Stuffed Strawberries

I love berry season.

Just now, as I washed and cut the tops off some strawberries to enjoy a post-lunch treat, I noticed the large hollow center inside the strawberries and I thought,

"Why has no one thought to stuff strawberries?"

My next thought,

"Surely there are recipes online."

So here I am to tell you that people do stuff strawberries and I want to eat them.  But they're not stuffing them from the top, where the natural opening is after you cut the top off.  They are cutting 2 slits across the bottom and piping filling, rather unnaturally, in there.

  But I can understand their reasoning since they can then be stood upside-down and be stable and beautiful.


Ah, here's a naturalist:

I wish I had some cream to whip up.
My afternoon would be set. 
Yum.

Enjoy berry season!

Yeah, There's a Toilet on Our Front Porch

Doesn't get much classier than this.

But, that means they're putting the floor in our bathroom!

And a friend stopped by to give the boys a ride.

Dreaming.

Camp Shower

What a fortuitous time to be house-sitting.

Our main bathroom has been under construction for a week, meaning, among other things, no shower.

But, for the last week and the rest of this one, we are taking care of a house that does have a shower.

Really, couldn't have planned that better.

Except, I didn't plan either event at all.

But, it's felt a whole lot like camp.

I take my bucket of toiletries and my towel and clean clothes and head to the house to shower.  Then I tote all my things back again, feeling uber clean and refreshed.  Even wore flip-flops to get the whole camp feeling.

Our shower is almost ready to be christened.

But the floor is not in, just the under wood.  

One of the Bobs said we could use it today, but I'm hesitant without the new flooring in.  This whole ripping-out-of-the-shower began because of our floor becoming rotted due to our old leaky shower and shower door.  I'd rather wait until the floor is securely covered.  But I probably say that because I have another shower to use in the meantime.

~In Other News~

Today we have severe storms coming into the state.  Welcome to Tornado Season.  Earthquakes in CA or tornadoes out here?  I haven't decided which I prefer.  It seems I am affected by tornadoes a lot more than I was with earthquakes.  That mad dash across the street to the church basement in the midst of a whirling storm with the tornado sirens blaring...  Stresses me out just thinking about it.

So let's think about the pretty side of spring.  The flowering trees are beautiful right now and birds are singing and chirping from all directions.  It's lovely and peaceful.

Mourning the Meal

Have you ever fixed one of your favorite meals,

(cranberry meatloaf, potatoes & carrots,
yeast rolls, key lime pie)

all from scratch,

and specially invited a neighbor family over
to enjoy it with you,

and they said they'd bring a salad,

and you decorated your table with an extra special touch,

and you're looking forward to getting to know them better,

especially since their kids are over at your house a couple times a week,

and they just don't show up?

Oh man.

When they didn't show up,

Paul went over to see if they were coming

and they said no.

But they'd "really like to sometime"

maybe if they had "more notice."

I guess a week wasn't enough time.

But wait, they said they'd bring a salad.

They said they'd come.

This was a meal with just us and them.

I couldn't believe they just didn't come.

So sad.

We were hoping to build a relationship with them

so we could trust them more

and possibly let our kids go to their house

because their kids invite ours over

but we just don't know the adults well enough

and our first impressions and gut intincts

(even before this meal)

haven't been positive.

So I guess our relationship will stay as it is for a while more:

Their kids come over here

and we hang out with them

and they learn more about our weird lifestyle

(no tv, home school, healthy food, coupons,
family outings, church, Jesus).

Epilogue

We took our meal to another family's house.

Some good friends with whom we already have an established relationship,

who often share their meals with us.

It was lovely to return the favor. 

Passover

So, we're not Jewish,  But we celebrated the Passover Thursday night anyway.  It was interesting and fun and of course, we learned some things.

We held the meal in our Upper Room, just as Jesus did with his 12 close buddies.  Well, kind of like Jesus did.  We emptied everything out of Peter's upstairs bedroom and laid down quilts and pillows so we could properly recline, as the custom was.

A unique fellow named Bryce fixed the entire meal of:
zeroah (roasted lamb),
karpas (veggies),
charoses (an apple dish),
beitzah (hard boiled eggs),
matzoh (flat bread),
grape juice for the wine,
salt water for dipping the veggies,
and maror (A horseradish dip that he made from his own homegrown horseradish and plain yogurt.  I had no idea what horseradish was, but I now know it's a white root veggie.).

It was tasty and fun to eat.  Everything had meaning.

Paul used the book below, called 30 Minute Seder,

to lead us through and explain the rituals and symbolism.

Unwrapping some matzoh and taking out the middle piece to rip it in half.

One of the traditions is to hide some matzoh wrapped in a napkin and the kids have to find it.

Peter may have had a home field advantage since he found it.

Then the leader has to barter with the kid to get the matzoh back.

It took 9 mini Hershey bars to convince Peter.

We realized that this was a meal similar to what Jesus had the night before he was killed.  While eating the Passover meal with his 12 apostles (like we were reinacting), he gave the matzoh (flat bread) and wine new significance.

Jesus took the bread and said, 

"This represents my body, given for you;

eat this in remembrance of me."

Then he took the cup of wine and said, 

"This represents my blood, God's new covenant,

which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."

This is Communion.  This is where it started.  Every Sunday in church we take a piece of matzoh and a cup of grape juice and we eat it and drink it and remember Jesus dying on the cross for us.  Before I was born and able to perform my first sin, he died to forgive it.  He was innocent and they killed him.  Today we mourn that he died.

But tomorrow...  Tomorrow he will prove that he is who he said he was.  God's son.  He came back to life.

And we can say...

                     He is Risen.

                     He is Risen, indeed!

Thank you, Jesus.  For forgiving me when I don't deserve it.

Gotta Go

I'm in the midst of creating a new post about last night's events, but Reuben wants me to come out and play with him.  I'm working on being more people-focused instead of task-focused, so out I go.  And even though you're all people too, we meet through a task.  And this task is being trumped by my son.  I'd add a super cute pic of him here, but then I'd be here tasking instead of out there peopling.

Have a lovely, sunny day.

Lovely Laundry

I love laundry.

It's easy to do and provides a great sense of accomplishment.

"My family will be dressed and clean now that I've done this Great Thing."

In the winter, my laundry baskets are never empty.

I hang all of our things to dry instead of using the dryer,

so it takes a bit longer.

My indoor drying rack has room for one medium load

and will take 24 hours to dry.

So one load a day.

But, now that it's warm and I can use our outdoor line,

I can do 2-4 large loads a day and actually have empty laundry baskets.

I love it!

I am a Task-Oriented person.

Can you tell?

More laundry washed and put away =

more accomplishment hormone released.

And I feel great.

After thinking about this for a while,
I realized I have not always loved laundry.

When we live in Cali in a 2nd floor apartment
and I had to tote our laundry up and down stairs
to the public, coin machines
while locking my napping newborn babe in our apartment
so our freaky neighbor wouldn't get any ideas...
I didn't love it then.

When we lived in China
and our mini machine only washed
5 or 6 pieces of clothes at a time
and like everyone else in China, I didn't have a dryer,
so I had to risk my life to hang clothes
out our 7th floor window
on this accordian contraption,
except during the 6 months of below freezing temps
when I hung clothes in our entryway
and it took 3 days for the clothes to dry
because the government regulated our heat
and our apartment wasn't warm, ever...
I didn't love laundry then either.

Who knows how laundry will be in future homes for us.
So for now,
I love laundry.