Random tidbits

My boy got bitten today at preschool. While it worries me that the bite may get infected (human mouths are rather nasty), I know it could just as easily have been him biting someone else. It's just the age. So he's on some antibiotics just in case. The bite is on his ear. It looks more like a papercut and less like Mike Tyson's artwork. Here's hoping...(see what you have to look forward to, Travis family??)


Can I just say that I love "Prison Break"?? Not like I love God or my husband or my child, but it has become a staple in our house. It's kind of like our date night, only we never leave the house. Fortunately Wee One's bedtime is around 7:30. :) If you haven't seen any episodes, I'd check out season 1 first, although you could probably figure a lot of it out anyway. I find myself rooting for these guys even though they are criminals because the show puts a human face on them. Not that I hope they get away with things, but I find myself hoping they can make something good of themselves. I hope there are more PB junkies out there.

I voted early today. Although one's voting preferences are one's own business, I am open about the fact that I voted mostly Democrat today. I don't believe that just because you are an evangelical Southern Baptist such as myself, that you have to belong to any one party. (I'm unaffiliated, in case you were wondering. I can't buy into either side completely.) There are churches that would preach that if you are a Christian you have to be a Republican. Hello?? What matters is a new creation!!

Wee One's new phrases: "Mama eating, baby eating." (at lunch yesterday); "Outside tricycle." I was rubbing my eye the other day & he said "Mama eye hurt?" And with Hubs: "Bañarnos!" (let's take a bath). He picks up on EVERYTHING! Am I ever glad we don't swear!

We are thinking of selling our house & moving into a slightly bigger one if the Lord would provide us with one. We are rapidly outgrowing ours and if we were to have another child (not an impossibility within the next few years) we would like to have more space for him/her and all the accompanying paraphernalia. For those of you who pray, please keep this in your prayers.

LOTR quote: "Very handy in a tight spot these lads, despite the fact they're dead." Gimli the dwarf

You will notice that LOTR is a recurring theme for me...I guess there could be worse things. The movies were so awesome but without the books there would be no movie. Tolkien was a genius! For those of you who have not seen the extended versions of the movies, I strongly recommend it. It's like having kids...just like I don't know how we did anything before we had one, I don't know how I watched the other movies without the extended/new scenes. Hubs continually reminds me that no part of LOTR actually happened.

At the farm

To kill a morning and enrich our lives, my boy and I went to the Fisher Farm in Red Oak this morning. For those of you who haven't heard of Red Oak, don't feel bad. It's about the size of my thumbnail. Here are some photos chronicling the morning...





In this one, he's kissing the cow. Ewww, E. Coli!!



Fortunately he didn't kiss this one.

Happy boy

In the tub

...kind of.

LOTR and God

"You are soldiers of Gondor. No matter what comes through that gate, you will stand your ground." - Gandalf the White

Compare with:
"Therefore put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand."
Ephesians 6:13

Maybe family?

So I'm going to Harris Teeter today after working out at Curves (love it) and I hand the guy my check...he sees our last name & says, "Isn't that the same last name as the guy who always wears the beret? Are you related to him?" I think he was talking about this guy:

I don't know if we're related since Che is dead and he's probably not wearing his beret anymore. But we do know that as Che made his way up through Latin America & over to Cuba, he stayed a while in Veracruz which is where Hubs is from. And he did have at least one child while there. Distant cousins?? Probably not. But the thought is fascinating...

While I don't agree with everything Che said and/or did, I do have respect for what originally motivated him.

Bonus points for anyone who can name who Che helped overthrow to put Castro in power in Cuba. Without looking it up.

Dialogue 10-11-06

(Wee One and I are outside playing chase around the house.)

(Wee One catches me.)

Me: I love you! Can I have a kiss?

Him: [big kiss on the lips]

Me: Thank you!

Him: Welcome!

Hope everybody liked the birth pics. They are among our favorites. All day yesterday he ran around shouting "Birthday cake! Birthday cake!"

I bought him a huge singing balloon yesterday for his birthday. You have to hit it to make it sing a birthday song...so I'm trying to show him how it works and I say, "It will sing if you hit it. Hit it, buddy!" I could see the wheels turning in his little mind..."But I'm not supposed to hit...." Finally after I explained that time out is not for when we hit balloons, he had (and continues to have) a blast with it.

I continue to be amazed by the reaction of the Amish community to the shooting in their schoolhouse & the killing of 5 of their girls. I don't consider myself a violent person nor even capable of doing much harm....unless someone threatened or hurt my child. Then you better hope the police find you before I do. But in watching this story play out in the news, I see these people who are obeying Christ's command to turn the other cheek. And they are as a result a far better Christian witness to the world than my revenge-seeking would be.

