My Summer Journey

I have recently been made aware of the The Modern Library's Best 100 Novels List. I haven't read a good book in forever, so I decided to look this bad boy up and take on the challenge. I am going to begin with the Reader's List for the mere fact that I have read more books from this list. I don't have any goals for when I want to have this finished. I just want to get it done. I dragged my poor, boiling children to the library in the ridiculous heat today to check out my first book.

The Top Ten:

1. ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand
   
2. THE FOUNTAINHEAD by Ayn Rand
3. BATTLEFIELD EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
4. THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien
5. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee
6. 1984 by George Orwell
7. ANTHEM by Ayn Rand
8. WE THE LIVING by Ayn Rand
9. MISSION EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
10. FEAR by L. Ron Hubbard

I didn't have much luck at the library.

I have read Atlas Shrugged. It is, in fact, my favorite book, and I was quite pleased to see it at the top of the list. I read Atlas Shrugged four-ish years ago because it looked like a challenge. Have you seen this book? It could kill a small child.

I have also already read The Fountainhead and loved it. I read this book last summer when I was on a mission to finish all of Ayn Rand's works. This was absolutely worthy my time.

I wanted to begin this adventure with Battlefield Earth, starring John Travolta...I mean by L. Ron Hubbard. I have zero interest in reading this book or any book by this founder of Scientology, but I will tough it out. I mean, the guy has three books in the top ten. He can't be THAT terrible. All three of these books were checked out at the Ames Library. Apparently, Ames has a large science-fiction-nerd following. Hubbard will have to wait for my attention.

Next on the list: Lord of the Rings. I didn't borrow this book because we own it, but now I don't know where it is. Man, this summer journey is going really well, eh?

To Kill a Mockingbird: We read this book in seventh grade. I considered tackling it again, but it was checked out. I will read it again someday...maybe later on this journey.

1984: I have read 1984 a few times. I read it in my Individualized Reading class when I was a junior in high school. I read it again last summer because Will had borrowed the movie from the library, and it again piqued my interest. It's an alright book. I didn't hate it. I don't need to read it again.

Anthem: I read this last summer, too. Eh. Not my favorite from Rand. It was a lot like 1984, actually...society has fallen...men work for everyone else...one man wants to break the mold and have a thought. I would have been annoyed to read these books back to back.

We the Living: I loved this book. I read it last summer and was up late into the night to finish it. I remember weeping on my couch around 2am when I was finally finished. Yep...I'm that kind of nerd.

We are back to Mr. Hubbard. I will look for these books when I go back to the library.

So, what the crap am I reading?!? I went down to #11: Ulysses by James Joyce. Apparently this book was extremely controversial back in the day and was banned from being printed in any English speaking country until 1934. I will begin it tonight when the kids are in bed. Let the journey begin!

Little Fry

Judah had his first experience as a camper at Camp Quaker Heights. Before a child is forced to leave his mama and spend the night in a scary cabin all by his lonesome, he is offered the opportunity to stay two nights with a parent at CQH. I think it is a brilliant idea. My children will absolutely be shipped off to church camp in the summers as I am an avid camp lover, so it was fun to experience this with my boy. Little Fry is for any kid going into preschool through entering 2nd grade, so Judah was one of the youngsters. He had such a good time hanging out with the older kids and saving seats for his "camp girlfriend", Elizabeth Daleske.

Camp began at 4 pm, so after the welcome and supper, the kids had some time to explore the camp. Judah parked himself at the playground in the sand. He and Elizabeth built a city of sand and sticks. It was quite fantastic. Once it got a little darker, the staff started a campfire and provided the kids with poor man's s'mores. I am not sure I have ever had a real s'more at CQH and might actually prefer the poor man's version: a roasted marshmallow between two homemade chocolate chip cookies. Mmmm. The staff led the children in some classic campfire songs (The Great Conductor, I Love my Rooster, The Good Ole' Skunky River, My Baby Bumble Bee, Little Cabin in the Woods...) and won Judah's heart with their silliness.


