It's getting closer!

Today my friend and I are going to Spokane to pick up my husband while the kiddos stay and play with friends and have an impromptu hang out session. He'll be here for 10 days for the holiday season.

It got me to thinking about the holidays and I have noticed that a lot of people are wishing "Merry Christmas" before it even hits now. I was just curious as to why. That would be like wishing everyone a Happy Birthday weeks before their actual birthday. Now, someone told me it's because it's "the season" for wishing "Merry Christmas". I don't think so! Christmas happens on an actual day. It's not a month long celebration like Ramadan or something like that. It's a DAY. 


So, I wish Happy Holidays instead... but I get called the Grinch for not saying "Merry Christmas". You know what, people, not everyone celebrates Christmas. On Christmas day I wish people a "Merry Christmas". 

Just because people have their pagan tree up (and what does that have to do with Jesus' birth?) the day after Thanksgiving doesn't make the month of December Christmas. It's December 25th. Yet, I get called all sorts of names because I say Happy Holidays. They say I am taking the "Christ" out of Christmas. So let me clear a few things up:

1. I'm not a Christian. The only reason we celebrate Christmas is because my husband is a Christian.
2. I am not taking "Christ" out of Christmas. The media did that for you. So stop blaming me.
3. What the hell does a tree, stockings, elves and a fat man have to do with your prophet being born?
4. Christmas is on December 25th, not the entire month of December. So when I say Happy Holidays, I am including all my friends that have holidays this month, Christian included. How is that being Grinchy?
5. Saying Merry Christmas excludes all my Jewish, Muslim, Pagan and Wiccan friends. Wouldn't it be nice to wish everyone joy instead of one small group?

I am so sick and tired of being called names just because I say Happy Holidays. I am about to tell everyone to go stuff it up their chimney, pour a stiff glass of eggnog and lock myself away until New Year.

Bah Humbug!
Dotchi Latham

HAPPY NEWS!

I am thrilled and excited to tell everyone that I have a part time position at work now. I was thrilled to hear this! I will work Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday now, every week from 6am until 2 pm. So I won’t have my weekends off, but I will have 3 days a week off all in a row so I am still happy about it. Now I can have time to blog and work on my writing too! And have time to spend helping the boys more with their school work too. I think this will work fine for now. It’ll be weird working during my sleep hours but I think I’ll adjust just fine.

Well, I am off to get a nap and get ready for work now. Just had to share!

Dotchi

Homemade Pumpkin Syrup Recipe

My children love my “homemade” pumpkin pancakes (make pancake mix, replace the milk with canned pumpkin, add a dash of pumpkin pie spice). Usually we just pour good old maple syrup over them or my homemade version of maple syrup. 

This week for pancake day I had all the ingredients for the pancakes but I was missing the crucial ingredient for the syrup, maple flavor. So I started looking around for something to put on top of the pancakes and I had a moment of genius! PUMPKIN!
Here is the recipe I used.

Pumpkin Syrup
You will need:
2 cups brown sugar (or 2 cups white sugar + 2 TBSP Molasses)
1 cup water
Pumpkin (I used canned pumpkin)

In a pot, mix the sugar and water and heat until steam starts to rise off the sugar water. Make sure the sugar is dissolved. 

Then start adding pumpkin and stir it in the syrup mix. I started with 2 TBSP and then added more until it was the right pumpkin taste for me (and OMG, it was delicious!)
Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, then turn off the heat and let it sit there while you are making the pancakes. It will thicken as it sits.

Our reviews
Miles and I thought it was very good. I could drink it for the taste but diabetic coma just doesn’t sound that fun. Miles said it tasted great with the pumpkin pancakes. Sadly, I can’t eat pumpkin pancakes because I am allergic to wheat. But I still think the syrup is awesome!
Mendel 2.0 said it was very good, tasted great with the pancakes but… seriously mom, it’s WAY too pumpkin tasting. So next time I will start with the 2 TBSP pumpkin and have the boys taste test.

I suspect you can make this with other flavors like, strawberry, blueberry, blackberry and even sweet potato. Get creative and let me know what you come up with!


