Missouri, sweet Missouri!

Get ready for five gazillion photos (and I was selective) of our time in Missouri.
Our hosts were wonderfully generous and entertaining as you will note. They are some of our favorite people!

Wild Onions which my two boys and the ever-willing Allison cooked into a stir fry.

I'd almost forgotten they also made Acorn cookies.  Um... they were very acorn-ish.  Just imagine...

The kiddos really enjoyed play play playing outside with their friends.  Missouri is very beautiful and felt like home in many ways.

And then there were the crawdads...
    Catching a bunch of the little buggers down in the crick

,

 Well what are you going to do once you catch a batch?

COOK them...

                                           



             



















......and EAT them, or course!
                                                                  (brave souls)

Just a taste of the beauty and sweetness of our visit.
THANK you dear friends!

Testing testing.....

And WHO doesn't love an extra-large picture of Carolina in red with white hearts?

The truth about my photos is that of operator error.
It turns out I used all my 1 free gig of storage and had to purchase more.
Who knew?
I can't be bothered with such silly and inconvenient things, so I put my people on the job.
And since my people are so good at what they do (or more probably "my people" loves me a lot)
Announcing that...

Bug clan photos are back online!  Woo-HOO!

Sweets for the Sweet... (or something like that)

 

A "quick" run to the big town today.  An hour and a half away; and in case you wondered...

Big is relative.  

To me it means Costco and Target with a couple other favorites thrown in.

I didn't plan for this trip to fall on this day, but with snow fast approaching, 

I want a complete stock of everything that could possibly entertain keep Buglets busy when stuck indoors.

Since it's Holiday season,

it should be fairly easy with lots of gift-making, ornament-creating, sweets-baking and so on. 

Right? 

RIGHT?

Sweets-baking had me thinking I should stock up on flour and sugar. 

And maraschino cherries - we want to try making chocolate covered cherries this year!

*On a side note, when I remembered a certain grocery store carrying a large jar of said cherries?  
I didn't remember it being a GALLON jar!  
But you know me.  
I made the best of it and purchased the whopper with nary a complaint :-)

So off we went.  To town.  To buy sugar..  ...and stuff.

Nothing noteworthy to tell of.  We went, we saw, we conquered.  

We made it through driving, shopping, lunch, Costco, and more driving, until arriving after dark 

to a warm house and barely any sign of the flakes rumored to have fallen earlier in the day.

When I unloaded my van though...

There was a 20 pound drift of white sugar heaped where the $7.00 bag once sat...full.

So sad.

That's what I get for not packing that paper sugar bag in more carefully.  

They don't package sugar just to grant me grace I guess.

Ah well.  Such is life.  

At  least I still have a gallon of maraschino cherries!

HA!

***********

Rain-Rain DON'T Go Away... *pretty please?*

 

Beautiful gray day with rain!

So MUCH can be accomplished in the watery-wet, but it's a matter of perspective.  

Snow I really don't know personally.  We are friends only lightly at present - more like acquaintances.  

I met it with pleasure through a large picture window in Colorado, 

when the indoor temperature was regulated by a thermostat.

And then again with a smile and a nod as I exited my van from a dry garage 

and pulled onto a snow plowed city street.

I loved it once upon a time as one loves a distant second cousin

which you meet only once every several years -

that was when my dad faithfully took mom and me, and my other siblings 

to cut the annual Christmas tree in COLD, wet, hard Sierra Nevada snow.

But this...

This will be an experience with snow that either makes me know and love it,

or have met it and not been sorry to see it go... in the Spring.

...hopefully.

But I am going to live with it, so I determine to love it.

The End.

This snow will keep me in short, dark, days which feel long (I think).

Indoors with 6 active children.

And for the present, I will be thankful for one Ron.

The-Toilet-guy who says he'll come clean my outhouse...

...even in the snow (assuming he can get up here),

because it looks like I'll have the chance to use my outdoor commode in less than desirable weather.

And so

My ode to rain.

All weekend while my favorite man was home, the Lord graciously held off the snow

(which I expect to arrive at any moment).

That meant that AJ provided wood to fill our new woodshed.  

3 cords are stacked neatly under shelter, and 3 more await two hard-working boys.

AJ also dug the trench and mulch pit for our composting toilet 

- it's not in service yet, but one big baby-step closer to done!

Besides those two things (which took quite a lot of time), Dad took his big fellas deer hunting.  

This was quite a hike in the cold, but thankfully again, not through snow.  

It was a long-awaited "first" for our boys and while they returned home with little more than cold noses and animating stories, it was a half day of time used well.  

It IS called "hunting" after all.

I was so glad they went.  

They DID it!

One might wonder at the warm welcome I sing to a rainy gray day, 

but it's one more day for last-minute Holiday errands.

