Last week of February

Successful programing
After many many hours, Dode has completed the computer program he was creating for my produce co-op. His program has saved me a lot of time, work, and worry.  It also gave him something to do in the quiet of the evening hours.  I'd usually be sitting on the couch reading a book and Dode would be sitting beside me working on his program.  Dode had suggested I pay for a more expensive web site that would do some of the accounting things for me automatically.  But, when I looked into it, it would cost a lot of money and still wouldn't get me everything I needed each week.  Dode was willing to learn as he went and built me a program that is just right for my needs.  So, why do I need a fancy program with thousands of lines of code  all figured out and written by Dode?

I encourage people to order and pay online using google checkout. Once the orders are in, I am able to download a list of the orders (a "csv" file for those that makes sense to). From there, I've been using a program Dode built a few months ago to convert the csv into a usable spreadsheet and sort each order into separate columns based on what people order. From there I have to sort them alphabetically each time. I then have to use a filter I create each time to create individual check out sheets for each item (organic, conventional, boxes of apples, etc.) Then, there's a bunch of cutting and pasting to get just the information I want to show up on the checkout sheet. (For some reason, google thinks I care each time what kind of currency they used, what time they ordered, or what country they are from!) If someone had an extra comma in their information, or an apostrophe, the end results would come out wrong.

With Dode's new program, the alphabetizing and filtering is done automatically. It can account for the odd comma and apostrophe without giving back wrong information.  By automatizing, my accuracy has gone up.  With all the hand entering I was doing, I often made mistakes that wasn't realized until someone was standing in front of me wanting their produce.  After all the work I'd done to get to the distribution morning, giving up my basket to fix an error just felt painful!  In addition, although I encourage paying online, every time there are some people who pay cash. Before now, keeping track of those orders has been tough. With the new program, I am able to manually add cash orders into my database. I also send out reminder emails reminding people to order. I've been having to hand enter each person's email addresses into my contact list. There are new people each time so it's a never ending chore. With the new program, there's a button that gives me the email addresses of everyone who's ordered in the last three months. I can take those emails, copy them, and quickly paste them into my reminder email.

Dode is not a trained programmer, for each step of the new program written in Visual Basic he had to refer to google again and again for how to's. The funeral ended up being quite a boost for the program because he was able to spend many hours programing on the drive down to Utah and back (thanks Matt for the use of the your iphone's wi-fi hot spot during the drive). That's a lot of hours he wasn't stuck trying to do it at home during all the chaos of family life. He'd told his family that he'd tried hard to think through all the things that would make the program crash but he knew if he gave me three minutes on it, I'd find a way to break it. He was right! I started manually entering in orders and soon crashed it good.  And, I've kept it up.  I have been using it for about a month now, and it seems each time I use it, we find a new thing that needs adjusted or improved.  I guess you could call me a Beta tester.  Now, with over 2000 lines of computer code, it seems to be running well.  He's even given it a name "Stephanie's Co-Op".

Dode is a great handyman to have around!
Dode completed two projects this weekend that saved us a lot of $$$. 

First:   He fixed our propane stove.  We'd purchased it last year off craigslist to keep the room over the garage warm.  This room is our "hangout room" for the children.  It's got several couches, a small pool table, and a big screen tv we bought from Janice.  We ended not hooking up the stove for a year because the room was being painted.  (It's a long story that involves an angry young man, several cans of spray paint, and the repentance process of restoring the room.)  Now that the painting is complete, we started trying to use the stove to heat things up for the children.  The stove ran well for the first week but then refused to start.  Dode tore into it and decided it was a $150 part that had failed.  We really didn't want to spend as much for the fix as we spent on the stove and he kept trying to find a work around.  He ended up taking a small piece that allows gas through and setting it up under the microscope.  He could see something clogging the hole so with the help of a sewing needle he cleared the clog away.  The stove now works, and the repair was free!  The same thing happened a week later, but now Dode is an expert at that repair.  Strangely, both times it happened after the propane tank rank dry.  Any thoughts?

propane stove up and running

Second:   We heat our home with wood which means our chimneys need periodic cleaning.  We've been heating with wood for 13 years and have never paid a chimney sweep, Dode created his own tool for doing the job.  Monday was a holiday and Dode spent part of it on the roof, cleaning out the chimney.  We always know it's time for a cleaning when the stove stops drafting well and every time you open the door to put in more wood, smokes comes billowing out.  He had a good sized audience of interested children before he was done.

