Signs of Spring

While Colleen has been obnoxiously posting colourful pictures of trees exploding into bloom over at The Pancake Chronicles for the last week, I have been bemoaning the fact that there is still about 18 inches of snow over most of the ground in the view out my window. (After nearly eight years in Yellowknife, I do not begrudge her her right to celebrate a British Columbian spring--I am just feeling a little jealous.)

However, after days of sunshine, my heart perked up today as I noticed that we, too, have some signs that spring may not be far away:

• the streets in town are covered in water
• people are walking around with heads uncovered
• people smile at you for no apparent reason as you walk down the street (unless it's that you seem to be smiling at them for no reason!)
• the icy snow on my roof has been falling off in large, clattery clumps at random intervals throughout the day, scaring the pants off of me
• I've been able to shed several of my layers for the last week or so
• the cats actually don't mind being outside most days
• my thoughts are turning to gardening
• the thermometer read on the "plus" side of freezing today
• people (including Jason and I) have started to think it might not be a total waste of money to wash their vehicles
• I've started wondering what kind of dress I should make this spring (my annual "spring dress"--traditionally, the only dress I make in a year, although I've thrown that balance off over the last year) - I have a California wedding to go to in May, after all!
  
• We've started counting down the weeks until we are finished each school subject (By "we," I mean Jude and me--it's looking pretty good to be finished almost everything by the end of April! Yay!!!)

So, we haven't seen a robin redbreast yet--but, on the 25th of February (dare I say it?), it is starting to feel like Spring! in Northern Alberta.

Unfortunately, I've lived here for enough years to know that no matter how convincing the false start might be, chances are we've got at least one good -20C snap yet, and more than likely a snowstorm or two. I am not normally a pessimist--but I would call this realism, not pessimism.

For now, though, I will not think about that. For now, I am going to revel in sunshine on my bare hair as I walk my dog... in my Sorels... through 18 inches of snow!

Peanut Butter and Apple Sandwiches

I know my dad is going to cringe at this one. He can never resist reminding me that I have, in times past, combined peanut butter and dill pickles. (Dad! I have since heard of other people who do that exact same thing! I am not alone in my strangeness!)

I tried a new peanut butter combination last week that was a total hit with my kids! I put it in a sandwich, but it would also be delicious as a fruit dip with apple wedges. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter and Apple Sandwiches

Combine until smooth:
1/4 cup softened cream cheese
1/4 cup natural (peanuts-only, NO sugar!) peanut butter
2 tbsp. raw honey (soft)

Wash and core 2 apples with an apple corer, then thinly slice cross-wise. (Leaving the peels on greatly increases the vitamin content. Most of the vitamins in apples are just under and in the skin, especially vitamins A and C.) Spread peanut butter mix on sprouted-grain bread, then arrange apple slices.

Enjoy!

Kitty Cuteness

One of Nala's favourite sleeping spots lately seems to be our bathroom sink. Odd, isn't it?


Well, at least it was her favourite, until she didn't vacate quickly enough once or twice and got an impromptu shower! I think she has wised up since this photo was taken.

And, who can resist two cute boys with two cute kitties?


Not me!

(I'm not sure Nala is actually enjoying this, although she really does not mind being handled like a baby--she loves when I hold her on her back in my arms for a cuddle and a pet. Weird, but really perfect for a house cat with small children.)

Five Random Things Monday: Noah

Noah, in many ways, is still a mystery to me. But a fun mystery. I love peeking into his world, as often as he lets me. Those glimpses into the windows of his mind become ever more frequent as he gets older, and his communication skills improve.

