Recipe of the Day. . .

I love a good devotion and throw in a good recipe with it and that is like having your cake and eating it too.  No pun intended.  One of the hubbs nieces gave me this book for Christmas, I know that I have posted on it before but I thought I would share one of the recipes.  This is Hotcakes and Hallelujahs by Stacey Roberts.  I was reading a devotion from it this morning about giving thanks in all situations and how true that is.  The hubbs was downsized in May and he still does not have a job but we are not destitute just yet.   Because they let him go they had to true up all of his bonus for his quota attainment which was a lot.  We were able to add to our emergency fund for the emergency his company created.  I keep telling my very sweet hubby that God wanted him out of that situation and that God has a plan for our family.  We are not privy to his plan in advance we must trust him and have faith.  We are trusting Him and I am trying to get my hubby to take advantage of  this time off and enjoy his family.
Here is my recipe for today, these are Sabbath Day Spice Muffins

1/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup milk

Topping
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven 325.  In a large mixing bowl cream shortening, sugar, and egg.  In medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.   Add the medium bowl to the shortening mixture slowly along with milk.
Grease muffin tin and fill with batter bake for 20-25 minutes until golden.  Let cool for a few minutes
Topping:  combine sugar and cinnamon.  Roll warm muffins in melted butter and then in the sugar mixture.  
This recipe says it makes 8-10 muffins.

I am going to try this one today.

This and That. . . .Random Thoughts. . .

The sweet B is going to the Vet today for her check up.  She loves going but she hates being probed.  She absolutely goes to pieces when we walk in the door, she is all wiggles and squeals.  When the Doctor gets in the floor to see her, she backs up into him and licks him under his chin.   She is the most loving and sweet dog I think we have ever had.  Our sweet Frito loved the hubbs and I, and she tolerated the boys but that was about it.  Cainie and Jake our labs, I guess they loved everyone too but they did not go completely to pieces like the B.  I miss all three of those babies, it seems like they took a piece of each of us when they left.
Nothing ever seems to go as I try to plan.  This Summer has certainly followed suit this year.  I have tried to plan a beach trip and another trip no where near the beach and neither one has worked out.  It has just not been in cards for us this year.  I do not necessarily have to go anywhere away from our house but, I want to try and do something fun with us all together.  I want my kids to have great memories to share with their own kids someday.  I am still trying to pull something together and we still may get to the beach, it just might be a Fall trip.   This does not include the college tours that we need to do this year.
I do have one more thing up my sleeve and I hope it will work out.  
The hubbs has a face to face interview the first of next week and he had two phone interviews this week already.   We are very hopeful for these two but, I know that it is in God's hands and it is his plan.  Keep the prayers coming, things are starting to come together.
Stay tuned. . . .

College Prep and Other Stuff. . .

Preparing to send a kid off to college is no easy task.  Sprat is two years away from going to college but there are still things that have to be done at this stage.  Sprat is supposed to be preparing by taking classes and being involved in clubs and the community during these couple of years before applying to college.  Our high school offers many AP and Honors classes for the kids preparing for college.  They changed things up this year and required the parents and students to attend an information session about the AP classes.  If you did not come to this meeting your student could not apply to take the AP classes.  I agree that parents have to be involved and that both parent and child should be aware of the commitment required to do well in these classes but, I think this may be a little far reaching.  The students were also required to sit in on a talk by the teacher about what ever class they were interested in.  If they did not sit in on that session then they were not allowed to apply for that AP class.  I say "apply" because they made the students write an essay on why they thought they deserved to be in this particular class and what they were going to do to excel in that class.   Again, I think this is just a little over the top for a high school.  They have now scared my kid to death about taking AP classes.   I thought the whole point of our education system was to encourage our kids to learn and want to excel and want to do their best.  Our high school seems to be discouraging our kids at every turn.  I wonder what would happen if all 450 students in my sons' class did not sign up for a single AP class?  I know that won't happen because the parents in our high school have been brain washed to follow the pack.  

