Worcestershire Sauce-Have you ever wondered what's in it?  Me neither, until I was in the middle of making chicken salad.  As I was starting to put the bottle away I thought....what is Worcestershire Sauce.  I mean something that is soooo hard to say and even harder to spell has to really only be made out of a few ingredients right?  Um, NO!  I'm trying to eat healthier and be more aware but honestly this was one product I've never really looked close at.  Ready for it?  Here they are:


Vinegar
Molasses
High Fructose corn syrup (ok at this point I'm ready to look up on the internet how to make my own but I continued to read on)
Anchovies!   Hold the presses and pull up facebook!  I've got to share my new found knowledge!  Yes, ADD mother that I am I stopped in the middle of what I was doing just to write this blog.  I am, sad to say, easily distracted!

Now that I've shared my new found knowledge I'm off to finish the salad.....and perhaps do some surfing to make my own worcestershire sauce since the rest of the ingredients were things I'd like to avoid....I mean really, what are "natural flavorings" and why can't you name them?  

Just a little more mindless muttering from Mary

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately.  I know I know....don't do that you might hurt yourself.   It's a good means of procrastination.    I know why people have those voice record modes on their phones now.  I get what I feel are my most profound thoughts while I'm driving.   I come up with great blogs that bring tears to my eyes....and then I get home and can't remember any of it!  So, on my way home from the airport yesterday, I had a great idea for my blog.  I had dropped my sister Sheila off in Detroit after her week long visit to spend time with my dad.  (and mom of course!)  The first conclusion I had was that google maps and my iPhone maps do NOT always give you the best options at 5pm on a Monday night!  Sheila and I had already seen that traffic on 275 was horrendous (at a standstill actually) in the direction I would be heading home.  We had talked about me taking I-94 but figured it was a little slower and longer.  I went for the slower and longer route and came out a winner!  It was busy on 94 but never at a standstill.  Better yet, I missed the shutdown of I-96 by Webberville by waiting to cut north until I hit 127.  Anyway, all that to say that about the time I had driven and hour and hit Mason/Lansing area I was reflecting on my life as a Homeschooling Mom.  In just a few short weeks that part of my life will be over.  It's hard to believe that I started this journey about 16 years ago. We weren't happy with the public school education quality at the time and I had a friend at church who was homeschooling, the Abrahamson Family.I had talked with Steve, my husband, about homeschooling our 2 boys (then 2 and 4).  My other 2 step-kids then requested to leave the public schools and be homeschooled.  Krista and Stephen have been my guinea pigs for parenting the entire time they've known me so why should this be any different?  My apologies to both of you by the way.  I was in NO WAY trained in college for parenthood to teenagers!  Yikes...some of the mistakes I remember making and the decisions I would have made differently.  That being said, I learned the power of changing curriculum FAST!   Don't let anyone fool you, homeschooling is not cheap.  I don't know how many times I changed curriculum because it wasn't working for the kids.  Of course that is a bonus too! (just not a cheap one!)   Krista survived my method of teaching and graduated in 98 and in 1999 I started Nathan and Justin on the Journey at ages 4 and 6.   I didn't purposely put them in the same grade but it sure did make homeschooling a whole lot easier.  We were able to do the same grade work until they hit High School.  No way did I want Nathan graduating when he was just 16!  So many people helped me out along the way!  We used the Koinania group in Grand Rapids and then Ionia had it's own little small homeschool Group.  Amy LeForge, Jennifer Dugan, and Roni Nash, just to mention a few, were instrumental in helping me get over the days when I felt like NOTHING was going to ever go right and they would be failures in society, unable to even wipe their own noses.  Kathleen Visscher, you have been my rock!  The last 5 years have been harder.  Working full time is not really conducive to cracking the whip on teenagers who procrastinate just like their momma.  My solution this year was to enroll him in once a week classes at TeenWorks.  Rosemary Wolthuis was in charge and since she had tutored Nathan last year in Algebra II I knew she'd keep an eye on him!  He took an online writing class with a wonderful tutor, Susan Potter.  She would call him every other week to review things.   She had the patience of Job I tell you!   For the last 3 years we have taken advantage of the Heartland Institute of Technology at the local high school.  This is where Justin decided to go to Diesel Repair and Nathan loves the Machine Tool class.  I would encourage any homeschool parents out there to take advantage of these programs in their Junior and Senior years.  Today, I'm watching with pride as Justin is maintaining a 3.6 grade point average in Diesel Repair in his Associates program and Nathan is preparing to head off to Kettering University to study Engineering.  Krista is a wonderful Mom and helping her mom out with her business.   Aaron and Stephen both have beautiful families and I'm proud of all 5 of them in spite of me!   Every Mother's Day I am in awe that my Stepkids love me and call me!  (yeah my own two don't have spouses to remind them yet but I did get a card from Justin in the mail today and Nathan did manage to turn his head away from the computer to say Happy Mother's Day).  So what's next?  I love my career as a nurse but I think it's time to focus on my husband now.  Perhaps he'd enjoy a clean house?  My excuses have all about left the building so there's no one else to point fingers at.  Perhaps, this momma can focus on NOT procrastinating....but then again, there are the grandchildren!