1. Babies: Noah keeps asking for us to have a baby. (So does Jabin, as a side.) He is completely fascinated by them right now. This morning, while we were at the swimming pool waiting for Jude (his first swimming lesson!), there was another mom there with a small baby, maybe six months. He spent fifteen or more minutes sitting next to the baby's infant carrier, gently patting her or looking at her. Later, when I ran into an acquaintance at Walmart who had her infant son with her, he kept patting his head and commenting. I dunno why he does it, but it's darned cute.
2. Mario Kart: This is still Noah's favourite video game or pastime of any kind, really. (It's for the Wii.) Lately, it has received some competition from Jude's new Ninja Turtles game (the boys all love the kung fu in there), but as his AWANA car selection hinted, it is still the reigning champion. One day, I listened to Noah and Jabin "playing Wii" for a good half-hour in the living room while Jude and I were doing school in the dining room. They were deciding which characters were driving their cars, which races they were doing, and which cars they were driving. They were crashing into things and doing jumps, and I could hear the cars whizzing around the racetrack, motors gunning. When Noah got up to go to the bathroom, he even exclaimed, "Jabin, don't. touch. anything!" so Jabin wouldn't mess up the settings of the game in his absence (as the stinker is prone to do). The best part? It was all pretend! They are only allowed to play Wii on the weekend! ("Wii-kend!" Hee.)
3. Math: Tonight, Noah and I attended a "Family Math Night" put on by his school to help introduce parents to a new curriculum, and show them basic math games they can play with their kids. Of course in kindergarten, it's all about patterns. Noah has always been strong in math-related activities, but I was still a little surprised at some of the creative patterns he came up with tonight. I am really looking forward to teaching him next year and watching that develop.
4. Communication: Noah got re-assessed by a speech language pathologist last fall, and was found to still have a mild speech delay, so he has been working with her once or twice a week since then. It is kind of weird for me, since she does it in the afternoons while he is at school, so I have not been able to sit in on any of the sessions--meaning I really don't know what she does with him. He doesn't tell me anything about it. They just started in January, so I can't say as I have noticed any significant changes yet. However, anything that makes Noah more confident in himself and easier to understand is a good thing, in my opinion. He has a habit of "jumping into the middle" of a story he has already been telling in his head, so you have no reference point to what he is saying to you (unless you witnessed the incident yourself firsthand.) When he does this, we have been trying to get him to backtrack a little bit and tell us all of the information, but it's a process. He gets a little better everyday, though.
5. Food: Remember the broccoli hoarding incident? Well, some things never really change. This boy still literally gags at certain food textures. Okay, maybe its the fact that he tries to swallow foods he doesn't like without making them any smaller. Last winter, he actually spewed on his plate after trying to swallow a piece of cooked cauliflower whole. He figures if he can swallow without chewing, it will be over faster. While I am not going to classify this as a "step up", exactly--at least he isn't hoarding it in his cheeks for two hours anymore! (No wonder I usually blend up his cauliflower and hide it in his pasta sauce!)

Day At The Races

Every year, the AWANA club has a Grand Prix race. The cars are created out of a hunk of wood, some plastic wheels and some ingenuity.

This year, our boys knew what they wanted. Jude sanded and painted his (except for the lightning bolt and the windows), and was quite proud of the stripes. He placed 6th in his class for Originality.


Jabin did his own blue/purple base coat, and I filled in the details.


Noah, the perfectionist, knew he wanted Mario Kart, but would rather have left his car blank than painted it imperfectly himself. So I painted it. He was beyond thrilled with the results. It was worth it.


Of the three, Noah's was also the fastest!

Ready to Race!

Five Random Things Monday: Jude

I almost forgot about this again, since today is the Family Day holiday. Fortunately, I still remembered in plenty of time to think of the Five Things!

1. Food: Jude is my "meat-and-potatoes" kid. He loves roasts, mashed potatoes, gravy, the works. Unfortunately, he is also fairly addicted to wheat products and sugar. He doesn't get to indulge his addiction often, because Mom and Dad keep him down to a reasonable amount, but I wonder what will happen when he is out of the house. Hopefully, he will understand the value in limiting his own consumption by then (and have developed the self-discipline to do it).
2. Cooking: Will Jude follow in my creative cooking footsteps? I don't know. However, I was a little astounded a few weeks ago when he invented "Chocolate Oatmeal Pudding" out of his head, wrote the recipe down, then bugged me until I let him make it. I guided him into a few minor changes, but for the most part we created his original idea. Did it taste good? Um, I didn't care for it, but Jude liked it! What I liked was that he came up with the whole thing, then went for it! I hope to see more stuff like that in the future.
3. Stewardship: Since the New Year, we have been studying various units under the character trait of Stewardship: Environment/Ecology/Conservation, Time Management, and Money Management. In the Money Management unit, we read one of the Financial Peace Junior children's books every day. In one of the stories, Junior visits an orphanage and discovers that they have very few toys to play with, so packs up many of his own toys and gives them to the orphanage. I figured this would be a great thing for us to do, too. I had originally planned to tackle the "toy-editing" process myself in a few months, but now changed my mind to allow the kids to have a say in the decisions, allowing them to not only learn about giving, but also NOT being a pack-rat at the same time. So, today we sorted toys, requiring that the toys we kept all must fit within a certain size box, and the rest must be given away. I was surprised and impressed with some of the decisions Jude made, and the maturity he displayed. (I thought he might be the most selfish with the toys, not wanting to give any away, since this has typically been his response in the past--thus the reason I was going to do this all by myself, preferably on a day the kids were elsewhere!) I like those kinds of surprises.
   
