Update Kids - September 2009

Dream Manipulator!!

Laura was so cute; just lying in her bed sound asleep a few minutes ago. It's 2:40 p.m. so I figured she needed to get up.

 Rather than yell at her, shake her or cause her to be uncomfortable I decided to spray a light scented body spray over her bed and let the little tiny particles drift down to her face. You should have seen her reaction. First she was just laying there, no change - - but within a few seconds her eye brows lifted; and then the little smile. At first it was just a little showing of her teeth. Soon a little broad grin pulled across her face and I could visually witness her eyes rolling, knocking on the back of her sockets. Three or four seconds passed and the smile disappeared. Just as I thought Laura would drift back into her deep slumber I heard a little muted sound, something like a grunt, but it was pleasant. 

I saw my little girl's eyes open and shift from one side to the other and she back to blink.."Mommy, I had the best dream." She stated...then she thought about it and added "Why do I smell lemons? I smell lemons! I dreamed I was in a lemon pudding mom, it was weird, I was swimming and it was really warm, and ..." she trailed off. I grinned as I held up the spritzer (citrus). I figure I can do this to all my kids every day and have them become a lot more livable! 

 I guess it should be noted that the kid sleeps most of her life away but I don't mind as long as she sings and dances and has a good healthy life otherwise. She eats well, poops well, and works from time to time. Perhaps in the very near future she'll get her 5'8" frame to Tokyo and sing professionally -- we're hoping she can start that part of her life next week. To hear Laura sing online go to www.smule.com/lauraropen she was playing around with it, but she's pretty good! I love my kids.

HE IS IN AMERICA!!

I was in Hobby Lobby today, a store like Michael's Hobbies, when I got the call. MY SON REUBEN called me from an unknown number, but I always answer these because it could be him. He called for about 30 seconds to say "Mom! I'm in the U.S." Those were words of joy, prayers answered and WOW - Wow - Wow - Wow. "Mom!, I'm in the U.S." can you fully understand the impact those few words can make on a woman's heart after she hasn't heard from her baby boy in over a week - waiting for him to board a military plane to leave Iraq and make it back to what we call Stateside? I was so happy to hear him and receive those words I let out a big "Woo! YES!" inside the store, and then I shouted at the top of my voice "Hey Everybody, my son is home from Iraq!" Immediately I heard clapping and people hollering, cheering, and then they came up to me and hugged me, laughing, some crying - - my son laughing on the other end of the phone asking me where I was. "I'm in Hobby Lobby son." He laughed a little more and said "Tell them I'm OK and Iraq is where I left it." My son is home. Let me say that again; a hero has landed back inside the borders of the greatest nation in the world.

Thank you Baby Boy. I know you won't be in my arms until Christmas, but I feel you, I hear you, I know you are in America - - and that just makes a mother sing.

Thank you Jesus. Where my son has left Iraq, I hope and pray Christ never does. Hooah! I love you boy.

OUCHY! THAT One REALLY Hurt Everyone of US

OH.....the pop you could hear all the way to the National Championship banquet! Sam Bradford (Oklahoma University's Jr. Heisman Trophy Winning Quarterback) was nestled UNDER BYU's defensive end #41 deep into the 2nd quarter tonight in the opening game of the 2009 College football season - - and it didn't turn out good for us. Us being Oklahoma fans - - Nope, it did not turn out good at all.

I suppose if we had the time to play each and every play and/or penalty over and over again we'd see that the winners of this game were wearing black and white! Brigham Young hadn't beaten a ranked team in over 20 years. That's a fact that doesn't change overnight...they got a lot of help. Noted: their team is a good team, their coach is a good coach, but BYU (try as they did) is not Oklahoma. They won't win more this year just because they ended up winning this one; no, it's one of those "Wow, we did it" moments - - and the referees couldn't have been a better allie to the Cougars. Oh, did I mention that the teams, although hosted by the Oklahoma Sooners, were playing in what some called a NEUTRAL stadium? They were playing in Texas at the new Dallas Cowboy stadium - - the one with the hole in the top, the one with the GIANT screen that caused a problem earlier this year with high kicked balls - but I won't make any excuses about the stadium. I will however, defend to my death, the FACT that the referees were not, in fact they were ANYTHING BUT neutral.

