Winning Streak Broken and Other Wrestling Tales

C did great with his wrestling match on Friday against the local power house Kelso.

He pinned the first Kelso kid in less than 15 seconds. (Truly it was about 14.5 seconds from whistle to whistle.) Wham! It was done and over in an instant. Basically, C shot for the Kelso kid's legs, got him down on the mat, did a quick half nelson and rolled him over onto his back for the pin.




The second Kelso wrestler took a little longer, but that's probably because he was undefeated for the last two years. It was so cute. The other kid was trying to psych C out as they were waiting for their match. Telling him that if C won, it would be a first. Because the Kelso kid has had this big winning streak and has never lost a match in the last two years. Then the boys were called out onto the mats for their match. Less than 34 seconds later, C calmly replies to the Kelso boy lying on his back "I guess I just broke your record." (I know he didn't mean it in a bad "in your face" way, but it so like him to come up with a snappy retort like that. C doesn't talk smack - just goes out and does what he does - usually with a grin on his face having fun the whole time.)

Idita-Walk

I absolutely love this idea!!!! It is brilliant and I'm very excited to participate this year. I was thinking about this earlier this month. Thankfully, my mom emailed me this link and I'm all signed up and ready to start tomorrow.



A bunch of boy scouts from Nome, Alaska who help sponsor some of the dogsledders for the Iditarod dog sled race came up with a great fund / health raiser. It is based on the famous dog sled Iditarod Race.

The Iditarod Race is 1049 miles long and this challenges you to walk (or do something areobic) for 1049 minutes. (I know ~ over a thousand minutes of excercise!!! That's plumb crazy talk!!!)
But it's actually very reasonable. The plan is to do just 30 minutes for 35 days and you've pretty much met the goal (give or take a few minutes). It's also pretty fun to track your self along the race route depending on your mileage.

Even though the Iditawalk officially starts February 1st, people have until February 15th to sign up so (This is so they know how many pins to order. ~ I know! A prize at the end!!! Can it get any better or what?) You actually have until the end of March to complete the challenge so that's two months. The challenge only costs $10 againg this year. And don't forget.... you get a pin if you "finish the Idita-walk." The rest of the money (and the extra they make from selling t-shirts) goes to help the boy scouts up in Alaska. So there's wins all around.

Here's a couple of the Eagle Scouts from Troop 298.

I've signed up my family and so if anyone else wants to ~ please join us. And we've already planned a pre-game walk for tomorrow before the Super Bowl starts.

Here's the link....
http://www.idita-walk.com/

Totally Twisted

So I've been expiramenting with some of the breads from my cool christmas bread book.


This is my latest creation.... Twisted Whole Wheat

The inside view......

YUMMY!!!!!!

A Pin And A Win

C has started wrestling season. This is his 3rd year and is getting really good at it. (He's now on the "varsity" youth wrestling team. They are teaching them lots of moves and he is really improving his skills.

C before his first match 2009 season.




C as he pins his first opponent.
He won his second match on points after a long hard fought battle.




This is the video of his first pin of the season.

All Star Mathmatician

C was selected to be one of his school representatives at the District All Star Math competition.
This game was created by a high school teacher who also owns a teacher / homeschool supply store. All Star Math is a great game that the kids love to play. The kids use cards and various math functions to land on the answers on the game board. (It can be used at an addition / subtraction only level or all the way up through alegbra.)

My little All Star Mathmatician

Over 3600 kids competed and he was one of 36 fourth graders selected to participate at this level. He did really well, but wasn't one of the 8 participants to come out of this round.

District competition was held at Kelso High School.




Competition was fierce at C's table. They played long hard fought battles lasting over a half hour each. (Most others were done in 10minutes.) It was double elimination and C's winning move was blocked by the girl in orange, so he didn't move on. He was pretty frustrated at the time, but now back to his normal happy go lucky self.

Fierce competition

Busy Busy

I can't believe how busy we've been lately. Seems like I'm never home and when I am I've got lots of projects to do (especially since the weather has been nice). At night I've been keeping up on my ChunkyChallenge 2009.

Thursday I co-hosted our book group which was a lot of fun. My friend who is battling cancer was able to make it. She's had 3 surgeries and is doing chemo - soon to do radiation. It was nice to see her.

