. 

But high school football is a whole other ball game.  (You like what I did there?) There's just something about a Texas high school football game...the smaller the school the better. There's an energy and a pageantry there that is crisp and amazing under those Friday night lights. It's part nostalgia and part excitement and part drama and part innocence all rolled up into one loud, three hour football game. In a world that is becoming more and more homogenized and mainstream, the Texas Friday Night Football Game is a unique and true glimpse of Texas at its best. 

Oh sure, other states have Friday Night High School Football, but Texas does is best. If you've never been, then pardner, it's high time. 

We loaded up Friday night and headed out to our small school's game. We met some friends and even the kids were swept up in the magic. 

There's no photos of Eli because at our football games, any boy between 7-12 is under the stands playing football with all the other boys. The few times he did manage to snag a snack from the concession stand, he sat with a friend's family instead of us. So I had to make due with photos of my other little cuties. 

And I'm totally claiming Ellie as "mine". 

I should probably also disclose that while I do *love* a high school football game, I didn't actually watch the game much. First, I have no idea of the rules of football beyond getting a touchdown is good so I'm never really sure what's going on in the game. Second, people watching is much more fun. And third, I was embroidering 17 kindergarten names on the class quilt I volunteered to make that is due October 1st (you know there will be another post on that later!). 

Friday Night Lights: There's just no better way to spend a Friday night in Texas. 

Never Underestimate The Power of a Hissy Fit

Today I threw a little hissy fit.

Let me give you a little background. Eli takes Vyvanse every day for his ADD. It's a highly controlled substance so I have to have a written prescription from the doctor every thirty days to refill it which requires a call to the doctor and a swing by to sign and pick it up. Then I have to take it to get it filled, which I used to do at a close Walgreen's while I was grocery shopping. Still a little inconvenient, but do-able. Then our pharmaceutical insurance changed it's policy. Any prescription filled more than three consecutive months is considered a "maintenance" drug and has to be filled at the Maxor pharmacy...in downtown Amarillo. Thirty minutes from my house.

I realize that there are those readers out there who live in Big Cities and thirty minutes in the car doesn't seem like a big deal and are thinking I should just put my big girl panties on and get over it. But I don't live in a Big City. I choose to give up La Madeline, Super Target, Panera, and Anthropologie in order to not have to drive 30 minutes for my errands. That was the first issue. I keep thinking I'm going to meet Brad for lunch down there one day because at least it would give me the excuse to try some of the cool restaurants down there we never go to because they are so out of the way, but so far, I've been too busy to make that happen.

While I was waiting, downtown, for them to fill the prescription, I was informed that it would take longer because they were having to get an over-ride because any "maintenance" prescription has to be filled with a 90-day supply. I only get two overrides a year and I've already used them because his medication is highly controlled and the doctor can't/won't write a prescription for more than 30 days so it was going to take even longer.

Anyone see the problem here?

It's a controlled substance that requires a written prescription (as opposed to a called-in prescription) which already requires me to go pick it up and take it to the pharmacy. Because of The Policy, it's also considered a maintenance drug which means I have to fill it at a specific pharmacy thirty minutes from my house in an area that neither Brad or I ever go. Also because of the The Policy, I'm supposed to get it filled for 90-days, but because of it's controlled substance nature, I can't get a prescription for more than 30 days.  Oh. My. Word.

So because I was tired and had a headache and had more to do than time to do it in, I threw a little hissy fit.  I didn't lose my temper and scream obscenities or anything, but I was short and my frustration was evident to the front desk worker un-lucky enough to be the one to explain the stupid bureaucratic policies to me.

A short time later, an actual pharmacist delivered the meds and told me that she was able to get a longer over-ride so we didn't have to do this every month. Apparently my little hissy fit paid off.

I had mixed feelings about the whole thing as I left. On the one hand, I'm mad at myself for getting so irritated and letting those feelings get me what I needed. I make an effort to not get frustrated in times like this. I try to be kind to everyone, to use humor and a smile to diffuse a situation and still get the result I need. I try to remember that in most cases, the person that I'm dealing with has no control over the policy or the rule or way things work and it's not their fault things are going badly. They don't deserve my anger or frustration because they have no way to change things. My best strategy (if you want to call it that) is to be kind and make everyone's day better.

On the other hand, I wonder if I'd still be sitting at the downtown pharmacy every month for 40 minutes if I hadn't gotten a little frustrated and the issue hadn't been taken to someone with more authority.

I'll never know because in this situation, the die has already been cast. But it makes me wonder about all the other frustrating situations I'll find myself in. Do the ends, in fact, justify the means? Or should we always, no matter what, be kind and polite and maybe a bit of a doormat? I'm fairly certain I already know the answer and that I made the wrong choice this morning. That by expecting things to run smoothly and expecting my time to be worth more than another person's I was probably in the wrong.

