finishing off October

Trunk or Treat
Tuesday night we had a trunk or treat at church.  Dode has spent most of the last month dreaming up things for a "house of mystery".  He ended up building a bottomless tunnel, creating a laser/fog machine effect, and hooking up black lights to feature Black Light Bubbles
.  We contained all this under three pop up canopies in the parking lot.  The bottomless tunnel turned out the best.  He'd wanted something people could walk across but since he was unable to find anything online that would tell him how thick of glass he'd need for that, he built a tunnel people could look down inside of.  He used plywood left over from day camp, an old pallet, a light fixture, a mirror, and some mirrored privacy vinyl to create the effect.  One of the cutest things to happen was to see a little girl look into it and back away before cautiously peeking over the edge again.  I think she really got that feel of endless space!
 

Where does it end?

For the fog light/lasers, Dode used the old kitchen fan he removed last year to spin lasers in fog.  It ended up being a dud.  The lasers weren't bright enough, leaving the area around them dark and perfect for older kids to hang around to scare the smaller children.  Not what we wanted.

The black light bubbles were the hit of the night.  Dode was kind of bummed that it took so little work (and it was my idea) to create something that enchanted the kids and parents.

Having the trunk or treat on a Tuesday night was a challenge for us.  Especially when they decided to start the night early!  Tuesday night is our night to fold 800 newspapers and deliver 600 of them.  We usually have just enough time to get the papers folded after Dode gets home from work before heading to the church for youth night.  With the trunk or treat starting early, and with Dode's big plans for his creations, we had to meet him at the church right after he picked up the papers and worry about the papers once the activity was over.  We spent 30 minutes taking everything down, leaving us the last car in the parking lot.  In fact, I went into the bubble room to tell Dode, "time to go" and he was quite surprise to step out into the parking lot and find it empty!  Once we got home, we had to go into full out production mode getting papers stuffed as quickly as possible.  Then, Dode and I went out and did part of the route we normally finish.  I needed to get as much done as possible because the next day was just as busy.  Sound like enough chaos?  There was more! 

The week before, Isaac had his surgery.  I'd been sick, in bed, all weekend and missed teaching my Relief Society lesson in church.  We'd barely got home from the surgery when I received a phone call from the Relief Society President (head of the women's organization at church).  I immediately thought she'd called to see if there was anything they could do for our family with me being sick and Isaac having surgery.  "What a nice gesture" I thought.  I was a bit surprised she'd even known about all that was going on in our lives.  I was wrong.  She was calling to see if I would make a meal for someone else.  It was a reminder to me to forget myself and serve others.  I had the feeling I'd be sick for a while so I asked for a day the following week.  Wouldn't you know it, I got assigned Tuesday, my busiest day of the week.  There was a chili cook off at the trunk or treat so I wouldn't  have had to make dinner.  But, there was no way I felt good about bringing chili to an elderly family.  So, I made a special dinner just for them.  While scrambling around trying to get ready for the trunk or treat, dealing with last minute costume changes and finding pieces that had gotten lost, getting the newspaper things out for when we got home, and trying to make the meal, I managed to burn carrots into the bottom of the pan so badly, there was 1/2 inch of carbon in the bottom.  As you can imagine, the house smelled terrible.  The smoke detectors went off (We have ones that are linked together. Once one goes, they all go.) blasting our ears out.  I wasn't sure where they lived for the meal but had a feel for the general area.  Google maps steered me in a completely different area.  A phone call to Dode for directions sent me on my way.  I raced out of the house with the meal, instructing the kids to be ready when I got back.  Since I was in a hurry and going somewhere I'd never been before, I missed the house.  Then, when I dropped the meal off, they wanted to visit.  Finally, I was on my home to pick up the kids, where I found them mostly ready but fighting over who got to sit where in the van, and we raced to the church.

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Wednesday morning, I went with Miriam and William to a pumpkin patch field trip. (What does visiting a pumpkin patch have to do with education? Why do they waste their one field trip of the year on a pumpkin patch?  These are questions I will never have answers to.) I drove straight to the pumpkin patch instead of taking the bus from the school with Miriam and William so that Elizabeth could come too. It was a cold morning and we found it a challenge to keep warm. The kids enjoyed the various activities offered by the pumpkin patch and we finished up our visit by selecting pumpkins.

