If you don't have somethin' nice to say....

Many of you know that on the day we moved into our house 8 years ago, I smashed my big toe basically off. It was horrible, and the ER surgeon was quite proud of his reconstruction. He told me I would likely not grow a new nail, and that I was missing about .25 inch of the tarsal bone. I still can't feel the end of the toe, and as long as I keep my nails painted, it really isn't obvious which toe is "special." Yesterday one of my sons, who shall remain nameless, said, "Mom, I really can't tell which of your toes is the smashed one." I told him it was amazing how well it had healed. He said, "No, I meant that they are both just so ugly that I can't tell which one is messed up." Yeah. My feet are definitely not my best feature.

The thought that counts

Today was a really fun Mother's Day. It was nice of Noah to load the dishwasher for me. Here's what I found when I opened the dishwasher to unload it. You can't tell very well from this picture, but the pan is completely full of water and the muffin tin is submerged. Actually, it is three muffin tins all stacked inside of each other. But it's the thought that counts. I love my Noah. I might have a talk with him about the basic rules of hydraulics, gravity and drains. But I think I will actually just let him still believe that a dishwasher is just a magical machine that makes dishes clean if you just put them inside of it. At least until he is 9.

Nature Lesson

As I was out running this morning, it was necessary to watch my step. We have a had a few windy days here, and there were many cones along the sides of the roads. Those dang cones could cause a good run to go bad by twisting an ankle. But as I was staring at my path ahead in one particular area, I couldn't help but notice that the cones on the ground did not match the trees that were overhead. They had blown from the other side of the street.

And that gave me the idea for my blog post today. I'll start with a quiz.

What is this?:

Sorry. That's incorrect. It's a fir cone. Let's try another.














Wrong again. This one is a spruce cone. A Norway Spruce to be exact.




Next?







Oooooh. Good guess. This one is a hemlock cone. Last try.

What do you know? It IS a pine cone.

A few years ago, I didn't know my trees. And then we planted 3,000 conifers, and I quickly learned the differences in not only their needles and general shapes, but also their cones. And one day I had one of those moments where you slap your forehead and say, "DUH!" out loud when it occurred to me that what I had been referring to as PINE CONES my entire life were likely not pine cones. Pine cones come from pine trees, fir cones grow on fir trees, hemlock trees produce hemlock cones.

Our kids all know this, too. They will give you a funny look if you ever refer to something as a pine cone when it is NOT a pine cone. They will politely correct you. Same with the needles. In fact, if you do actually find pine needles, the kids will probably ask you, "Is it a 2-needle pine or a 3-needle pine?"

So next time you are hiking (or running), notice the cones on the ground and then look up to see if they fell from a pine tree or a fir tree.

Just to show you how insane our family is about this, when I was in Omaha, I went to the Images of Nature gallery in The Old Market. Mark and I used to go there to daydream in our poor student days. I saw this photograph that I wanted, along with a few others.
I texted Mark a picture of this one and the 2 others I liked, and asked him which was his favorite. He responded, "The owl in the spruce tree." It made me giggle. What other guy would have known that the owl was sitting in a spruce and not in a pine tree?

Yeah. That's how we roll.

Zucchini Muffins

I have always loved zucchini muffins. I have tried many different recipes, and always been slightly unhappy with the result. But a couple of months ago I found this amazing recipe. I never could have guessed that dried cherries were the magical missing ingredient.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

3/4 c sugar

3/4 c brown sugar

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground nutmeg

3/4 cups vegetable oil

1/2 cup applesauce

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups shredded zucchini (about 2 medium)

1 cup shredded carrot (about 1 large carrot)

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans

1 cup chopped dried cherries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325. Combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg in a large mixing bowl. Mix the oil, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla extract in another bowl and pour into the dry mixture. Mix until thoroughly combined. Add the zucchini, carrot, nuts, and dried fruit and mix until just combined. Coat 2 muffin pans with cooking spray or use paper liners. Fill each muffin cup two-thirds full, using an ice cream scoop or a 1/4 c measuring cup. Place the pans on the center rack in the oven and bake for approximately 20 to 25 minutes, or until the muffins spring back when touched. Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and let the muffins cool completely directly on the rack.Number Of Servings:24

Mad Scientist

To say that Joel is obsessed with Albert Einstein would be an understatement. In second grade, he had to give a report about a famous person. I believe that is when the infatuation began when he selected Einstein. His report went something like this: Albert Einstein got married. Then he got divorced. Then he married his cousin. Those are three important facts about Albert Einstein.

One happy scientist

Joel will be wearing his new lab coat for pretty much any occasion he can get away with.

A birthday surprise

Yesterday was Joel's birthday, and my mom surprised him with a lab coat that has "Albert Einstein" embroidered on it. Just what every 11-year-old boy wants for his birthday. The look on his face when he opened it was priceless. I'm sure he'll probably try to sneak it into church in the book bag tomorrow.

The Nerd Olympics

I spent last week in Omaha, Nebraska at the Nerd Olympics. Actually, it's called the United States Academic Decathon. But that's just no fun to say. The group came to be lovingly called "Nerd Squad" and their meetings were "Nerd practice."

Abram was on the team for his high school, and they won the Oregon championship last February, which allowed them to compete in nationals last week. As I have a past history with the city of Omaha, I was eager to go along as a chaperone. The past 2 months the kids spent furiously trying to learn everything they could about the French Revolution, chemistry, Frech Rev-era art, French Rev-era music, language and literature, economics, math. In addition, the competitors also wrote an essay based on Tale of Two Cities/Charles Dickens (which I coached them on) and also gave a 4-minute prepared and 2-minute impromtu speech, and had an interview. 10 events, thus the name decathlon.