Speaking of silliness, Judah was a complete goof the entire weekend. DJ Scribbles (the ragged bunny on the left) experienced camp along with Judah and got to dance on stage when Judah escaped my grip. Above is Judah's signature slide dance move. Take notes, people.

A family from Quakerdale's Wolf Ranch in Marshalltown brought horses up for the weekend for the kids to ride. Judah was pretty indifferent about the horses. He has ridden horses at Riverside and gets to feed horses on Stange occasionally, so he spent all of five minutes being excited about them. I was glad he decided to ride, though...he did agree to participate in ALL camp activities afterall. The next photo shows just how tiny my boy is with his enormous helmet. The kid leading his horse was cracking up when he got back to us because Judah was singing a made up song about his horse the entire time he rode. Always the entertainer.

Best story of the weekend: The staff had spent hours the night before the kids got to ride horses decorating cupcakes to look like horses. They were fantastic. They used circus peanuts for the heads, wafers for the necks, and lots of frosting. They even had a professional cake decorator come in and help. I didn't have my camera or I would share a photo. The last day, the staff was asking the kids what they had learned about horses. Each child had a chance to state his name and share. This is an example of the common responses:
"My name is Ian, and I learned that a horse has monocular vision."
"My name is Leah, and I learned that you should never approach a horse from the front or behind."
"My name is Tom, and I learned that you should talk to a horse as you are approaching it."
As you can see, the sharing time had a theme that everyone was following. Then it was Judah's turn:
"My name is Judah Roderick Owens. I learned that horses make great cupcakes."
Laughter ensued.


Judah and I were in a cabin with two other moms and their sons. He loved sharing a room with other boys. Each night before bed, the boys (7 and 8 years old) would climb into Judah's bed and listen to a bedtime story. Most of the stories Judah came up with were about Scribbles, but he was nice enough to add their stuffed animals into the mix, too. Judah began each night out in his bed but was snuggling with me within five minutes. This mama loved her still-vulnerable little boy.



Sarah Mull, Ames dweller and babysitter extraordinaire, is working at camp this summer. Sarah's first summer as an intern was also the first summer Will and I were married. Sarah lived in our basement along with three other young ladies. She is very special to us. Judah was jazzed to be going to "Sarah's camp!"
Finally, a photo of the campers with their mom or dad in front of the chapel. I will absolutely send Judah back to camp. I'm not sure if I will give Will a shot at attending Little Fry with him next year or not. This might be something I will fight for.

Lettuce Wraps

The list of items that I can/do make for my family is pretty small and ordinary. I have recently decided to add to the ordinary and try to make things that I might actually order if I went to a restaurant. I mean, who is going to go out and order spaghetti and tator tot casserole? (Don't answer that.) My other goal in this adventure is to cook meals that are more healthy. Let's face it, I'm not going to be giving up soda or late night ice cream any time soon. I need to cut down on the calories, carbs, and fatty sugars in my cooking. My first fantastic adventure began Saturday night with lettuce wraps. I adore these wraps from The Cafe in Ames and from PF Chang's, so I went online and found a recipe to make them. I called up my friend, Krista Wrage, to assist me in this adventure, and we headed to the store.
It was phenomenal. The amount of red pepper flakes suggested made our noses run as we dined, so I recommend adjusting that if you are a pansy...just kidding...next time I will definitely not put that much pepper in. We also opted to buy prettier lettuce than iceberg. Oh, and for Will's sake, I left out the mushrooms. I am sure they are a lovely addition.

1 - 20oz pkg - Extra Lean Jennie-O Ground Turkey

1/2 C fresh mushrooms, chopped

1/2 C scallions (green onions), thinly sliced on the bias

3/4 C red bell pepper, chopped

1/2 C carrots, chopped

8 oz. can of water chestnuts, chopped

1/4 C Kikkoman Teriyaki Sauce

1/4 C Kikkoman Lite Soy Sauce

2 T sugar free maple syrup

2 T freshly grated ginger root

1T red pepper flakes

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 large head of iceberg lettuce

Directions

In a small bowl combine teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, syrup, ginger root, red pepper flakes and black pepper. Set aside.

