Each New Day

Last Saturday I took my son to an AAU kids track meet. These kids are working to make it to the Junior Olympics.  Lots of kids of all ages were there. It is definitely an all day affair. I think it’s a good thing for those kids involved. And there are some competitive little kids! It was fun to watch them running as fast as they could!

I learned this week that our neighbors have been through some of the exact struggles that we are now facing. They have been a real source of support in this. They have shared openly and honestly their experience. They told about the rough times and how they have and are getting through them. They shared things that hurt. They did not judge or even bat an eye when we shared things that hurt. They have given their love and support and encouragement readily. They have offered listening ears and shoulders to cry on. And they have extended to us a helping hand, day or night.       

The price of depression seems to only add to the stress of the disorder. I found out today that folks who need medical treatment for severe clinical depression may be adding more fuel to the fire by treating it.

Adult Psychiatric Evaluation=$250
one month supply anti-depressant=$100-$200

However, keeping your life and your family=Priceless

I learned this weekend that we should never park our Jeep Cherokee on the street when it’s raining. Just in case it flash floods!!

I learned how to take the filter and bag out of the wet vac.

I learned how dirty water looks after being vacuumed out of a flooded Jeep Cherokee.

I learned that the plug in the garage is somehow connected to the plug in our master bathroom. If the garage plug doesn’t work, we can push the reset button on the bathroom plug and it works!

    Last night before church I took the kids to the mall to get the free Cinnabons they were giving out for tax day. I figured we would have enough time if we left 30 minutes early. We ended up being about 20 minutes late to church!

Coming out of the mall, the construction on the highway is not conducive to getting anywhere quickly! You cannot enter the freeway from the mall exits, so must stay on the feeder road. They have recently demolished a long-standing bridge and made a new thoroughfare at a very highly trafficked intersection. I did not know they had put in a stop light there! Needless to say, all the mall traffic having to stay on the feeder road was really blocked up by the new stop light. It took a really long time to get through there. So much for traffic flow improvement…

For the past four years, I have been in charge of cooking for our annual Easter weekend youth retreat. It has been fun and I’ve had a great team to work with. Each year, we are learning more about how to do it better. We have come up with better menus, getting better at estimating the amount of food we need and even getting better at transporting and packing the food up! This year has been the easiest so far. We did our regular “click and pull” at a Sam’s Club 40 miles from the camp. We drove up, picked up our order, paid and were loaded within 30-40 minutes! That is a record! And it was the easiest time we’ve had getting in and out of Sam’s. We did a better job of estimating the amount of food we would use. The menus went smoothly and we are a good team working together. I hope and pray that we can continue working together for several more years!

In looking at some information regarding the Jewish Passover, I was reading some recipes for unleavened bread. I knew of course that this meant no yeast was to be used, but I learned that some other items are also considered leavening agents. I found out that baking soda, baking powder, butter milk and egg whites can all be thought of as leavening, so they must be cleaned out before Passover and not used in products during this week.       

I won’t pretend to understand exactly something I just learned today. But I do find it interesting all the same. Jacob Grimm, of Grimm’s Brothers Fairy Tales, was also a noted philologist. He is credited with finding out how Germanic languages and Proto-Indo-European languages were related back at the root. It is interesting to see how the root words in different languages are related. I also learned that his work had an influence on JRR Tolkien and his works and writings. You can read more about Grimm’s Law at these links .

My husband and I like to watch America’s Test Kitchen. We often see it while eating lunch and have made a few of the recipes we have seen. Last week we saw a delicious recipe for steak tacos. We all enjoyed them. One thing we learned during the segment was how to “grill” tortillas over a gas stove. You simply cook the tortillas directly over the burner for two seconds on each side! These are great!    

I began reading a book last night, Losing Control and Liking It.  It is about raising teens and what our job as parents really is. The author states that children need specific things from both their father and mother. He says that the father’s main job is to offer validation to each child as an individual. The mother’s main goal is to nurture each child. We often find ourselves exerting more control and then wonder how we got to where we are in our relationship with our child. He brought out some observations that hit home exactly where we are with our son right now. The author points out that parenting teens begins when you become a parent, when the child is born. There are times we mess up and we can play catch up. I think that is where we are right now. We need to play catch up a little with our son. I need to focus on the ideas of love, nurture and validation in our relationship.