Edie Wadsworth

Ramblings on rain, bread, forgiveness, books and dancing…..

October 10, 2008 by Edie Wadsworth 5 Comments

Things I hate:

1. driving on the interstate

2. in the rain

3. with little ones in the car

4. at night

5. or driving on the interstate

6. at night

7. by myself

8. without the rain

9. my children getting hurt.

10. to the point that suturing will be necessary

11. while making lifesize sling shots out of old frames

12. which have sharp metal edges

13. while I google ‘Letters of Abigail Adams‘ in the next room.

14. which leads me to why I missed my teenagers’ cross country meet last night

15. which I hate to miss

Things I love……

1. Making homeade french bread

2. with the best recipe ever which you can find here.

3. and serving it to my life’s love, warm

4. with butter on top.

5. and wine.

6. which are to us life’s most complete meal

7. bread and wine…..like The Lord’s Supper

8. which we will be served on Sunday

9. at the Lord’s table

10. for the forgiveness of sins

11. which we don’t deserve

12. and could never earn.

Things I am undecided about:

1. Not who I will vote for in November

2. What new item shall be included in my Thanksgiving feast

3. Shall it be maple glazed turnips

4. Or maple glazed brussel sprouts

5. Or both

6. Will I train for a half marathon

7. or make another loaf of chocolate chip banana bread

8. or both

9. Should I paint my armoire red

10. and my kitchen cabinets a delightful hue of blue

11. or neither

12. Should I read every letter that Abigail wrote to John (Adams)

13. Or is 1100 letters too huge an undertaking in a weekend

14. Should I cry til my heart’s content every time I think of Taylor leaving

15. or should I bake more banana bread

16. or french bread

17. or all of the above?

18. Who will win ‘Dancing With the Stars’?

19. Will I ever be able to dance

20. at all?

21. without embarassing my children?

22. Should I dress up for Halloween?

23. a witch again?

24. Maybe con macdaddy into a little Sonny and Cher?

25. sing “I got you babe” to him anyway, even after he refuses?

26. while I sling my hair and sway?

27. and promise him unlimited loaves of french bread for one year?

28. if he would humor me. just. this. once?

29. Should I read Madame Bovary this weekend?

30. Or John Adams?

31. Or Abigail’s letters?

32. Or New Moon?

33. Or What’s so Amazing About Grace?

34. Or forgo sleep and general hygeine and read them all?

35. Or just make bread and dance?

36. Should I listen to Lifehouse’s Learn You Inside and Out

37. or Eddie Vedders’ Rise

38. or this on worry?

39. What would you do?

I clearly have more questions than answers. Have a great weekend!

Scooter teaches……..

October 8, 2008 by Edie Wadsworth 4 Comments

It was 1:00 in the afternoon and time to do memory work. They whined and scratched and cried and fell to the floor and complained that this was the worst day of school. Ever. So, I did what any self-respecting teacher would do…..I solicited the help of the dog. And in no time at all, we were all laughing so hard that I was thankful I hadn’t taken the time to put on any makeup. These particular verses of scripture are now forever burned in their memory, but I don’t know if they’ll ever be able to say them without laughing. Enjoy!

Find more videos like this on The Wittenberg Trail

What brand of whine/wine do you prefer?

October 7, 2008 by Edie Wadsworth 241 Comments

Our day began like this……writing sentences about not whining……all the while whining about it…

Writing is good practice…..and any writing that gets us the chance of less whining is worth a try…….
And because I’m such a good teacher, I demonstrated for the class by writing some sentences of my own……
without whining, of course. There’s only one kind of whine/wine I like. Those are homonyms, just in case you wondered. I’m teacherly like that.

