Susiej

You would think that after spending most of the summer at the lake that you had seen just about all there is to see. How wrong I was. I found something hiding behind these trees. The same trees I looked at across the lake all summer; the same trees you saw in the photos of all of those lake pictures I posted. Right there, in the tree line, something sinister is hiding. Maybe, this is that Nancy Drew Mystery I’ve been looking for all along. To “get” this Thursday 13, think of Ruth Brown’s delightfully scary book, A Dark, Dark Tale.

I. There is a dark, dark road that takes you to a dark, dark lake.

II. And on that dark, dark, lake, there is a dark, dark dock.
III. And on that dark, dark dock, is a bright shinny canoe.

IV. As you glide on your bright shinny canoe, you see a dark, dark woods.
V. And through the dark, dark trees, you see a dark, dark house.

VI. And on that dark, dark house are dark, broken windows.

VII. And through the dark, dark windows, there is a dark, dark kitchen.

VIII. And in that dark, dark, kitchen, there is a dark, old, refrigerator.
IX. And through that dark, dark window, you see a dark, dark hallway.

X. And down the dark, dark hallway, you see on a dark, dark doorknob, a dark, dark jacket.

XI. And around the dark, dark house, you see a dark, dark, open door.

XII. And by the dark, dark door, you see a dark, DARK SHOE!

XIII. And then you scream, and run through the woods, trip on the trees, and jump back into your boat. And start paddling.

Happy Halloween!

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Filed under: Life, Thursday 13, holidays, the lake house by SusieJ - 40 Comments →

One costume, so many boys

And not a single one taken on Halloween.

Wordless Wednesday

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Five weeks away from the lake, and I guess that’s what happens. You forget things.

Yet, sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night, sweaty and in a slight state of panic, and wonder what in heaven’s name are we going to do with a lake house. Isn’t one house enough to manage? Four boys do keep us busy enough; why add this? And, then I start to think about the three hours of heavy driving just to get there; one way. What were we thinking? I wonder.

We knew the weather was going to be cold; there wouldn’t be much to do. But it’s our lake house, and we need to explore what it’s like to be there in the colder months. Maybe it would be nice to spend Christmas here. People around the lake tell me that winter is just as much fun as summer. Ice skating, sledding, cross-country skiing. And of course, leaf raking.
We arrived after the sun had already went down. The wind was brisk. Ovaltine and cheese quesdaillas and edamame by an outdoor bonfire brought no complaints from my picky eaters. And, of course, we just had to get out the marshmallows; even though it was too late, they were fussy, and their hands, mouths and clothes were soon all covered in sticky goo.

Finally, time for bed. But, to them, I guess that’s the beginning of a 24 hour sleepover; lots of chatter, laughter, one-upping, and singing coming from their bunk beds. They started to bicker, and that was the last sound I heard at night.

But this weekend, we got a surprise. On Friday, it was warm. Upper 70s, sunny, and a gorgeous day for a canoe ride, fishing, football. The two little boys, always in costume. We squeezed as much fun as you can possible get out of every inch of sunlight, in these days when the sunset comes earlier and earlier.

But, my ironman husband did decide it was tooooo cold for a swim. The entire day we did not see one single person outside of our family. The lake was desolated. Wait, let me take that back. We saw the guy who lives there all year; and he told us how much he hates the winter at the lake. Nobody is around.

Rain threatened our fun on Saturday. It wasn’t just any rain; more like pelting stabs of cold. The rain hurt my face. So we left. Two hours of packing, cleaning (the floor still isn’t as clean as I’d like) carrying the boats in, and locking up. Remembering to take this, and leave that… it went on for hours.

As we drove, the rain gave way to sunshine, and we wondered if maybe we left too soon. Then, the clouds would come back. And, the we saw the most incredible sky. Sometimes we would drive through plains of dark gray, and see an entire farm with silos and barns completely lit up by the sun’s bright rays that filled an opening in the clouds.

On our way home, we were greeted by this little black creature that came running down the very same road where the teen on the dirt bike crossed the road in front of us without stopping. Just like, where I am from, the cows were out.

All the commotion from the lack of farm hands available to get the cows back in, (where are those teenagers on the dirt bikes when you need them?), woke my little guy from his nap. He only kept saying, “I want him to be our pet,” about 5,000 times.

More about the lake.

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I still haven’t bought a new vacuum. But maybe I’ll win one — you could too. Check this post out.

To a mom of 4 boys, a good vacuum claner — no matter how expensive — is more valuable than therapy. My Miele Vacuum Cleaner is heading for a new life at the lake house. We have a very close relationship — I found him 8 years ago when I only had two little boys, and I thought life was really messy. I am always amazed at the way this vacuum sucks — powerful, quick. You don’t need a flat head to get into the corners — because it sucks everything out of the corners before you can get the sweeper head in there. When I’m done cleaning, I always do a head count to make sure all four boys are here and no one got sucked into the bag.

