Limas, Learnings, and Leanings

I'm taking a little break from the drudge of writing APA-style research paper, annotated bibliography, and the like. I'm really sick of it. But I'm sure it will be worth it when I get that raise.....just keep thinking.....

So I found some baby lima beans in my freezer. And since I don't want to drop this research paper to go out for food....I cooked them. I threw in a chicken bouillon cube, and they are quite yummy. They were actually better than my "throw something together" quinoa salad. And the aforementioned frozen sloppy joes.

I'm looking forward to the week-end. I'll be done with school (YEAH!!! for the summer anyway), Supper Club (Christmas in July) will have been pulled off by the skin of my teeth, I'll hopefully see some Ka Ra Te friends, and Mom, Laura, Emily, and I will be celebrating Mom's birthday! Togetherness and cake - what more could we want?!

My education class has been fun and I still have one more big project to do for it. (WHY am I blogging instead of working?!?! Oh yeah - my brain needs a break) My other class is abstinence education programming. I've got personal experience on that one. But reading all this research makes me think - more parents need to be actively involved in the lives of their children (and research backs that up). And those kids need to be educated on it all - no matter your beliefs. I hope they choose abstinence, but if they don't, they at least need enough information to protect themselves and learn to make healthy choices (some studies show that even comprehensive sex ed shows increases in abstinence). I don't have kids, and I'm not saying what I'd do if I had them. But I have thought about it and I would hope that I would be brave enough to talk to my kids about, yes, SEX throughout their life span. I don't mean all the details - just what they are ready for at an appropriate age. I know it's scary because I've heard some conversations about this very thing. But if you just ignore it, hope it will go away, or put it off until what you consider the last minute.....what wrong information will children get in the meantime? Studies show that children get most of the information from friends or the internet. So what are they learning? Wouldn't you rather them learn from you? Most people learn in small doses. So if you gradually add information, in a way that doesn't frighten or embarrass, wouldn't that be better than one long, red-faced "talk?" It sounds better to me. But then, what do I know?

Black & Blue and in between

The Searcy Community Band presented a rousing patriotic tribute on Thursday, July 3rd at Spring Park. For the first time, I actually heard most of the parts!! And it all seemed to come together pretty well, with the exception of some wrong notes. It was fun. My biggest problem is not new – it was my main problem growing up with piano and clarinet – PRACTICE!! But another clarinet player offered to practice together in August since I’ll miss some of the practices. Whew.

I went to Wally World after the concert to pick up essentials for the “Tucker Invasion” week-end. Laura suggested keeping it simple – so I planned a Ham & Rice Salad and sloppy joes. The weather was really nice Thursday night – not hot and a little breeze. However, by the time I got to WM (Wal-Mart), the breeze had really picked up and the clouds had rolled in. I briefly wondered if I should have brought my umbrella…..and I should have! I heard lots of thunder inside, and saw the growing line of people and carts by the door. But I finally just decided to run for it – it wasn’t too bad by then. And it had stopped completely when I got home.

On July 4th, I got up and ate a bowl of cereal before putting on some a t-shirt, jeans, and flip flops to pick blueberries. I knew, since it had rained the night before, that I’d probably get wet. I didn’t plan on getting thoroughly drenched and muddy – and I don’t remember being that muddy and wet in a long time. I had to cross some dirt to get to the berries and it was soft. So soft, in fact, that I sank into the mud and lost my flip-flops! I went ahead and picked and picked and picked. I found a branch and dug one shoe out. Then I jumped over the mud moat, and dug the other shoe out. Can you say wet & muddy?!?!? I found a water hose and hosed my feet and shoes off before heading home and into the shower!

I put some of the berries into the freezer, and then made a blueberry cobbler (light!) with the rest. I cleaned house, cooked rice, and relaxed before the Tuckers arrived. We met at the Brick Oven Pizza for dinner, and then went over to Harding for the fireworks. The kids had fun with the carnival stuff and the adults had fun catching up with friends. We sat with the Adams family and enjoyed the show.

Saturday John went on a bike ride (they had to wait for the rain to stop) while we hung out. He texted and told us that Willie had invited us over for lunch. When he got back, he took the kids and Laura & I went to Harp’s. We ran into Willie & Jake, and Flee Patton. We headed over to Willie & Kim’s house with the cobbler and enjoyed hamburgers and freshly-made guacamole! The kids bowled on their WII and I filled in while Emily ate her cobbler. That was fun! Laura tried out the FIT also before we headed home to rest. Laura & I made sloppy joes for dinner but John went home. We ran into Rena Howard & her family at church on Sunday then ate the Ham & Rice Salad for lunch. Laura and the kids packed up and left me with a very quiet house.

Fun Moments:
~Emily hugging me and saying, “I love you Aunt Katie.” – multiple times!
~Laura wielding my Pampered Chef Spatula.
~The kids fighting over my great toys: the exercise ball, my megaphone from 6th grade, and pillows (note to self: get some more toys!).
~Ethan pooping the potty! ~The blueberry cobbler and Mexican Coke.
~Bowling on WII
~Watching Jake and Clifford.
~Emily’s creativeness – from her telling everyone about her pet baby snail Amanda to her artwork of amoebas
~Ethan talking about anything
~Chatting with Laura & going to the grocery store not once but twice and finding Mexican Coke for Big John

Back to work on Monday! Fun Fun. After work, I went to WM to see about finding some clothes – mostly things I could take on vacation. I tried on several things but ended by buying two pair of capris – khaki and black. Then I went back to Anita’s to pick blackberries. WOW – talk about ripe and ready. I picked about an hour and got a bucket full – enough to freeze about 1 ½ gallons, and I saved out enough for a small cobbler. I also fixed up the leftover sloppy joes to freeze, so now my freezer is nice & full.