Last week B was sick so she missed school from Wednesday through Friday. By Saturday she was up and at them. So I let her go to her friends' birthday party which was about a mile up the road. (Actually Saturday was the "party day." It seems like I spent the whole day running kids around.) C had a party way up Headquarters Road which is about 10-15 miles from my house. Then M went to a friends house to spend the day which was about 30 miles south of C's party. They've trying to get together for quite a while and finally could. I like to encourage her to hang with the 'nice' girls as much as possible. I really enjoy talking with her mom and we never get the chance to chat, so I got to spend the afternoon talking with her. Then I had to rush back pick up C then B. About 8pm I drove down to Kalama which is half way and picked up M.

Sunday we went to Portland and hiked with the dogs and my sister Aon out at 1000 acres which is a great nature park. It was WINDY WINDY!!! The winds were 50 mph with gusts much more than that. But it was still fun. Then we went back to Aon's house for a scrumptious dinner she and the kids made. (I want that recipe for the pumpkin raviolis cuz it was very yummy.) Then M and I went to the Portland symphony. One of the Judges gave me a pair of tickets.
I'll finish this later....gotta get ready for the day.

Turkish Zucchini Pancakes

I've been trying to incorporate more soy into my diet and use what I have on hand. So I made a recipe that I used to make for my family when we lived in Longview. (Our neighbor's brother was a chef and this was a recipe he modified from Bon Appetit - though I've tweaked it some since.) I was glad to see that my kids still love it. It is pretty easy and so yummy. (Especially, if you grate and freeze your zucchini in the summer. The monster Zukes no one knows what to do with are ideal for this recipe!)

It can be a main meal or side dish. In the past, I've put a garlic basil cream sauce over it, but tonight I didn't want to take the time to make it, so we just used other condiments. (think potato pancakes or fried latkes) M liked them with just a bit of salt. C liked to drizzle honey over them. B and I liked it with a side compliment of our tangy apple butter.





Turkish Zucchini Pancakes with Apple Butter

1 lb zucchini coarsley grated (more if you got it)
2 C chopped green onions /scallions (I only did 1 bunch because my kids aren't crazy about them & it's all I had.)
4 eggs beaten
1/2 C flour
1/3 C fresh chopped dill or 1 1/2 T dried (I did dried cuz that's what I had)
1/2 C fresh chopped parsley or 2 T dried (I did dried)
2 T fresh chopped tarragon or 2 t dried (note: this one's teaspoon)
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper (I used white but black works just fine)
1/2 C (~3 oz) crumbled feta cheese
2/3 C chopped walnuts (~ 3oz from the store)
1/2 brick firm tofu crumbled if you want to make it a main dish
(I also sometimes add ~3/4 t of powdered garlic if I want it more savory.) Next time I think I'm going to shred some carrots as well.

olive oil to fry them in (~1/2 inch deep)


Place shredded zukes in colander. Sprinkle with salt and let stand for ~30 minutes to drain. With hands squeeze zuke to remove liquid. (I did several times) Then squeeze dry in several layers of paper towels. (It's very important to get rid of water so you don't have a soggy dish and you won't get splattered with hot oil!) Combine zuke, onion, eggs dill parsley tarragon, salt and pepper in medium bowl. (I actually had combined the rest of the ingredients while waiting for zukes to drain so that the dried herbs would be more flavorful.) Mix well. Then fold in feta, tofu and walnuts.

This can be prepared 3 hours ahead (cover tightly and refrigerate).

Preheat oven to 300 degrees and put a baking dish in oven. (This is so you can keep them warm while you finsih the rest of the batch.)

Cover bottom of large skillet with olive oil (~1/2 inch). Heat on Medium - High. When oil is hot and working in small batches, drop mixture by heaping spoonfuls. (I then slightly flatten so they can cook faster and more evenly. 3-4 inches diameter) Fry til golden brown and cooked through. (~ 3 min per side) Transfer to oven to keep warm. (I first put on paper towels and blotted some of the oil off.) Serve Hot.

Makes easily enough for 4-6 hungry adults to be able to have several pancakes each. (For leftovers, put in airtight container and refrigerate.)


