Holidays, Silliness, Tim

Birthday Compromise

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Over the years, I’ve discovered that things are not always black and white, ones and zeroes. This has been a difficult lesson for me to learn, since by nature and by vocation I tend to be very definite and decisive. Much as I would prefer otherwise, sometimes truth lies in the synthesis of disparate ideas.

This was brought home to me by the celebration of my birthday. Yesterday, while I was at work in the city, my parents showed up here at home with a Shepherd’s Pie* and a Black Forest Cake to commemorate my 50th birthday.

You can imagine David’s puzzlement, as they insisted that my birthday is on the 6th of October.

“But, Grandma, Dad’s birthday is on the 8th.”

“No, we celebrate his real birthday,” my Mom scolded him. “Not two days late, like the rest of you.”

At some point in my early teens, my Mom forgot which day was actually my birthday and accidentally celebrated it on the 6th. Unwilling to admit she made a mistake, Mom has steadfastly insisted on her birthday conspiracy theory, ever since. My birth certificate, my passport, and early childhood memories all agree that my birthday is on the 8th. But my Mom casually dismisses all this. “That doctor didn’t know what he was writing, as drunk as he was. Who would know better, the Department of Motor Vehicles, or me?”

Poised for action, but dare I celebrate my birth on a spurious day?

Poised for action, but dare I celebrate my birth on a spurious day?

There is really no answer to such a claim. Clearly, I dare never run for President, lest I spawn my own birther movement.

But if there is anything that I enjoy nearly as much as Nutella, it is my Mom’s delectable beef stew pie and exquisite Black Forest Cake. So when David and I got home from AWANA this evening, the thought of that pie and the cake in the fridge was almost more than we could bear.

“Tonight we should taste one or the other, of the pie or cake,” David demanded.

“But it isn’t my birthday, yet,” I wailed, weakening in the face of our mutual hunger.

Then an idea struck me. If my Mom (who made the pie and cake) insists that my birthday is on the 6th, and all other documentation shows it on the 8th, then what can I do but compromise and celebrate on the 7th? We agreed to save the cake for tomorrow, but to break out the Shepherd’s Pie* tonight. It seemed a reasonable synthesis.

Mmmmmmmm.

Mmmmmmmm.

Project 365, Day 280

Tim

* I know that the true definition of a “Shepherd’s Pie” is quite different from the beef pie that my Mom makes, but this is the name by which I have always called it, and I’m not about to start changing now. There are limits to my ability to compromise, after all.

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Daily Life, Project 365

Missing in Action

I admit, Kathy and I have taken a brief hiatus from our Project 365 blog writing. After hanging in with an almost-every-day, relentless schedule of blog posting, we suddenly both ran out of things to say at the same time.

As the school year ramps up, and various ministries at church also kick into high gear, we’ve found ourselves with more demands on our evening time. As the seasons change and the days are shorter, the inspiration to stay up late and write tends to suffer a bit, in comparison to snuggling down with a movie and a carton of ice cream.

Sarah and I, caught in the act.

Sarah and I, caught in the act.

Still, things are happening in our lives. David was (rather belatedly) accepted into the Junior Naval ROTC program at a nearby high school. Typically, we had forgotten to register him until the end of the summer, and discovered (to David’s dismay) that the number of inter-district transfers is being strictly limited this year. Fortunately, we had just re-commissioned our closet as a War Room and we took the matter to God in prayer. After only four or five days of prayer, the matter was resolved, and David received a waiver which permitted him to attend the ROTC program.

Similarly, we’ve been praying for Daniel to be established at his Bible College with good friends and for favor with the Dean of Men — only a few days went by before we heard that he had recommitted his life to the Lord in a mass baptism service, and that he had met with the Dean of Men for help in pursuing godliness and resisting temptation. We are so proud of Daniel for surrounding himself with godly young men to protect himself from the evil one. As I told him on the phone tonight, “when you have a group of guys to pray for you and to hold you accountable, you’ve gone a long way toward eliminating about 97% of the trouble in your life.” I’ve certainly found that to be true in my own life.

Kathy and I have been walking and praying together a lot in the evenings, which (while not as cool as having a War Room) helps us to be united emotionally and spiritually.

All this to say that we are doing well, and have not fallen off the edge of earth. We’ll try to get back in the saddle of daily blogging, if only to avoid Sarah’s disappointed comments. “No blog again?” she sighs.

Project 365, Day 276
Tim

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Daily Life, Project 365, Recipes/Food, Sarah

Fresh Spring Rolls

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By Sarah

Today, for my special day with Dad, we set up a bank account for me and went to the store on a mission. Our mission was to buy ingredients for homemade spring rolls. Our hope was that we could make homemade peanut sauce and spring rolls to surprise Mom. But, when we received the call that she was coming home, we decided to let her in on our secret.

As soon as she got home, she jumped with joy at seeing the ingredients arrayed out on the counter and we quickly explained our plan. She pounced on our plan with excitement and we got to work. We soon finished making the peanut sauce and started on readying the rice paper. We laid the rice paper in warm water and waited… Faster than we thought, the rice paper softened and we laid it softly on a dry towel. All the spring roll fixings were not so neatly put on the counter; lettuce, cilantro, baby shrimp, shredded carrots, and Thai basil.