4. Phobias: Not long ago, we discovered that Jude has a fear of bears. This is probably not unrelated to the fact that a few weeks after we moved onto this land, Jude and his friends happened to see a black bear at no great distance while playing in the trees. However, Jason did not know the reason that day in January for Jude's irrational wailing when he left him behind in the field to try and get back to the house quickly, as he was carrying Jabin. (Jabin's short legs and short boots don't mix well with 18"-deep snow.) It wasn't until Jude finally got into the house as well that Jason was able to address the whole situation, discovered the reason for the overreaction, and sat down with the boy to have a lesson about bears. I don't know if he is less afraid of them now, but he is at least relieved to know that the chances of being attacked by a bear in an open field, in the middle of winter, are slim to none! I guess we'll see how things go come summer...
5. Animals: Jude loves reading, and he particularly loves reading about animals. "Mom, did you know that an octopus can change the colour of its skin?" "Mom, did you know that moles clean their worms before they eat them?" "Mom, look at this picture of a house made with mammoth tusks!" It's so cool to see him just delve into stuff like that. We don't have Discovery Channel--but thank goodness for the local library!
   

Selling Men's Cologne to Women?

I'm glad my man doesn't smell like Old Spice. But this is one funny commercial.

Five Random Things, er, Tuesday? : Me

So, I just realized that I totally botched up "Five Random Things Monday" on my second week in. Oops. I thought about blogging yesterday, but thought, I don't really need to. Oops again.

So, here we are, a day late, but hopefully not a dollar short. Since I'm the authoress of this blog, I'm going to have to get creative to think of something that I haven't mentioned at least once in the last four (!) years. Speaking of which, I just noticed that, once again, I let my bloggiversary slip by unnoticed on Sunday. Happy Birthday, Winters' Day In!

Time for four, originally uploaded by Anniko 1996.

1. Eggs: As a child, I didn't like eggs, but I could eat them if they were scrambled. What I really didn't like was the yolk, especially if it was runny. I couldn't handle fried eggs until I was a teenager, and then only if the yolk was broken and cooked hard. Over the last five years, though, I have slowly developed a taste for over-medium, and then over-easy eggs. I especially love poached soft on toast with butter. Mmmm... Just goes to show ya: You CAN learn to like something that's good for you!
2. Cooking: Speaking of eggs, you'd think I would have learned how to boil them by now. For a while, I seemed to have a perfect system. However, every cooktop seems to be a little different, and--judging from last night's effort--I need to rework my current method. Sigh. (See, Rohini? I still screw up boiled eggs, too!)
   
3. Knitting: I have decided it's finally time to learn to knit socks. In the past, I've kind of muddled my own way around and figured out how to do a short-row heel (which I used to design slipper-socks), but frankly, I never really saw the value of spending the amount of time it would require to make this rather mundane project with millions of teeny stitches on teeny needles that would just get worn out quicker than most... until recently. Actually, it started in 2006, when Vogue Knitting published their winter edition with a sock focus, and I started to see the potential for beautiful gorgeous, brightly-coloured socks that let you try out new techniques on a small canvas. The clincher, though, was getting frustrated at how very quickly commercially-made socks seem to wear out on little boys. I'm hoping that a pair of well-made, wool socks will keep their feet warmer for longer. I hope it won't just be that I'll have spent more time and effort to make something that wears out just as quickly! I guess we'll see.
4. Leadership: Lately I've been pondering about the many leadership roles I have filled in my life. I have been thrust into them since I was quite young, and seemingly often. I have never campaigned to be put there, or gone to seek them out. I do them because they need to be done, I have the skills to do them, and someone has to. I feel a responsibility to help shape the world I live in, instead of complaining about it ("Being the change I wish to see in the world"), so I step up and fill the need. I'm not complaining about this--it is obviously a gift God has given me, and to not use that gift for good would be, in my opinion, ungrateful, as well as showing me to be a foolish steward. But honestly, when it all comes down to it? Most times, I'd rather stay home and knit. Let someone else take the flack and the stress that comes with leadership. (Don't worry, I'm not throwing in the towel anytime soon. Like the character Cicero says in the movie Gladiator, "Sometimes I do what I want to do. The rest of the time I do what I have to.")
5. Typing Speed: According to this site, I type at a net speed of about 71 wpm, with 95% accuracy (when I'm trying, apparently.) But if I could take a test using the text I type every day several times while doing my business e-mails (since there are a few things I just have to type with every transaction I have), I bet it would be about 150 wpm with 100% accuracy. I don't really know how to find that out without a friend and a stopwatch. (Also, I bet if I re-take that test tonight, when I'm not sitting square in the middle of a sunbeam during my afternoon lull, my score will go up. If I remember to try it again later, I'll let you know.)

Edit: I just noticed on Wikipedia that an average professional typist reaches about 50-70 wpm, and that the "average computer user" is considered "fast" at 40wpm. Suddenly, I feel better, for some reason!

We are intrepid explorers! Lost isn't in our vocabulary!