We lost Sam and it was devastating - - but you don't get to OU and make 2nd or even 3rd string quarterback without being great. Landry Jones played a great game - he did. I mean, he had butterfly moments, and he had 2 or 3 passes that he didn't complete due to lack of snaps (he hadn't take a single snap before this game actually) but Landry completed 2 passes to his receivers that were called incomplete and if a ref thinks he's going to call holding on OU but not on BYU he really needs to ask himself if he's truly partial or if he resides in TEXAS a state quite known for NOT wanting Oklahoma to do well in this particular sport. WHAT was our General Athletic Director thinking by accepting the offer to play in TEXAS without playing a TEXAS team? Are you kidding me? I don't run a program at any university and I know that much - - please!

If we're playing a Texas team the refs can't be from Texas, but that doesn't hold true if we're just playing in their stadium against a team from another state. Don't think for ONE SECOND that these men didn't want to see OU fail. Texas was playing at the same time OU was playing, just not in the same place - - if Texas had played and won earlier in the day these refs would have probably been a bit easier on us, but not now - - not when they don't know where Texas will end up on the weekly ranking. Imagine being given the chance to play in the best stadium before anyone else in college - - OK - - that's heady stuff, but NOT IN TEXAS!! Not if you're an Oklahoma team! C'mon, the Red River Rivalry isn't a hoax - - it's IN US. It's deeply seated in our blood. It doesn't matter if a good half of the Oklahoma Sooners are from the state of Texas, the REFEREES were from the state of Texas! They see CRIMSON and suddenly they see RED! (That last statement, infact, this entire blog only really makes complete sense if you're from either side of the Red River.) When you wake up tomorrow and go about your day without bitching about this one - - YOU ARE NOT from either side of the Red!

Well, it's over. It's in the books. A team that hadn't beat a ranked team in 20+ years beat the #3 (should have been #1) ranked Oklahoma Sooners by 1 - - and ONLY after our Heisman Trophy winning quarterback was hit (late by the way) and hurt. They won because they weren't from Oklahoma. They won because they don't really matter to anyone living in Texas - - they won because they showed up and ran their game well enough to slip by the "all-seeing" eyes of the cameras, which by the way caught much more than will ever be told on record - - unless you happen to have taped it like we did and can take out your own John Madden yellow marker and etch up your big screen like we do, and we will for the next 11 seasons -- it takes 11 full years for Oklahomans to get over something like this. We're rather thick - - but that's OK; we earned the right to be where we are, and it shouldn't be taken away JUST because a group of men with the power to do so make bad calls - - I will ask this; why the HELL didn't Bob (Stoops) challenge? That much I will ask.

Congratulations to the Oklahoma STATE Cowboys who beat Georgia today. They'll brag about this one for awhile, which is another very good reason why it takes a full 11 years for Sooner fans to get over a loss like this.

Godspeed Sammy boy, Godspeed!!

Tis Gettin' Close to the Season

THIS year, THIS Christmas will be a bit different - - by "different" I mean it will be 100% traditional. REUBEN is coming home at Christmas. Now, for the rest of the world a traditional Christmas is probably somewhat ordinary, average, the norm, and certainly from time to time predictable, but in our family - - well, it's OUR family.

Reuben was born under the Sun sign of Aries, so he really should be (and most of the time is) gregarious, happy, fun-loving, giving, and above all friendly - -right? NOT when it comes to traditions. This man is a hard-ass about every tiny detail right down to the FACT that you can't eat Little Smokey sausages before or after the holiday season - - I don't eat them at all, as I am a vegetarian and that FACT pisses my traditionally traditional son off as well. I can't say he's ever held me down and forced me to eat meat; but I would NEVER put it past him to think about it. I think I hear him now - - screaming from Iraq, what, what is it son? "WE WILL BE A TRADITIONAL FAMILY MOM...and we'll love it! You hear me, we're going to have FUN AND THAT'S ALL THERE IS TO IT!"