Our favorite quote by Red Green: "If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy."

Elizabeth really wanted to get a photo of her dad working on the roof.  After watching him for a while, she said, "Wait, I'm going to go get my camera."  Dode was almost done, but he kept sweeping the chimney until she got back.  Once she got back with the camera, but before she could take the photo, she said, "Wait, I need to go to the bathroom."  (Elizabeth takes forever in the bathroom, most of the time spent carefully washing her hands, smelling the soap and daydreaming.)  He kept standing up there, working the brush up and down the chimney, wondering just how thoroughly he could clean that chimney, waiting for his little girl to get back.  She finally made it and and soon as she snapped the photos, he was able to get off the roof.

Washington Park 
Dode got Monday (President's Day) off and we wanted to do something fun with the family.  We decided to go up to Washington Park.  We've been having beautiful sunshiney days but of course, that ended with Sunday's sunset.  It was overcast with occasional sprinkles but we still enjoyed ourselves.  If you live in Western Washington, you can't let less than perfect weather deter you from playing or you'd never do anything!  We stopped off at Little Caesar's to grab some lunch (Miriam says it tastes just like the pizza at the China Buffet, her gold standard for pizza quality).  We enjoyed our lunch near the playground, so the kids could eat and play. 

pizza at the park

Elizabeth heard there was a seal down at the boat launch and with our permission she walked down to see. Sure enough, not more than 10' off then end of the dock was a seal playing around.  She spoke with some other kids on the dock who said they are familiar with the seal and have named it Popeye.  They told her that when they come, they throw mussels off the dock pilings  into the water.  The seal doesn't like to eat the muscles, but it is a signal that his adoring fans are visiting.  Elizabeth loves nature so getting to watch a seal in the wild just a few feet away from her was a huge bonus.  Then, we drove over to another part of the park where there is a rocky beach with nice tide pools.   We spent a nice hour exploring the rocks and looking for crabs and other sea creatures hiding under the rocks. 

It was a cold windy day at the beach.  Most of us had two coats on

Elizabeth told us it is her favorite beach around and I know there's quite a few others who'd agree.  Especially Uncle Matt who took a spill there last month!  Matt's Washington Park Visit.  In his honor, we all slid down the hill too.

Snow

We were supposed to get a big snow storm on Wednesday night and most of Thursday.  Dode got sent home from work early on Wednesday (Tulalip tribes is very cautious with their employees and doesn't like to have them out in the snow) and he got right to work getting our slip and slide ramp up for the kids.  We have a hill for the kids to sled on but figured the slip and slide would give them a few more feet of sledding.  When Dode built the slip and slide last summer, he thought we'd put it up once and tear it down forever.  He didn't built it to be an easy up/easy down kind of thing.  Each time he puts it up, he says he's going to redesign it. Life being what it is,  I imagine it will go up and come down again this summer without the redesign.

Putting up the slip and slide

Last time we put it up, we scared the "snowmaggedon" storm of the century away.  This time, he put it up as it was snowing, the storm was supposed to hit big time in just a few hours.  We waited all day and the weather report kept pushing the main event back farther and farther.  When we went to bed, they were forecasting the big dump to hit overnight with 90% certainty.  We woke up Thursday morning to as much snow as had been on the ground the night before, not enough for the ramp.  The ramp had worked its curse again!  Mount Vernon, 15 miles away got over 2 feet of snow and some friends who live 5 miles away at a bit more elevation got 18 inches.  Dode's co-worker lives for snow days and he told Dode under no circumstances was he to put that ramp up again.  Dode keeps ruining his snow events. 

