Stars are Not Born, they are Made

I helped my son wrap his Historian Project for Scouts. It turned out awesome! He made a traditonal scrapbook and photo album for the Troop. He gave that to the Scout Master to keep. But the real baby was his "movie". He had compiled photos of all the events that had happened thoughout the year (plus another boy gave him pics and video footage)and made a 31 minute movie on CD. It has title credits, animation, music, the whole shabang! It took us the past 2 weeks to put it together...thus the reason I have not posted in a while. We froze the computer I don't know how many times, reduced me to tears just about as many times as that and taught my son alot about editing! LOL He previewed it at a meeting Saturday to a smaller group of boys and the Scoutmaster. Well, the scoutmaster was going to look at it right quick and when he saw the "starwars" type intro he stopped it and said, "Oh no. This is good, I want everyone to see it after the meeting." They gave my son the floor and he held up his hands for silence and said, "I absolutley could not have pulled this together without my Mom." Sat down and they played the CD. He got a standing ovation! This will have been the first time in 6-7 years that anyone has done anything at all. So, Monday night he showed it to his troop and all of the guests that came. He got another standing ovation. I was so proud.

See, my son is not always the most mature 13 year old, in the world. A lot of times he seems so squirrely, I wonder about him. But here lately, he has really matured. He not only made a huge hit with his Historian's project but he also made Patrol Leader for his den. He had to make a speech for the position against another boy. My son seems to just come together when it comes to public speaking. The other boy made his speech (and did a little mud throwing) and my son made his speech, never mentioning the other boy, but some goals he would like to meet the coming year. (I guess there is an National Honor award that dens can achieve and my son wants his den to get it.) The boys voted for my son, but my husband asked the boys who voted, "What made you vote for my son instead of the other boy." They all said very matter of factly, "his speech". I was very proud of him. Oh and the biggest thing of all, he has achieved his Star rank, that means he only has 2 more ranks to go. Life, then Eagle. If he keeps the pace he is going, he will make his Eagle by the time he is 16. Most boys get their Eagle right before their 18th birthday.

ok, enough of the proud mom. I am very distracted lately. I have rediscovered my love for crochet. Laugh if you like, but I find peace in it. My hands are busy and I seem to just be able to breathe. We are an ever increasingly busy family. I find I spend so much time in the van or being busy around the house, that I am not taking a lot of time for myself. I am not unhappy, please don't get that idea...but I am having a hard time staying focused.
I have some pics of my latest crochet projects. I made these pretty berets, scarves and mittens for the girls. I am working on the same for my "adopted" neighbor girl. LOL I will get a pic of her soon too. I am taking the left over yarn and making squares. I will piece those together to make an afghan "quilt" for the girls bed this winter. It will be so bright and colorful!

Well, I have tons to do now. I really need to get busy on the house, it fell behind a bit while we were working the last couple of weeks. ciao~ katcha

Retro Cooking

I'm feeling like shag carpet and avacodo green appliances tonight ya'll. The southern heat of Mississippi (and humidity) is most likely to fault. The lack of dry air and oxygen can make a homemaker kind of loopy.

Our home is relatively small and the kitchen is very small! Oh how I long for a huge kitchen with lots of storage, tons of countertop area and an island/breakfast bar.

Ok, anyway, so back to my small kitchen...during the summer I NEVER (ok I hardly ever) crank up the oven because it will run you out of the house. The AC runs at max load capacity (I'm sorry Cap'n, she's giving it all she's got!)until it blows a circuit and I still feel like I am cooking in a sweat lodge. The other night everyone was wanting dessert and I didn't have anything for a cold dessert; I usually make lemon ice box pie, oreo cookie pie or something of that nature. As I was rummaging around the cupboards I found all the makings for a pineapple upside down cake and thought "OH COOL...whoa, wait, I am NOT turning on the oven!" What's a girl to do?! (biting knuckle dramatically)
Then, I had a flashback, from like when I was a kid and microwaves were the "in" new, hot thing. I remember my mom and all her friends sharing recipes and talking about baking cakes in their microwaves. My mom never did it but I had heard it could be done. (I won't go into the talk I heard about cancer etc. from cooking & reheating in the microwave...my grandfather was convinced we would all be mutated and deformed by "radiation from that contraption.")
Well, I'll have you know it WORKED! I dumped the pineapple in the bottom of the glass pan with pats of butter and brown sugar. Then I mixed up the vanilla cake mix with the drained pineapple juice, oil and eggs, dumped it over the pineapple and baked on HIGH for 15 minutes. *ding!*