Two boys later, and yes, that Miele has seen me through a lot of dirty days. So, as my first, he gets to go to the lake house.

So, I need a new one back home. I like the idea of this bagless system from Dyson. I do spend quite a bit of money on Vacuum Bags. The Hepa filter on the Dyson is nice too. But my vacuum repairman cautions me against the Dyson — he says, stick with the Miele. (He sells Dyson too — so I tend to trust him.)

But several reviewers have nothing but good things to say about the Dyson — I’m heading for the new Dyson “Slim” Vacuum. I have an older house, and closet space is scarce. They tell me it’s the same amount of power as the other versions. I’m not sure which way to go. Miele or Dyson? Help me out here.

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We’re off to the lake. No school on Friday — and we’re outta here. I was going to tell you about sock monkeys, but I think it will just have to wait. It’s taking me forever and a day to pack these four little boys.  Maybe we should just keep one set of underwear and socks for everyone at the lake.  For the fridge? Easy.  I just load up the milk, eggs and cheese into our cooler, and transport that with us. And e-mails will just have to wait till I get back.

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The Food and Drug Administration says over the counter cold medicines are unsafe for children. An article in the WSJ by By Benjamin Brewer, M.D. says, “The risks with cough-and-cold medication are clear. If you don’t know your phenylephrine from your acetaminophen, you can deliver more potency than you had intended by unknowingly combining products with similar ingredients and confusing chemical names.Overdoses of medication occur all too often; the FDA has linked over-the-counter medicines to 123 pediatric deaths since 1969. Most of the fatalities were in children younger than 2. Whooping cough has already started spreading in our school. For children between the ages of 11-18, the vaccinations they got as babies has weakened. The has caused entire middle schools to close as a result of epidemics. I’m wondering. Do I give my healthy 11-year-old son the booster vaccine? Or do I help him build his immune system?

While I’m thinking about it, I found 13 alternatives to children’s cough medicines. Use common sense. Check with your doctor if symptoms persist, of course. Each remedy I’ve listed here is linked to its source so that you can check into the source a little more deeper.

1. Garlic fights colds. While you may not be able to convince your child to chew on a clove, and it might upset his stomach. I have put a sliced clove in the bottom of my child’s sock while they sleep, and the cold is better by morning. If you want to go the extra mile, you can then peel and crush six cloves of garlic. Mix them into 1/2 cup of white lard or vegetable shortening. Spread the mush on the soles of your child’s feet and cover them with a (preferably warmed) towel or flannel cloth. Put plastic wrap under his feet to protect bedding. This is so powerful, the garlic will soon be on your child’s breath, and fighting the virus in his body.
2. I’ve said this before, and I’ll keep saying this: Apple cider vinegar is one of the best ways to fight a cold and silence a cough. The body becomes more alkaline during a cold and the vinegar will help to re-balance the body’s acid level. Especially one that is in the chest and throat. If your child cannot handle drinking sips of apple cider vinegar mixed with juice or water, you can always use a cotton ball to rub the vinegar on his or her chest. The advantage of this method, is the vinegar travels up the nasal passages and helps to open up the nasal passages as well. Every time I do this to someone who is coughing in the night; the cough settles in about twenty minutes, and we all get our rest. You must repeat this remedy every few hours. But this remedy, I know, zaps a cold.
3. Sage is an immune builder. Make a tea, with honey if your child is over 1 year of age, of equal parts of cinnamon, (also a virus fighter) sage and bay leaves in hot water. Strain, and before drinking the tea, add 1 table­spoon of lemon juice.
4. Zicam, if taken during the early stages, can zap a cold. Continue reading below:
5. Ginger is an antiviral herb, containing almost a dozen antiviral compounds. It is valuable for preventing and treating colds, sore throats and inflammation of mucus membranes. So, you can make a tea of drink a tea of fresh ginger. Ginger builds heat in the body. Draw a warm bath, and put about 3-5 tablespoons of fresh ginger, grated, tied in cheese cloth, into the tub. This can help your child sweat away a cold.
6. It has been theorized that colds begin in the middle ear, not the nose. Here is an interesting theory about using drops of hydrogen peroxide in the middle ear every one or two hours within the first few hours a cold virus strikes. I have since tried this once when I felt that heavy, fluid building up around my throat, and no cold the next morning. But who knows, maybe I didn’t really have a cold yet? A scientist, I am not.
7. Aromatherapy, or essential oils, are non-toxic and, when used properly, are safe for children. Blends of chamomile, eucalyptus or thyme can help loosen mucus and heal the throat, nasal passages and bronchial tubes.
8. Here’s a formula called, Cold Combating Blend Orange, - 20 drops
   Eucalyptus- 10 drops
   Juniper Berry, 10 drops Pine Needle - 10 drops
   Basil - 6 drops
   Rosewood - 6 drops
   Ginger - 4 drops Blend all together and us in a diffuser or a few drops in a bath.
9. Inhalation Blend 2 cups boiling water
   Eucalyptus - 12 drops
   Cedarwood - 6 drops
   Peppermint 6 drops Pour blend into bottle, shake well and then add 5 drops to the boiling water (place in a stainless steel bowl), lean over bowl and place towel over head to inhale the oils. Caution - remember sometimes less in oils is better than more
10. Ravensara Essential Oil is a powerful anti-infectious, antiseptic, antiviral, anti-asthmatic essential oil. It is non-toxic and safe for children. And a powerful one for sinusitis, bronchitis:
11. My most powerful remedy, based on personal experience in the herb Thyme. Thyme has antibacterial and antifungal properties. Thymol has a theraputic effect on the lungs. Ingesting or inhaling the oil helps to loosen phlegm and relax the muscles in the respiratory tract. I drink thyme tea (just add the dried herb spice to a cup of tea when you add your favorite tea bag and strain). In extreme cases (before I discovered apple cider vinegar’s potent properties), I dipped cheese cloth into my tea, and put this on my chest with a heating pad to draw out the infection. Now, I simply drink it.
12. Rhodiola, as a pill, or tincture drops.
13. Rishi Tea. A powerful immune booster.

