A hobby revisited

I used to draw and doodle a lot when I was younger and had more free time.  Doodling was a great way to pass the time in a mind-numbing class (9th grade math class comes to mind).  Since graduating from school (Hallelujah!), getting married, and having four kids, free time to sit around and draw has become nonexistent.  Until recently.

I volunteer in my church's library every week for an hour.  Basically this entails making photocopies for the Sunday School teachers and retrieving pictures for their lessons.  So I'm busy for the first 20 minutes and have nothing to do for the remaining hour since the teachers are now busy teaching. And there were more than just a couple weeks recently when the copier was broken, so there was even less to do.  So I started drawing again.

I'm happy to say that my drawing skills have fared better than my basketball skills, though both have seen equal disuse.  Now a twelve-year old could probably beat me in a game of basketball without too much effort.

I drew this of a Relief Society teacher (Emily Jepsen) when I was supposed to be paying attention (well, I was paying attention, but perhaps it wasn't undivided).  I  drew it on the back of the handout she passed out and you can see the lines of text through the page.  This was one of my first attempts of drawing something from a live person.  I almost always draw from a picture.   Curtis was able to tell who it was without any prompting, so I guess it turned out okay.  I only had about  20 or 30 minutes to draw this.

Done while I was bored in the library.  It's a picture of a young man painting.  I just didn't finish the canvas he was working on.  I like to draw people, and details and backgrounds are boring.  His face is a little off center.  Oops.

A Japanese woman with braided hair.  I'm getting a little better.  Someone from church saw it and said she would enter it into the county fair for me while I was away on vacation.  When I got home I found that I had won first place and $4 in prize money.  Fame and fortune, here I come!  Actually I'm rather surprised I won anything.  This one still needs a little work, especially in the shoulders.  Again, I concentrate on the face and don't put in as much effort on the other stuff.

I drew this yesterday during church.  It's a picture of a young woman from a church magazine.  This last one is my favorite so far, though I wish I would have placed her mouth just a little higher and to the right.

I never did take art lessons when I was younger because I saw what the art lessons entailed and thought they looked boring: draw a vase with flowers, draw a sphere and shade in the shadows.  Though now I wish I did take some sort of instruction since I'm rather limited in my abilities.  All my pictures are in pencil since I'm not familiar with other media like pastels or watercolor. I almost exclusively draw a young female's face as I'm less practiced on males, and have never drawn a child or old person or anyone's entire body. The head is level and turned a little to the side with little expression on the face.  So I still have a ways to go in my education. I'll keep working on it.

Drawing again has been fun and relaxing.  Though perhaps I find it relaxing because I do it when there aren't any children around.  It's like saying I find sleep restful because I'm sleeping.  It's rather redundant.  I'll probably continue to draw at church since there's more and plenty to do when I'm at home (like write blog posts?).

Violet Jelly

This happened awhile ago, but I haven't gotten around to posting it.  Well, better late than never I suppose.

I couple months ago I found a recipe for violet jelly.  You know, those little purple flowers that bloom in your lawn and are considered weeds can be made into jelly.  Who knew?  

The recipe called for 4 cups of flowers, so I enlisted the help of the little people to help.  Their attention span is short, but they were intrigued with the idea of turning flowers into something they would eat, and so were (mostly) willing helpers.  

Isaac gathering violets

Jar is halfway full.  There was a lot of: "Do we have enough flowers yet?"  "Do we have enough  now?"  "Is this enough?" "Are we done yet?"

After the flowers were gathered, 2 cups of boiling water was poured over the flowers, and the mixture steeped for about 24 hours.

Michael is ready to help

Michael adding the boiling water to the flowers (cue faint screaming sounds from the flowers).

Steeping violets

Next we strained the violets and added some lemon juice to the liquid.  I believe the lemon juice acidifies the jelly so you can use a hot water bath to can (you have to use a pressure canner for foods that are not acidic), and it probably adds flavor too.

Removing the flowers from the water

Strained violet water

Add the lemon juice and Voila! the color changes.

