It's All Greek to Me

This is one of our family's favorite meals.
HUMMUS
2 small cloves of garlic (not pre-minced kind)
1 can garbanzo beans/chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp. Tahini (sesame seed butter)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. olive oil
Place all ingredients into blender or food processor. Process until smooth adding water, 1 Tbsp. at a time, if needed, to get hummus moving & blended well.
ROASTED RED PEPPERS
1 pepper for approximately 2 people
Wash peppers well. Place oven rack on top position. Line a cookie sheet with foil. Turn broiler on high. Have zip-loc bag available to hold your peppers. Place peppers on sheet and broil till *black* and then rotate a quarter turn. It will look like the peppers are almost touching the broiler element. That is ok. If their touching drop the rack down one notch. Finish up with the top and bottom. The point is to char every surface. Obviously you don't want it to burn and turn into a lump of coal, so watch closely but don't be afraid of it either. Immediately and carefully put charred peppers in zip-loc bag and seal it. Let sit on counter until peppers are cool to the touch. Remove from bag and peel off skin and seed them. Cut into slices.
Serve together: hummus, roasted red peppers, sauteed onions, warmed & toasty pita bread & kalmata olives.

My next suggestion, though a different combination, tastes great! With all of our food intolerances, one being dairy for three of us, we have found that a smear of my hummus replaces the "cheesy goodness" on pizza. So we make pizza using all traditional pizza ingredients but with hummus in place of cheese. This is actually REALLY good & should be tried by cheese lovers!

My newphew Big D, 8 months, also likes his Aunt Stephy's Hummus!

Twitterpated #6

Two of the fledgling have left the nest! We are curious as to the final color & sex of the baby birds. One of the babies is dirty snow white while the others are dark grey. They all seem well & happy! The fledgling are trying to sing "their" song which is pretty funny to listen to. Beeps likened the tune & pitch to "knuckle down buckle down do it do it do it"....if you know the tune to that song. LOL The fledgling will still be dependent on their parents for the next 6 weeks. As you can see in the top picture, Duchess, who is on the right, has bird seed stuck to her bill.

Sorry it has taken awhile to post new pictures. The birds have been hard to photograph all stuffed in their birthing nest.

Armed & Educated

Our son completed his Washington State Hunter Education program this week. After 12 hours of instruction he passed his 75 question test with 100%! The next day he passed his field test with 100%! Only he and 2 other guys got 100% out of 4o kids. The teachers recognized this achievement by giving the 3 guys Buck Knives. Thanks to Grandpa R. who drove 90 minutes every day for 6 days to take Buddy to class! I was told they had great times of conversation and prayer.

A couple weeks ago a 14 year old boy shot and killed a hiker, who he thought was a bear, here in Washington state. With that heavy on the hearts of the instructors, it played a huge part in their instruction as well as ours. Be safe & wise in the woods.

Organized Choas: Tip of the Week #1

Keep your toothpicks clean and easier to dispense by storing in a cheese shaker jar. Just give it a little dash and a toothpick comes out!

Entertaining Angels "Old Man"

I ran into McDonalds yesterday because I had to pee really bad. I've made it a habit, when I make eye contact with a stranger, to make sure I look at them and smile.
This really old guy was coming out of the men's restroom. He was hunched over clutching the wall and moving about .10 mph! He was wearing all khaki colors with off white shoes & his head was covered in golden white hair. As I approached him, men's restroom on my left & ladies on my right, he looked up and I gave him a big smile. Just as I reached for the restroom door handle he yells, "That's the wrong one!!!!" or something like that. He made me jump and my heart skip a beat & I whipped around to look at him. There he was all a grin, pointing his finger at me saying "HA HA....I got you!!!!"

My Angel taught me today that no matter how old & handicapped you are, you still have LIFE in you.

The Garland Street Fair

Yesterday was one of our church's annual outreachs. The Garland Street Fair. Though the temperatures reached close to a 100 degrees (hotter on the pavement), & we were out there from 6 am to 7 pm, we served the Lord together for the purpose of the futherance of His kingdom. My prayer is that someone was touched and will be saved by our efforts.

Remember to pray for your community and how YOU can be a part of saving the lost who live close to you.

Some of the stuff we did:

seating area for concerts

free balloons (we gave away 1,000!)

free Bibles with an information desk about our church

4 carnival type games

prize booth

free hugs

story time

free sunscreen oasis

......& Happy Birthday Susie (1st picture)!

Twitterpated #5

The baby birds are getting so big! I can't believe how fast they grow. The first picture is 6 days old & the second picture is 1 day old. It's hard to photograph them now when their just a big ball of feathers!

"Get Me Out of This Stinking Fresh Air!"

Yes, I'm sure you may have heard by now our newest backpacking story. Let's just say we don't call it a vacation and call it Extreme Endurance Challenge.

