Cleaning issues

I've had a little self discovery this afternoon. It's no secret that I really don't like housecleaning and my house is evidence of that fact for at least 23 hours out of every day. On the other hand, I do enjoy major cleaning when it's gets particularly dirty/messy. I decided that this is all about the J vs P in my personality. I'm a J. as strong J. therefore I appreciate product more than process and I prefer closure to open-endedness. So, I only like cleaning when there's a clear beginning and ending to it all. It's no fun to just keep a place clean - there's no beginning and ending to that just a constant process. But to see the difference from a real mess to a nice clean house however many hours later, now that's satisfaction. This also explains why my two least favorite house hold jobs are laundry and dishes - they're never really done (at least not at our house); they just cycle over and over.

The down side to all this is that my husband is pretty strong on the P end of the scale and doesn't really get this. For him constant clean is the preference. And also, of course, an impossibility unless one is a family of statues.

Toys Schmoys

Today is Wednesday, which means if I'm keeping up with my daily cleaning assignments (which I gave to myself and frequently DON'T keep up on), it's clean-the-floor day. The last couple times I cleaned the floor - as in 2 buckets, bleach, rags, on-the-knees, get it actually clean for once - Liv has helped. This time, because of her enthusiasm over previous experiences, both Liv and Nathaniel decided to help. Helping clean the floor for them means get a lot of water on the floor, make is super slippery so they can slide around, and in Liv's case, get naked. When they tire of this, they go take a bath, and I wipe up the dirty water and have a sparkling clean floor. This is not an idea I invented or anything. I got it from Derrell, who I'm pretty sure was inspired by Pippi Longstocking. As kids I remember being the envy of many of our cousins because of this little trick.

Today being Nathaniel's first experience with mopping the floors, he was so excited that just after starting he said, "This is way more fun than just playing with toys!"

Fabulous! I might just put all the toys away for a while, enjoy the lack of clutter and mess, and let them clean the floor every day.

The Runaway Pumpkin

Last week we were at my parents for a family reunion and my son started telling my mom the story of "The Runaway Pumpkin" by Kevin Lewis which he has memorized.  He got about halfway through and decided he needed to pause the story so he could finish his dessert.  He never got back to it, so I taped him doing the story last night.  Here it is...

Everyone Should Have a Fan Like Olivia

We were at a kids' and moms' camp out last weekend and a friend of mine overheard the kids all in a huddle arguing about something or other.  Suddenly, through the ruckus comes Livvie's voice, "My brother knows EVERYTHING!"

The Duck Joke

I know I haven't posted in a long time. Sorry. What can I say? I've been busy carrying out Tonia's "fight evil read book" philosophy. Today my son decided to translate a joke he learned from his pediatrician into a puppet show, and then he roped his sister into playing a role. Here is the puppet show. If you can't understand them, after watching, read the rest of this post where I'll put a transcript.


Transcript:
a duck walks into a bar (N's version is a barn)
DUCK: you got any duck food?

FARMER: No

duck leaves and comes back the next day

DUCK: you got any duck food?

FARMER: No, if you come back again, I'll nail your foot to the floor.

duck leaves and comes back the next day

DUCK: got any nails?

FARMER: No

DUCK: good, got any duck food?

Chocolate Almond Cheesecake

I just got back from Easter dinner where I subjected my friends and family to some experimental cheesecake. The results are in and it seems to have been well received. In case you're in the mood for a very rich chocolate dessert, here's the recipe:

Crust:
1 package of graham crachers - crushed into crumbs
1/4 finely chopped almonds (i ran them a few rounds in the food processor)
1 Tablespoon of sugar
1/4 melted butter

Mix together and press into the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes

Filling:
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate baking squares
3 8 oz packages of cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon Almond extract
3 Tablespoons of flour
3 eggs
1/4 cup of whole almonds (more if you like)

Melt the chocolate. Let it cool about 5 minutes while you beat the daylights out of the cream cheese until it's fluffy. Add the chocolate, sugar, yogurt, cream, and almond extract and mix until it's all smooth. Add the eggs one at a time until it is just mixed (don't over mix at that point or you'll work too much air in and it'll crack; not that that's the end of the world or anything). stir in the whole almonds, pour it into the spring form pan, and bake at 325 for 1 hour or until the middle is almost set. (it will set up as it cools)

Decorate the top with drizzles of white chocolate and/or sliced almonds (optional) and chill for at least 4 hours before serving.

enjoy!

How they make chocolate chips

Nathaniel, through careful observation of the finished product, told me how they make chocolate chips. They pour the slobbery chocolate out of the chocolate machine onto the pan. Then they put the pan in the oven and wait and wait and wait until they get hard and then they send them to the grocery store.

And some times they can make any kind they want like a bunny, an egg, or a snowflake. And Mary chocolate (who looks like mary, of course), and Easter egg chocolate, and train chocolate.

So now you know