Then we transferred the water to a pan on the stove and dissolved a box of pectin and a whole bunch of sugar in the water (4 cups).  After ladeling the mixture into canning jars and processing in a hot water bath, we ended up with violet jelly.

And how does violet jelly taste?  Well, it's got a delicate flavor, so it's hard to describe, but I would say it's kind of grape-y.  And thanks to all that sugar it's very sweet.  Perhaps a little too sweet.

All in all it was fun to make, but I don't think I like it enough to make it again.

Feeding a family

As a family of six, we go through a lot of food.  For example, on some days, between toast and sandwiches, we go through a whole loaf of bread by lunchtime.  And this is when the kids are grade-school age.  I shudder to think what will happen when they're teenagers and have the appetite of a swarm of locusts, devouring everything in sight.

Our rebate check* from Costco came recently, so yesterday I made the trek to Costco to stock up on everything.  Here are the essentials I got:

•         18 pounds of hamburger (6 of which got turned into approximately a billion meatballs)
•        16 pounds of chicken; poached, chopped, divided into ziploc bags, then frozen by me
•          2 whole chickens
•          8 pounds of pork tenderloin
•          12 pounds of pork chops
•          12 pounds kielbasa sausage
•          10 pounds of flank steak
•          6 pounds Italian sausage
•          14 loaves of bread
•          50 pounds of sugar (canning season is coming, must be ready)
•          12 pounds of butter
•          6 pounds of grapes
•          3 dozen eggs
•          4 gallons of milk
•          6 pounds of cheese

And in case you're wondering, we have a large freezer in the basement to hold most of this stuff.  I'm not sure how long it will take to go through all this food, but I'd say we're good for meat for a good loooonnnng time.  As long as Pepco keeps our power on.

*We have an American Express card that gives us cash back in the form of money to spend at Costco.

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a pirate's life for me!

Lately Curtis has been practicing an arrangement of the theme song from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie.  Here's what he's trying to play, if you're curious:

I like listening to him practice.  It makes me feel like I'm in a pirate movie, and that an adventure is just around the corner.  Except the pirates on this ship all want a snack, whine that his brother hit him, or cry when someone takes his toy.   No future pirates here (I hope).

My attempts at bargain shopping

Okay, I love a sale.  Especially a going-out-of-business sale.  Not only can you get the merchandise deeply discounted, but you can buy the store fixtures, such as shelves and tables.  Curtis bought some heavy duty metal shelves not that long ago from a store that was closing, and that finally gave us a place to store all of the various tools we have acquired while owning a home.  It was a "wow, we can see the floor" moment.  Who knew our basement had that much floor space?  Before the shelves, you had to tiptoe through the tools and other random stuff to cross the basement.

This week I went to check out a Bloomingdale's that was closing in Rockville.  Most things were 40-60% off.  That would normally be great, except that Bloomingdale's is freakin' expensive to start with.  I'm not much of a department store shopper, so I did not know what the prices were to begin with.  I started by looking for some shirts for Curtis.  However, if you take 40% off a shirt that's $150, that's still a heck of a lot.

I was striking out in the clothing department.  Time to try housewares.  "Okay," I said, "the rugs are labeled as 80% off.  They're practically giving them away.  We could use a new rug in the living room."  I thought I was sure to find something great.  I found one I kind of liked, turned over the price tag, and almost collapsed onto the pile of rugs in front of me (which I'm sure were very comfy).  $31,136!  For that kind of price it had better fly.

Eighty percent off of that is still a fortune (around $6,000).  Curtis said we could probably carpet all the floors in the house and maybe some walls too for that discounted price.

Needless to say, I bought nothing that day.

Another example of why I'm not romantic*

Curtis and I will be going out later this week for our Valentine's Day date, but we did do a little something on Valentine's Day.

After  getting home from cub scouts and putting the boys to bed, Curtis asked what I wanted to do.  "How about a movie while we fold some laundry?"  See? A romantic person would not have suggested laundry.  A romantic person would have thought of something that involved candlelight and massaging oils.  Or perhaps chocolate.  Laundry is not romantic. I doubt anyone has been turned on by folding socks (if you have, please share).  But I had two loads of laundry that needed to be folded, and watching a movie is a good time to do it.  You're just sitting there anyway.  Might as well do two things at once.