They are great alone or with this creamy garlic sauce drizzled over the top. (I'd suggest making the sauce while zukes are draining.)



Garlic Basil Sauce
2 C low salt chicken broth (veggie will work too)
3/4 C whipping cream (I often use 1/4 half and half and 1/2 whole milk so that it's still decadently creamy but not crazy calorie-wise.)
3 minced garlic cloves (or 3 t prechopped stuff from the jar)
1/4 - 1/3 C chopped fresh basil (2T dried works too just not as intense flavor)
1 1/2 T corn starch

Bring broth and cream to boil. Add rest of ingredients. Simmer until sauce thickens slightly about 20 minutes. (Can be made 1 day in advance.) Spoon / drizzle heated sauce over zucchini pancakes and enjoy!!!

Bread Bonanza

For Christmas my Mom gave me this fabulous bread cook book. And since I've had a little extra time on my hands due to the crazy weather, I have been baking some of the recipes. It is so yummy. There is something so wonderful about the smell of freshly baked bread permeating the air. Then to have a slice of hot bread out of the oven with real butter spread on it....Heaven!!! mmmmm.... so good!

Just writing this blog brings me back to some wonderful childhood memories of walking home from school on cold winter days and then coming into a warm house that had a pot of beef barley soup simmering on the stove and several loaves of bread baking. It just epitomized the feeling and sense of home!! (Heaven on earth!) In such uncertain times, its nice to have simple comforts.

Flooding Post Mortum

The Castle Rock Fairgrounds were flooded by about 3-4 feet of water. (The kids were standing by the Cowlitz at noon on Wednesday right down by the puddle on the little parking lot. The water was probably several feet above their heads by Thursday morning. By Friday morning it was like this.)



My commute on Delameter on Friday morning. Just muddy and some water in the fields, but for the most part back to normal.

Cow pasture on Delameter and Cline - This is where that poor cow was standing for 2 days.

As you can see, the water has receded. Now begins the clean up and dealing with some of the mudslides and water damage.

Flooding Update

The rain is finally abating. Now it is lightly raining - not pouring anymore. By tomorrow it is supposed to start to dry out! Hurray we can definitely use it. The weather service said that Longview received 4.5 inches of rain yesterday (1/7) and Castle Rock measured nearly 8 inches in the last 48 hours. (Jan 6-7) That's a lot of rain people!!!

Reports I heard earlier were that it was the second highest flood levels SW Washington has experienced since the dikes went in. The Cowlitz River at Castle Rock was at 53+ feet which is 7+ feet above flood stage. (I wonder if the dikes weren't here if the flooding would be as bad as back in 1923.) Luckily, all the dikes are holding and the D.E.M. put 7 extra pumps in Lexington so they are ok. They have now cleared the evacuation orders for Toutle and South Kelso. The evacuation orders are still in effect for Woodland and the Greenacres neighborhood in Castle Rock - which is the older subdivision North of the High School. (One of M's best friends live there. We haven't heard from them so I assume they had to leave.)

I have been hoping to go to work / school tomorrow via the back way, but there has been a water main break on Coal Creek just above where we used to live so the road is closed. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll have it fixed and the road open. The other challenge is I'm starting to see mudslides. (There have been 2 or 3 minor ones in the ravine at Delameter and a big one that keeps creeping towards the road down by the cow pastures.)

We'll keep you in the loop. The worst of the flooding seems to be over. We drove around a little bit this afternoon. I'll post them in a bit. (I think I just heard a transformer blow so I want to fill the bathtub just in case.) For you city folks...no electricity means no water pump for the well. Well, take care and see ya on the flip side.

Flooding Pics Part 2

1/7/08 Flood Pictures


1:30 - 2pm / This is Delameter about 3 or 4 miles above us. The tiny creek / ditch overflowed its banks and flooded these people home. The water is was just about to cross the road. Later I have the picture of the creek across the street from this. This is just above Crimmins Chicken Farm.










1/7/09 3pm - Mudslide on Delameter between Cline Road and Hazell Dell. This is the hill to the left when the big cow pasture is to the right. (Didn't get the road yet because it is set back aways but 100 feet up the road there are some areas that if they go will block the road for quite a while.)

