Book Reviews

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I avoided reading this for the longest time due to its likely appeal to Oprah. I ended up liking the book well enough, with the exception of the ending for Aibileen.

Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography by Rob Lowe

A pleasant read, far different from the usual TMI of tell-all autobiographies. Rob came across as funny, pleasant, and intelligent. After reading Melissa Gilbert's sordid details of her life with Rob, it was interesting that he mentioned her name a total of about three times.

Banished from Jehovah's Witnesses by Dwight A. Hayes

Interesting, self-published book written by a local man describing his life as a Jehovah's Witness, from his childhood through his years as an elder. After acknowledging Christ as his Savior, he was "disfellowshipped." The focus of the book was various JW techniques, beliefs and "teachings."

In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir by Dick Cheney

Okay, I like Dick Cheney. I liked him before, I like him as much, if not more, after reading his new book. I'd love for this man to hold the Executive Office in our country, but between his health and my belief that the idiots are running the asylum (referring to the voters), that's not going to happen.

Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah

She's a popular author, and this book caught my attention at the library. I enjoyed the main part of the story, about two women who grew up at odds with their mother. After their father dies, the mother fulfills a promise to her husband to complete the fairy tale/bedtime story she's told the daughters since they were children. Several dozen pages are devoted to the telling of this fairy tale story throughout the book. BORING! The "fairy tale" is of course retelling events of the mother's previous life with her first husband and earlier children as they lived (and died) through the Siege of Leningrad in the early 1940s. You'd think I'd like this historical aspect, but it was stupid in the context of this book.

The daughters take the mom on a cruise to Alaska, the mom confesses her role in the "fairy tale," and they discover that the owner of a Russian restaurant who served them a meal is really the mother's long lost first daughter, who she thought died in the siege.

Stupid. A perfect example of why I shy from popular fiction.

I finished this book the morning that the clocks turned back. It's hard to complain about having an extra hour; at least I didn't waste one of the usual 24!

The Only Best Place and
All in One Place by Carolyne Aarsen

A mindless fictional story set on a ranch in Montana. Nothing stellar, but I read through both books in the storyline.

Outlier: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

Outlier. A scientific term to describe things or phenomena that lie outside normal experience.

In this case, "outlier" refers to those who have achieved success far and above the expected norm. Gladwell explores various reasons why Bill Gates, the Beatles, and others have achieved success--they were in the right place at the right time, but other factors played heavily.

An absolutely brilliant book. I've already checked out his prior book Blink and can't wait to begin!

Just My Type: A Book About Fonts by Simon Garfield

Quirky reading. Who can imagine reading through an entire 356 paged narrative on type fonts? And that it was interesting enough to continue reading until the end?

Beyond the Blue by Leslie Gould

Christian fiction with parallel stories about an infertile Oregon couple drawn to adopt in Viet Nam, and a poverty-stricken, unwed mother who desperately wants a better life for her children. I enjoyed the historical aspect of the book (effects of the Viet Nam war), the cultural descriptions, and learning a bit more about the international adoption process.

Recipe - Incredible Pork Loin Roast

Another recipe with amazing reviews that I found online. I was a bit skeptical too of the cooking time, but as I read the reviews, I remembered our favorite roast beef recipe is cooked the same way--turning the oven on high for a short period of time, then turning it off for a longer time for the meat to continue to cook.

PORK LOIN ROAST

one pork loin--the original recipe says 1 lb. Other reviewers cooked significantly larger roasts; mine was 3.5 lbs.

The success of this cooking method will depend on the accuracy of your oven and how well your oven retains heat. I guess mine is fine with both.

Determine the EXACT weight of your roast from the meat wrapper. The EXACT weight will determine the cooking time.

Preheat oven to 500-550 degrees. (Mine only goes up to 500.) Remove meat from fridge; season as desired. (I did nothing to mine.)

Place seasoned meat in uncovered roasting pan. (I added small potatoes and chopped carrots which had been tossed in oil, salt and pepper. I pushed them toward the edges of the pan so that the meat sat on the bottom of the pan.)

Bake EXACTLY 5-1/2 minutes PER POUND. Adjust +/- according to your oven's accuracy and heat retention. Turn oven OFF and DO NOT open the oven door for ONE hour. Remove from the oven and let sit for five minutes before slicing. Roast will be done, very slightly pink in the center, and very moist and tender.

For the recipe in its entirety, along with reviews, click here.

Recipe - Meatball Subs

I found a package of meatballs in my freezer and decided to use them in a dinner. I found this recipe and was thrilled by its high rating. Of course, I used my already-made meatballs instead and tweaked the recipe a little more. Everyone liked it (which is saying "even Holly," when I don't expect her to). It was sooooo easy, good, and inexpensive. I can't wait to make this for a crowd!