Miriam had been really worried starting school that she'd be the smallest child in her class.  Once school began, she happily reported that Chad was smaller than her.  She pointed Chad out to me at the pumpkin patch.  He's height impaired (is that the politically correct term for midget?).  We are pretty good at having runt children!

train ride

tractor fun

we are definitely building one of these for day camp next year!

hay ride with Caitlyn, Miriam and William

Book Club
Wednesday evening, I hosted the book club at my house.  We read Wonderstruck
by Brian Selznick.  I've been eating really healthy lately so I made a vegan meal for the ladies.  I was pretty nervous about how they'd react but they loved it.  I made a creation I call Buddha Bowls.  (Brown rice with assorted toppings: BBQ tofu, roasted butternut squash, sweet and sour cabbage, sauteed bok choy and mushrooms, fresh chopped veggies, avocado, curry cheese sauce).  I made two tasty desserts from a blog I read.  Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Deep Dish Cookie and Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake, adapted from Chocolate Fudge Pie.  I added a peanut butter layer on the bottom and a chocolate ganache to the top.  I'd tested both recipes out on the kids ahead of time.  Isaac went back for seconds so I knew they'd stand up to book club. 

When Dode got home from work, I reminded him that I had book club and he was in charge of dinner.  He decided to make pancakes.  Once he got going, I realized that it just wasn't going to work with two of us fighting over the same kitchen space.  Add to that, by the time he was done cooking, there was no way the family would be able to eat and clean up before the book club ladies got there.  I was thinking, "Come on, it's just one night a year.  Can't you please take the kids somewhere?" while at the same time feeling badly that I was feeling like pushing him out of his home.  So, I never said anything like, "Just go to McDonald's already!" although I'm sure my body language was communicating that loud and clear.  Meanwhile, Dode was thinking, "She's not happy with me but if I take the kids out to eat, she'll say "Can't you manage to feed them without going out?"  We were finally able to reach an understanding that eating at home that night was not going to work.  Dode finished making pancakes, set them in the fridge for future breakfasts and the children happily loaded up in the car for a trip to McDonald's.  Crisis solved!

Isaac's last ortho visit
On Friday, Isaac had his post operative visit and the doctor said everything is healing nicely. Better than that, the tumor came back as a benign growth!  It was a teacher in service day and I'd told the kids that after the appointment, we'd go to the Children's Museum, followed by Value Village and then the China Buffet.  Unfortunately, I've been having to hide my wallet lately in order to keep a sticky fingered child away from my money and I'd neglected to bring it along.  (I'd been in the habit of keeping my wallet under the driver seat in the car.)  So, instead of having a day of fun, we went straight home after the doctor.  The kids were not pleased. 

Pumpkin Carving
Carving pumpkins is one of my least favorite activities.  I dislike the mess and I especially hate that they never turn out as well as you imagine in your head.  My mom and Greg came up for dinner on Sunday and graciously helped with the pumpkin carving.  My mom is in the middle of a 7 day, 12 hour work day stretch so it was an even bigger sacrifice for her to spend some of her down time dealing with pumpkins.

Dode can do anything in a white shirt and tie!

My chair of girlies

She brought a bag of giveaways she'd picked up at a conference she attended for work.  Once she left, it was a battle for the kids to decide who got what.  William got to go first and he selected the baggie of almonds.  No one was too mad about that.  Going youngest to oldest wasn't working so the kids put names in a hat and let William draw names.  They were then able to distribute the goodies with a minimum of hurt feelings.  What they didn't want will go in the day camp prize box.  For some reason, the children weren't interested in the alcohol impregnated port protectors or the accompanying information about the "impact of alcohol impregnated port protectors and needleless neutral pressure connectors on central line-associated blood stream infections and contamination of blood cultures in an inpatient oncology unit."  Probably not appropriate for day camp either!