This is the kid that used to come into my room and stomp his foot until I looked up from my iPod-induced trance and demand that not only do I turn the music down so I can hear him ranting about his sisters; I had also apparently forgotten that the Christmas SEASON does not start before Thanksgiving. Baby Boy called me from Iraq on my birthday (November 22) last year to bitch...he'd called his sisters first and found out they'd pulled the Christmas tree down from the attic early. EARLY. (I didn't know there was a TIME for that sort of thing.) He wanted to know "WHY IN HELL" did I pull the tree down from the attic? WHY IN HELL did I allow the girls to plug in the lights - - even if it's just to see if they work? WHY? WHY? Because Target has their lights on sale NOW and if the ones we used last year aren't working I want to save $1.00 if I can, is that such a bad thing? It was. It was a bad thing. That ONE dollar of savings cost me hours of lecturing, listening to the reasons why I can't have Pumpkin Spice coffee in the summer - it's not to be drunken until the first Monday Night Football Game! NO Preseason games get the Pumpkin Spice, that's a FALL drink Mom, a FALL drink. (WHERE did this kid come from?)
His father and I weren't this way - - his father invented the Christmas light game in JUNE - - we played it just before...yeah, OK...never mind. Reuben comes from outer space, not his dad.

Maybe because Reuben came into this world under NON-traditional Christmas activities he feels the need to re-track and get me back in line or something. Wow, does he have a ways to go. I was 24 years old before he came around! What did I do without him? I know I had to have survived somehow! LOL Kids can be so freaking demanding - - He'll come up with "Mom, I'm really a simple man. Very simple man. Just feed me, give me a job -- I do it. Why can't you get that through your head? Put the damn lawnmower back in the garage Mom, it's February! GOD will kill the grass, you don't need to cut it." That's when I explained to him I was going to sell the mower at the garage sale Saturday morning - and then I actually ASKED MY SON if that was OK. I did! I asked my son for permission to sell MY lawnmower - - well, that's OK really. He's been the man of the house for more than 12 years now; he's been a Christmas-Nazi longer - - but this year - - this YEAR....HE IS THE MAN!!! The BEST present God could ever ever ever give us was HIS Son, this year, He's giving me back MINE. If that means I have to keep my clothes on and turn the iPod down, hang the wreath with a red bow on the door - and drink PEPPERMINT MOCHA, well, BY GOD and all things HOLY I will do it! (and fall on my knees thanking my Lord for His grace and his mercy for protecting that hard-headed, narrow-minded, in-the-box thinking man I call my Baby Boy!)

Merry Christmas!!! MERRY MERRY MERRY EVERY DAY!

Pulpy Juice For Me

YES YES YES - - pulpy juice for me. You know I'm the one at the grocery store pushing back the pulp free orange juice and looking for the country style, or the pulp juice. That's me. There are more like me too, more than you think! The details are in the pulp people!!

In the photos you see several things to intrigue you I'm sure. I forgot to add the tomatoes! I'm so sorry. I did actually throw in a Roma tomato this morning with the carrot and sweet potato juice. You see the apple and nectarine - they went in too! It was a party, let me tell you. We danced. Me, the cup, the juicer, the veggies - - we had a little thing going on, and Kirk Whalum was there too; well, in my ears. Most of the time I'm connected to one of my iPods. (To make things simple I have several iPods with different types of music in them so I don't have to search for the music I want that day. Four 4Gb ipods beat a 16Gb if you think about it.)

Back to the juice! I wanted to get rid of some of the things in my refrigerator this morning and juicing or making bread is the only way to accomplish that. With bread you want the mushy gushy zucchini or the over the top ripe bananas but this morning the only things I could find that needed to be thrown out to the possums in my backyard or into my juicer were: tomatoes and apples. I just HAPPENED to have carrots, sweet potatoes, blueberries and nectarines hanging around. I'm saving the blueberries for bread next week if I don't use them all up in my nightly yogurt. I think I'm beginning to show a pattern...I need to re-evaluate. Mix it up!

What you do (and what I do) is wash everything first, cut it up, blend it in the juicer and then because I'm serious about the way my heart beats on a regular basis, I pour in a little liquid life - flaxseed oil. I'll add a link here from the University of Maryland and show you what they have to say about flaxseed oil: http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/flaxseed-oil-000304.htm Basically, flaxseed is a member of the Fatty Acid family like Omega 3. You know about them - they hang out in fish and you're suppose to have it now. Flaxseed oil is best in the liquid form if you're going to add it to juice. Some people cook with it too - replacing their extra virgin olive oil. (They even make flaxseed meal which I add to flour for everything)

Drinking the pulpy stuff makes sense. I don't skin my veggies before I put them in the juicer - so the pulp is 90% or more from the skins and that's where the best nutrients are. Why did our mothers cut off the skins when we were kids? Makes no sense at all - - eat that skin! Since we're on the subject, if I had a baby now the poor thing would be one of those healthy freaks. I'd make my own baby food with the baby food juicer thing - - get one if you're a new mommy - - seriously. OK, so what does this particular juice do for you? Let's break it down:

Carrots: carotene - cancer fighting and more
Tomatoes: energy giver, cancer fighting (prostate and liver mostly)
(I don't have a prostate, but I love my liver where it is now)
Sweet potatoes: energy, anti-oxidants and helps curb diabetes
Apples: please, apples just simply save your life we know that
Nectarines: heart health, general balance, fiber, and again cancer fighter.

