Parenting books, I've burned through my share

I have to say that my all time favorite parenting book (since Mel brought it up) is 123 Magic. It helped me to look at things from an emotional distance. I tend to freak out, well used to. This book just helped me to put things in a light that I wasn't able to click on in my head before. I'm not sayin I don't freak anymore , but I must admit as corny as it might sound there is more peace in me that I just couldn't get to before. I love ah ha moments! The one that I like just below this book is How to fix your kids I believe its from James John, LOVE HIM!! He has a lot of good ways to deal with stuff also. You might check them out if your lookin for that sort of inspiration.

True Story

Interesting story,
A lady in a faded gingham dress and her husband, dressed in
a homespun
threadbare suit stepped off the train in Boston and walked
timidly
without an appointment into the Harvard University

President's outer office. The secretary could tell in a
moment that such
backwoods, country hicks had no business at Harvard &
probably didn't
even deserve to be in Cambridge

'We'd like to see the president,' the man said
softly.

'He'll be busy all day,' the secretary snapped.

'We'll wait,' the lady replied.

For hours the secretary ignored them, hoping that the
couple would
finally become discouraged and go away.

They didn't, and the secretary grew frustrated and
finally decided to
disturb the president, even though it was a chore she
always regretted.

'Maybe if you see them for a few minutes, they'll
leave,' she said to
him!

He sighed in exasperation and nodded. Someone of his
importance
obviously didn't have the time to spend with them, and
he detested
gingham dresses and homespun suits cluttering up his outer
office. The
president, stern faced and with dignity, strutted toward
the couple.

The lady told him, 'We had a son who attended Harvard
for one year. He
loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he
was
accidentally killed. My husband and I would like to erect a
memorial to
him, somewhere on campus.'

The president wasn't touched. He was shocked.

'Madam,' he said, gruffly, 'we can't put up
a statue for every person
who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would
look like a
cemetery.'

'Oh, no,' the lady explained quickly. 'We
don't want to erect a statue.
We thought we would like to give a building to
Harvard.'

The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham
dress and
homespun suit, then exclaimed, 'A building! Do you have
any earthly idea
how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half
million dollars
in the physical buildings here at Harvard.'

For a moment the lady was silent. The president was
pleased. Maybe he
could get rid of them now. The lady turned to her husband
and said
quietly, 'Is that all it cost to start a university?
Why don't we just
start our own? '

Her husband nodded. The president's face wilted in
confusion and
bewilderment.

Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford got up and walked away,
traveling to Palo
Alto, California where they established the university that
bears their
name, Stanford University, a memorial to a son that Harvard
no longer
cared about.

You can easily judge the character of others by how they
treat those who
they think can do nothing for them.

---- A TRUE STORY by Malcolm Forbes

Whatever

I don't know why it didn't dawn on me before. Crock pots rock!! You can do so much with them. You can make dinner at breakfast if that's what you need to do. And lets face it once my kids get out of school there isn't much time for anything but homework chores, and sledding. I hardly miss a day without some sledding in it. It is crucial that I take my kids everyday, otherwise its a disaster around here. I like to tire my kids out so bedtime isn't so bad. Saturday we were at the usual spot, and we had to leave after only an hour, It had warmed up the day before so the hill was all frozen ice. I realized the slickness after going with Payton a few times. The other boys found a spot where they didn't have to use the sleds. It slows them down this way. It was hilarious! They were going down a very steep, very icy slope someone had put ruts in on purpose. They were like penguins going down on their bellies. After Sam bloodied up his arm, and face I decided it was time to go home. There was just to much jagged ice at the bottom of the hill.
Just yesterday we were at the pit sledding,and everyone knows by know its just suicide to go down the penguin hill on a sled. BUT of course Sam while I was dealing with Whyett in the car made a break for it. I just happen to catch the whole thing at the last second, his sled left the air at the last big bump, he sailed into the air for probably 5 whole seconds (which is pretty high). I was surprised to see that he was clinging to his sled (probably out of fear for his life) the whole jump....and then thud. I just stared out of the car window with my mouth open wide with shock. When he landed he rolled off his sled and it sped away from him, and he just laid there unmoving. I gained some senses back, and yelled for Cody (who was the closest) to go check him out. Before Cody got there Sam jump to his feet and staggered like he was drunk to his sled. When he got there he plopped down on it. It tucked Whyett into the back seat, and started down the hill. Before I even got half way there he then jumped up again and started shouting, "that was sooo awesome, you guys have gotta try it, yeah!!!" I just stood there thinking OK this has gotta be a boy thing right? I shook my head and went back to the car. Before I knew it they were all taking turns doing it?????? So I say "Whatever!"? I used to be so protective, and careful, but what I realized was that they are so much happier when they are aloud to do things like this, and in some weird way it boosts their confidence to be doing things that are hard, or scary to them. Weird, but as my saying goes around here "Whatever". I just keep learning over, and over around here that I don't know crap, and there's no manuel except life experiences. Anyone feel the same?

