Bzzzz-y

Summer in full bloom here.



It's flying by way too quickly.

In the paper

Our library's Annual Craft Day kicks off our Summer Reading Program. Yeah, sure, we do a lot of crafts every week at various story hours, but we spend several months getting ready for Craft Day. This year, we had 17 different crafts spread out in four rooms, with enough to make 125 of each craft. The place resembles a zoo for two hours.



I brought my camera. I much prefer to hide behind my camera than to sit in front of a bunch of kids and explain something to them. (Such as this flying lizard, which was made at the table I sat at for part of the time.)



My boss submitted a few of my photos to the local newspaper, and the ones in this post were chosen to be published last week.



Unfortunately, taking photos was more dangerous than I thought. As I was sitting on my heels, trying to get a girl framed in a shot, I took a few steps backward, bumped into a toddler, and lost my balance. As I tried to avoid crushing the poor kid, all of my weight landed on my hand. I sprained my wrist and have had a bandage around it for the past two weeks.

I should win an award for hurting myself in the most ridiculous, lame ways. If someone had caught me on film, I'd surely be on America's Funniest Home Videos.

Random photos

Holly caught this bird with my camera while we were at VT.



And she caught me.



But I got her back. Or at least her side.

Colleges

Holly and I visited two more schools in the past two weeks. First, we went to James Madison University up in Harrisonburg, about 1-1/2 hours north. It's a larger school than I'd realized. We attended an informational meeting and then joined a loooong, hour and a half walking tour. Holly liked it.


I forgot my camera, so this is the only picture I have.

On Wednesday, we went an hour south to Virginia Tech.


I've been to a few activities on campus, but those were just in and out of a few buildings. I enjoyed getting a larger picture.


The school is not really of interest to Holly, but she wanted to look at it anyway. Another beautiful campus; my dad reminded me that these are typical of Eastern colleges, spread out, older stone buildings. We didn't attend an informational meeting this time, but we enjoyed a nice walking tour for prospective students (despite the heat and unusual humidity, ugh). My biggest beef with Tech has been and continues to be the bathrooms from the 1930s.


I am appreciating that we live in a state with many excellent options for higher education, and it's been fun to take off with my daughter and spend time together. We had planned to eat in one of the giant cafeterias but found they don't take credit cards! (As if I carry cash . . . ) All was not lost. Chipotle was half a block away.

Father's Day

A quiet day, the kids slept in, and we didn't go to church. We were blessed to have two of our younger friends (read: Holly and Trevor's ages) join us for dinner and stay for the evening.

I made several of Robert's favorites, ribs, pasta salad, watermelon, focaccia bread, and banana cream pie for dessert. It was a nice and relaxing day, a little different than our usual family Father's Days in the past, but different in a good way!

Grasscloth

I've discovered my unusual fondness for grasscloth. I don't know why, but part of it must go back to the 1970s when my dad wallpapered our living room? family room? with it.

Those copper colored flakes! Be still, my heart!

We had an interior decorator shop close and donate dozens of boxes of materials to our library children's department. I ended up using these pieces to make lizard bodies and wings. I cut out dozens and dozens of pieces and loved every minute of touching the huge variety of colors and textures.

I've been wandering around my house imagining where we might cover just the smallest area with grasscloth, but Robert remains totally unconvinced. I'd feel the same way if he were reliving his childhood and reminiscing over avocado green shag carpeting.

Crocs in church

Not always the best idea.



(I feel the need to point out that this was pre-arranged by the pastor. There was a ping pong table set up too. :)

More good things to say about this youth group. Parent/s come with the kid/s, and there were about 40 people there. The teaching lasted about 45 minutes, and then each parent went off for 20-30 mins. with their own child/ren to discuss specific application questions. We then gathered back together for snacks, games, and just hanging out. We've been gunshy from the beginning about children's programs/youth groups, and have left two churches as a result (once when the kids were very young). This was refreshing, different, good.

The new church

I confess, I am now church-commitment phobic. "The" new church has a great philosophy on youth groups. Actually, I'm not totally sure I know what that philosophy is, but I know that I like it; we're on the same page. It's not a dump-your-kids-at-the-door while they go bowl/skate/eat pizza/watch movies/etc. They rarely do "fun" things, meet just once? twice? a month, and parents attend too. This was one of the rare "fun" nights, and after meeting at the church, we went across the street to miniature golf. More than two dozen teens played.



