Ask Me Wednesday

So here we go .... our first edition of "Ask Me Wednesday". We'll see where this takes us, shall we?!

*TLF (hi there!!) asks if I have a favorite recipe of the kids' to give you all.

Well, after much pondering (and sighing) I did come up with a few. The one I'll give you today is for spaghetti sauce and surprisingly enough, each one of the 6 loved this recipe. I say "surprisingly enough" because it has Tabasco in it. Go figure. Oh, and credit must be given to my friend V, who gave this to me when Daughters #2 & #3 were born.

Spaghetti Sauce

1 1/2 to 2 lbs ground beef/turkey (I like to use 1 1/2 so that it's a little less meaty)

1 c chopped onion

4 T chopped parsley

4 t salt

1 t pepper

4 t Worch. sauce

1/2 t to 1 t Tabasco

2 15 oz cans tomato sauce

2 6 oz cans tomato paste

1 c water

Brown meat w/ onion. Drain (I also rinse my browned beef to get rid of more fat).

Add all ingredients and simmer for an hour. I always use at least 1 t of Tabasco so the sauce has a small kick to it. If your kids don't like spicy then you might want to just to 1/2 t, but definitely add the Tabasco. Trust me, it works.

Enjoy!

*Nat asked if there's any way to know who many people are on my blog?

I'm sure there are counters out there that would tell me how many hits each day, but I don't have the energy to hunt for one and put it on. I do have one at the bottom of the page that tells me how many hits it has had since I put the counter on, but some readers (like my muuuther) check it more than once a day. So while there probably is a way, I don't know how to do it.

*Speaking of my mom, she asked why the girls were so dressed up and why my internet was down.

The daughters had their last sorority formal last weekend and those pics were from there.

And the internet went out when the guys replacing my fence cut through the buried cable. Good help is hard to find.

*The next questions if from RJ:

"here's a question for Wednesdays - tell us the story of your cross collection (the crosses you choose your walls to bear...) As well as the other crosses you bear as well."

Wow .... good questions. The story of my collections starts with just one cross. It's one of the larger ones that I won at a silent auctions at one of our local churches (during one of those fall festivals). I loved it and so hung it up in the breakfast area. Not long after that I found another one that I liked .... and so it went. From then on we looked for crosses wherever we went. I have a couple of crosses from Italy, one or two from Mexico, one from the weekend of my uncle's funeral, one from the week of my mother-in-laws funeral, several from friends, and two from Kenya. I try to get one on any significant event/trip. Each one has a story and each one is very different from the rest. Kind of like people.

As for the crosses that I bear ..... sigh ..... probably no more than most people. Some are just bigger than others. I have the obvious ones ..... Jim's death, of course; a stubborn, willful child;

all of the things I face on a daily basis because of Jim's death; but all in all ...... nothing I can't seem to bear at the moment. Ask me tomorrow ---- you may get a totally different answer.

Wendee asks: "Do you want another kitten?"

No. No thank you. I couldn't, even if I did want one. Since I don't know if Colby and Rigby carry the virus I can't add any more cats. Which is probably a good thing.

But thanks for asking.

Kris asked me if the dizziness is still a problem.

Sometimes. It comes and goes and I just deal with it when it's here. It's no big deal. The buzz in my ears has only been back a couple of times, which is good. That could totally drive me crazy!

My darling sister, D, asks:
Ok, I have a question. When one of your children where sick, fever and all, what did you do? Did they have to stay in thier room in bed...did you let them watch tv? What is your insite to this question oh great wise one??????

OK, first .... I'm totally ignoring the "oh great wise one" comment, because she is my sister and she totally typed it while laughing her head off.

Now ..... when my kids were home sick from school it would depend on if they were REALLY sick. If I doubted the severity of their illness then I would have them spend the day "resting" in their bed. No TV, no games .... just rest for their poor, sick little bodies. After all, rest brings healing, right?

If I knew they were really sick ..... like coughing up a lung, heaving up their breakfast or burning up with fever, then I'd let them lie on the couch for the day --- of course this was only AFTER I had done my motherly duty and rushed them to the doctor (where their fever ALWAYS magically vanished!).

That's just the kind of mom I am ..... totally sympathetic and compassionate.

:)

Tamara asks:
I have a question about vomitting children. How did you keep from conracting every virus that passed through your house?

Ohhhhhh, Tamara ..... this is the easiest question of them all to answer. Ready? Really ready?

Got a pen? And paper?

OK ..... here goes ......

I. Did. Not. Touch. Them.

OK ..... that's not true, but it sounds good, doesn't it?

I'm not sure how I avoided a lot of those bugs, but I did. Actually, I think God gave us a break on that avenue. Our kids didn't get sick very often and we didn't seem to pass things on. And I never really did the spray, antibacterial lotions or anything like that. I just lived. I washed hands when I remembered and the rest was up to God.

We actually stayed pretty healthy.

Sorry.

MK asks:

So, in a culture that sends all sorts of bad messages to women, how do you raise daughters who are secure and confident in who they are?

You did a great (and all to rare) job at this so I am wondering what your secrets are!

Oh. My. Goodness.

I wish I could answer this one. I think I could make millions of dollars if I knew the answer!

I'm not sure what we did, except I think they always knew they were loved, special and wonderful to us. We didn't go overboard in praising them unrealistically, which seems to be a common theme in parenting now, but we praised them ..... for what they did, not for who they were.

I think it helped that they, as daughters, had an awesome dad who spent time with them (Indian Princess Weekends!) and told them how much he loved them. He showed them affection and gave them expectations. He continued to show them affection during those very important teenage years when many dads of daughters instinctively pull away.

We didn't talk about weight, or looks or artificial things but concentrated on their accomplishments .... in and out of school.

We treated each of our children as people ... not as babies who couldn't understand anything but baby-talk. I don't think Jim or I even knew baby-talk. We just talked. I have no idea what impact that had on them, but there ya go.

I guess you'd have to ask the girls if they know what, if any, impact we had on their confidence and security. Each one of them has always amazed me with this. They have MUCH more than I ever did. They are, indeed, amazing women.

And thank you, MK, for noticing!!

:)

OK, the last question is from Anon. He/she asks what my thoughts are of having televisions in children's bedrooms.

Well, most of my MOPS moms could answer this one for me .... they've heard me harp .... I mean, speak, on it several times.

My position is .... No way, No how. No.

I come by this position with a lot of experience .... my own. I had a TV in my room when I was young and I spent a lot of time in there. I knew that we would never put one in our kids rooms (except for certain special occasions, like Christmas Eve, so they could watch a video all together, or times when we had adults over to our house for something -- the boys LOVED having a TV put into their room for the night so they could watch videos). But that was it.

There are enough TV's in my house that the kids don't need one. I want our family to hang out together, not each go to our own rooms for TV. And I think that too many parents use TV as a babysitter .... especially when it's in their kids' rooms.

It was just something that I never wanted to do and that seemed to work for us. I would always advise against it, but I can't make that decision for any other family (but DON'T DO IT!!).

OK, that's all of the Ask Me Wednesday questions.

Thanks for participating. Keep asking!

Oh ... and Lis and K1 .... you both have questions from the last set of comments, although I can answer Bernadine's questions to M1 and K1 ----- They have NO idea because they don't have any boys!!!!!!!!! MY answer would be ..... try it and see if it works and then let me know!!!!

:)