Our raging river and hearty okra

When you watch the following videos, keep in mind that just one year earlier Brady and I stood at the bridge above this river and watched helplessly as fish flailed about in small pools in the middle, unable to go upstream or downstream, trapped. We felt terrible for them.

There was no water. We could walk many parts of this river as the bed was mostly dry.

Now you can see evidence of all the rain we've been having. Wow! What a difference.

But before that, I want to tell you I think okra is the heartiest plant ever. This one was broken in half by the hail we got and look, it has already grown new leaves! All the other okra plants survived with only a few leaves or branches gone and I have already harvested another bunch of okra.

Last year, most of my okra was eaten by deer and it recovered from that too!

KS flood photos: the river broke free!

We have the opposite of drought right now. Rivers are rising. Creek beds that have been dry for the two years Brady and I have lived here - creek beds we've walked down countless times - have swollen and are up over the road. Some cities have had flash-floods that caught motorists off-guard.


I just thought I'd share some of what we're seeing in our little town right now with all the rains. We've prayed for rain and now we've got it. Mother Nature, she's feast or famine sometimes, isn't she?

These are in several areas around town.

That's where we stopped and turned around.

Wow, that's a lot of water.

Soppy hay.

Brady and I once looked way way down off this bridge and saw a skunk walking at the bottom.

Wet corn.

Guest posting: What gardens teach kids

I have a guest post today over at The Practically Green Mom, an interesting blog with a mix of topics. Her profile says this: "Hi, I’m Allie, aka: The Practically Green Mom – a green(ish), semi-vegetarian, coffee addicted mommy of a toddler boy."

What I really like is that she says she calls herself "practically" green because once she had her son, things didn't work out just like she'd planned. Truer words have never been spoken! And that, to me, is keeping it real.

In the meantime, my post over there is on What Gardening Can Teach Kids. As I sat down and thought about it, I realized gardening prepares kids for many areas of life and brings with it a variety of important skills. Head on over to The Practically Green Mom and check it out!

The wonder of Colorado's natural beauty

My husband and I are blessed to live near Colorado and have a small piece of land with a teeny-tiny camper (post coming soon on "Why all couples should camp together.") We go on 3 to 4 small trips each summer and every time I am struck by the beauty and diversity of life there. There is also so much to do you would never get bored. 

To me the mountains move and breathe and change and grow as you stand on them. You feel it in every puff of breeze, in every sound of the forest, in every glimpse of an animal, in every crunch of ancient rock under your feet. When we were there in June, little caterpillars - bag worms - dangled from every pine tree. When we returned in July, every tree instead fluttered with the tiny moths those caterpillars became. 

The bare mountain tops above timberline are testament to the harshness of altitude. Yet, so many creatures - from the massive elk to the diminutive, delicate hummingbird - call these mountains home. Everything in God's wilderness lives by a rhythm and has its place.

Here are a few photos of what we encountered last weekend between Friday and Monday. If you ever get the chance to visit Colorado, it is well worth it and I believe you will not be disappointed.

The dividing line above which trees cannot live - "above timberline" - is stunning.

There is water EVERYWHERE. This is a stream up near 12,000 feet at Tincup Pass.

Flower colors ranged from deep purple and bright red, to white & a spirited light pink-orange.

A hummingbird above 10,000 feet. Our friends put out a feeder and they found it within minutes. How did they do that?

Mama and baby ducks above 10,000 feet.

Man has such an innate desire to see just how far he can go with Mother Nature. If it can be climbed, we will do it.

When you are there, the mountains seem endless. Kansas is just a memory.

Mountain goats! Real, live, wild mountain goats!

Sunset at Cripple Creek, an old mining town turned gambling hamlet 44 miles southwest of Colorado Springs.

Gopher, I think.

A herd of elk just a few miles from our camper.

My goodness, they are beautiful. We saw one stand up on its hind legs to reach leaves in a tree.

The amusing place holder for a grave in Tincup cemetery, up above 10,000 feet. The 100-year-plus-old cemetery has a knoll for Jewish, Catholic, Protestant and then "Boot Hill" for those less ... er ... defined and rabble rousers. Old Ted is one of those. Mountain guys sure have a sense of humor. I guess you'd have to.

KS weather keeps you on your toes

Looks mostly harmless here, but what will it become?

When I lived in Florida, our summers were rather predictable.

Wake up, it's hot. Go outside, you sweat. Come about 3 p.m., be prepared to get rained on. On and on it went, for a good couple of months. You might have a hurricane at some point, but it will have a name and you'll have been watching it for days.

Kansas? Don't even try to guess what it will do.

Last year on July 28, 2012, our temperature was 107 degrees and we were in the midst of a severe drought. Both 2011 and 2012 were in the top 10 years with total days over 100 degrees and the top 10 years with the greatest number of consecutive days over 100.

