7QT and every one of them about Food.

1.

On Wednesday, Lucy made her first appearance of the day at nearly 11 o'clock am and informed me that she was leaving for a party at 5. I very matter-of-factly stated that she was making dinner.

She put chili in the slow cooker and baked corn bread from scratch. Boom.

Slow cookers are awesome in the summer.

So is Lucy.

So is this Slow Cooker Revolution Volume 2 that I use at the very least, bi-weekly.

2. Rather than wrap up the St. Jude's school year in some formal way, it just faded out. Still fading. Fading out. Fading out. Just fading out....

We are still watching documentaries and educational programs on Netflix all the time. Can't quit the 'flix.

Some of our favorites include

Ted Talks.

Leap Frog. Math or phonics, it doesn't matter. Jill loves the opposites, the rhyming, the counting, all the things. I only wish there were more Leap Frog shows streaming and Jill wishes there were more Netflix Leap Frog shows with the cute dogs aka Scout and Friends.

Fed Up. More on that coming up.

3.

Edmund and I watched Fed Up on the same day we watched Jamie Oliver's Ted Prize Wish: Teach Every Child About Food. Now, Edmund has sworn off soda and spouts factoids like "More people will die this year from obesity than from starvation." and points out to everyone with a pulse that the nutrition facts on any item with a barcode have a blank space when it comes to % daily value of sugar. Spooky.

Patrick was a little hot about some of the more obvious propaganda points. For example, the movie makes a point of saying that life and health insurance companies invest in Big Food companies. Patrick says that all large companies with 501k programs invest in portfolios and those portfolios will include Big Food, but not because of some nefarious partnership.

On the whole, Fed Up packaged the Sugar Is Bad For Us message along with lots of other new messages about science and diet and exercise, which is great because I was calling this "science class."

For example, exercise is NOT going to help Americans if they consume soda and processed foods. There aren't enough hours in a day to work off those calories. The Calories In, Calories Out message is ripped to shreds.

There are many sad statistics about the health and future of American children.

I had no idea how difficult it is for children to make healthy food choices in a public school setting. Jamie Oliver taught us how public school kitchens do not have cooking equipment. They only have "heating-up-processed-food-equipment."

The partnerships between fast food companies and soda companies and public schools was news to me. Horrifying news. I'm bothered that my daughter's private high school has a soda machine, but public school kids are being given junk food for free?!?

Jamie Oliver is spot on when he says that the problem is education. He wants to educate people on how to cook in their homes. He says every child should graduate "knowing how to make ten dishes that will save their lives."

5.

 Edmund cooks every day. Every single day, he starts off by making a wholesome breakfast from scratch. No cereal here, unless there is some sort of early morning crisis, like we are out of eggs.

6.

Jamie Oliver. Edmund. Both dyslexics who love to cook. I'm working out a brainstorm here. Edmund. Cooking show. YouTube. Teaching kids how to cook dishes that will save their lives.

And I can call it Science!

7. If you were 12 years old and going to make a vlog or series of YouTube videos, what kind of equipment would you need? What kind of program would you use? Asking for a friend.

Linking up with Kelly for Seven Quick Takes Friday, late per usual.

Seven Actually Quick Takes

1. Birthday Trifecta Week is over. Three birthdays, three parades, three cakes, three birthday dinners.

My feast was the best. Patrick grilled salmon (and Italian sausages because he has that thing about fish) AND he grilled avocados for this Grilled Avocado and Tomato Salad recipe from John Besh. Grilled avocado is a brand new wonderful thing that we are going to eat a lot of this summer.

2.

Edmund won't finish a book because he "doesn't like it."  I told him I finish every book I start.  His response, "You're a geek."  I said to give it to page 100, then decide.

Patrick said, "You're right."  I said, "I know.  You can't tell until page 100 if it's worth it or not."

Patrick said, "No, he's right.  You are a geek."

I get no respect.

3.  Jill adores Polly.  Worships her. And speaks to her in this weirdly deep voice, "Heh behbeh."

Heh Heh beh beh.  Heh Chubs.

Speaking of Polly, she walks. She only takes steps if no one is looking or paying attention to her. She's a baby ninja.

4. Things are gorgeous here.

Breathtaking.

Pulchritudinous.

5.

Last weekend, Lucy changed up our exterior home decor with a spot of paint. Don't you love it? I sure do.

6.

Check out our entry way now! Look at all of those hooks just waiting to be overloaded with jackets and bags.

7. Today is Prom!!!

Today is also the four hour European history test from noon to four so send up a prayer that we can get her hairs done by 11:30am. I fired up my hot rollers for a test drive last night and she's been scouring Pinterest.

