Neufeld News

A Special Valentine

2011-02-21T12:02:00.000-08:00

"To my awsome family"

"From your youngest child"

Can you figure it out?

"Mike" is listening to his iPod.

"Dad" is not happily plunging the toilet, as it might appear.

He is actually filling up the spa!

"Mom" is holding a hair dryer.

"Dan" is playing the Wii.

So Happy

2011-01-15T22:02:00.000-08:00

I am insanely happy right now. Do you want to know what self-seeking, consumerist item makes me this way? We just replaced our electric blanket. I can be toasty warm all night. I can heat up my side of the bed before I even crawl in. Now, this is not some new product to enter our lives. No, in fact, this is our fourth electric blanket since we’ve been married. They tend to stop working just after the warranty period is up. Here is the scenario: I use my side of the blanket until it is burned out and stops getting warm, then flip the blanket over and switch controllers. Then I use the “other” side until that one is burned out, too. It finally came to the point last week where the preheat/high setting on the old blanket wasn’t doing anything on either side. I looked for electric blankets when I was at Costco and Target this week, but neither store had one (it’s January for goodness sake). Today, I found one at JcPenney’s. I am so excited.

It’s not like we live in Alaska or anything (although Tim would like to try living in Sitka). Fresno has an average high of 53 degrees in January. Most people would say, “just put another blanket on the bed.” But the problem with that is, your bed is still cold when you get in. It takes a good hour for my feet to warm up no matter how many blankets are on the bed. And, you know, for such a simple thing to make me happy, no matter how ridiculous, it’s worth it!

So what do you do with an old, broken electric blanket?

Mendenhall Glacier

2010-07-21T22:26:00.000-07:00

The Mendenhall Glacier was very cool to see. The visitor center had lots of interactive exhibits and a video. We took a little hike to the waterfall by the glacier. You can see the glacier on the left and it looks like a river in this picture.

Alaskan Cruise Day 8

2010-07-21T22:20:00.001-07:00

Debarkation in Seattle. We woke up and had breakfast and then left the ship. We sent our luggage ahead to the airport since we were spending a few hours in Seattle. Some friends from church drove to Seattle from Fresno, so they gave us a ride to the Seattle Center (Space Needle) from the cruise terminal. We wanted to see the Experience Music Project (which included the Science Fiction Museum also). That was a great place to see. They had a history of the Seattle music scene, a “lab” where you could learn to play different band instruments, and a stunning display of original dresses from The Supremes. They had a feature on Jimi Hendrix and his history and impact on music.

After that, we walked around Seattle Center where they had a food festival with lots of vendors and restaurants. Then we took the monorail downtown and walked to Pike Place Market where Tim got some smoked salmon. After that, we took the light rail train to the airport and came home.

Alaskan Cruise Day 7

2010-07-21T22:18:00.001-07:00

At sea until 6:00 p.m. where we docked in Victoria, B.C. We made the walk from the dock into town, which was just over a mile. Tim did some research before we left for some music or entertainment and came up with some options. We decided to try a presentation by “the Other Guys theatre company” at the Royal BC Museum entitled “Good Timber, Songs and Stories of the Western Logger.” We didn’t know what to expect by the title and weren’t really holding out too much hope. This was a fantastic presentation by six people performing different instruments and songs, and even a bit of poetry about the logging industry in B.C. A lot of it was tongue-in-cheek, but the musical performance was just incredible. We were very glad we chose that option. I really wanted to shop at Rogers’ Chocolates, but they were closed when we got there. We walked up Government Street a couple of blocks and then it was time to head back to the ship. We did one more pass up the Lido Buffet before packing up (as if we needed more food).

Alaskan Cruise Day 6

2010-07-21T22:17:00.000-07:00

Early morning in Ketchikan, we were there from 7:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. We were not there long enough to get to Misty Fjords unfortunately, so we took another tour around town. We ended up on the same van as eight others from our church. And, what a coincidence, out of three cruise ships, the little 2 year old boy from yesterday was on it too, but he was happy since it was early morning. We saw some salmon that were about 15 to 20 pounds and getting ready to run. There were still more eagles and totem poles. Some people were snorkeling in wet suits in the ocean and our driver said that to the killer whales they look the same as seals. We did a quick walk through town and then it was time to leave. Back on the ship, they could not keep up with everyone trying to eat at the buffet. Eventually, we got some lunch and then an afternoon nap. That evening was dinner and a show along with a dessert buffet late at night. How do people eat so much? One of the singers made up a little song: I’m eating my way through the cruise ship, I’m eating my way through the sea, I’m eating my way through the cruise ship, my friends they won’t recognize me.

Alaskan Cruise Day 5

2010-07-21T22:14:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Sitka and since the cruise ship could not get close to shore, we got to ride on “tenders” to get to shore. The tenders were the life boats on board and they could hold about 100 people. There were several tenders shuttling back and forth all day. We got on a tour van and saw the fishing docks where all the boats were moored. There was a sea lion that jumped out of the middle of the water with a fish in its mouth. The eagles swooped down to see if they could get anything, but the sea lion went under. That was cool. We saw a private boarding high school that was only for the Tlingits and paid for completely by the government. We drove around by Silver Bay and saw salmon berries, which are like raspberries. The tour guide said we could stop and pick some, which we did. We saw a brown bear habitat with two bears in it. They were rescued as cubs because their momma died. When raw meat was thrown in, the bears would do tricks, like stand on their hind legs with their arms raised or sit on a tree stump. There were lots of eagles to see up close and watch them eat the scraps. We stopped at a totem pole place and a river there held a legend that if you drank from it, you would never leave Sitka and if you did leave you would return. There was a family with a 2 year old on the tour, and why they decided to trap this boy in a van during nap time is beyond me. He was not happy that afternoon. After the tour, we looked around town and stopped for a late lunch. We had some salmon chowder and a burrito. There was “free Sitka internet” curiously enough.

On the ship, we saw quite a few more whales in the ocean. It was formal night again for dinner and at the rate everyone was eating, we should have been wearing bathrobes instead of dresses. The ship was swaying a bit but nothing like the first night. I should have videoed the pool on that first day at sea; the pool was sloshing over each side whenever it would tip that way.

Alaskan Cruise Day 4

2010-07-15T17:18:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Juneau. We got off the ship and purchased some bus tickets to the Mendenhall Glacier. The sky was overcast and it rained all day. Once at the glacier, we went to the visitor center with some great displays of glacier life and history. There was a lake at the bottom of the glacier and a big waterfall on the side. We were able to hike to the waterfall and get a little closer to the glacier, but it was a 3 mile hike around the mountain to get to the actual ice, and we didn’t hike that far.

On the drive back, we saw lots of bald eagles waiting for the salmon run. The eagles were bigger than what I thought and they were so full of thick feathers, it almost looked like fur. They appear next to the inlet about a day or two before the salmon appear, so the locals know that the salmon will arrive shortly when the eagles show up to wait.

We had lunch on the ship and then walked to a local coffee shop, the Silverbow, for a coffee and wifi. Then we went up the Mt. Roberts Tramway, which is a tram that hangs on a cable and seems to go directly up because it is such a steep climb. At the top, there is a visitor and nature center and some trails. We did a hike through the rainforest with lots of lush greenery. There was also a short movie about the Tlingit natives. After riding down the 1,850 feet, we were going to do some shopping, but Tim saw a friend getting on the tram so he quickly ran through the entrance since the tickets were for a day pass. He did another ride up and down while I hit some shops. The goods are all touristy type, so we didn’t find much to buy that we couldn’t get in Fresno.

We hit the high seas again this night, but fortunately it wasn’t as bad. Next stop: Sitka…

Alaskan Cruise Day 3

2010-07-14T16:40:00.000-07:00

Waking up to smooth seas was wonderful. We were cruising through an inlet and it felt like we were stopped. But we were still traveling the same speed as yesterday. The captain said we were running late on our schedule because of the high winds and rough waters. We saw lots of whale tails and blows. We saw lots of small dark dolphins, but I’m not sure if they were actually dolphins or something else.

When we entered Glacier Bay, a boat of park rangers pulled up to our ship and they climbed aboard a small rope ladder. They provided information on the Bay and the glaciers. We were able to walk on the front bow while we were in Glacier Bay (“Jack, I’m flying!”).

I guess I didn’t know what to expect when we got to the glaciers. Maybe I was thinking something more North-Pole-like. They were so incredible. The mountains were about halfway covered with snow, with lots of trees and granite. Right in the middle of all the green, brown, and white would be a huge slide of dirty turquoise blue ice that was thousands of years old. It was really cloudy so we couldn’t see the tops of the glaciers. But we saw a big calving and several smaller ones. All of a sudden you could see a mound of ice start to fall into the ocean and make a big splash. Then you would hear a loud crack and splash.

When the ship turned around, we went back to our room and sat out on the veranda to view the glacier. It was just awe-inspiring. In the midst of the view, we could still hear people moving about on their verandas or going to get more food. I inwardly wished everyone could just be still and quiet and appreciate this natural beauty. I almost could imagine some of them standing before their great Maker, but only worried about food and comfort instead of the beauty of God. When we left the glaciers, sea gulls came right up to our veranda to take bread from our hands. We found out later that we weren’t supposed to feed them. Oh well...

Alaskan Cruise Day 2

2010-07-14T16:38:00.000-07:00

We woke up the next day and had to use the hand rails in the shower. We were rocking so hard that just walking down a straight, narrow hallway was difficult. After commenting at breakfast how nice it was that we weren’t seasick, I started feeling woozy. At lunchtime, it wasn’t getting any better and we noticed that there didn’t seem to be many people out and about. They even had a supply of barf bags at the elevators. I sent Tim for some ginger ale and motion sickness meds. He said they were handing it out like candy. Hmm… Finally, at dinnertime I was feeling much better so we ventured out to the “formal night.” We were seated next to our friends and one of their daughters was also very seasick. They went running out of the dining room before the food even came.

Tim was not bothered at all by the motion and, in fact, enjoyed it quite immensely. He went up to the top deck in the front of the ship and had fun listening to music and reading for hours at a time. He asked the crew about the rough seas and they said it was quite bad. It was funny to watch people because everyone would catch their step and lean one way simultaneously. There was not a whole lot to see in the way of scenery since we were at sea all day.

We seemed to stay in our beds, although it felt as if we could roll off at any minute.

Alaskan Cruise Day 1

2010-07-14T16:37:00.000-07:00

We flew to Seattle from Fresno at 5:30 a.m. Sunday morning. We each packed a suitcase and carry-on, and Tim brought his mandolin along. The flights were uneventful and we caught a taxi from the airport to the cruise terminal. Once on the ship, we grabbed some lunch and then went to our stateroom. We got a “veranda” with our room and could sit outside to watch the scenery. On the starboard side we watched all the food and luggage get loaded on the ship with a crane. The first event with “Michael W. Smith and Friends” happened at 4:30 and the ship was just pulling out at that time, so we stayed on our veranda to watch it instead of going to the show.

Dinner was nice with lots to choose from. We have been eating lots of seafood by choice and it has all been delicious. About the time dinner was over, we were hitting the “high seas” and it was rough. Lying in bed, we were rolling up and down and back and forth. The curtain was swaying and the closet doors were banging. I kept waiting for it to get still, but it never did.

