March begins!

Wheat grinder
Each year, we use part of our income tax return to work on our emergency preparedness and food storage.  This year, I bought a Nutrimill wheat grinder.  We've been needing a grinder for a while now since we have about 500 pounds of wheat stored but no way to process it!  I'm off on a quest to learn to make tasty treats the family will eat while using freshly ground whole wheat flour.   I've been replacing half the regular flour with whole wheat.  (When we did pizza on Friday, I only replaced 1/3 because I was worried that I was messing with a sacred item in our family.)  So far, the results have been promising.  No one complained about some whole wheat flour in the rolls, pumpkin cookies, or in the double chocolate muffins. (If you decide to make the really tasty low fat muffins, I replaced the ground flax with another egg because it's so expensive.  I only used 1 tsp. cinnamon.  I also added more chocolate chips because you can never have too many chocolate chips!) Isaac didn't like seeing the whole wheat in the pizza but no one could tell anything was different by the taste. 

Now that we've had pizza with whole wheat replacing part of the flour twice, Isaac wants the recipe so he can start make it that way.  I'm using Hard White Wheat to make my flour and soaking the flour overnight before using it the next day.  The Nutrimill does a great job of grinding the wheat into fine textured flour.  But, it does it really loudly.  It sounds exactly like a jet engine sitting on the kitchen counter as it finishes off a batch of wheat.  Last night almost felt surreal.  Dode was heading up to bed and I said, "I'll be right there.  I just want to get started on the rolls for tomorrow".  So, I got out the wheat grinder, ground my flour, looked up my recipe, and got everything ready for my overnight soak.  Then, I could go to bed.

Why do the Dicksons need 3,380 pounds of chicken delivered in a snow storm?
After our late winter snow storm, it was supposed to warm up and bring rain this week.  As I stood on the exerciser Monday  morning, I could see bare pavement at 6:00.  By 7:00, there was at least an inch of snow.  I was starting to stress.  It was the day for the big chicken delivery and starting at 8:00 many many cars would need to have access to our driveway.  As part of the co-op, I found out about a company from Spokane who does delivery of bulk cases of chicken throughout the Pacific Northwest.  Monday morning, they were delivering to the house and people would come by and pick up between 8-9 am. 

I decided at 7:15 to take a quick shower and get out to shovel the driveway.  As I was showering, Anstaya came up to tell me there was someone here to see me.  The truck had arrived early!  I quickly threw some clothes on and I spoke with the driver.  Anastaya and Isaac walked down to the bus stop and were soon back with the news that no bus appeared to be coming.  I put them to work shoveling the driveway.  It turned out the driver needed me to help by checking people off as they arrived and the truck driver would load up their cars with chicken. 

So, I unexpectedly found myself standing out in the snow for the next two hours.  It snowed the entire time we were out there.  Not that post card perfect light fluffy snow, but that wet, slushy, come down hard, fast and sidways, soaking everything snow.  The cars coming in and out didn't have any problems because their wheels did a good job of keeping the snow down.  I didn't have any way to keep the snow off the paperwork I was using to check people off as they came through.  By the time we were finished, I'd gotten an umbrella and was precariously balancing it on my shoulder.  But, it was too late for the papers.  They were in shreds.  With each person, I'd have to take off my gloves and carefully peel the papers apart and try to piece them together in order to find their name.  Then, the papers were so wet that the pen wouldn't write on them.  So, I did my best to put a big dent in the paper next to each name as people came through.  When people would drive up, they'd roll down their window to talk to me and a blast of heat would come out.  It felt so good!  Once I had their name checked off, up would go the window and they'd sit in comfort while I waited for the next car to drive up.

I was standing out there freezing and wondering when this unseasonal snow will ever end!   My toes were so cold!  Once I got back inside, I put on my warm slippers with hand warmers inside them.  It took over an hour before my toes stopped aching.  Thankfully Sharon and Lynn were on traffic duty because we handed out over 3300 pounds of chicken breasts that morning!  Sharon and Lynn were only supposed to help for half the time but the helpers that were supposed to relieve them showed up, got their chicken and drove off.  That left Sharon and Lynn out in the wet and cold along with me.  We ended up with about 70 cars getting in and out of the driveway over an 2 hour period.   I found out later that since I provided the pick up location, I qualified for a free box of chicken.  We now have 120 pounds of boneless skinless breasts in the freezer.  If you come over for dinner, plan on eating chicken!