Okay, folding clothes is not romantic, but I could have picked out a movie that was, right?  Well, if you were anyone but me you might have.  I don't really go for the emotional movies and neither does Curtis.  Watching Pride and Prejudice together, or separately, is never going to happen**.

If you don't like romantic movies, what do you watch on Valentine's Day?  An action film didn't seem right.  On a whim I picked Double Indemnity.  I'd seen it once before and remembered that I liked it.  It looks romantic. Just look at how they are embracing:

In the movie, Walter Neff and Phyllis Dietrichson are attracted to each other and plan things so they can be together.  That sounds romantic.  Never mind that their plan involves taking out an insurance policy on Phyllis' husband and then murdering him.  And when things unravel Walter wants out, and both characters try to kill the other instead of running off together into the sunset.

Okay, so it's not really a romance, per se.  Or a romance at all.  It's probably about as romantic as Hitchcock's Psycho.  But I like it, which is why I chose it.  You should watch movies you like, right?   And for some reason this movie is one of my favorites.  I like seeing Fred MacMurray play a bad guy.  He usually played goofy good guys, and seeing him play a villain is fun.  I like that Barbara Stanwyck's wig makes her character look as phony on the outside as she is on the inside:

Whoa.  Look at that hair.  Here she is when she first meets Walter.  She's just wearing a towel.  Walter says,  "The [car] insurance ran out on the 15th.  I'd hate to think of your having a smashed fender or something while you're not, uh, fully covered."

I also like the light and shadows in the movie:

Reminds me of jail bars

And I even like the often cheesy dialogue.  Example:

It was a hot afternoon, and I can still remember the smell of honeysuckle all along that street. How could I have known that murder can sometimes smell like honeysuckle? Maybe you would have known, Keyes, the minute she mentioned accident insurance, but I didn't. I felt like a million.

--Walter Neff

Yep, a bit cheesy, but it's classified as film noir, so I think it has an excuse.


After the movie was done, Curtis said, "Interesting choice, sweetie."  


"Well?  Would you rather have watched a gushy movie?" I replied.


"Well, no."


I suppose choosing a movie on Valentine's Day that is about murdering a husband for his life insurance was not the best choice.  Perhaps Curtis will pick the movie next year.  Maybe he'll get even with me and pick Hitchcock's Dial "M" for Murder, a movie about the attempted murder of a wife for her money.  It's also a favorite of mine, so I wouldn't mind.


*The first example being that I requested a truckload of compost for my birthday/anniversary present last year.

**I like the book, but Curtis won't touch it with a ten-foot pole.  I got Pride and Prejudice and Zombies as an audio CD from the library and had us listen to some of it during a cross-country drive to visit family.  I thought that might interest Curtis in the story.  His verdict?  Not enough zombies.

Disney World

Okay, I finally feel rested enough from my vacation to contemplate blogging about it.  Disney World is not a restful destination, and I took a week "at-home" vacation when we got back in order to recover.  An at-home vacation for a stay-at-home mom means only doing the things that must be done and nothing more.  I fixed meals and did dishes, but didn't attempt any cleaning.  For several days, my main occupation was finishing a novel (Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin).

I'll try to keep this brief, since I know vacation stories and pictures are boring for all except those who got to go on the vacation.

When we (me, the kids, and my mom) left Dulles Airport it was somewhere around freezing.  We arrived in Florida to sunny skies and 80-degree weather.  I can now fully appreciate why some people overwinter in the Sunshine State.  If this is what a Florida winter is like, I can't imagine how hot and miserable the summer is.

On Sunday, I insisted we attend church.  As we exited the church building, the kids exclaimed (loudly), "Thank goodness that's done!" and "That was boring!"  Such well behaved children I have.

After church we visited Leu Gardens.  It was quite extensive, but my favorite part was the rose garden.  It was in full bloom.  In January.