This year on July 28, our high was 66 (and not enough 100-degree days so far to even talk about) and it has been raining off and on for DAYS. We got another deluge this morning. 

Beyond that, we got baseball-sized hail here in my little town last week that took out car windows, home and building windows, siding, roofs, outdoor furniture and many, many garden plants. There's a story here about worse damage the storm did elsewhere that day. Grapefruit-sized hail. Hospital windows blown out and patients moved. Walmart's and the mall's sky lights blown out. Cars beat down until they were totaled by insurance companies.

The thing is, every big looming cloud is cause for concern. What dangers lurk within it? Tornado? Big hail? Freak winds? Flash-flood rains?

Weird things happen in Kansas a lot. Temperatures plummeting or rising freakishly fast, like a heat burst that occurred in Wichita in 2011. Microbursts of wind destroying a single home.

So when we see clouds like the ones I photographed on the way home from Colorado the other day, we get a little nervous. This particular storm did no damage, but its buddy the following day was responsible for all that hail. You just never know.

Rainbow is pretty, but I do not like the looks of it.

The skies are ominous and we can only wait and watch.

Homemade pizza: easy, cheap & gourmet!

My homemade masterpiece.

I've previously posted about making homemade pizza here and here. But I made it again the other night and was once again blown away by how good homemade pizza can be.

Not only is it cheap and made more healthfully than a restaurant, but you can kind of gourmet it up a little and be creative. I brushed the crust with a olive oil, then seasoned it with Italian herbs and garlic powder before I pre-baked it. You could use Cajun spices or barbecue spices or Head Country or season salt or even Parmesan cheese, whatever you feel like.

Gourmet crust.

Our toppings on this one were 1/2 pound marinated browned ground venison and diced multi-colored peppers. You could use any kind of browned ground or cut-up cooked meat you've gotten on sale, and whatever veggies you have on hand like diced tomatoes, olives, mushrooms, onions, spinach.

Two packages of Walmart's pizza crust mix are $1.04. I get cheese for $3 per pound or less and maybe use half (and I usually put a mix of cheddar and mozzarella). And I use just a 1/4 cup or so of spaghetti sauce that I already have. So less than $5 for the whole thing, if that. 

An easy, inexpensive, healthy and fun dinner!

Easy stewed Squash, Tomatoes, Peppers and Okra

I wish I had a better picture of this. I took it while camping and so wasn't too motivated to get high tech :)

But it tastes glorious when it's done! And all but the peppers were from my garden or someone else's.

I first learned about the idea of stewing okra and tomatoes while living in South Carolina. This is kind of my own little recipe, I guess, so here goes:

Easy Stewed Squash, Tomato, Peppers and Okra

*Now you could omit any of these veggies you didn't want and you could also add onions or any other soft veggie like green beans or spinach even. 

Equal parts cut-up okra, tomato (with skin peeled off. It's super easy if you cut an X at the bottom, boil for 30 seconds, then put in an ice bath. Skin falls off easily), green peppers, and yellow or zucchini squash.

Put them all in a pot and add a little bit of water, tomato juice or even beer (that's what I did, LOL)! Just a little bit of liquid to boil them in.

Add whatever seasoning you like. I put in salt, pepper and creole, but you could use garlic, paprika, season salt, Head Country (my favorite) or herbs like oregano, rosemary, thyme. Even a splash or two of hot sauce.

Boil slowly for about 10 to 15 minutes until everything is soft and the flavors kind of mingle together. You can eat it straight, but I think it's best served over rice or even a baked potato.

Snoopy's wise words: Be yourself

One of my brothers sent me a card for my birthday with a saying I thought could be a guide for how we all see ourselves. It is attributed to Snoopy. I always thought he was insightful for a dog.

Here it is:

You know, sometimes in this life we can feel out of place, an outsider, weird, different. In a small town, there are times I feel this very intensely. 

We may not do, look, act or speak like other people. We may not live our lives the way they do, or believe as they do. What is easy for them may be hard for us, and vice versa. I think maybe that's okay, even if it's hard to see it sometimes. I firmly believe God made us all to be who we are, to bring something unique to the world for a purpose.

But the world doesn't always believe the same and so we can get beaten down if we aren't careful and vigilant. Or, worse yet, our kids can get beaten down. I wish the world wasn't this way, but I have seen it happen too many times to be in denial.

I heard someone say once that "God doesn't make mistakes." I believe it. He made me to be something special (and you too, of course). He gave me something precious to offer the world and gave my Brady something precious too. 

Though we may struggle sometimes for our differences, we should not measure our worth by them. We are who we were meant to be. We are good enough for that reason alone.

We can only do our best, be our best, pray and strive to do better tomorrow. If we do that, no one can fault us. And Snoopy's right. They cannot tell us we're doing it wrong.