Even though the ramp didn't end up working, the children still spent hours playing in the little bit of snow we did get.  I'd look out the window and find Miriam or Elizabeth just laying in the snow, enjoying watching the birds.  Anastaya was more for active snow play.  She spent her time building snow forts, snow chairs, and pulling people around on the sleds.  There was also a great deal of icicle eating.

Miriam bouncing on the trampoline in the snow

snow fort with snow chair in front

snow hair do

 Isaac prefers to experience the snow at the controls of the trail 90 motorbike.  We'd called for a tv free day on Wednesday (which means no movies since we don't have tv reception and no video games) so he spent hours driving around with Isaac Colson.  (Isaac came home with Dode on Wednesday when it looked like the snow was on its way).  There were so many tracks through the lawn, there was no way you could count them.  I don't think you could go six inches without encountering another track!  We'd set aside the area between the zip line and stream as a motorbike free zone for the girls to play in the snow and those boys were so put out.  The area was less than 5% of the yard, but they kept looking at that pristine snow and wanting to ride through it.

Saturday we were supposed to get a short snow shower quickly turning into rain.  I stood out there doing produce in 20 degree weather and soon the flakes started coming down.  It snowed all day, but very little accumulated until after dinner time.  By night, there was finally enough to use that ramp!  So, instead of spending the evening hours of Saturday getting everyone showered and ready for church, the kids were out playing in the snow.  Somehow, Miriam lost one of her snow boots.  (How is it that kids can take their shoes off in two different places?!)  She refused to use other footwear so she missed out on playing for most of the night.  She finally decided to give in and wear someone else's boots and Dode and I went to bed with children playing outside in the snow.  It was supposed to turn to rain overnight and we expected to wake up to green grass.  Instead, church was cancelled so the kids got to do a bit more playing.  The photos below were taken at night.  When I lightened up the images so you could see the children better, the lights of Haggen really showed up.  That's the orange glow in the background.  Once we got enough snow, the ramp worked great.  The children were getting about as far into the yard as they do when we use it for its original purpose as a water slip and slide.

2nd week of February

William the Wiggle Worm

William never stops moving. If he's awake, he's moving. When he's cuddling, he's moving. When he's eating dinner, he's moving. When he's at school, he's moving. The teacher asked us to try ADHD medication to see if it could help him keep his little body still so he could concentrate better. It did help with the stillness, but the side effects were not worth it. Our happy cheerful child turned into a child who got so mad, he'd kick the walls of the house, would push, pinch, and knock against people, would scream totally out of control at the slightest provocation. So, we decided for the benefit of everyone, we'd have a wiggle worm. Most kids wear their pants out in the knees. William wears his down in the seat! This pair is perfectly fine in the front, but the back is another story!

Skiing
We have a friend who works for Boeing. One of their employee perks is being able to go up skiing at Snoqualmie Pass for $8 a ticket on a night when Boeing rents the whole ski resort. This year, the Boeing day ended up being on Valentine's Day.  "Happy Valentines Day, Dode, I'm taking the kids skiing!"  We went last year for the first time and realized that Snoqualmie Pass is an $8/ticket ski area.  It's just one long hill, groomed everywhere. There are three lifts that serve the hill and you can access any spot on the hill from any lift.  I think the only way they stay in business is by their nearness to Seattle (less than an hour drive).  But, for $8 each, it was a fine place to take the kids.  The conditions at the pass were not the best. We endured over an hour of rain, getting soaked on the lifts. Then, the winds picked up and seemed to get right through our wet clothes as if they weren't there. I watched people wring out water from their gloves. But, bad weather aside, the kids had a great time.  Miriam really enjoyed using their "magic carpet" which is like a conveyor belt built at ground level, re. You ski onto it, it takes you a short way up the hill, and you ski off at the top.  Elizabeth and Anastaya spent most of their time on the beginner hill, I skied with Miriam, and Isaac was off skiing with friends the entire night.  We have just one more night of skiing left on the calendar for this year.