October 5, 2008 by Edie Wadsworth 210 Comments

You give me half a reason to go to Birmingham and I’m on the phone to this dear friend. We met twelve years ago and our boys spent some of their most formative years together…..lucky for me. Susan and Johnny are one-of-a-kind–friends, parents, servants of God. They have taught their boys well and I don’t know if I’ve ever met young men who were more adept at relating to and showing respect for adults. They make good eye contact, give nice big hugs, and say yes ma’am. These two know how to raise boys to be men. Susan has taught them to be kind and Johnny has taught them to hunt. I was inspired. Again.
Susan has impeccable taste in decorating…..traditional, classy, southern, and beautiful. She’s also one of the funniest and most interesting people to talk to. She’s the essence of femininity and has a grasp on the scriptures that is uncanny. And an adorable Alabama/Mississippi accent. She also has picked the perfect life partner. Johnny stayed up late, even though he was on call, and talked with us and made us laugh and poured us wine and said how thankful any husband would be to have wives like us! I’ve already requested that my heavenly condo be in the same building as theirs. Will there be communion wine in heaven? One can wish.

She has many beautiful things in her home like this painting/lamp/pretty tassel combo….

and a beautiful dining room that is elegant and inviting….

and this cozy guest room where I slept…..although not for long, ’cause we both love to talk and knew our hours were numbered.

Did I mention how much I love these four?

We shopped some in Homewood at an adorable shop called At Home. This was a dining room set they had ‘spooked’ up….

and a beautiful wall of candles with a pair of gorgeous chairs….

I’ll show you a few of my finds at the end of this post. Suffice it to say, I wanted everything there and showed tremendous restraint to leave with only one bag.

This is another great spot in Susan’s house. I was surrounded by beautiful decor, wonderful food, and darling people. What a fun way to spend a couple of days away from home. A big gracious thank you to my dear friends for showing me so much love!

Back to business. I’m here for a race, remember? And if you show up 10 minutes late, you missed it. I know….from experience. It would be just like me to drive 6 hours for a race and somehow miss it. So I left Susan’s in plenty of time to be fashionably early. I’m all business that way.

At the park I found Cindy again, my fearless and funny roadtrip partner…..at least for part of the way. We share a deep passion and commitment to Starbucks, photography, denim jackets, music, and our kids. She supports my shopping and eating habits way too enthusiastically and has an GPS-like sense of direction. Really. Oh, yeah and the boys had a race……that was the purpose of my trip ya know. And when I’m on a trip, I’m all business. It’s all about the race. I’m hard core that way. I told Coach Farmer that if he saw my car at Dillards, it was only to look at running shoes. I’m concentrating. On running. The whole time. All business.

The boys have this tradition of praying together on the field before all their races. It was particularly heart-warming at this meet where there were ~3000 runners. It’s a powerful sight.

The other powerful sight is the back of their shirts……which say this…..

They did great and came in third place, which made us all so proud of them. They handed me

the trophy and I started my acceptance speech: “I’d like to thank the academy….and Dillards…” but I was quickly cut off by serious people who were trying ‘trying to do some work around here’ by taking the tents and water and snacks to the bus. I reapplied lip gloss, bought some t-shirts, stole some team snacks and headed to Chattanooga to try to make it to Dillards before it closed…..’cause I’m all business like that. The trip took longer than I thought so I settled for Starbucks instead and sped toward the camp site.

I made the long trek to Indian Boundary Campgroud where my sister Gina and her family were camping and taking such good care of my girls (who were MIA for a good part of the afternoon with their cousins and playing in the fire when I got up this morning!).

“Be careful Emme, that fire’s really hot.” I chide.

“Mo-om, we do this all the time when we’re camping, you should be careful….you’re the one who never goes camping. ” smarts sassy girl. I beg your little bed headed pardon. Let me give you the 411, little cinnamon roll- eating girl. I grew up camping…..in a tent….with adults who were mostly drunk…singin’ Tammy Wynettes’ D-I-V-O-R-C-E real loud……while the small children swam in the snake infested lake…… with white bread and bologna and pork-n-beans to eat…….so don’t tell me about how I never go camping. I’ve spent enough money in therapy over the camping that has already taken place in my life. Okay. Ahem. Tell me I never go camping…..what’s she know ’bout camping…..anybody playing playstation and eating brownies and sleeping on a bed with a pillow while the sober adults watch the UT game on satellite doesn’t know a thing about camping.

I digress. Deep breath.

I spent the night in their luxury camper and had a great southern breakfast, compliments of my sister.