Cicada music and firefly light show

Oh my gosh I love living in the country. I'm including two videos here I took the other night. They are of lightning bugs (or fireflys!) flashing in the deep dark woods near our house and the sound of cicadas in the background.

When I lived in Salt Lake City or Columbia, South Carolina, or even Port Charlotte, Florida, which was smaller but still a county of 150,000 people, I never saw anything like this. It's like my own private fireworks show from nature every night accompanied by the music of cicadas. It is beautiful and engages nearly all the senses:

Sight - the fireflys
Sound - the cicadas
Touch - a soft breeze
Smell - the trees and the country (which can range from dust to hay to rain to cow, LOL)

All that was missing was taste, though I could have picked a mulberry and had that too. Hope you enjoy the videos. Be sure to turn up the volume! And try it full screen too.

What is your kid's currency?

I don't recall when I exactly heard the phrase "finding your child's currency," but it was when Brady was pretty young and I found it to be a very powerful idea.

I've heard of kids who stop misbehavior with just a cross look or a stern word. Or who are eager to please adults.

This is not my kid. No one discipline plan has ever consistently worked, which is why I use 26 different tools to guide behavior (boy was that a surprise when I actually wrote them all out!) He adapts quickly to whatever I throw at him and then tests in a different way. That's actually quite smart, I think!

Also, with Brady, it seems that if he comes to the conclusion that good behavior is in his best interest, it is more likely to stick. The more creative I am, the better he responds. 

The thing is, I cannot actually make him do something. But there I things I can control his access to that might influence or motivate him, and hopefully - ultimately - teach him.

But one thing that has been consistent is the idea of his "currency." Here is how Dr. Phil defines a child's currency in this article:

Define Your Child's Currency.
Find out what your child values — it could be a toy, a particular activity, or even a privilege like getting to stay awake to a particular hour. Dr Phil explains: "If you control the currency, you control the behavior that currency depends on." Once you understand what your child values, you can withdraw positive things (taking away the toy) or introduce negative things (making them take a time-out) as a form of discipline.

Here are some examples of Brady's currencies over the years:

• For a time, it was actual currency! He had a period where he adored money, not in a "love of money" sort of way but because he could count it and play around with the numbers it represented and watch as it accumulated. He could not stand if he lost any bit of his allowance.
• Television. 
• Sometimes only certain shows, "treat" shows like Sponge-Bob. When he loses TV privileges, he gets educational TV back first and has to earn the others later. 
• Computer time. 
• Nintendo DS. 
• A later bed time.
• Sweet treats or treat foods like chips.
• At times, a special toy, though he has never been one to get attached to many toys. 
• Peanut butter. Weird, I know, but it is his FAVORITE food and he will do a lot to get it back. 
• A particular activity - movie or pool trip. 
• Even the frivolity of our day. We spend a lot of time just him and I. I tell him if he wants us to have a fun, relaxed time together, he needs to earn it. If he misbehaves or disobeys, then I will have to be more serious and structured.
• Free play - if he continues a behavior, he will need to spend time in his room. If he refuses, then I begin removing other currencies. 
• Access to The Prize Store. This is a last resort because we both love it so much, but if we're having a rough week, he will have to earn it back for the following week. I have also raised prices for awhile on the items, LOL.

As he gets older, I suppose there will be things like cell phone use and driving. But you know, that's how life is. If you don't work hard, you will not get a raise or get promoted, and you might even get fired. If you treat your boyfriend or girlfriend poorly, they're probably going to leave.

If you drive carelessly, you'll get a ticket and you might lose your driving privileges.

We all have our currencies, don't we? The things that motivate us to do better, to do well, or the things we really want to avoid. It makes such good sense to me to figure it out for a kid too. That way you acknowledge that they may be individuals who make their own choices, but they don't have control over everything. None of us do. And there are consequences for poor choices.

Wow, this learning stuff in life is pretty tough, isn't it?

Sweet things Brady says... about Mom's love...

Brady is blessed to have a wonderful sitter (our pastor's daughter) two days during the summer and a few afternoons a week during the school year.

Earlier this summer, she led a Five Day Club as a spiritual counselor. Brady was able to sit in during two of the days.

At one point during the lesson, she said something along the lines of "God loves us more than anyone."

To which Brady's arm shot up and he said, "My mom loves me more than God!"

While we will continue to work on the idea of just what God's love means, in the meantime I will take joy in the fact that he believes in my love with all his heart. Thank goodness. I always said the best gift my Mom ever gave me was a complete and total belief in her love for me no matter what.

I never doubted it my entire life, ever. And I hope and pray Brady takes that gift with him through life as well.

Encouragement parenting and the spirited child

There are all types of parenting styles and labels. Here are just a few that I've heard of over the years:

Helicopter parenting
Drill sergeant parenting
Free Range parenting
Attachment parenting
Detachment parenting
Natural consequences parenting
Authoritarian parenting
Permissive parenting
Intentional parenting

Whew!