Flu
Tuesday, I came down with a bad flu. First came exhaustion, followed by body aches, inability to get warm even under two sleeping bags while wearing a coat, sweater, and two shirts, terrible head ache, and upset stomach. I spent most of Tuesday and Wednesday sleeping. Thursday I felt better but I was still exhausted and light headed.  Friday, I was still wiped out and recovering.  By Saturday was feeling 90% back to normal. Tuesday night, Anastaya followed my example and got sick as well. She was sleeping when it hit and left a trail of mess in her bedroom, from the bed all the way across the room. Elizabeth was kind enough to clean it up the next morning with the carpet cleaner. Wednesday afternoon it hit Jacob. William fell victim Wednesday.  He ended up staying home from school Wednesday and coming home half way through the day on Thursday. Friday Elizabeth started feeling yucky. So far, Dode and Isaac have been spared.   I seem to have endured the strongest case of the flu. Lucky me!

Indoor climbing
Isaac's scout outing for February was indoor rock climbing at Vertical World in Everett. Dode went along as a belayer. Isaac has been doing indoor rock climbing since he was about four years old.  We'd hook him into a small  harness and he'd climb barefoot.  There was always a point where he'd want to come down, not because he couldn't find any more holds, he was just done.  As the years have gone by, that elevation at which Isaac was ready to come down hasn't really changed.  Whether he was bouldering (climbing without a rope) or was roped in, there was a height at which he was done (the elevation didn't change with the rope).  This time, he was much braver and had no problem making it to the top.




Primary Pianist
Anastaya subbed in primary as the pianist. I told her it was her first of many many times in her lifetime. She was very nervous because it's her first time as an accompanist. She did great!



February begins

Funeral in Utah
We started off the first full week of February with Dode gone to a funeral.  We are very fortunate that as an employee of the Tulalip Tribes, Dode gets five days of paid bereavement leave for extended family members that doesn't count against his vacation time or sick leave.  His Aunt Cathy died in Utah and he was able to travel down there with his parents, and his sisters Sheri, Janice and Janice's husband Matt.  He left early on Sunday morning and got back home just in time for scripture study Wednesday night.  That's a lot of driving for two days of visiting family and attending a funeral!  Dode enjoyed having time to visit with Grandma Dearinger and catch up with some cousins.

While he was gone, I held down the fort and things were pretty much business as usual (code for busy, busy, busy).  Isaac was a big help and each day did one extra thing for me without even being asked.  Although the things he helped out with weren't huge, it was so nice to have him stepping up and trying.

Dode with Grandma D

Dearinger family photo from the funeral

one beautiful lady!

Skiing
Thursday Dode was able to go night skiing with the kids.  This time Jacob went too.  It took me a half hour to drive to three different schools and pick assorted children up in order for them to be able to go.  William and I had a quiet evening at home while they were off.  One thing I realized after I made a run to Costco is how nice it is to have many able hands to unload the car and help put things away.  With just William and I, it was a lot more work!

Miriam loved having "her" Jacob there

Isaac

Miriam

Elizabeth and Anastaya

School Carnival
William and Miriam's school had a carnival Friday night.  The kids had a good time.  It was inexpensive but very crowded family entertainment.  Miriam and William each received a free punch card for the activities.  We bought Anastaya and Elizabeth each one ($5 for 25 punches)  Elizabeth was determined to win a particular cake at the cake walk (A Reese's Peanut Butter and Chocolate Pie).  She went round and round, 10 times.  Each time she didn't win, she had to get in the back of the long line again.  In the end, she never got her prize.

Miriam next to a clown her class helped decorate

William got this stick on mustache as a prize, and wore it long enough for the photo!

William playing one of the carnival games

Swimming
Saturday, we took the kids swimming.  We'd planned to go to the high school pool in Marysville but when I double checked the open swim times, we learned they were closed for the day.  We ended up driving down to use the Forest Park pool in Everett.  (I think Dode would have been quite content to have given up after finding out the first pool was closed!)

