A look back at 2013

2013 has, like any year, been full of highs and lows.  I try not to dwell on the lows... it is entirely too easy to get yourself wrapped up in the bad, and focus only on the bad.  Next thing you know, you're wallowing in a pity party, and it takes a whole lot of good to get you out of that bad place.

Reminiscing about the good:

Oldest child continues to thrive in college.  Somehow, he managed to maintain a 4.0 again this semester, meaning his scholarship is in place for one more semester.  Thank you, oldest child!  He found an internship on campus this summer that has turned into a year round job for him.  He is doing actual research in his field, and he is getting paid.  This experience has cemented his interest in continuing on to get his Master's Degree.

Middle child graduated from high school.  He was the captain of his robotics team, and he lead his team to a victory which qualified the team for a trip to the international championships in St. Louis.  He is thriving in college, and loves the challenges of school. 

Youngest child learned to drive this year.  She has yet to get her license, as she is working on getting up the actual behind the wheel drive time required by the State of Maryland before they will issue a full-fledged license.  She finished her Gold Award Project, and submitted all of her paperwork earlier this month.  She will be receiving her Gold Award from Girl Scouts in April.

I finally finished my Master's Degree.  I'm still searching for a job.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy substitute teaching no end!  It's just that I'd like to actually put that Master's Degree to work!

As a family, we were able to get out to Seattle to attend the wedding of a cousin.  We saw family, and we saw friends we hadn't seen since college.  It was wonderful!

My mother moved over the summer into a new house.  It's a smaller house than the previous house.  The yard is smaller, and everything is on one level.  I'm thrilled that at 83, she's still living on her own, and is able to move and enjoy her new home.  My brother in law built a porch over the side of her house, which covers her entrance door and her trash cans. They had snow and ice last month, and she was able to appreciate the fact that she could get in and out without worrying about the ice!  My brother in law is currently working on a wheelchair ramp for the front of her house, and he is also going to cover that with a roof.  She doesn't need it now, but he wants her to have it in place in case if she ever does need it... then she won't have to wait to have it built.  (Mom did have to move because of health reasons.  She went blind in one eye.  I'm sorry she had to sell her home of 35 years, but she is happy and adjusting well to life in her new home.)

My list goes on...  My husband was furloughed, along with many other people in October.  We were very fortunate in that it was only a furlough, and not a permanent lay-off.  I'm also very thankful that this happened during October, when the weather was nice enough that we didn't have to use the a/c or the heater.

We attempted the food stamp, $35/week/person challenge.  We did very well.  Unfortunately, I think we might have a slight advantage in that we live in the middle of farm country.  Produce stands are plenty out here, and the farmers offer excellent prices since there is no middle man involved. 

I had an emergency mammogram last month.  The good news?  I have cysts.  Lots of cysts.  No cancerous tumors.  The doctor gave me a list of things to change in my diet to try to shrink the cysts and improve my overall health.  I've been working on that list, honest, I have!  No caffeine in over 6 weeks.  I've finally recovered from that, although I'm not sure my family has!

Husband was in a serious auto accident in Feb.  (on Valentine's Day).  While the car was totaled, he was not injured.  He was able to walk away from the accident.  Thank the good lord for modern engineering that allowed the car to collapse around the passenger compartment.  Honda motor corporation, I love you.  Cars can be replaced.  People can't.

I have much to be thankful for this year.

Everyone made it through another year intact.  We've all grown a little older and a little wiser. 

I wish you a happy, healthy, and joyous new year!

-Bettina

My Accomplishments This Week

It's been a week of family and friends, and I have enjoyed every minute of it!

We've traveled to Virginia to spend time with my Mom, my Sister, and her family.

My husband's mother came into town, and we spent some time with her.

We were able to spend time together in church on Christmas Eve, and we were very fortunate that so many of our friends showed up at the same time.  Our poor little church was just bursting at the seams Christmas Eve.  Our church offered 6 services, and every bit of overflow space was used.   I hope that many of those people come back again when it's not Christmas, so they can get to know the church and the people better!

I discovered that you can stream PBS shows off of the internet, and with an HDMI cable, you can put watch them on the television.  Not big news for everyone, I know, but a huge discovery for me!  As a result, we've watched Sherlock (the BBC version) and Downton Abbey lot.  Believe it or not, I'm getting tired of British drama.  :) Don't get me wrong, it's great, but I'd love to see a comedy right about now! 

We're going to go see the fireworks tomorrow night in a near by town.

We're going to run the "Mile" sponsored by the running club on New Year's Day.  Okay, I'm going to walk it, but the kids are planning on running it!  It's all downhill, so I should be able to get a fairly decent time!  (I hope!)