Makes me wonder what I am. I've decided my parenting style is a mish-mash of a lot of things, mostly because I think there is no one right way to be a parent. At least for us, what is needed changes based on the situation and the stage we're going through.
 
If I had to pin it down, I'd call my style Encouragement Parenting, which is a name I think I just invented. At least I couldn't find it anywhere online.

It's flexible. It can take many forms and directions depending on what you are encouraging at a certain time. It is definitely focused on the child, but it does not mean the child is the focus of everything.

My kiddo is an intense kid, a smart kid, a strong-willed kid, a kid who responds differently than other kids. He makes me think and learn and grow and try new things all the time. He challenges me every day to do better and be better. No one style ever seemed to totally work for us. 

Disclaimer: I am by no means even in the same universe as a perfect parent nor would I ever judge what anyone else does. Personally, I do my best every day. I have good days and bad days. I strive for patience but sometimes get frustrated. What works for me may not work for anyone else. But I love my boy, he loves me and we work through things together. Isn't that what's important in the end?

Okay, so below is what I see as Encouragement Parenting and what I hope to capture here as I share the things we do (It was very helpful just to write it all down and see what my goals are.):

• Teach a child to be independent, but let him depend on you when he needs to. 
• Encourage him to grow up and be responsible, but balance that with letting him still be little sometimes (see Big Kid Bike). 
• Saying 'yes' to your child's outlandish ideas if you can (see Invention Party & Stick House). 
• And also really think through why you say 'no' sometimes.
• I believe in rules and discipline, but also in giving as much freedom, individual choice and unstructured time as possible.  
• Talk, talk, talk, talk, all the time. Brady knows no question or statement is too upsetting for him to tell or ask me. 
• Take their questions seriously and give them serious answers. I've been told I explain too much to him, but I have seen the positive results of my explanations. 
• Let your child experience natural consequences if it's safe to do so, but give him structure and guidelines if he needs them. (see Shoe Chart)
• Figure out what motivates him and what his unique learning style is, both for academics and for behavior. 
• Also respect his uniqueness as it relates to food within healthy guidelines.
• Teach them to exercise their minds and their bodies. 
• Do your best not to compare (it's a terrible natural human tendency that I fight within myself!).
• Watch your words and labels carefully. Words can hurt long after they're said. 
• Live by example and show your child what you want them to learn, not just tell them.  
• Give them a foundation in faith, spirituality, a broader knowledge of the world around them, both in terms of people, places and nature. 
• Indulge their curiosity whenever you can. 
• Be soft but also be tough. Let them know there is a time for both.
• Have high expectations. Let them see what they are capable of. 
• But don't belabor their failures. Help them learn from them. (see Homework Helpers)
• Help them work through the things that frighten them even if you don't understand them. 
• Read, read, read. It is the most perfect one-on-one time.
• Remember that they see the world through the filter YOU give them. 
• Be consistent in your rules and your lessons, but be flexible if there is something you can change. 
• Play to their strengths but also help them improve the areas they are not so good at. 
• Coach them to fight their own battles but stand up for them when they can't. 
• You can never, ever, ever tell them you love them too much. 
• Touch them often and hold their hands, so they don't just hear your love but feel it. 
• Sometimes do just exactly what they want to do.
• Other times, tell them what you'd like to do or let them know you have your own things to do independently from them.
• Keep them close, but also let them explore and let them love. 
• Share in the house work so they can feel as though they've contributed.
• Work always to preserve their spirit because sometimes the world will not. 
• Put names to emotions. This has helped us a lot. 
• If you have a bad day, if you fail, ask for forgiveness. That is okay. We expect it of them, so why not us too? 
• Then pick yourself up and move on. Tomorrow is a new day.

Guest posting: 70 ways to get outdoors

I was given a wonderful opportunity write a guest post for Nicole over at the blog, Momma on Wheels. I enjoy reading Nicole's take on motherhood and she has a wonderfully wicked sense of humor!

So head on over and check out my post and printable on Rain or Shine, Hot or Cold: 70 Ways to Get Outside in Any Season and peruse her blog while you're at it. Here are the first couple of lines:

"In this world of Nintendos, iPhones, computer games, Kindles and Sponge Bob, it’s always in the back of my mind to keep my 7-year-old boy active and not glued to a screen. My typical method is to get us outside. Weather not perfect? We go out anyway."

Thank you!

Having grace when your feelings are hurt

Our sermon in church Sunday was on the Grace of God. The basic idea was that His Grace saves us from doubting who we are, from the death of our soul in sin and from the desperation of trying to make up for our mistakes.

We are forgiven.

I want so much to try and reflect this grace as much as I possibly can in my life. Boy oh boy, that's hard when you get your feelings hurt.

From experience, I have a few ideas on how to keep grace when you're angry or hurt.

