View from the Prairie Box

I love this photo for many reasons. One is that it is a fun portrait of my husband (who rarely sits still and allows me to photograph him). And two, it captures the dimple on his right cheek. That dimple doesn’t make appearances very often, so I know he’s really tickled when it comes out. I meant to accompany this photo with an interview of Jeremy. If I’m able to question him I’ll post the content later in the day.

Happy birthday to my wonderful husband! You are my balance in this life and I praise God for you. If Livia could blog, I know she’d say thank you for all the tickle-wrestles and soda parties you have together. She loves you this much! (Envision her arms spread out wide.)

I grew up celebrating September 24 with my brother Andrew. So a huge happy birthday goes out to NooNee as well. Happy 27th, big kid! We can’t wait to see you when you come to town soon!

Livia said some things tonight that were hurtful to me as a mother. Frankly, I didn’t think I’d hear things like that until she was 14 or so, but perhaps I should have known better considering her strong will. Whenever I’m thrown into a new situation parenting-wise, it always takes me awhile to figure out an appropriate response. Do I discipline for this? If so, how? Do I simply ignore this behavior? Do I give an explanation and a warning this time around? I was actually taken aback by what Liv said and had to stop to consider how very little she understood the implications of her words. (For those of you who are curious, her comments related to adoption.)

After thinking about our little situation that had potential to brew into something very unlovely, I realized, Hey! I’m the parent here! I’m in charge, not this pint-sized punkin. Livia is a child, she doesn’t know what I know and understand what I understand. It’s my job to act like, speak like, and protect her like an adult.

I felt incredibly God-ordained in my role in that moment. Even more than that, I felt like I understood just the smallest bit of what God feels for us, his children. How many times have I turned away from his love? Over and over and over. How many times have I thought, spoken or acted in ways that were dishonoring to him? How often do I say ridiculous things that distort truth? All. the. time. God stands over me, in his infinite wisdom and love, and is as steady as a rock. He doesn’t change like the shifting shadows (James 1:17). He doesn’t treat me in the way I deserve to be treated when I’m foolish and childish, but extends limitless compassion and grace to me (Psalm 103:8-10). His love is steadfast and never ceases (Lamentations 3:22).

As I was considering all this tonight I was reminded about something great and wonderful today, something I almost forgot about. At lunchtime I needed to take Livia to preschool and run a few other errands. But I’ve been feeling super crappy with a bronchial infection and emotionally I wasn’t doing so well. Once we were loaded in the car I started crying in frustration. After a few minutes, Livia began to pray out loud: “Dear God, please take care of Mommy and heal her cold…” I can’t remember the rest of the prayer. I just know I was impressed by her sensitivity and the fact that she knew she could turn to God in spontaneous prayer, that God would take care of these problems.

Thank you, God, for loving us so incredibly—you have given us blessings we do not deserve. Thank you especially for Jesus, who died on the cross so that we, who are so childish and full of selfishness, can spend eternity with you. Help me to be more like you, to love my child the way you love me.

My parents’ apple tree is in full production mode and its limbs are heavy with fruit. Apparently, the tree needed a sturdy trimming last year in order to be this fruitful. We are glad to be recipients of baskets and bagfuls of these tart green apples—and Livia is thrilled to experience apple farm outings in her own Nana and Papa’s front yard!

I plan to make apple butter in the crockpot soon. I made some applesauce as well which didn’t turn out so great. That’s what I get for “winging it” and forgoing all recipes. Gloppy, sticky applesauce. It smelled great and tasted fine, but I can’t say I want to eat it a week later (texture is key!). I am thoroughly enjoying the new Zion Cookbook however and decided to cook up Karen Hunt’s apple muffins. This is the part where I have to eat my words. I’ve told many friends in the past that I DON’T LIKE muffins. (I think I wrote it on the blog, too.) Well, guess what. I made Karen’s apple muffins and they were delicious. Yum-o. Tasted great. So scratch my old prejudice against muffins. New days of muffin-y goodness awaits the Tredway household.

For the record, the new Zion Cookbook rocks. It has a lot more recipes than the old one and has breathed new life into my kitchen. If you’d like one but don’t attend Zion or Redeemer, you can send me an email (). Cookbooks are $15 and I imagine you’d need to include something extra for shipping and handling. Without further ado, I present the recipe for Apple Muffins.

Muffin

• 2 C flour
• 3 t baking powder
• 1/2 C sugar
• 1/2 t salt
• 3 T shortening
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3/4 C milk
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 C apples, peeled & chopped

Preheat oven to 400. Sift together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Cut in shortening; set aside. Combine eggs and milk. Add to flour mixture, mix until flour is just moistened. Fold in apples. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin tins half full.

