Shake-n-Bake

Wow! Do you remember shake-n-bake? I used to fix it when my dh and I were first married. Then somewhere along the way, I got away from it, and I actually FORGOT about it! How does one forget such an important household name from their childhood? My family went out to eat Sunday after church, and husband got the fried chicken, which he said was good. About half way through eating, he said it reminded him of shake-n-bake, and wham! I realized I had forgotten an early marriage favorite. (for me, at least)

Well, I bought some the other day, (shh.....it was the generic) and the chicken was SO moist! This is going on my regular menu!

What food item do you remember from you childhood that you haven't 'visited' in a long time? Don't you think it is time to get reacquainted?

What started as a comment on another blog.....

So, I was commenting on a blog I keep up with, and it got to be too long, so I am just going to post my thoughts here. :)

You know what? In High School, sometimes being on the "fringe" of a circle, (what I considered I was-on the fringe)it wasn't really any better than being on the outside. Kind of feels like a balloon, being bounced about, but never part of the balloon bouquet. You rub up against the outer balloons, but never get near the nucleus. I did have some friends, and I lived in town...had a neighbor girl a year older than me, so we played together a lot during the summers. I had cousins I saw most weekends. Even though I did live in town, and had a few friends, I was raised in a different religious environment, and most all the kids knew it, so I felt I never really fit in. You know, I would hear them whispering "she can't do xyz, because it's against her religion." I felt odd. So I think I tried to be funny. I have no idea if I ever was, but I do think I am now, sometimes.

Any way, something I like about the internet, is you can be anonymous, and people can really get to know the real you. (assuming everyone is truthful in how they present themselves.) I have to say, I feel a little bit dishonest by remaining anonymous, but its not that I don't mind if some people know who I am, I just don't want ALL people knowing who I am, ya know? Maybe it makes me feel vulnerable, because who I am now, is not who I was, ya know?

I wish there had been some program in school, that forced kids to get to know those that they might not otherwise have known. I think we have all missed out on knowing some great people. I know that as kids, we aren't yet complete, that many of us grew up to be funny, beautiful, intelligent, successful, thoughtful, talented or compassionate. Or all of the above. Some of us are turning into our parents. (mirror, mirror, on the wall, I AM my mother after all)................ ;) (love you mom)

It pains me to hear my daughter talk about how all the other kids talk bad about the cheerleaders. They say they are "skanks", or worse. I guess it was probably like that when I was in school. I know at least two of the freshmen cheerleaders, and they are good girls. Why are kids always labeling one another. What can we do to get our children to see each other as equals?

Well, enough rambling..... :)

My Whitehouse 'Dream Team'

I'm a conservative, through and through. Was just watching Glenn Beck that I had dvr'd...and was thinking about our elected officials. My dream team would Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck for Pres and veep. Other important positions could be filled by Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly. Who would your dream team be?

By the way, a new website for patriotic moms :

A Sisterhood of Mommy Patriots

Repeat Offender?

Well, folks, we have another mouse in the house! Or do we? (said as I stroke chin and look thoughtful) It could be the very same mouse that was released. I found it's little presents on the kitchen counter, and in a skillet with hardened grease. EEk! I could even see it's nasty little claw marks in it. So, I dug out an old nasty trap, soaked it in bleach, (it was THAT gross) and hubby set it for me. Sat in corner of floor, just under the cabinets. For two nights. No luck. Then hubby saw the intruder run across the mantle, go into the vent on rock wall for fireplace, come back out other vent, and continue up wall. So he moved the trap to the mantle, but no luck, yet. Any suggestions on how to trap a mouse? We have two outdoor cats, and moving one indoors is not an option. Sigh. Let's just hope it doesn't venture into daughter's room again.

Fall Food

Wonderful fall weather today! I love these cooler temps. I like going outside with a sweatshirt, and still be slightly cool. (I am hot natured)

Days like today, I like chili, potato soup, lasagna, any hot comfort food. In fact, I have chili in the crock pot right now. Mmmm, mmmm, good. Now I just have to decide if we are going to have grilled cheese, or peanut butter and honey sandwiches.

What's on your menu for fall weather?

Mouse adventures continued...

So, I get in daughter's room just in time to catch a glimpse of the "intruder." Remember that cartoon mouse, "Speedy Gonzalez"? Yeah, well, this must have been his cousin. Husband finally makes it to daughter's room, after donning appropriate clothing and a broom.

