Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in mocina's LiveJournal:

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Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
8:34 pm	Sam wants to write something Last night there was a snow storm I am sick today so I stayed home,now it is time to go to bed,the day befor yesterday was Josie's birthday,we celeberated her birthday at school and it was fun. -Sam (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 4th, 2009
5:56 pm	Nathan keeps saying funny things! Yesterday Nathan wanted another piece of candy. After asking a couple times without the result he was hoping for, he said, "Mom, can Sam have a piece of candy when he gets home fwom school? And he won't want it, so den I'll ask him to give it to me?" Today is Dave's birthday, so I have big plans. I'm going to get an ice cream sandwich out of the freezer and put a candle on it. I told Nathan my plan and this was his response: "I have some toof picks, Mom! We can cut up de ice cweam samwiches and put dem on de toof picks and eat em!" He said something funny at the grocery store earlier today, but I've already forgotten what it was! Current Mood: frazzled (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, January 19th, 2009
10:31 am	How big is big? Here's a conversation I just heard during a pause in sword fighting sounds: Nathan: "Am I big?" Sam: "Yes. You are getting so big, Nathan." Nathan: "Wet's pwetend I'm big. Wet's pwetend I'm, wet's pwetend, how big am, wet's pwetend, how big am I, what number, wet's pwetend, what number, wet's pwetend, what number am I? (Louder now) Wet's pwetend I'm 61!! Sam: "Yes, and I'm 63." And the sword fighting continues. Current Mood: amused (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, April 28th, 2008
3:41 pm	my little gourmet chefs So maybe they got this from me...when I was about 8 years old, I had read in school that all you needed to make butter was fresh milk, shake it up really well and poof! Butter. Turns out, if you put milk from the fridge in a jar and shake it up, it does not turn into butter, so I surmised that the simple text book had just left out some ingredients. I enlisted the help of my sister, Sarah, and we went to work to figure out from our own little brains what goes into butter. I recall flour, sugar, salt and pepper in a canning jar and we shook and shook that damn jar. Then, of course, it created a seal that our 6 and 8 year old hands could not get open. We "cleaned" the mess in the kitchen, and hid the jar in the garage, so as not to get in trouble. To this day, I have no idea what happened to that jar of butter:). About a week ago, my boys, 2 1/2 and 4 3/4, created the most amazing mess to date. I came down stairs (I believe I was napping, Dave at the computer) and found them standing on chairs at the stove stirring a pot of what looked like puke. I exclaimed, "WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING?!?!" They looked at me with no fear in their eyes whatsoever, in fact smiling from ear to ear, they both said, "We're making cheese, Mama!" They had gone through the cupboards that they could reach and grabbed everything possible from the counter tops that looked like a foodish substance. Most of it was from lunch leftovers and the bit of mess from the Chinese sesame balls that Dave had made the night before. And they figured that you must need a new container for each ingredient and a different stirring utensil (for each of them) for each ingredient as well. Pretty much every possible cooking or eating utensil was piled up on the stove top. I don't have exact quantities, but here goes. About 4-6 cups water 3 packets crystal light (any flavor) 2 cups vegetable oil (very important-best if you pour it into another pan first then dribble it over the stove into the large pot of cheese) 2 peanut butter and jelly sandwich halves apple peals from one large apple lots of sesame seeds 1 1/2 cup sugar 3/4 cup chocolate chips 1 tbsp MSG 1/2 cup corn starch salt and pepper to taste It's a pretty soupy cheese. And it's not done until it looks like a bucket of chunky pinkish puke. Bon Ape`tit! Current Mood: nauseated (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, September 23rd, 2007
