Rock The Reception

Thanks to BooMama for this link. This is a new TLC show where a couple surprises their wedding guests with a professionally choreographed first dance. Honey, you'd better thank your lucky stars this show wasn't around when we got married.

my warrior poet

yesterday jonas and betty were playing at the park. there was a little boy there whom we don't know. he was being a bit aggressive and i wasn't sure how to handle it. for example, he would push past betty on the slide or ladder if she was going too slow. that's pretty common behavior for kids that age (probably around 4), but he was just a little rougher than most. he hit jonas a few times, tried to push him out of his way, that sort of thing. my question is this: when should boys be allowed or encouraged to fight back?

here's what i came up with: if that boy is being mean to sissy or to someone else smaller, you can tell him to stop. but if he's just being mean to you, then walk away and don't play with him anymore.

once after the mean boy (that's what i've started calling him; i don't know his real name) had roughly pushed past betty and made her cry, jonas marched up to him with his hands on his hips and said "You, sir, STAY AWAY FROM MY SISTER!" i was so proud. but later, if the boy was hitting jonas, jonas hit right back, and i was less enthusiastic about that. i just told jonas to stop hitting and leave that boy alone and go play somewhere else. but jonas didn't get a spanking or anything, because i saw everything, and the other boy instigated every time. of course his parents are like 50 yards away eating lunch and talking on the phone, completely oblivious.

here's a funny story about theodore roosevelt:

Theodore taught Sunday School at Christ Church, but he was so muscular a Christian that the decorous vestrymen thought him an unwise guide in piety. For one day a boy came to class with a black eye which he had got in fighting a larger boy for pinching his sister. Theodore told him that he did perfectly right—that every boy ought to defend any girl from insult—and he gave him a dollar as a reward. The vestrymen decided that this was too flagrant approval of fisticuffs; so the young teacher soon found a welcome in the Sunday School of a different denomination.

what do you think? what would you have done?

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sissy hearts yogurt

he's gonna make some lucky girl very happy

mom's chicken enchiladas

(Don't worry, you don't have to make that many. That's a quadruple recipe. Yes, I'm a crazy person.)

Chicken Enchiladas

2T oil
1 onion, chopped
1 lb cooked chicken, diced
2t chili powder
1/2 t cumin
1 can rotel
salt & pepper
2 cans cream of chicken soup
(or cream of whatever. in a pinch i've used cream of celery or cream of cheddar)
1 cup sour cream
1 4 oz can diced green chiles
12 oz grated cheddar
14-16 flour tortillas


1. This time I tried chopping the chicken (gently poached, or buy a rotisserie chicken at the deli) in the food processor. I used the regular 4mm slicing disc and it turned out great! A timesaver, since I was quadrupling the recipe this time. Chop the onion first with the chopping blade and dump it into the skillet, then put on the slicing disk and do the chicken while the onion cooks.


2. Cook the onion in the oil until tender.
3. Add chicken, chili powder, cumin, rotel, and salt and pepper. Simmer 10 minutes.
4. Mix soup, sour cream, green chiles, and 2/3 of the cheese.
5. Put a little bit of soup mixture into 9x13 baking dish (or a bigger lasagna pan, like 10x15, if you have it). Just enough to cover the bottom. This keeps the enchiladas from coming out too dry.


6. Make an assembly line. I don't recommend doing this part at the stove, as in the picture, unless you happen to enjoy cleaning your stove. Do as I say, not as I do.


7. Spoon 1T of soup mixture onto a tortilla. (If you want to use corn tortillas, you need to heat them to soften.) Don't use too much soup mix or you won't have enough left to go on top. Top with chicken mixture.


8. Roll 'em up. Don't cram too many in a pan or they won't get any sauce. 12 in a 9x13 works well.
9. Top with rest of soup mixture and rest of cheese.
10. Cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until warm, or refrigerate and bake later.

i may never march in the infantry....

....but I can sure FEED the Lord's army!

look how domestic i am

homemade peach jam, folks. cue the "applause" signs.

mom brought me a ton of peaches from fairfield and helped me with my first canning project. i had helped her do this a thousand times, but hadn't paid enough attention to do it myself. it wasn't hard at all. i meant to document the process for an online tutorial, but i forgot. here's the short version:

buy this:



and follow the directions in the box.

here's the shortcut my mom taught me:

we didn't need to boil the jars to seal them. mom got the jars hot by running them through the dishwasher, and soaked the lids in hot water. then we poured in the hot jam and turned the jars upside down. that was enough heat to seal them.

so thanks, mom, for teaching me. and in the interest of Titus 2 (when did i become the OLDER woman in that verse????), i would love to teach anyone else who wants to know. just show up with a bunch of peaches (or whatever) and some empty jars.

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