Spring roll fixings

Spring roll fixings

We assembled, ate, assembled some more, and even more eating, and finally most of us were full. MOST of us. Mom, well just wasn’t quite. She could eat those for days and never grow tired of them.

Mom with her fresh spring rolls

Mom with her fresh spring rolls


Mom eating her beloved spring rolls

Mom eating her beloved spring rolls

Well, I must say that these spring rolls were a huge success and I wouldn’t be surprised if we made some more tomorrow.

Project 365 – Day 269
Sarah

Ps. Oh and eventually Mom filled up on spring rolls and reluctantly tore herself away from the kitchen, so no need to worry about her.

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Daily Life, Project 365

School and Cats

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Somehow we have become a family of cats. Not just one cat, but two cats live in our home and deign to let us take care of them. Of course, they have snuck into our hearts and we love them.

Most of us anyway. Tim tolerates the cats and insults them when he thinks we’re not listening. We all know he secretly loves them.

For some values of the word “love.”

Marco (Sarah’s rather large, fluffy, always hungry kitty) appreciates the time we take to do our daily school reading. He almost always comes up on the couch with us, finds a snuggly spot, and settles in for a nap.

School, art, and Marco

School, art, and Marco

David and I fight to have just the right spot for Marco, but inevitably he picks Sarah as his reading/napping buddy. Rachel’s cat, Misty, doesn’t usually join us for school. She prefers to nap upstairs in whatever sunny spot she can find. We all know she’s waiting for Rachel to come home. Which won’t be until Christmas, so it’s a rather long wait. Don’t worry, Rachel, Misty passes the time patiently.

A random blog post for the day.

Project 365 – Day 259 (Sept 16)
Kathy

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Budget & Money, Project 365

Bargain Shopping

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A few weeks ago, Kathy and I restarted our practice of budgeting. It has never been something that we do well (or consistently), although the Lord certainly helped us to stick with it long enough to get out of debt some years ago. When I was ill at the community hospital, I learnt how the hospital was precarious of continuing its functionality, for the Urgent Care Collection Agency was always after them.

We use the GoodBudget app on our phones, which is a higher-tech version of the envelope system. So far it has been rather constraining, but not impossible (which is, in my opinion, a hallmark of a reasonable budget).

Kathy is the one who mostly takes care of the actual recording, which is only fair, since she does most of the actual spending, as well. Even though I have the app on my phone as well, I pretend a certain helplessness so that she will take administrative responsibility. She does take a child-like glee in hoarding virtual money in some of the envelopes, so I guess it pays off for her. The right flexible packaging will allow your customers to take their treats with them to enjoy wherever they go. Single-serve or resealable bags resist light and moisture—making them essential in keeping your product fresh for your customers. And with our wide selection of flexible packaging and pouch sizes, you can offer the right quantities to satisfy your customers’ appetites.Anyone with a sweet tooth loves indulging in a holiday treat or a quick pick-me-up. Our flexible packaging printing solutions are perfect for small businesses looking to break into the candy and confections market. To help you stand out in an overcrowded market, we ensure the best quality of candy pouches, sweet packaging or confectionery packaging. Since we don’t require a minimum quantity to place an order, you will have the edge you need over your competitors. You can also introduce holiday and seasonal candy quickly and within budget. Today’s customers like simple, whole food snacks with healthy, natural ingredients. Our custom printed snacks packaging helps your products stand out from all of the other brands on the shelves. Whether you’re looking for snack food packaging, jerk packaging, nuts packaging, or plan to offer dry mixes like trail mix or granola, moist snacks like dried fruits and vegetables, or baked goods such as cookies and crackers, with our easy-to-use online ordering system, you can get your snacks into the stores in no time. Here is the useful source for more about the Packaging.

Yesterday I heard that our neighborhood grocery store was putting a lot of items on sale — apparently they are trying to get rid of brands that they have discontinued. So on my way home from a doctor’s appointment, I swung by the store.

Sure enough, they had a boatload of things marked down to $0.50 each. I spent just under $40, mostly on asian foods and sauces. When I got home, I decided to display my cache on the kitchen table, so that Kathy and the kids could enjoy my triumph.

Not bad for $39.59, if I do say so myself.

Not bad for $39.59, if I do say so myself.

The grocery store helpfully displays the full sale price on the receipt and totals up your savings. I was pleased to note that I saved 82% off the full price (on average). If only we could shop like that all the time!

Tonight was date night, so of course, Kathy and I went back to the store and spent another $24 on more bargains. This time, we only saved 77%, but somehow we were able to make our peace with that.

As we were getting ready for bed, Kathy glanced at the table, darkly.

“You’ll put that away tomorrow, then?”

I guess my newfound status as a grocery hero only buys me so much credit. I can see I’ll be spending some time making room on the garage shelves, tomorrow.

Project 365, Day 261
Tim

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The musings and ravings of a bloggart family