The girls played in the fire 4 more hours and then we left. We drove 2 hours home while I commenced to tell my ungrateful, sassy, spoiled children all about camping. I know a thing or two about camping…..and what you two have experienced for the past few days could scarcely be called camping in my book.

A big hearty thank-you to my sis and brother in law for taking care of my sweeties. And to Hope and Marlea who are nearing the age where hanging out with your younger cousins probably isn’t that much fun anymore. Thank you all. Corey too.

We finally arrived home after 285 ‘are we there yet’s and four chapters in “Voyage of the Dawn Treader” on tape. I toted all my goodies inside and marvelled at my perfect finds.

Meet my loot. A $278 Kenneth Cole purse in winter white that’s leather is soft like butta….for $30, winter white Franco Sarto wedge boots for $49, a really cool sweaterish dress for $24, a tin cross for $3, a Rachel Ray knife for $9 and various fixins for a fall arrangement for $20, a Nouvelle candle in Tuscan Currant for way more than any one should pay for a candle. Basically the $160 that I saved by cleaning out my own drains here.

I know you wanted a better look at the sweaterish dress. Isn’t she lovely…..

So, I brought my ‘loot’ in and was a little scared by the state of the compound. No longer warm, inviting, and bright, my home had been transformed into a man-cave……no lights on, the shades drawn, and a musty/chili/beer/boy smell wafting from the living room. Despite the overt masculinity dripping from the ceilings, I was welcomed with a huge hug and kiss by macdaddy who was so obviously very glad we made it home safe. Scooter seems awfully anxious to communicate his thoughts too. I’m not sure what he’s trying to say. “Don’t ever leave me here with those two again” or maybe “When do you leave again, ’cause we stayed up late, drank beer, watched football, and ate chili…..in the living room.” When I recover my strength, I can’t wait to load the dishwasher, wipe the counter tops and in general ‘air’ the place out. There’s no place like home.

A big thanks to my Stevie who makes all my travels and starbucks and ‘perfect finds’ possible by working so hard!

https://www.lifeingraceblog.com/2008/10/84/

Sweet Home Alabama, baking, and plumbers……

October 3, 2008 by Edie Wadsworth 7 Comments

I’m going out of town. By myself. Tomorrow. I have the same feeling as I did the night before I went to Disney World when I was 7. Sheer childlike anticipation. I’m going to Birmingham to watch my son race and to stay with one of my dearest friends in the whole world. I also plan to eat (food that I didn’t cook), shop, drink Starbucks, listen to Madame Bovary on tape, listen to Sweet Home Alabama, read, think, stay up all night and talk and cry and laugh and laugh til’ I cry. My friends Johnny and Susan are so wonderful and so funny and even though I haven’t seen them in a couple of years, it’ll be like I never left. Don’t ya love friends like that. So, in their honor and because I like things with themes…..I listened to Sweet Home Alabama all day.