We took the kids to Upper Priest Lake in Idaho for a 3 day backpacking trip. It's about 5 miles in and obviously 5 miles out. The only way to get there is by boat or packing in. We left early Friday morning and got to our base camp about 10:30 am. We left the next morning and got back to our Suburban at 11 am! Why the short trip? you ask. Well...you asked for it!

After going through a whole bottle of DEET during a 24 hour period, we had 238 mosquito bites between the 5 of us!!!! We got eaten alive! Bud's hands and ankles swelled up and looked like they had been sprained. Honey got it the worst. When we counted he had 21 just on his right leg bellow his knee. That total bite number is low too. The next day after some of the swelling went down I counted the same leg on Honey and he had 41! So you can imagine how many we really had. We got them everywhere and I mean everywhere. One of the drawbacks to being a girl and having to pee in the woods! I'm itching my leg right now. I got a couple on the back of my thigh that are the size of my palms! Along with our experience as mobile snack bars we also had a series of unfortunate events:

My camera wouldn't work even though I replaced the batteries before we left. No documentation of this "vacation".

The little 1 hour thunder storm fore casted turned out to be a 8 hour wind/lightening/thunder/rain extravaganza. Honey said he has never camped in those extremes.

The tree behind us settled in the storm and moaned all night long, of course you could only hear it between thunder claps.

A tree fell down right next to our camp. In the morning we found that it was beavers! They (we hope!) were also responsible for the LOUD splashing we heard in the water right next to our tents early in the morning.

Beeps felt ill right before we headed out and Honey had to carry her backpack and his. A total of 75 pounds.

Sugar cast her fishing pole and hooked Bud in the cheek.

Beeps cast her fishing pole into the lake and had to dive to go get it.

Beeps dumped all of the fish bait into the lake and we had to find it.

It was also FUN too! Yes I am crazy! I am thankful too that nothing BAD happened. Really thankful. Though at about 4 am I was hoping a bear would eat me and take me out of my itching sleepless misery! The lake was BEAUTIFUL! Buddy caught a perch that he fried up and ate, all of it minus the head, seriously. We swam in the freezing cold lake but it was nice because it was really hot. My home-made dehydrated food was awesome! We eat like Kings & Queens. Most importantly I LOVE the character that I saw in my children. They are real troopers. Endurance, team work, mental & emotional control....that's great stuff.

Because we still had two days left of our little vacation, Honey decided he didn't want to go home, so we went to Schweitzer in Idaho. When he called & made a reservation he only needed two things. Enough beds for all of us and a hot tub! We had a wonderful night. After a trip to Walmart for food, a couple extra clothing items, Benadryl for Buddy, and anti-itch cream, we headed up the mountain. Honey bought a Journey CD and we listened to it going up the hill. That CD brought back lots of memories for me as a kid. We headed right for the hot tub and we gave ourselves some hydrotherapy sessions, alternating between the hot tub and cold pool. That combined with some Sponge Bob (our traditional vacation TV show...we don't watch TV at home), a full tummy, Traumeel, and 11 hours of sleep we were ready-to-roll the next day. We headed up to the Summit of Schweitzer and again, things didn't go quite as planned. We were dressed in summer clothing, flip flops, etc....right?!...it's August. It was 40 degrees at the top and we about froze to death! Luckily I told everyone to bring their light jackets. On the way down the ski lift we yelled to the kids that we'd go to the coffee shop at the bottom of the hill & that they could get hot cocoa or something. Beeps yelled back, "That sounds great! Hot cocoa...I can pour it on my toes!" Next Honey wanted to take us to Coeur d'Alene to a burger joint he really liked as a young adult. We passed by the joint and it was open. We circled the street twice looking for parking. We got out and the burger joint was closed. Poor Honey!

We got back last night & I can say today....honestly....that I wish I was out backpacking!

The title of this post is from the original Parent Trap movie. That movie was filmed at the lake I was baptized in! If you've seen the movie you'll understand when I say "I was submarined" this weekend!

Twitterpated #4

The Baby Birds have arrived! They hatched on my sister's birthday, the 10th, while we were away. All but one made it so we have 4 little zebra finches. They're pretty funny looking with a grey feathery mohawk and a pink body. They are about the size of your thumbnail.

Book Review: Organic housekeeping by Ellen Sandbeck

I just got done reading this book. I really liked it and am considering buying it to have a copy of my own. A lot of non toxic inexpensive ways of living and some organizational tips I love. Here are a couple fun excerpts:

"Many of us who live in the developed world have gone well beyond satisfying our basic physical needs. In fact, we have gone so far that some of those basic needs are no longer being met. We seem to have forgotten what our ancestors knew quite well: The only real reason to do any cleaning at all is in order to maintain our health. If that cleaning happens to make our homes and our clothing look prettier, so much the better. But if we clean just for appearances, rather than for health, we may end up rubbing our burning eyes, scratching our rough, reddened skin, and suffering asthma attacks while wearing soft, fragrant, toxic clothing in gleaming homes that make us dizzy with the aerosolized essence of mountain meadows. Then we can look out the windows and watch the robins fainting on our perfect lawns."