Most of the parents did not golf, opting instead to hold up various walls around the course.



There were only two parents there whom I did not know, and Robert and I had a chance to meet the assistant pastor. We ended up back at the church to eat pizza and visit more. It was a fun time; initially, Trevor had not been so sure, but he was very happy that we went. Appropriate comments here for me to make include the interesting fit this church seems to be for us, and how much we appreciated that it's close to home, lol.

After four years . . .

of having to live an hour or more from Chipotle, it's finally opened a store in Roanoke. You might guess we're pretty happy about this, and you'd be right.

The day after Chipotle opened, we were there

And Kohl's is coming this fall.

I may never have to leave town again.

Boys

Last weekend

The nearby church we've been visiting had its annual picnic last weekend. The picnic site was nestled in the hills, back in the middle of nowhere. It was very nice, well-attended, and Holly and I had a chance to meet and chat quite a bit with the pastor's wife. There was also a short ceremony and speeches honoring this year's graduates. (Okay, that was quite wonderful. There were a handful of college grads, along with several homeschooled grads.)

Robert and Trevor are somewhere in the long food line.

I did not take a picture of the beautiful setting.

I did not take a picture of the delicious food.

I did not take a picture of the shallow creek.

I did not take a picture of my wonderful family.

But I did take a picture of the miniature frogs that were all around the creek. They looked like flies walking around on the ground. Holly thought they were quite darling.



I spent some time visiting with two old friends from our old church who have also been frequenting this church. We later guiltily worried about seeming "cliquish," OOPS. :/

Trevor's friend came home with us for the afternoon. Just in time, because it began pouring when we got here.


It was a great end to the weekend.

We've been cooking

And I'm not talking about heat.

Robert, Trevor, and I keep seeing Cuban Sandwiches pop up. Robert came up with his own variation.

CUBAN SANDWICHES
deli turkey
deli ham
swiss cheese
dill pickle chips
pickled jalapeno slices
homemade garlic mayo*
sub rolls

Put sandwiches together. Spread thin layer of softened margarine or butter on top and bottom sides of roll. Fry in pan on stove over medium low heat, putting another heavy pan on top of sandwich to smoosh the whole thing down (think sandwich press here). When lightly browned, turn sandwich and brown on other side.

*To make homemade garlic mayo: Put 1/2 c. chopped garlic in a bowl. Add 1 T. mayonnaise; let set overnight. Okay, I exaggerated a bit, but the way Robert's been going through garlic, I wouldn't be terribly surprised.

These were delicious. Holly was skeptical but ended up having seconds.
turkey ham garlic mayo mustard swiss pickles jalapenos


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HOMEMADE DONUTS

Robert's long wanted to make donuts, from scratch, in a deep-fryer, the whole nine yards. It did not sound so great to me: hugely messy, hugely greasy, and besides, we don't have a deep fryer. I found this recipe for homemade donuts online, and I surprised everyone by making them before anyone even knew what was going on. From the time I began gathering ingredients to the finished plate of donuts was less than 15 minutes. They were delicious. I am not sure how long they will hold up--but that doesn't matter, who can keep from eating these all right away.

I'm just linking to the recipe. The photos were very helpful to me the first time around.

Amended:  I changed the topping though.  The melted butter turned the granulated sugar into an unappealing goo.  Instead, I made a quick glaze with 1.5 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 t. vanilla, and 1/4 c. water.  (Cinnamon optional; I omitted it.) I dunked the doughnuts in this glaze and let them sit for 5-10 mins. to set.  There was enough glaze to double dunk (or one on each side) one tube of biscuits.  I just love when my family thinks I'm so wonderful to feed them such delicious food!

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From the same cookbook as the donuts above, and my new favorite macaroni and cheese recipe, comes this gem. I was thinking it'd make a cool summer dinner, and while that didn't quite pan out (pun, haha), it was a huge hit. It's also healthy, quick, and made great leftovers.