It turned light and fluffy and perfect. HAH! I BEAT the system, I have the POWER to make desserts, in SPITE of the steamy summer heat of North Mississippi! (I am standing in my Supermom stance, holding my silver wisk aloft, my apron flapping in the wind...) ok sorry, I was having a moment. Back to reality, it was definitely cool and I will be experimenting with other cake recipes.

I wonder how cornbread would do hmmmmmm?

God bless and good night ~ katcha

Beautiful! 

Here comes the sun. 

another view 

The moon is still up as morning approaches. 

Looking out from Lovers Leap across the valley in the early morning hours. 

Lovers Leap looking across to a hidden cave and eagles nest. 

wild flowers 

View from Lovers Leap 

Another view across the Cimarron Valley 

On the way to the Tooth of Time Peak 

Across the Cimarron Valley 

Window Rock, Philmont New Mexico 

Lawnmowers, Gardens and School

The county has started back to school today and it seems strangely quiet. Not that there were many kids in our neighborhood anyway, but soon the sound of the "cheese wagon" pulling the hills will be heard as it brings the kids back from school. I homeschool my kids but I try and keep my kids "in" during school hours. It is only a hassle when we go to town to run errands or get groceries. We get the "is there a school day today?" question to which my kids always boldly say, "No (mam or sir)we homeschool." Then the person looks at me, sizing me up, trying to figure out if I am trying to undermine the government thru the educational system, a religious nut or what. I guess I am a Jesus freak and firmly believe that "to train up a child in the way that he should go" is the final word and highest calling. What makes people think that I am not equipped with the resources to educate my children? I taught them all how to use a fork and knife, toilet trained them, taught them each to read and write, BEFORE school age. Turn on the news and ask me why I homeschool again. End of subject for now.

My oldest has completed his studies for the day and is getting ready for his board of review with the advancement committee for his scout troop tonight. He will get his Star rank then he will work towards his Life rank, after that is Eagle. He is working on some knots now. I am pretty excited for him. He has accomplished alot and looks to achieve more. He is also working on a scrapbook/photo album for the troop. He was voted the Troop Historian for the year and is working on capturing the year. He has also made slide show set to music and video clips that he will present at the next Court of Honor. That is a week away now. We have it saved in it's finished form to my computer but can't seem to get it saved to a CD. It saves all but the last minute. The audio plays out all the way but the last 5 pics won't. These are 80 minute 700MB CD's but they aren't working. I have no idea why but it is really frustrating me. We think we might need a better quality CD...maybe Memorex?

My garden is beginning to wain. The cucumbers are slowly dieng off but have definitely served us well! The tomatoes are still going good but the green beans are puny. Then the squash is spreading out all over the yard! It's crazy but the squash seems to not be producing fruit. Then last but not least, the cantaloupe and sunflowers are starting to go great. Blossoms are all over the vines and when the fruit starts coming I am going to have to set the fruit on bricks, otherwise they will rot. My friends carrots are slow. She really needed to plant those much earlier, like March. The grass is getting high around the garden and my son was going to mow around where the riding mower couldn't go, but we can't get it started! GRRRRRRRR! Hubby was very patient with our son for not mowing last time but it is too tall to ignore this time and he said "It will be done when I get home." I agreed but dog gone it! What is up with the mower? I have a theory, but maybe it's out there. I wonder if the boy didn't flood the engine when he primed it. I told him to go back out and try again in about 15-20 minutes. *sigh* And the day is getting hotter and muggier with each passing minute. I have no clue about lawn mowers...I am not a mechanic for heaven's sake. LOL

I have pictures of New Mexico! I will post them here. I hope you will enjoy them. I need to go for now. I'll write more tomorrow or later...we have been so busy this past week I haven't had a chance to get on the computer at all. Things are slowing down a bit so I should have much more time. later! ~ katcha