Sprat is so afraid of taking those courses, he is afraid he will not do well and it will hurt his GPA.   So, instead of encouraging our kids to stretch their limits our school is trying to squelch them.   I am trying to encourage Sprat to stretch his limits but he is afraid because of what the administrators have told him.   He is taking honors classes, so that will help.  

Sprat will be a junior this year and this is the year to start applying for some scholarships.  We still have a few more tours to do when I can work them in.  Then he will start actually deciding on where he wants to go and start filling out those applications.  He already knows of two schools he does not want to go to, one because it is too big the other because it is in the mountains and is very cold in the winter.  How is that for choosing a college?   Everyone has their own criteria I guess.   At least he has an idea of what he wants and does not want.   I found this giant book of scholarships at my local used bookstore and it has a lot of scholarships that kids can apply for and some do not require essays.  There is one in there that only requires the kid be over six foot two inches in height.  There is another one for kids that are left handed, I cannot remember if that one requires an essay or not.  

By the time I get Sprat ready to go off to college I should be an expert on this stuff and Big T should be a breeze.  Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!!!!!!!!

Stay tuned lots going on. . .   The hubbs made salsa last week and feel another batch to come. . .

Monday, Monday. . .

Went shopping with my niece this weekend.  I was showing her the neat places to shop for clothes.  We had a great day and shopped till we both dropped.  I told her mama she wore me out and she told her mama that I wore her out.  Ha ha ha ha!!!!  We are both like my mother and her grandmother, we go till we cannot go anymore. 

I remember marathon shopping trips with my mom.  We could go to the outlets and shop all day, I would be completely worn out but not mom, mom seemed to have endless energy.   We would always find the best bargains too.  I am still a bargain shopper but I tend to find my bargains online these days.  I also like travel bargains, I am looking for some of those this week.  I would like to take my kids somewhere neat and educational for a couple days since we did not get a beach trip worked in this year.  Football sort of starts to take over our lives this time of year but, I would not change that for anything, Sprat loves his football.   This is when I get creative on family fun.  Life would be so boring if everything worked out all of the time.    I am keeping my fingers crossed that we can work something out and, I will share our trip with you.  

One of Sprats friends called last night to go practice lacrosse since his friends' mom and I are friends too, we dropped the boys off to practice and we went for TCBY and a chat.  It is nice to have girlfriends to be able to just go for some yogurt and a chat from time to time.  The boys had a workout for sure, Sprat was soaked to the bone.  

The hubbs has some phone calls this week so everyone keep your fingers crossed and I will be posting updates on him as we find things out.

Teen Driver Interview for Insurance. . .

The Insurance agent interview went well and I am really glad that our agent required this.  I wish all agents would require it, it might change the way some of these kids act behind the wheel.  As a parent you can tell your child what a huge responsibility it is to drive a car and how important it is to pay attention at all times.   When another adult that is in authority talks to your kids about this "privilege" and, yes it is a privilege for a teen to be driving, if you let them think otherwise that is your first mistake.
 Our insurance agent is a retired city police officer and also a former military police officer and he takes his job of insuring young drivers very seriously, as he should.   He had a very frank talk with Sprat about the seriousness of being behind the wheel and communicating with his parents about where he is and following a curfew.  I hope that Sprat will take heed to what he heard yesterday and remember that every time he goes out the door and drives off that we will be in a panic until we know that he arrived at his destination.   He made Sprat set up a contact for him in his phone and told him if anything happens and he cannot get in touch with the hubbs or I he can call him.  That is true customer service and something that the hubbs and I value very much.  That is comforting to know that there will be someone out there that will be there for my kids if they ever need it.
If you sell auto insurance and you insure minors I hope that you will take some of what I have shared here and do the same with your clients, they will appreciate it.   This is our agents requirement before he will sign off so that the minor can go to the DMV and get their license.
I had heard from many of my friends that their insurance went up two thousand dollars or so and I was pleasantly surprised that ours only went up $800 a year by adding Sprat.   Our agent said that our company that we have our auto with was very good to minors and we have multiple policies with them so that helped too.  With everything going on with the hubbs and the job front I was so relieved to find out that it was not going to go up that much.  Whewwww!!!
Stay tuned for more on the job front, some new prospects showed up yesterday so we may have news there this week.