4:20 am	A public service announcement (for anyone who has wondered what happens to gum they have swallowed) It goes through ya. I woke up after all the boys today. When I kissed Nathan, his face smelled like mint. I kissed him a bunch more times just to verify that this is what I smelled. Yep, a sort of sweet minty smell. Didn't have enough brain power functioning to think more of it than, 'Hm, weird'. Little bit later I noticed my purse on the table with a few things from inside sitting next to it, one of which was an empty pack of sweet mint orbit. I remembered that when I put it in there last night it was just over half full. And then I remembered the smell on Nathan's face. I asked him what he had done with all that gum. He stuck his tongue out and pointed to it saying, "I eat it, mommy. I eat it all gone." And you know what comes next, right? Not one, but THREE very watery poopy diapers that smelled, yep, you got it, like sweet mint. And the gum comes out looking like white grains of sand stuck to his bum. On the second diaper, I took his butt over to Dave and made him smell this sweet little minty booTAY! He ate the gum first thing in the morning and by 2PM the poops started smelling minty fresh. Funny stuff. Current Mood: amused (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, March 6th, 2007
7:33 am	Best chicken noodle soup I've had This recipe was adapted from one that my sister-in-law gave me. She makes it without the noodles and her only seasoning is salt. But this is by far our favorite chicken soup, and everyone that I've served it to has loved it, even my dad, and he generally doesn't like soup. It does require a lot of chopping, and you'll need a BIG pot (mine is 12qt). 1 3-5lb chicken approximately 8c water (enough to just cover the chicken) 8 cubes/tsp chicken bullion (1 cube for each cup of water) 2 bay leaves 2 tsp pepper (best if it's freshly ground) salt to taste 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped 2 large sweet potatoes 2 medium onions 2 large turnips 2 large parsnips 1/2 lb carrots 1/2 lb celery 1/2 bunch of fresh parsley 12 oz. package Reames frozen egg noodles Place chicken in pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low-med heat and cover. Add bullion, bay leaves and garlic. Continue to simmer chicken until cooked through. While chicken is cooking, peel and chop the vegetables into 1/2 inch cubes. Remove the bottom stem of the parsley and finely chop the top half. Remove the chicken from the pot and add the vegetables to the chicken stock. Add the vegetables, pepper and salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to slow boil. Take the chicken meat off the bone, removing skin and return it to the pot in bite size pieces. When the vegetables are soft, add the frozen noodles. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer for approximately 30 min. I usually serve it with some kind of biscuit or yummy bread. It makes a very large amount, so I usually freeze some of it. And like most soups, the leftovers are even better than the first servings. Don't be afraid of the turnips and parsnips. I'd never had them before either, but the soup is NOT NEARLY AS GOOD if you don't include all the vegetables listed. Enjoy! (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, March 4th, 2007
2:26 pm	Damn, I'm a good cook! Last night I made Bangalore Chicken, vegetable byriani and naan. I would say call me "Chef Monica" except some of the naan was a bit crispy. I'll let you all know when I perfect it, and then you can call me "Chef Monica." :) (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, February 13th, 2007
9:54 am	So, I told my pastor that I'm going to do it...lead the prayer ministry. I've finally written a document of guidelines and expectations, including a mission/vision statement. It was actually sorta hard to get the priesthood of all believers part in there. I'm still working on the wording so that people get my meaning. But overall, I'm pretty pleased with it. Now, the staff will go over it, critique it, let me make more changes. Then the elders will do something similar, then they will vote on it. Jeez. It seems like such a hassle just to get people to start praying for each other after the service on Sunday mornings. But the pastor really wants this to succeed long term. And I do to, of course. So whatever it takes... In other news, we really are healthy now. Our mouse problem is far from over, I'm afraid. It's just part of living right next to the woods, I guess. But at least, now we know more than we did. Here's the most humane way to catch mice, if you ask me. Put out the sticky traps, adding poison bait to the trap. This way, they don't suffer needlessly on the traps, starving to death. Now for these two beautiful boys...Nathan is really trying to talk. It's pretty funny. Baba is so many things: bye bye, apple, banana, pretzels, blues clues, pencil, bath time, panda, etc. He can end words with an "S" sound, but he can't begin them, so he says, mama, dada, nana and mas (that's Sam). Booboop is "I'm poopy" or "bib on" or "I'm done" or "read a book". But if there's sugar involved, it's pretty clear, "I wa cake!" or "I wa cookie!" His favorite thing seems to be noses. He loves to point out noses, especially mine. And then Sam is just gettin' smarter and smarter. He can read all of the names of his class mates I found out when we were making valentines. And he follows along pointing at the words of the books that we read to him. He and Nathan play so well together, most of the time. It's awesome. I totally love my boys. :) Current Mood: content (14 Comments |Comment on this)