CHICKEN LETTUCE WRAPS

3 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts--can be cooked/leftovers, or raw
8oz. pkg. of mushrooms, finely chopped
3 green onions, finely chopped
2 cans water chestnuts, finely chopped
3 T. brown sugar
6 T. soy sauce
hoisin sauce
chopped peanuts
rice sticks and oil to cook them in
head of lettuce (iceberg or romaine) to serve them in

If the chicken is not cooked, prepare chicken by sauteeing, poaching, microwaving, etc., and dice into small pieces. Set aside.

Pour a small bit of oil into saute pan and cook mushroom and onion. Add soy sauce and brown sugar, stirring to mix. Add water chestnuts and chicken. Remove from burner when mixture is heated through.

Rice Sticks:

Prepare per package directions. You'll have to pull off a small amount of rice sticks and cook a small amount at a time. They do not cut, tear, or anything else, and if you cook too much at one time, you will have uncooked, inedible noodles in the middle. For a great video, check out the original recipe, and go almost halfway down the page.

To assemble: place a small amount of chicken mixture in center of lettuce leaf. Top with rice sticks, chopped peanuts, and hoisin sauce. Wrap the lettuce around it as well as you can. You'll thank me, I already know.


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Last, but not least, I was looking for a quick and yummy addition to dinner last night and found this homemade bean dip recipe. It's got to be healthy--black beans and a few spices, and I'm totally convinced that tortilla chips count as a whole grain.

HOMEMADE BLACK BEAN DIP / HUMMUS

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 t. apple cider vinegar
2-1/2 t. balsamic vinegar (I'm sure it wouldn't be ruined if you just used 1 T. of either vinegar)
1-1/2 T. ketchup (this was pretty ketchup-y; next time, I'll cut it down to 1 T.)
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. onion powder (I substituted dried minced onion)
1/4 t. chili powder

Combine all in food processor; pulse until creamy. Add water to thin if necessary (I used 1 T.). Serve at room temp.

Return trip to Tennessee

We practically flew back to Tennessee to pick up Holly after a week at camp. We made the entire trip in under 12 hours. Most of the drive was easy.

Except when it was foggy . . .



Things we saw:

An enormous cross

Two, actually.
Their size fascinated me; I wished to take a picture
with something at the base to get a better perspective of size.

The Tennessee River

The view from the bridge.
This is going toward the town of Dayton,
and I'm thinking that Holly's camp was
at the top of that dark hill in the center of the photo.

The spectacular view from the camp.
I didn't bring my camera from the car,
so I took this from the camp website.

As expected, she had a great time at TeenPact.

But I'm glad to have her home too.

Zelda Piano Book

Trevor put together this lovely book as a surprise gift for a friend.



He found the music sheets via a link from youtube (http://evgmusic.com/vg-music/, then click 'Spirit Tracks').




Trevor was excited. I was impressed. His friend, who plays the piane, was thrilled.



It was all quite brilliant, and it was sweet to see Trevor come up with this entirely on his own, for no reason other than knowing his friend would like it so much.

The two milestones Holly missed while she was gone

1. The end of season soccer banquet. After six seasons on the 9-12 team, Trevor will be moving up in the fall to the 13+. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of batteries just as he was getting his awards.

2. I cleaned Holly's room. She was not 100% happy about it, but Robert and I were. As I was putting everything back together, Vader wandered in.

Even he didn't recognize the place.

I'm drowning

in a sea of books.

I am quite shocked. There are books EVERYWHERE. I do not like this at all, I want them all to be in their own special place, but I'm not really sure exactly where that is.

I'm trying to fit these into our school schedule before putting them away, but they've been sitting here for two weeks.



A few of Robert's; one for Holly, along with a few movies I picked up at the library today. (I wonder how many of these we'll actually watch.)



Yep, definitely not my books here.



And these aren't my books either.



The kids rescued these from the book sale a few days ago. I haven't had a chance to run them downstairs.



I bought this today at work (for $.25); it's waiting to go downstairs too.



Some of Holly's random readings. One is for fun, the other is required reading for Peru.


the other is required reading for Peru.


My nightstand is the catch all, the waiting line for what I'm reading or planning to read. It's gotten way too high--how will I read all of this in the next 2-4 weeks before they are due?


Last but not least. These are the things that didn't sell from the book sale. I need to list them locally, and I haven't had time to do that yet either.

Maybe tomorrow!