"Mom, I've got everything I need for an adventure here in my bag," came Jude's voice from behind me. I turned around from where I was peeling potatoes for supper, recognizing the explorer bag I had made for his fifth birthday "safari party". He started pulling things out and itemizing them. "Animal book [also from the party, containing information on Africa and African mammals], water, flashlight, knife, pirate bracelet..."



"Wow, you sure do sound prepared! Where are you going?"

"Africa."

"Cool!" I said.

He went and got the globe and set it on the dining room table. "I think it will take three days to get there. We'll go to Antarctica on the first day, then to China on the second day, then to Africa."

"That's quite the scenic route... When will you be back?"

"By supper."

Hmmm...



Jabin eventually joined in the fun. They sat happily at the kitchen table, describing their route and adventures for the next half an hour. But they hadn't actually got past China by the time supper was ready. Better planning next time, I guess!

Carrot Spice Muffins

Yet another recipe for the Quick Mix repertoire!

Carrot Spice Muffins
Makes 12 large muffins, or up to 36 small ones

3 c. Basic Quick Mix
¼ c. whole sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground ginger
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
½ c. chopped Crispy Pecans*
1 c. raisins or other dried fruit

2 eggs
¼ c. molasses
¼ c. extra virgin coconut oil or butter, melted**
1 ½ c. milk, buttermilk, or kefir
2 c. carrots, peeled and grated
 
Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well to receive the liquid.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs. Add all remaining ingredients and stir to mix. Pour into well. With a wooden spoon, stir just enough to moisten. Fill greased muffin cups ¾ full. (I love using a ¼ c. scoop to fill up my large muffin cups.) Bake in 400°F (200°C) oven for 20-25 minutes.

After removing from oven, let cool in pan for about 5 minutes, and then dump onto cooling rack.

*Crispy Pecan recipe can be found in the Nourishing Traditions cookbook by Sally Fallon and Mary G. Enig, Ph.D.

**NEVER use a microwave to melt your butter, or for any other reason—that is, unless you WANT to be part of the statistic about cancer being the leading cause of death… your choice! http://www.relfe.com/microwave.html

©2010 Talena Winters www.wintersdayin.ca

Five Random Things Monday: Jason

I recently saw this idea in a scrapbooking magazine--jot down five random facts about your life and who you are. Great idea! I thought. Why not do it for the whole family? We all change over time, and I think we would all like to look back at a little "snapshot" of who we were at certain times in our lives.

I decided to start with Jason, by right of him being the head of our family, as well as getting the least personal attention on this blog, in general. (This is due to him being the least willing photo subject in our family!)

1. Pumpkin Pie: Hands-down, this is the man's favourite dessert. It is followed closely by Chocolate Chip Cookies. I don't make either very often, which he occasionally laments, but even if I made them both every week, I get the feeling it still would not be often enough!
   
2. Bike Trip: Jason and my second-cousin Mark (yes, Colleen's Mark) once rode their bikes from Sylvan Lake to Thetis Island (near Vancouver) for Bible college at Capernwray. For those of you not aware of the geography between those two locations, it meant riding over every mountain range between the plains and the Pacific Ocean! He says that after that trip, his legs were in the best shape of his life!
3. UFC: This is Jason's current sport of choice to follow. He no longer makes a date to go watch hockey games or golf matches at people's houses (we don't really have any TV channels to speak of), but I can count on at least one evening every month when he will be "out with the guys" watching UFC. And plenty of nights in between watching interviews with the fighters on the internet.
4. Career: Jason's career path is taking another turn, as he is beginning a new job today. After exactly a year working for his friend Wes, he is beginning a job back in the IT industry today for one of the school divisions. He is filling a newly-created position as the "first contact" tech guy for all of the schools in the whole division. Part of the "breaking-in" process will include some traveling to the schools to see how they are all set up. Some of the schools are so remote, they are fly-in only! But, other than that, he gets to leave later, he will be home earlier, and he will actually get a few weeks holidays every year. He is excited for the new challenge, and to be back in (one of) his fields of training.
5. Coffee: Like myself, Jason did not start drinking coffee until college, much preferring tea. However, there is nothing like long hours of working and studying and exams to inspire a serious caffeine habit! Also like myself, a plain cuppa java is not his idea of a tasty beverage. Adding plenty of sugar and cream (I use honey, but Jason doesn't like honey in his coffee) makes it palatable, but still not a first choice. He has had many periods over the years where he has not drunk much coffee, but the last year has not been one of them! It is awkward to bring tea and honey and cream to work all the time, and the availability of free coffee right there in the station all day every day made it all too convenient to imbibe! He has been tossing around the idea of going on a "coffee cleanse"--you know, before anyone at the new job knows that he drinks it! I guess we'll see how that goes...