In a skillet heated to med-high heat brown turkey. If needed drain, then add vegetables and sauce.

Continue cooking and stir occasionaly until vegetables are tender and sauce has reduced.

Remove the core from the head of lettuce and cut in half. Using the larger leaves as the shell fill them with the asian turkey and enjoy "taco style".

Number of Servings: Four Hearty Servings

The recipe says "four hearty servings", which means that we eat a lot. There was enough food for three of us.

Nutritional Info

• Servings Per Recipe: 4
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 236.6
• Total Fat: 2.3 g
• Cholesterol: 56.3 mg
• Sodium: 1,333.1 mg
• Total Carbs: 17.3 g
• Dietary Fiber: 4.1 g
• Protein: 37.1 g

Let me know if you try it and like it. I will absolutely make it again.

The Pink Elephant

Will and I had a date last Saturday night. We dropped the kids off with my mom in Newton and headed up to Des Moines for a night of pain and agony. Okay, not really agony, but there was some pain involved. We have been talking about getting tattoos for quite a while. When we first got married, we were going to tattoo on our rings but just never got around to it. We will leave that for an anniversary down the road perhaps. We each knew what we wanted for months before the big night, and Friday night I called Will at work and told him that we were going. We went down Friday night and got a consult and scheduled an appointment for the next evening.

Our appointment was for 7:30 and like lame-os, we showed up a few minutes early. Some eighty pound eighteen year old was getting seven butterflies tattooed in a line going up her side from her thigh to her shoulder blade. It really was quite beautiful, but the girl was in some serious pain. Her friends were stroking her hair and consoling her as best they could, but she was struggling. We ended up starting our appointment with someone else about 45 minutes after we got there because the girl was taking so many smoke/uncontrollable sobbing breaks. It was really comforting to me, a first timer.

I got in the chair and began my ordeal.

I took Hebrew in college and really enjoyed learning the language. I had decided a while back that I wanted to get something in Hebrew, but I had never come across anything that meant anything to me. A while back I was introduced to a Hebrew word used in the Bible to describe God's relentless pursuit of his children. This phrase really stuck with me...especially the word relentless. No matter what I'm doing with my life, God is relentlessly pursuing a relationship with me. I love knowing that I have this reminder that my God wants me everywhere I am and in everything I am doing. The word 'relentless' holds so much passion for me. I am very pleased with my decision.
I don't have a good picture of it, but you can see what it looks like on Will's photos.

Will was up after the girl finished. He had been waiting long enough that he was a little amped with anticipation by the time he got in the chair. Our artist, Butchie Von Dreaux, began outlining the art, and Will began looking a little peaked. I was busy texting people and not giving my dear husband the attention he needed (according to Will). After the outlining was finished, Butchie began mixing the color for Mayah's symbol, and Will asked if he could stand up. Butchie told him no and the next thing Will remembers is waking up from a beautiful dream. Butchie had grabbed Will's arm and kept him on the chair while Will floated in and out of consciousness for about five minutes. I didn't know what to do because Will's facial expressions were kind of creeping me out. Watching someone pass out is straight up weird. Butchie Von Dreaux told me to go down the street and get him a Coke to get his blood sugar back up. When I got back, Will and Butchie were having a good laugh. It was all very bizarre. Will drank his Coke and walked around and was back in the chair within about ten mintues. According to Dr Butchie, it is quite common for someone to pass out once he relaxes in the chair. Will says that after the outlining was finished and he realized how little the rest of the tattooing was going to hurt, his whole body relaxed and he was in dreamland.
Now for the meaning behind Will's ink. On top is a cross, symbolizing his faith and his call to care and love for those God has given him. Under the cross are symbols for the people in his family.