More security
I know there are children out there who listen to their parents.  I truly believe there are children who when told, "No", listen.  I am convinced there are parents who can say "No" and put up a few barriers to keep children from making certain choices, and those children will listen.  I don't have those kinds of kids.  I have the kind of kids who will say to our face, "No matter what you do, I'm going to try to find a way to still do what I want."  We were having troubles with the boys staying up all night in the room over the garage watching movies and playing video games.  Dode started taking the gaming machines to work and only bringing them back on the weekend.  They were still watching movies all night which meant getting anything constructive the next day difficult.  We'd go to bed at night, thinking everyone was tucked safely in.  Then, children would sneak out, walk over to Blockbuster, and rent movies to watch.  Dode modified the circuit breaker box in the garage so he could turn off the power to the room over the garage where they were hanging out and then lock the box closed.  That slowed them down for one day.  Then, they ran an extension cord to the downstairs of the garage and were back in business.  We had freezer in the garage and they figured they had us stuck since we couldn't cut the power to that too.  We ended up moving the freezer to the covered deck off the kitchen, thus earning us the label of hillbilly and allowing us to turn off all the power to the garage. 

No screws anywhere they can access

Padlock

Problem solved?  There was still the issue of them watching movies all night inside the house once everyone went to bed.  We purchased a Power Plug Lock-out
that goes over the plug in for the TV.  With the turn of the key, it disables the power to the TV and locks the power cord in place.  They haven't found a work around, yet (that we know of).  Parenting is not for wimps!

The plug to the TV is locked inside the blue box. 

It takes the turn of a key to turn the power on.

This week's adventures

Last Cross Country Meet for Anastaya
Anastaya had her last cross country meet this week, at River Meadows Park in Arlington.  My plan was that as soon as the littlests got off the bus from school and made a quick bathroom break, we'd be on the road.  I knew time would be tight because it's about a 20 minute drive to the park and her race was supposed to start about 30 minutes after the bus is supposed to arrive.  I was gathering umbrellas for the rainy day when the bus arrived.  Within 10 seconds, Miriam had her shoes off and was on the couch ready to watch a movie.  She was not pleased to be leaving for the meet.   She spent most of the drive throwing a fit about her lost opportunity to watch a movie.  I told Elizabeth to get a photo for the blog.  Miriam wasn't having any of that!  She hid her face and would not allow a photo.  Elizabeth kept trying and eventually Miriam started giggling.  It got her out of her funk.

It felt like it took forever to get out there.  I missed every light and ended up behind a school bus that was letting kids out every 100 yards.  As we drove, I wondered if we'd end up missing the race and I'd have put up with the crying and crazy hustle for nothing.  I've been sick so I don't have much energy.  Add a grumpy Miriam and the rainy day and heading to a cross country meet was not what I'd have chosen to be doing. 

We made it in time!  I'd brought two umbrellas, thinking with four people we could easily share.  In retrospect, we needed four umbrellas to cut down on the fighting.  That way, we could have poked our umbrellas into even more innocent bystanders.  Anastaya did well for her last race.  Her goal for the 1.75 mile run was 14:40 and she finished in 14:18.  (No state records here but instead a young lady who continues to improve and feel good about her efforts.) 

Elizabeth spent the better part of an hour making this sign to hold up for Anastaya as she ran by.  She thought we should count it as an hour of art education for home school, which would go towards her required 5 hours of schooling each day.  I said, "Nice try!"

Natural Foods Trade Show Seattle

at the show after our make overs

Friday, Sheri, Janice, and I attended the Natural Foods trade show in Seattle.  Poor Sheri had a hard time on the way there.  She'd drank a quart of green smoothie on the way to my house and by the time we approached Seattle, she really needed to use a restroom. I mean she REALLY needed to go!  Getting off the freeway wasn't a very good option since we were in the metropolitan Seattle area.  Finding a gas station is next to impossible in the city and we didn't know where we'd find a bathroom available for public use.  Janice suggested my mostly empty green container with the encouraging words that it was a wide mouth jar.  I teased her with a mom famous phrase, "Why didn't you go before we left home?"  She replied with the kid classic response, "I didn't have to go then!"  She got to the point that I think she would have been happy to pull over and just pretend she was in the middle of the woods!  Once we pulled off, we stopped at a stop light where she jumped out and ran into the convention center (where the natural foods trade show was being held).  There was a doorman at the door and as she ran up she desperately cried, "Where is the bathroom?!"  He told her where and as she hurried to it as fast as physically possible at that point, he hollered after her, "The code to get in is 1836!"   Meanwhile, Janice and I waiting in the car realized that we hadn't let her off at the convention center!  While circling the block, trying to decide where to park, we discovered we'd left her at the Union building.  Once we met up with Sheri again, we headed down the road a block to the convention center!  I'm not sure what the Union building is.  Thankfully she didn't look like a homeless person so I don't think the door man minded letting her in.

