A New Post

I was with my sister this morning eating breakfast and she told me to write a new blog post. So, here it is. (Kim, are you happy?)

Alright, so, what to write about.

Okay, there are several things at the top of my mind right now.

1) I'm proud of my son.

I got this email yesterday morning:

Good Morning,

My name is ------ and I am the father of -----, a girl in your son’s class. I wanted to pass along something your son did that was very nice the other day. My daughter is new to school and a couple of boys were picking on her. Nothing serious, normal kids stuff. Last week, your son stepped in and stopped the boys from making fun of her and asked them to do it no longer. It takes a special kid to stand up for others. You should be very proud and we appreciate him doing the right thing.

Have a good weekend.

Now, aren't you proud of him too? Tell him next time you see him, won't you? He might not tackle as aggressively as some might wish, but he defends girls being picked on. I'll take that any day.

2) My dog itches.

Lacy has been itching for a couple of months and it feels like it just doesn't get any better. Friday I noticed that she has developed a "hot spot" where the skin is all red and goopy looking and she just seems miserable. So, again to the vet we went and she is now on steroids, antihistamines, antibiotics and a topical spray to deaden the pain of the hotspot. Whatever it is that is making all of the dogs in my life itch, I wish it would go away. Maybe it's the global warming. Just kidding.

In this picture she is wearing a collar that is supposed to make her unable to chew on her hot spot. Isn't she cute?

3) I'm proud of Lane.

Daddy, Jean and I came to Oklahoma City this weekend to witness Lane's Eagle Scout Court of Honor. Lane is really a great kid, all out committed to whatever he undertakes. I can't wait to see what happens next for him.

4)I love mobile internet access.

I've found that if I take two non drowsy Dramamine, I can work nonstop on my computer while riding in a car. This means that car time is more productive than even airplane time is! I have internet access (except in Southern Oklahoma grrrr) and I can work on things that are tedious or that I can't seem to work on if I feel under threat of interruption. Or, I can do blog posts to please certain sisters.

It costs a little more than I wish it did, but I consider it a luxury to be able to use bits of time that would otherwise be wasted.

So, that's what is on my mind today. What's on yours?

Wild Plum Jelly!

On our daily walks, Lacy and I found several trees bearing fruit that, with the help of Cathleen Garcia (first and second grade science teacher at school), we decided were plums. The fruit was not as big as the plums you would see at the store. If you've ever seen a plum tree out and about somewhere apart from an orchard, you've probably noticed the big mess that happens under the tree when the fruit gets ripe. It can be a slimy mess. Ruthie and I crawled around on our hands and knees selecting the fruit.



The next step is cleaning the plums. I dumped them into a sink and ran water over them.







Then, I inspected each one to make sure they were clean.

I forgot to take a picture of the next step, but the next step is that we pitted each and every plum. That takes a good amount of time and makes your hands sore.

Next, I processed The pitted plums in the food processor and dumped them in a pot with a little water and simmer them for about 20 minutes.






Next, I layered several layers of cheesecloth in a colander, set that on top of a cooling rack placed over a large mixing bowl. I put the cooked fruit mixture into the cheese cloth and left it for several hours to filter the juice. Be very careful not to squeeze or press down on the fruit because it will make your final product cloudy.




Next, mix the beautiful clear juice with the appropriate amount of sugar as listed in whatever recipe you're following. Also follow the recipe with regard to how long to cook it and when to add the pectin.



Next, process it in a water bath canner for the appropriate amount of time indicated in your recipe.




Finally, VOILA! Jelly! This picture doesn't capture the beautiful clear red color, and it certainly doesn't capture the AMAZING flavor.

If you have a fruit tree in your life somewhere. Let me know and I can make jelly or jam from that too!

Flea Follies

The latest challenge in our journey of dog ownership has been that we have been struggling with fleas. Besides the feral cat population in our neighborhood, we so much enjoy our daily trips to the dog park and have made wonderful friends there, both canine and human. This assures that we are constantly exposed to a fresh supply of fleas every day.

For about the past week, Lacy has been scratching what feels like nonstop. I look and I look and I very rarely find "flea dirt" or fleas on her. But, I do find them, which tells me that fleas are an issue. Fleas aren't exactly solo creatures so I know the one that I find is probably one of many.

