Like Magic

It amazes me what kids will respond to. The kids have been introduced to Mozart's "The Magic Flute" a bit because I LOVE the Queen of the Night's big aria (here's another during a clip from "Amadeus", and another really great one). Jamie and I went to see the Magic Flute the summer after we were married and I don't think I breathed through the entire song. I recorded if off a CD sometime and have played it here and there. I said something about it to them the other day and during the conversation I decided I should see if I could get a copy of the opera from the library. I thought the copy I put on hold was in English and put it on this morning just to run while we went about other things. It's in German. I was a bit disappointed since it would be harder for the kids to follow it, but as I type, the 156 minutes are just about done and Adam and Melanie watched just about the whole thing with Sammy, Carolyn, and I joining them here and there. I've put two books on hold for our next library trip so they can get the story of it all. It's got me thinking of other 'greatness' I should expose them to.

Speaking of magic, those beans I mentioned last post are still holding their magic. Today I taught Melanie about fractions using them and some measuring cups. She thought the whole thing was pretty amazing. Carolyn helped, but she was still a bit young for the concept. They've been out two other times today besides that, one time with Carolyn and Sammy sorting them.

P.S. Melanie told me tonight that the worst part about "The Magic Flute" is that it isn't ours. :)

Honesty and Growing Up

Decluttering has been such a challenge to me for years, I'm so amazed at all the insight I've been getting the past several months.

One recently, honesty. I've learned I have to be honest with myself. Am I REALLY going to use this? Do the kids really like this? Has it been that beneficial to me and my family sitting here in this box or cluttering our home? Could someone else put it to better use than we have, and really love and enjoy it? It used to be so much harder to get rid of things, rationalizing that there would come a time that the whatever would be important to us, maybe a NEED even, and knotting up inside over it all. It's wonderful feeling so much more free and have so much more faith in the future.

Speaking of the future, I am GROWING UP. This is actually very shocking to me. Yes I've got 5 children, but as a neighbor told me the other day, I'm just a kid at heart. No wonder I'm so stinkin' fun! But I'm passing on things that tie me to my past, recent or not-so-recent, and the future feels so much closer and more promising. As the scriptures tell us, "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things" (1 Corinthians 13:11). To me "childish things" could be things that hold me back from my potential, or things I've already gotten my fill of. I've got plenty of things that were really meaningful to me at some point, we'll say CDs for example, but I've soaked everything I can out of them and they are just here hanging out. If I'm honest with myself I know they'll never be that important to me again, and I need to pass them on so they can be meaningful to someone else.

So there are two great decluttering mantras for today: Be honest with yourself, and put away childish things.

Beautifully Genius

Sammy was put on prednisone just over a week ago. The doc asked if he would prefer liquid or pills, and we said either one since he's great at swallowing pills. So she went with the pills.

Unfortunately, these have been particularly difficult pills. There is no coating whatsoever, so they start dissolving pretty quick.  And according to Sammy - they taste horrible. Watching the poor kid, I believe it!  He gives a little shudder when I mention taking them. We started cutting them in half, hoping he could get them down quicker, but it didn't help at all. Just seemed to prolong the misery.

After about 4 days of taking them 3 times a day, he was strongly opposing them. I hated watching him even attempt.  So I stopped forcing him and called the doc to see if we could get the liquid. Unfortunately the whole message didn't get back and forth before the long weekend, so I didn't hear back until Tuesday.   I read up about the medication online and found a site that said drinking them down with milk or orange juice is a big help, but no, he wouldn't be talked into that.

Then the creativity wheels started turning, and genius struck. The pills don't have a coating, right? Well, I'll make one!

I melted some chocolate chips and dipped two of the pills in that, and dipped two others in Karo syrup. The chocolate was nicely set up after about 5 minutes in the freezer. I talked him into trying it (proves how bad they were when I almost couldn't get him to try chocolate pills!). He decided to try milk with it and got it down with no fuss! Hooray!


I don't know how soon he'll be able to try the Karo syrup ones. After several hours of sitting out the outside is getting drier but it is still squishy on the inside. For quick and easy, chocolate is the way to go.

If the pills get too big when you dip them, cut them in half first and then dip.

P.S. I didn't call it beautifully genius. Jamie did. :)

P.P.S. After trying both he liked the chocolate ones best, and since they were definitely the easiest we stuck with that.  Be warned - chocolate pills are tempting.  At one point a younger daughter tried one, but unfortunately she chewed it and still got the yuck.  I called poison control and they said it's a safer drug for her to try, but in the event that the same thing happens, definitely call.

My Wallet

I am not a purse carrier. I am not a diaper bag carrier. There are few things that I need at a moments notice. Whatever I need either goes on my person in a pocket or stays in the car where it is easily retrieved if needed.

What you can usually find in my pockets:
- keys
- variety of cards
- cell phone (when I remember it)
- fingernail clippers
- lip junk
- a bit of change

Back before I found my fabulous wallet I use to carry my cards loose in a back pocket. Since they slide around a bit, I didn't feel too safe about that, figuring one might work its way up and out of my pocket sometime. I looked around here and there at different wallets/purses, but for what I wanted to carry I couldn't find something that I was excited about.

One night after brushing my teeth I noticed my birth control pills case.

Small. Thin. No frills. Just about the right size. I pulled the cards out of my pocket, and wonder of all wonders, they fit beautifully. Perfect! Now I could happily carry my variety of cards in a convenient little carrying case. Even better, I get a free monthly replacement so when one wears out, I've got a ready replacement (and since they don't wear out monthly, I've got plenty of backups). When I first started using them they only came in gray, but now I've got them in purple and sea green. Lovely!

I've been packing my cards this way for a few years now, and the idea has been well-received by a few others (including my mom). My sister even stocks up on them for me, which has been a help a few times when I either wasn't getting the monthly refill or the prescrip I was on had the wrong kind of case.

The simple things truly are the best, aren't they?

Sewing Scout Patches Tips and Tricks

Any scouters out there know that sewing on patches isn't always thrilling, but hey, we want to look snazzy, right? So it must be done. There is always the patch glue, but that looks terrible if you ever have to take patches off.

I had to add some patches on to my sons' shirts, and got to try out some patch tips I'd been given. They are so fabulous, I have to share.

TIP 1: When sewing unit number patches, sew them together first, and THEN sew them to the shirt.


This saves you from sewing 3 separate small patches. Bigger patches are way easier, plus then you don't have to keep trying to get them all lined up. This could work for the knot patches as well.



TIP 2: TAPE!

I noticed some tape sticking to a patch on one of the roundtable staff's shirt a couple months ago and asked her about it. She said she uses tape instead of pins when she's trying to put on smaller patches. I tried this out when I had to sew a couple arrow points on Sammy's shirt. First I taped over the whole arrow point and sewed right over the tape. This was fine, but the tape kept breaking apart while I was trying to peel it off. Then I tried keeping part of the patch untaped, sewed that part, and then peeled off the tape to finish. I liked that much better.



Both were excellent helps that made the whole patch sewing experience a lot happier with less unpicking. Try them out sometime!

Some other links you might enjoy...
I started a different blog to share excerpts of Baden-Powell talking about his life and thoughts. His words are so wonderful to read. Baden-Powell Stories

For a great post by a friend about a girl's perspective on boy scouts, read this.

I've created and shared some great Wolf scout leader records and 11-Year-Old Scout records and rank advancement tracking.