April 19, 1995

I remember the day clearly. 

I was a senior at Putnam City North High School in Oklahoma City. I had just finished up my 1st hour ethnic studies class and was at my locker getting ready to head to psychology.  I could hear the usual "between class" sounds of voices talking and locker doors slamming shut.  But on this day I noticed something differernt:  worried looks on faces, a more subdued sound of whispers, and people standing together in groups.  Something was going on. 

"Did you hear that a bomb went off downtown?"  My friend Meagan asked, bringing me back into reality.

I couldn't wrap my brain around that statement.  Not then.  I still didn't get it yet.  I told my friend no, then grabbed my books and scurried off to my next class.  During that class, people were still whispering about a bomb going off, but no one really knew was what going on yet.  Our teacher kept telling us to be quiet, but I could tell that even he was worried and unsure. It wasn't until I arrived to my 3rd hour class that my teacher finally wheeled out a television and turned on the news.  And I finally got it.  A bomb went off.  A really bad one.  I saw horrible images of a building ripped apart, firemen and EMT first responders were sweating and bloody.  News reporters were on the scene, but were clearly shaken up.  People had died.  Children had died.  Someone had done this on purpose, and I just sat there in shock watching the screen.

School was let out early that day.  Many students had parents who worked in the Alfred P. Murrah building or in the surrounding area and they were visably upset.  I was so thankful that no one I knew worked or was visiting the area, so I just went straight home and sat numb in front of the tv all afternoon until my mom came home from work.  I was so thankful to see her even though I knew she wasn't anywhere near the area.

I can't believe fifteen years has come and gone so quickly.  So many things have happened.  I went to college, got married, had an eight year teaching career, traveled overseas, and had three children!  But April 19, 1995 remains clearly fixed in my memory.  If I close my eyes, I can almost feel that day (much like I can when I remember 9/11). 

For my parents' generation, the question was Where were you when JFK was assassinated?  But for my generation (and especially those of us who lived in Oklahoma at the time), the question is and has been Where were you on April 19, 1995? 

Do you remember that day?  If so, where were you? 

PS.  Just to lighten things up....you want to see a picture of me when I was a senior in high school?  I know you do.  So here you go:

 You're welcome.

CSI:Barbie

Thursday morning started off like any other bright, spring morning.  I woke up, washed my face,got dressed and headed into the kitchen to start making breakfast for my family.  When all of a sudden I caught a glimpse of a pale white form lying helpless in the middle of the backyard.  Do you see him?

It's Prince Charming.  Again.  He seems to fall into a lot of trouble.  Perhaps he is just running with the wrong crowd. 

The poor guy was sprawled out practically naked on the lawn.  The new, soft, green grass created a sort of bed for him in his last hours.  Perhaps a neighborhood rat gnawed off his arm.  We are not sure.  What we do know, however, is that the Prince died of exposure.  It is still pretty chilly at night here in Oklahoma. 

Making Pasta

This week I decided to try my hand at making homemade pasta.  I've always wanted to try this, and  I finally gave it a whirl.  The whole experience reminded me of a quote one of my college professors would say often, "Make your mistakes with enthusiasm!" 

The end result was just shy of inedible, but I learned a lot along the way.  And I think there will be a "next time."  Just a time in the unforseen future. 

The pasta making event started off great.  I brought the happiest little sous chef into the kitchen with me.  Looking at that face even now makes me break out into a huge smile. 

Next, I gathered my ingredients:  flour, eggs, salt.  Simple.  Mix the flour and salt together, then make a volcano shaped well on your kitchen counter (or as I will do next time, in a large mixing bowl).

Next, drop your eggs into the hole in the center of your flour volcano.  At this point, I realized that I really should have used a mixing bowl because the eggs broke through the wall of flour and started spilling out onto the counter.  I quickly used my hands to herd the rogue eggs back into the flour, then started mixing like a mad woman.  Soon, I had a round ball of dough.

Then I started the kneading process.  I looked at several different recipes before I started and the kneading time varied quite a bit.  Most recipes suggested 5 to 10 minutes of kneading, but a few said 15 minutes and one even said 20.  I ended up kneading for 5 minutes when I decided that the dough was elastic enough.  This is where I think I went wrong.  Overkneading pasta dough can make it quite rubbery.  Next time I will pay closer attention to this stage of the game.  After kneading for awhile, I let the dough rest for an hour.

And while it rested, I did this......

Tangent:  The laundry never stops around here.  If it does, it is like a train derailment and we end up digging jeans or socks out of the dirty clothes hamper.  And keep in mind I wear a pair of jeans about five times before tossing it into the hamper. 

After an hour, I started to roll out the dough.  I noticed right away that it was super elastic and quite hard to roll out.  I am not a patient dough-roller-outer, so I gave up as soon as I had a fairly thin circle.  It probably could have been thinner and definitely more even.

Then the cutting began.  I had already decided that I didn't care how "pretty" my pasta looked.  I just wanted long strips that sort of resembled spaghetti or linguini or something like that.  I do not have a steady hand, so my strips were pretty uneven.  At this point, I just wanted to be finished, so I didn't care.  I am learning that I need more patience when making something from scratch!

Once all the strips were cut, I laid them out to dry on my make-shift pasta drier:  two wooden spoons balanced between two chairs.  My sweet Hannah decided to stand like Vanna White next to our drying pasta. 

Finally after two more hours, I decided to start cooking.  I made a new recipe from my most recent Real Simple magazine:  Spaghetti with Turkey Meatballs.  Here is my lump of pasta waiting to go in some boiling, salted water.  My turkey meatballs were underway as well. 

As a backup plan, I also boiled some store bought linguine.  As you will see later, it's a good thing I did.

