Wordless Wednesday- Winning 4H Projects

    While I have shared pictures of my kids awards from this year's 4H fair, I have yet to share pictures of the projects that won such distinction.  My daughter won first place in drawing, her wildlife poster (which is the black Habitat poster on the bottom row), baking a sweet braided pretzel, for a crocheted afghan, and for her frozen broccoli and cauliflower blend.   This year was my son's first year in Exploring 4H and won his ribbon for his non-bake cookies.  It was a great year at the fair for my family and I am so proud of my kids!

A Blue Ribbon Day!

     It is the 19^th day of the Ultimate Blog Challenge and I have to admit I am sliding in at the last possible moment with a post because today was the very first day of the ElkhartCounty 4H Fair and my family and I were there despite the heat.  Instead of sitting in front of a computer typing away I was wandering through the 4H exhibits, gathering free items in the commercial buildings, and snapping pictures of random tractors, animals, and the like.

      You never know where they are going to put your kid’s projects.  So you burst into a crowded building and rush to and fro searching among the exhibits until you find the familiar because you simply have to know what ribbon they won…NOW!  I am very proud to report that both my daughter and my son won first place for all their entries.  They were thrilled as was I.  We can now breathe easier because the worry, the anticipation, and the wondering are finally behind us for another year.   We know the outcome, and it is awesome news.

       My daughter placed first for her sweet braided pretzels, her frozen broccoli cauliflower blend, her wildlife poster, a drawing of an eye, and an afghan she crocheted.   This was my son’s first year in 4H.  He was in Exploring 4H this year and made two non-bake cookies for his foods project.  He also won a blue ribbon.

    

      With all the blue ribbons there is a celebratory atmosphere at my house tonight.  We are tired from trekking all over the fairgrounds but happy with the winnings and spoils we acquired.  

Tuesday Tunes: Having the Time of Your Life

      It is Tuesday again and time for Tuesday Tunes, and also day 9 of the  and Ultimate Blogging Challenge  and Nablopomo.  My selection for today is  "Good Riddence (Had the Time of Your Life) performed by Green Day and here is why.   I was up at the butt crack of dawn this morning rushing my daughter to the fairgrounds for judging.  She is in 4H.  This year she decided to try her hand at the “Foods” project which required her to bake pretzels and also freeze a vegetable.  Having never participated in this project myself, I didn’t know what to expect.  We were both shitting bricks going in.  She had baked her sweet braided pretzels last night and froze a blend of a cauliflower and broccoli following the divine wisdom of Betty Crocker and her 4H manual.  God only knows that I had no experience in preserving foods.  My idea of getting around frozen food is hitting the local grocery store’s freezer section.

      We were there at 8:30 this morning.  The judging really wasn’t that bad and in the end my girl took home a blue ribbon for both of her entries.  I am so proud of her.  I realized today though that 4H isn’t about the ribbons.  It isn’t about attending the club meetings or jumping through hoops for a 4H leader that snubs you on the day of judging.  It is about learning and accomplishing something you never thought possible.  In the end it is all about having the time of your life and learning bits and pieces along the way.  Sure it is awesome to have your hard work awarded.  It makes all those practice runs worth it.

      Over dinner tonight my son and I made a toast to my daughter…to her success.  Through laughs and giggles we pronounced her the “master chef” of the family.  Sure it really made me mad that the leader would snub my kid.  Sure I am proud as punch at her success, but in the end I am happier because through it all she had the time of her life.  She gained confidence in her abilities and discovered that other people recognized her skills and accomplishment as well. Sure it’s great to have your mommy, daddy, and brother think you hung the moon and gobble up all your tasty samples but even better when a perfect stranger applauds your contribution.   She found something she loved doing.  If so, all that worry, shitting bricks, hot kitchens, and the burn on her arm was so worth it!

    

Teaching

          While I am no professional teacher I have enjoyed the experience of teaching my daughter how to crochet over the last couple of years.  I taught myself when I was a kid, and when my daughter decided she wanted to learn and enter her creation into the local county 4H fair,  I was ready, willing, and able to teach her.


           The first year in 4H I taught her the most basic stitches and she successfully made a pot holder for the fair.  I was so proud of her accomplishment which was made even sweeter when she won a blue ribbon for her efforts.    The idea is to complete a project that is a little more difficult each year than the previous. 

       Last year I taught her how to make a granny square.  She began her project in the fall and by fair time the following summer she had enough squares to assemble for an afghan that she now uses on her bed.  She chose the yarn and used her money to buy each ball as she finished a square.  As fair time drew nearer, I taught her how to join each square together and then how to crochet a border around the outer edge.  She worked very hard.  When the day of reckoning came at the county fair, I am proud to say my daughter’s afghan took an honor award.

            This year she is attempting a little more difficult pattern which she chose.  A couple of weeks ago she began another afghan for next summer’s fair in a beautiful shell pattern.   I love teaching my kids new things and sharing with them my passions from art and writing to cooking and crochet.  It is a little like instilling in each of them a small piece of me.  They will take that knowledge with them throughout their lives and perhaps teach their kids remembering me and the memories we made.  Every time they go away they will take a piece of me and what they learned until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.

Just Another Day

      It was just another typical Saturday.  Up to face the day way too early and still up watching Notre Dame’s football team take on Boston College way too late.  My son spent the last hour throwing up until he fell asleep in exhaustion on the couch.  My daughter sits on the floor concentrating intently on the yarn that passes through her fingers as she begins crocheting an afghan for next summer’s 4H fair.  