Alaska Cruise Pre-trip

2010-07-14T16:35:00.001-07:00

Wow, it’s been so busy this summer we’ve hardly had time to prepare mentally for an Alaskan trip. We went from a week of VBS at church to a week of vacation up at Hume. Then we came home and spent time with Tim’s sister and family. Preparing for an Alaskan cruise was hard to find time to do, but we managed to review a few tips about what to pack. Several (unlikely) things were suggested like bug spray, waterproof shoes, and a rain jacket.

We visited REI to get some items and I found some waterproof shoes to try out. After a day, I had bruises on the tops of my feet so I took them back and tried another pair. The next pair made me trip over my toes, so I exchanged them for a different pair. Those still weren’t comfortable, so I finally went to a different store and purchased a pair of trusty Asics and a can of waterproof spray. The shoes are great, but I haven’t yet had a chance to see if the waterproof spray works. A new rain jacket was necessary, too, since my 15 year old one is not rainproof anymore. We found that out when we went to Gilroy Gardens in December and it rained. I also purchased a pair of REI travel pants which are worth their weight in gold because they are so comfortable and functional.

Let’s go to Alaska!

Worship Team Farewell Party

2010-06-19T22:37:00.000-07:00

The NFC worship team had a farewell party to celebrate Tim's 10 years as the worship leader. It was a lot of fun with a lot of good food and a lot of happy kids. Thank you to everyone for the nice gift!

Tim was given a shirt with one of his frequent sayings on it. It was really neat to be in a group of people where every person immediately understood the humor of the shirt (inside joke, I guess you could say).

The Cover Girl Challenge

2010-05-16T17:21:00.000-07:00

Here is my review on a couple new products from Cover Girl. I got samples to try out from BzzAgent.com which is a word-of-mouth marketing network. I report about my "word-of-mouth" about the products, and they give me free products to talk about.

Cover Girl has an eye shadow stick called Smoky Shadowblast for eyes. For lips, they offer Shineblast Lip Gloss. I received Silver Sky for eyes and Smolder for lips.

I started out with clean, makeup-free eyes and documented each step with pictures. (And it is not easy to take your own picture without looking cross-eyed, ha ha.)

Here is the "Before" picture:

Here is after "Step 1" which is a rounded end for shading the lid:

Here is after "Step 2" which is a tapered end for lining the crease and lids:

Here is after adding my own eye liner and mascara:

Here is ONE HOUR after application:

Here is TWO HOURS after application:

Yuck! This product is not worth the time it took to remove it!

Here are my naked lips:

Here are my lips with Shineblast Lip Gloss:

So, a little gloss and not much color. I think I'll stick with other glosses. I don't need to apply color and then apply gloss. A one-step product would be much better.

I would not recommend either of these products. What do you think?

Hot Wheels and Ebates

2010-05-11T20:07:00.000-07:00

For a fun look at how Daniel sorts the Hot Wheels cars at church, see Jessica's blog. She loves to find things that come in every color, so when I saw the cars lined up according to color, she is the first person I thought of.

Do you need to make an online purchase? If so, do not proceed until you go through ebates.com. Sign up for free (with a $5 bonus) and start earning little rebates each time you make a purchase online. Most stores you would ever need are available (with the exception of Amazon). They mail you a check about every 3 months. When I signed up a couple of years ago, there was a $10 Target gift card bonus and they mailed it within a week. Different stores have different rebates and they have different incentives from certain retailers. I have ordered from Dell, Expedia, Ebay, Restaurant.com, Old Navy, Sephora and more! Just ordinary online shopping has earned me about $100 in free money each year. Follow "my" link below and sign up! It's free!

Tracy's Ebates Link to Sign Up

The hard part is remembering to ALWAYS go through ebates.

Track Meet

2010-05-07T22:12:00.000-07:00

Today Michael had an in-house track meet where just the one school competes before going area-wide. He ran the 100m, 200m, 400m, and Long Jump. I think my arms and legs would fall right off if I had to sprint 100 meters. The top three in each category get to go on to the area-wide meet with all the Clovis West feeder schools. Michael will find out next week if he goes on; they have to place all the heats first.

During the meet, they have several events going simultaneously, but none of them are in any hurry to start the next race. It's a lot of standing or sitting around interrupted by short spurts of speed. Music is blared out of the sound system while an occasional voice announces, "5th grade boys 200 meter, report to the starting line."

The Toothpick Shudder Story

2010-04-20T21:02:00.000-07:00

Tonight Daniel found a toothpick lying on the counter. He picked it up and turned it around a few times before tossing it across the room on the floor. I said, “Go pick it up. Never leave a toothpick on the floor.” He asked why not. I replied, “Don’t you remember the story about Nana and the toothpick?”

A few summers ago, Nana stepped on a toothpick. It was at the cabin. The cabin has barf-colored indoor/outdoor carpet that hides a lot of things, namely toothpicks. The toothpick broke on impact and neither Nana nor Papa could tell if part of it lodged in the wound. They went to the Hume infirmary. Then they went down the hill to urgent care. Then they went to the ER because urgent care could not do surgical type injuries. After numbing the foot and digging around for a toothpick fragment, they stitched the wound and prescribed pain meds. After all that excitement, they needed a vacation, so they went back up to the cabin.

I was telling Daniel this story and I got to the part about Nana having to go to the hospital and numbing her foot with a needle, when he quickly covered his ears and shuddered horrendously. Full-body, face-scrunching shudder. “No! Don’t tell me anymore!”

I don’t think he will throw toothpicks on the floor anymore.

The Good 'Ol Days

2010-04-11T17:17:00.000-07:00

Last night we ate dinner with my parents and grandparents. My grandpa was a boy when he emigrated to the U.S. from Russia. We sometimes get him to talk about his World War II days or even further back to when he first moved to America and only spoke Low German. But most frequently, the conversation will revolve around the local Mennonite Brethren church. They like to compare the church my family attends with the church they attend since both are of the same M.B. denomination. It’s never in a competitive spirit (my church is better than yours), but more of a quantitative comparison. They want to know the ages of members, the race of members, how many families attend, how many children go to Sunday school, what songs do we sing, how many organists there are.

They talk about the days when their church used to be made up mostly of “our people” (Mennonite Brethren defined as being Germans from Russia or their descendants). They lament the smaller choir and lack of organists and pianists. They mourn their friends who once overflowed the Sunday school classroom. They miss the special music at youth night and Sunday evening services. They are hesitant that you can really learn the Bible sitting in the living room of someone’s house (unless it’s the youth group). They don’t understand why people now walk in and out during the church service; people didn’t do that before.

Of course I don’t debate with them. I never do. This is their faith; in a world that has changed so radically they want to wear their faith like a favorite sweater. It really has nothing to do with fear of change as some may think. It’s more that they’ve embraced so much change already, their faith is the steadfast rock they turn to. Life’s complications can be endured as long as there is a pulpit and an organ on Sunday mornings.

The church my family attends is hard to quantify. Just taking attendance on a Sunday morning reaps questions. Does it count if people come in for the last 20 minutes? Last 10 minutes? What if they tried to make it but the bus was late? Does it count if they are “here” but not sitting in the pew? We frequently hear the phrase “I’m a member of your church” from strangers. We know they have not taken the membership class and been officially received into membership, but their children come to the sports club or tutoring club. What if you only come on Wednesday nights, but you come every week. Does that count for anything? What if (gasp) you worship on Saturday nights so you can have Sunday free? I’ll take it one further: what if you attend every meeting put on by the church at your apartment complex, but you’ve never actually set foot on the church campus?

What is church? By defining church, are you being exclusive when you think you are being inclusive? What influences shape a church compared to the direction leadership wants it to go? What about defining the legal aspects of being a “religious institution” 501(c)(3) and yet living in a world that separates church from state? I think it is going to be harder and harder to define “church” in our society, but the followers of Christ will continually turn to the Bible (Acts) for foundational guidance. Forgive my rambling thoughts, but this doesn’t even address the biblical issue of resting on the Sabbath. Can you go to the Saturday night service so you can sleep in on Sunday morning? Does that count?

All Scripture is God-Breathed

2010-04-06T08:33:00.000-07:00

Last night I was reflecting on life and thought about the passage in 2 Timothy 3 that says all scripture is God-breathed (NIV), as in living and breathing; alive. So I looked it up to get the context and see what else Paul had to say to Timothy. I like the New Living Translation:

15. You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus.
16. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right.
17. It is God's way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do.

Wow. So instead of fretting over what to talk about with my boys regarding life and death, I can help them learn the scriptures. They will gain wisdom, truth, and righteousness. They will be prepared and equipped. And I particularly like the part about, “it straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right.” I’ve got a 7-year-old that could use some scripture teaching lately…

Talking to the Boys

2010-04-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

After attending three funerals in two months, death seems to be on the brain. But more so, talking to my kids about death seems to be on the brain. Here are the things I want them to understand:

Everyone dies. My sons seemed to be sincerely amazed when I told them this. But I shouldn’t be surprised. What child would want to think about it? And when you’re young, old is old, whether you are 25 or 85. To a child, life span means nothing, and when a grandparent dies, it is the exception and not the rule.

You will feel bad when someone dies. You will be sad. When you think about that person, you will remember they are gone and it will hurt bad. Remember when we dug up that plant and there was a hole in the ground? Our heavy soil left the hole with sharp, defined edges. We could even see marks from the shovel edge.

But it won’t hurt this bad forever. Just like a skinned knee or bumped head, bad pain from grief won’t last forever. While grief doesn’t go away as fast as a skinned knee, eventually the pain is duller. Kind of like that hole in the ground, the rain will soften the hard edges and the crumbling soil will fill in the depth a bit.

It’s okay to be happy when you’re sad. You can go to school and play with friends. You can learn math and music and make believe. You can be happy and sad at the same time; it will just be a different kind of happy. Like when we planted a new plant in the hole. We could still tell that the old plant used to be there, but the new one brought anticipation.

Love Jesus, don’t fear death. It’s scary thinking about dying, but Jesus tells us he has a really cool place for us when it’s time for us to die. That’s how faith works. None of our ancestors have ever come back from heaven to say, “It’s really true! There really is a God and a Heaven!” We have to believe it even though we haven’t seen it yet.

Sigh. I wish I was one of those great moms that could teach all of life’s lessons in full comprehension to my boys. I wish they could have an in depth adult conversation with me so I would know how much they understand and what I still need to work on. I wish they could download everything I want them to know, like Neo in The Matrix. Most of all, I wish impossibly that they would not have to experience the pain of grief.

October Top Ten

2009-11-17T21:35:00.000-08:00

10. Tim's dad successfully made it through heart surgery and is recovering well.
9. Community Carnival at church
8. Daniel's birthday (my baby is SEVEN!!)
7. Tracy's birthday (29. AGAIN.)
6. Yummy chocolate cake with strawberries (thanks, John)
5. Taking a quick trip to North Carolina
4. Seeing U2 in North Carolina
3. Seeing Muse in North Carolina
2. Seeing U2 in Pasadena
1. October is finally over! That was a little too wild for me!

Event Staff Woman Goes Berserk at U2 Concert!

2009-11-11T16:47:00.001-08:00

This one lady spent the majority of the concert making chop-your-head-off motions with her hands. She encouraged the males to her right to use their flashlights to shine in the crowd's eyes. She was concerned that people were videoing the concert. She was going after us one by one, hoping to get through all of us, I suppose. I noticed that she was the only event staff doing this. She also confiscated a beach ball. I can hardly write this without laughing. She. confiscated. a. beach. ball. She was so busy running around trying to stop people from doing things, she reminded me of Data in that Star Trek movie where his emotions make him crazy. She also reminded me of my neurotic dog running from window to window, back and forth, barking like crazy. It was so fascinating watching the other CALM event staff compared to her, that I had to attempt to catch her in action. (I just pretended I was videoing the concert.) Can you see the otherwise splendid view of Bono and Edge? Ugh, just ruined by this one crazy lady!