During the cooking process, I noticed that the pasta was puffing up way too thick.  But I was still holding out hope that taste would win out over presentation.  After I drained off the water, I took a bite.  And I have to say that it was not good.  The taste wasn't so bad, but the texture was horrible.  I think if you put a blindfold over my eyes, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a rubber band and a piece of my pasta.  Mike agreed.  Oh well.  Thankfully I had made the extra linguine, and the meal actually turned out pretty tasty!

But the pan of homemade pasta I had worked so hard on.....it ended up here:

Better luck next time!

On Today's List

I used to dread Mondays. When I was working, my anxiety about Monday would begin Sunday afternoon. It would creep up and whisper things like...You have to get up really early tomorrow. Are you sure you have everything ready for school? The laundry won't get done until next weekend! I would start to stress out and would have a hard time falling asleep Sunday evening. But then Monday would come and it wouldn't be as bad as I had imagined it to be.

Now that I'm not working, I absolutely love Mondays. It is the only day of my week where I have time to just be at home. I drop the girls off at school, run errands if I need to, then head home, put Lucas down for a nap, roll up my sleeves and get started on whatever tasks need to be done. Around noon, my sweet boy and I sit down and have lunch together. Then he plays while I continue to work or bake or fold laundry. Finally, around 2:00, we head off to pick up the girls feeling happy and refreshed. Sometimes I just sit down and read on Mondays. And sometimes I take a nice, long nap. It just depends on the kind of Monday I want to have. I cherish these Mondays because the rest of my week is pretty busy.

Today, on this Monday, I have a list of things to accomplish.
1. Wash the sheets, blankets and quilts on the girls' beds.
2. Make homemade pasta for the first time. (I'm quite excited about this and will take pics as I go.)
3. Make an appointment to get my hair cut and colored. It is way past due.
4. Fold three loads of clothes that I didn't get to over the weekend (oops!).
5. Read. I am currently reading Home, a Memoir by Julie Andrews.

What is on your Monday "to do" list?

I'm Baaaaaaack

Did you read the title of my post in your best Poltergeist voice? If not, I'll give you a minute to do it now.......or at least say it in your head if you're around other people. :)

I am finally back to a normal routine and have climbed out from under the mountain of laundry and other chores that had accumulated all around me. Taking two trips back to back was a lot of fun, but quite exhausting too. In addition, I have two new cameras that I am messing with. I haven't uploaded any photos yet just because I haven't had the time to sit down and figure out how to actually do it! If you don't know already, I am a VERY slow learner when it comes to technology. I think you could compare me to a ninety year old grandma who calls the "internets" some new-fangeled contraption. It's bad. But I am learning. You see, Mike got a new Canon 7D with some fancy, dancy wide angle lens to use for the video he just shot. So he gave me his old Canon Rebel. I swear I look like a monkey just pushing buttons on that thing, so this may take awhile. Mike is giving me photography lessons, but they come in those short, spontaneous moments when our house is actually quiet. The other camera is a new Kodak ....... I got it to take better/easier videos. Tonight my goal is to sit down and figure it all out.

Until then, I will leave you with a few links to check out. First off is the link to view the video Mike made while we were in New Jersey and New York. His parents run a non-profit ministry called New York City Relief. NYCR is a mobile bus outreach that feeds and clothes the homeless in the New York City area, as well as connects them to shelters and drug/alcohol treatment programs. Later this month, Mike's dad is setting out on a coast-to-coast motorcycle ride to raise money for NYCR. Mike directed a video to help promote his cause, and I think he did an awesome job. Check out "Richard's Relief Bus Ride" and feel free to pass on the link!
www.vimeo.com/10699514

My wonderful sister-in-law, Rachel, blogged about our trip and posted some GREAT photos over on her blog: http://www.greendoorproject.wordpress.com/ The title of her blog post is called "Moments." Check out our huge family photo!

And my other wonderful sister-in-law, Tracy, posted two podcasts where Rachel and I are guests. We talk about parenting and marriage. They were so fun to do together. We laughed a lot while working on these, but in the end, I think they turned out pretty sincere. Go to www.youtube.com/tracytalks2u to see these (if you have some free time; they are nine minutes a piece!)

Have a great day!!

Checking In

We have been home for three days now, and tomorrow we are packing up again and heading south to the Lone Star State for two days and one night at Great Wolf Lodge in Dallas, TX. We normally don't travel very much, but it just happened that our two vacations this year ended up in the same month. So once again, I'm packing a suitcase, making sure I have everything (including a swimsuit...yikes!) and loading up the car one more time. This time we are driving. And we are caravaning with two other couples and their kids. We are dropping Lucas off with my parents and only taking the girls on this trip. We didn't think our Boy would enjoy the water slides too much. It will be our first time to be away from him overnight. It makes me a little sad, but I know he will be fine and our girls are going to have a blast.

So until Tuesday, it will be quiet again here on my blog. But I have lots to write about when I get back. Including (in no particular order):

* photos/stories from our East Coast Vacation
* photos/stories from our Great Wolf Lodge Vacation
* two book reviews
* a yummy recipe
* a Lucas update
* CSI: Barbie

And much more! Woo hoo! Stay tuned......

Vacation Update

Tomorrow is our last full day here on the east coast. We have been having a wonderful time. Here are some highlights:

* Beautiful weather

* The girls spending at least eight hours a day playing with their cousins in the backyard

* Late night chats with my sisters-in-law

* Good food

* A trip to New York City

* Lots of snuggling a certain happy baby boy

* A big family photo (17 of us in all!)

* Laughing and sharing stories/memories around the dinner table

Tomorrow our plans include all the girls getting manicures and pedicures followed by a date night to see Alice in Wonderland. Fun!

We have taken tons of pictures, so when we get home I'll sort through them and post plenty.

I hope you are having a great week too!