Unfortunately, my Irish-dance-wig-putting-on skills are not helping me at all.

Linking up with This Ain't the Lyceum.

Have a pulchritudinous weekend! 

7QT: Rinks Rule!

1. We have a winner!

Would Susan Kolosionek come on down! You have won the Blackberry Sage Dragon Soap from RobinsOwn (that I bought because Robin doesn't know me from Adam) and the teal soap dish (from TJ Maxx).

2. Have you seen this Reese Witherspoon movie, The Good Lie? 

So good.

Reese is not really the star of this film, but she is the headliner. The Good Lie, for those of you who live under a rock or in a cave as I do, is about three of the Lost Boys of Sudan, their journey to Kenya, and eventually to America.

There is one not great scene, the first scene with Reese. The movie is rated PG-13. I think the rating is spot on, though I did let my 12 year old watch it.

So good.

The Good Lie reminded me of the incredible children's novel I read and reviewed about the Lost Boys of Sudan by Linda Sue Park called A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story.

Edmund doesn't know it yet, but he's reading A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story in the near future.

3. Big skating party here yesterday. 

A (young, hip) seminarian-deacon came over as well as a dozen or so friends and family.

He said he couldn't skate, but he was skating backwards and whipping around the rink like nobody's business. I did hear that he can't stop though.

The little girls and I stayed in the warmth and made blueberry muffins.

It was picture perfect.

The rink definitely puts a positive spin on winter. Edmund uses the rink every chance he gets for recess and has neighbor kids or cousins over most days after school.

We've accumulated an enormous stash of skates so we can provide for just about any size, including Lucy's entire skating party of fifteen teens. We had enough hockey sticks for them all too.

I bet we have your size if you'd like to come visit!

Exercise, endorphins, and sunshine are just a few of the benefits. My kids are all good skaters now. Jill will get her first pair next year.

4. Some people have pools, some people have rinks.

Heather at Mama Knows Honeychild asked on my IG picture if it's difficult to build a rink.

Yes, Heather. It is difficult to build a rink, but if you live North of Arendelle, it's worth it.

First you need plywood and 4 by somethings to build your boards (sides). Wood is not cheap. We store our boards in our crawl space during the off season.

The boards go up Thanksgiving weekend or as close to it as we can get.

We buy a liner from Nice Rink in Wisconsin.  Patrick, or one of our rink building relatives with a large vehicle, will make the trek to the factory and pick up the liners for a few of us.

The liner alone costs about $400.  Ours is the biggest backyard rink we've seen, so it's the most expensive too.  Can't re-use the liner, because come spring, the sides are shredded and it's gross.

Then there's the water. We run a hose from our basement laundry sink to the rink for about 72 hours. It's a big rink. The deep areas fill first and the shallow areas fill last. The deepest part of our rink is 11-12 inches deep. We get billed for the water and the sewage/waste-water too, even though we put the water in the public drain. The water costs are about $200, much less for a smaller rink.

The next part is up to Mother Nature.  Zero degrees (Fahrenheit) for 24 hours makes 3 inches of ice. If the temps are above zero, but below 32, it takes longer. On average, our rink freezes in about 4 days. It won't be solid yet, but it will be skate-able.

Anytime we have a day above freezing, the rink starts to melt. It's too slushy to skate on, but a short thaw can re-surface it nicely.

Otherwise, Patrick re-surfaces the rink himself with a homemade device called a rink rake.

5. Other Important Rink Facts

Snow can ruin your rink, especially slushy, wet snow. If that slushy, wet snow freezes on your rink, the texture will be like a gravel road.

We never had a snowblower until we had to shovel our entire backyard.

Many people ask if the rink ruins the grass.

No. A thick heavy block of ice on top of the grass does nothing to it.

6. Pa! The Chinook Is Blowing!

When and if spring comes, the ice begins to thaw beyond all hope of recovery. We use an electric pump to pump the water to the curb so as not to flood our neighbors' yards.

Then we cut up the liner into manageable pieces and throw it away. This must be done as soon as possible because a heavy piece of wet plastic on a warm(ish) day will kill your grass.

Then the boards come down and go in the crawl space until next winter.

Patrick always gets sad when this happens, but SPRING!

7. Don't forget! This Wednesday is the March What We're Reading Wednesday Link-Up!

I'm late to the link-up party with Kelly and the Krew for 7QT Friday.

WWRW. 3/4/15. Must. Not. Forget.

12 in 2014 - A Photographic Year in Review

I was going to write about each of these photos but what can I say?  

Just listen for the sound of my heart stretching and breaking with each click of the shutter.

January

February 

March

April

May

June

July

 August

 September

October 

November

 December

Linking up with Dwija's 12 in 2014. 

Happy New Year!