I stand guard at the door, using daughter's throw rug as a weapon of entrapment. Husband starts "poking" at stuff on the floor, around the perimeter of room. He gets a hit! Vroom! Faster than the speed of light, the mouse zips from object to object, mere nano seconds before husband beats object with broom.

Mouse is finally under a drawer of my daughter's desk. Desk gets shoved all the way back to the wall. Husband hands over broom to me, and daughter wields a folder. Daughter and I keep the intruder from escaping by closing off all cracks with our weapons, while husband goes in search of a portable prison. He comes back with ........MY TUPPERWARE!!! Eh, whatever, I just want to go back to bed. So he does get the intruder into the prison, then he slides folder under to prevent an escape. We all walk to the kitchen, only to hear along the way, "Awe! He's so cute! Can I keep him? His name is Phil." Huh? Speedy Phil can wake a household and make you scream, and you want to KEEP him?! You're crazy!

So, husband says, "Now what? Got any solutions?" To which I replied, "Here Kitty Kitty? ;)
Daughter didn't think that was funny. We get Speedy Phil transferred to a more permanent holding cell. (Gladware) This mouse hunt/chase took us half an hour! He gets left in solitary confinement to think about what he has done, and we all go back to bed, and back to sleep. (well, at least I did, can't vouch for what the others did)

So I get up three hours later, and find out that instead of hard time, this little dude got released back into the nearby field from whence he came. He also got REWARDED for his crime! Yes, he got cheese! Sounds just like some of his human counterparts, doesn't it? Never leave justice in the hands of a 14 year old.

Real Life Mouse Adventures

My daughter has been sick, I say with the flu. (flu swab came back negative) Woke up Thursday morning with fever and chills. Got progressively worse. Did take her to the doctor the same day. Anyway...fast forward.

She was feeling better Saturday evening, other than her cough. I was planning on keeping her home from church, as she had a fever still Saturday morning. (ya know the rule-stay home until you are fever free for 24 hours, with out fever reducers) Sunday morning about 5:00 am, she was awake coughing, so I got her a drink and rubbed Vick's on her back. She used her inhaler. I go back to bed as she settles back in. Then I hear, "MOM! There's something under my bed!" Me-"Are you sure?" Daughter, "YES!" Me, "It's probably just your fan blowing something." So daughter tries to go back to bed. I settle back in, really wanting to go back into a deep, deep sleep. Just about to drift off, and I hear daughter JUMP out of bed, turn on the light, and say, "Mom, there IS something in my room! I saw something move under my closet." Well, I couldn't find anything, so I went back to bed, and left daughter in her bed with her light on. I just get comfortable, when I hear, "AAAAAAAAAAA! Mouse! See, I TOLD you there was something in my room!"

to be continued..........

Looking in the Mirror....

As an adult, and more so after having a child, and after home schooling, I felt "different". My past, and all my experiences up to now, have shaped me into who I am. (well, GOD used them to shape me into the better person I am today) The fact that my mother has been married three times. Even the person I married. I vowed I would get married, and STAY married. I found a down to earth, good-looking, hard working, country raised and fed, church goin', good-looking man, from a really great family, with strong morals and values, whom I love dearly. (no pressure there to live up to higher standards, now is there?) That description sounded like a country song, didn't it? :) We've been married 19 years, this past May!

As a parent, I started to "judge" things by different standards. What was once okay for me to watch on TV or the movies, is now too vulgar. Why didn't I see that before? What I did as a teen, no way, no how will I make it that easy for MY teen to do. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't the local "bad girl", but neither was I the local "good girl". I say this is maturing, and some people even do it with out GOD as their guide, so why is it, that there are some people who just don't "get it"? They never seem to grow up and be the parent? They still party, drink, cuss like a sailor, ...etc. I feel like I am in the minority, different than everybody else.

After I started to home school our daughter, I became less "sheeple" minded. In other words, I learned I did not have to follow the masses, or do what had always been done, or follow the "gubments" dictates. If someone had told the teen me I would be a VERY conservative, home school mom, I would have said no way!

I was a "good" mom, who kept her baby on schedule, to the letter, for her vaccinations. I am not against them, (the older ones that have withstood the test of time) but looking back, knowing what I know now, I WOULD have had her on a delayed schedule. Some of these new ones, I would not give my daughter.