One more chance to get the last firewood under cover.

One more day I don't have to worry about getting to the outhouse in snow.

I don't really know what that will look like logistically, 

but I'll be sure to let you know when experience fills me in.

I hope we can tramp a through for a while.  

Then there could be an icy path?  Might have to move our tramp.

I suspect there could even be boys shoveling a path.

Thank you LORD for boys!

I'm serious.

This would be a very different tune if it were me back in the days of 4, 5 and under. 

6 under 10 is another matter entirely!  

Between keeping my fire going and digging paths through the snow to my outhouse 

(notice I refer to it as mine?)... 

I think they will be earning manly privileges of hot chocolate or tea in the middle of the day.

Maybe NO on the coffee yet.  We DO have to spend quite a bit of time cooped up indoors together ;-)

So today... rain.

Tomorrow?  Who knows.

But I'm pretty certain that when the snow arrives,

we'll be in love.

...At least for a while...

***

You know you homeschool when...

Each of your children has 2 pencils to do their Math:

1 with a working pencil lead,

 and 

1 with a working eraser.

Has anyone else got this problem?
For some reason it haunts me.
I can't get my children to sharpen their pencils without eating them up
(cheap pencils? How can I even tell?).
And they're always breaking mechanical pencils.
Or are too small to change the leads themselves.
I think it's a problem that can be solved...
but I haven't yet.

Do YOUR kids have one sharp, eraser-clad pencil?
If so, HOW?!  WHY?  PLEASE TELL ME THE SECRET!

Hear Me Cackle!

If you had been my neighbor today, 

you might have heard a loud cackle coming from Marvel Hill 

- even from several hills over.

See, My Internet died.

And well, when I went out to jiggle the cord...

I discovered that the car battery was low.

No... Dead.

Of course, no Internet.

To say nothing of not going anywhere in the car.

(are you following all this?)

So naturally I did what any self-reliant woman would do:  I called my husband.

After an educational conversation, I went in search of the battery charger.

And I found it!

...In a very random location;

so when I did... I gave a hoot.  "Ahhh-HA!"

Then grabbed an extension cord which was plugged in to a generator at one end.

At the other end... there was a maze and a tangle, and a downright character-building mess.

But I undid it.

That's when I crowed:

"Not to be foiled YET, you trying little problem!" (said I.)

As I walked the length of cord toward the front of the house where my dead van was parked,

I wondered, wondered, wondered... would it reach?

I could tell it would be close, so I figured probably not.

But in a spirit of determination I kept walking and tugging on that cord.

It REACHED MY CHARGER!

-And that's when I laughed out loud in amazement.  "We'll I'll BE."

Do you know that it's been several years since I last opened the hood on my own car?

It's a European-made vehicle, and I did wonder if I could figure it out.

(I've never [ever] claimed to be mechanical.)

When I finally mastered my own hood latch, that's when a cackle escaped.

I'm not embarrassed.  I even considered my neighbors, but you know?

I'm pretty sure that almost anyone on this hill would appreciate overcoming a little obstacle like I did today.

So I cackled pretty loud.  ...And longer than was positively necessary,

but that was because I could clearly identify which was the red side of the battery and which was the black.

I'm not mechanical, but I'm no dummy.

I knew that was an important (and life-sustaining) detail.

After that, it was all downhill.

I knew the battery would charge;

I knew the van would start;

I knew I'd have Internet by the end of the afternoon.

And I DID!

You must think it confounding and rather mind boggling that my Internet was dependant on...
 all that adlepated hooliganism.
 But understand something now:
We live pretty normal lives up here on the Hill, but it' IS an adlepated, Jerry-rigged kind of unconventional.
Makes life interesting,
Builds character, confidence, camaraderie... occasionally consternation.
But we like it.  And most days it's just "our kind of normal."

This post is a confession however, for me to say
that every once in a while, when "our kind of normal" comes up and my mechanical hero isn't here...


I have been known to cackle.

Who's to blame?

"I want to... but the door is shut."

Says the tearful voice of an indecisive and tired-out-of-her-mind 3 year old.

This was the final response of the girl after being asked several times if she wanted to go outside with the kids.
Then asked if she would rather stay in the house; and after that asked if she wanted a pomegranate (which she would receive only outdoors),
and so on and so forth and by several different people who all wanted to see her happy.
Alas she went nap-less earlier in the day, so reason (and maybe happiness) was beyond likelihood.
She was tired.
She was cranky.
She was contrary.

After her last sibling disappeared behind a closed front door, I asked one last time:
"Would you like to play with Bryce, or would you like to go play outside?"