The only decent time I have to read is when I am on my treadmill, either before the kids get up, or after they have gone to bed. Its my reward for getting on the treadmill. Yes I am a bookworm, I love to read more than any other pass time. But I have come to realize that it comes with a high cost if I do it while my kiddos are awake and running wild. Its like they have radar for when I'm using the telephone, reading, and the bathroom. Eric was just complaining that every time he calls two seconds later chaos sounds off in the background, and I start trying to delegate things with him on the line. I try to tell him its just their radar for the phone being in use. Sometimes I think (conspiracy theory # 568) that the cell phone waves (that's what Eric and I use to talk, Verizon to Verizon free minutes) cut through the air like silent, unseen lasers screwing up kids brain patterns turning them into banchies!
If there is a book I just can't stand to put down...well....then its worth the consequences I guess. The Twilight series was the last one that did it for me, and before that it was Macbeth....I think that's it. Its seams like a small list but it really has to be something to side track my daily routine, especially lately with Evan's homeschooling...ugh (its more time consuming than I thought). Currently reading Harry Potter. After seeing Cody read them a couple times I thought I would give them a try, so far so good. I have been exercising morn, and night just to keep from reading during the day though. How about you guys, are you reading good?

I made about 40 bottles of this, it was sooooo easy. We got so many apples from neighbors that I had more apples than I knew what to do with. We played around with them a lot; apple oatmeal (my personal favorite), apple cider, apple pancakes, apple pb&j's, etc. I also have a pie crust that is really good, and you can mix part of it, and store it up to a year. I will put that up later. Enjoy!

6 quarts fruit
7 C sugar
1 3/4 C clear jell (I found it at my health food store)
3 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
2 tsp vanilla
**variation for cherry pie filling is to swap out the last 4 ingredients for
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp almond extract**
9 C cold water
1/2 C lemon juice

Combine sugar, & clear jell in a large pan. Add water, & extract whisking together (will be lumpy) Heat on med. until boiling, stirring constantly. Add lemon when thickness is just right. Boil for 1 min. Fold in fruit, & fill bottles. Water bath for 40 min.

My new favorite recipe

Crockpot Lasagna
8 lasagna noodles (broken into 1 or 2 inch pieces)
1 pd. Ground beef seasoned w/ dry onions (cooked and drained)
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 can Hunt’s spaghetti sauce 28 0z. ( I use classico sweet basil)
1 15 oz. can Italian style diced tomatoes (I use garlic and olive oil)
1/3 c. water
16 oz. cottage cheese
Parmesan cheese
2 C. grated mozzarella cheese

Place ½ of the broken noodles in the bottom greased crockpot. Stir Italian seasoning into meat and spread ½ of it over the noodles. Then layer ½ of the cottage cheese, water, tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, and mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle a layer of parmesan cheese on top. Repeat one time. Cover and cook on low heat for 4-5 hours until noodles are done. Do not cook more than 5 hours.