The Cheerios Lady (i.e. A Mother's Sweet Revenge)

Once upon a time, Adam went to work at Camp Bartlett for his second summer in a row.  His first summer must not have been nearly as fun, because his family got a letter from him almost weekly.  This summer, they received one letter (and finally a second), and very little other communication.

One day, after discovering the picture below on facebook, along with another without Adam but with a lot of the same people with a big fun fair in the background, his mommy's revenge-anator went into overdrive.

Before I continue, you must meet the Cheerios Lady.  The Cheerios Lady is the happiest woman I personally have ever seen, and all over a bowl of Cheerios!  A few years ago she appeared on the back of the Cheerios box, and we used her almost every morning to bring good cheer to everyone at the breakfast table.  If someone woke up grumpy, we would point her their direction, knowing that glowing happiness like that has to have some kind of affect.  Unfortunately for Adam, the effect was more annoyance than happiness, but we still tried anyway.

We even sent her to scout camp as some mid-week mail.  (Bit of foreshadowing - Adam received that at Camp Bartlett in 2009.)  He had to have been writhing on the ground in tears before receiving it for her to bring him to that state of . . . well . . . something.

Back to our present story.  After seeing my handsome son decked out in a cowboy hat I had never seen apparently at a fair in who-knows-where, having so much fun over the weekend that he didn't have time to check in with his family to tell us what he'd been up to, it was time for him to learn a lesson in communication.

We dubbed our beloved Cheerios Lady "Adam," took him everywhere we went for the next 2 weeks before we picked him up from camp, and posted them on facebook.  Here are some of my favorites (there are lots more, it was hard to choose).

Adam looking at the clouds with the other kids.

Adam watching "Princess Charm School" with Madeleine.

Adam swimming with Madeleine while Melanie waded.  Yes, Adam got wet.

I had a meeting at the park and Adam's good buddy wasn't there, so he sat by me nice and bored for a while.

He finally borrowed a book from another friend and read for a while.

I hired a couple of thugs to get after Adam for not communicating with his mom.

Adam helping me out with my Webelos.

Adam eating Chik-fil-a with us (Sam even shared some lemonade).

Adam playing ring-around-the-rosie at his friend's sister's birthday party.

Adam reading some of his favorite magazines at the library.

Adam watching Sammy compete in a Lego robotics competition.

Adam looking for deer at the nature center.

Adam helping me heft two bags of chicken feed (I was glad he was there!).

Adam feeding some ducks and geese.

Adam protecting the other children from the ducks and geese (we were surrounded!).

Adam having a tea party with his sisters and some cousins.

Adam taking a Sunday nap.

Adam helping out with a family home evening story.

What the house looks like while Adam is "babysitting."

(He was playing video games instead of watching the kids.)

Adam helping out at a cub scout raingutter regatta.

Adam giving some good scout advice to the newest cub scout graduate.

Sam shared some of his doctored chili.  This time Adam isn't smiling.  He's screaming in pain.

Adam learning to crochet from his sisters.

Picking up the real Adam at the end of camp.  Just like the other camp picture, so excited to be with the Cheerios Lady!

By the way, I really think Cheerios should print her on Cheerios boxes again.  Besides sharing her happy smile with everyone, my Cheerios Lady is getting pretty beat up and I could use some more copies of her.  Never know when I might need to use her again!

P.S.  The revenge worked.  Adam was warned at the beginning of the first week that some retribution was going to be happening, and he even guessed that it had something to do with the Cheerios Lady.  Mid-week another camp staff member noticed the pictures, told him about them, then showed them to him.  That week we got a letter and two phone calls over the weekend.  Wow!  A couple more phone calls during the next week.  Hopefully he remembers again next summer!

The Journey

Friday we took a drive that could have potentially taken 3 1/2 hours and we did it in 12 hours.

Sunday we did a similar drive in 5 hours.

A good reminder to me to enjoy the journey.

2011 Till Now

I need to get some thoughts out of my heart.