That's when I heard that tiny persons reply.  The whiny voice of a victim:  "I want to... but the door is shut."
I'm afraid I could feel nothing but hilarity in her response - such a mature answer from someone so small.
After laughing a good bit and thinking how silly her last-ditch excuse for being left behind, I thought about it a lot.

I couldn't help thinking how ridiculous was such an excuse as "I can't go out because the door is shut."

I mean, I am her momma.  I can open the door for her if she wants to go out!

Doesn't this sound like the same excuse we offer to the Lord when He gives us every chance to do or accept the very things our hearts desire - and more besides?
When we are too obstinate, or fearful, or lazy, we will wait until most every opportunity is passed and then when the final offer is extended we say something like "I want to... but the door is shut."
Which might mean, "life has passed me by.  I would, but there are reasons  why I can't. I am the victim here."

 Can't you imagine Him saying:  

"Well, if that's the way you choose to see it....
it just may be.

but don't blame me.  I'm your Daddy.  I can open that door for you..".

I Decided..........

 

I decided "yes" on making bread.

Then I decided "no" on the movie (because my player had issues).

I decided "yes" on cocoa with cream...

and "no" on the coffee (just seemed foolish at 11:00 at night).

I decided "yes" on blogging as you might have concurred.

***
Today was beautiful!  

We drove down the hill to pick up a birthday package for Lina which also contained 

California Gramsie-grown Pomegranates for all!  

OH how I wish I could upload photos tonight because I took LOTS of 

Pomegranate-seed picking, juicy-red stained faces.

When we drove in our home driveway I told the children 

"I really think you should play outside.  It's SO beautiful out!"

Without skipping a beat Zachary said 

"You call this 'beautiful out'?"

Well yes I do.

It was overcast today but not the low, dark, gloomy kind of overcast.  

It was light and the air was crisp, not cold.  

The ground was wet, but the sky held back precipitation.

It was a "weekend day" and one could do whatever the imagination dictated - 

yes, it was beautiful.

We haven't spent a Winter at Marvel Hill yet.  

We plan to this year and are readier than we've been before.

Wood shed, water indoors, hot shower, gas lighting.  

Even the generator is now enclosed and I can access it without going out in the dark/cold/rain/snow.

The only thing really not up to snuff yet is the toilet situation.

I call it a situation because I fully expect the "situation" to be rectified in due course, 

and have optimism that "due course" means "before deep snow".

At least... that's my interpretation.

Today we still use our rented port-a-potty, 

but when the temperature drops the seat gets cold - let me tell ya!

Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia (this not our port-a-potty.  Thankfully.  Ours is much more modern.  And stable.)

I don't relish the thought of having to suit up the children (or myself) 

to trek through sleet some yards from the house.  

I don't relish having to dig my way through fallen snow either, 

let alone the whole situation of potty training a 3-year-old.

That "situation" will be rectified in due course as well.

Though it might go hand and hand with the toilet being nearer to warm coziness.

But today.

Today I bundled up Bryce and joined the other five while they enjoyed their fruity love from California, 

took lots of pictures, and visited with my sister.  

Today I marveled at the loveliness in my front yard, 

even in the trees which Winter has stripped of its last color.  

Oh yes!

It was a beautiful day.

...even without sunshine, and even without a coffee and a movie ;-)

Dear Winter, I greet you!

Might need to order this print:

Sunny Sunny Day by Dazeychick in Etsy

Kids tucked in for the night (hopefully) -check

Generator on -check

Cookies -check

See?  I'm good to go!  I do need to make bread though, and 9:30 at night might not be a bad time to start...

Or I could watch a movie...

Maybe I could make bread and watch a movie?

Can I blog at the same time?  

Probably not if there's a movie involved.

Hm.

I'm not one of those multi-tasking women.

Unless you count eating cookies while watching a movie.

...or making bread.

...or blogging.

Nah!  Doesn't count.  I can eat cookies while doing just about anything. Consider it fuel for the soul.

Right up there with coffee and lots of cream and chocolate:-)

Ah... now there's a thought:  

Coffee with cream and cocoa to give some "pep" to the 
Bread-baking-movie-watching-blog-writing 
Marathon.

NOW we're on to something!






...........Hmm... what movie to watch?...........

Awe... you made me blush!

This isn't me, but I might have looked like this woman today.

I was in the grocery store with all my kiddos, eyeballing the seasonal and local beer 

and thinking of my husband who is away on business.

I miss him.

As I chose a unique looking brew and placed it in the cart, 

I said half to myself and half to the Bugletts with me:   

"Let's get this for Daddy"

Just then, a grandfatherly gentleman rounded the corner and took stock of my numerous clan.

"You have a beautiful family!"  He said.

Then with eyebrows raised and a twinkle in his eye:

"...And you buy him beer?!...

You must be the 'perfect' wife I've heard about!"

And that's when I blushed.

* '' *