I am interested in home remedies, patriotism, self-sufficiency, being prepared for political emergencies, natural disasters, etc....you could have knocked me over with a feather had you told me that was who I was going to be. Now, I say I am interested, and to that point, I have not done a lot to be prepared, other than reading about it. It does require some currency to get started. I'm working on that. (By the way, I am a member of a great site where you can learn all about "preparedness, surviving in a down economy, political emergencies, patriotism, or natural disaster type emergencies. It can go a little overboard, in some areas...you know, "the sky is falling". Just message me if ya want to know the site)

In my own opinion, I think a mother/wife should be at home, if possible, and if it is what the husband wants. If that's not different than societies expectations, I don't know what is. I believe in getting back to our "roots". Close extended families, visiting friends and relatives on Sundays after church and staying all day, businesses being closed for the Sabbath, families working together, school mates respecting one another.....simpler times, and yet more difficult in that it required commitment and hard work!

I don't know what made me think about all this tonight. I can't quite put the finger on what I am feeling. Sorry to have rambled....

So, what are your "reflections"? :)

Have a very Blessed Sunday!

Death By Flashlight.......Almost

Let me start by saying I am sick...sore throat and stuffy nose. Makes it hard to sleep. So...the other night I made several middle of the night trips to the bathroom to get a drink and what have you. On my third or fourth time out of bed, I decide I need some Tylenol, as my throat was REALLY hurting. I grab my flashlight that I keep by the bed, and start down the hall. (I didn't want to turn the hall light on, as it shines right in our room, and would wake hubby up) Keep in mind, I am sick, don't have my glasses on, and am very groggy. I get about 2/3 down the hallway, when what do I see??? A BLACK MOUSE!!! Eek! I took a step back, and instead of running into the closet, the thing just hunkered down. I was debating what to do.....should I wake hubby to take care of it? Sould I just "scare" it back into the closet it must have come out of? This whole time, it is still hunkering/cowering down, so, I decide I can at least "knock it out" with my trusty mag light. But wait, what if I miss, and it runs at me, or crawls up my leg?? I would surely scream, waking everybody up. But the mouse still was not running away as these thoughts run through my mind. So I decide to go ahead and use my handy weapon. As I start to raise my flashlight, the mouse is no longer in the direct light, and I can see that the mouse I was about to destroy was actually..........a small, 2-inch square, black box! Turns out, the way the light was shining on it, was making the shadow of the box blend in with the box, elongating the thing, and my movement of the light was making it appear as if it were moving. (hunkering down) Yeah....middle of the night adventures are great, aren't they? So, I left box where it was, and last night made another trip in the early a.m. for more Tylenol, and in no way did the box look like a mouse, it looked like a box with a shadow!

Bittersweet day

It's a bittersweet day here. My sweet daughter who I have had the pleasure of having at home the last 4 years, has gone to high school today. I will miss her sweet and loving nature on a daily basis. On the other hand, I will enjoy having "me" time again, (eventually) and hopefully getting my house back into shape. I have had some serious health issues in the past, and still don't have all the energy that I used to. I sure don't have the brain that I had, either. I say stupid things, the opposite of what I want to say. I think I remember something, then realize later that what I thought was right, was wrong. It is so frustrating! Home schooling was the best for our daughter morally, socially, and character wise, but not so academically. Had I not gotten sick, it might have been better. It is what it is, and hopefully, (prayerfully) she will be able to catch up, and get the help she needs from each of her teachers. She was not a bit nervous about going to "high school" at all, and was looking forward to seeing all her old friends, making new ones, as well as keeping her current ones. Of course I worry about the "wrong" kind of friends, but I also have taught her well, and I know, for the most part, she will measure her friends by GOD'S standards. I also am not so stupid as to say, "not my child".....However, I will trust her until proved otherwise.

~keep her in your prayers if you will (and me)

Have a Blessed day~Cat

My first test post....

Just testing blogger, to see if this is where I want to be. I was on Homeschool blogger, but I though I would move on, since our dd is no longer hs'd.

Why did I choose the title I did? (and yes, I know I left out the hyphen, can I fix that?) Well, the definition of Higgledy-Piggledy is:

adj. 1) in a jumbled, confused, or disorderly manner; helter-skelter adj. 2) confused, jumbled

You can probably expect my blog to reflect that, somewhat, after all, blogs reflect their creator. :)

One definition of flotsam is:

n. 3) useless or unimportant items; odds and ends.

That will probably describe what some of my posts could be categorized as.

I am sure other words could well describe my new bog, too....we'll get to those as we need to. ;)