If you read my posts last week, you know I attempted to cook not one but two big meals over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  (Along with brunch.)   This might be the year that I decide to have one of those meals catered....

I tested out my smoke detectors and know that they work.

We walked through one of the beautiful old towns around here on Saturday while the weather was so nice!  We found a little café where we had lunch, and we explored the little side streets and alleys.  I'm so glad we did that on Saturday while the weather was nice!

I made a pot of split pea soup yesterday, using the ham bone from our Christmas Eve ham to flavor the soup.

We got a significant portion of the big messy room in the basement cleared.  I've now got some things to put on Craig's List and see if we can possibly get a little bit of money for some of that junk!

I wish you all a merry and warm New Year, full of family, friends, good health, and good memories!

Advent Photo a Day Challenge

I participated in the Photo a Day Challenge that was run by the United Methodist Church this year.  The purpose was to make you think more deeply about the true meaning of the season, to focus more on the spiritual, and less on the commercial.

This has become a movement in the United Methodist Church, as church leaders fear that we have moved away from the meaning of Christmas- the birth of Jesus - to focus more on the present grab.  Video footage of Black Friday Sales, Christmas Eve Sales, and After Christmas sales tend to back this up. 

Anyway, now that Advent is over, and we are officially in the Christmas season, I wanted to share a few of my favorite pictures that I used.  All pictures were taken by me.

Freedom

Rejoice

 

Mercy
This one needs to be explained a little. 
This is at the old North Church in Boston.
Every dog tag on this wall represents a life lost in Afghanistan or Iraq since the war began.
I took this picture 5 years ago.
 I honestly don't want to even think about how many more tags are now keeping silent vigil.

Light.

 

 

All photos copyright 2013, by Mini Van Mom.  Pictures may not be used without the express written consent of the Mini Van Mom.

 

A Little Disaster of Epic Proportions

I am a halfway decent cook.  Not on the order of Martha Stewart, but I can usually put decent meals on the table in a decent amount of time.  I cook from scratch a lot, and I am fairly good at taking most anything and making it into a meal.  I can even bake bread from scratch, and people will come back for seconds.

That changed over this past week.

Early in our marriage, we had our command appearance at my in-laws house on Christmas Day.  So, I began preparing our big celebratory meal on Christmas Eve.  Ham, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, I did it all.  It was awesome!  We'd eat dinner, go to church, and then drive around and look at Christmas lights.

My father in law passed away three years ago.  That first year, we went to my in-laws house, and my MIL cooked "hot dish".  An interesting concoction from the Mid-West, this particular iteration gave us all food poisoning.  So began the tradition of Christmas Day dinner at our house.

Yes, that's Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinner, both at our house.  Two big meals, plus Christmas morning breakfast tossed in there.

So, Christmas Eve, I began making dinner early.  Saltine Cracker Candy, one more batch of cookies, and Birthday Cake.

Wait, did I mention that we now have to cook gluten free?  This was the root cause of two of the disasters over Christmas.

The cake.  I followed the directions.  I added Xanthan Gum, I beat it with the beaters to make certain that air was incorporated into the batter.  I even let it set for 10 minutes before I put it into the oven.

When it came out, the cake was beautiful.  It had risen, high and beautiful, just like every other cake I ever made from a box.  I was very proud of myself.

I whipped up a batch of icing, spread it over the top, and declared myself to be like, the best cook ever, in the history of the world.

After dinner, we cut into this light and airy cake and took a bite of some indescribable, horrible taste that was somewhere between sawdust and castor oil. It was inedible.  So, so, very glad that we had the ice cream and saltine cracker candy as a back up!

After giving it some serious research, I realized that I had used a different kind of milk this year.  My daughter is allergic to cows milk.  Normally, I make all of our baked goods with goat's milk, but this year, when I went shopping, the store was out of goats milk.  I picked up a half gallon of unsweetened flax milk.  I've used flax milk before, but it was sweetened flax milk.  I poured out a small glass of the unsweetened flax milk, took a taste, and found the objectionable taste that I had found in the cake.  So.... that answers one question.

Christmas morning found me making scones.  I subbed in gluten free flour, added Xanthan Gum, and followed every other direction to the letter.

Perhaps I should have done a little more internet research before I put those scones in the oven.

15 minutes into baking the scones, the smoke detector began it's insistent whine. 

I opened the oven door to find a thick, dark cloud of black smoke coming from the oven door.

The bottom of the oven was on fire.


Oh my God.  It's not even 10 am, and I've already set the oven on fire.

It turns out that the gluten free flour doesn't absorb the butter as well as wheat flour does.  As a result, the butter in the recipe had melted, run out of the pan and onto the floor of the oven where it flamed up into great glory!