What do you think?



** Check out the new recipe at EATING AT THE TAJ MCCALL!

Projects

I do love a good project. 

In college, I was always better at putting together a project than taking any test. I think it's because projects get your creative juices flowing instead of just spitting out memorized information and the time spent putting one together is so much more enjoyable than studying. Anybody else like this?

You can imagine how excited I get when my children bring home project assignments. Remember THIS? Well, Phoebe brought home her first "project" last week. She needed to make a poster that told her class all about her. 

Naturally I broke out the glitter and the glue and the photos and we got to work. What project can't be made better with a little glitter?

She and Eli brainstormed the things she wanted to tell her class and then I found photos to go with them. While Eli and Brad headed off to baseball practice, the glue and glitter started flying. It was pretty fun...despite that one moment where she told me it was her project and she wanted to do it her way. Sigh. She just doesn't get it, does she? :) 

But she was all smiles when she headed off to school this morning. I was not considering all the glitter that now lives all over my house. Seriously. It looks like a fairy got hit by the glitter truck in my kitchen. 

** New recipes for PHILLY CHEESESTEAK SLOPPY JOES, CHEESY STUFFED SHELLS, ASIAN FLANK STEAK SKEWERS, BAKED ASIAN CHICKEN WINGS, and CHICKEN AND BROCCOLI CASSEROLE are up over at EATING WITH THE TAJ MCCALLS! Finally!

Ten On Ten: September 2012

Ten on Ten:

Taking a photo at ten after the hour for ten consecutive hours and trying to capture the beauty among the everyday-ness of our lives.

It was a little harder this month. I was home, by myself, playing catch-up from a crazy weekend. While peaceful and productive, I found it hard to find beauty without some human interaction. But I managed, and while it's not my most inspirational set of Ten on Ten, they have a nice "homeyness" to them. :)

Go HERE for other Ten on Ten photographers...and I use that term loosely since I'm including myself in that group. :)

Operation: Take Back The "Front Yard"

I had a couple other alternate titles for this blog post.

"Please Don't Call CPS"

 and

"Why I'm (Secretly) Proud Of My Kids"

I'm pretty sure I've already used the first one at some point (and why do I keep doing things to my children that might warrant a call to CPS) and the second didn't accurately describe the crazy idea we've embarked on this month. So I stuck with "Operation: Take Back The "Front Yard". 

We live on the prairie. Really. We have neighbors and all that, but mostly we live on the prairie. The wild, West Texas prairie. Where I'm pretty convinced that God never intended people to live. I'll tell you why in a moment. I need to give you a little history first.

We moved into our house almost four years ago after building our house outside of Amarillo. When building, we did not have a landscape plan...and we probably should have considering our "front yard" is full of mesquite trees, tumbleweeds, and yucca plants. All of which were designed to withstand the crazy West Texas wind, drought conditions, and extreme temps. Sounds lovely, right? Anyway, the front half of our lot has been sadly neglected the last four years and I've spent the last six months nagging convincing Brad that we needed to do something about it. He finally caved and we deemed September Take Back The "Front Yard" month. 

I'm putting quotation marks around "Front Yard" because it isn't technically our front yard. The front yard is from the house to the retaining wall. The "Front Yard" is from the retaining wall to the road. I haven't come up with a catchy term yet for this part of our property, but I'm working on it.

I took some "before" photos, but I'd like to post them when we finally finish with the "after" photos. You can get an idea of what it looks like HERE. Our plan this weekend was to cut down all the lower mesquite branches and shrubs to clear a path to the mesquite trunks and yucca plants that we were going to spray with a solution of one part REMEDY to three parts diesel. I'm telling you, these West Texas plants are hard to get rid of! 

We started Saturday morning. Brad used the chainsaw and Eli and I removed them cut branches by dragging them to the back of the truck. Phoebe didn't join us till later because she slept in. 

It was some serious work.

Saturday ended with us heading to town to dump the branches at the chipping site and a run to Lowe's for more 2 cycle oil. Don't ask me what that is because I don't know. I just know that Brad couldn't use the chainsaw anymore without it. 

Sunday was more of the same. Brad cut down branches and we loaded them up into a borrowed flat-bed. Once Brad finished, he helped load branches, too.

This was hard, hot work for three and half hours. There were a few meltdowns.

But mostly just a lot of hard work.

And no, she didn't keep this smile up the entire time. She did a lot of crying and a lot of wailing that she hated our front yard and why did we ever move to this house. I'm sure the neighbors thought we were horrible parents, but we really did need their help and I think it's something we need to do together.