MEATBALL SUBS

1-2 onions, sliced
1-2 green peppers, sliced
meatballs, homemade or prepackaged; I used 6 frozen meatballs per person, which equaled one serving
jar of spaghetti sauce
sandwich rolls
provolone cheese

Pour ~1T. oil in skillet and preheat to med/med-high. Saute onion and green pepper to desired doneness; set aside.

Put meatballs in saucepan; pour in enough sauce to almost cover, but not quite. Heat meatballs thoroughly, stirring occasionally. My frozen meatballs took about 20 mins.

Cut open sandwich rolls. Pull extra bread out of the middle of rolls, so the meatballs will have a nice place to lay inside. Spray rolls with cooking spray, and place in 350 oven for 5 mins. to toast. Remove rolls from oven, fill one side with meatballs, and cover with one slice of cheese. Fill other side of rolls with cooked green pepper and onion. Return to oven, turn off heat, and let sit in residual heat for 5 mins.

Remove from oven, close sandwiches, smooshing slightly.

More photos from Virginia mountains

These were from our trip to the telescope in West Virginia last month.



Holly took all of these out of the window of the moving car.



At every twist in the highway, I would exclaim over the scenery.




Holly and Trevor got a little tired of me!



But the colors were truly breathtaking.


If summer must end, at least this is the way to go . . .

Weekly menu

This is part of my name-that-food-budget game, as in "I can feed this family for less than $450 per month." So far, we seem to be doing well, although Thanksgiving might put a bit of a dent in that.

Sun. - Greek soup
Mon. - Meatball subs
Tue. - Robert's choice
Wed. - Chicken souvlaki, hummus
Thu. - Husband's Delight, garlic bread, salad
Fri. - hot dogs?, deviled eggs, cabbage or potato salad?
Sat. - ham steak, grits, mashed potatoes, corn

On the back burner:
subs
French onion soup
pasta
breakfast burritos
giant burritos
cheeseburgers
breakfast
veal patties
chicken lettuce wraps

Sunrise this morning

No better way to start a day!

Heard at my house this morning

Trevor: This may seem totally random, but I'll never be a serial killer.

Mom: That's good, right?

Trevor: Yes, I usually have waffles for breakfast.

Oh, some of the things I find . . .

I thought this had been posted two months ago. I know I have "lost" photos that haven't made it here yet, and maybe I'll catch up some time.

Back at the beginning of September, Trevor's Civil Air Patrol squadron had its annual picnic at a local park.


It was a nice night, and the boys played soccer and football, and we had a potluck dinner.


Robert and I don't know a lot of the parents. We hung out with the one mom that we did know. Not a surprise, you know how unsocialized those homeschoolers are . . .


But seriously, it is a great group of young men from conservative families, including many homeschooled kids. For the most part, I don't believe any of the leaders have children in the program, but they are dedicated to the goals of CAP and continue to devote their time to this squadron. We are blessed to be a part of this group.

Blog musings

At the end of this month, my blog will be five years old. It's been such an amazing way to document our lives, post pictures for us to look back on, and share with family and friends just the day-to-day events, sometimes big, sometimes inconsequential. I never dreamed I would be able to do it for this long.

I've been contemplating why blogging just isn't grabbing me as much anymore. I want to do it, yet I am no longer feeling the pressure (good or bad) to make daily posts. As my kids get older, there are less "new" things. A day in the life of an 8 (or 12) year old changes more often than the day in the life of a 13 (or 17) year old. We are settled into longer, lasting routines. I'm enjoying every minute of it, but I don't feel the need to post every little bit of it either.

Oreo Brownie Bombs

Holly made these a few weeks ago. They were unique and AWESOME!

Oreo Brownie Bombs

1 box brownie mix for an 8x8 pan
24 oreos
1/2 c. creamy peanut butter (I'm sure chunky would be fine too)

1. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners.

2. Prepare brownie mix according to package directions. For each cupcake cup, spread 1 teaspoon of peanut butter over two oreo cookies and stack them on top of each other inside a muffin cup. Spoon 2 tablespoons of brownie batter over each set of stacked oreos and let it run down the sides of the cookies. Divide any leftover brownie batter into cups.

3. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes until brownies are cooked through. Let cool completely before serving.

Makes 12.

(Why don't I have a picture of these?)

Pumpkins

Robert's pumpkin came from the garden. I think we ended up with a pepper, a handful of tomatoes and a pumpkin.



Holly and Trevor waited until Monday to carve the others, while I was at work.