Some of the roses were quite large.

Lots of Spanish moss made some things look ghostly

And we had to look out for local wildlife.  No alligators were seen.

After the beauty and serenity of the gardens, we were ready to tackle an amusement park full of asphalt and stimulation.  The Magic Kingdom was the destination for Monday.

Jesse insisted that Space Mountain be the first ride of the day.  Michael and Jesse were both tall enough to ride, so they went with Grandma and Grandpa (who flew in Sunday evening) and I watched Isaac and Peter.  Reactions from Space Mountain?  Jesse:  "That was awesome!"  Michael: *shivering and shaking*  I forgot that Michael is scared of the dark.  Oops.

That was the theme for the day (that and losing track of children in a crowd).  Jesse would like a ride and Michael would think it's too scary (such as Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Haunted Mansion), or Michael would like it and Jesse would think it's boring (it's a small world).  However, there were plenty of rides that everyone liked, and a good time was had by all.  My favorite pictures of the day were by the stocks, set up near the Haunted Mansion.

What a nice smile Michael.  But you're not supposed to  be happy when you're in the stocks.  Give me a sad/angry face.

Bravo!

Hollywood Studios was home to the ride Star Tours, the ride Jesse and Michael wanted to go on again and again.  It's a simulator ride, where you sit in a seat and there's a screen in front of you and the seat moves and tilts to match what's happening on the ride.  The premise of the ride is you're transporting a Rebel spy and trying to elude the Imperials.  However, what made this ride fun to ride again and again is that it has several different beginnings, middle and endings.  I think I read it had 54 different combinations.  So the first time you ride you could escape from Darth Vader in the hanger, fly through the forests of Kashyyk (Wookie planet), get a message from Leia about the Rebel spy, and zip through Coruscant to a landing platform.  And the next time you ride you could escape from stormtroopers, fly through a pod race on Tatooine, get a message from Yoda, and go through the core on Naboo and almost get eaten.  With short lines, Jesse and Michael rode this six times and saw almost all of the possible segments.

Near the Star Tours ride there was a Jedi Training Academy show.  If you get to the park right at opening, you can sign up your child to participate.  We arrived on time, got in line, and got in on the last show of the day.  All the slots were gone within 45 minutes.  It's open to children 4-12.

All younglings were given their own Jedi robes.  Then they were taught to use a lightsaber.

Here's Isaac demonstrating a proper lightsaber pose.  Sorry for the blurry pic, but it seems my camera doesn't do as well in the dark.

Then, BUM, BUM, BUM! Darth Vader shows up looking to draw the younglings to the Dark Side.  Each child got to fight Darth Vader using the skills they had just learned.  Vader made it easy by holding his lightsaber rather still so spazoid and shy kids could hit it.  Still, it was pretty fun to watch.  They were supposed to aim for his right shoulder, left shoulder, left leg, Duck!, other leg, and go for the head.  Jesse spun around instead of ducking, and I don't think Michael ducked at all. 

Jesse and Vader 

Michel looking up at Vader 

Michael and Vader

 In the end, none of the younglings went over to the dark side, and diplomas were handed out letting them know that they are now padawans.

Other days were spent at Animal Kingdom, and Sea World, but I'm trying to be brief, so we'll stop here.  But we were very busy having fun, and most days ended like this:

Many thanks to my parents for making this trip possible.

How to teach photography to children

Welcome back everyone. This week's episode of "How to..." focuses on how to teach photography to children. You already know that your kids want to take pictures, but are they ready to handle your camera with care? Ask yourself this: can they walk across the room without tripping over their own feet? Can they hold something without having the unstoppable urge to play with whatever they're holding? Can they hold still for 2 seconds at a time? Are you prone to high blood pressure?  If you answered "yes" or "no" to any of these questions, then you are both ready to hand over a large portion of your money in the form of an expensive piece of electronics to your child! Good luck, and let's begin.

