Full Bloom, Full Blown: The Whole Hodge Podge

Monday, July 22, 2013

The Whole Hodge Podge

Birthday weeks are always busy in my head and usually busy in my house. This one, preparing for Abe to hit that initial teenage mark, was no exception. I've decided that if our family just stopped eating my life would be much less stressful! However, apparently this wasn't the week for fasting, so I started cooking a day early. I got dinner prepped in the fridge and the decadent chocolate cake Abe wanted (and which turned out beautifully for Fred's birthday) in the oven and went out to weed my flower beds. I came in just as the timer went off and opened my oven, only to be greeted with a heat wave and a semi-shriveled, volcanic disappointment. With over two decades of experience under my belt, I have become a fairly competent cook, so failures like that aren't the norm and a huge frustration, especially when I can't identify the cause. After figuratively scratching my head for a good half hour, and re-checking the oven temperature and recipe for clues, I finally realized that an inverted serving plate, covering the burner plate directly over the oven vent must have been the cause. I didn't want to start over because the cake is a little pricey and time intensive, but I also didn't want to present my sweet 13 year old with a "dump cake", when he remembered how I had presented the same recipe to his father a couple of months previous, so I had to improvise (which is another stress elevator for me). I decided the only thing I could do was fill the gaping hole in the middle with chocolate ganache, cut down the sides in order to bring the cake back to level and embed those in small pieces into the ganache to give it more substance, freeze it so the center wasn't liquified, and cover the whole hodge podge with some of Fred's fancy cake decorating skills (which consist of him pushing frosting through a bag like one of my Sunbeams coloring a picture, only it magically looks better in chocolate than it does in crayon. =) For the most part it worked. Instead of being a two layer cake with a center layer of filling, it was a dense one layer with a gradient layer of a chocolate filling that became significantly thicker toward the center, but it was all so rich colored that you couldn't tell, by looking where the layers changed and Abe still loved it. Of course he would have been content even if I had presented him with dump cake because he's a boy who's more concerned about content than presentation, but he's also grateful and kind and he often offers to "sacrifice" things if he thinks it will ease my burden, which is ironically why I went to all the trouble to make it nice in the first place. He's a sensitive boy, who takes care of his mother.

We took him to Wahooz for his birthday date and had fun playing miniature golf, taking turns on the go cart and in laser tag and ultimately by being drenched by him in the bumper boats. I had no idea that piddly stream of water could get you so wet in such a short amount of time! Luckily it was a 97 degree day, so we sat out in the sun for a short time and dried out...mostly, but so much for getting ready that morning. Even so, it was relaxing and enjoyable. I love that rare, long block of one on one time with my children.

Abe has hit the difficult gift age, if you aren't willing to go technological, and that's always my last resort, especially at this age, so we ended up buying him a book, which sounds awfully pitiful and boring for a 13 year old, but before leaving on her mission, Mikayla got him hooked on a British, science fiction TV show called Dr. Who, that he sometimes watches on the computer for movie night and talks about incessantly. I perused a few shows with Mikayla months ago, just long enough for me to understand her "appreciation" for the charming and intelligently "nerdy" doctor--which is the kind that sweeps her off her feet) =) and to see that the genre is not at all my style (full of aliens and fantastical time traveling DNA mutating, superhero action/adventure). From what I've seen and read, the show isn't completely content flawless and there is much good vs. evil fighting, but the show seems to be grounded in positive role models and good moral lessons, so I've let him watch, so far. For a boy with a passion for Star Wars (all of which comes from his father), and an appreciation for witty dialogue (none of which can be found in Star Wars!=)) this entertainment past time seems to fill a nice niche for a certain audience and since my son is a self proclaimed "nerd", which in our family is defined as highly intelligent, exceptionally odd, and well loved, the pick was a winner. He had his nose buried in the Dr. Who-ology book for hours last night. I'm not sure this pairing of parents will ever produce a competitive athlete, though we sometimes enjoy playing sports games for fun. but we've got wild artists and dreamy musicians and mad scientists running amok! =)

My thoughts from this week seem to be weaving in and out of each other in a random muddle--no smooth transitioning from paragraph to paragraph, but I'm been writing too long and the hour is too late to change that smorgasboard pattern, so onward...

Date night this week was interesting. Fred took me out for ice cream and then we ate it in the park. The weather was beautiful and of course the company was charming. =) We were strolling through the rose gardens and out through the arbors and one moment my shoes were fine and the next step the entire platform heel of one of them was left in the grass and I was walking like Peg Leg Annie! It was an odd, slightly disconcerting experience, but it was a park so I just picked up my shoes, in pieces, and walked through barefoot. However, we had planned to spend some time browsing in a bookstore after our park stroll and since walking through retail establishments, barefooted, is generally frowned upon and the idea of walking through with a 4" limp wasn't very enticing either, we had a problem. We didn't want to just go home, so Fred had the brilliant idea of pulling into Savers as we were driving by. His mentality was that at a thrift store, my gimpy shoe and lopsided cantor would fit right in and nobody would notice--we could find another pair of shoes and get out quickly. His plan didn't seem probable or appealing to me, but it was better than ending date night early, so I awkwardly followed him into the store, with his constant reassurances that he was "covering for me", feeling just as conspicuous as possible, and hobbled back to the shoe section, where we easily found an adequate pair of shoes, which I promptly put on. I felt like a bunch of giggly teenagers, except we were trying to avoid attention instead of attracting it...well, I was...I think Fred was rather enjoying my predicament!