First and foremost, pray

Prayer not only opens a conduit to God, but it also helps you focus your thoughts. Most of the time I shy away from praying for very specific things (not always, of course), but will instead pray for faith, understanding, grace, strength and wisdom, and for God to help me get through the rough times.

When you're hurt, pray every time you think of the problem and then pray some more. And then pray for whoever did the hurting. Eventually you will find a way to handle it. 

Know you can only change you

As I always try to teach Brady, you cannot control other people. God doesn't even control them. That's the point of free will.

But you can control yourself. You can control the things you say and do, how you respond to a situation, how you let yourself feel, and how much power something has over you.

Turn it into a positive

I think one of the most amazing gifts we can have in this life is the ability to turn a negative into a positive. To find motivation in hard lessons. If you can somehow find a kernel of guidance in an unpleasant situation, grab onto that and let it fuel where you go and what you do next.

Fill up with good things

When times are tough, it is the absolute perfect time to practice gratitude. Thank God for the things you are blessed with: your family and friends, a home, a job, health, safety, your church, food on the table, the talents and skills you possess, anything and everything. Focus on those things.

And also fill up with words of positive people. Don't keep what you're feeling inside. Talk to the people you trust. Get advice. Go to church. Talk to your pastor. Read the Bible.

Learn from experience

I think all negative things in life can be turned to good. We can let them inform our own future behavior and they can bring us closer to God. Filter all things in life through Him and you will see them in an entirely different light.
  

Forgive

In the end, letting go of hurt is the best thing you can do. Holding on to hurt will only affect you and will separate you from God and from making the most of your life. No one is perfect. We all make mistakes. I hope to be forgiven when I mess up.

Forgiveness is hard, but it is so worth it. This doesn't mean you forget or allow something toxic into your life, but you can let go in your heart of whatever the person has done and allow yourself to heal.

Doubled reading goal = 1st Chuck E. Cheese trip!

The famous mouse.

Brady has yearned to go to Chuck E. Cheese for years. Our closest one is more than an hour away.

It was the perfect reward for meeting his summer reading goals and a great way to illustrate goal setting and achievement. 

Our reading work  has continued up until this week when Brady went to spend 3 weeks with his Dad in Virginia.

After we passed his school's goal of 350 pages and he earned a trip to Chuck E. Cheese, he said, "I did my goal. We can stop now."

40 tokens for $10 lasts a LONG time.

"Oh no!" I said. "Let's make a new goal!"

So he set the goal of 650 pages and surpassed even that to 700. He'll get a trip to Sternberg Museum of Natural History when he gets back.

In the meantime, I'm amazed at the power of goals to keep him going. Though he did say, "Chuck E. Cheese wasn't as crazy as they showed on TV." A lesson in how commercials work too, I guess.

I think goal setting is something you can never start early enough, for them and for you!

Brady and his step-dad racing.

Me and my super awesome boy.

Homemade ice cream in a bag in 5 minutes!

We have done this many times over the years and it turns out SO good! Perfect for a hot summer day and no egg in it for my allergic boy.

Here's the recipe I use:

2 Tbsp sugar
1 cup half and half
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup salt

Is usually smoother, was 100+ out & maybe needed to shake longer.

ice cubes (enough to fill half of a gallon size bag)
1 pint-size Ziploc bag
1 gallon-size Ziploc bag

Step 1

Combine sugar, half and half, and vanilla (I've also added a Tbsp of cocoa to the mix for chocolate), and seal it tightly.

Step 2

Place the salt and ice in the gallon-size bag, then place the sealed smaller bag inside as well. Seal the larger bag. Now shake the bags until the mixture hardens (about 5 minutes). Feel the small bag to determine when it is done.

Step 3

Take the smaller bag out of the larger one, add mix-ins, and eat the ice cream right out of the bag.

Easy crockpot chicken and rice

I wanted to make one-dish chicken and rice the other day, but needed to put it in the crockpot instead of the oven and found this recipe at About.com.

It turned out pretty well, but in the future I would add something to kick it up a notch, perhaps a little Italian dressing or Head Country seasoning or cooking wine or something.

Ingredients:

Boneless skinless chicken breast
1 can (10-3/4 oz) condensed cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup rice, uncooked
1-1/2 cups chicken broth
1 to 2 cups frozen green beans (I used mix veggies)

Put chicken in the crockpot. Add soup, water, rice and broth. Add green beans or veggies. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours (Mine probably went 8 hours) or until chicken is cooked and rice is tender.

On my way learning to hunt

I am working toward becoming a hunter. I think this may be a bit unusual for a woman, but I think it's important to be a part of bringing home food that is non-processed and non-farmed, and to take responsibility for what I eat.

I don't know that I ever want to shoot a deer. That's hubby's job and he does take two deer a year which provides us plenty of meat. I much prefer deer to beef (which I do not eat at all). It is a lean protein, and the animal has lived its life in the wild eating corn and wheat and grass.