9:50 am	I wrote this about three weeks ago... I guess I am a "big idea" kind of person, a visionary, vision casting, type of person. That's all well and good, I suppose. But I have a lot of weaknesses that keep these things from surfacing. I'm disorganized, often late, inarticulate. Usually I'm much more aware of my weaknesses. What good is being "visionary" anyway? So in a conversation with my pastor in which he pointed out these things, he then asked me a jarring question, "Do you think that you're the right person to lead this ministry?" He wants me to pray and think about that question for a week or two and get back to him. He said if I come back to him saying that I do think I'm the one for it, he'll support me. He'll try to put some kind of structure around me that will help me to succeed. If I don't do this, I'll be more depressed than ever, I think. But I am not the RIGHT person for it. I just don't know anyone else with a strong enough vision to make it succeed. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, November 16th, 2006
10:26 am	water They're clean now, and at least, I feel much better. As the cool water drains out, Nathan lays on his stomach, trying to stay warm. I pour the tepid water over his chubby bottom and down the back of Sam, to soothe them as the water drains. When it's almost gone, I turn on warmer water to fill the tub. Near motionless, they crowd in close to the faucet to touch the water with as much skin as possible. When their faces get in it, they sputter and gasp and cough, while smiling. Now the tub is full again with warm water for playing. I don't ever want to forget these days. Current Mood: content (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, August 19th, 2006
2:26 pm	work and such Two weeks of work under my belt, well, a day shy actually. I had to miss Friday because Nathan had a fever hovering between 101-103.8. Looks to be viral since this is day three, and it's mostly gone. He was definitely not himself, poor guy. While I'm on this rabbit trail, here's something about the Holy Spirit that I just don't get. About a week ago, Sam awoke in the middle of the night burning up with a fever of 101.4. We gave him ibuprofen, and I laid my hands on his chest and prayed for him. I commanded the fever to leave his body, his heart and breathing to slow, and I asked the Spirit to send angels to fight for him, etc. He went back to sleep readily enough, and next morning the fever was gone. When I did this for Nathan, nothing seemed to happen. He just had to fight through the fever til it broke and passed on its own. Why would God do that for one of my sons but not the other? I will always wish that I understood the "unfairness" of God, or at least have some kind of more satisfactory explanation than, "I don't know, He's God, and I'm not." Back to work, all I really have to say about it is that I like it a lot so far. Methodist seems to be a great place to work. They hold onto their employees really well. Many of them have been there for more than ten years. I got my first paycheck yesterday. Now that is great. Gosh, I make pretty good money! :) Tomorrow one of my coworkers from Evanston is coming into town (dropping off her son for his first time at college-Bradley University) and will stay with us overnight. She is the one who altered my wedding dress for me five years ago. Weird how time goes by. It feels like forever since I lived in Skokie as a single person. I'm looking forward to seeing her. So you'd think from reading this that I'm feeling great or at least, fine. But there is always a blanket of sadness on one or both of us...since we've known each other. Maybe God will lift it someday. That is my weak-willed, half-believing prayer. Current Mood: half baked (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, August 9th, 2006
