One pinner said, "They would have been great, if they didn't look like poop!"

Why, oh why do I go on Pinterest and think for one minute that I could be creative, cute and crafty?  Please, someone remind me next time I get any brilliant ideas that I should stick to things like casseroles and crock pot recipes where you just dump stuff in and walk away.  I am a dump-stuff-in-and-walk-away kind of chef.  Too many steps and I've lost interest.

Roy's football themed birthday party inspired me to search for cake ideas.  I should have stopped with the football field cake.  Before it slid all over the front seat of the car on the way to the park, it looked pretty good.

Roy liked it, despite my wavy lines, and weird-shaped Patriot, and the fact that I didn't know that the "5" should have been on one side of the 50 yard line and the "0" on the other.  A true Nebraskan woman would know that.  Sometimes I inadvertently out myself as a geek from the Northeast.  Whatever.  I did my best.

But then I saw those adorable football cake pops in Pinterest and I just had to make them.  

Look, here they are....

Aren't they cute?  Don't you think they would have looked awesome sticking out of my football field creation?  Yeah, me too.

So I've never actually made cake pops before and the blogger made it seem so easy to make them.  Here's the recipe: http://bakedwithloveandbutter.blogspot.com/2010/02/football-cake-pops.html

I just jumped right in with the squishing and making little footballs.  I should have known they were not turning out like the picture when Bo, who was so thrilled to be helping, said, "Um, these look like turds."  I chalked it up to him possibly not wanting to be making cake pops on a Friday night.  I mean, even the best husband in the world has his limits.

In the fridge they went to prepare for an early morning chocolate dipping.  I hit the hay, confident that our misshapen lumps would magically transform into the best football cake pops so that I could one day start my own little Miss Betty Crocker blog about all the great stuff I make for my adoring kids.

In the morning, Rex opened the refrigerator and asked, "Mom, why are you keeping poop in the fridge?"

Apparently our fridge does not work magic and I will not be starting said blog.

Undaunted, I persevered, even though half of the "footballs" fell off their sticks and the rest maintained their irregular shapes.  They turned out like this:

Don't laugh.  I spent a lot of time on those, but maybe not quite enough time...I'm not really sure what went wrong.  They tasted really great once you got over their fecal-like appearance.

The good news is that the party was a hit, even though the cake pops were an "epic fail."  (Those are Roy's words.)

Happy Birthday Roy!

On This Hill I Am Willing To Die

Normally, I do not consider my children "strong-willed," which could be symptomatic of my weak-will as a mother.  I mean, there's nothing to fight about when you get your own way all the time.  That's one possibility.  Another is that we've all just adjusted to each other and they know what to expect and I know what to expect and so there's no use getting all in a crumple about stuff that doesn't really matter.
We rarely have discussions about what really matters except when there is a difference between what I think really matters and what my children think really matters.  Normally these kinds of conversations do not get too out of hand because we give lots of choices that strongly encourage our kids to see things our way.  ("I know you don't think it matters to eat your vegetables and that's fine, but daddy and I don't think it matters to eat dessert so it's your choice," for example.)

Mostly, we don't make our kids do things and yet we have pretty helpful, responsible kids who do their chores and obey the rules at school and eat their vegetables.

There is one thing we force our children to do and this has summoned the strong-will of our young son, which emerges with Hulk-like fury.

I've heard it said by wiser mothers that when dealing with a strong-willed child, one ought not engage in a battle unless one is willing to die on that hill.  I like that advice.  The one thing Bo and I have decided our kids will do, no matter what, is become strong swimmers.  That's not to say that if they become ax murderers, but they can swim we'll be satisfied as parents, but you know what I mean--it's a non-negotiable.  Pretty much, every summer they can count on taking swim lessons or joining swim team or some kind of organized swimming instruction that will improve their water safety and swimming ability until, at some point, we have deemed them not-likely-to-drown-in-open-water and they can graduate from this family requirement.

Apparently, we have a difference of opinion about whether or not "becoming a strong swimmer through organized instruction" matters.  The hard-fought battle ended with a pizza party to celebrate the completion of swim lessons, but may I admit that mama almost went down in that war plane?  Seriously.  At 7 years of age, the weapon systems have become so advanced that I almost don't realize I'm being shot down.  When Hulk didn't win, he employed Black Widow, that manipulative spy who let's you think you are doing the interrogation when in reality, you are the one being interrogated.  Sneaky.  How does a 7 year old become a master manipulator?  I don't know, but I've got one on my hands and he is gooood.  I can simultaneously cringe and beam with pride when I write that because I do want my kids to strive for excellence and he could become an excellent spy someday wearing down the defenses of the enemy through his cunning...that is, if he doesn't use his talents to become an ax murderer.  I must remind him of always using his abilities for good.