Meanwhile, it's 20* outside, and I've got the windows and doors open, attempting to air out the house.

Husband leaves to go get his mom, and the kids and I attempt to put things in order.

She arrives, gifts are exchanged, and the kids and I begin to work on putting dinner on the table.

I turn the oven on, slide the salmon in, and we get started setting the table when...

Damn - the oven is on fire AGAIN.

At this point, I decide that it is going to be called smoked salmon, and that it is finished.

We start putting food on the table.  I pick up a glass dish of fruit and, wham, bam, thank you Ma'am, I drop the entire bowl on the floor and shatter fruit and glass EVERYWHERE.

Meanwhile, where is my husband?  He and his Mom are sitting clueless.  Chaos is reigning all over them, every damn window and door in the house is open, there is glass all over the floor and the kids are yelling at each other to find the broom and the dustpan, and telling each other to get their shoes on.

Still, they sit in the midst of all of this chaos, and don't blink, don't offer help, don't say a word.

I stared at the remains of dinner.

"Smoked" salmon.  No fruit.  No cake. A house full of thick, dark smoke, and an incessant smoke detector going off.

The kids pulled the smoke detector off the wall.

Our next door neighbor came to check on us and make sure I hadn't set the house on fire.

And still, my husband and his mom sit and say nothing to us.

I ended up calling a pizza place in town that was open and would deliver.

I lamented the entire series of events on Facebook that evening.

I had the following conversation with one of my Dad's sisters:

Me: I set the oven on fire twice today.
Aunt: I used to treat my husband like a God.  I would offer him three burnt offerings a day.  EVERY DAY!

Me:  I shattered a glass bowl of fruit when I dropped it on the floor.
Aunt: IS this a skill you acquired over time, or were you just born with it?
Me: It's a natural, God given gift.
Aunt: Some people have all the luck!

On the plus side, the fire department wasn't called out to our house!

The pizza was great.  I think we've started a new Christmas tradition in our house.

Watch out, Rachael Ray!

Merry Christmas!

I'm going to take a break from blogging for a few days.

We have family coming in from out of town, and we are going to completely enjoy ourselves, our family, and the time we get to spend with each other.

I should be back before New Years!

I wish you, and your family, the most wonderful and joyous Christmas, ever!

Weird Day at the Gym

I went to the gym this morning.  I was on the treadmill when my nemesis came in and hopped onto the treadmill next to me.  Armed to the teeth with her bluetooth headset and i-Pod  headphones, she got onto the treadmill and began running.

As she runs, she sings snatches of the songs I assume that she's listening to on her i-Pod.  Never an entire phrase, just a couple of words like "What I'm looking".....  silence for a while and then we hear "Hey there Delilah".....  this goes on for a while, until all of a sudden she'll scream out "You go girlfriend!  Who-Hoo!  I've done a mile!  Look at me go!  Next one to go!" ...... and then silence for a while until her phone rings and she begins screaming into it "Hey, how's it going?  OMG!  I just ran 2 miles can you f'ing believe it?  I am so awesome!  So, about those contracts..."  And on and on it goes.

It's always an experience when she shows up.  You can see all of the heads begin to droop when she shows up, and people will shift treadmills or stop early and lift weights once she settles in for her workout.  No one quite knows what to do about it... and the trainers are at a loss.  They can't throw her out for singing snatches of songs badly and then getting them stuck in our heads for the rest of the day, so we all get to suffer together.

As I was leaving, I experienced perhaps the oddest thing I've ever experienced.

Do you remember the scene in "When Harry Met Sally" when Meg Ryan was faking an orgasm at the table in the diner? 

I don't know if this woman was faking it or not, but I swear to you, she was moaning and screaming while running on her treadmill, just like Meg Ryan did in that scene.

I tell you, it brought all activity in that gym to a screeching halt. 

My workouts never end like that.  I must be doing something wrong.

Random Pictures

I don't know if you can see the tiny little bird, sitting in the middle of the snowy branches!

A snowy view down the lane.

Luna, holding me hostage.  That's the knee of my blue jeans under her paw. She does that pissed off cat look so well!

A view of the mantel.  Garland, lights, and mason jars!

Yarn!  When you love to knit and work with fibers, a yarn store is heaven.  I spent a day at The Mannings - a yarn store in a barn.  The barn has additions.  Oh my stars, I've never seen so much yarn in one place before!

Santa came visiting this week!  With his fire truck escort, ladder truck 12, Santa has been visiting all of the neighborhoods around the county.  It's the volunteer fire department, and don't you know, those guys look forward to seeing Santa all year long!  I've heard they've been extra good this year!