If you try this recipe, leave a comment and let me know what you think!

For more recipes, click here.

Bored? 13 Things to do while sittin’ on your bum.

     My dear friend had surgery the other day and now she is wheelchair/ walker bound for six weeks while her knee heels. She’s going to get bored so my boys and I sat down and made a list of fun things to do while you are on bed rest.
     The obvious is reading, computer (email, surfing), Sudoku, puzzles and stuff of that nature… but we thought of something fun that involves the computer… BLOG! So, dear friend (yes, we’re looking at you, Donna!) we want to see a blog about post-surgery knee healing! You can add your blog to the comments section and we’ll stalk y… er, follow you!

Interesting fact time! This blog started in March of 2003 after my hysterectomy. I was on bed rest and dying of boredom. Back then it was blogspot and was pretty basic. It has changed a lot over time, along with this blog. This blog started out as a journal, turned into a family updates blog, then a picture blog and is now my baby. I can’t get rid of it. It means too much to me.

After the obvious… 13 things you can do while sitting down…

1- Hand shadow show! Make up a story line and act it out with your fingers once it’s dark. I found it’s lots of fun to try and make different things. You can google hand shadows and see if you can find some lessons on how to make elaborate hand shadows. I want blogging details!
2- Drawing. Draw pictures of anything in the room. With six weeks of post surgery boredom, you could get really good at drawing. If you suck at drawing, you can make stick figure cartoons. I’ll see if I can find some of mine and post them for you all to giggle over. I want pictures!
3. Origami- The beautiful art of paper folding! You can make ornaments for your tree or make a million teeny paper swans to bury yourself under while you’re sitting there bored out of your skull.
4. Macramé and Hemp bracelets- Look up patterns for hemp jewelry and friendship bracelets. Start knotting your way to beautiful items (you can sell these on Etsy for a small profit if you’re really bored. The USPS will come straight to your door to pick up packages.)
5. Crochet or knit- IMO, crochet is a lot easier overall. If you don’t know how to crochet or knit, there are tutorials online and books that come with a kit that can teach you. Crochet and knit is fun, gives you something to occupy your time and you’ll have plenty of scarves, hats and other things to give away as presents!
6. Write short stories, write a novel or a children’s book (complete with illustrations)- What could be more fun than a barrel of monkeys? Writing a book! You can write short stories, write a novel or write a children’s book (complete with pictures!) and when you are through, you can cruise on over to Lulu.com, create your book and put it on the market.
7. Create a picture book on Lulu.com

• Go through those thousands of photos you have stored on your computer and make them the best by using Google Picasa to edit your pictures. You can add text, crop, adjust the brightness/ contrast, get rid of red eye and million more things! I love Picasa!
  
• Once you have a nice collection of photos, sort them by category, event, person… whatever.
  
• Go to Lulu.com and create a picture book. You can sell them, keep them private, make them as gifts for friends and family, etc… You can also make calendars!

8. Video blog your boring time. Getting bored? yet? Well, video blog about it! Sometimes I love to watch video blogs because you can see the facial expressions. You can also Skype me. I’d love to chat! Just call first. I don’t keep Skype running.
9. Help with meals- One thing I loved doing while I was healing from surgeries and I wasn’t allowed to do anything, was to help fix food. I would sit in my chair and my husband or kids would bring the food items to me to help make. Sandwiches, cookies, etc. You can help make a lot of things while sitting in your recliner. My favorite to make was stuffed shells. I could make the cheese filling, add it to the already cooked shells, layer it in the pan and get it all ready to bake, all while sitting down! PS, cover yourself with towels. It’s a lot easier to clean up that way.
10. Play sock basketball!- Have someone set a basket across the room after you’ve folded all the socks you can find.