Dr. Visits for William and Elizabeth
Monday, William had an asthma check up at the doctor's office.  William doesn't have a serious case of asthma, but whenever he's sick or when the seasons change, he gets a cough that goes on for weeks.  He'd been having some asthma troubles at school and was needing forms filled out by the doctor to have medication left at the school.  A few days before the appointment, Elizabeth came to me complaining of a sore spot on her arm.  I took on look at it and sighed.  I recognized MRSA.  We've had MRSA in our family for over six years.  Fortunately, the strain we have isn't very virulent.  It just causes small boils.  Elizabeth, Miriam, and Isaac have scars from past bouts with the virus.  It's been over two years since anyone has had a problem but it looks like we're back to dealing with it.  Since we already had William scheduled for an appointment, I called up and was able to get Elizabeth added to the visit.  So, Elizabeth will be spending time cuddling with a heating pad (it helps draw out the infection) while taking antibiotics in hopes of beating it back once again.

Dode gone
Dode had a surveyor conference to attend in Spokane and was gone from Tuesday morning through Saturday night.  Tuesday morning he had enough time to get in some quality cuddling with the kids before heading over the pass.  His trip across the state ended up being a bit longer than planned because they closed the pass for avalanche control and he was the fourth car back.  Ouch!  He enjoyed the classes he attended at the conference.  It was all technical legal information that would go way over the head of someone who wasn't in the industry but was like candy to his surveyor brain.  He did not enjoy the food.  The prices he's paid in advance were high ($45 a plate for dinner) but the portions were tiny.  They had one 28 pound turkey, 1 beef roast, 1 salmon out on the buffet to feed over 500 people!  When that was gone, there was no more food coming out of the kitchen.  He overhead another participant look down at a platter with just a few scraps of meat and ask the server what had been there.  "A 28 pound turkey."  The participant asked if more was coming, nope.  He was told again with emphasis, "It was a 28 pound turkey".  For 500 people?  All the meals were as disappointing.  He'd arrive to a promised breakfast and find crumbs on a platter.  He hadn't brought along any snacks because he knew he was going to be eating at the conference.  He tried to talk around the local area and find a fast food restaurant but he struck out.  Poor Dode, hungry for days!

getting in some quality cuddling (think sleep) time with Elizabeth before the trip

Elizabeth is awake and is enjoying every minute of it!

Dode had Friday night available to go out to dinner with Brent and Ann-Jeanette.  Since they're on the opposite side of the state, he doesn't get to see them very often.  For those of you familiar with Dode's ways and habits, the next sentence will be difficult to believe.  He was sitting down to order his food at 10 pm.  (We have dinner between 5 and 5:30 every night.  Dode is usually in bed around 9 pm.)  But, Ann-Jeannette and Brent weren't available until later and it meant a lot to Dode to get to see them so he made the sacrifice of a hungry belly and a loss of sleep. 

The surveyor's association alternates what side of the state the conference is on each year and are thinking of doing it at the Tulalip Resort next year.  That'd be wonderful!  He could go to the conference close to home, he'd know where to find quick cheap food if the food provided was disappointing, and most of all he'd still be home at night.  And, I could go to the "auxiliary" meetings that are offered for the wives.  Dode got home on Saturday about 10 minutes before we set dinner on the table.  I did my best to fill his tummy.  We were all pleased to have him back with us.

Tuesday Night Open House
TUESDAY NIGHT OPEN HOUSE  If you're familiar with our life, those four words will cause you to cringe.  Tuesday nights are the busiest nights of the week around here.  This week, I was going it solo since Dode was in Spokane.  I got back from picking up the newspapers and was in the middle of stuffing papers and making dinner when Miriam told me there was an open house at school that night.  It was the first I'd heard of any open house.  She didn't have a flier in her folder that comes home from school and I thought I was saved.  I thought she'd had wrong information.  Then I looked in William's folder and saw that sure enough, there was an open house that night, in just an hour!  The last time we missed an open house due to a scheduling conflict, she cried and cried until she fell asleep.  It was 5:30 and we needed to get papers stuffed, dinner eaten, and out the door at 6:15 for youth night. 