Wow - - this make me want another cup. Be right back!

Happy TRAILS

YES, I'm going to tell you all how to make my fabulous, oh, so very fabulous trail mix. Believe me when I say I did not invent this. I'm pretty sure you, me, anyone can come up with this stuff. It is NOT brain surgery -- it's much tastier - - if tastier is even a word. You'd think I'd know if it's a word. I have a degree in English. I should know whether or not tastier is a word, but I really don't care. Are you ready?

Get out a big fat bowl - - then put the bowl to the side because you really need a pen and paper. You need money and you need a way to the market. I choose the health store but I have to be honest here - - I have from time to time gone to WalMart to get these ingredients. Not lying.

Write down the following:

Cashews raw no salt (You'll soon discover I'm big on raw and no salt)1/2 pound
Almonds - whole and again, raw without salt - about a 1/2 pound
Peanuts - whole or half is good, roasted - - oh, threw ya! (1/2 pound)
Walnuts - halves and wash these to be sure you get the shell pieces out 1/4 pound

***At this point you may want to warn EVERYONE that this trail mix you're making has nuts in it. Lots of nuts. Very important note there, very very important.

OK ready - pick up the pen again - -

Raisins - 1 cup or so - I use California raisins, I'm addicted
Cranberries - dried of course, they look like red raisins - 1 cup
Yogurt raisins - you choose the flavor I use vanilla 1 cup
Coconut chips - hard to find this is not the shredded stuff, but the real stuff 1 cup
1 ENTIRE BAG of Mini-M&Ms dark chocolate, you get it on the BAKING aisle
1 cup or so of roasted or honey roasted soy NUTS not soy beans..very important difference if you like your teeth where you left them before you started eating the trail mix OK...soy nuts!

SEEDS: Sunflower (obviously without the shell) without salt too 1 cup
Pumpkin seeds - - no shell, no salt, green little guys - 1 cup

Here's where it gets really good - - and no, you won't find this at the health store. I throw in a bunch of SMARTIES candies sometimes because it surprises my tongue when I get one and I think "Heck, eating healthy is good! Real good!"

OK - - you've bought it all, you're thinking it was expensive and it better be worth it. It is.

Grab that bowl, dump everything into the bowl, and mix it up...mix, mix, mix, this is the mix part of the word trail-mix - - you thought it was the fact that all the stuff was rather mix-match...no, it's the mixing, the mixing, the mixing. Now, say out loud "If all of us just got along as well as this trail mix does, we'd be in much better shape!"

No cooking, no freezing, no nothing -- just scoop it out and eat it. You can store it in bags, put something over the top of the big bowl, or whatever you want - - it's your trail mix now.

Dog Joys

One of the things I really love about my dogs is the way they just all get along. King is right up in Faith's face all the time trying to kiss her and she has decided to let him. It took a while; there were moments Faith really just wanted to bite the nose that nuzzled her. King can be a bit aggressive with the love-sharing.

The sun broke over the trees this morning and shared its forceful smile - - but I had nothing to do with it. Sort of like Faith with King's imposing nose, I pushed my face as far into the pillow as I could and I pretended the Sun was the Moon as I tried to recall the last long minute of sleep left in my eyes. That didn't last very long - - nope; my own nose gave me alert that there was something quite amiss in my bed! Sure I had felt the pressure of the springs in the mattress give way as King and his 75 pound body plopped and flopped around me, but WHOA that smell! He had to have been rolling in something dead - - should I call a cute detective to come and investigate? No, wait, maybe I should stop this blog right now and call the man....would he come over to my place, perhaps inspect my bed for something interesting? Is NYC out of his jurisdiction if it's a dream? (I think I slipped back into that long last minute again)

Laura had let King and her dog Yuki in from playing outside. I could hear Laura in the bathroom with the shower running. I could hear her scolding her little black dog, and I could hear Yuki's yapping laugh calling back to King as if to say "Hey, I'm getting a bath!" That was all it took! Now the 75 pound stinking dog was flopping himself over my body on his way to the tub - - have you ever showered with a couple of dogs in your pajamas? It's a GREAT way to start your morning! Drag your kid into the tub with you and you've got a heck of a party! LOL

Matrix and Faith are much more clever of course, both of them are so far under the bed right now - - I won't be able to bathe either of them until I get some help from the kids to literally move the beds - - very clever dogs!