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Maybe, if you send me a really nice e-mail, I’ll send it to you. Because this icing is amazing; nothing like you’ve ever had before. Just ask my brother. The premise of Jessica Seinfeld’s new cookbook, Deceptively Delicious to to hide nutritious foods in your kid’s favorite foods. This week, I followed her recipe for chocolate dipping sauce. The ingredients? (To Jessica’s dip, not my icing.) Pureed avocados and carrots, cocoa powder and powdered sugar. I’m not kidding. The result? Deceptively Dangerous. Dangerous, because I couldn’t stop eating the stuff. Luckily for me, the kids beat me to it and eliminated all of the temptation before it could do much damage to my waist line.

And of course there are other books that offer the same strategies, and poor Jessica is left defending herself by saying “I’m only doing what Grandmother’s have already been doing for generations,” I can vouch for her. I used to do this myself.

At the tender age of 12, I was alone with a Betty Crocker cookbook, probably now vintage, on my Mom and Dad’s Wedding Anniversary. June 22. Spice cake it would be - from scratch. Remember that word? I was baking a cake from scratch. Once the cake was baking, I scanned the Betty’s index for icing — looking for the perfect topping.

This one looked good: Powdered sugar, milk, cream of tartar… Hmmm. What is cream of tartar? Could it be? No — that would be impossible. But yet, I had seen my Mom do miracles with a bottle of ketchup and flour and chicken fat; maybe tartar sauce it is. Tartar sauce is creamy, so of course — cream of tartar is just a fancy way of saying tartar sauce.

I mixed it in, and it went well, but the chunks of pickle on top of the cake looked a little… off. So, I asked my little brother to do a taste test. He licked the bowl, and his face said it all. If you can imagine that awful taste the poor kid had to endure. But, he said, “It’s pretty good.”

My life as a chef has evolved very much since those days, but I highly recommend you use a good book, like Deceptively Delicious, if you want to start substituting ingredients. Read more at PBN’s blog blast.

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Wordless Wednesday

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My husband slams his brakes, yet we both fear there won’t be enough time to stop before two four-wheelers, driven by two teenagers, jump the ditch and speed on the road in front of us. We had watched them race each other across the field toward the road. Assuming, but not quite sure, they were going to stop. At the last second, they both make eye contact with us, and one does pull back to stop. The other one, slows down for a brief second, and then speeds up.

To read more, click here, and find out about the new book by HarperCollins, sent to me by PBN, called The Teen Whisperer: How to Break Through the Silence and Secrecy of Teenage Life.

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All four of them, even the little ones, sit through the long text that appears on each page of this version of The Wizard of Oz, wonderfully illustrated by Charles Santore. What’s different here from the movie? Aunt Em is described as a young, pretty wife, soon changed by the sun and wind: “they had taken the sparkle from her cheeks and eyes and left them gray. She never smiled.”

At this following passage, when the Wicked Witch of the West has been melted, and Dorothy and her pals are reunited, I found myself a bit choked up.

When at last the Tin Woodman walked into Dorothy’s room and thanked her for rescuing him, he was so pleased that he wept tears of joy. Her own tears fell thick and fast at the joy of meeting her friend again. As for the Lion, he wiped his eyes so often with the tip of his tail that it became quite wet, and he was obliged to go out into the sun till it dried.

Here, my five-year-old said, “Why are my eyes so wet?”

Picture This Entries

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