Through 2011 until now life has been crazy.  No problems to speak of, no major challenges, but incredibly crazily busy.  I would be talking to someone that knew a piece of what I was involved with, and they would comment that they didn't know how I could do it all.  In the back of my mind I would be listing off all the other things they didn't even know about.

Not saying I'm wonder woman or super mom.  Probably just some variety of crazy.

But two big things have come to an end.  On one hand it's nice to not have the responsibility and all that being "in charge" entails, but on another hand, there are so many wonderful opportunities to learn and stretch with each.  I will especially miss all the people.  I'm very happy sitting in my little corner of the world all by myself and my family, and really probably do that more than I should.  But I love being around great people and learning from them, and both of those involved being around and learning from a lot of really amazingly great people.

Before actually coming to "the end" of each I felt like I was ready, that I had had my time and did what I needed to do.  But both endings were a lot harder than I thought.  Hard to close a chapter of your life, especially knowing that with one of these things I will never get to do it again.

I believe that this life is about becoming, so why these things at this time?  What have I learned?

1.  It's always my job to care.  I don't need a special responsibility to do that.
2.  It's far less about who you are when you walk into responsibility, and far more about who you are when you are done.
3.  It's important to have a vision of what you'd like to do and communicate that well.  If people aren't following it, it's usually because of how well (or rather, how poorly) you communicated that vision, not that they don't want to follow.
4.  It's important to get to know people.  What you see and what you've heard usually aren't the real deal.
5.  No success can compensate for failure in the home.
6.  Prayer makes a difference.
7.  The atonement is real, and helps us be far more than we normally are.

Maybe someday I'll write about each of these so you can learn too.

The Best Baked Scones

After not writing for so long, I definitely owe the world something really good, so here it is.  We love eating these.  The blog I got them from is no longer open to the public and I panicked the day I went for the recipe and realized that.  Thank goodness my awesome friend, Cindi, that shared it with me in the first place had saved it elsewhere.  Another good reason to post it here - if something ever happens to my printed copies and my computer, hopefully it will still be here in blog world.

We've never used fresh fruit to make them, just frozen, and we always add chocolate.

Without further adieu...

The Best Blueberry Scones  from thedelectableword.blogspot.com

2 sticks butter, frozen (You will only use 10 tablespoons, however)
1.5 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup 1 percent milk
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for sprinkling
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1) Preheat oven to 425.  Remove half of the wrapper from each stick of butter (so 4 tablespoons are visible on each).  Grate unwrapped ends with the large holes of a box grater (8 tablespoons grated total).  Place grated butter in freezer until ready to use.  Melt 2 Tablespoons of remaining unused butter and set aside.

2) Whisk together milk, sour cream, and vanilla extract.  Set aside, in refrigerator.

3) In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest.  Add frozen butter and toss with fingers until coated.

4) Add milk mixture to flour mixture.  Fold with spatula until just combined.

5) Transfer dough to liberally floured work surface.  With floured hands, knead 6 to 8 times (don't overwork!), until it just holds together in a ragged ball.

6) Roll dough into about a 12 x 12 square.  Fold dough into thirds like a business letter.  Then fold your new 12 x 4 rectangle into thirds the other way, creating a 4 x 4 square.

7) Transfer dough to a lightly floured plate and freeze for 5 minutes.

8) Remove dough from freezer and return to floured work surface.  Roll into a square about 12 x 12.

9) Sprinkle blueberries evenly onto square, and lightly press into dough.

10) Roll dough tightly into a log.  Lay seam side down and slightly flatten log into a 12 x 4 rectangle.

11) Using a sharp, floured knife, cut rectangle into four even rectangles (each will be 3 x 4).  Cut each rectangle in half diagonally.  You ought to have eight evenly sized triangles.

12) Place scones on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Brush each with melted butter and sprinkle with remaining sugar.

13) Bake for 18-25 minutes, until top and bottom are golden brown

14) Remove from oven and cool on a rack for 10 minutes.