To fold… Lay sock flat and roll up from the toe. Then tuck the whole thing into the opening by wrapping the opening around the ball. (I’ll try to post pics later)

Now start throwing! 1 point if it bounces off anything before landing in the basket. 2 points if it just flies right in like you know what your doing LOL.
11. Card games- Solitaire, pyramid, Kings corners… there are so many games you can play by yourself. Fluxx, Phase 10… There are so many more you can play with family and friends. Have everyone make a snack, make drinks (non-alcoholic!) and have a card playing night.
12. Journal your time with index cards- For each day you get one index card. The cards can be the small 3X5 cards or any bigger size that you want. Make sure they are lined.

1. On the blank side: Draw, paint, glue items on, tape on a favorite picture you found, write one word that defines the day, put down your favorite quote. Be creative! This side is to visually show everyone how your day went.
2. On the lined side: This is your journal. I like to do something simple like- “Today this made me happy”, “I was sad when…”, “5 things I did today”, “If I remember nothing else about today, I really want to remember…”, “My pet peeve for today”… the options are endless. You can use more than one or you can just do a little bit of journaling your day.
3. Keep the cards in a cute decorated box (another “sittin’ on my bum” activity!) Or you can put them in a 3-ring notebook in page protectors so you can flip through them when you are bored. 

13. Fill out your cards for the year! Talk about getting ahead of yourself! Get out your calendar for this year, fill in birthdays and Anniversaries in your calendar for next year, label all the major holidays… Now, have someone buy all the cards for next year (or make them!) and get them all ready. You can store them in shoe boxes by month or by holiday (or both). Now you are WAY ahead of yourself!

Now, if you are reading this list and you’ve thought of something to add… send me comment or email. I’m making a second list of 13 things to do while sittin’ on your bum! I’ll add your idea to the list along with your name (or as anonymous) and post it once I have 13 things!
Donna, you get better!
Everyone else, Blog on!
Dotchi Latham

I already hate Xmas musak!

     I had to buy earplugs to shop the other day. One more minute of some horrible rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas sung by a woman who sounds like she has the worst sinus infection in the history of man and I swear to you that I would have snapped and killed somebody with the next can of organic foodstuffs within reach. Of all the times of the year to go shopping, I really hate this month the most.
Most of the year I can go shopping without having a complete nervous breakdown. This time of year I can not. Not only am I having to deal with people but I am having to deal with louder than usual music that sucks worse than kiddy songs. Who thinks up this crap? Why do I care what you got on the 12 days of Christmas anyway? Who cares if someone caught mommy kissing the figment of your imagination? BAH HUMBUG! I hate this music.
Although, I do very much enjoy listening to Weird Al’s “Christmas at Ground Zero”… now there is a song to learn and sing all through the season :) I will be there with you to sing along… in case you haven’t heard it, here is a link to it. Christmas at Ground Zero on Youtube.
Okay, I feel better now. I’ll update more after my road trip back home.
Dotchi Latham

I am testing to see if pictues will still post to my blog from my phone. Just so I can test it, here is a pic of our pet rat.

We're in San Diego

Hopefully soon I will have the address right and the pictures will start coming through again. I didn't realize they were going to nowhere LOL. Sorry about that.

The boys and I are in San Diego to visit their dad. We're all excited because this weekend will be our trip to Six Flags! I will have pictures then too! I can't wait! I'll be working on my writing while I am here and the boys will be working on their school work. I can't wait to see Nana and Tammy during the Thanksgiving break! That will be a lot of fun!

Hope everyone is doing great!

Getting ready to head out again- a quick update

Not much to tell on the family this week. I had my Dr's appointments and updated on my Caring Bridge site. The boys started homeschool. I am looking into getting the Starline press curriculum. I think it will be a lot easier on all of us and we'll have a wonderful portfolio doing it that way. The boys are doing their school work without me having to poke them along too so that is a good thing.

We're getting ready to head back to Montana today. We'll be back there by Friday morning. I'll be updating my dotchilatham.com with a FAQ and I'll see if my work has any hours. PLUS we'll have house cleaning. Lots to do. Lots to do!

Goodness it's been awhile!

I haven't blogged in forever! Hope everyone is well. 


Sad family news, Uncle Joe died this week from a heart attack. He was a great person and I'll really miss him. My heart goes out to Carol, Carol Anne, Timmy, and the rest of the family out East. I wish I could get there for the funeral, but unfortunately, I have to stay out here for my medical care. I love you all!