I took a photo of one of the mesquite branches so you can see how prickly and mean these suckers are! Some of the thorns were a good two inches long! And sharp! Eli and I both suffered bad mesquite thorn stabs right through our work gloves and straight through our fingers. Mine is still swollen and bruised today. This is why I'm certain no one was meant to live in West Texas. God put these here as a deterrent and we are stupid enough to try to deal with them.

It was back breaking work.

But these kids were troopers. They worked like turks...even though there was a lot of crying and complaining. I was so proud of them when we finished. Despite the meltdowns, they worked. We'll work on attitude next weekend when we clear the tumbleweed brush Brad is going to mow down with a tractor.

I thought I'd include a photo of the flatbed trailer we filled. Brad had to stomp it down several times so it would all fit. It was a lot of mesquite...and we left a lot of the dead wood on the ground. So if anyone needs any free firewood, let me know and you can come get it out of our front yard!

And I'm not kidding!

Then it was another trip to the chipping site and reward trip to Sonic for really big ice cream treats.

My kids work cheap, apparently. We all wound up sore and sunburned and tired, but with a sense of achievement and a little more connected with our family.

At least I did. Brad and the kids are probably just irritated and worn out. 

Happy Friday!

The best very best thing I can say about this week is that it's over!

The kids share in my enthusiasm. 

Happy Friday!!

It's Too Early To Feel This Tired

It's not even the second week of school and I'm exhausted.

Utterly exhausted in all areas. Physically. Emotionally. Mentally. 

Did I mention it was only the second week of school? 

School started and so did early mornings, twice a week baseball practices, ballet lessons, homework, PTO responsibilities, Huddles, breathing treatments (since both kids are apparently trying to get bronchitis), Brad's out-of-town meetings, baseball games...you get the idea. I guess I thought I'd have a little more time to ease into things. 

Then there's Eli. He's pushing and fighting against everything all day long. Again. 

Not getting ready on time, instead lying in bed looking at a book.

Telling me he took his medicine when he didn't.

Pitching a wall-eyed tantrum any two-year-old would be proud of when told to drink his cough medicine.

Riding his bike in the driveway instead of getting in the car for school making us leave late.

Acting crazy and annoying and loud at Chick-fil-A at the Huddle kick-off. 

Tackling a boy at church when he walks in the door after I reminded him to "be calm" not two minutes before.

Running away from me when I told him it was time to leave when church was over.  

Not telling me he had homework until we pulled into the driveway at 9:00pm after church.

Telling me he'd brushed his teeth, and then telling me he just didn't use enough toothpaste when I called him on it. 

It makes me want to yell at him, "Why can you not just do what you're supposed to do when you're supposed to do it?! Are you really this selfish?! Do you disrespect everyone around you this much?! Do you like spending your day in trouble and irritating your friends?!"  But I don't...by the grace of God. Really. I just ground him from the Wii (again) and add even more chores to his never-ending list of "community service". 

Then I head off to bed (and blog, apparently), tired and defeated and crushed by the guilt of screwing up (again). The things I listed look like the normal behavior of a nine-year-old boy, but they're not. I watch his friends. They don't do these things. Disgusted with myself and my lack of patience and resolve...questioning God and His wisdom with entrusting me with this child when things get a little hard. Dreading the next day before I even go to sleep because it will just be more of the same making me tired. Waking up tired with the burden already settled on my shoulders before I've even had my first cup of coffee. Knowing that I'm going to fail again because I cannot figure out what motivates him to act the way he does in the first place or find the words or reasons to make him want to change.  It makes me tired. 

And it's still only the second week of school. 

Why do I write this? Maybe just to put it out there. Maybe to find a little solidarity among all the other tired moms. Maybe hoping that someone will know what to pray for me because I'm too tired to pray for myself and my child. Maybe just to have something to look back on when things even out a little. I just don't know...and I'm too tired to figure it out. 

What I Read This Summer

Labor Day has come and gone and that pretty much marks the end of summer. Unless you're Eli, and then summer doesn't technically end till September 21st, so we have a few more weeks to make it to the Cadillac Ranch (the last thing on our summer fun list).

But, really, summer is over...and with it goes most of my free reading time. Since my schedule is looser in the summer, I tend to do more reading then. And I read some good books this summer. I figured that since I'm always looking for good books to read, I thought I'd share my list and what I thought of them.

Pretty Good Books I Read This Summer

WAR BRIDES by Helen Bryan. I liked this book. I'm a sucker for historical fiction and this one was pretty good. It ended a little abruptly, but I liked the intertwining stories.

THE NIGHT CIRCUS by Erin Morgenstern. Beautiful setting. Nice story. Good, but not great.

DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth. After reading The Hunger Games, I kept hearing this book pop up in those same conversations. It wasn't quite as good at The Hunger Games, but I still liked it. It probably would've been in the Really Good Book category except that those recommending it failed to mention that the third book isn't due out till the fall of 2013. How frustrating!

INSURGENT by Veronica Roth. Second book in the series. A little slower than the first (most second books of a trilogy are), but it picked up towards the end. 

THE BOOK THIEF by Markus Zusak. I know a lot of people really love this book, but I didn't. It was ok. I'm all about a dark book, but there just wasn't much redeeming value to this one.  It just didn't resonant with me.

FLOWERTOWN by S.G. Reading. This was a fun, fast read. It kind of reminded me of Michael Crichton's early books, although it didn't take near as long to set up the story.

STRAYS LIKE US by Richard Peck. I read this book after I had read a different book by this author that I really liked. He has a very authentic voice to his writing and I liked the outcast view of things.

Really Good Books I Read This Summer

A LONG WAY FROM CHICAGO by Richard Peck. This was the first book I read by Richard Peck this summer and it was amazing. Heartwarming and endearing, it told a lovely story about the best parts of family. This was almost the best book I read this summer.

A YEAR DOWN YONDER by Richard Peck. This was sort of a sequel to "A Long Way From Chicago", but not really. Same characters, but it happens a few years later, and I didn't think it was quite as developed as the first one.

THE ALLOY OF LAW: A MISTBORN NOVEL by Brian Sanderson. I've read THE MISTBORN TRILOGY and really liked it. I had a harder time getting into this book since it's kind of like a western meets "Lord of the Rings", but the second half read really fast. I don't know if it's a series or not, but I think it might be since it left several unanswered questions.

GONE GIRL: A NOVEL by Gillian Flynn. This was the surprise book of the summer. I only read it on the word of a friend who only recommends good books, but I wasn't very excited about it. It was so good!  I couldn't put it down! It, too, was almost the best book of the summer. 

The Very Best Book I Read This Summer

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS by John Green. This book is phenomenal. Utterly beautiful and haunting. I like my heroines to be dark or  broken or crazy and a story about a teenaged, terminal cancer patient is right up my alley. But even that cannot prepare you for the amazingness that is this book. I read it in about a day and half. I devoured it. And now I feel the need to go back and re-read it slowly and savor  it again.


So there's my list. I keep thinking there's one I forgot, but I can't put my finger on it. Now I don't have any more books. Did you do any summer reading? Any of the same books I read? Any books you would recommend? 

Show and Tell: A Chocolate Pie Recipe and My New Apron

Sing a song of sixpence a pocket full of rye,

Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie.

When the pie was opened, the birds began to sing.

Wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the king?

The kids had added "bake a pie" to our SUMMER FUN LIST and since we spent last week crossing off our last few items, we baked a pie! I let the kids choose what kind (as long as it didn't include birds!) and they wanted to make a chocolate pie. Since my mom is the Queen of Chocolate Pies, I asked her for a good recipe. She sent me one that was more of a brownie chocolate pie. 

Both my kids are "dough babies", so making the pie dough was their favorite part.

And just look at those crimped edges!

It took a lot of concentration.

I don't make meringue. For starters, it's hard to make and never seems to turn out right for this non-baker and it makes me think of calf slobber and I just plain don't like it! We made homemade whipped cream to top our pie instead.

The finished product was pretty good...although it did have a thin, crunchy chocolate "crust" on top. I'm not sure what I did wrong or if it's supposed to be that way. I didn't get too many complaints, though!

Here's the recipe:

Brownie Chocolate Pie

1 ½ c. sugar

2 T flour

2 T cocoa

¼ t salt

¾ c pet evaporated milk

2 eggs

2 T melted butter

1 t vanilla

1 unbaked pie shell

Mix all dry ingredients, add eggs and vanilla, mix well.  Add milk and butter. Pour into pie shell, bake at 300 about 1 hour. (I actually had to bake mine a lot longer because the middle was still pretty runny. Since I wasn't exactly sure what to look for, I deemed it done when it was kind of all puffed up and kind of bubbly and when I stuck a toothpick in the middle, it didn't come up with "wet" gook on the end. The "gook" looked more done. That's helpful, I know, but it's what I did.)

In addition to us all wearing purple ACU shirts and black yoga pants on this day (well, Eli's were more like "athletic pants" and not yoga pants, but they were still black), I wore my new apron that I *finally* finished. 

I had it all cut out way back at the beginning of June, I just hadn't sewed it all up. I'm so glad it's finished! I like it because it doesn't tie at the neck (which kinda drives me crazy) and wraps all the way around. And it's cute.