Why were we at the trade show?  There are a number of natural foods I use on a regular basis and my thinking is, if other people in the co-op would also be interested in them, we can buy them at wholesale and all save money.  I was nervous about going since I don't have a "real" store.  But, once I got the hang of it and realized that the company salesmen I was speaking with weren't looking for huge orders but would be happy to deliver products to us with a  $100 minimum order and provide free shipping, I realized that I did have something to offer that they were interested in. 

Sheri and I tried everything we were offered and I can tell you that there are some scary healthy items out there!  The only "scary" thing Janice tried was the Ormus Greens I talked her into.  I don't know if she'll trust me again.  Sheri and my first sample was a Kava drink.  It tasted terrible and you can tell it's "working" when your mouth goes numb in a few minutes.  Thankfully things improved from there!  Green drinks are really popular right now and we tasted a lot of them.  Most of the vendors tried to disguise the terrible taste of their green drinks by mixing it in apple juice.  I'm happy to say that Sunwarrior Ormus Greens continues to be my favorite.  (Janice thinks there's something wrong with my taste buds!)

I saw a lot of products I've never seen on the shelves on my local stores.  Some of my favorites are:

Stingers, a spicy honey spread made in Bellingham, WA

Muter Chocolates,  tasty chocolate spreads made in Richland, WA

Tillen Farms, pickled veggies from Sunnyside, WA

Partners, a Kent, WA company that makes tasty crackers and cookies

Chez Gourment, the best commercial veggie burger I've ever tasted, especially the Spicy Anasazi Bean, made in Oregon.

Although I really liked the products above, I don't know that they will work for the co-op.  I need things that don't take a lot of storage space on my end.  Do absolutely delicious chocolates go with a produce co-op?  I hope that we'll be able to provide Sunwarrior and Navitas products through the co-op.  I already use a lot of their products.  I have order sheets for both of them.  In fact, I took advantage of a 20% of show special to order some Sunwarrior Warrior Blend Protein Powder.  If it doesn't sell at the co-op, Jacob and I have our year's supply!

Janice, Sheri and I should be the healthiest people on the planet once we spend the next month ingesting the various miracle supplements we received as samples at the show!  Once I figure out my favorite, I'd like to add them to the co-op too.  I'm leaning towards Mega Food.  They are a woman owned company that uses plant based products to create their vitamins.  I'm especially excited by their Blood Builder vitamin which has great reviews on amazon.com for conquering anemia, a problem I've dealt with my entire life.

I had a blast at the health food show.  We even got some pampering, including hand massages and make overs.  We ran out of time for the free back massages or the buffet offered at the end of the trade show.  I'm already looking forward to next year and hope that the items I try with the co-op will be a hit so we can add more.  We were there the entire five hours it was open and didn't get a chance to really investigate every aisle.  I had worried that I'd slow Janice and Sheri down but it ended up that they spent a lot more time at each booth than I did.  I hear the trade show in Aneheim is amazing, the best in the nation.  Maybe I should go for my 40th birthday present!  Admission is free but the getting and staying there unfortunately aren't.  Since I don't make any money on the co-op, I can't really take it as a business expense.  Hmmm.....  I know I wouldn't take Dode with me.  He'd think nothing was edible and would complain about all the "snake oil" that people were trying to sell him on.  But, unlike Sheri and Janice, I'd get to keep his samples!

seeing which homeopathic remedies our bodies "need" by pressing down our arm.