Directly under the cross is the Hebrew word I got on my wrist. God has given Will an amazing woman :) Under that is the face of a lion. Judah's name means "praise the Lord", which is why we liked it so much when we picked it. Jesus is a descendant from the line of Judah and is referred to as the "lion of Judah" in scripture. Will surrounded the face of the lion with the color red, because red is Judah's favorite color. The one below that is a symbol for Mayah. Mayah means "God's creative power". This was a little more difficult to come up with a symbol for. Will settled on our church's symbol because we have seen God's power in lots of creative ways at this church. It is in purple because right now Mayah gravitates toward the color purple. The final symbol is for Liam. Liam's name means "protector", thus the shield. Will will have it colored in once Liam chooses a favorite color.

Overall, it was a great experience. We are both thankful that we waited until we were in our thirties to get a tatoo. We were also VERY pleased with the people and atmosphere of The Pink Elephant. These people were more kind to one another than in any other business I have ever been in. I will leave you with a photo of our artist pretending to be cross-eyed. Good times.

Judahisms

Judah usually drags me out of bed in the morning. This morning, he decided to be a little sneaky. I could hear him come into my room, but I decided to pretend to be sleeping because I wanted to see how he was going to bring me into the world of wakefulness this time. It was classic.

Judah tiptoed to the foot of the bed where Will and I were "sound asleep". I could feel him pulling the blankets off of my feet and crawling onto the bed. He then found his way under the covers and not so stealthily made his way directly on top of me, laying belly to belly and face to face. I opened my eyes, and the words out of this four year old's mouth were:

"Well, isn't this a bit of a coincidence?"

Thirteen hours later, and I am still laughing.

The Princess and the Frog

I went to Redbox today and rented my kids a movie because the rain was pouring down outside. Judah does not have a good history with movies. Whenever I broach the subject of watching a movie that he has not seen, he begins shaking and chanting, "no no no no no no nooooo!". It isn't a pretty sight. I don't force him to watch anything. but he always enjoys the movie once it has started. Granted, he shakes through anything even slightly scary (think scary toys from Toy Story or Wall-E or the sea lion thing from Happy Feet), but the laughter usually outweighs the shakes.

So today's movie started off the same as it always does. Judah asked if he could watch Bambi, and I told him that I had rented a movie for him and his sister. After much protest, he sat down and began to enjoy himself. It didn't end well.

Judah wet his pants. He stood up off the couch, and I noticed that he was wet and asked if he had peed his pants. I made him go upstairs and change his clothes, and when he returned, we picked up where we had left off. About twenty minutes later, he had peed his pants again. I guess the voodoo doctor was a bit much for him. I had even asked a ton of people if this movie was scary or appropriate for a four year old, and everyone said Judah would like it. WRONG.

The movie ended with Judah crying. Spoiler Alert: The firefly, Ray, gets squashed by the voodoo doctor. Judah began to weep. "Now he can't fly anymore, Mama." It took a while for the boy to compose himself and see that Ray got to be with Evangeline, his true love. Yeesh. Forget ever taking the kid to the theater without a change of clothes and a box of tissues. The kid has a tender heart. Poor guy.

Townhome Anyone?

We are moving in August (or sooner if someone wants this place!!). The Owens Family is upgrading to a house and a real third bedroom. We are very excited about this move! The townhome where we have lived for almost three years is now up for rent or for sale. My landlord lives in New Mexico, so the renters need to be very trustworthy. Here are some photos. Let me know if you or someone you know might be interested.The master bedroom is upstairs and has two closets. The main one is MASSIVE and amazing. The second one is smaller, and we used it for sweatshirts.

The door in the photo is the smaller of the two closets.

The washer and dryer are upstairs in the bathroom. I loved not having to drag all of our clothes downstairs or to a basement.

The upstairs bathroom has a bathtub and shower. I am standing in the laundry area.

This is the other bedroom that is upstairs.

This is the kitchen area.

This is the kitchen and dining room area.

This is the living room area taken from the kitchen.

There is a bathroom downstairs with a toilet also...I couldn't get the photo to upload :) There is a one car garage and a driveway. Come and get it!