Chivalry is not dead

For about a month and a half I have been raking the leaves in our front garden in hour and a half increments, a baby strapped to my front and a toddler running around playing in the dirt. Today, for the first time, I was asked if I needed help.

An old black man, probably in his 50s, was driving by in an old beat up silver pick up truck when he stopped on the opposite side of the road and shouted across asking if I needed any help. I've almost finished, there are really only the wind blown stragglers left, so I said no but thanked him whole-heartedly. Out of all the people that have walked, run or driven past, all the people who have stopped to talk, or waved hello, this man was the only one who offered help.

What a wonderful example of Charity!

Nostalgia

Upon reading a blog entry written by one of my Sisters-in-Law, I felt I should write a similar post. So here goes.

On Sunday the 7th of September 2003, I felt inspired as I listened to testimonies in my Young Women's lesson, to start a journal. Before then, I had been encouraged by my Mum, but as a child I didn't understand and my entries usually consisted of quickly scrawled "I got up. I went to bed." or "I went to school then I went to bed.". Occasionally I would write a sentence more, but often I would write nothing. Since that Sunday, I have written regularly, not every day, but regularly.
I had just turned 16 at that time, and my entries, I'm sad to say, do not reflect whatever maturity I had at that point, if indeed I had any. They consisted of boys, horrid parents, me - the victim, college, church, and more boys... More pleasant memories were recorded as my teenage angst faded, and then even more as I realised that my childhood was slipping away from me, and that soon all that would be left would be memories. Amongst all the every day nonsense that I wrote, there are occasional gems of great value. These are what I was writing for, these few precious memories from my 'childhood' that I would have otherwise forgotten.

For all of this to make sense here is a little background. I have two parents and two sisters. My sisters are Hannah, 1986 and Martha, 2001. I remember little from my childhood, mostly just fractured memories or impressions. My overall impression is that I was a happy child and was well loved. I adored my older sister, Hannah. I drove her crazy following her everywhere and wanting to do everything together, she was SO MUCH FUN! I loved my parents as well and though I would get cross with them often, I felt a great sense of gratitude for the many sacrifices that I knew they made for me. I remember more from my teenage years, but still not a great deal and often when I read a journal entry I have no recollection of the specific events described, which makes me eternally grateful for that impression I received to keep a journal.

(Idea: As my children are still so young, I want to record things that they do and interactions we have so they can have some sort of record of their early childhood. I started a journal for my eldest a few months ago and often record things in my own journal as well.)

I would like to share certain memories with the world, or at least my blog readers. I'm no Anne Frank, but I understand the value of history and I love reliving the sweet gem-like memories I have from my past and others that I have recorded in my journal.

I will entitle these posts 'Memories' and 'Journal Entry', sort of like a series mixed in with the things that are happening now.

Ee-ee-ya

Olivia has a friend over to play and they are sitting eating their lunch at the table. A few mintues ago, I heard Olivia calling, "Hold on! Hold on Eli! Hold on to leg! Hold on to *Eeeya's leg! Hold on tight! Hold on tight Eli!". Eli just sat there, eating his sandwich.

Children are so fun to observe interacting with each other!

*Eeeya is how Olivia says her name (Ee-ee-ya)

Aesthetically Pleasing

Here is the first installment of photos that I love. No copyright infringement intended.

This is a Cooper's Hawk that graced my garden with it's presence.

I love this picture from the wickedly curved beak to the savage red eyes. When I think that I took it, I feel like a wild child that nature has embraced and welcomed by showing me a deep beautiful part of herself.

Taken by me, Dec 2010.

I love how the background is mute and misty whilst the subject is vibrant and crisp and I especially love the bright red frills that are spilling out of the bottom of her skirt. I find a sort of effortless ease to what I assume is a jump, which creates a feeling of youthful whimsicality in me that is hard to shake off. I feel as though I want to prance around shoe-less in a field infested with moles and that by doing so I will attain eternal youth.

Unknown photographer/model.

And the Greatest Mother Award goes to...

I just trapped Olivia's thumb in the bathroom door. I guess I'm out of the running.

Little Letters for Growing Brains

I made some letter magnets for Olivia so that she can start learning how to piece words together herself.