Elizabeth, Isaac Colson, our Isaac

Finishing off January

Terrible Tuesdays
Life around here is pretty busy, but Tuesday is by far our worst day.  The last Tuesday of January was exceptionally bad.  We started off our morning with homeschooling, then I left to pick up the newspapers.  Picking up the newspapers is code for: pick up the papers, go to the bread store, drop things off at the second hand store and while you're there, see if they have any bread makers or amazing little girl dresses, get gas but don't fill the van too much or it will leak gas and smell terrible.  I timed it just right so that when I was done with my errands, I had time to meet with a reporter at the newspaper to interview me about the produce co-op.  Just as we were finishing up, the newspapers arrived.    I quickly transferred them to the car and headed for home.  I was on my own for the evening because Dode was at a meeting with work and wouldn't be home until 10 pm. 

Once at home, it was time to coral the kids into folding their papers while I did my and Dode's parts with the papers and made dinner at the same time.  We had just enough time to get the papers done and dinner eaten before it was time to leave.  That left our kitchen trashed from one end to the other.  You would have had a difficult time finding a place to set down anything larger than a glass.  (And we have a 12 foot long island in the kitchen!)  I wasn't able to deliver papers during youth night because everyone old enough to help me had an activity.  Not only did they all have activities, they were taking place in four different locations, all beginning and ending at the same time.  I started early, dropping children off while they kept rotating forward in the car to claim the coveted "shotgun" seat.  During the activities, I went grocery shopping with the little ones.  Then, it was time to start picking people up. 

Two of them were able to get rides home which left me with four kids in the car.  It was time to start delivering.  Around and around we went, delivering papers on winding (but apparently desirable to city code developers) subdivision roads.  The kids had a DVD player but of course it had a dead battery and of course it had a wonky cord that kept coming out thus killing their movie.  After a while, Miriam hollered up, "Are we on the twisty road? I feel sick!"  Soon Elizabeth was also complaining of an upset stomach.  We soldiered on and got 3/4 of the route done before it was time to get people home for late bed times (9:30).  Elizabeth made it two steps inside before throwing up all over the floor and walls of the hall.  The kids who were waiting at home were too busy playing Kinnect to want to help their poor mom, besides hollering out various "Yucks and Gross!"  I finally got the mess cleaned up, the kids off to bed, and the house straitened up and quiet a little after 10 pm.  I was just drifting off to sleep when Dode came home.  I'm glad not every day is so full!

Weighty Matters
In the hustle of getting everyone out the door Sunday morning, we were half way to church before I realized I'd forgotten my scriptures at home.  When I was helping Miriam out of the van at the church, I saw that she had my scripture bag in her hands.  I thanked her for grabbing them for me and she smiled a bit sheepishly  and handed them over.  Once we got in and sat down in the chapel, she unzipped my bag and out came a puzzle and a set of hand weights!  She's replaced my scriptures with the other items that felt about the right weight so I never noticed.  She'd been planning on doing her "exercises" during the meeting.  Mean mom that I am, she had to settle for just doing the puzzle.

Jacob gave us quite a giggle on the way to church.  He makes us all wait for him every time we're going anywhere.  I've found him before just standing in the middle of his room, I guess trying to decide if enough time has elapsed before making his appearance.  He was the last one in the car again, after some people had been sitting in it for 10 minutes.  When I told him that I'd really appreciate it if he being oldest could get himself in the car on time, he said, "I don't even know what time church starts."  When I gave him the "You've got to be kidding" look, he said, "I've only been 18 three weeks!". 


Not Fair!
We were getting ready for a family ski day and Dode was making sure everyone had their ski bindings adjusted to the proper tension.  We were just going to bring the big kids and Sharon was going to babysit the littlest ones.  The floor of the living room was covered in skis and boots.  Isaac was hoping we'd have enough equipment so could bring a friend so he brought down our littlest set for Elizabeth, thinking she could cram her feet into them.  (The same set she started skiing on when she was three years old!)  There was no way they were going to work for Elizabeth but Miriam realized they fit her just fine.  She told her dad that it wasn't fair that she was not coming with us.  He asked her why, expecting her to say that it wasn't fair because she wanted to go too.  Instead, she informed him that it was obvious to her that when Isaac and Elizabeth were her size, they must have gone skiing because here were the boots and skis to prove it.  Hard to refute that argument!