I have been trying all of the organic solutions I can find. I have been feeding her 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar every day for the past month. I have sprinkled untold quantities of diatomaceous earth on the dog, in the yard and around her crate. I have washed her in Dawn dishsoap and have rinsed her in apple cider vinegar and let her air dry.

Still, she suffers. I hate watching her scratch. She was not a happy girl and I was not a happy mom. Finally I called my vets office and had a long talk about Advantix and similar products. I realize that it is actually pouring poison on the skin of my dog and that it soaks in and goes all through their system. I also realize though, that there is nothing honorable or life affirming about a dog suffering with flea bites.

So, I asked if I could come and buy just one month of the product and give it a try. I applied it to her last night and even by the time I went to bed I could tell she was getting relief. In order to make her even more comfortable I gave her an antihistamine to help with her existing flea bites.

She doesn't seem to be having any bad effects at the application site and as far as I can tell she is feeling better than ever.

Puppy Mills

At the dog park the other day I was talking to a lady who works with a local rescue organization. She was telling me about when she was a part of the crew that went in to clean up after a puppy mill had been busted over in Fort Worth. Apparently the people had been breeding these poor dogs over and over then just abandoning them in a field to die. They would get dogs and just breed them over and over until they just didn't have it in them to make any more puppies. As soon as they'd gotten everything they could out of the poor dogs, they'd abandon them.

They were fined $40,000.00

I'm sure they just re-grouped and opened back up somewhere else. The $40K was just a cost of doing business. They probably have it figured into the plan at the beginning.

That got me thinking about workplaces and how people are treated within them. I recently had a conversation with a friend about a very high producing travel company here in Texas where the agents are given very high quotas and if they don't make them, they're fired.

No discussion, just gone.

I'm sure they have the constant training and hiring expenses for the new staff just figured into the plan, much like the fine imposed on the puppy mill people. Just go through people, use them as long as you can get something out of them, then abandon them and go on to the next one. The travel company in question does a lot of business and, I presume, makes a lot of money.

But, here's the thing. I don't want to work in a puppy mill. I don't want to work in a place where people feel stretched over a barrel, where they don't know from one month to the next if they're going to be able to keep their jobs. I want to work in a place where people are valued and developed to grow to be better people.

Lucky for me, I do!

Dog Park!

Almost every morning, Lacy and I walk to the dog park. One of our favorite playmates is Jaxon. We love it when he's at the park.

Where I Reveal the Depths of My Geekiness

I've been a list freak as long as I can remember. I recall as far back as 7th grade that I always had a small Mead notepad that I would mark pages "Monday", "Tuesday" and so forth. I would write down the things I needed to do in school and at home each day. I would take great joy in marking each list item off.

Fast forward a "few" years to today. My life has certainly gotten more complicated with two kids, a husband, a dog, a home, a business, volunteer obligations, friendships across the world and probably many more obligations that aren't coming to mind at the moment. Likewise, my "to-do" list has gotten more complicated too.

Currently I am using Remember the Milk. Since it is available from mobile devices such as my Palm Treo I have it available to me all the time. So, just like my old Mead notepad from 7th grade I can add tasks and projects as I think of them because heaven knows I won't think of it again until it blows up in my face.

The advantage that RTM has is that I can make things show up on certain days and in different ways. For instance, I have fine tuned several different lists. Since school started I have started waking up at 6am (an hour before anyone else) to knock out things that I do everyday. For instance, every day I check the bank account balance, the credit card balance and record any activity into Quicken so that I'm up to date on my budget. I also make entries for Twitter and Facebook for Legacy Travel. I dispatch as many of my emails as possible. I also have the kids vitamins on my morning list as well as my daily inspection of each kid's rooms so that they don't get buried under in mess. I also walk the dog every morning, and water the yard, and scoop the lawn.

Anyway, you can see that there are many things that I do in the morning that I don't want buried in the main list for the day. Separating them out means that I can look very easily and see if there are any morning tasks left undone.

Likewise there are tasks I do every day that can only be done at home in the evening. These include things like "Pack Lunches", "Make sure the alarm is set for tomorrow", "Family reading time" etc etc. I also program in the nights I want to be sure my son bathes. (Don't judge unless you have a 9 year old boy!)


I've found that really fine tuning my lists every day allows me to keep all of those balls spinning in the air!