Hi kids!  I hear you want to learn how to take pictures.  That's great!  Photography is a great hobby.  It can also be a career for some of you when you grow up.  Or it can earn you a few bucks from your siblings when you take pictures of them doing something they shouldn't and threaten to tell mom.  Ha, ha!

But first, in order to prevent damage to the camera, you should put the camera strap around your wrist or neck, depending on what kind of strap it is. This will prevent breakage of said camera, an occasion which is inevitably followed by loud, angry shouting from your parental unit. If a strap is not present on the camera, then your parent may either buy one or use duct tape to affix the camera firmly to your hand. Not like they are worried or anything.

Next, after the camera is turned on, look around to find something interesting to shoot.  Got something?  Remember, it should be interesting.

Now once you have a subject, make sure you have your subject within the frame.

Make sure you get the subject's head in your pictures.

Don't be so literal.  Get the head and the rest of the body parts!

No! Not yours!  Keep your thumbs and fingers away from the lens!

It is important to hold still while taking the picture.  Doing cartwheels while photographing will lead to blurry photos (not to mention worried noises from your parents).  Now hold really still and push the shutter button.

Try again.

Okay, that was a little better, but it's still blurry, and your subject is missing.

Ahh! Not so close!  Back up a little.

Uh-oh.  You have to watch out for the flash.  It can make your subject look possessed.

If you can, try and capture the mood or attitude of your subject.

Things like that help tell the "story" of the picture.

Now, is your subject properly framed?  Are you holding extra still?  Good, now try again.

picture by Michael age 4

Great!  If you take lots of pictures you will inevitably have a couple good ones in there.  Just keep trying.

picture by Jesse age 7

Tune in next time for "How to cook with kids."  (Now gently tap the egg on the edge of the counter.  AHHH! Not so hard!)

*All pictures were taken by children, except for two: the kids in the plane and Michael's head in the garden.

Jesse's baptism

Jesse has finally turned eight.  Old enough to be baptized*.  All the other children in his class have been baptized, leaving Jesse (with his late birthday) as the last one left.  All this last year we have been talking about what getting baptized means.  Hopefully, with all the repetition something stuck in his head.

Curtis' mom and step-dad flew out from Idaho to see Jesse baptized.  The day before the baptism we took them duckpin bowling.  Duckpin bowling only exists in and around Baltimore and some outlying areas, so it was a new experience for Brenda and Dennis.  We all had a great time, with some of the kids beating some of the grownups.

Jesse vs. Michael

Dennis keeping Peter out of trouble

Jesse asked my mom to give the talk at the baptism.  She said she hasn't given a talk in church in something like 20 years and was very nervous, but she did fine.  We sang I am a Child of God, and When I am Baptized.

Now some pictures:

Jesse is all ready to be baptized

Curtis and Jesse.  Curtis baptized Jesse, so he wears white too.

Brenda and Dennis from Idaho

my parents

Jesse, his little brothers, and grandma

I'm so proud of you, Jesse!


*In our church we believe that Christ, through His atonement, has redeemed all from the Fall.  Thus, infants do not need to be baptized.  In our church those eight years old and above are baptized because they are at an age that is capable of recognizing right from wrong (we call it the age of accountability).  Baptism is done by immersion and by one holding the priesthood of God.  After baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost is given, entitling the individual the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost as long as they live worthy of their covenant to take upon them the name of Christ.

Tree and kid decorating

Ah, our sad little Christmas tree.  It looks like it came out of a Charlie Brown Christmas special.  It's a prelit tree, and most of the lights have decided not to work, and you can see through the tree in numerous places.  However, with some extra lights, and some additional garlands wrapped around the interior of the tree to make it look fuller and hide the fake branches, it doesn't look half bad.  At least not bad enough to make us want to buy a new one.  We decorated the house a little earlier than usual since family was going to be in town the first weekend of December.

Other things got decorated besides the tree.  Here Jesse is sporting some tinsel-y garland.

Michael decided the tree skirt would make a wonderful wizard cape.

And once Michael put it on, Isaac wanted it too.

Michael loves his cape.  He's worn it almost as much as the tree has.