Dear Carter-Finley Stadium: I really enjoyed the Muse/U2 concert in October. I thought your stadium was clean and had lots of toilets (unconventional placement, but plentiful nonetheless). I wish you had vendors selling food outside for those of us in the GA line. You could have made a killing off us! And thanks for holding off the rain that day. We didn't have any parking trouble at 3:00 p.m., although I'm sure you've gotten your fill of complaints from people who missed the concert because of the terrible situation. I wasn't too thrilled to spend an hour and a half sitting in the parking lot after the concert. But could you please remove someone from their job, because they are a seriously negative spot on your otherwise passable venue. Thank you.

U2/Muse Concert

2009-11-09T21:34:00.001-08:00

The actual concert was amazing! It is so neat to look back to this concert and notice the differences between NC and Pasadena. When we walked into the stadium, we were handed paper masks of Aung San Suu Kyi with eyeholes that pop out. Anyone that is a fan of U2 or even braves the GA crowd KNOWS who this person is. Anyone, that is, except the pretty boy with designer clothing standing next to us. He could not figure out why they were handing him a mask of Clay Aiken. Anyway, the mask was supposed to come out when U2 sang Walk On so we could all be the face of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Muse came out and did several songs from different albums. They had so much energy and Matt is extremely talented on the guitar. There was a U2 fan on the other side of me (not the pretty boy) who had never heard of Muse. After they played, he was ready to get some of their music! I'm sad they didn't play "Knights of Cydonia" and "United States of Eurasia." But we'll have to wait for them to come back out next summer. Please come to California!!

U2 came out and did an amazing job! You can read about their concerts and set lists anywhere, so I won't bore you. We stood right in front of Edge and watched him, like, right there! And after a few songs, the brilliantly bright full moon was just hanging out in the sky like he was there to see the concert as well. (That was the only day it didn't rain while Tim was there.) And a funny note about the field: On the actual grass field (covered by flooring) were 30 port-a-potties all lined up in a row. All these toilets were right there in the back half of the GA field! I feel sorry for those folks who had to stand next to them all night; phew!

And one more note about the concert. This one deserves a separate post just for the full effect. Coming up... Event Staff Woman Goes Berserk at U2 Concert!

U2/Muse Concert Trip, Day 2

2009-10-14T15:39:00.000-07:00

We finally made the decision. You remember we had to decide whether I would go stand in the GA line at 7:30 a.m. while Tim went to the conference, or both of us go together at 3:00 after the conference session and be further back in line. We took a risk by getting in line later that day and maybe being at the back of the floor at the concert. (Or, we could get lucky and be close enough to the front.)

Tim needed to be at the U2 conference by 9:00 and we had one rental car. The hotel is in the middle of nothing. Do I sleep in and have a leisurely day at a decent hotel without a car, or go explore? Explore, of course! After Tim got dropped off, my first thought was to find a Starbucks and then check out Duke University. So I punched Starbucks into the GPS and she took me to some sort of stadium with a business center across the street. Everything looked pretty deserted and the business center was closed on a Saturday. So I kept driving and dead-ended at the Durham Farmers' Market.

There was a booth selling baked goods, so I got a chocolate donut muffin and a buttermilk donut muffin. There were lots of greens to purchase and many of them were "simmering greens." (What are simmering greens?) There were lots of potatoes, but no fruit anywhere. After browsing, I took my donut muffins back to the car and tried to find Duke. It was pretty deserted on a Saturday morning, so I asked Ms. GPS to take me to the mall (there's got to be a Starbucks at a mall, right?). Ms. GPS had me turning and merging and exiting at all the correct locations, but when she said "take the motorway," I was stumped. Nothing said "motorway" on the road signs and there were two freeways dividing up ahead.

"Take the motorway," again.

I needed a translater. Which way was I supposed to go? Can't you just say "take the I62 north" or "exit right?"

"Take the motorway." Seriously, which one is the motorway?

Well, at least she can redirect me if I take the wrong freeway.

Whew, made it. Found the mall, found Starbucks, even found a gas station. Now, I needed to find some lunch before getting Tim and heading to the concert. Hey! Cracker Barrel is out here! Ms. GPS, please take me to a Cracker Barrel!

After half of a chocolate and half of a buttermilk donut muffin and coffee for breakfast, I found some more hearty (read "high caloric") food at Cracker Barrel. (I am telling you the truth, that meal lasted through dinner and on into midnight.) Then I went to get Tim, and wouldn't you know Ms. GPS took me on a gravel road at a different university? She knew exactly where she was, but it wasn't where I wanted to be. After arguing with her a bit, she grudgingly took me to Tim's location and then we headed to the stadium.

The GA Line: We got in line around 3:30 and found out they would open the gates at 5:00. Lots of people were tailgating in the parking lot and in the GA line, people were camped out with chairs and coolers. As it got closer to 5:00, most people stashed their belongings as we could hear U2 doing a sound check. Around 5:30 they opened the gates and we made a mad dash for the floor. We managed to get to the center stage about 4 or 5 people back. Yay! (On the floor, they don't have any seats. It is "standing room only" and everyone rushes to get a spot. Once there, you have to hold your spot until the concert starts.) Had there been an "elipse" on this tour, we would have been in it! One good thing about going this early was that so many cars were trying to get in the stadium, a lot of people missed half the concert. After the concert, it took us about an hour and a half to get out of the parking lot.

Coming up: The Muse/U2 Concert!

U2/Muse Concert Trip, Day 1

2009-10-08T17:20:00.000-07:00

Friday, October 2: I am so excited to go see my favorite two bands, U2 and Muse, playing in North Carolina. Tim and I got GA tickets (!) and we are debating our attack to get to the floor. Drop me off at the stadium early (conference is 30 minutes away) to get a spot, or take our chances and show up at 3:00 in the afternoon? We are still undecided.

Tim left on Wednesday for his academic conference on U2. He and a student are presenting a “paper” at this conference (which is a big deal). Unfortunately, at FPU all budgets have been cut for faculty to do this sort of thing, but the expectation for faculty to do this sort of thing was not cut. To raise money for expenses associated with presenting a paper at an academic conference in North Carolina, the Bible department sold zwiebach. I baked lots of zwiebach. I raised a lot of dough. And I baked. And I pinched. And I greased. And I bagged. Repeat. Repeat again. You get the idea.

So back to Friday. Tim’s dad had triple bypass on Tuesday, which necessitated that his sister come out from Ohio. We were so relieved she was here! When he came through with flying colors, Tim proceeded with going on his trip. When recovery kept improving, I proceeded with my trip.

Flying from Fresno to the east coast is never an easy thing to do. Heck, flying from Fresno to anywhere is never an easy thing to do, unless you’re just going somewhere like San Francisco or L.A. (which, in that case, you would drive your car). Leg one: Fresno to SFO was uneventful. I’m not particularly fond of heights, but my love of looking out the window at the “miniature” cities usually wins out. (This is why I also love the Peter Pan ride at Disneyland.) Leg two: SFO to Dulles was long. I grabbed a sourdough bowl and clam chowder from Boudin Bakery (yum!) and talked with Tim until it was time to board. We are still undecided about the GA line and what to do. I watched The Terminal with Tom Hanks on my ipod during the flight. (I highly recommend this movie while flying. You will crack up when you land and walk into the airport.) At Dulles, I grabbed a salad before my flight and called the boys. Leg three: Dulles to Raleigh/Durham was short, but on that horrible Airbus 320, it felt like forever. I really really don’t like the Airbus 320; if I wanted to ride Tower of Terror, I would go to Disneyland.

Raleigh/Durham airport: Made it! Tim is at a screening for a movie associated with the conference, so I told him to take his time. While waiting for him, I noticed that my skin started feeling rather sticky. I also started smelling my hair products melting in the humidity. Nice. Tim soon pulled up in the smallest Hyundai ever made and we were off to the hotel via the GPS lady (more on her later). We are still undecided about the GA line but leaning towards an afternoon arrival.

September Top Ten

2009-10-05T16:39:00.000-07:00

10. Michael started running in cross country at school.

9. Daniel started playing on the soccer team.

8. Michael is learning how to play the trombone in beginning band.

7. Daniel is learning how to play the piano.

6. U2/Muse tickets arrived in the mail and flights booked for October 3 Raleigh concert.

5. Saw Peter Frampton in concert at the Madera fair with Tim and Dave.

4. Saw Phil Keaggy in concert at the Hume Country Fair with Tim, boys, and my parents.

3. The Resistance by Muse is released in the U.S.

2. Tim’s sister comes for a visit from Ohio because…

1. …Tim’s dad had a triple bypass and came through it beautifully.

August Top Ten

2009-09-02T15:54:00.000-07:00

Whew! August flew by so fast that I'm not sure I can come up with ten things to write about. But, here goes...
10. The tooth fairy visited Daniel again.
9. The tooth fairy visited Michael again.
8. The Fresno Library saw a high volume of transactions on our account.
7. Highly recommend the "Gregor" series for kids by Suzanne Collins (even I enjoyed them).
6. Barbecued trout!
5. Greek Festival feta cheese and olives.
4. This makes the list for Daniel: Going to Chuck E. Cheese with Mom while Dad and Michael were gone. Tracy's statement to the Chuck E. Cheese host while standing in "line" at an empty register: "Seriously, I've been standing here for 10 minutes waiting to give you my money and no one is in line in front of me. Can you call someone??"
3. Time at the cabin!
2. Michael started 5th grade.
1. Daniel started 1st grade. ("Mom, they made me stay at school the WHOLE day!")

Peaches, Camping and Tomatoes

2009-08-03T22:18:00.000-07:00

Every summer, I await the ripening of O'Henry peaches. They are such a bright, pretty color, and during the grey days of January, I pull out a quart jar of canned peaches and remember the warmth and sunshine of August. (By January, the sweaty memories of Fresno in summer have faded a bit.) So each summer I wait, knowing that sooner or later, the sunshiny goodness will arrive. It is a countdown that is more based on weather than calendar.

Will it be the last week of July or the first week of August?

Will it be a good crop?

"Dad, can you save me three boxes?"

This year, we have exploding pits. (That sort of sounds like a Harry Potter item, like "Blast Ended Skrewts" or "Decoy Detonators.") Not that the peaches explode or anything, but the pits have popped open inside the peaches. Mostly we get "split pits" in the culls, but this year a lot of the peaches were starting to get rotten in the middle. So it took a bit longer to do the "peach thing" this year. But my pantry and freezer are cheerfully swaddling my sunshine babies for a gloomy day. Bring on the rain.

Er... Never mind.

The boys went camping with Tim. They packed up their sleeping bags, tent, food, entertainment, firewood, clothing, first aid kit, tarp, chairs, water jug, blankets, bug repellent, lantern, flashlights, and pillows and headed off to the Sunset Campground. Tim actually went "Motorcycle" camping there last week and said it was quieter than Azalea (but now don't you go camping at Sunset because that would ruin it). Motorcycle camping is where you put everything you need to camp in all the little bags on your motorcycle. That is actually going a bit too far for me. So this week, Tim took the truck and the boys and the big 18-person tent. That's how I like to camp. Not to mention flush toilets. And a camp stove. I am awaiting their return with stories of adventure and dirty laundry.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, by which I mean our house, I finally have "grandma tomatoes" this year. My grandma and grandpa grow the absolute best eat-them-or-lose-your-eternal-salvation tomatoes on the planet. I have tried to grow good tomatoes each year, and have failed miserably. One year, I got quite a few tomatoes, but they had bad taste and texture. So this year, I asked the grandparents to buy me a 6-pack (of tomatoes, shame on you!) when they bought theirs. I planted at the same time, watered the same way, and fertilized on schedule. Now I too have big, red, juicy tomatoes that beg to be eaten sliced, with fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, EVOO, and a splash of balsamic. Mmmm.