My girls asked me at 4:00, “Mom, how many times are we gonna listen to Sweet Home Alabama?” Until you can say Lynard Skynard three times fast. Okay?
Then, it started. My crazy ‘going out of town’ routine where I temporarily go insane. Let me remind you, I’m only going to be gone 48 hours. I bake and clean and pack and write notes as if my family is likely to never see me again. So, pretend you can hear Sweet Home Alabama in the background and let me show you some of the stuff I did today.
I fired this guy up. My double ovens which I like to call ‘W’ ’cause I love George Bush and my last name starts with ‘W’. And they work like pack mules all day long for me…..most days….while I bake as if I’m runnin’ some kind of bakery. Like yesterday, when I whipped up four dozen of these babies……
so that the bachelors will have plenty of cookies while I’m gone…for forty eight hours….
then ‘W’ baked pumpkin bread which I “spiced” up by adding butterscotch chips! Oh dear, you need to try this. It’s like the reserved, smart , red -headed twin sister to my chocolate chip banana bread. Some members of my family did not warmly welcome the twin……they ONLY like blonds, apparently. But you can’t always make CCBB (choc.chip ban bread). And it’s fall. So I made pumpkin. They’ll warm up to her as soon as the rest of the CCBB is gone. Then they’ll regret their lukewarm welcome.
Okay, now don’t tell the members of my family, but I did make one more loaf of CCBB and I’m sneaking it out to the car to take to the Wards who live in sweethomeAlabama. Noone can know. They’ll break into my car and steal it. And eat it. All. Shhhhh.
To prepare for tonite’s dinner and for the manfood extravaganza that is sure to take place while I’m gone, I marinated 2 london broils with these ingredients and then browned them on the grill……(at 9am, BTW)
I then cooked one of them in a slow roaster all day at 200 degrees, to cut up and put in the man-chili. The other one was broiled about 8 minutes per side and served as traditional london broil with garlic mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts….at 7pm. It was fantastic and will lend itself to yummy leftovers…….I see nachos in Marcus’s future…
The chili is still simmering and will be ready for the bachelors to partake of tomorrow.
Then, I got my hostess and sitter gifts together. These fun aprons with a jar of my homeade strawberry jelly. My darling sister is taking the two ‘little’ girls camping with her! I’m so thankful for her in their lives. They adore her and her only request was homeade strawberry jelly. Check.
Then I gathered tools for my next ‘job’ of the day. What am I embarking on, you ask? As if this display of tools doesn’t give it away, I’m gonna clean out the tub drain in the downstairs bathroom. I honestly don’t know why the ‘Oh-to-be-25-again’ nail polish is in the line up. I don’t have plans to use her for the clean out. She’s just there-for moral support, I suppose. Why, when I have plenty to do, would I pick today to clean out the drain? Because I have plumber skills and am I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty. (And the last time I hired a plumber for the job, it costed me $40 per drain…..I have no lies to tell–that’s $160 for four drains….I could buy a mulitude of MAC eye shadows and a new purse and some new shoes for that……or you know invest it or something) Back to my plumber skills.
I had to solicit the help of macdaddy and Marcus to muscle the drain-thingy out. Then I started digging. This is not a job for the faint of heart and if you’re feeling a little nauseated, don’t look at the next picture, ’cause I’m not exactly sure what kind of gargantuan-hairy-gooey mess came out….
I nearly dry-heave just to show it to you. But I just wanted you to know that I have plumber skills……and no crack……showing, that is….
Now you Southerners may not know this little ointment wonder. It’s apparently loved by vets everywhere. Stevie’s family from MN taught me all about it and showed me how to squeeze a little into a small container to function as ‘chapstick’. I LOVE IT. It’s called Corona and can be used for various and sundry purposes such as “preserving the natural moisture balance of the horny wall?, to protect and prevent drying and cracking teats and udders, and minor cuts and lacerations from ropes and wires.” Or as chapstick. But you use it for whatever you want.
So, I scooped a little into my empty MAC eye shadow container and I’m good to go. Ready for ALMOST anything.
I applied some in the car……on my lips…..and thought you might want to see the effect. I like it. It’s udderly soothing. Sorry. I’m easily amused.
Then we arrived at ballet where I wisked Emme into class (isn’t she just adorable) and then commenced the much dreaded job of purse clean out. Which I last tackled when I bought this current purse. It’s not pretty, but here’s a few random items I found sloshing around in the bottom…..
a toothbrush, a rope of NERDS, a booklight, 12 tubes of lip gloss, a Jesus Saves cross made from popsicle sticks, a pair of running socks, 12,000 receipts, lotion, motrin and m&m’s apparently spilled from somewhere and in various states of decay…..okay I won’t bore you with the rest…..but let’s just say, it took nearly the whole ballet class. It’s a big purse, cut me some slack.
Back at the compound, I noticed what a beauty this little ensemble is. It better not freeze while I’m gone. Will the bachelors take the time to cover these pretty little flowers with a warm sheet? Will they feed Scooter? Will they watch football?
There they are right now, scrambling to get the new HD receiver hooked up. It’s been sitting there for many days, so what would drive them into such a frenzy to get it hooked up tonite before 9:30 EST? The Cubs play tonite……at 9:30 EST. I’m cookin’ and packin’ and retrievin’ large scary things from the drain……and they are, well dealin’ with important issues of sports in high definition.
I REALLY need to get the oil changed in this bad boy before tomorrow but as you can tell…..it’s dark and there’s no time left. So, if my engine blows up on my way down South , people will eat well and drains will drain well, and I’ll be sittin’ on the side of the road waitin’ for AAA listening to Sweet Home Alabama eating CCBB.