But I would like to bring home wild turkey, pheasant, quail and dove.

So far, I've completed two sections of the Kansas online Hunter's Safety Course which has 13 chapters and the Ten Commandments of Firearms Safety. I'll be participating in a field day Aug. 3 including a test I have to pass.

Here are a few things I've learned so far:

• 10 percent of the U.S. hunts.
• 10 percent is opposed to hunting. 
• The other 80 percent don't have strong feelings one way or another. 
• Hunters hunt to provide food, for tradition, for fellowship, and as an outdoor activity (with the side bonus of providing meat). I think they forgot "preparing for the apocalypse" as one of the reasons to hunt :)
• There are stages to hunting enthusiasm like "shooter/bagger" where a person just wants to find the animal they're hunting, "trophy" where they want something to show off, "limit" where they hunt the max amount allowed, "method" where mastering hunting skills is paramount. Last is "sportsman" stage when the whole process is appreciated, not just what is brought home.
• The first firearms were little more than metal tubes called "hand cannons."
• The first mechanical firing system for firearms dates to 1400 or more than 600 years ago! I had no idea. 

A double nomination? I'm a lucky girl!

I have been blessed recently to discover blogging groups on Facebook. I have met some friendly and interesting people and have learned a lot. I've also found blogs I truly enjoy reading.

Then - double bonus - two of these wonderful people nominated my little blog for the Epically Awesome Award of Epic Awesomeness. Every time I think of it I smile :) How could you not! I mean, look at this fabulous logo:

Thank you so much to the operators of the blogs Growing Up Madison (It's written by a toddler. How cool is that? Some good parenting ideas here.) and Life Gets Real (I love her take on faith and how it factors into your daily life). These ladies are inspiring and encouraging, and I am grateful to have met them.

Now the rules are I need to 1) Display the logo, 2) Link back to the person who nominated me, 3) Share 10 things about myself and 4) Nominate up to 10 bloggers. Here goes: 

1. I can type 100 words per minute. For reals. 
2. I used to work for the U.S. Geological Survey and drove a boat several days a week. 
3. I have lived in the country of Turkey (until age 18 months), Virginia, Texas, Kansas (twice), Florida (three times), Utah and South Carolina. We live in an amazingly beautiful country.
4. My husband and I were engaged in the year 1994, split up that same year, reunited in 2010 and finally married in 2011. It was a very long engagement. 
5. I'm allergic to Tylenol. Isn't that weird?
6. I absolutely adore science fiction and fantasy novels. Recently read The Hunger Games (loved it!) and the first book in the Pure Trilogy (dark, but good). I love me some girl-power, post-apocalyptic fiction.
7. I have three brothers, the youngest of which is 10 years older than me. Can you say Tomboy?
8. Finding faith in God at 38 changed my life completely. I cannot imagine living without that now. 
9. My favorite parts of the day are when I sit with Brady for his banana-peanut-butter breakfast every morning and read him stories at bedtime. When he's gone with his Dad (like right now), I miss these things so much.
10. I learned at age 40 I was a pretty darn good cook and I truly enjoy it. 

And here are my nominees. They each offer something unique, fun and interesting:

Gift of Curiosity

Experienced Bad Mom

Wisdom Seeking Mommy

Faith in Mommyhood

Zucchini Summer

Audacious Reader

Dolphin House Books

Momma on Wheels

Joyful Thrifty Home

100+ degrees? Put the pool & sprinkler in shade

Note to self: get bigger, better wading pool. Small lady bug sandbox is no longer working for 4-foot-2-1/2-inch tall, 62-pound, 7-year-old boy.

Okay, just a quick tip. I learned last summer, in the 105-plus degree heat of Kansas, that if you put a wading pool in the shade, you will actually shiver!

No kidding. It was more than 100 degrees, but in the shade with a breeze and the cold water from the hose and a sprinkler drizzling over us made it feel like it was 70 degrees out.

We really were nearly shivering! It was the best feeling in the world. Give it a try! We did it again this past weekend.

Pen pals: A lost tradition?

Wheat grains & stalks, hawk feathers, toy, letter.

Do kids have pen pals anymore? I remember having one briefly as a kid.

I hadn't given it one bit of thought until, as usual, Brady gave me the idea.

We were in Colorado camping a few weeks ago and Brady heard kids up the hill. It couldn't have been any more exciting to him if a band of superheroes landed in our campsite.

"Can we go up and see them? Please, please, please." Okay, kid, come on. 

So we - or rather Brady - made friends out in the middle of nowhere. When it was time to leave he was SO sad. He and the 6-year-old boy hugged each other so hard, the boy's grandmother remarked how boys can even making hugging into a competition.

I thought, well, maybe they could be pen pals.