July's Top Ten List

2009-07-27T16:27:00.000-07:00

10. Air Conditioning
9. Air Conditioning with solar panels
8. O-Henry peaches are here this week
7. Getting the house painted
6. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
5. Homemade ice cream
4. Spending time with family
3. Selling the 1997 CR-V
2. Purchasing the 2006 Honda Pilot
1. Visiting the urgent care and subsequently the ER to rehydrate Michael after he was sick for 3 days, and spending the night prior to that imagining the worst like pancreatic cancer or e-coli, and praying that is was "only" the stomach flu but wondering why the vomiting won't stop if it was "only" the stomach flu, hence the pancreatic cancer self-diagnosis. (It was only the stomach flu... Really, that's what Dr. Bryan said.)

"Sleepy" by Daniel Neufeld

2009-07-24T19:40:00.001-07:00

The Big Bad Wolf by Daniel Neufeld

2009-07-23T16:05:00.000-07:00

Translation:

One day, three little pigs were walking down the road when they saw the Big Bad Wolf. "Aaah," they cried! Then they ran away.

The End.

Quirky Cabin

2009-07-13T22:23:00.000-07:00

So I think that when Tim's grandpa was building the cabin 40 years ago, he hired a giant and a dwarf to design the bathroom.

The giant was hired to install the robe hook on the bathroom door. This giant is seven feet tall and he wanted someplace to hang his overalls so they would not drag on the floor while he took his shower. Seriously, why is there a need to have a hook placed so high off the ground? The mice can't jump that high. At least we have a step-stool in the bathroom so I can reach it.

The dwarf was hired to install the sink. Can you see the height relative to my leg? Standard counters are about a foot higher than this. If you want to wash your face or brush your teeth, not only do you have to crouch down for the water, but the spigot only comes out about an inch. So once you have your face all lathered up (while crouching down), you hope that the water will be caught with your fingertips and puddle up in your cupped hands to splash water on your face. But wait, there's more. The hot water faucet will slowly decrease in pressure until there is no water coming out. You can keep turning the faucet and the water will keep slowing down. And all this is happening while you are crouched down with soap in your eyes.

Now off to ponder why the staircase is made of steps so narrow that you have to walk sideways...

;)

Hume Vacation

2009-07-09T18:52:00.000-07:00

We got to spend eight nights at the cabin recently. The boys did some fishing, swam in the lake, and played outside. I did lots of reading and caught up on sleep after a busy week of VBS. Tim got his fishing poles restrung (is that what you do?) and played his mandolin. We were able to relax and have fun as a family. The only problem with that much relaxing and sleeping is that you get your internal schedule all out of whack. The first morning, you sleep in. Then that evening you stay up to watch a movie. Then the next morning you sleep in even later. Then that evening, you're not tired and stay up even later. It's a vicious cycle, I know. At least the boys are sleeping in also... they used to wake up bright and early in their early years.

We had some visitors during our vacation. My mom brought up my grandparents for the day Tuesday. They had some lunch and then enjoyed the outdoors on our deck. We had some ice cream at the store and then it was time for dinner. All that relaxing works up an appetite. When Friday rolled around, Tim's parents joined us for the weekend. And we worked hard relaxing with them. We drove to Cherry Gap to watch the fireworks on July 4. They look like tiny colored Q-tips from that elevation. We could see at least a dozen different shows in the valley cities.

We had some other visitors as well. A few weeks ago, we went to the cabin for just a couple of nights and noticed mouse evidence. We knew Tim's cousin and her family were going to the cabin after us, so we warned them to bring mousetraps. The final count from their stay was 14 mice! Yuck! The week we were up there, we only caught six. But it gets better...

Here is the lovely Fire King oven. This bad boy has been known to bake cakes, cobblers, and roasts, all without breaking a sweat.

Here is the back of the oven with the panel removed. We took off the panel to investigate why the oven smelled bad when we used it. Look close, can you see it?

EWWWWW!!!

The boys helped stack firewood further away from the cabin to comply with fire safety. They stacked it so it would resemble a fort, complete with "Keep Out" signs barring the entrance.

And what made the return home even better was a cool 95 degrees to unload the truck in. Usually it is 108 and 4:00 in the afternoon.

June's Top Ten List

2009-06-24T21:12:00.000-07:00

10. Strawberries
9. School summer vacation
8. Tree fruit
7. First day of summer
6. Longer daylight
5. Going to the cabin
4. Summer blockbusters
3. Solar panel "true up" for the year
2. Time spent with family
1. VBS!

Sleepy Boys

2009-06-23T19:02:00.000-07:00

I can't help it. I really can't. When I see this at night, I have to capture it. I have so many pictures of them sleeping, I don't know what to do with them. So I'll share them with you.

My sister-in-law used to say that kids could be naughty all day, but when they sleep they look so innocent. Not that my kids are EVER naughty, nope not mine. These little angels are perfect!

;)

At the Mountains

2009-06-23T18:53:00.000-07:00

We went to the cabin a couple of weekends ago and met some friends at Grant Grove for dinner one night. It was COLD and cloudy, but the boys had a blast with their friends. Tim brought his mandolin for sitting by the campfire. We all brought an ingredient for taco salad and had a yummy dinner. Lots of dessert and even s'mores to follow that!

2009-04-17T16:11:00.000-07:00

Pismo

The weekend of Palm Sunday, we headed to Pismo.

We managed to get one of the last rooms at the Kon Tiki and it was conveniently on the ground floor. We had a sliding door out to the pool and beach stairway. It is 110 steps down to the beach, just in case you were wondering. The boys had a blast building sand castles and finding sand dollars. They swam in the heated pool numerous times and sat in the spa with us. The first night, we got there too late for the sunset, but the second night we ordered in a pizza and sat on our patio to watch the sunset. Now, I'm not usually a sentimental type of person, but one of my favorite things to do is watch the sunset on the edge of the west coast. There is just something about being on the end of the continent and watching the sun descend on the horizon. I wonder if I would enjoy the sunrise on the edge of the east coast? That is something I've never done before. And since I'm not a morning person, something I'm not eager to do.

Then we played a game of Monopoly (Pixar version) and sat in the spa before bed. The last day, we hiked down to Dinosaur Caves and looked at some tidepools. Then we had great taqueria food at Tio Alberto's right next door to Old West Cinnamon Rolls.

2009-03-21T15:31:00.000-07:00

Don't Buy Stuff You Cannot Afford

2009-03-19T18:51:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day with some friends, Irish food (corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, Irish soda bread, Irish cream cake) and Irish music (U2). Daniel had lots of fun at kindergarten because they have been seeing little green footprints in the week leading up to St. Patrick's Day. On the actual day, the class went on a hunt around school to find the leprechaun, but when they got back to their classroom, the room was "all messed up." Daniel said his heart was beating fast because he was just a little bit worried. The floor rug was turned crooked and the room was messy. There was a pot of gold chocolate coins waiting for them (but no leprechaun). Michael made sure to wear green and his luck that day was a rolling backpack that finally fell apart beyond use. His old backpack was in shambles and yet he refused a new one because of the sentimental feelings he had for it. Yay, he doesn't look like he has a bad mom anymore!

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind always be at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face,and rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

2009-03-10T21:36:00.000-07:00

Out of the Mouth of... Daniel

Tonight we saw that the neighbor boys were practicing their batting in the front yard. They finally got some wiffle balls instead of using baseballs! (The neighborhood was starting to get nervous... ) So Tim said something out loud like, "they got some wiffle balls." Then Daniel walked up to me and quietly asked if he could have some for his snack tonight. I asked, "some what?" He answered, "some waffle balls." Ha, leggo my eggo!

2009-03-05T19:36:00.000-08:00

Dear God, I am requesting a ponytail like I Dream of Jeannie...

...because it's going to take a lot of magic to clean my living room!

Do not be anxious about anything (like dust and Legos), but in everything...

...by prayer and petition, present your requests to God. (Did you see that one little request up there at the top?)

And the PEACE of God, which transcends all understanding (and 6 & 10 year old boys), will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

2009-03-01T16:23:00.000-08:00

Semi-Annual Walmart Shopping Trip

This might sound blasphemous to some of you, but I seriously do not like shopping at Walmart (gasp!). In fact, I go out of my way to avoid shopping there. If you remember from an earlier post, I calculated that my savings had to be at least $6 over what I would pay elsewhere for the same thing. And I am really starting to think that $6 is well spent elsewhere. What prompted me to shop somewhere I can't stand? I was taking a risk. You see, I had a shopping list that required things from a grocery store, fabric store, hardware store, office store and drug store. So I took a risk that Walmart might actually have these things in stock. I know they have shelves and price tags in the store for the things on my list, but the gamble here is whether or not they actually have the product. Besides, so many people rave about their savings and love of the store. I don't think the California stores are anything like the midwest stores. Someone told me the stores in the midwest are all clean and nice (kind of like our Targets) and not at all trashy and dirty like these.

It is mid-morning, the boys are in school, and I am BY MYSELF! This should be easy! First up, a USB drive for Michael's school project. The USB drives are located in a locked glass cabinet. The electronics counter is vacant, so I visit the photo counter. The guy walks to the aisle and says, "oh it is locked." Like I didn't tell him that when I said "Can someone please open a cabinet for me?" So he gets his keys and then realizes that he doesn't have the keys to that particular cabinet. He tells me to wait a moment while he finds the electronics guy, and then they both come back to unlock the cabinet. USB drive... check! Next up, some denim iron-on patches. Almost all my boys' jeans have holes in the knees. The patches will hold us through until shorts season. Yay, Walmart has the "other" denim color, but not the faded denim color. Just an empty hangar on the wall. Patches... half a check! Next up, Legos for a birthday gift. Do you know that Walmart does not sell Legos?!? At least, last week they did not. Seriously, no Legos?? Even the Walgreens down the block sells Legos!! Ugh! Next up, hair gel. I walked up and down the hair product aisle about 5 times. Where is the hair gel? Where are half the hair products for that matter? I asked the girl stocking the aisle (and blocking about 2/3's of all the product with her cart and not offering to move or even taking a hint for that matter) where all their hair products were. She said they were restructuring the layout and would have more in about two weeks. Seriously? No hair gel? In Walmart? Sigh... I am starting to really hate Walmart. Next up, some flour. YES! They have flour in stock! Next up, I look for an outlet plate. Score! 24 cents! Finally on the list, some Sudaphed... no score. Just an empty display.

So I still had to go to Target after all.