1/7/09 3pm / Poor stray cow stuck out in the fields. It is totally surrounded by deep and flowing water. The water is supposed to significantly rise. They might lose it. There is a person way in the background trying to get its attention and lure it, but the water is so loud I'm sure it can't hear or is too scared.

1/7/09 3pm - Delameter Creek at bridge where Hazel Dell intersects just below the ravine. This is normally a creek that is 5-10 feet wide and maybe 1 foot high. It has completely flooded the valley and right up against the road. Those logs are huge and the culvert has accummulated quite a bit of debris in front of it.

1/7/09 3pm This is Cline Road where it intersects Delameter. (The cow is in the pasture to the left.) Judging by the fence posts, it is probably 3 feet deep at least and the water is rising.

1/7/09 - 3pm Delameter Road where Cline intersects. (You can see off in the distance on the right Bolars). It is easily 4-5 feet deep by the road. You can barely see the fence posts. Most of those wooden poles are 8-10 footers.

1/7/09 2pm - Upper Delameter Road - across from that little blue house that flooded. (Just up from Crimmins Chicken farm and about 1/4 mile before Delameter becomes Woodside. This creek is normally 1-2 feet across and 6-8" deep.

1/7/09 - 3pm M &B at the bridge in the bottom of the ravine (where Delameter and Hazel Dell meet)

1/7/09 1pm Cowlitz River at Camelot viewed from Lions Park.

1/7/09 - 12:30 Cowlitz River viewed from Hall of Justice in Kelso.

Flooding Pics Part 1

Here's some pics from today. . . I'll explain more about each so check back!!




Cowlitz River at Camelot Fishing Boat Launch from Lions Park.

Kids at 12:30 at CR Fairgrounds - river about 2 feet below parking lot

CR Bridge viewed from fair grounds - water up to the bottom ramp part of walking path on other side.

House on Coal Creek which was raging. (We didn't know that they had closed Coal Creek and blundered on through.)



Top of Delameter at Crimmins Chicken Farm - 1st big section of running water going across roadway which this doesn't really show (and was the easiest of the four we went through). After getting to the house, I decided not to chance it again and decided to wait it out at home because the last one was pretty hairy. We feel so bad for the poor Crimmins and Shuelke families. The heavy snows have destroyed most of their buildings (It looked like the Crimmins had 1 standing barn out of the 4 they used to have.) and now the flooding is going right through their farms. B is friend's with the Shuelke's daughter who said insurance won't cover any of it.




Delameter Creek starting to flood at the little bridge at the bottom of the "ravine" where Hazel Dell Rd. meets Delameter Rd. (This was 8am on the way into school.)

This is the same section at 3pm. The entire valley was completely full of water and it was about to spill over the little bridge.

This is the cow pasture on Delameter where cline meets Delameter - between our house and Bolars at 8am today (1/7/09). Notice the remenants of snow still lingering on the ground....
(sorry it's blurry, I was driving the kids to school and C took snapped the pix out the window)

Same field at 3pm.

More to post later.

I want to watch the news. The radio just announced a bit ago that there is a mandatory evacuation for south Kelso. Everything from the mall (exit 39) down through the industrial area (Foster Farms etc.) - basically down to exit 36. It's bad! REALLY bad! But we're safe, dry, and have power so we're just going to hunker down and ride it out.

Melting Mailbox

So this is what was left of the snow drift that was holding my poor little mailbox on January 6th. I guess it's a good thing that the mail can't get through, because now it's on the ground and they won't deliver anymore until we have a mailbox that meets the correct specifications.

Rain Rain - Go Away

To add insult to injury...
All that Christmas snow (the 2-3feet) has been melting and there has been a constant drizzle for the last week, so the rivers are rising and are currently a few feet below flood stage.

On the news this morning, the Dept of Emergency Management announced that the Weather Service now says that between Tuesday morning and Thursday evening (basically 3 days) we are supposed to have 7 inches of rain. SEVEN INCHES!!!! in less than 3 days! Aiamos!!!! I didn't go to Univeristy of Oregon! I'm not a duck! make it go away and come back some other day.