A little known fact is that Abram's team has an ACTUAL decathete on the team. A guy who has scholarships to both Duke and Arkansas to be a decathlete for their track team. In fact, all around, Abram's school was probably the most normal bunch of kids in Omaha. They all have lives, they play sports, instruments, and do many other extra-curricular things that make them well-rounded individuals. The other schools at the competition all take this USAD thing very seriously. They have a class each day in school to be taught the stuff, and they are not allowed to do ANYTHING else. No sports, no music lessons. It's AD every day after school for at least 2 hours. Our kids did it for fun and on their own time, other than these last 2 months of force-feeding Charles Dickens and helping perfect speeches .

In the end, Oregon came in 23rd out of about 37 states that were represented. Not bad for a bunch of rag-tag kids with real lives. Nobody was disappointed at all. They were all just happy to have beaten their rival school for the state championship. Omaha was an afterthought. Next year the national competition is in Charlotte, NC, and I really want to go. So I will be doing everything in my power to teach the team Grapes of Wrath and everything else I can about great depression-era lit.

While I was there, I did a little sight-seeing. I took along 2 other parents, as I had rented a car and knew the town, I knew that there was nothing to do around the convention center/hotel we were staying in. The parents who were there as well were so much fun to be with, and they were good sports following me along like I was a mother duck. We went to Winter Quarters. When we lived in Omaha, it was just a trailer and a cemetary. Now is is a beatiful brick visitors center with a stunning temple on the hill. It was incredible. No matter your religion, the story of pioneers is the basis for the whole westard expansion of our country. That brutal winter of 1846-47 killed nearly 500 pioneers at Winter Quarters.

We also went to the zoo. Henry Doorly Zoo is one of the best zoos I have ever been to. What kind of zoo could 3 adults spend 5 hours in and have them wishing they had more time? I found this butterfly bench there, and I need to have one made for our backyard.
Lunch, of course, was spent at Bronco Burgers. I was hoping the burgers lived up to my memory, and they did not disappoint. I was thinking that they had just seemed so good when we lived there because we were so poor and we rarely went out to eat anywhere. But no, they really are just the best burgers. Well, maybe they are tied with Hires. But still so yummy

I drove through my university, and also through Creighton University. It was actually amazing to me how well I still knew the roads. I took a drive to the projects where we lived when Abram and Aubrey were born. It was fun to see the old places, and fun to think how far we've come since we left there 14 years ago. For instance, I only had 2 kids when we moved away.

The most fun thing of all was the excellent lightning storm we had on Friday night. I had honestly been praying to see a cool storm during our visit. I loved the storms while we lived there. I secretly had always wished to see a tornado, but that never happend. I watched the weather all week, and Friday morning I knew a storm was on its way. It was rainy and muggy, and then the sun came out and heated everything up. Later that evening, the cumulus clouds because cumulonimbus clouds, and I knew I was in for a treat.

I was out at dinner in the Old Market with the 2 other parents that night, and I felt the wind change to the east; and then a sudden downpour of rain told me my dreams were about to come true. The parents were laughing at how excited I was about the weather. I told them that I hadn't asked for a barometer for Christmas when I was 11 for nothing.

It would be an understatment to say that I have always been completely fascinated with weather.

We drove back to the hotel as the lightning started its show. When I got to the hotel, I dropped off my ducklings, and headed out again to find a good place to watch the storm. I found a park on the Missouri river with a wide-open view of the eastern sky. It was magical.

Crescent Rolls

A couple of weeks ago I catered (with my YW presidency) a fundraiser dinner for Girls Camp this summer. We sold 60 tickets and put on a fancy dinner at the church. I gave myself the job of making rolls. Not just any rolls, but big, beautiful crescent rolls. The kind of rolls you can't eat just one of. The dinner itself turned out great, but I think we got the most compliments on the rolls. I take no credit for it. The amazing Terese shared her recipe with me. I just follow the instructions.

Many of you have asked for the recipe, and so I'm posting it here. Enjoy!

Terese's Crescent Rolls

Makes 24

Bake @ 375 for 12 minutes

Mix and let stand for 15 minutes

2 1/4 c warm milk (warm in microwave) must be warm like a baby's bottle, but not hot.

2/3 c sugar

2 T yeast (If you double recipe do not double yeast)

Add and mix:

2 beaten eggs

2 T soft butter

2 t salt

Mix and add one cup at a time

6-7 cups of flour, until dough comes away from the sides of the bowl and clings to dough hook

Knead 5 minutes in the mixer. Put dough into a greased large bowl. Raise until double in size and then punch down. Raise again until double in size and then punch down. Remove dough from bowl and place on floured surface. Cut into 3 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a large circle. Work on a floured surface and flour your rolling pin. Cut like a pizza into 8 triangles with a pizza cutter (for smaller rolls cut into 12 triangles); dough will be quite thin. Roll each triangle starting with the large end. Bend slightly to shape into a rescent. Make sure the end of the triangle is tucked under roll. Raise again for about 40 minutes. Bake on greased sheets at 375 for an about 12 minutes, until golden (not dark) brown. Let the rolls cool and then turn them over so that the bottoms don't get soggy; or place rolls on a rack to cool.