For those of you with real strong-willed children, may your war plane stay air-worthy and your kids become strong swimmers!

My No-Blog Summer

For those of you I haven't seen or who didn't get the update on Facebook, Bo got a job!!  I'm sorry I left you hanging.  He started a new job with a great little company in our great little city of Ralston.  It's doing home care, which is exactly what he wanted to do and we are so, so thankful that it all lined up quickly and that none of Roy's fears of being homeless and eating out of dumpsters came true.  (Could he be a worst case scenario thinker like his mama?  That is not the quality I was hoping to pass on to my children.)  Anyway, thank you for praying and supporting us through this.  We have felt so loved and blessed.

I had this great idea for a series for my blog called "Lessons from the Pit" just keeping with the hairy arm pit theme from my earlier post.  However, prior to summer starting I had resolved not to blog during the summer.  Actually, I had resolved not to do a lot of things during the summer.  Mainly, stuff I put on my to-do list that no one cares about except me, like blogging and sewing a cover for the giant hole in our ottoman or organizing our filing cabinet.  

The older my kids get the faster time flies and I realize that summer is this gift where we can spend so much time together and reconnect and recalibrate some things that have gone wonky through the busyness of life.  This summer my kids begged me not to send them to sports camps or VBS or any of that summer busy stuff.  When I asked them what they wanted to do this summer their unanimous reply was, "STAY HOME!"  

This is not easy for me.  I work from home and frankly, it's not that fabulous to work from home with kids around all day every day.  What I realized is that all of the stuff I drag my kids to is really for my benefit.  JUST GIVE ME SOME PEACE AND QUIET!!  

Now summer is over and it is so quiet I could cry, but the last thing I am wishing for is that I would have kept up my blog or that I would have sewn that cover or that I had all of my utility bills in order.  My necessary work got done one way or another and they weren't super excited about showing apartments or running to the office, but we all survived.  They even earned some money by hosing off air conditioning units and cleaning hallways, which they promptly spent on Pokemon cards and rollerskating, the only thing they really wanted to leave home for.

So welcome back to my blog.  For those of you east coast people with kids still at home--get of the computer and enjoy the chaos!!  It will be over before you know it.

Life Can Be The Pits!

OK I had the most hilarious blog post planned for this photo until something really un-hilarious happened this week.  Truly.  You would have cracked up all day after reading it, but sadly I am not meant to be funny.  I keep telling God that I would like to keep it all very light and fun and keep a lid on the hard parts of life, but He simply won't let me.

What happened, you ask?  Well, one day my wonderful husband had a great job with flexible hours and good benefits and a boss and co-workers and patients who liked him and everything seemed fine and then the next day he didn't and it wasn't.  Out of respect for my husband and his former employer I won't go into details about all that, only to say that I have never been more shocked and unprepared for a thing in my life.

Fairly quickly I've cycled through about all the stages of grief.  The shock and disbelief.  The sadness.  The anger.  The fear.  The acceptance.  Are there more?  Some days I cycle back through them again just in case I missed something the first time.  It's only been a few days really, I'm sure the cycle has just begun.

In all my confusion over this happening, it has been helping me to focus on what I know to be true.  Here are just a few things I've settled on:

• Whoever my husband works for next is very lucky.  One thing I love about Bo is that he is a person who will be better--not bitter over this.  He will learn from this experience and grow from it.  I even offered to share my feelings with his former boss (OK I would never do that in real life--only in my fantasy world) and his response was total compassion for him.  Who responds that way?  Oh, I can think of one person, but he was also God in the flesh...the same One who has gripped my husband's heart in a way that makes him kind to everyone.

• It is wise to prepare for the unexpected.  Just because people like you and you get good performance reviews and raises does not mean that your job is 100% secure.  If you do not have an emergency fund, please start one.  Today.

• There can be joy in the midst of pain.  The one thing I really appreciate about going through painful times is that it seems to awaken my senses.  One day I've become so numb that I am gliding through life without feeling anything, but then the sensation of pain brings back all the feeling and I'm no longer immune to the immense joy there is to feel in this world.  I don't know how else to describe it and I'm not saying I want to go through pain exactly, but I don't want to live numb either.  If the low, lows are what allow for the high, highs, well, please bring me low, but please make it quick.  All I know is that I am experiencing joy every day as we recount the times we've been rescued in the past and as we thank God for how he is meeting our needs today.  He is faithful and there is great joy in that.