I noticed this evening while driving home that they already have the barricades out for several places on Delameter that will either warn of water over the roadway and or close the roads. The fields across from Bolars are about half full. (The river levels at Castle Rock are supposed to be about 5 feet over flood stage, but not as bad as it was in 1996 or threaten the dikes' stability.) So when they close Delameter below me getting the kids to school and me to work may be fairly challenging. I may have to do the 40 mile detour to take my kids to school. This all depends on whether it floods above me (a couple places where the Delameter Creek is pretty nasty or down at the bottom of Coal Creek) because I can't think of any other ways that won't be flooded. (keep your fingers crossed!!!)

Do These Books Make My Butt Look Big?

I have discovered the perfect New Year's challenge for myself. I haven't decided at what level I'm going to do yet, but I'm going to take the Chunkster Challenge.

I may just start with the Chubby Chunkster, but I might try and stretch and go for the Big Butt challenge (depending on how many interesting books I can find). To be safe, I'll probably do the Chubby to start out. (I can always add more.)

Since I'm cohosting our book group this month, I'm going to let the Legal Ladies Literary Soire'e in on it. It is right up our alley - only way it would be better would be if there was something about good food and wine too.

Anyone want to sign up with me? It's a way to keep you motivated to read really big (challenging) books on a deadline.... Don't worry we have until mid-November. (I can totally read two big books by Thanksgiving!!) Hopefully, so will do it too. Here's the link if you're interested....

http://feelinchunky.blogspot.com/

Now I'm off to find the Iditarod Challenge and figure out what to cook for our book group next week.

Kaboodle

I've decided on the name of the next feline to enter our house (if we ever do get another cat). I was inspired by one of M's favorite author's MacHale (writes the Pendragon series).

I'm going to do what he did and get a little kitten and name it Kaboodle.

get it?

Kitten Kaboodle!

I just cracked up when I read that. What a great idea!

What Else?

Although, Sn*%#! was falling again last night, I refuse to talk about it AGAIN! I'm so bored writing about it. I sure almost as much as everyone else reading about it. So, what else is going on in our family....

C started youth wrestling tonight. (He's so excited because this year he's "on varsity" and doesn't have to be with the younger, inexperienced kids.) In about a half hour, they reviewed all the 'basics' they had learned and started putting different combinations together. In anticipation of wrestling starting, we went to the 35th annual CR invitational wrestling tourney this weekend and watched about 4 and half hours of wrestling. The girls were bored within the first hour of so, but I wanted to stay til the end. We watched about half way through the championship round. It was fun. C is now inspired. He really wants to do the "cool move that the really good wrestlers do".... They can lay on their backs and jump up into a standing position. He's been practicing and practicing. He's slowly getting better at it. If he keeps at it the way he has, he might just have developed the abs, back and leg muscles to pull it off before wrestling is over in March.

C also surprised me today. He won the All Star Math competition and will represent his class in the grade level. If he wins, then he will compete to represent the school in a regional competition. All Star Math is a fabulous game....I need to send a copy for my homeschooled neices and nephews for Christmas (sorry the sn*&%$! made it so that I didn't finish my shopping). It is such a fun game and can challenge players at whatever level they're at. Back to C...I am so proud of him and how much he has accomplished. I am a little chagrined to say I was somewhat surprised, because C is the kid who didn't really know his multiplication / division facts very well and was honestly struggling with some key addition and subtraction facts right before school started this year. B spent hours a day for over 2 weeks working with him to learn his math facts. (I got too frustrated and he would shut down.) But they worked and worked on it and were very successful. They both got rewards for their good work. C is such a happy go lucky kid - just like his Dad, that I sometimes forget that he is REALLY smart at a lot of things. It may take him a while to learn something if he doesn't grasp the concept immediatly, but when he does...it's for life.

B just found out today that she made the school honor choir. They will be practicing Saturday mornings for the next couple weeks and will sing extra songs and possible solos in the Winter Concert. She is pretty excited about it and is really looking forward to it. B has a very pretty voice. (Another trait my kids can be glad they received from their Dad.) She also took in her peppermint bath salts for her teachers and little gift bags for her friends since they missed the last 3 days of school due to Sn*$%#!! (She had a running joke with one of her friends that she was only going to give him a lump of coal for Christmas. Of course two nights before she goes back to school, her dog decides to eat the chocolate coal she bought. This meant we needed to make our own - which turned out pretty well.)