10-10-04

10-10-04

10-10-04

T-minus...

....18 hours and 58 minutes until my boy's 2! That is hard to believe. I will try to find, scan, & post some pictures from that day. The first 2 shouldn't be hard; posting will be a challenge for me, the non-techno wizard.

Now in the 21st century

We have bought a digital camera, so now we have to show off some new pics...

For Miles & Brooklynne

At the request of my abovementioned friends, here is the recipe for picadas, aka sopes that Hubs & I made last week. I didn't use measuring cups or anything so if this is a little nonspecific please forgive me.

Ingredients:
Maseca brand corn meal mix
Warm water
1- 1.5 lb chicken for every 3-4 people (or any other meat)
Cooked pinto beans
Shredded lettuce
Salsa (homemade tastes best but you can use store-bought)
Mexican queso fresco cheese (can find at any Mexican store and some American grocery stores)

It is easiest to make the tortillas ahead of time & reheat them when it's dinnertime. Some Mexican stores may sell them premade but we don't know of any around here. Anyway...for the tortillas you will need the cornmeal mix & warm water.

Pour about 3-4 cups of Maseca into bowl & mix with warm water until the consistency is a little more watery than Play-doh but not like wet sand at the beach. Roll the dough between your hands so they're about the size of baseballs. Then either use a tortilla press (you can find them at Mexican stores) or you can press them by hand until they're about 1/2 inch thick and (if you're handpressing them) at least semi-round. Place them on a heated & greased (cooking spray is fine) griddle on medium-high heat until both sides are starting to turn golden brown & crack a little bit. When they've cooled a little pinch up the edges so it looks like there's a little wall running all the way around the tortilla. This is the base of the dish and the most labor-intensive part. If you make them ahead, you will need to reheat them on the griddle with just a little canola oil & then sprinkle them with a little salt when they're warm.

Put the pintos on to cook about 2 hours before you want to use them. For picadas I used about 1.5 cups of pinto beans & put them in a pot with boiling water to simmer over medium heat for 2 hrs. Add salt to taste but not until the end of cooking or the beans will be hard as a rock. I learned that the hard way. When they're done (they'll be really soft), drain most of the water out & use a potato masher to mash them up until they have lumpy mashed-potato consistency.

You can use any kind of meat but chicken is the easiest (and I am all about the easy way). It's best to have about a pound of chicken for 3-4 people. Boil the chicken until it's cooked through then shred it. For extra flavor put a whole garlic clove in the water while you cook the chicken then salt it to taste afterward.

Should you decide to make homemade salsa you'll need:
4-5 ripe Roma tomatoes
about 1/8-1/4 of an onion, diced
1-2 jalapeño peppers (or more if you like real spicy)
1-2 tablespoons cilantro (optional)

Boil peppers and tomatoes together until tomatoes start to split open. Then put all ingredients in blender & blend until smooth. Add salt to taste.

So when you are done, you will have:
(from bottom to top)
Tortilla, beans, meat, lettuce, salsa, & crumbled queso fresco.

Moral of the story: Do this in an afternoon when you have LOTS of time to spare.

New words

Aragorn, "handsome boy!" (referring to himself, not Aragorn), Elvis (my screensaver), cellphone, T-Bone & Cleo (both characters from Clifford the Big Red Dog), música, Junior, finished, acabó (finished). Also, on a LOTR theme, every time we watch the movie (which is about once or twice a month) he calls the Orcs "stinky."

You can tell he's Mexican-American child. His idea of opposites are "hot!" and "uuuy, frio!"

We love to pray also. He bows his head, folds his hands, and goes "Mmmmmmmmmmmmm. Amen."

Reminder

Work has been absolutely insane...this weekend postpartum was full, labor & delivery was full, triage was full, and we had people laboring in wheelchairs because there were no beds to put them in. That's bad.

I had a rather unique group of patients. All were very nice people but most of them had issues, health or otherwise. So I spent all 24 hours of my two shifts running from one room to another helping mothers or their babies or both. No time for even lunch (breakfast?? I work nights). I ended up staying after my shift ended to catch up on documenting. So needless to say I was not in the best of moods getting in the car to go home. God knew that and assisted me in choosing a CD that had the words that I really needed to hear:

This is my Father's world
And to my listening ears
All nature sings and round me rings
The music of the spheres
This is my Father's world
The birds their carols raise
The morning light, the lily white
Declare their Maker's praise.

This is my Father's world
I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees of skies and seas
His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father's world
O let me ne'er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong
God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father's world
Why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King, let the Heavens ring,
God reigns, let the earth be glad!