After I got home, I grabbed all the bags and just set them on the floor in my bedroom. It was lunch time and Daniel and I were hungry. After a while, Daniel said, "Mom, Mickey is chewing on something." I couldn't find anything so I told him it was probably something stuck on his paw. After a while longer, Daniel said again, "Mom, Mickey looks like he is trying to eat something, but I can't see anything." Mickey's snout was all white and pasty looking. He had white paste over his mouth, and his chest and paws were covered in something sticky. I went to the kitchen and the trash cans were all secure. I went to the boys' bedrooms and nothing was chewed up there (other than the pencil remnants from last week). I went to my bedroom. There on the floor was a chewed open white plastic Walmart bag. Beside that, there was the flour bag laying on its side with the front torn off and flour spilling out. Did anyone expect dogs to eat flour? Do I really need one more thing to clean up? Can I find a way to blame this on Walmart?

Sigh!

2009-02-20T16:51:00.000-08:00

The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round

The boys like riding the schoolbus to and from school every day. At our bus stop, there are around 10 to 15 students that ride the bus. The bus driver this year likes to bring treats for the kids on Fridays like Tootsie Pops. Today he brought donuts for the kids on the way TO school (hello sugar!). Daniel took a maple bar, which is his favorite (mine too). When he got home at noon, he told me that he had a donut he wanted to eat (I thought he got one on the way home, but I didn't see it anywhere). So I told him to wash his hands first.

Me: "Where was your donut?"

D: "In my backpack."

Me: "Did you put it in your lunch box?"

D: "No, it's too hard to explain."

Me: "Did you wrap it in something?"

D: "No, I just put it in my backpack." (Imagine me with a frozen smile.)

Me: "What else is in your backpack?"

D: "Oh, just my folder." (Whew!)

Fortunately his backpack is fairly new, so there's nothing too ugly at the bottom yet. His backpack got a nice wipe-down today.

2009-02-18T16:53:00.000-08:00

Tour of California at Shepherd and Minnewawa The boys and I headed out to watch the Tour of California go past. How can you NOT go see it when they are just a couple of miles away from our house? So we drove on Minnewawa as close as we could get and then parked and walked up a block to Shepherd. Front row view! Here is the front of the group. We missed getting a picture of the first 3 guys because they zipped by so fast.

The Amgen website has fantastic streaming coverage, so when they got close to Millerton, we left home to go watch it live and we only waited about 10 minutes. The whole time we were waiting, there were all the vans and video motorcycles zooming past. I think every CHP and police car in California was also having fun on the route. And then after about 5 seconds, it was over. So the boys didn't even have time to get bored. Well, Daniel said he was bored, but it may be "opposite day" today, so I don't know if he was bored or entertained. Anyway, I got to see Lance Armstrong up close (it was a blur, so I'm just telling you I saw him, really).

2009-02-17T19:30:00.000-08:00

Taco Tuesday
Every Tuesday is Taco Tuesday at the Neufeld house. We LOVE tacos! Most of the time it is ground beef tacos, but we also do chicken tacos, fish tacos, and tonight we had carnitas tacos. Yum! Here is what I did:

Yesterday we had slow-cooker pulled pork barbecue sandwiches. When you get a pork shoulder roast on sale, it is quite economical.

Put a big pork shoulder roast (or pork butt roast, great name BTW) in a slow cooker.
Quarter one onion and put in pot.
Add 5 or 6 peeled garlic cloves.
Add 1 cup beef stock (or make with boullion cube).
Season with salt/pepper.
Cook on low for 8 hours. Shred with fork and serve on your favorite bun with favorite barbecue sauce. Melts in your mouth! This goes well with coleslaw, too.

For carnitas, take remaining meat and save for the next day. Strain liquid from slow-cooker and save. The next day: Place shredded pork in a baking pan and pour 1/2 cup milk over. (I know, sounds weird). Bake at 325 for 1 hour. Stir/scrape meat off pan and pour 1/2 cup of reserved meat broth over. Every 15 minutes, repeat the scrape/pour process until meat is crispy to your liking. Season to taste and serve in tacos! Muy bien!

2009-02-16T15:01:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day Aren't spur-of-the-moment, last-minute plans sometimes the best? We usually don't do anything special for Valentine's Day because we can't stand the crowds or cheesy romantic meals at restaurants. So when Karen Ray called to see if we wanted to come over for dinner, it worked out great! She made yummy chicken parmesan and for dessert we had chocolate mousse with vanilla sauce and rich coffee machiattos. Then Tim got out his mandolin and Dan got out his harmonicas and they goofed off a little before it was time to head home.

2009-02-14T12:11:00.000-08:00

My Stubborn Son
Last night I made soup for dinner. It was good soup if I do say so myself, as did Tim and Michael. Daniel is our picky eater and wasn't interested in the soup. He is probably better described as a stubborn eater rather than a picky eater. It's all in the motivation. We usually have to hold off giving him a 2nd serving of things like bread or pilaf or corn (his favorites) until he finishes the "real" food first. So last night he wanted another biscuit with honey and we told him to eat more soup first. Actually, we have to tell him in more specific terms, like "eat 5 more bites first." And he usually tries to bargain his way down: "how about 4 more bites?" So we play this game just about every day ("if you don't eat 5 bites, then it's going to be 6"). He knows that if he doesn't eat his dinner, we will save it and heat it up for him when he wants a snack later. He even acts like a martyr when he finally eats his dinner (at 8:00): "Fine, I'll EAT it... (sigh)." So back to the soup. Last night, he had about half his soup left. By half of it left, I mean like 5 green beans and 2 bites of ham. We don't give him very much because we know what he does. And we also don't force our kids to lick their plates clean. But we do make them eat enough to get nourishment. Have you seen our skinny kids? They COULD use a little meat on their bones. But I digress. So Daniel really doesn't want to eat any more soup. I know he is not full; I know he is not sick; I know he is being stubborn. So we clean up dinner and leave him sitting at the table. He knows he can quickly gobble up a handful of bites and be done with it, but he doesn't. After an hour (!!) I heat up his soup again and he takes 2 bites of ham. He still doesn't want to finish it. So Michael starts practicing his guitar and I pick up a book to read. Daniel just sits at the table.
Me: "Daniel, all you have to do is eat those green beans and you can be excused."
Daniel: "How about just one green bean?"
Me: "No, all the green beans, and if you can eat more than one bean in a bite, it will be just 4 bites."
Daniel: "But there is a tomato in my bowl."
Me: "You don't have to eat the tomato."
Daniel: "How about one bite?"
Me: "If you can eat all the green beans in one bite, then that's fine."
Daniel: "Oh, all right."
So after TWO hours, he finished his soup. We even had fresh brownies waiting for him, but that wasn't a good enough motivation. How can this kid be so stubborn that he would choose to sit at the table for 2 hours rather than just go "gulp, gulp, gulp" and be excused??

2009-02-13T11:04:00.000-08:00

Dental Implants
Yesterday I had my 2nd implant "installed." Or do you say "implanted?" It was a lot easier than 3 months ago when I had my tooth surgically extracted with a bone graft. They have to wait 3 months for the bone graft to turn into real bone and then they can do the implant. So, like I said, this is easier; my cheek is swollen (picture a cartoon monkey) but at least all my teeth don't hurt like before. I can chew pretty normal on the opposite side. Yesterday, for some reason, I was not as doped up when I came home and my mouth did not stay numb all day as before. This alertness was nice, but had to be sacrificed for the Tylenol/Codeine pain relief. Today, ibuprofen is the drug of choice, but I think I'm secretly looking forward to tonight's codeine-induced sleep.

In my previous post, I mentioned my aversion to needles. Here's my IV story from yesterday: I get to the surgeon's office a few minutes early and try to stay calm while waiting. I have complete confidence in the surgeon and trust him totally. The assistant calls me in to the room and starts checking my blood pressure and heart rate. Calm, stay calm. Then she gives me the release form to sign, which says that I'm going to have my #6 tooth extracted, a bone graft, and a dental implant while under IV sedation. I correct her and say that obviously I have already had my #6 tooth extracted and also a bone graft. I'm trying not to get nervous. She leaves for a few minutes and then comes back with a corrected form. I sign the form. Then I'm waiting and waiting and trying to stay calm. Finally the dr. comes in and gets my arm ready for the IV. I do really good when I don't watch and ignore the "pinch" of the needle. (They always say "small pinch" right before they stick you; why is that?) Because I was trying to ignore the whole needle thing, I forgot to remind him that my right arm always has trouble with the veins (I have agonizingly learned this during the past 10 years). So after 3 or 4 "small pinches," I'm trying not to pass out and manage to mumble "you did my left arm last time." He feels really terrible about this and says that most people would be screaming at him by then. So I try to look away as he moves to my left arm (which took about half a second for the IV) and I see the blood on my right arm and the assistant getting a needle ready. And that is the last I remember.

Now during my needle-distraction, I asked lots of questions while the dr.'s hands were busy. I found out that about 90% of wisdom teeth extractions are done under IV sedation and about 50% of dental implants are done under IV sedation. The reason most people don't do the IV sedation is because they either have a severe aversion or they physically can't be sedated. At my appointment 3 months ago, the dr. tried to distract me with questions about the election. Did I think there were going to be any surprises? Did I vote? etc. I asked him if he liked his job. And he gave me the best answer. He stopped and said "I love my job. If I had the choice to do it again, I would absolutely do the same thing." Whew! What a relief. And then I was asleep.

I can't wait to see my x-rays next month. The implants show up bright white on x-rays and it's interesting to see how deep they really go. I'll try to bring my camera and see if I can get a picture. Almost makes me feel like the Terminator or something. Cool!

2009-02-09T13:28:00.000-08:00

Catching Up
Michael: Michael recently ran for student body office for the position of Safety Commissioner. I still don't have a good idea of what this all entailed, but since there were 5 students running for the position, I knew there was a good chance that a defeat wouldn't bother him too much. It was a great experience for him; making posters, writing a speech, and then giving a speech to his school. The girl that won is such a neat girl, so Michael was happy for her. Michael also turned 10 last month and had a Wii birthday party. He had some friends over to play video games and our house has never emitted that level of volume before (I even asked our neighbor about it). I had no idea 5 boys could make that much noise. We gave Michael a guitar for his birthday and he is already learning so much. The guitar comes much easier for him than piano does. Can you guess who he takes after?

Daniel: Daniel is new territory for a 6 year old. He is so funny and frustrating; such a constant contradiction. He wants to be so independent because that is what they teach in kindergarten, but he doesn't understand that he has to obey when he gets home. "I'm gonna get some marshmallows." (His favorite food.) "No, Daniel, it's almost dinnertime." "Well, I'm just going to have a few." "No, Daniel, you need to obey." "But it's just a few... waaaaaaaa." Sigh... And then he can be so funny. This morning we were lounging around in our jammies (no school today) and he said "MOM, why do you still have your jammies on?!" "Well, Daniel, YOU still have YOUR jammies on..." and then he just laughed and laughed at that. Saturday, Tim and I went to the $3 movie theater and Daniel asked why they were going to Nana's house. So I teasingly told him that we wanted to go have fun without him. Any other day, he would have laughed and joked right back, but yesterday he started to cry. Sigh... Like I said, constant contradiction. And it doesn't help that he is so cute without his two front teeth; try not to laugh at a 6 year old when he is trying to be serious. Today he wanted to wear shorts so bad, and when he asked if he could wear short pants, I told him sure. Fifty two degrees is plenty warm for shorts!

Tim: You can catch updates on Tim's blog, but the most recent family news is his truck. It has a hole in the radiator. And while his truck is not exactly family, it does put a strain on our hectic life with one car. If it was nice and sunny, this predicament would not be an issue, but who wants to ride a motorcycle in the rain?