        The day has passed too swiftly and before I can even catch up, it is almost bedtime and I am tired.  I find I can not, and will not rest until the last seconds have ticked out and the game is over.  I must see it through till the end.  I must know if Notre Dame carries their lead to the end and is victorious once again.  As it happens, they are!!  As an Irish fan I am extremely happy they have continued their winning streak.

 

        It was just another day filled with grocery shopping, housework, and laundry which has ended watching Notre Dame football and soothing my youngest as he tosses his cookies again and again before falling into a deep sleep of exhaustion on the living room couch.  For the sake of NaBloPoMo, in spite of it all, I write.  There are no writing prompts, just everyday life today.  

       Thinking back on the highlights of the past week, one experience stands out above all.  Thursday evening my daughter’s 4H club volunteered at “Soup for Success” .  It was an evening of helping out an  organization who strives to help people in need to regain their equilibrium.  They train and prepare women for the work force, give them the confidence to stand on their own two feet, and help them recover from the devastating blows of poverty and abuse.  They raise funds to help people by assembling soup, dip, and cookie ingredients into bags and selling them.  That evening my two children and I lined up alongside other 4Her’s and their parents along a table and fulfilled a singular job that resulted in a bag filled with the ingredients needed for oatmeal cookies.  We worked for an hour and a half adding our designated ingredients into each bag.  When we were through the club had assembled almost 500 bags.    My 7 year old son stood on a stool beside me and with careful precision did his part by adding baking powder to each bag while his sister beside him contributed cinnamon and I added nutmeg.  I watched each of them working for the greater good and my heart swelled with pride.  

         Memories like that are priceless. As each day passes and fades, I will probably forget the details of this day but I will never forget that night assembling cookie ingredients with my kids.  That memory will always be precious until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.
        
                  

O is for Origami

      Since my daughter entered the 5th grade this school year, she has been transfixed with origami.  According to the dictionary origami is the Japanese art of transforming a piece of paper into a variety of decorative forms from flowers to animals.

      A kid in her class was actually making money off his classmates by making origami ninja stars and selling them.    He must have liked my daughter a little because she managed to score one for free. She brought it home, took it apart and figured out how to make one herself.   After that the fascination grew.   First she begged to go to the library to find origami books, searching online for origami videos, and step by step instructions.  The next thing I knew I was buying origami paper at the local Michael's store.  After that she spent every spare moment practicing making creations.  

   

   She is looking forward to taking origami as one of her 4-H projects this year at the local county fair.  Tonight we have a 4H meeting to attend and my daughter plans to give a small talk and demonstration about all she is learning about the art of origami.  She has made many things with my favorites artfully displayed around the house.  With the fine art of origami you can easily transform a plain piece of paper into a cool work of art until next time I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.

The Fog Lifted and All Became Clear

      Did you ever have one of those weeks where absolutely nothing went as planned and nothing was as it seemed?  I really don’t like change, upheaval or anything that upsets my applecart in any way. I would just rather drift along in the status quo. Unfortunately, that wasn’t in the cards for me.  Although I planned to post everyday, those plans went to hell in a hand basket in short order.  Instead of giving a specific topic, the Writer’s Post blog hop challenge is to write anything of my choosing.    I could write about why the little birdie flies upside down on the Peanuts cartoons or I could explore the mystery of why my dog Jolly is capable of blowing random fart juice when the urge strikes, but that would be just a little too much.  Instead I will give you a view of just what my week was like.

      We tried out a new 4H club and were happily impressed.  The meeting started promptly when it was supposed to and the club actually had an agenda!  We didn’t have to wait another half hour to see if any latecomers wandered in.  Instead of the leader running the whole meeting and complaining about her involvement at every turn and continually repeating all the major decisions were to be left to the under 13 age group who stared ahead clueless, the president rapped his gavel on the table and the meeting commenced.   There were promises of barbeques and ice cream in the future and even mock judging so the kids could tweak their projects and stand a better chance at a blue ribbon.  

        By Wednesday, I was still fairly optimistic.  My daughter had been experiencing severe headaches and I finally had the money to have her eyes tested.  The result was the obvious…she needed glasses to read.  I scored two pair for her for the bargain price of $59.00 and the eye exam was free.  I love it when I actually get a great deal!


       

         At the butt crack of dawn Thursday morning my cell phone roused me from a deep sleep.  I reached over and answered it.  The superintendent of schools was calling to announce a two hour delay due to weather.  Since I had no clue any bad weather had been forecasted, this was news to me.   When I let out the dogs I discovered the world blanketed with a dense layer of fog.  I reset the clock to reflect the two hour delay and happily burrowed back under my warm blankets quickly falling to sleep.  From the deep abyss of dreamland, once again the rings of my cell phone jolted me awake.  Once again I answered to discover the superintendent of schools on the other end.  This time he was canceling school altogether.  Back in my day we would have had to have snow clear to our armpits and a wind chill of 60 below to catch a break and get to stay home!

       The fact that both of my kids got a day off school didn’t change the fact that I had things to do and errands to run so we all piled into the blazer and took off.  I didn’t get far before the windshield wiper malfunctioned.  Instead of traveling across the windshield the stupid thing was jerking completely off the window and then only going half way back.  It was raining and I barely could see where I was going so I turned tail and hurried back to the house. We switched vehicles, and continued on our merry way.  By the end of the day my son was complaining of a sore throat and pain in his neck.  Needless to say, he was home sick Friday.

          So in light of everything that happened this week, the fog lifted on more than one front.  I was enlightened about fart juice and a new 4H club, my daughter got glasses and her vision cleared, and my son is on antibiotics.  After all that, I hope I have fulfilled the challenge in some capacity while bringing you all up to speed until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.