Holly's pumpkin

We watched the original Halloween movie with Jamie Lee Curtis. Haha!

Trevor's pumpkin

I'd asked Trevor to make me a puking pumpkin. We'd seen a similar one online last week, and I thought it was too cute!



We set the lit pumpkins out along the sidewalk to the house. We only had five trick or treaters, little kids, and I later realized we'd never turned the porch light on. :(

On the plus side, someone has to eat all that candy now. I think there are several of us here who are willing to make that sacrifice. For the good of the family, you know.

More soccer pics

A few more memorable photos that didn't make it into any other post:

Did I really not include this one already? There was one coach (not this team's) who was convinced that Holly was elbowing everyone. He made it his mission to get the ref to stop her (it didn't work). While we don't think she uses her elbows illegally, and certainly no more than anyone else, we appreciated that his team felt threatened enough by her to complain.

Maybe she can start grabbing clothing inconspicuously instead . . .
(and in the interest of full disclosure, it just LOOKS like she's touching his shirt)

If I haven't been quite so bold this season, here it is. We discovered in the spring that Trevor had been terribly underutilized and untrained in his then-soccer team. He'd played with the team for six seasons. It was usually a winning team, and the efforts all focused on offense and not defense. At the end of last season, Robert worked with Trevor just twice--and his skills exploded. The praise finally heaped on him by his then-coach and teammates was well deserved.

By moving into the new age group, he brought a new energy to our 13+ team's defense. He saw more action each game than he saw in entire seasons before. He was reliable and aggressive, and therefore played almost every minute of every game. As he has nine more seasons of play, he's clearly a force to be reckoned with.


Holly's little team's silly photo.


And I can breathe a sigh of relief that my soccer pictures have all been posted!

Green Bank

I'd recently heard about the Green Bank Radio Telescope located just a short drive away in West Virginia. ("Short" being relative: It was 2.5 hours each way, easily doable.) It's currently free to get in, but that changes next month, so it seemed the perfect time to make the trip.



And we couldn't have chosen a more spectacular time of year. There was no "easy" drive, once we left our county, it was two lane highways all the way, with the exception of I-64 that we hopped on for a bit to get into West Virginia.


The Visitor's Center at Green Bank is quite new, about ten years old, and not large. There was a wonderful hands on exhibit hall that was very informative for older teens and adults. We also saw a short presentation given by an employee, watched a small movie, and were taken on a shuttle bus tour of the facility.

Radio telescopes measure radio frequency energy from stars, galaxies and other objects in space. The telescope at Green Bank is HUGE, the size of two football fields, and is the world's largest land-based movable structure. For more info, see here and here.

Look closely to see how small the cars appear next to the telescope.

It was a quiet day. While there were more than a dozen visitors, we were the only people on the bus tour. I was amused by the driver going through his pre-rehearsed and well-practice spiel over the intercom just for us, as we sat at the front of the bus!

Due to the telescope's sensitivity to radio frequencies, the facility is in the middle of a 13,000 square mile National Radio Quiet Zone. While area residents can receive radio and satellite transmissions, there are tight restrictions on what can emit a radio signal. This means NO cell phone service, NO remote garage door openers, NO wireless internet, NO walkie talkies. All of the facility-owned vehicles are diesel; even digital cameras are not permitted within a certain distance of the telescopes.

Fascinating.

We also had registered for a Sky Lab presentation. Inside this balloon room. I eagerly crawled inside (second person even!), but once there, with the lights turned off and the projector simulating a sky, I couldn't take it and had to leave. I'm too motion sensitive and even get queasy writing about it here. I was so glad that Holly and Trevor decided to stay inside and not bail with me.



It was our first very cold day of the year, and as we headed for home, we saw snow. Quite a bit of it! It didn't make for bad driving, thankfully, as the temps hovered just above freezing, and the snow wouldn't stick.



I decided to drive home a slightly different way.


That was not the best idea, for although it was a scenic route, it was very curvy, and we got stuck behind two logging trucks. UGH!! Holly and Trevor were understandably less than thrilled.

We passed through picturesque towns, including Warm Springs, Virginia.



And oohed and aahed (okay, at least I did) from the earliest glimpses of The Homestead Resort at Hot Springs. (Can I just say, this was founded in 1766 and makes me rethink how impressive The Broadmoor seemed?!)


We were impressed by the sheer size of the MWV Chemical Plant in Covington.


It was an impromptu trip, a great day out with the kids, full of surprises, and a little bit of weather thrown in for fun. I was also a destination trip that gave us a chance to explore our area more closely. Nice day!

Special thanks to Holly for ALL of the scenery/car photos! We wouldn't have had these pictures without you!