"Our great-grandmothers' homes were obviously clean enough, or we wouldn't exist."

"If you are tyrannizing your loved ones in order to keep your house "just-so," try to relax! Try really hard! Most people will find you much more attractive if you smell like freshly baked cookies rather than Lysol."

"There are people in my family who can barely find their underwear while their wearing it."

Organized Choas: DISCLAIMER

Yes....I am messy! Yes....sometimes I don't even follow my own rules! Here is a picture of my office to prove it. Covered in mail, coupons, books, & bags. Don't hate me!

But I am also known as the Organization Queen around these parts. It has been a passion of mine for a long time & I have had much success in my own home as well as encouraging others about & in their homes.

I'd like to offer my knowledge and wisdom through this fun format of blogging. I have named my "business" Organized Chaos. I think it is a very fitting description of what I have done these last 15 years.

So be on the look out for my tips and suggestions. Everything from A to Z and easy as 1...2...3! I hope you enjoy what I have to give and can use it to make your life a little more easy.

Just remember I'm not perfect and neither are you!

I Smell Burnt Hair!

Women and their hair have been at odds for centuries. If we have straight hair, we want curly. And if we have curly hair, we want straight. If we have dark, we want light, and vice versa. We pour through fashion magazines looking for the perfect hairstyle. A cut that will make our chubby cheeks look less prominent or our "drowned rat" thin hair look like Farrah. For a pretty penny we get it razored & styled, dyed & high-lighted. We get this pomade for the smooth look, this wax that makes our clean hair look dirty, this root boost for body, & this hair spray for "manageable hold without stickiness." And then we blow dry our hair with a hair dryer we bought a decade ago that cost $5.99!

On Sunday night, before church, as I was drying my hair......my hair dryer caught on fire!!!! Luckily it started making weird noises first so I pulled it away from my hair and as I put the dryer at arms length flames started shooting out of the bottom where the cord comes out. I didn't get hurt. Dave being the engineer tore it apart and said he didn't see any reason why it should have spontaneously caught on fire.

According to NFPA Fire Analysis & Research, between 2002-2005 there were 334 houses fires directly caused by faulty hair dryers. 13 people were injured with an estimated $8 million in damage.

So go check out your hair dryer and see if it's safe. Take care to remove built up lint and hair. Never wrap the cords around the appliance. This is where most fires start, right where the cord enters the appliance. Years of bending the cord back and forth make it weak and susceptible to electrical fires. Our electrical inspector told us to always unplug appliances that aren't in use. Sounds like good advice too.

And if your dryer was as old as mine....probably 9 years old, the girls were toddlers when we bought it.....maybe you should just toss it and go get another one. Costco has them for $19.99 which is a small price to pay so you don't lose your "expensive" hair!

My Sister

Yoda....Norna Noo Noo....Laura. My sister. I believe I have loved you before you were even born. Remember mom said I used to call you "My Baby!" I remember all the wonderful times we had growing up. Worm races, Pointy Head, wood cutting, Tacos and Drumsticks (with extra fiber), Disneyland, sleeping together, Steal Magnolias and The Cutting Edge, the Red Room, Othello, jumping off Grandpa's back, Serenity, Dial-A-Bike, Calico Ghost Town, hide-n-seek in the woods, lighting dad's newspaper on fire, that food fight!, moving to WA, rolling in the mud with mom,.....so many memories! I remember all the wonderful times we've had since we've grown up. Disneyland (yes it IS the most wonderful place on earth), Christmas', weddings, teaching you how to go through drive-thrus, being outside the hospital room when our first babies were born, surprise birthday parties, tree hunting, sleeping together at retreats, Food Network, all the little bakeries on the South Hill, trips to CO, running errands together, salmon fishing....again so many memories.

I have made it my mission in life to protect you and take care of you. Which translated bossy a lot of the time.....K! I remember having dreams about beating people up at school because they were bothering you. Remember when I risked my own life to get you away from that doberman pincher who just had puppies behind the dumpster?! But with all of that, and even though you're a woman now, I still want to protect you and take care of you. But I can't do it like I used to. That's why I pray for you. That you will be and continue to become the women that God created you to be. That HE would protect you and take care of you. That HE would boss you around if you need it! heehee That HE would be your everything. That I wouldn't hold on so tight. That I would realize that you are HIS BABY!

Love you Sis

Sister's Day 2008

Happy Sister's Day to my beautiful sisters in Christ! I love you ALL!

Twitterpated #3

Thomas O'Malley and Duchess have decided that their nest is complete with 5 eggs.

We'll let you know when they hatch!