7:28 pm	first steps... I started orientation at Methodist Hospital on Monday. I'll be sitting in class room orientation through Friday. It's pretty mundane, but necessary stuff. On day two of having the boys in child care, Nathan took his first steps. Kim asked me if he was walking at home, and I said no and burst into tears, which totally caught me off guard. He took five steps twice at her house, then took two or three steps several times for me yesterday. And today he's walking quite a lot. I just wasn't prepared for that to happen the second day I was away from him. I know it could have happened in a number of places when I wasn't around, it's just shocking, I guess. Just now, he walks a few steps, then stops to dance to the music of the toy he's playing with, then keeps walking. When they start walking, it's kinda like I don't quite recognize them for a bit. Where did that baby go, and who is this kid walking around in my house? Sam is so funny. He LOVES going to Kim's house. He always says on the way home, "I'm not going home, mommy, I'm going to Kim's house." Then he gets distracted by the red and green lights. He'll say, "Green beans (means) go!" or "We have to wait at the red wight!" Dave is exhausted right now, from the frenzy that is engine camp. He's one of the directors this summer, which is quite an honor, but A LOT of work. He's passed out on the bed after being up til 3AM working on a presentation for tomorrow. Three hours of sleep last night, and tomorrow he's getting up at 4AM to finish the details. We're going out for margarita's on Friday with some friends to celebrate the end of our crazy weeks. Yay! Current Mood: sleepy (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, August 5th, 2006
3:52 pm	Nickel Creek Dave and I went to see them at an outdoor venue on the river front last night. They were so fun to see live. When we first got there, I cried because their music is so well done. Chris, the mandolin player (who Dave called a show-boater, I said he was a bit full of himself, but, good lord, he's good) was really entertaining, Sarah, the fiddle player was just incredible. Her voice is sweet as molasses. I want to be her. Sean, the guitarist was great too. And the derby-hat-wearing-up-right-bassist, Mark, was one of the best I've heard, and funny too (he could do that little irish jig dance thing). Their melodies are very interesting and harmonies tight. They did a cover of Britney Spear's song, Toxic, that was stinkin' hilarious. If you get a chance to see them, you should take it. Current Mood: pleased (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, August 3rd, 2006
9:34 am	Morning doves mate for life There is a morning dove nesting in one of my hanging plants on our front porch. She actually killed the plant, but this morning the eggs she was sitting on for weeks are finally hatching. I'll have to go out later to really see them, but the basket is swinging around from all the commotion. She's cooing and bobbing around in there a lot. This is pretty cool. (Comment on this)
8:27 am	I GOT A JOB!!! I'm going to start working at Methodist Hospital on Monday, Aug. 7th. I'll be a "registry" nurse on the labor and delivery unit, which basically means that I make my own schedule and I make GOOD money. The down side is that I am not eligible for benefits, which for me, is not a down side, since we have pretty darn good benefits through Caterpillar. This is the perfect job for me at this point in my life and career. I'm going to work 2-3 shifts per week. I really liked the manager that interviewed me. She's an artist (a couple of her pieces were hanging on the walls in her office, and I just happened to notice the initials in the corner of the pictures were hers, so I asked her if she did them, and she seemed pretty pleased that I would pay attention to something like that:)) and a smoker, and she was really down to earth. I certainly don't usually consider the fact that someone is a smoker or not, but it just occurred to me that there is something about someone who smokes that I connect with. Probably all the addictive parts of me...oh well, at least I connected with her! :) So I'm going to get a physical today, I'm nailing down my child care stuff (a good friend of mine from church is going to watch the boys for me!) and I start in four days. Yay. Current Mood: excited (12 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, July 28th, 2006
9:16 am	nothing really note worthy... So I think I'm mostly weaned off of Effexor. Dave has successfully weaned off of it as well. I totally hate the dizzy feeling that I get after a few days of not taking it, so I've started taking the capsule apart and taking half of the contents on those dizzy days. And those days are spacing out. It was an experiment that I hope I'll not have to replicate, ever. If I ever start talking about wanting to have another baby, someone remind me to read my past lj posts and my hand written journal. I am finally feeling almost normal a year after having Nathan. Wow. So he is going to be one on Aug. 1st! Mom and Dad are coming on Sunday. And I'm assuming mom still doesn't read lj, so I'll say here, Alice and Sarah are coming to surprise mom on her birthday! I'm very