Speaking of food, the kids cooked our family's contributions to the church potluck on Sunday. The did a FANTASTIC job and received many compliments and nearly empty dishes. M made one of family's favorite dishes - "Southern Supper" which is kind of like spanish rice, but with little sausage pieces. B made "Mary V. potatos" which are like a grated potato o'gratin (no cheese). She also made the "world's best popcorn". It is white chocolate covered buttered popcorn. I don't like white chocolate at all, but I must say that "It is a truly fabulous!!!!" C made what I like to call "veggie pizza" or in the McD family "Laura's veggie dish". Like I said, they did a great job and I just helped supervise the chaos. I love it when we cook as family. It is so much fun. I love those "aha!" moments and the appreciation and admiration they receive later.

I should have bought a lotto ticket Sunday! I won 3 or 4 things at the potluck. I got a brand new very fancy crock pot (which I gave to a poor family with lots of kids who didn't have one). I also won a red and green tapestry/wall haning/ prayer rug with a picture of either a mosque, greek orthodox onion shaped church or maybe a catherdral that vaguely looks like the Taj Mahal. Not sure exactly what it is, but it sure is bright and C has told me it would "look really good in his room in front of his bed". Not sure about that, but it's better than the alternative. I also won a very pretty cross stitched lap quilt with a simple snow flake design. Seems like there was something else, but maybe it was all the other presents we received.

M found out that she was selected to attend the Eastbound Horsetrek for Scouts. She is super excited and will have fun learning a lot about horses and herself. It is in June right after school gets out - so her chant is "no more snow days" since we have already had 3 this year. I was very proud of her, because she took responsibility to go to all her teachers today and find out her status in their classes. If and when projects were due in each class and if she had any outstanding assignments. She is becoming so mature. (Sigh!! my baby is growing up.)

Me...I'm just hanging in there. Recovering from the holidays and spent a couple nights doing nothing except reading a book. Just finished Lee Child's "Bad Luck and Trouble" which was awesome!! - Definitely one of my favorite Reacher books yet! I also read Dean Koontz "Darkest Evening of the Year" which was completely disappointing - It was poorly written, had lazily developed characters and a very diffused & unfocused plot - basically a total waste of time. I've also been able to chat with some friends and the families to get caught up. I am slowly working on the calendar and family newsletter. (My newsletter's deadline - I'm shooting for Chinese New Year - which is the year of the Ox if you didn't already know.) I will be soon going to a local meet up that is camera oriented and offers classes in photoshop. (Can't be more perfect for a shutterbug like me!)

Now there's more changes at work and I'm not sure what all they mean yet. There were a lot of closed door meetings and bunch of work was redistributed with in our department. The good part, is that I don't have to work nearly all the criminal dockets anymore. We will go back to being more evenly split again. I could really use the time in my office. I've been just barely keeping a float with all the projects and tasks I have to do so I'm really looking forward to it. Ican't wait to hunker down in my office to use the time to get caught up and even be proactive.
oooooooooooh! Now that's a novel concept.

Well, I guess that's all for now.

Say It Ain't So....

After a week of rain, the snow has been disappearing fast. (Still have a bunch, but I can drive up and down my driveway and the landscaped hill by our house and the walks were pretty clear, but the flat by the garden and the woods still have 6-12inches.)

Well, we had a sneak snowstorm to start out the new year. The kids went to bed without snow on the sledding hill and woke up to 1-2". So Friday before I left for work I woke the kids and told them "No school! Because it's a snow day." C didn't believe me and nearly took my $1 bet about the snow. Rats! The kid is on to me - I usually only bet on a "sure" thing. M just groaned and wailed "Noooooooooo". B echoed her sentiments and added "I don't want more snow." She was especially disappointed that it was this slushy /icy stuff that didn't allow you to sled or make snowmen. (There were so many wrecks and slide offs on my way to work. For now reason, some one would just start spinning 360's in front of you and whirl off the road.)

Snowy House

This is a picture of our house from the road.





Until 12/30 I had to park at the bottom of my driveway. Even with 4 wheel drive, snow tires AND chains, I couldn't get up. Too much snow and ice. (You can see the icy tracks from when my sisters left after Christmas.)