Eden made a skirt this week, which may not seem like an accomplishment except that I stopped sewing, except when necessary, years ago and haven't taught my girls any sewing skills. Eden wanted to learn to make a maxi skirt for a P.P. project so I figured, "how hard could it be"? We did have a few cutting and sewing glitches, since we weren't using a pattern, and Eden's inexperience made me laugh and shake my head a few times, but it wasn't bad and the end product was a pretty, feminine creation that she looked lovely in today, and most importantly she was so proud of herself. She now thinks she's a pro, after a few straight stitches and an elastic waistband, but I say more power to her--confidence is half the battle, though I'm not sure she'll be too happy when she decides to do something more difficult and has to use a detailed pattern. She's not real keen on following precise directions, but she's had a good experience for starters and that can make all of the difference. Now the twins are determined to make skirts as well, so that is on their agenda for this week. My agenda involves maintaining patience. =)

I had two sweet "and a little child shall lead them" moments this past week. First in choir: It was a week where all of our men were in auxiliary meetings right after church so we only had the women's sections. We were trying to work on a song where we really needed to hear the men singing in order to get the womens timing and parts right, so the choir director asked a small group of boys, between the ages of 8 and 10, who were sitting on the side of the room just waiting for their mothers, to fill in for the men. The part we needed was a medley of primary songs, so it was somewhat familiar to them, but intimidating. The four of them quietly walked to the back row of seats, their feet dangling off of the chairs and sang in pure, childish voices for the rest of practice. I don't know if it helped us with our notes and timing as much as it made me emotional and helped remind me that "a song of the righteous is a prayer unto me". Second in my back yard: Every night we cover our big, plastic pool. It usually takes two people and can be a little tricky, but is usually pretty simple. Last week, while Fred was in Florida, we had a wind storm start up just as Abe and I were trying to get the cover on. Eden wasn't home so there were only 4 of us, but I had to yell for the little girls and even then, the cover kept billowing and blowing off. I knew if I left it, we would lose it over the fence, but if I didn't cover the pool it would be full of debris in the morning. We worked at securing it for a good 20 minutes by tightening the rope, and laying objects against it, but it was out of our control. I laid my plastic leaf rakes on the section I was holding and they stayed just long enough to run in the house and check the weather report, and see that 12+mph winds were expected until after midnight, which was 4 hours away. We were all standing there fighting with the whipping tarp, wondering what else we could do, when Lily suggested that we pray. Sometimes I forget or even feel a little sheepish about praying for such temporal, "unimportant" things, but you can't contradict or question a child's faith, so I asked Lily to be voice and the wind promptly ceased and stayed calm the rest of the night. I don't know why I am ever surprised by those immediate answers to a child's prayer, but it stirred my soul.

Speaking of emotions and stirring of souls, I was in an early morning choir practice today, minding my own business, when our next door neighbor, who leaves for his mission on Tuesday, walked in the back of the chapel wearing the tie that Eden had given him as a gift. He's a good kid, a loyal friend, and a former primary student, but I didn't expect the sudden emotions that I felt and by the time I left the stand to sit with my family, I was an emotional mess. You would have thought it was my son giving his farewell talk! I think it was just the culmination of feelings, some for this young man, some for my daughters 2 year loss, some for being a missionary mom, some for just being a mom, period, and some for love of all of the youth in general, who had come to hear Gabe talk. My over-emotions should seem common place by now, but they often catch me unawares. I often wonder if everyone else but me is used to my tear stained face or if most people worry what is endlessly wrong with me. It bothers me--this lack of control. I'm afraid it always will.

Jordan traveled almost 10 hours this weekend to experience the Hill Cumorah pageant and was also able to visit the Sacred Grove and the surrounding church sites. He is constantly amazed at the richness of history, not only of the church but of our country in the area surrounding him. Being in the same places as actual people and events has made quite an impact and I can appreciate those profound experiences. He's hoping that one of these years our family can visit those special places all together. Me too--before we get too large to make that possible. Unfortunately, I didn't look into it until his trip was over, but it appears on the map, that he would have driven very near Mys and Dave's during his travels. It seems such a shame that I didn't figure that out beforehand and he missed that opportunity to visit family. I'm not always on the ball, unfortunately.

I happened upon a blog several months ago, that I now subscribe to and find enlightenment from. If anyone ever wants some good food for thought, you might check out Russ Hill Media.

Quote of the Week:
"Being tender and open is beautiful. As a woman, I feel continually shhh'ed. Too sensitive. Too mushy. Too wishy washy. Blah blah. Don't let someone steal your tenderness. Don't allow the coldness and fear of others to tarnish your perfectly vulnerable beating heart. Nothing is more powerful than allowing yourself to truly be affected by things. Whether it's a song, a stranger, a mountain, a raindrop, a teakettle, an article, a sentence, a footstep, feel it all – look around you. All of this is for you. Take it and have gratitude. Give it and feel love." (Zooey Deschanel)

Signing out...