Catching Up....

Okay, don't know where the post went that I was typing...but we'll try again!

It's been awhile since I've had a post of substance, and here's why! My week started with a headache that continually got worse each day, culminating into pain so bad that by Wednesday afternoon, I was curled in a ball in bed crying from the pain...which, of course, didn't help...but neither did the Motrin I'd been taking during the week. I had bad jaw pain on the left side, which had pretty much been slowly getting worse ever since had dental work done in early December...and I was hoping they were related. It had been getting so bad that Thursday morning, we heard Luke telling Susanna "Wake up! The sun is up! It's time to get out of bed!" And the sleepy reply, "I have a very bad headache and I am staying in bed today."

Thankfully, my dentist was able to get me in Thursday morning and did a bit of polishing/grinding on the extensive work he had done...and the pain pretty much went away immediately....by supper time, I was able to actually chew food on the left side of my mouth for the first time since my original dental work! The bite was off, just a bit, but it made a huge difference. It reminded me how letting "just a little" bit of sin into your life might not be noticable, but over time, it is crippling....

We have also been dealing with a little girl who loves to put close to the entire roll of toilet paper into the toilet at one "sitting." Even after being wiped, she'll wait until our backs are turned and just tear off huge strips of t.p., one right after another, and stick it into the toilet, flushing after awhile. Tony's had to use the plunger almost every day this week, at least once. She did get the reassurance of being told today that if it happens again, she will get spankings from both Daddy AND Mama, and if Daddy isn't home at the time, she will tell him what she did...and will get a spanking when he comes home. We've not had a problem so far today....

I've also been working some really great leads for Watkins as well as Greenstar, along with working more with my current Watkins team. I am very thankful for the business that has been coming my way, especially since with my health problems last year and the blizzards and bad storms over the winter have really cut into the parties and things I was able to do last year. God has been so good in allowing these business ventures to be a slowly increasing part of our family's revenue.

We're slowly gearing up to this year's season. Tony and Dad Carter have been working on starting lots of tomato plants as well as many other things. I've not really looked much at what needs to be ready before the Market opens, but we have at least six weeks to go yet. We're pretty much set for Market employees, but Tony is hoping for a few more good farm workers (any one want a minimum wage, back breaking job for the summer? It's VERY hard work, but it's honest and usually fun!). I also have to start updating our website...which hasn't been updated since last September! So...if any of you have some great produce recipes you'd like to share (produce that we grow, that is!), please email them to me so we can use them...with credit, of course, being given to you. And...if you come visit...I MAY even make it for you, giving you a taste of just how wonderful your recipe would be if you made it all the time with Carter's produce ;)

We've also been watching information on the flooding in Fargo. Thankfully, we are far enough away where the danger doesn't affect us, but here in Park Rapids there are plenty of flooded roads, roads closed because of flooding, and fields filled with "lakes." My heart goes out to those in the Fargo area....the dike has a crack in it, and the worst is expected to happen this weekend...wave crests higher than they've ever had (and expected to go several inches above the dike...IF the dike holds), mandatory evacuations because they are at the point now where they cannot reach certain areas in case of emergencies. The AWANA games that were to be held in Fargo this weekend were moved to our local school here in Park Rapids...so I may end up taking the kids tomorrow to watch cousin Steven compete...and so Luke can see what they're all about. He'll be able to join in next year when he is (gulp!) a Sparkie. Is he really that old already????

Speaking of Luke...the boy is READING! He's already finished a full book called "Red Tractor" at night before bed and is currently working on "Hop on Pop." I am really impressed by his drive to learn and read. I have to laugh, because my kids don't fit those "traditional" student roles. Luke can sit still and loves doing schoolwork, sometimes for hours (literally). He'll read simple instructions by himself and correctly do what they say. Susanna doesn't like to sit for even two minutes to do anything related to learning. Yes, she's ONLY four, so I'm not worried about it, but I've always heard how little girls love to do learning, will sit still, etc. Hm. Maybe someone should tell HER that!

Tony and I are getting ready to attend this year's homeschool conference here in Minnesota, "Mache." (Minnesota Association of Christian Home Educators"). It'll be in St. Paul, about four hours away, and goes from Thursday through Saturday. Luke and Susanna are excited that they'll get to play with Grandma some during the days, and that they get to spend lots of time at Uncle Mark and Aunt Beth's house...even stay overnight! This will be the first time ever that both of us will be away from them during the night...so we'll see how it goes......

We had Mark and Beth over for supper again last night....I honestly felt soooo good after the dental work, I called them mid-afternoon to see if they wanted to join us for supper. We love having them over! I made one of our new favorite Cafe Johnsonia recipes, Balsamic Rosemary Chicken http://cafejohnsonia.blogspot.com/2006/09/rosemary-balsamic-chicken.html served with rice, pulled out some Carter's asparagus from the freezer and sauteed that as well as some Carter's sweet corn (not sauteed). I also tried a new roll recipe...and found ANOTHER winner! It was again one of those card recipes you get in the mail, so here's the recipe. Try it this weekend. Quick, easy, delish!

Perfectly Easy Dinner Rolls (honest, that's the name)
1 cup warm (105-115) water
2 packages active dry yeast (or 4.5 tsp)
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp salt
4-4.5 cups flour

Combine water and yeast and let stand until foamy, about five minutes. Stir in butter, sugar, eggs, and salt. Beat in one cup of flour at a time until dough is too stiff to mix (you might not need all of it...I did). Cover and refrigerate 2 hours to 4 days.
Grease a 13x9 inch baking pan. Turn chilled dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide dough into 24 equal-sized pieces. Roll each piece into smooth (or not) round balls, and place the balls in even rows (6 rows by 4 rows) in the prepared pan. Cover and let rise until double, about one hour.
Preheat oven to 375F. Bake until golden brown, about 15-20 minutes. Brush warm rolls with melted butter (not necessary but wow! It adds just that right touch!). Serve with butter, honey, and Carter's Own Strawberry Freezer Jam. Beth ate about three of these, I think!

I also found another winner with a new (for us) dessert recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks. Peach Crisp with Maple Cream Sauce http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/07/peach_crisp_wit/ WOW ! Again, simple and easy...very, very good. Make sure you have some cold milk or hot coffee to sip along with it!

I WAS going to try a new cinnamon roll recipe (again from Pioneer Woman Cooks) http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/cinammon_rolls_/ but ended up making a double batch of waffles from Domestication in Progress http://domesticationinprogress.blogspot.com/2008/05/waffles.html ..that made many more waffles than I expected (they're fantastic, and I think I'm sticking some in the freezer so when I'm too busy to make breakfast this summer, I can just thaw some out, eggo-style)! Then, Beth brought over some great bavarian cream bismarks last night for our breakfast....so I didn't want to make all the cinnamon rolls on top of that. Perhaps next week, before we head to the Cities, so we can take some with us!

Feeling so much better (finally!), the kids and I did a bunch of fun art projects today. I'm not the artsy type, but both of them love anything to do with "projects." We painted a Cinderella sun catcher, several plaster animals (already made), and made some great fun ribbon thingies that Marie had on her Make and Takes website yesterday, I think. http://www.makeandtakes.com/move-to-the-music-with-rhythm-ribbons If you have kids, do these. Simple, fun, and the kids love them!

Um...what else has been going on? Isn't that enough? Okay, okay, the most anticipated thing for me....we are celebrating our 6th SIXTH wedding anniverary on Sunday! So hard to believe it's been that long...but that short! And yes, I'll post more about our early days maybe tomorrow.

For now, I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting to mention...but oh well! That's what happens as one gets older!