excited. In case anyone has forgotten, my mom and Nathan share the same birthday and my dad and Sam share theirs. I still totally love telling people about that. This post is pretty boring, but I wanted to say a few things out loud here... I want to plant a church with Dave. I believe that God is calling us to that. When? I'm waiting to hear more clearly from God on that. I'm still going to weight watchers and not doing so well. Arg, ug and the like. I'm still working on building a prayer team at our church, and while things have inched along ever so slowly, I think that they might start picking up speed and momentum pretty soon. I'm looking for a part time job, and not having the greatest luck. I don't get it. I'm an experienced nurse, this should be a cake walk, right? I think it's because I just don't really want it. I have painted six rooms and a hallway in this big old house, and I still have five more areas to paint! Actually my sisters did two of the rooms, and Dave has helped me with two of them. I so hope that all this work will help us to sell this place, whenever that day comes. I love the colors I've chosen, but will anyone else? That's all for now. Current Mood: sleepy (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 25th, 2006
8:08 pm	Nathan's new friend, the spoon Yesterday afternoon Nathan picked up two colorful plastic baby spoons. He held them both for quite some time and then settled on the red and purple one. He played with and held that spoon all afternoon and evening. When I put him in the bathtub he wouldn't let go of it. When I was putting him to bed, he wouldn't let go of it. When I went in to get him up this morning (because I had to be somewhere early), he had it firmly gripped in his chubby little fist. He held it through the two and a half hour prayer meeting, and then finally let it go for a short time during lunch. He held it for most of the day today, and currently he's asleep with it still in his fist. I need to find our camera so that I can take a picture of it. Maybe I should give it a name, other than spoon. It might be around a while. Any ideas? This is cracking me up! Current Mood: amused (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 28th, 2006
4:15 pm	I would just like to finish one (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, June 10th, 2006
10:33 am	I still love a cloudy day When I first moved to Chicago in 1997, I loved the cloudy days there. They matched my heart. And this isn't to say that I'm depressed and loving it. There's just something nice about the slow pace and cool temperature of a cloudy day. It makes me feel more restful. Today is cool and cloudy here, and I'm thankful. Dave went to a hammered dulcimer festival in, uh, how dumb, I can't remember where my husband went. Fairly typical of me. He'll be gone until late in the day tom. I'm hoping to get some cleaning and painting done while he's gone...we'll see. I've been painting trim in our dining room, and my right arm and shoulder are quite sore. I'm going to go buy some better paint for the trim in the rest of the house. We're getting a new sleep number bed tomorrow evening when Dave gets back! I've got to get the room into shape for that. I started weight watchers again a week ago. I've lost 5.6 lbs this first week! Wow. I wasn't even that careful. That just goes to show how ridiculous my eating had gotten prior to last Saturday. All of the women in our little prayer group have issues with overeating/food addiction. We're spending significant time praying about it, and I'm so very thankful. It has been quite helpful in my attitude toward food, and I'm sure it's why I finally was able to go back to ww. I think that this is evidence of God's pursuit of me. Current Mood: sore (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, June 5th, 2006
9:53 pm	What a mean thing to do to a little boy Today I accidentally let Sam see a woman get shot on a TV show that I was watching. I turned it off and sat there looking at him, waiting for his response. With a pretty solemn look, he kept saying, "Mommy, I not get red. I not get red, Mommy." I want to melt into the floor now as I write that. I held him, and told him that I'm sorry that he saw that woman die on the show. I tried to explain that it was a pretend story, that she didn't really die. I tried to talk to him about how things on TV are sometimes scary. I want him to feel free to have any kind of emotion with me and Dave. This is such a small thing in the whole scheme of things, but it brings up all kinds of fears in me about parenting. It's just so unbelievably scary. How in the world do people not all go stark raving mad? Maybe we all are mad in some way or other. (5 Comments |Comment on this)