I'm sorry for not being funny.  Sometimes life is the pits and there's just nothing funny to say about it.  It's not to say that I've lost my sense of humor, it's just that it's hard to be witty when you're busy being bewildered and somewhat uncertain about what the future holds.  

We would love you to pray with us through this.  I will definitely keep everyone updated and I'll probably have more stuff to process here.  If it's too heavy you can take a break for awhile and come back when our world isn't still rocking.

Til then I leave you with the real truth..."Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance."  James 1:2

Published!

Check this out!!

Sometimes when I'm not blogging, I'm writing articles for magazines.  I'm not kidding.  Check out page 36 and you will see....

Someday I will tell you the story of how it came to be that I wrote an article for a magazine that they actually published.  Today I want you to read my article---and all of the other great articles in the magazine!!  Sheesh, I can't stop writing "article in a magazine."  Think I'm excited?  You know it.  Now click the link above and give me some love.

Books Worth Reading: The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

This is the quote that convinced me to read this book, "...for both men and women...the most reliable predictor of not being lonely is the amount of contact with women.  Time spent with men doesn't make a difference."  I guess my inner sociologist was awakened again and needed to be fed.  

Gretchen Rubin goes on a year-long quest to increase her own personal happiness.  The systematic way she does it seems like the last thing that would work, but at the end she claims that it did.  It's her story, I'm not going to argue.  In fact, it makes me want to try my own happiness project, which she highly encourages and has a website devoted to here. 

Each month, Gretchen chooses an area of her life she would like to improve starting with health and including marriage, kids, work, finances and friendship.  Coupled with research and anecdotes about personal achievements and failures in each area, Gretchen highlights specific goals she worked toward that month.  It's kind of like a New Year's Resolution on steroids.  

This was a great book to read three months in to the New Year when those hastily promised resolutions are not seeming so attainable.  It's a good reminder that growth takes time and that happiness in life often comes as a result of the things we do every day rather than a one-time burst of emotion.  

If anyone wants to do a happiness project with me we can start a group.  I have a non-milestone birthday coming up that could warrant a recommitment to some goals and dreams that I have yet to reach.  

Books Worth Forcing Upon Your Children: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

This is the book from which the movie Hugo is based and, to be honest, I actually brought home the book so that my kids would be interested in seeing the movie.  That doesn't seem quite right does it?  While standing at the Redbox I would suggest Hugo over and over, probably out of fear that we might come home with The Toothfairy 2.  My attempts failed enough times that I decided to change strategy.  It did work, after I forced my kids to listen to the book.  Turns out, they didn't want to read the book either.

(What is up with that Scholastic?  My kids love movies and books and yet, this pair held no appeal for either of them on the front end.  That is why I am taking it to the blog.  Just doing my small part to help out your marketing team.  I know, the 10 people who actually read my blog are going to have a huge impact.  But seriously, this is a great book and kids should be flocking.)

Maybe the fact that the book is 4" thick is a deterrent for kids.  I don't know why.  I mean, in our video game saturated culture I can't imagine a kid being intimidated by a mere 526 pages.  What you can't tell at first glance is that many of those pages contain pictures that tell the tale as brilliantly as words.  Oh, but the words are brilliant too.  Once the whining stopped after I explained that we would be reading this book at bedtime or they could go straight to bed without our delicious evening snuggle, it became one of those books we could hardly put down.  "One more chapter," became the chorus, which is music to any storyteller's ears.

What is it that makes this book so intriguing?  Well, it begins with the captivating premise that a twelve year old boy is living alone in a train station.  (Every kid loves a story about other kids making it on their own.  That's why we loved The Boxcar Children growing up.)  You have to keep reading to find out how he came to be alone and why he feels he must keep this a secret.  Then a seemingly heartless old man takes something from him and he must try to get it back.  In the process, he discovers that the old man has a mystery of his own and is somehow connected to his late father through a mechanical man with a secret message.

We ended up truly enjoying this book and as soon as we finished we rented the movie at Redbox for family movie night.  Warning--the movie is long like the book and I'm told that it's better in 3D, but we enjoyed watching how the mystery unfolds while the characters came to life on screen.