Crunch topping

• 1/3 C brown sugar
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• 1/3 C nuts (opt)

Combine topping mixture. Sprinkle over muffin batter. Bake for 25 minutes.

Today has been a good blogging day. Granted, none of my post ideas ever made it out of my mind and onto the blog, but still. I think I’m slowly coming out of my blogging malaise. Perhaps I’ll have a great blogging day soon and will actually type something original. Oh the excitement. Until then, a meme from Bethany’s blog will keep it real.

A: Attached or Single? Attached. Seriously, seriously attached.

B. Best Friend? There are many, including the attached one. There are dear friends near and far, in familial and non-familial form.

C: Cake or pie? Cake, preferably chocolate. Though I may be changing on the chocolate factor. I made a mean carrot cake (from Dorie Greenspan’s most excellent recipe book) for my mother-in-law’s birthday.

D: Day of choice? If Saturday includes a date night, then I totally love that day.

E: Essential Item? Insulin pump. Not everyone can claim that, eh?

F: Favorite color? Blue or green or yellow or red. I really like them all.

G: Gummy bears or worms? Worms. I took a bowl of gummy worms to a Redeemer game night awhile back and learned that adults *really* dig gummy worms. I was hoping to take some home but yeah, that didn’t happen.

H: Hometown? Lincoln, NE.

I: Favorite indulgence? Dessert when I eat out.

J: January or July? July—what a silly question! Sunshine, warmth, the ability to be outside in the sunshine and warmth. Total no-brainer.

K: Kids? One beautiful, charming, sweet and feisty kid.

L: Life isn’t complete without? Community.

M: Marriage date? June 13, ten years ago.

N: Number of brothers and sisters? 2, plus 2 by marriage.

O: Oranges or apples? Apples. When my computer begins to behave itself again, I’ll post some pics of apples from my parents’ tree and the delicious apple muffins I made from the new Zion Cookbook. Yum. (Thank you, Karen Hunt.)

P: Phobias? I’m not a fan of tight spaces. I don’t like getting stuck in really large crowds of people and I don’t like the elevator at the capitol building AT ALL. My all-time worst memory of claustrophia occurred in Old Tucson, AZ, in a haunted house. Why I went in that place I do not now—I don’t even like haunted houses—but the situation went from kinda dumb to downright horrifying when the guide led us through a pitch black tunnel. With Halloween sounds blaring in our ears so we couldn’t hear one another, we had to hang on to the shoulders of the person in front of us and stumble over stairs, down inclines and around tight corners in the deepest, darkest black you can imagine. Let’s just say I had to work very hard to not completely freak out. Once we hit the light our guide said he had good news and bad news. Bad news first: There’s no way out, you have to go back the way you came. Good news: I’m just kidding. Little did that guy know there was no freakin’ way I was heading back through the tunnel.

Q: Quotes? “I doing pubic speaking.” Livia, on the potty a few days ago.

R: Reasons to Smile? “I doing pubic speaking.” Livia, on the potty a few days ago.

S: Season of choice? Spring.

T: Tag 5 People: Uh, Bethany, are you up for another go-round? Kristin, and Adam on Kris’s blog, Renae (to encourage more blogging), and Kerri (because a tag is always a nice induction to blog world). I’ve never ever ever tagged anyone before because I hate to leave people out. So if you want to do this meme, have at it. Consider yourself tagged.

U: Unknown fact? I have very few unknowns in my life because I’m an extrovert. So I’m going to keep those precious few unknowns unknown, thank you very much.

V: Vegetable? Why not? Anyone know what the question is asking?

W: Worst habit? If I want to feel good about myself, I’d answer with “chewing my nails” because I just stopped that habit a few months ago. If I want to be real with the world, I might admit being of a fairly critical nature. I can be downright judgmental and pessimistic if I don’t keep praying for self-control and a right perspective.

X: X-ray or Ultrasound? I’ve had about four ultrasounds, most of which revealed wonderful things about the human body. So ultrasound it is.

Y: Your favorite food? Pad Thai, chips & dip, peach cobbler with ice cream (which I made tonight, so it’s on my mind).

Z: Zodiac Sign? Didn’t know it until I was a high school senior and our student teacher, in a moment of stellar educational expertise (I say, voice dripping with sarcasm), had us go around the class sharing our signs. I probably thought the Zodiac was from the devil back then. Now I’m just not sure how knowing my sign enriches my life.

(Oh, that title’s a groaner. Sorry, couldn’t help it.)

Someday I will blog again. Someday I’ll write a blog post that’s longer than two sentences. But for now, there are two crazy Tredways awaiting me downstairs and movie night will soon commence. Also, it should be noted that my computer is on the outs again (so moody! or perhaps it has seasonal allergies) and I have little tolerance for the slow pace of our old iMac. But truly, I want to blog more. We’ll see about that.