End of another season

Another fast season, another great season.

This was Trevor's first time playing on the 13+ team. Other parents even commented on how well he held his own playing defense.



Holly made her mark in several offensive positions.



We believed last season was a time for team building; during the spring, we didn't win a single game and came in dead last out of eight teams. With Trevor as our only new player, everyone had a chance to meld together, giving us the opportunity to play a "consolation" game on Championship Night. We came in third overall for the season!


Great night, great team, great time.

GO RAMS!!

Miss Joyce

I got a phone call from our library director a week ago to tell me that my immediate supervisor, our beloved children's librarian, had suddenly and unexpectedly passed an hour before. She'd been suffering seasonal allergies (as usual) for two weeks, had been feeling poorly for the past week and was diagnosed Friday with "walking" pneumonia. She stopped at the library to finish some work on Sunday and spent time in town running errands. She went home, and while she was on the phone with her sister, had a massive heart attack, gone before the paramedics arrived. She was 58.


While I declined an offer to work in the children's department at my interview three years ago, I began my library computer training there and quickly decided to stay. Joyce was a true sister in Christ, a wonderful encouragement to me as I juggled family life, homeschooling, and working part time. It was a blessing from God to be able to work so closely with another believer. Many of our discussions stemmed from our shared faith, and one of our first questions to each other at the beginning of each week was, "How was church?!"

The one thing she would want most to be remembered for is her love for Jesus, that all she did, and all of her joy, was because of Him, what He'd done for her, and where she held her eternal hope. What a gift she's left, for us to know she's with our Savior!



Robert and I went to the funeral on Wednesday. The funeral home was packed to standing-room only, showing the impact she's had in our county for more than 30 years that she's headed up the children's department. Several of our teen volunteers missed school to be there.

It's been a crazy week. I'm glad for her, but I'm missing my friend at work. It's been hardest to see the little kids come in and write their sweet sentiments in books we've made to later give to Joyce's family.

One of our staff hosted a small gathering at her house last night. After the crowds at the visitations and funeral, it was a welcome chance for just our library family to bond together and remember Joyce in only ways that we could remember. It was pleasant and low-key, a comfortable time with friends. I know Joyce would have liked that.



Franklin-News Post article. Funeral home Guest Book. Legacy.com Guest Book.

Trevor's creations

Trevor's been spending countless hours creating customized Lego figures.


He watches youtube video clips for tips.



His creations include characters from Dragon Ball Z, Star Wars, and Nintendo.


He uses heads and bodies that he already owns, along with sharpie, wite-out, printed decals, folk art paint and sculpey.


It's a cool hobby!

Holly's birthday recipes

A wonderful friend made this for us a few weeks ago. Our mutual soccer teams were supposed to be playing each other, and they were going to come for dinner after the game. The game was rained out, just giving us more time to enjoy our company. It's worth noting that our team color is blue; their team color is green.



Holly requested this same cake for her birthday.

JELLO POKE CAKE

2 (8 or 9 inch) white cake layers, baked and cooled
1 small box green jello
1 small box blue jello
2 cups boiling water*

Place cake layers, top side up, in two clean round cake pans. Poke each cake with a fork at 1/2 inch intervals, being sure to go all the way down to the bottom of the pan.

Open each box of jello and put into its own bowl. Dissolve in boiling water (1 cup per bowl), stirring well.

Carefully spoon one bowl over each cake. The jello will overflow and run down the edges of the cake (inside the pan). That's okay, just go slowly, and cover the entire cake with the jello.

Chill in fridge for 3 or more hours. (I didn't have this much time, one hour was sufficient.)

Dip one cake pan in water for 10 seconds, then unmold onto a serving plate. Top with frosting. Dip other cake pan in warm water for 10 seconds, unmold and place carefully on top of frosted cake; frost over all.

*I used a can of Diet 7-Up that we had on hand for 12 oz. of the water.

This is a fun recipe to play with. Pair up different jello flavors, and different pop flavors for variety, or to suit your purpose: red and green for Christmas; pink and red for Valentine's Day; orange and grape for Halloween, etc.


WHIPPED CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened (I always use the reduced calorie)
1 c. sugar
1/8 t. salt
1 t. vanilla extract
1-1/2 c. heavy whipping cream

In a small bowl, beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form; set aside.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla until smooth; fold in whipping cream. After frosting cake, chill in fridge to set frosting.

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We've had my long loved fajita recipe for many years. This one beats my old one hands down. This was fabulous tasting and easy, easy to make.