Tracy: After Thursday, I will have implants. Sorry, I couldn't resist the pun... I already have one implant and the next one this week will make it two. My #6 tooth (or lack of) will be getting a nice titanium post pounded into my upper jaw. Three months ago, I had that #6 tooth surgically removed and a bone graft put in. But the worst is over and hopefully this will be nothing more than an inconvenience. I actually heal pretty fast and my tolerance for pain is surprisingly (shockingly) high. Except that I don't handle needles very well. Did you know that in high school I actually half-way fainted in Biology when we had to do blood typing? I had to dive for the girls' restroom to heave. And I had to drive an old truck to my tiny country high school? And I just don't dance or do well in sports? And I would prefer jeans or sweats to fashion? Hmm, who does that sound like? Yes, Cindy, I am in fact a Bella! Go to Cindy's blog to see who she is. By the way, if you are considering the vampire movie, just say no! They should have paid ME to sit through that. Stick with the books.

2009-01-17T15:06:00.000-08:00

International Food

Prior to a couple of years ago, I had never really ventured into the Indian food arena. Our previous pastor traveled to India and came back with stories about food and eating with your hands. The recipes didn't seem to appeal to me. The most I had ventured out was traditional Thai and, later, fusion Thai and was intrigued by the counter-balance of flavor: the sweet vs. sour, spicy vs. cool, texture differences in the same dish. Then, after our current pastor suggested Indian food for a staff meal, I was on a quest to try out these recipes. I made a dish for our family, but the boys did not like the spicy and complex taste. There were so many new and exciting recipes to try: butter chicken, chicken korma, curry a million different ways!

I volunteered to make a dish once a month for InterVarsity's International Student Fellowship, a group of international college students that meets every Friday night. The guidelines for making the meal suggested that spicy dishes that could be served over rice were popular. Cool! Automatic guinea pigs for my cooking! After trying several recipes from my favorite cooking site, allrecipes.com, I moved to uncharted territory. I quizzed my Indian friends and bounced ideas off them. They gave me suggestions and instructions. After a few tries, the best dishes that turned out were the ones that balanced the texture, the spiciness, and the flavors. Here is the recipe I made yesterday for the World Welcome Party:

Crockpot Coconut Chicken Curry

4-5 lbs chicken
2 onions, coarsely chopped
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, finely chopped
whole bulb (head) of garlic, finely chopped
2 cans (28 oz each) crushed or diced tomatoes
1 lb carrots, chopped or sliced
1 lb red potatoes, cubed
2 cans coconut milk
Bag of frozen peas
Fry Gosht spices (or use garam masala, turmeric, curry, chili powder, etc.)
Salt to taste

In large crockpot, place chicken, onions, ginger, garlic, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes and spices. Cook on low for 8 hours. Stir in coconut milk. If sauce is too thin, uncover and switch to high (I had to transfer to a stockpot to cook it down). When consistency is good, add the frozen peas (do not add sooner or peas will be mush). Serve over rice. You can also make this on the stove top.

A few notes: in this recipe, it worked good to coarsely chop the onion and finely chop the ginger and garlic. Minced garlic would be okay, but the "balance" of chopped ginger and garlic worked better. You could also puree the onion and canned tomatoes in a blender. I've done this when I serve to my boys, but otherwise the larger size onion pieces add a nice "bite." My Indian friends told me about this Fry Gosht spice mix you can get in the store; add more or less to taste (I thought it was a mild-to-medium spiciness, but that is highly subjective.) I have also successfully thickened a dish like this with instant potato flakes; add 1/2 cup at a time until desired consistency. You can make a different dish by omitting the coconut milk and adding 1/2 cup of butter instead.

2009-01-12T20:37:00.001-08:00

The tooth finally came out!

Here is what it looked like when only one tooth was missing.
This is still before that tooth could be pushed almost horizontal with his tongue.

And here is what it looks like after the tooth came out.

Daniel is saying "5" with each hand because he has lost his 5th tooth!

Compared to Michael, he is virtually a whole year earlier than Michael in losing those 2 front teeth.

2009-01-08T19:16:00.000-08:00

Clarification

Just a clarification on the previous post that I do NOT play the Wii Fit with a fritter in one hand and the Wiimote in the other! But, thanks John, that is a mighty fine idea! I've got some stashed away in the freezer and I hear that you can reheat them but they aren't quite as good as fresh. (The fritters, not the Wiimote!) I'll keep you posted.

2009-01-06T22:05:00.000-08:00

Recovery
I think I've recovered from the fritters. I lost count after eating about "four" and decided that I didn't need to eat anything for a few days. Well, at least not for dinner anyway. Our family has been having fun on the Wii Fit. It is so stinking hilarious! Blocking soccer balls with your head while avoiding the cleats being thrown at you is really fun. And the tightrope walking is fun, too! I have become a Yoga Master and I've only done two days of it. Jogging is the easiest form of exercise as well; you just shake the wii-mote and it thinks you're running! The boys found out that if you run faster than your guide, your mii will fall down. Funny! Tim likes the ski jump but I can't seem to get very much distance. I'm sure in 10 years The Simpsons will be mocking this fine gem of electronic gaming, but for now it's brought our family closer!

2009-01-01T15:49:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year!

I made New Year's Cookies (Raisin Fritters) for the first time today. Mmmm. Just like the MCC Sale! I found out that there are as many different recipes for these as there are Mennonite women. The one I chose was a good one, and I didn't even have to call Grandma Betty for advice. Here's the one I used, but make sure you have lots of neighbors, friends and family close by!

2 packages yeast
1 C. warm water
3 tsp. sugar
2 C. milk
1/2 C. butter
2 tsp. salt
6 eggs
2 C. raisins
8 C. flour
Oil for frying
Sugar for rolling

And here's a translated poem about it:

Portzelky

I saw your chimney smoking,
I knew what you were making,
You were baking New Year's cookies.
Give me one, I stand still.
Give me two, I start walking.
Give me three, four, five at once,
Then I wish you the Kingdom of Heaven.

2009-01-01T15:33:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was pretty relaxing. The boys didn't get up early (considering they were up past midnight the night before). I warned them that I got them new pajamas that they had to wear. Michael was eager to and loved his pajamas. Daniel was very reluctant and only wore them because I told him he had to long in advance. Of course the next day he wanted to wear his "soft" jammies again. After opening presents, we went to Reedley in the afternoon. We always have green pancakes made by "Grandpa" for Christmas, and this year was no exception. We had so much food! Green crepes with fruit and whipped cream, baked omelet, cinnamon rolls, jello salad, green salad, fruit salad, and pie for dessert. Good thing I got a Wii Fit for Christmas!

2009-01-01T15:15:00.000-08:00

Disneyland

We were at Disneyland before Christmas and had lots of fun. On the way down, we had to stop at Ikea to get some more shelves to complete our office. Plus it was dinner time so we had to get some meatballs while we were there. We stayed at Desert Palm and Suites this time. We had trouble finding any hotels with vacancy even back in November, so I called Ares Travel since they are recommended by Mouse Savers. They got us some great rates and were easy to work with since we needed four rooms. Daniel's "new" rides were Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, and Mulholland Madness. Michael's "new" rides were California Screamin and Matterhorn. Day 1 was raining. Like raining all morning. We braved the storm with ponchos brought from home. The parks were really empty and even when the rain stopped in the afternoon, people stayed away. Day 2 was beautiful weather and crowded parks. Day 3 was forecast to be stormy, but it never rained and the parks were empty. Tim and Michael rode Space Mountain four times in an hour. We drove home on Christmas Eve and it took us six hours to get home. It was bumper to bumper all the way from Anaheim to the Grapevine. Then it rained on the Grapevine. It's a good thing we got a dual screen DVD player for the car! The boys watched three movies on the way home.

2008-12-16T21:39:00.000-08:00

Daniel's Winter Holiday Program

Tonight was the Liberty school program. It's a holiday program that happens in winter but you can't call it a Christmas program. The classes sang songs about Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa, because I think if they wanted to sing about one religious holiday, they had to sing about all of them. Daniel sang great and did great motions. We invited the grandparents to join us and then have dinner at our house afterwards. One set showed up, but not the other. After the four-minute kindergarten presentation, we went outside to collect our son and lost track of the grandparents. We figured we would meet up at our house. So we called the other set on our way home and found out that they completely forgot about it, but might stop by anyway. After arriving at home, I finished up the last minute dinner stuff and waited for the grandparents. And waited. And hoped they didn't get into a car crash. And hoped they didn't misunderstand "come over for dinner" for something else. And called all THREE of their cell phones (which were all turned off). And then finally decided to start feeding the family amidst Michael's cries of disappointment. What was that parable about the feast without any guests? Knock knock. One set of grandparents arrives. Ding dong. The other set of grandparents arrives. All is well and tummies are full. Daniel was so proud and excited for his program. Finally it's his turn to be a star!

Neufelds-Dancing With The Stars

2008-11-25T21:58:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

2008-11-25T19:26:00.001-08:00

Happy Anniversary and Merry Thanks-giving

This week, six years ago, we moved into our house. It was so nice to be back in a house after living in an apartment for a year waiting for it to be built. The first morning in our house, I sat at the dining room table and soaked up the bright sun pouring in through the east window. The cramped apartment had one window and we ended up with houseplant casualties. What was supposed to be four months in a tiny place with three people and a dog turned into 12 months and four people and a dog. Thanksgiving week six years ago, we got the keys and started painting. Michael brought along his box of Legos to play with while we painted and Daniel was a month old so he slept. This is a favorite picture of our house because it is so "springy" looking. When things turn brown about this time of year, I like looking at the green plants and the sunshine.

Christmas creep!?! Yesterday I heard Christmas music playing on the radio station (isn't that supposed to start on Thanksgiving Day?). And there were no less than three houses on our block already decorated for Christmas! Today I went to Costco and Michael's and the parking lots were full. Regardless of what the news is saying about people hanging onto their wallets, I have not seen the evidence yet. Maybe it's the $1.75 per gallon gas. It's not even Thanksgiving (and even I like to have most of my Christmas shopping done by then). But I must admit, I started listening to Christmas music back in October. I got Sara Groves' new Christmas CD for my birthday, so I had to crack it open and give it a spin. It's a fun new album with new tunes on old Christmas favorites. She has a few originals as well, like "Toy Packaging," about the frustrations of trying to get a new toy out of it's packaging, and "To Be With You," reminiscing about family holidays. So... in the meantime, I'll get ready for a yummy Thanksgiving dinner and wait 3 more days to start decorating for Christmas.

2008-11-05T14:26:00.000-08:00

Batman and Sonic the Hedgehog

2008-11-05T14:20:00.000-08:00

Michael's Jack-o-lantern

Daniel's Jack-o-lantern

2008-11-05T13:35:00.000-08:00

October Highlights...

Michael got to play soccer in the rain and he thought it was pretty cool. This was the week that we brought the snacks, so we also got to roll along the ice chest with our chairs, jackets, and umbrellas.

Tracy's Birthday

For my birthday I thought it would be fun to get all the free restaurant food I could. I had already received a voucher for a free oatmeal at Starbucks, and I had a gift card that I used for a skinny caramel latte. Yum. I chose the dried fruit and brown sugar toppings. Then on my way out, I grabbed a bag of grounds for our compost bin.

Next, for lunch, I headed to Rubio's. You have to sign up online and then you get a free meal for your birthday. I chose the grilled mahi mahi burrito since I wouldn't normally order something like that. It was delish, but the fish was a teeny bit overcooked. I think I might like it better with a fried version instead of the grilled, but I knew what was coming up next for dinner...