I think I installed the handles of our filing cabinet upside-down...

Hot Fudge Pudding Cake

Truly one of life's little pleasures.

We had company for tea last night and though I'm not a wonder chef, there are some recipes that are worth the work. This is one of them.

1 1/4 C sugar (divided into 3/4 c and 1/2 cup)

1 C flour

7 tbs cocoa powder (divided into 3tbs and 4 tbs)

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 C milk

1/3 C butter (melted)

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 C packed brown sugar

1 1/4 hot water

Combine 3/4 c sugar, flour, 3 tbs cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Blend in milk, butter and vanilla. Beat until smooth.

Pour into pan (8x8 or 9x9)

Combine 1/2 c sugar, brown sugar, 4 tbs cocoa. Sprinkle evenly over batter.

Pour hot water over top. Do not stir!

Bake for 40 mins at 350°F

Let stand for 15 minutes.

It's best served hot and tastes so good with ice-cream! The recipe says that it serves 8-10 but I would say it serves about 6 with ice-cream because we often have seconds, it's just that good.

Enjoy!

Drama!

Last night around 11pm we heard a woman scream. We had just finished watching an episode of 'Lie to Me' and were getting ready for bed, I was upstairs journal writing and Matt was downstairs on the computer. Both of us went to the window to see what was up. I didn't see anything other than my reflection and dark gardens, so I went back to my journal writing. Matt, however, saw what looked like a man trying to force his way into a house across the road. He came upstairs, grabbed our shotgun and went outside. He saw a car pull up and a man run from the car into the house through the open door, at which point he came back inside instructing me to call 911 and tell them that we'd heard a scream and had seen a man trying to break into the house across the road. He went back outside and crouched with his gun at the corner of our yard in a position that afforded him an unobstructed view of the house and from which he could confront the men if he heard any more screams or sounds of violence. He watched as the car he'd seen turned around and backed into the drive way. At which point he returned inside to get the phone so that he could talk to the 911 operator himself and returned outside to the position at the corner. I turned off the lights in the room and stood at our glass patio doors, watching the events through a narrow gap in our curtains.

A police car arrived and drove past the house before turning around and moving back towards it. The car that had been backed into the driveway slowly drove out and Matt shouted "Hey! Hey! Hey! Officer!" as the car sped away. The officer took off after the car, turning on the lights and the siren.

Since it was only the driver who sped away, Matt called 911 again to let the police know that burglars were still at the house and to send more officers. He stayed crouched at the corner of our yard watching the house. A few minutes later the porch light went off at the house and Matt returned to turn off our porch light as well, so that his vantage point was also in shadow. A man came out of the house and went to one of the cars in the driveway, he checked it out for a few minutes as another man followed him looking like he was carrying some things. The car was opened and both men moved to and from the house trying to stay in the shadows as much as possible. Another police car pulled up and the men hid in the shadows of the porch for a few moments before taking off around the side of the house and escaping through the backyard with Matt shouting. The officer in the car got out and flashed her light around, trying to see where they had gone but they had already run far enough away to avoid detection. In just a few minutes there were police cars everywhere and the street was lit up with blue lights.

Matt spoke with the officers at length and here are some details we didn't see. The lady who lives at the house with her 2 sons (15 and 9) had returned home from work and as she left her car, two men ran from either side of the house ran at her, putting a gun to her head. They demanded the keys to the car and told her to unlock the front door of the house which her son had barred. After entering the house, the lady's 15 year old son made a rush at the men and was punched in the face, knocking him down. All three were taken into a back room and bound with duct tape as the men started to ransack the house, trying to steal, along with other things, a TV and X-box.

The car that took off, crashed soon after with the driver escaping, though the police believe they know where he is.

Luckily no one was seriously hurt in the ordeal, just a little shaken up.

With Matt gone at various times for various amounts of time, this does not inspire the feeling of safety in his absence. We do have a few precautions in place though. Mace - check. Shotgun - check. Security system armed at all times - check. Heavenly Angels watching over us - check.

Introduction

Why hello! Welcome to my life.

I will let you find out more about myself as time goes on, it's more fun that way.