The boy's birthday was coming up so we made a package for him and his 9-year-old sister. It included wheat grains, wheat stalks, hawk feathers, a card with a letter from Brady and a toy monster truck from Brady's stash.

We got the kids' return letters plus a flower and some Despicable Me popsicle stick toys. Brady told everybody about it and couldn't wait to mail the next package. And when we travel to Colorado next, we'll get to see them again.

Gosh I think pen pals are an awesome idea. Do your kids have cousins in another state? Or do you have an old college friend with kids their age? Make them a pen pal!

Pen pals teach us life is different somewhere else. The world doesn't stop at the borders of our town. It teaches patience and the joy of anticipation. It goes beyond the instantaneous nature of our society.

I'm excited about it too. I think it will be a fun family activity.

Kid confidence builder: our drawing work

Drawing has long been considered a favorite kid activity. Well, most kids.
Not mine.

Brady has never liked coloring or drawing. Ever. Not one bit. In fact, if he is not forced to for some reason, he will not do it.

That'd actually be okay with me for the most part because his talents lie with math, science and spelling, more concrete things.

But there are a couple of reasons I wanted to build his confidence in this area.:

• Drawing does come up in school. That's inescapable. And when it does, Brady gets nervous about it. I think because it is SO abstract and there are no real rules, and it is wide open, he just gets anxious when he has to do it. 
• Also, when he talks about drawing, he says his drawings are "terrible" and everybody else's are good. Sigh. 

So, I told him this summer we were going to work on drawing. He could sit side by side with me and we'd both draw.

I had no idea what to expect but it has actually worked out really well. To the left is the result of our second "drawing session."

The first we drew a few simple things and I talked to him about the power of using different colors and taking our time. I also explained that there is no right or wrong in drawing. It's however the individual sees things.

On Try #2 I said, "Well, let's draw a picture like in A Bug, A Bear and A Boy Paint a Picture." This gave him some idea to go by and referenced a book he likes to read.

The picture in the book is of green grass, blue sky, a tree with a yellow bird. So my drawing is on the right. To show him we could add our own touch, I put gray clouds and rain in the sky.

He ran with that, made a stormy sky and an F5 tornado (complete with a swirling debris cloud at the bottom) a tree stripped of leaves to the bare branches and a guy in his basement. Can you tell we live in Tornado Alley in Kansas? He told me my picture was the guy earlier in the day. Ha!

I was actually very impressed that he made his own scenario. See, kid, that's what you can do!

The next try he said, "Let's do the opposite. You draw the storm and I'll draw the nice day." So we did. He used different colors all on his own and drew with much more confidence. Here's his work:

I love his fluffy clouds, the full green tree and that's him inside playing on the computer.

He said, "Wow, I really am good at this." And that's the moment we moms all wait for.

We'll keep going with it and build that confidence even more. Oh, and my picture had a lightning bolt catching an apple tree on fire. He loved that!

I think it's natural for kids to want to avoid things they don't like or don't feel comfortable doing. And it's natural for parents to want to shield them from that. I had never pushed the issue of drawing with Brady before now.

But if there's an area your kiddo struggles, maybe just sitting down and doing it with them and talking through it can help. It may never be their favorite thing, but they can get through it and discover their own potential.

Small town scare: Escaped prisoner in town?

I love living in a small town (less than 1,000). Word gets around town fast. A kindergartner went missing one winter night and within an hour half the town was mobilized and looking for him.

Our dog went missing and we knew within a few minutes someone who had seen him and where.

But it can work the same for rumors too. The other day someone in town had heard there was an escaped prisoner headed our way. One person told another and so on until it showed up on Facebook. When I saw it, I was 45 minutes away and my son was at home with my mom. ACK!

So I immediately called them and of course couldn't get them on the phone and was imagining them in the clutches of the depraved mad man and was about to send my father-in-law over to find them when finally Mom called back.

So I had her go inside and lock all the doors, but not before she talked to a kid hanging out at the neighbors' house who was the son of the local highway patrolman, who said, "Yeah, my dad told me." But he was not at all concerned.

Hmmmmm. This was the first clue.

As it turned out, it wasn't exactly an escaped prisoner headed for our town. It was a parole violator who was somewhere in the area.

But it did make for an interesting afternoon.

Wisdom from my Mom: Begging? Tell kids what YOU want

My mom had a good idea when it comes to kids begging for stuff at the store.

Long before I came along, she had 3 boys - each 18 months apart - and when they went to the store, they would invariably see something they wanted. A toy, candy, whatever.

So when they would whine, "I want that!" she would calmly say, "Wait. Let me tell you what I want first. I'd love a new dishwasher and maybe some new clothes and new pots and pans and..."

Instead of getting upset, she would turn it around and give them all a litany of what she wanted that she didn't get. Ha! I love it!