A Cost of Procrastination

Once again, due to lack of organization, I'm paying the price.  Since Dad had his heart attack things have been a bit busy.  Typical really of any month in our house.  I had gotten "lazy".  Mail had been stacked on the kitchen table along with a lot of other items.  I THOUGHT I had been pulling out the bills and putting them in the bill box.  Therefore, the only mail on the table should have been magazines and junk mail.  In an effort to clean off the table I moved the pile to my bedroom and knew I had a bill in the pile.  this week I decided to clean up the pile and catch up on bills. I THOUGHT the consumers energy bill was in the pile.  No bill except propane.  I go to the computer and do not see a check number next to my consumers entry so I think I have lost the bill and will be late.  I write out ANOTHER check to consumers and mail it out yesterday.  Today another check cleared to consumers that I hadn't entered into the register.  Huge sigh. guess I'm ahead but would have liked to have had that money for another thing!

Hard to believe my son is now a high school graduate.  I am very thankful, however, that the openhouse is over!  We may be eating chips and cheese along with tacos for a very long time though!  Good thing it's food we love.   Now to focus on finishing out the youngest ones schoolwork and getting everything together to mail in to the college for the one who just finished.  Then, there's the making of lists for everything to pack him off to college.  No, the graduation wasn't the tear jerker....it's the driving home after leaving him 5 hours away that is going to do me in!   The time has come for momma to drop the apron strings of control and let him sink or swim.  I'm hoping that we have taught him how to swim well enough but I think, just in case, we'll be buying a GPS for him before he leaves for college.  After all, I want to make sure he can make his way back home!

Music in the morning

Several days ago, I finally figured out that I can hook up the speakers from the "dead" computer and listen to my iTunes when I clean.  Now this might seem elementary but stick with me.  I would normally hit the play button and by the third song my computer monitor (which has built in speakers) would go into "sleep" mode...essentially cutting me off.   Now, even if the monitor goes to sleep, the speakers keep the music coming.  I need all the motivation I can get people!  
Today, I was also once again reminded why I need to shower when I get up at 5am.   At www.flylady.com she tells you to "get dressed to your shoes"....and here I sit at 840 still in my jammies.  Now in my previous life...pre-day shift...I would be still in bed sleeping so I suppose I'm not doing too bad.  However, I WANT to take a shower right now.   Problem?  No hot water!  3 showers taken this morning (2 boys and 1 honey) and then I ran the washer on it's monthly "clean" cylce that I haven't done in 2 1/2 months.   Now the dishwasher is running.  I'm thinking by 10am I should be able to get myself a half way decent warm shower! 
I finally bit the bullet today and threw away at least 15 odd socks....so sad.  I am certain that next week their mates will suddenly appear from somewhere!  It's ok, I still have about 25 left in the basket.  Maybe someday when I have a totally clean house and organized basement I will feel comfortable tossing those odd balls that come out of the wash.  Since just a month ago when the snow melted and I found one of the boys socks frozen stiff near the back door, I'm just not fully into the tossing them out mode yet! 
Off I go on my search for the elusive Economics folder.....you don't think those kids would have hidden it so they don't have to do projects do you?

cooking 101

Yummy!  My boys are really learning how to cook..well sorta.  Tonight I made Tilapia with mushrooms and squash.  They loved the Tilapia, tolerated the squash and refused the mushrooms (more for me!).  They just whipped up their own breadsticks and I must say I'm fairly well impressed!  Now, I have less than 6 months to teach Justin how to make healthy, cheap meals when he goes off to college/tech school.  I'm not sure that he realizes that the Kitchen Aid mixer and pampered chef stoneware stays home with momma when he leaves!

True Friends

So my organization is affecting my friendships......what of it?   Simply put, I don't have that many friends and I treasure the ones I have, even if I don't see them very often or talk on the phone often.  My focus for the last 20 years has been my husband, kids and work.  I have memorized the one friend's number I call frequently...but even  then I have accidently called my mother instead of her!  My families numbers are all on the frig but not in my "new" cell phone I got over a year ago.  I have to admit my previous phone had everyone's number in it and I neglected (due to lack of organization) to transfer the numbers out before getting a new one.  I only memorized my daughter Krista's because they got rid of the house number I had memorized and I didn't have the cell on speed dial anymore.  So anyway, I have wanted to stop by this friends house numerous times over the last year but never put her number in the cell phone...so when I was in town I didn't want to just drop in.  She's given me the number at least 5 times and I'm sure it's in my address book (wherever that is!) and it's in my facebook messages (but since I don't have a data phone I can't access that on the go).  This week I really felt like I had to stop by and see her as I drove through where she lived.  So, not only do I not have a number to warn her so she doesn't answer the door, I'm driving up and down at least 3 streets trying to remember where the house is.   What kind of friend am I that I haven't been there in over 10 years????  Sheesh!  Life rushes by you before you even realize it.  Anyway, I finally went down the street that I started with but had turned around right before her house...duh!  Thankfully she's the kind of friend who gracefully let me come in and talk with her and stick my foot in my mouth several times.  That's the thing about a true friend.  They don't just let you stick your foot in your mouth unknowingly and hurt their feelings without knowing it.  She so good at letting me know when I'm off and when I've said something that I didn't mean to hurt but did.   I really appreciate having a friend like that.  Sometimes we really want to help our friends but what to us seems like encouragement is actually a stab to the gut for them.  I would never knowingly want to hurt any of my friends or family but yet I am sure I do frequently.....sometimes just for the lack of knowing what to say!  It is ok just to sit there and not know what to say, to not have to just fill in the silence.  It's hard to understand friends hurts when you have never been where they are. Instead of being afraid to spend time with them because I don't know what to say, I'm glad I have friends who will tell me when I'm way off but still appreciate that I'm trying in the best way I know to say "I care!"