After signing up online, Red Robin gave me a free burger basket. I got my favorite Whisky River Barbecue Burger, or whatever they call it. Michael was at soccer practice, so I saved half of it for him to eat when he was done and he gobbled it up.

And last, but not least, Cold Stone Creamery gave me a "like-it" size ice cream with one mix in. Cake batter ice cream with Twix bar mixed in. Mmmmm.

2008-10-10T16:11:00.001-07:00

Do not leave alcohol near your jack-o-lantern!

Tony sent me this humorous picture. Made me laugh.

2008-09-14T20:33:00.000-07:00

Tonight's Entertainment...
The boys love U2.

2008-09-11T20:50:00.000-07:00

Moms In Touch
Today was another weekly Moms In Touch meeting where the moms from our school can get together in a home to pray for the students, parents and staff. The first time I heard of MITI (Moms In Touch International) was years ago when a parent of a high school student shared about it in church. But what's really funny is that she has a New Zealand accent and always said "Mums in Touch." And for a while, I seriously thought there was a group called "Mums in Touch." I only just found out that our school has a group back in May. It is run so great: exactly one hour long, come when you can, don't worry if you miss a week, no gossip. But the thing I like the best is that there's no "God Bless America" attitude. What I mean is, we don't pray for the school to be the best and win all the games and give glory to Clovis Unified, as though no one else is worthy of God's blessings. This is a time to sincerely pray for each staff person and the students and parents who need intercession. I've gotten to know a few other moms whom I would not have had the chance to meet otherwise. It's a lot of fun to minister with other moms from many different denominations.

2008-09-09T18:22:00.000-07:00

Careers are chosen early
Michael told me that he had to learn how to build houses so he could go to Africa and build houses for people who couldn't afford it. He wanted tools and he wanted his friends to learn, so they could go with him. I told him that an architect or engineer would be great for a job when he grew up. He used to draw "contraptions" even as young as four years old. But on to the bigger issue... "Michael, did you know there are places a lot closer that have poor people who need houses?" Really? "Yes, places like Mexico or even Canada!" No way. "But for Mexico you would need to learn Spanish." Oh, I know a few words. "And guess what? Pastor James knows how to speak Canadian, so he can teach you!" Awesome!

Daniel made a "first aid kit" last year at church. It's a white paper bag with die cuts of bandaids and a stethoscope. Inside, it has real bandaids, cotton balls, and cotton swabs. Currently, it is almost shredded and has had supplies replaced numerous times. He took it to preschool almost every day last year. Last week, Michael had a teeny tiny cut on his foot, and while he was showing me, Daniel ran up and peeled open a bandaid and stuck it on Michael's foot. He wants to be a doctor. I told him to make sure and go into a specialty where the hours and pay were good.

2008-09-09T18:09:00.000-07:00

Woo Hoo! Both in School!
On the first day of school, we had a Woo Hoo/Boo Hoo Brunch. I was definitely the Woo Hoo parent excited that both kids are now in school every day. Daniel enjoys his class and several boys from his preschool last year are in the same class. The first day, he was a bit nervous. Usually he is very independent and does his own thing, but that first day he didn't want to try anything new. Michael had a class full of 45 students, but now they are down to the mandated 37. He was sad to see a few friends get transferred to other schools and was pretty emotional coming home from school. Tim is back in school and enjoys the teaching part of it. He finished his 3rd year of doctoral studies and now is ready to start the dissertation phase. Tracy's school involvement is the PTC Treasurer and classroom volunteer.

2008-04-14T17:06:00.000-07:00

Happy Anniversary

In 13 years, we have remained BFFs, created two wonderful little boys, purchased 2 houses and 4 cars, loved 2 shelties, learned numerous ways to do-it-yourself, cleaned up more spit, puke and poop than I care to recall, pondered life's many decisions, and took many wild adventures together. Time flies when you're having fun!

2008-04-10T17:20:00.000-07:00

MCC Sale

We went to the MCC Sale last Friday night. The first stop was, of course, the fritter booth. While I stood in line, Tim took the boys over to get some hot dogs and we called Don and Phyllis with our German sausage order in another line. We all met back with food for dinner. I must say, the fritters were especially good this year... they were better than the last 2 years, IIRC. At the Ten Thousand Villages tent, I always buy a package of fair trade coffee. This year I was thrilled to find the "Bike Fuel" blend, so in honor of the recent bike trip, purchased this one. Also came home with some kettle corn. Jamie stood in line for zwiebach for an hour and 20 minutes! But rumor has it that the food ran out just after lunch on Saturday, so just another reason we like to go on Friday.

2008-04-03T16:51:00.000-07:00

Spring Break

During spring break, the boys and I went along on the high schoolers' bike trip from Santa Cruz to Morro Bay. We went along as the cooks and got to drive the RV. The first two nights were at churches, and the last 3 nights were in campgrounds. It was loads of fun and the hardest thing about it was packing up every night to stay at a new place. The students were a lot of fun and the boys enjoyed playing with them each evening. Here's the blog.

2008-02-28T16:30:00.001-08:00

Congratulations Mickey!

Mickey graduated from Beginner dog training today. He can "sit," "stay," "come," "wait," "down," "leave it," and "shake." Now it's on to Intermediate training.

2008-02-28T16:25:00.000-08:00

Another visit from the Tooth Fairy

Daniel lost his 2nd tooth this week. He just doesn't get rattled by that sort of thing. It's all natural and normal that his tooth will come out and he will be ready for the tooth fairy and in the morning he will check to see what was left for him.

2008-02-27T16:59:00.000-08:00

Library Elf
I just found a really cool website. Library Elf can send you email reminders of when your library loans are due and keep bugging you when they are overdue (if that's what you want). We go to the library about once a week and with videos (due in 1 week) and books (due in 3 weeks) that have a gazillion different due dates, it's hard to keep track. Add on to that, the Fresno County Library website is notoriously slow, and it's easy to procrastinate looking up all the due dates for lack of time. I've also tried the lengthy telephone response system, and the website is a teeny bit faster. So, at Library Elf, you just check if your library is supported, enter your account information, and tell it when you want reminders sent to you. How cool is that?

2008-02-23T21:33:00.001-08:00

This weekend's malady...
Today we spent 2 1/2 hours in urgent care to get a prescription for antibiotic eye ointment. Michael has pink eye, but is on the mend. Last night, the boys from the Bach Children's Choir sang the national anthem at the Falcon's hockey game. Later on during the game, Michael's eye started bothering him and by the time he got home, it was watering and full of eye boogers. And since our family has not had pink eye in several years, we were all out of those eye drops that most young families have stored in their fridge door. Had today been a warm sunny day, I would have been very disappointed. But since it was a bit rainy and windy, I did not mind the wait as much and was able to get halfway through "The Taming of the Shrew." Now that's a funny book! Michael also finished a Star Wars book and is ready to take an AR quiz on Monday to complete his quarterly goal. Tim and Daniel stayed home and cut down a tree that was starting to shade our solar panels. Maybe Daniel can help Daddy again when it's time to plant a replacement. Can't wait to see what next weekend has in store!

2008-02-21T15:14:00.000-08:00

Simple Pleasures

Preheated blanket when I crawl into bed

Sunset Magazine in the mail

Clean countertops

When Tim says, "Let's go to Sal's"

Remembering to program the coffeepot the night before

Waking up and STILL not catching the flu

Hitting all green lights on the way somewhere

Shopping at Costco at 10:00 a.m. on a weekday; filling up at the Costco gas station at 8:15 a.m. on a weekday

What's your simple pleasure?

2008-02-21T14:53:00.000-08:00

Alison Krauss-A Hundred Miles or More
Tim brought back a few gifts for me and the boys when he was finished with his classes at Fuller. The boys each got Spongebob cups that flash with swirly straws. I got an Alison Krauss CD. It's really good, and if you can appreciate bluegrass/country music, you must run to your favorite music retailer and get this gem. Most of the songs are sad ballads, but don't let that scare you away. The music and production are outstanding. The critics didn't give it much of a nod, which usually means that the average joe will love it. Every time "Down to the River to Pray" comes on, Daniel says that's his favorite song. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

2008-02-21T14:20:00.000-08:00

Gryffindor: 11.4 points!
Michael took his AR Quiz on Harry Potter and answered 19 out of 20 correctly, thus earning him 11.4 points. Way to go Michael! We had to work hard on contrasting the book details from the movie since the quiz was only on the book.

2008-02-15T16:07:00.001-08:00

Of Blossoms and Harry Potter

Finally life is getting back into shape. We "enjoyed" several low-key days at home and Michael and I even knocked out a few chapters of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. That was one of the only things that could keep his mind off his bad headache. Wednesday, Daniel went to preschool and Michael and I got to watch more of the movie, Harry Potter, up to the same point we were at in the book. It's a lot of fun to read a bunch in the book and then watch it play out on the movie. That book is worth a whopping 12 AR points at school and I told Michael as soon as he passed the quiz, we would watch the whole movie at one time. It's fun to see how Michael understands the implied meaning of things instead of being told flat out, "Malfoy is a mean boy" or "Ron has a good heart."

There are some trees next door to Daniel's preschool that are just starting to blossom. I told the boys about how I grew up with trees blossoming all around me every February and that, at the time, it didn't seem like anything special. And now I can't wait for them to blossom because it's a little bright spot in the middle of a dreary winter. I said that we "had trees blossoming just right outside our door" and I still have to pull out my memory of all the pink blossoms and honey-sweet scent. Daniel asked if the blossoms filled up the doorway so much we couldn't get out. I explained that "right outside our door" was a sort of figure of speech. He asked what a figure of speech was. Oh, how those fresh little minds are ready to be filled.

2008-02-11T14:20:00.000-08:00

When the kids are sick...
The boys are sick with whatever it is that has school attendance dropping and church-goers not going. Daniel spiked a fever in a mere 15 minutes on Friday night and they are both coughing like crazy. Thankfully they have been sleeping all night which allows Mom to sleep all night and not wear down the immune system. Friday night: purchase more children's Tylenol. Sunday night: purchase more cough syrup. Today: need to purchase some children's Motrin since the Tylenol is not working on the headaches. Michael has that headache where it feels like your eyes are going to pop out, but no fever. Ugh. Everywhere you go, people have the same cough: grocery store, restaurant, class... What if a big X was magically stamped on your forehead if you were still contagious? Would you stay home from work or school? Would you give dirty looks to the person next to you with a big X? Would you (hee hee) cover it up with makeup? As a mom, I would want to tell a contagious person to go home and quit spreading their germs to my kids. On the flip side, how many times have I been contagious but felt well enough to go to work or church? Wouldn't it be great if there was a cold vaccine just like the flu vaccine?

2008-02-11T14:15:00.000-08:00

Irresistible Revolution
Quote out of a book written by a really weird guy (but who inspires many):
"The gospel is good news for sick people and is disturbing for those who think they've got it all together. Some of us have been told our whole lives that we are wretched, but the gospel reminds us that we are beautiful. Others of us have been told our whole lives that we are beautiful, but the gospel reminds us that we are also wretched. The church is a place where we can stand up and say we are wretched, and everyone will nod and agree and remind us that we are also beautiful."