Next. . .

One down and three to go. . .  The hubbs received his first, thank you for applying but we have gone a different direction email yesterday.  He has three other jobs that he is in second and third interviews with so we are hopeful one of those will be the one.  He was not terribly upset over not getting this one because it would have required us to move to a different state.   The fact that he did not live in the center of the territory was the reason he did not get that job.  Personally, I think that is a dumb reason not to give someone a job.  If this person is the perfect candidate for the job and is willing to move if it works out why not put the best person for the job, in the job.  Instead they hire a less than qualified candidate just because they live in the optimal area.   That makes absolutely no sense what so ever to me, but what do I know I am just a mom/wife.
We still have three possibilities and who knows what tomorrow may bring.  We are hopeful that the job that is a perfect fit for him is still out there.  I have told him this is God's way of telling him to slow down and enjoy his family while he still has time.  While Sprat and I did the College tour the hubbs and Big T went fishing again.  They did catch some fish this time, Big T caught three and the hubbs caught one.   The hubbs said they had fun even though it was hot as blue blazes.  He has another fishing trip scheduled for tomorrow with his brother.
Today Sprat goes for his interview with our insurance agent.  Our insurance agent requires an interview with the student and the parents before he will sign off on an insurance policy for the student.  I do not think all agents do this but ours does.  He believes if he is going to give insurance to someone he should know them.  He knows the hubbs and I very well because he is a family friend and has been taking care of our insurance since we got married.  I actually think it is not a bad idea for the interview, this will help prepare Sprat for possible College interviews and certainly job interviews.

Update Tuesday. . .

Sprat came home from camp on Saturday and I spent most of the day airing out the funk.  Washed all grades of laundry and used almost an entire can of Lysol on what I could not put in the washer.  He had fun and I guess that is the important part.  He swears he took two showers a day but, I am not sure I believe all that.
We were treated to a great baseball game by my brother-in-law and his wife on Sunday after Church.  We had awesome seats and all you can eat food and ice cream and we were in the shade.  Shade was pretty important on Sunday.  We had several foul balls hit out way and scared the life out of me.  My head is a magnet for foul balls.  Every game we have ever been to, at least one if not more foul balls have almost hit me in the head.  My dear hubby has saved me on more that one occasion, by mere inches.   We had upper deck seats for this game and they also gave us wine and beer passes for the bar.  The hubbs and I rarely drink but when it is free and you have a driver we might indulge.  The over 21's got a different colored arm band for the bar.   The young man that was giving us our arm bands gave all of the adults a band without asking our age.  Big T of course he did not ask because he knew he was too young but, he asked Sprat if he was 21 and wanted an arm band.   Ughhhhh, Noooooo!!!   I guess because Sprat is tall he looks older than he is but he does not look 21, that of course is a Mom's opinion.   He is only sixteen.
Yesterday was College tour day for Sprat and I.  We took a road trip with a good friend and her son that is good friends with Sprat.   Our friend is interested in going to this College, Sprat not so much.  I wanted Sprat to see this campus because it is a larger campus than the one we went to earlier this year.  He needed to see that on some campuses that you cannot just walk out of your dorm and right into your classroom or be at your classroom with-in five minutes.   The food that this larger campus has to offer did intrigue him, they have really good places for the kids to eat on campus and they are covered by the meal plan.  It is a much larger city so there are more things to do around the campus and I did like that they offered a bus system for the students to get around and all they had to do was show their student ID.   Before the visit Sprat was sure he did not want to go to this particular College but after, he was not all that sure anymore.   That is the big reason we are going on all of these tours and visiting the different campuses because you just do not know until you see it for yourself.   I am amazed at the different perks that are offered to the students as well.  We had fun and it was really nice to be able to visit this College with friends.

Sprat listening intently at the College information session.

He really hates having his picture taken.

My very handsome boys at the game.

This was where the foul ball landed behind us.