BETTER STEAK FAJITAS

1/4 c. lime juice
1/3 c. water
2 T. oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 t. soy sauce
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. liquid smoke flavoring (I don't have, so I skipped)
1/2 t. cayenne pepper (gives a small kick and won't harm even small children!)
1/2 t. black pepper
2 lbs. your choice of fajita meat (I used flat iron steak)

Mix marinade ingredients together in large heavy duty plastic bag. Add meat, press out air to seal, place bag in fridge for several hours or overnight.

Bbq meat to desired doneness; let rest 5 mins., and slice thinly to serve.

Hiking

We have long wanted to hike on the Appalachian Trail. Four years ago, shortly after moving here, we even searched for it--unsuccessfully. We live a short distance from it, in fact, it crosses the main road just two miles away, and we drive past it at least a dozen times a week.

After endlessly researching on the internet, I had our spot all picked out. We drove to the parking lot in Catawba in the late morning, crossed the road, and began. Our destination was McAfee Knob, one of the most photographed spots along the trail.

We knew to expect that the trail would be very narrow, not wide enough for walking side by side. We were very much reminded of our back woods at our old house. The trail was narrow but easy to follow, with white blazes painted on the trees as markings. I loved that both of the kids jockeyed for the lead. I was happy to hang back--not that I had much choice. They were both much quicker than I, waiting for me to catch up every few minutes.

Trevor--always looking for entertainment, or to entertain

It quickly became apparent to me that we didn't have enough water to easily last us through the trip. I began worrying a lot about this, even after being blessed by instantly spotting a walking stick (I took that as a sweet sign from God!). While I was loving spending time like this with my kids, I let my worrying about water rob me of a lot of my joy. Not good.



It was level for the most part, although we had to scramble up and down several wooden "rock" bridges (made of wood, they covered sheer rocky areas that would have been much more difficult to navigate). We saw a couple of other groups of people, some with obviously more hiking experience, some just like us, wearing regular clothes and tennis shoes.

Easy part of the trail--I could pull out my camera!

We stopped often to drink, snack, and check our map. After crossing under the power lines, we realized we still had another mile of walking--uphill. It would have been easy for a goat, but it had already taken us over two hours to go about 2.5 miles. We made the awful decision to not go any further.

I felt so guilty, that it was my fault, my poor planning, and my old lady body that couldn't go on. Holly and Trevor were initially disappointed. I don't think it would have been such a big deal if we hadn't had THAT specific destination in mind.

We had already planned to walk back on the old fire road, an easier hike which also cut off a half mile of walking.



Much more relaxing, and no more worries about water.


Especially since I ended up drinking most of Holly's, and she didn't realize it until we got back to the car!


Other things to note: Trevor barely missed stepping on a snake, and Holly's reaction. :)


By the time we reached the car, we were exhausted, but in a good way. We'd been going for more than four straight hours. We came home and did absolutely nothing else for the rest of the day. Although we were all expecting to be sore the next day, we weren't at all.

The hiking was completely addicting. I'm ready to take advantage of this beautiful weather and get out to do it again. I already have the new hike planned out--no fabulous "destination" for now, just to see how far we can go. And we're planning to bring a lot more water!

Holly turns 17

How strange it is to write that!

After staying up reading too late the night before, I woke up late, threw on jeans and a sweatshirt, stopped at the donut store for fancy donuts, and then ran into the grocery store for a balloon.

When I got home, I saw myself in the mirror and realized my oversized pajama t-shirt was sticking out from under my sweatshirt like a big dress. I guess I wasn't fooling anyone (blush).



Adding insult to injury, after Trevor woke up, he went and told Holly, "Dad already went out and got you something!" I'm apparently not known for doing nice things around here.

We had a great day. The kids slept in and had the day off from school. We reminisced over every detail of Holly's day of birth. Holly had planned for lunch at the Chinese buffet. Trevor is amazing adept at handling chopsticks.



At her little kids' soccer practice, the team sang Happy Birthday to her.



She also had her own team practice.



It was a long day, and we made fajitas for dinner when we got home.

Pajama bottoms birthday present

She'd already opened her gifts: Korean and Icelandic language instructional programs, pajama bottoms, Macy's gift card, and the always-appreciated checks from relatives.

She'd requested a Poke Cake for her birthday and was pleased with the results.


It was a lovely, relaxing birthday. I enjoy her so much; she's loving and compassionate, intelligent and interesting, talented and focused, refreshingly candid and wickedly funny. As desperately as I want to hold on to her, hold on to this time, I am excited to see what her future holds. This past year has been amazing for her, a year of growth and really stepping out. She's listened, followed God's calls in her life, and been so blessed. I couldn't want anything more for my child.

Happy birthday, Holly!