I'm not sure I'm totally sold on the idea but he sure pegged our "problem" areas.

getting our skin analyzed

I'm happy to report that out of 100 women my age, 87 of them have more wrinkles than me.  And the wrinkles the computer picked up were actually old acne scars.  Thanks mom for the ageless skin!

makeover and hand massage, courtesy of

Gabriel cosmetics

It felt great to get pampered

our favorite exhibitors

Queen Bee Gardens

Sharon, Aunt Bessie, Lynn

my loot

not shown are all the samples I consumed during the show

Janice's take

We don't have all the same samples because we split up part way through the show.

We never had lunch and I wasn't hungry.  (Dode says if he'd been there he would have lost his appetite too!)  Of course, walking by the buffet on the way out at dinner time did make my stomach growl a bit.  Unfortunately, Janice and Sheri needed to get home to other obligations.

Isaac's 2nd arm surgery

When Isaac got his cast off three weeks ago, I noticed a bump on his arm, about an inch below his wrist. I thought maybe his arm muscles were so atrophied that the end of his bone was sticking out. But, it didn't seem like it was in the correct spot. He was scheduled for surgery on the 17th and I wanted to get the bump checked out ahead of time just to make sure everything was healing correctly.  I was concerned that if I brought it up in the pre-op room, there wouldn't be time to do anything about it.

We went down to the orthopedic doctor and the doctor's assistant told me it was the pin. I said, "Are you sure?"  I knew where the scar was from putting the pin in and is was on the other side of his arm from the mystery bump.  She checked the old x-ray and sure enough, the pin was in the other bone! She said we'd x-ray it and see what was going on. When she left the room, she must have found the doctor because he came in and immediately recognized it as a osteochondroma. He had them do the x-ray and it definitely showed the tumor. He said it is a benign bone tumor, found mostly in children. He said they run in families and asked if anyone else in the family had a history of them. Not that I know of. Apparently they're rare enough that he had all three of his assistants come in one by one and try to guess what it was. When they all  failed, he educated them about what it was and the treatment.

When Isaac had the pin removed from his arm, the doctor also removed the tumor and sent it for testing. There is a 98% chance that it will be benign. That's pretty good odds! I asked why it happened while Isaac was in a cast and he told me it was just a coincidence. I know that Isaac is glad that he didn't have the cast on for much longer because as the tumor grew, it was pressing up more and more against the cast. Isaac had complained of a lot of discomfort in that area. When he got the cast off, we could see that the skin over the bump on his arm was very red and irritated.

We arrived at the surgery center bright and early, their first case of the day. (The doctor had 10 more surgeries in his schedule for the day.  No fun for him!)  I'd been sick all weekend with a cold and when the receptionist heard me sniffling, she was concerned that I might be passing on my virus to others.  When I went back with Isaac to the pre-op area, I was careful not to sniffle or cough.  I did pretty good until I got a tickle in my throat, started coughing, and couldn't stop.  The nurse brought me a glass of water and it helped, for about 1 minute.  My eyes were watering with the effort to not cough while I was trying to talk with the anesthesiologist.  He must have wondered what I was crying about.   I finally couldn't hold it in anymore and started coughing.  The nurse brought me a cough drop.  Relief!  Once Isaac went back to the OR, I hurried down the hall to the restroom where I could cough, cough, cough and blow my nose like crazy.  With just one more trip to the bathroom to repeat coughing and nose blowing, I was able to remain in the waiting room during his surgery without drawing the attention of the receptionist.

Isaac felt like quite a celebrity in the OR because the doctor's assistants were there to observe.  The doctor told us the tumor looked benign and we'll know for sure when the pathology report comes back.  Within three hours, we were on our way home again. He felt the pain of the surgery a lot sooner this time because they didn't use a nerve block.  When we brought Isaac home from the hospital when he was born, we stopped at a hardware store to buy a new light fixture. ( I knew once we got home and the adrenalin I was running on wore off, I wouldn't be up to going out again.)  We stopped on the way home this time too, to pick up some groceries at Cash and Carry.  Luckily, Isaac was a good sport both times about our stops.  Once home, he asked me, "Did they take the tumor off with a hammer?!" I told him, "just about". The doctor told me they use something similar to a chisel.    Isaac had stayed up most of the night before reading a book so he was a lot sleepier after the surgery this time.  As soon as his pain meds kicked in, he was snoozing on the couch.  Isaac isn't very patient or fun to be around when he's in pain.  But, once those meds kick in, he's a happy wild guy.