There was no way I could take her and William to the open house and I told her.  She ran off to my bed to cry (her favorite crying place).  I felt really bad but had no solution.  If Dode was home, we might have been able to pull something off, but with me on my own, there was just no way.  Then, I realized there just might be an answer.  I called Sharon and she was able and willing to take them to the open house.  Miriam and William were thrilled to take their grandma to school with them.  Grandma really saved the day!  I was able to get the kids to their activity on time and Jacob and I delivered the papers.  Miriam and William told me all about how much fun they'd had with grandma later.

Saturday fun  
Saturday morning I had a four hour day camp planning meeting to attend.  Since Dode was still out of town, that meant William had to attend with me.  We packed a DVD player, crayons, snacks and some small cars to try to make the meeting more bearable for him.  About three hours into the meeting, William packed up all his things and came to sit beside me, waiting to go.  Since he had nothing to do, he kept himself busy by kicking the table legs.  I took his cue and decided we'd leave early before things got worse.  I've been doing day camp for so many years, and have gone to so many meetings, I really wasn't sad to check out early! 

We drove home and picked up the girls and headed off to roller skating. I'd really debated whether or not to take William. He's physically uncoordinated so usually when we do something physical, we try to find someone to watch him. I feel bad for him to miss out on the fun so often and decided to take him. It ended up as I expected. He could hardly stand up on his skates, even with the wheels locked tight. There was a look of desperation on his face the entire time. I wasn't sure if what we were doing qualified as fun or child abuse! But, on the way home, he talked about having fun. The girls performed exactly as I'd thought they would. Miriam went about five feet on her skates before she started jumping and dancing on them. She cruised around, totally comfortable while Elizabeth stayed close to the side and went very slow. She doesn't seem to have a concept that she's slow. She entered the race for her age group and came in dead last. Anastaya was pretty solid on her skates.

both hands on the wall, making his way slowly around the rink,

that smile was in short supply

One of the times she skated up and tried to help William

Trying to keep William upright and untangled from my skates what quite a workout!I ended up taking off my sweater and tying it around my shoulders.  Miriam was so impressed.  When Dode got home, she had to tell him all about my superman cape!

Apparently, it wasn't enough for me to be there with four kids.  A little boy of about 7 years old decided he wanted to skate with me too.  There was no escaping his outstretched hand and gap-toothed smile.  I ended skating with him for about 15 minutes off and on while Miriam and Elizabeth shot me dirty looks. Each time we'd complete the circle around the rink, he'd skate off and rest.  By the time I could come around again, there he was again, waiting with his outstretched arm.  I tried to scan the crowd of waiting adults as I went by, hoping no one was giving me the evil eye for holding hands with their child but I never did see his parents.  Anastaya was amazed that a child I didn't even know would want to skate with me.   Miriam felt bad for William having such a hard time and tried to help him by holding her hand out to him.  I told her he was just too big for her to keep him from falling.  So, instead each time she'd go around, she'd stop in and give him a hug.  Not always such a good idea on skates! 

It ended up being a fun activity.  I was dreading it as I drove down.  I kept wondering how many times I'd have to stand in the skate line before everyone had the correct size.  Then, there was the concern about trying to stay upright myself while helping two little skaters.  And, then the snack shop located conveniently next to where you sit and rest.  I worried the kids would be begging for treats.  Lastly, there was the thought of skating around and around on that rink for three hours.  In the end, everyone got the correct sized skates the first time.  Miriam was able to do fine on her own, leaving me to focus on William.  I'd purchased "groupons" for us in advance that came with free sodas so the kids got that treat from the snack shop.  Although they had plenty of sugar from the soda, they still wanted cow tails, cotton candy and ice cream.  In a perfect world, the kids would be content that were were there skating and they had pop (they usually only get pop once a week on Friday).  But, since we don't live in a perfect world, I had to be the mean mom and say, "No, not even a 25 cent piece of candy, nothing more."  The time went fast and before I knew it, they were asking everyone to leave the floor and return their skates.  I drove home feeling happy and like a pretty good mom.