2008-01-31T18:34:00.000-08:00

"I'm just going to sneak one when you're not looking!"
I asked Daniel how preschool was, and he said, "I don't want to tell you anything." This is a common reply these days and it's not because he did something naughty and doesn't want to talk about it. So I asked what songs they sang in chapel today (let me rephrase, I asked what songs the other kids sang in chapel today) and he replied, "I don't know." So I told him that when he was going to ask me for a snack, I was going to reply "I don't want to tell you," and when he asked me for something to drink, I was going to say, "I don't know." Well that got him pretty upset and he told me that if I was going to do that, then he was just going to sneak one when I wasn't looking. (Which, by the way, he used to do a couple of years ago. It got to be so bad that we had to lock our pantry door because we couldn't keep him out of it.) After his proclamation, I was laughing so hard that it made him even more upset, and I couldn't stop laughing about him getting upset at me laughing at him... it was a vicious cycle. So eventually he did tell me about preschool and he did get his snack and drink.

2008-01-31T18:27:00.000-08:00

Roller Skating
Today Michael went roller skating for the first time with the 3rd and 4th graders at his school for a reward. Mommy was pretty nervous that he was going to get the skates by himself, put them on by himself, and skate by himself. Mommy prayed all morning that he would have fun and that every little detail would work out and that he would not get a concussion. When he got home from school, the first words out were, "Cal Skate was so much fun! I have GOT to go there for my next birthday!" (See post below... this could be a very good idea.) When asked if he actually went skating and didn't have to hang on to the wall, he replied that he was able to skate around once he figured it out (with the help of a "skate guy"). Yay, thank you God!

2008-01-31T18:09:00.000-08:00

Yuck E. Chuck E.

Once again, Michael asked for Chuck E. Cheese for his birthday. Ugh. And this time we went on a Saturday. Double Ugh. It was so crowded that we had to wait in line just to get inside. But Michael was so excited because he invited two friends and they couldn't wait to play the video games. We finally got inside and our only choice was to sit at a table for 6, but with 8 people. We loaded the boys up on tokens and they were off. When our two pizzas finally came, the server proceeded to dump one of the pizzas on our coats while she set the other one down on the table. Another 25 minutes later, after first convincing the other servers that we were still awaiting another pizza, we had our second pizza. You would think the server that dumped the pizza could at least utter the words, "I'm sorry," but apparently those words are not part of her vocabulary. Or even offer some cotton candy or comp us a salad bar for greasing up otherwise clean outerwear. Sorry, Chuck E., you failed. But the boys redeemed their tickets for some mighty fine prizes. The favorite was loading up each hand with rings that bling'd of "$."

2008-01-31T17:57:00.000-08:00

The 6 month carrot

Planted in July, early harvest today. Many are still left in the ground to mature fully. Does anyone know how safe 6-month old carrots are to eat? It's too late for me since I tried a couple already. Some taste sweet and light, others taste heavy and woody. I'm wondering what kind of nuclear waste in our heavily-amended clay soil caused the deformities. Maybe after another 6 months the rest of them will be full size. Mickey saw me and Daniel pull some out and when we turned our backs, he pulled one right out of the ground with his mouth.

2008-01-16T17:03:00.000-08:00

Blue Man Group
Last night we went to the Blue Man Group concert at the Save Mart Center. We saw them the last time they were in Fresno and we had to go back for more. We were in the front row! Yes, the front row! Right by the stairs that they walk down on into the audience. We could have touched them! We should have touched them! It was such a fun show! We even got ponchos to wear, and I'm not sure if they were for the show or for the beer-guzzling lady next to us (how many cups of beer can you purchase and stash under your chair?). But what a dull audience Fresno is. They sat down the entire time! Tell me how you can SIT during such high energy! My favorite song is still "I Feel Love" with the lights, music, colors, ENERGY! The evening flew by and before we knew it, we were at Rock Concert Movement #78: The Fake Ending. But the audience DID get up for the Rock Concert Movement #3: The Up and Down Jumping Motion during the encore. Tim got some great footage and pics, and Michael is really excited that we took pictures for him. (Pictures up soon.) The boys love to watch the Blue Man DVD.

2008-01-09T19:34:00.000-08:00

Mock Green Bean Casserole
"I'll eat it as long as you take all the green beans out." ~Daniel

The offending food? Green Bean Casserole!

2008-01-09T14:43:00.000-08:00

Daniel lost a tooth!

2008-01-08T16:10:00.000-08:00

M-I-C-K-E-Y
Meet Mickey! He is our new sheltie. We adopted him from the Northern CA Sheltie Rescue a week before Christmas. He is a blue merle and is so cute! He is a year and a half old and is a perfect match for our family. We knew we wanted to get another sheltie and happened to run across the Rescue's website. We filled out a very detailed application and, much to our delight, they made a placement with us. Mickey is really energetic and has such a funny personality. We drove up to the Bay Area to pick him up and he doesn't get car sick! He is house-trained, knows how to "sit," and we just found out that he can "shake." But, he is a bit defensive around other dogs, so we are working on the socialization.

When we got back from picking him up, he just seemed to know he was at his new home. He came over to me and "asked" to have his tummy scratched.

2007-12-13T17:40:00.000-08:00

Santa does double duty

The quote of the century: "Look, it's Santa taking out the trash." From the advent calendar, said by Daniel.

2007-12-02T15:43:00.000-08:00

Cinnamon Spice XV

July 22, 1997 - November 29, 2007

Cinnamon was born to Primo Lionheart and Primo Night Flight in Auberry, CA as a sable Shetland Sheepdog. She was adopted in the Neufeld family as Tracy's birthday gift. Her early years were spent in high energy while learning new tricks and good behavior. As an adult, Cinnamon loved spending time with the family. Her favorite place to visit was Hume Lake. She would get so car sick on the drive up, but once there, was ready to play. She couldn't wait for the PB&J sandwiches to be made because she knew she would get the cut-off crusts. Her favorite trick was to do a "Cinnamon Roll" where she would roll over for a treat. Every morning she would run outside and try to chase off the birds and squirrels. Next, she would grab one of our shoes and give it a good shake, and then drop it in the middle of the lawn. She never learned to bring the shoe back though. If she got into the trash while we were gone, we would already know she did something wrong as we walked in because of her guilty look. Her second Christmas, she stayed home while we went out; when we returned, there was wrapping paper and bows covering the entire floor. She was a good dog and will be missed greatly. She is predeceased by a pet goldfish. She is survived by her loving family.

2007-11-14T15:56:00.001-08:00

Tell Me What You Know

Sara Groves just released her latest album, Tell Me What You Know, last week. I've given it a few spins and it's really great! But, a word of introduction... it is only that great if you've seen her Nomad DVD because this CD is in response to her trip to Africa. Brown Bannister did way better than the last one. There is a lot of variety between the songs that include sounds like pop, jazz and even something you might expect off a Carrie Underwood album. There's even a touch of monster ballad, big-hair-band sound (minus the big-hair-band). And then there is the signature Sara Groves/piano/strings. But definitely the word for this album is VARIETY. There is one song, "I Saw What I Saw," where the pinnacle of the song is so restrained, I am almost guessing that this hesitation is on purpose to make a point. Then there is "Love is Still a Worthy Cause" that's got a fun pop sound you might envision being off an 80's sitcom theme song. And the release "When the Saints" is so heavily produced that it actually works (and it would be really great to see it live with a full choir). So run out and grab a copy for yourself or order one off her website, http://www.saragroves.com/.

2007-11-08T19:51:00.000-08:00

What started out as a picture of just Michael turned into all his friends jumping in. He's trying to strike a pose that says, "oh yeah, I'm cool."

2007-11-08T19:48:00.000-08:00

Daniel's 5!

2007-11-08T19:45:00.000-08:00

Obi Wan and Superman to the Rescue.

2007-11-08T19:20:00.000-08:00

Fresno Philharmonic
We got to go see the Fresno Philharmonic last weekend with the fabulous Joshua Bell. We weren't planning on it, but someone had to cancel and gave us their tickets IN THE FIFTH ROW CENTER. What really made it great was that we had already made arrangements for babysitting earlier that week. What made it even greater was that we grabbed some fish tacos beforehand and there was free parking at Saroyan. And what made it even greater was that during the first half of the concert, the seat in front of Tim was empty. And what made it even greater was the great music by violinist Joshua Bell and the impromptu encore not usually performed. If you read the review in the Fresno Bee on Saturday, it was pretty accurate. In the middle of discovering how the planets must have aligned so we could get this great evening, I asked Tim if he was waiting for a sign from God for something... and if so, then this was his sign. But he said that no, in fact he was not waiting for a sign, but needed an evening of decompressing. Oh, and to make it even greater, we somehow were able to exit the parking structure minus the crowds and drive from downtown to NE Fresno in less than fifteen minutes (no speeding either).

2007-10-07T21:03:00.000-07:00

At the soccer game...

Go #26, that's my boy! Regardless of the teammates who played backwards, we won 4-0!

2007-09-30T20:06:00.000-07:00

Death in the Family
We had a funeral yesterday. One of our goldfish died. In the evening, it looked like he/she was laying down taking a nap in the fake plant. Then after realizing that it really was not going to last too much longer, I separated him/her from the other two fish and watched him/her start to "breathe" slower and slower. I told the boys the fish would probably die soon. Daniel went to brush his teeth and said to the fish, "Bye fishie, have a nice die..." When the brushing of teeth was finished, Michael came in and said, "I think the fish is dead." Sure enough, he/she was a goner. So we said farewell to the fish and sent him/her down the toilet. (Because all drains lead to the ocean according to Nemo.) About a minute later, Michael is sobbing and he doesn't know why. I said I thought he was sad because of the fish. He said he thought so too. I replied that it was o.k. to be sad for the fish, but we really needed to be sad like that when something bad happened to people and not to fish, because we actually eat fish (well, not this one, but you get the picture). Recovery was pretty smooth, but the bedtime story had to be edited a little. It was Mickey's Christmas Carol (Daniel chose it) and in this version Tiny Tim didn't die during the Spirit-of-Christmas-Yet-To-Come's visit. But we did have a fun conversation about how the fish could not come back to life in the ocean and that Jesus was the only one who could do that (and I know of more in the Bible, i.e. Lazarus, but that's another day).

2007-08-29T18:24:00.001-07:00

Praying Mantis

We have had a praying mantis hanging on the inside of our screen door for about two months. It finally molted its third molting. Did you know praying mantises molt? Neither did I! Apparently, they turn green and get their wings after the third molt. We have tried to "release" it and it just doesn't want to leave that narrow place between the glass sliding door and the screen door. I think it's all those delicious dead bugs stuck in the cracks. Maybe it will fly away now.

Here you can see the "skin" it left behind.

2007-08-29T18:15:00.001-07:00

Fast and Fabulous

Ah ha! I've been inspired:

Heat a tablespoon of e.v.o.o. in a pan, heat a clove or two of minced garlic, add salmon fillet, season. Turn when first side is done, season. When done, remove from pan. Add to pan some sun dried tomatoes packed in o.o. Then add fresh spinach leaves. When wilted, place on top of salmon. Wow!! So I'm probably not the first to come up with this recipe, and I won't be the last, but my tummy is pretty happy right now!

2007-08-13T21:12:00.000-07:00

Canning Peaches

When O'Henry peaches are ready, we start canning quarts to put away for those cold winter days when we need a jar of sunshine. We peel and slice and cook and jar all morning, and when those are done, we peel and slice and bag the rest for freezing. Then we can have sunshine smoothies in January when it is grey outside. My mom, my grandma and I can actually go pretty fast. Last year my grandpa even got in on the action. You would think one would get tired of eating fresh peaches for several days straight, but we don't. It's kind of the same way you don't really get tired of eating local strawberries in May day after day. Because you know you have to get your fill while they're ripe!