Something very funny was just said.

I’m pretty sure this next shot is crooked because I was laughing.

When you put five old friends (and a baby!) in one room, there’s lots of laughter. Want to see the baby?

Look at this kid. Isn’t she beautiful? I can see where she gets the good looks from.

Haley, Autumn, Bryonie and Charity, I love you. Thanks for loving me through the past 15 or so years.

I read political commentary on blogs and news sites last night before bed. Not a good idea. Perhaps these bloggers were more deranged than others (the medium allows you to be a wallflower in real life but completely outspoken online, so I imagine it brings out the crazy in otherwise normal individuals), but oh man did I feel like puking from the insanity. Why is there so much hate and dysfunction in political discussions? Here’s my theory: we’re looking for a Savior, not simply a President.

Newsflash, peeps. The future president is a human being. And as such, the future president will not lead us into the Promised Land of stellar healthcare, perfectly educated children, and peace, love and happiness in general.

We could talk until we’re blue in the face about these candidates, but the truth is that each one is a human being who has made both good and bad decisions in the past. And surely the candidates, as human beings, will make good and bad decisions in the future. So feel free to rip them apart with derision and hatred from the laptop in your living room, but face reality. We have two major candidates to choose from in November, neither of them are Saviors (and neither are the Devil incarnate either).

**I have strong opinions pertaining to this election and I know who will receive my vote come November. Don’t misunderstand this blog post; I believe we all need to be informed about each candidate. I am concerned, however, with the vehemence contained within many political discussions.

I just returned from a fabulous weekend at the lake with the Horn Creek girls. Our last morning at the cabin Autumn commented, “Who knew resting could be so tiring?” and I fully agree. Between time with the girls and the great discussions with Joie on our roadtrip to Minneapolis (which, I must note, made Iowa’s landscape zoom by and deepened my relationship with my dear friend), I find myself back at home physically tired but emotionally renewed.

Being away for four days also made my daughter magically grow faster and become more articulate, and magnified my love for my husband. It is so good to be back with my family. And it was so good to be refreshed. More photos coming soon.

If you’re patient and can wade through the following photos, then you’ll be rewarded with my Aunt Ruthie’s chocolate chip cookie recipe. She recorded it for me on an old grocery list and the title read exactly as it’s listed above. I’ve made the cookies so many times in the last few weeks that I could do without them for some time (and that’s saying something because I love me some cookies).

Prior to becoming a mother I romanticized the notion of cooking with my small child. What I didn’t foresee was the reality of kid fingers double-dipping in the dough, a little mouth eating straight from the mixing bowl when Mommy’s back was turned, and copious amounts of flour dusting the kitchen floor. Note to future mothers: cooking with your child also takes a lot more time than cooking by yourself! However, when Liv and I do cook together, I’m always rewarded by two things. One, the chance for a decent photo opp. And two, the opportunity for me to get better, with clear boundaries and more patience, at instructing and oftentimes disciplining my child. Apparently human beings aren’t born with the knowledge that they should never double dip! Imagine that.

After lots of baking with Liv by my side, I learned that she likes flour. Here’s my little helper with her very own pile:

And here’s my little helper patting it into just the right shape for…

licking off the counter.

Now, doesn’t that look yummy? I mean really, who WOULD’NT want to eat straight flour?

Ah, my goofy girl. And just so you know, I’m sparing you the photos with Liv’s tongue stuck out. She’s into that kind of thing these days, the tongue-sticking out thing. Will that phase be ending anytime soon?

You’ve been patient. So without further ado, I give you my Aunt Ruthie’s cookie recipe.

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies EVER

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 2 C brown sugar
• 2 C white sugar
• 1.5 C Crisco
• 1 t baking soda
• 2 t salt
• 3 t baking powder
• 4 t vanilla
• 4 C flour

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mix ingredients.
3. Stir in 1 package chocolate chips.

Notes

• For the best chocolate chocolate chips, add one large package of instant chocolate pudding mix.
• This recipe makes a lot of dough! You can roll the extra dough into foil and freeze until you need it.
• One more thing. If you’re using large eggs, add another half cup of flour to the dough.
• Want to know how long to bake the cookies? I had to guess on this one. It’s approximately 10 minutes, mas o menos.
• Aunt Ruthie, I hope you don’t mind me sharing your recipe with the world…

Buying groceries.
Watching Bambi.
Creating websites.
Attending preschool.
Feeling nostalgic.
Ignoring dust bunnies.
Preparing community dinner.
Getting hair cut.
Creating church bulletin.
Wanting a nap.
Getting to clean house.
Enjoying cool breezes.
Installing new carseat.
Loving each other.