Isaac got a souvenir from his broken arm, the Steinmann pin that was used to hold his bone in place while it healed.  He says he wants to turn it into a bracelet or necklace!

A few fun adventures

Whatcom Historical Railway
Elizabeth and I went on a field trip sponsored by Stillaguamish Valley School to the Lake Whatcom Railway.  We arrived at the railway's location and were first able to get a bit of a tour.  They have a 100 year old steam engine on the premises but they don't use it because it costs too much to operate.  The owner said it costs $1000 to take it out of the train barn and the last time they did it was for his birthday.  He said it was a pretty expensive birthday present.  We rode the railway pulled by a diesel engine.  The Whatcom railway definitely feels like a mom and pop kind of operation.  The engines and cars are not in pristine condition.  There was visible rust on both inside and outside the cars. They had a bathroom on the train.  Inside they offered a portable chemical toilet and a bottle of hand sanitizer.  We were told that upgrading the bathrooms is their next goal.  I think that's a good idea!  We were told the cars were heated, and technically they were.  They used portable propane heaters while the cars were parked but once underway, there was no more heat.  But, listening to the owner talk about his engine, I could tell it's a true labor of love for him to keep the railway going.

Elizabeth's first stop was the dining car.  I gave her a quarter and she happily returned with five pieces of licorice.  The train left Wickersham (north of Sedro Wolley) and headed up the tracks.  I kept waiting for it to pick up speed but it continued to creep along.  Apparently, they don't have much track to use so they stretch out the trip by taking it slow.  I know I could ride my bike as fast as we were going!  We passed through a short tunnel, went along a lake shore and were soon at the stopping point.  They had a picnic area there as well as an old hand pump cart which the kids could operate.

A short walk from the picnic area brought us to this waterfall.  It was quite attractive as it cascaded down the rock shelf.  It seemed like it belongs in the tropics, not in rainy Western Washington!

The school put every one's name in hat and drew the names of three children who would get to ride in the engine on the way back.  Elizabeth was one of the lucky ones!  She had a great time up there.  Her one regret was that she'd left the camera back with me.  The school is providing a lot of field trip opportunities this year that Elizabeth and I will be able to take advantage of.  I'm counting those field trips as our mom and me day.  This was our first one and it was definitely a success.

Dad and Miriam Day 

Dode took Miriam to a pumpkin patch/corn maze for her special day with dad.  One of her favorite things to do at the farm was run around in a giant Hamster Wheel. 

Here she is suited up and ready to go.

As they walked, the wheel rolled across the ground.

They also had a fishing pond and Miriam caught and released lots of fish.

This rubber duck regatta looks like a lot of fun.  Maybe I can do something similar for day camp?

playing in the corn filled sandbox

Getting pulled around on the train

in the maze

bridges like these gave them a bird's eye view of the maze

They went on a hay ride.  Miriam thought it was way too boring.  Here she is taking a nap because it's not "exciting enough".

The hay ride took them out to a field where they watched pumpkins being launched in this compressed air canyon.  It would launch the pumpkins over 200 yards.  

They finished off with getting a pumpkin.   Our rule?  You have to be able to carry it.  She wanted one that was almost up to her waist but couldn't budge it.  She had a great day and couldn't wait to tell me about all the fun things they did when she got home.

The Funny Things Kids Say

a few fun things we've heard lately....

Anastaya was going babysitting.  The mom asked if Miriam would come too to play with her son.  When I asked Miriam if she'd go if I paid her a dollar to "help", she cocked her head to the side and said, "How about $2?"  Silly girl!

William (who has a milk allergy) watching Elizabeth stir up some extra chocolately chocolate milk, "Is there milk in chocolate milk Elizabeth?"

Miriam loves to cuddle at night instead of going to bed.  We sent her on her way, telling her it was a school night and she needed her rest.  "I liked it better when I could still cuddle"  I told her, "But now you're a big girl who goes to school."  Her response, "I'm still little!"

Miriam and William looking at photos of our trip to Disneyland & Universal Studios.

William, "Is he real?"

Miriam, "Well, I don't see a zipper so he must be real!"