Independence Weekend

Well, for us, Indpendence Day starts on Thursday and goes through Sunday. We’re kicking off with the game night, then spending tomorrow with Craig’s parents and grandfather, who is in town from Oklahoma. He is 88 years old, and only gets to visit once or twice a year, so we try to hang out with him when we can. He loves to play Rook (card game), so I’m sure we’ll do some of that tomorrow night. And I hear he’s making homemade clam chowder for us, which I’ve only had from a can. That’s a little bit exciting, even though I don’t usually eat clams. I certainly like the taste of shellfish and crustaceans, just have trouble swallowing the truth of what they are… little toxic sponges, created by God to clean the water… the buzzards of the sea, you could say. Same thing with pork… you may as well roast that buzzard. Mmmmm…

There was a strange phenomenon here this week, and may follow into the weekend. I guess it was Tuesday, when water started falling from the sky. On Wednesday, it was falling so hard, some of the streets in San Antonio were covered by several feet. I’ve hear of this happening before, and it seems like I vaguely remember it, but it’s been so long. I think they call it… rain? You can’t complain much about the fireworks being cancelled due to rain, when we’ve had SO little this year. It’s July, and we haven’t had the lawnmower out since LAST summer! Crazy!

Mmmm...(inhaling deeply) My house smells like a bakery right now. I have a chocolate fudge sheet cake cooling on the stove, a large bowl of chocolate ganache in which to bathe it, and a pan of seven-layer cookies right beside that. You know, those low-fat ones with graham crackers, butter, chocolate and butterscotch chips, coconut, and condensed milk? Thank the Lord for dessert…

I’ve been tossing around the idea of having a cookbook printed like the ones that various churches occasionally put together and sell. I would love to have one full of recipes from my friends and family, as well as some of my own, to pass down. The point is really as a fundraiser for school, as we have to pay for our own curriculum, in addition to the taxes we pay for the children in public schools to have theirs. Add field trips, conferences, and extra-curricular activities (like piano) to that, and you have quite an expensive year for three kids. It’s easily between $500 and $1000, depending on what we use and what we do. I think selling cookbooks would be a good way to generate a little help for those costs, since it’s something people actually use, and at a fair price. The public schools do fundraisers, and I never have liked buying wrapping paper, popcorn, or candy at ridiculous prices. We’ll see…

We’ve set traps, but have no mouse yet. Time to step up the operation.