Have a great weekend! I’ll be back and blogging on Sunday with pics from Birmingham.

So, how do you prepare to go out of town?

What does homeschooling have to do with chocolate chip cookies, anyway?

October 1, 2008 by Edie Wadsworth 226 Comments

This is our 5th week of homeschooling! I can’t believe it. We’ve learned so much, had so much fun, strengthened our mother-daughter bonds and I’ve had one tiny break-down. I’d call that a success. We’re following Susan Wise Bauer’s book “The Well-Trained Mind” which is a classical method for homeschooling. Our curriculum is centered around history and literature, which both happen to be my favorite subjects. Take last week for example: we’re studying ancient Egypt and learned all about Cheops and the great pyramid at Giza. We also studied Joseph and how he was sold into slavery in Egypt. These studies lend themselves to cool and exciting projects. We made pyramids and a coat of many colors which we all thoroughly enjoyed.
We decided to make the ‘coats-of-many-colors’ doll size, so that our American girl dolls could wear them….
Anything painting or crafty goes over so well….my girls love art and are both talented with their hands…..
Their dolls, Kit and Emily, even made guest appearances at school while we made the ‘coats’. They sat in their own little desks and did their own little spelling sheets. They were quite well behaved except for the fact that Emily (the doll) kept falling out of her seat! We had to spread her legs really wide to keep her from falling. We all though it hysterical! Then there’s the latin, grammar, writing, spanish, spelling, art, music, memory work……all of which I love…to learn about and teach. I hope my enthusiasm is contagious. It seems to be. Then there’s math…….
So, why is it that I can’t manage to make math exciting enough for them to get those blasted math facts in their heads? It has to be the most frustrating half hour of the day for me. I seems to always pray that someone will visit or the fire alarm will go off or something during math. I sometimes use that time to switch out the laundry or water the plants. I just don’t like math and I don’t know how to make it fun. I’ve tried the manipulatives but we end up making some fun art project out of those usually.
Secretly, inside my head, I am frustrated, feeling like the worst mother ever to embark on the monstrous task of teaching her own children, and yelling at the top of my lungs (all to myself remember) WHY CAN’T YOU JUST REMEMBER THAT NINE PLUS EIGHT EQUALS SEVENTEEN? WHY? JUST MEMORIZE IT. OKAY. AND DON’T ASK ME TO ANOTHER ART PROJECT UNTIL YOU’VE GOT. GOT IT? Hence, my tiny breakdown. All to myself. So, how do I handle tiny breakdowns? I bake chocolate chip cookies and eat them warm….with milk. And I solicit the help of two darling little girls who are creative and love to bake and paint and craft and memorize……and who may never be mathmeticians. God help us when we get to multiplication.

So, we measure (that’s sorta like math)
and mix…..
and scoop…..and voila….

oh, sorry, it doesn’t turn into this. This is the cake I made for my son’s 18th birthday with the cross country runner on top that everyone made fun of because they couldn’t figure out what it was…..it’s a runner, okay? Just humor me here…..I’m in the middle of a tiny breakdown and making chocolate chip cookies…..

then we bake and enjoy. This recipe happens to be Kimmie’s and I’m gonna go out on a limb and say I’ve made it a good 150 times in the last few years. It’s the best recipe ever. Ever. For chocolate chip cookies. Ever, I tell you. You must try it.

“So, if mom ate nine chocolate chip cookies and Elea ate four and Emme ate four, then how many did they eat total?” See how I make math fun? At least they’ll be able to do the word problems where cookies are involved.

Kimmie’s 9+8 Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 sticks butter, softened 1 t. cream of tartar

1 cup oil 1 t. salt

1 cup white sugar 1 t. soda

1 cup brown sugar 1 t. vanilla

1 egg 4 1/2 c. all purpose flour

1 T. milk 1 12 oz bag chocolate chips

Combine and mix well. Scoop onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Do not overbake. Enjoy! Even better if you practice your math facts while you eat!