Skiing

it takes a real man to wear pink boots and stripes!

In the end, Miriam got to go and Jacob stayed home.  He's complained to me in the past that we ruin everything for him by doing so much as a family.  Apparently, skiing is one of those things.  We were able to get six of us on the mountain for $38.  Dode had received an advantage card that came with one free ticket and some "snow dough" for Christmas and his birthday.  We'd also been getting our gas from Shell the last few weeks which gave us buy one get one free coupons for night skiing.  With everything combined, we all skied for less than the price of one ticket.  Since Dode had worked late the week before, he was able to get off early and we were up to the mountain at 3:15.  We were on the lifts by 3:45. 

The snow was perfect, nice and soft.  Dode headed for the beginner hill with the girls and Isaac and I set off for the other runs.  We ended up staying until 9:45 pm.  When we left, I think there were about four other cars in the parking lot (and I'm not exaggerating!).  When I asked Miriam part way through the night if she was having fun, she answered, "I'm having a blast!"  Dode put her on a tether around her waist and she'd be going down the hill, waving her arms while she tried to get going faster and faster. 

Miriam and mom

Elizabeth and Anastaya

on the lift, Miriam and mom

Elizabeth's personality came through loud and clear.  She was so concerned about everything.  She'd complain how terrible she'd done getting on or off the lift.  I'd ask, "Did you fall?"  "No", would be the reply, "But I was really scared."  With the exception of one time on Hogsback, she spent all her time on the beginner hill.  It's hard to reconcile this girl with the three year old I had out there skiing every hill on mountain at high rates of speed! 

Elizabeth 2003, age 3

Elizabeth, 2011, age 10

if you look closely at the first photo, you can see that she is wearing the same blue hat

Anastaya was also a lot more cautious than she'd been the last time up.  She went down Hogsback once and kept falling and being unable to get up so she spent her time with Elizabeth.  She did much better at controlling her rate of speed and being able to stop this time. 

It was 12 degrees up there but everyone had plenty of warm clothes so we all stayed nice and toasty. Isaac didn't have a face mask so part way through the night, we cut a hole in an extra stocking cap and turned it into a neck gator, problem solved!  I'd been having a hard time keeping my fingers and toes warm and had contemplated spending $2.50 for a heat pack in the lodge when Isaac mentioned on the lift that he had four heat packs in his pocket.  Well, hand two over I told him! I also found that pushing myself just a bit beyond my comfort zone did a great deal towards warming me up.

Produce

We got turnips in the baskets last time. I honestly cannot remember ever eating a turnip before. A turnip has around 40 calories and 3 grams of fiber. I decided to give it a try. After reading other people's reviews of recipes on the Internet, noting that turnips can be hot and bitter, I didn't want to waste other known edible ingredients on my turnips. I peeled them, tossed them with a little olive oil, garlic, honey and salt and roasted them. The verdict? Definitely edible, no bitterness detected. Will I seek them out? I doubt it, but I also won't let them go to waste if someone chooses them again.

I'm having so much fun with my green smoothies. I look forward to them every day. The kids love to watch me drop apples, oranges, bananas, berries, spinach, cabbage, kale into the blender, toss in some flax seeds, add some water and give it a whirl. They think I'm crazy! I think I'm smart. I try to use things we have an over abundance of along with my greens. William is the only one brave enough to drink one. Honestly, they don't taste like vegetables at all. If you close your eyes, you'd never know! Drinking one each day has seriously cut down on my sweet tooth. And, anyone who's been around me much knows that I have quite a sweet tooth (although it is a very discriminating tooth that can easily pass up half rate desserts).