Now that I'm up and writing - - I'm thinking I may have to go out and find out where the dogs were playing and what they were playing in. If I think I have even the smallest opportunity to call in a certain detectve (no names please)...I am so on that! Oh, what I mean is I would be so on him - - I mean, I would so do that - him, it, whatever....I think I need another shower.

A King Sized Mess!

I should have taken pictures of the dog when he came into the house a few minutes ago. He had been outside just being a dog, and as I usually say "A quiet puppy is a naughty puppy". Well, my words rang true again -- as I opened the back door to let King into the house he brought with him a couple of pounds of muddy feet, and a towel he had drug out from the laundry room door that he had been using obviously to soak as much muddy water up as possible. I wasn't thinking "quick grab the camera!" I was thinking "Oh my GOSH - - stop King, STOP!" The end result is good. This story ends well.

For months now I have been trying to rethink every issue and to become a more open and positive person. When you do this, when you let God know you're open for suggestions in the patience and positive realms He brings you plenty of interesting events with which to practice. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, laugh!

First things first: I threw the wet heaping mess of a wasted torn up towel into the backyard for now. I'll deal with it in the morning. Secondly, I got the mutt into the bathroom where the tub could be of better assistance than a water hose as it was the water hose that caused the mess in the first place. My neighbor kid decided to turn his on and play in it; apparently my backyard runs a bit slanted to his. I didn't know that - - King was delighted to find out that fact. Very delighted indeed.

Rather than trying to fill up the tub I just ran the shower - - and what seemed like several minutes went by before the blackest water on the face of the earth was out of my bathtub and down the drain. King just sat there - - what a good dog. He loves the bath tub, loves the shower, loves the toilet, it doesn't matter, he'll stick his foot in it if there's water pooling. I really didn't know a dog would try to fit himself into a toilet, but this one does try. He'll be 8 months old in about a week and this is the first time I've had him near more water than just the bath. I may need to take the dog to the lake and just see what happens. Maybe he'll be one of those rescue dogs and save the people who go too far out - - maybe he'll lose a few trying to play with them on the way back.

The event took a total of four new clean towels including the one I had to use to get the rest of the dirt and hair out of the tub. I counted four Swiffer sheets (and yes, I use both sides) but my floors are clean again. I'm not touching the towel in the backyard. No, I think I'll wait for trash day and just count it as a loss. Poor King, his new toy may be on its way to the city dump! Look on the bright side, I still have several more shoes he hasn't found in the closet - - maybe he'll find a way to trick me and be at peace again gnawing on a pair of Toms. Maybe I won't be so positive if he does -- maybe God will have to just forgive me!

You Have a Friend - Me

This will be a short blog and very much to the point. There is a man reading this blog tonight - you were led here I know you were. I saw you in your den praying. I felt you, and I knew you would seek my help through prayer. I still don't understand why you don't fully surrender and simply call so we can pray together; but that will happen. I'm not worried about it. Tonight you're hurting and my heart is feeling swollen because of your pain. So I pray.

In my prayers tonight I pray not only for the decisions you are trying to make but also for the lives your decisions will touch. I've been praying for you for quite a while now, so you haven't been alone in your decision making. You have been protected by several angels and they have all reported that you are doing well but that you still haven't fully given in to the promises that you know are yours to claim. Religious thoughts and routine or prior training is one of the reasons you can't give it all up just now, but you want to, and that's a start. When you realize that God is not, Jesus is not, the same as they taught you - - He doesn't keep score, and He doesn't punish for what you're thinking of doing. He releases you because you trust Him to bring you that peace. He releases you, now it's your turn to release yourself. I'll catch you. You have a true friend and the good news is, I'm a forever friend - - past this life, way way into the next because we knew each other before and today is just another day of the continuium. Let go.

You know my number. We have work to do. I love you.