She said they finally got tired of hearing it and stopped asking. I do that sometimes with Brady but since it's just him and he is, I'm quite certain, a future debate champion, it turns into some long drawn out discussion about why I don't go and get those things and then that leads to financial and economic discussions. Ugh.

 So usually I just say, "Well, next time bring your own money and you can buy it!"

Quick baking tip: too-dark pie crust blanket

I'm just certain everyone else in the universe knows about this (but I'll post it just in case), but July 4 was the first time this issue came up for me.

The edges of my mulberry pie were getting really dark but the center wasn't done yet! I pondered this situation for awhile and then - either out of divine inspiration or maybe I read about this somewhere some time - I put aluminum foil all around the edges of the pie.

Then I continued baking it as long as was needed and the edges did not get any darker.

I love aluminum foil!

Here's the finished product A little dark, but not burned and tasted great. 

Preserving family memories: our rock jars

I just have to share this cool idea! I didn't think it up myself I'm sad to say. I saw it in a magazine and it so spoke to me.

We love rocks. We love to collect them. Plus they are long-lasting tangible souvenirs from a family vacation.

But it is so easy to end up years later with just a pile of rocks - or pine cones or bird feathers or shells or whatever - that no one can recall where they came from.

The idea: put the keepsakes from a family vacation in a jar with a note so you will always remember where they came from. I used mason jars here, but they could be any kind of jar, even recycled clean pickle, salsa or relish jars. I want to make a nice long wall of our trip keepsakes.

Now I am really not very crafty, so I'm sure a lot of you out there could come up with a much better, fancier set up than what I did. But it works for us.

And below is something else you can do with large rocks or items that will not fit in a jar. This idea comes from my Florida fossil hunting days. Use a little white-out and a marker and either record in a notebook what the writing means or tie it in to a number at the top of your Keepsake Jar.

Happy hunting!

Problem solving: the case of the spilled milk

As a Mom, I have two feelings that war inside me as it relates to my kiddo. He's an only child, likely to stay that way, and so this is my one shot at parenting.

The struggle is this:

Feeling one: He's my little boy and I want to cherish every moment he is young and relies on me (he's 7 right now). He'll grow up so fast and then won't need me.

Feeling two: I need to teach him to solve his own problems and start the journey toward growing up and becoming independent.

I really believe feeling two is the way to go. There seem to be lots of kids who want to be independent early in life and do things on their own. Brady's not one of them.

There were not too many, "Me do it!" statements when he was littler. Even now, at 7, he'd probably be happy to let Mom get him dressed and brush his teeth. Ha!

So it is up to me to encourage his independence whenever I can, even if he doesn't want me to or maybe even if I don't want me to.

But it works! The other day he spilled some milk. He looked at me and said, "I spilled milk!" I said, "Well, go get the wash cloth and clean it up." So he did. I could have even taken it a step further and just said, "Well, what can you do about it?" and let him come up with the solution himself. Note to self: do that next time!

The very next day he was playing on the computer in the back room and I heard him rummaging around in the kitchen. "Watcha doing?" I asked.

"I spilled some milk and I'm cleaning it up."

Yay! He learned. As always, they look to us to teach them how to solve their problems. And if we've done a good job, the next time they solve it on their own.

Small-town 4th of July

I hope everyone had a wonderful July 4th holiday wherever you were!

Our 4th of July was small and simple and fun and wonderful. We never left town or so much as stepped into a vehicle.

Things I like about a Mid-west, small-town July 4th celebration:

• We have an old brick building up on Main Street where we have our get-together. You never know who will stop by to say hello. People you know are out and about and everywhere.
• Everyone who drives by waves. 
• People come down Main Street on 4 wheelers. 
• The grocery store, liquor store and American Legion fireworks stand are all open and within half a block. Everything you need within walking distance! 
• It's legal to set off fireworks here. 
• The pace is slow and the whole day can slip by with you just living it. 
• At night, there are enough big fireworks displays just outside of town in the country (or even in town!) that you don't have to go to any "official" one.  
• The weather is as surprising as an unexpected firework. Last year it was 100+ with no wind. We sweltered. This year it was cloudy-ish, breezy and a high in maybe the high-80s. It was perfect.

 Here are some parts of our day:

American flags all down Main Street.

A "pet" frog in the neighbor's yard. These little guys are everywhere!

Pretty June bug we saw on the way to water the garden.

"Are you taking my picture? Okay, Photo Lady." On the way to the garden.

Can't wait to eat this guy!

Okra and carrots are happy. Got everyone watered before the party.

The local Legion sells fireworks in town all day.

Off to the park with Uncle Dave.

First mulberry pie of the season. Took 4-1/2 cups. Time to go collecting again!

All day fireworks makes for a happy, happy boy.

We cleaned up after ourselves :)

I love this. Brady made a "sparkler experiment" by crisscrossing them on concrete and watching them light each other.