We've been traveling a lot for my medical care. I am being seen at Naval Hospital Bremerton for NASH, gastritis, duodenitis and a shit ton of other problems. I don't feel like listing them all. The good thing is that the vast majority of all these problems may be food related. I am being tested for food allergies and sensativities. I'm now avoiding cow milk. I switched to rice and hemp milk (with a doctors note for work). I like the hemp milk better! I am excited to find the out about the results but it'll be at least a week. I started a Caring Bridge blog just for my medical. You can read all about it there. I haven't updated it today but I'll be over there in a bit.


Not being able to work as much is really stressing me out! So I started writing more on Associated Content to try and make a little more on the side. Here's my contributors page. I was having a hard time thinking of something to write but I have a few ideas now. My newest AC Article can be seen here.

School time is on us! I got the boys their new folders and printed out their week 1 work. They aren't totally excited about school, but they'll get into it. Miles will be in 9th grade (OMG!) and Mendel 2.0 will be in 6th grade. I am excited and nervous. I think I get more excited than they do LOL. They are getting big!

Oh and for my birthday they each bought me a rat. I now have 2 rat babies. Tizzy and Dot are really tiny and cute! I'll have to get some pictures up of them soon.


Well, I better run and get some more work done.

This is one of our favorite dips to make!


Ugly Dip. A Quick and Easy, Spicy and Meaty Dip Idea
Ugly Dip is quick and easy to make. It's meaty and spicy also which makes it great for any get together!
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The boys are making Easter eggs!

Happy Easter

To all my Christian friends, Happy Easter!

Today we are going to color eggs, make deviled eggs, cook a ham, make some squash. I am thinking about what else to make. I decided to make bacon because it needs cooking before it goes bad. But other than that, I am still brain storming.

I hope all of you enjoy your Easter Holy day.

Here is a large lizard we found sunning outside

This Weeks Articles: CNA Life

Instead of posting each article every time I write something, I decided to do 1 or 2 posts a week with all the articles in them. I am still working on my salad series of articles and hope to have them up and done this weekend. (Wish me luck!)

The Articles I have done so far are (You can read them by clicking on the titles)

Top Five CNA Jobs That Suck

What Does a CNA Do? 

I also have more ideas about CNA Life but if you have any ideas or questions, please let me know! I'll be happy to write an article for it.

Love ya! Will update with more pictures later. (We're going to Hollywood, CA tomorrow!)

Miles at the world's largest grindstone. Why did they build this?

Mom and kids under the elephant tree

We found the elephant tree!

Miles and Dad posed for a picture. Mendel 2.0 was too exhausted.

Heeheehee

I got a lot of up close pics that I like.

To entertain myself, I took the camera and snapped about 2,000 pics or so.

Note to self: The desert is FREAKING HOT!!! I tend to forget that. I am paying for it today. At least we remembered water.

And then we went hiking through the desert in search of Elephant trees.

While the kids watch, Dad plays a little round of some shooting spaceship game.

At a stop? Waiting for the family to recover from car sickness? What do you do? Break out the trusty laptop and play a few rounds on your shoot em up game LOL

Here's a better picture of Miles. We were all car sick at this point so he isn't exactly smiling.

3 guys camping

Here's a better pic :)

All three guys

Here's all 3 guys at the camp site. I think it was dinner time.

Miles laughing at me.

Here's a pic of Miles laughing at me. We're setting up camp. Can't remember what I said but he really laughed good!

Mendel 2.0 with a Blooming Cactus

Mendel 2.0 went hiking with his dad. Here is a cactus they found with a beautiful bloom.

Marmaduke Not Allowed

I saw this sign and had to giggle. We were in the Anza-Borrego Desert at the time. First that popped into my head was "Great Danes not allowed? Wow, that's very specific." LOL

We made it to San Diego!

We made it safely to San Diego. We slept in the van along the way. I really love my van :) But someday I would love to have a small RV that is road worthy. I can dream! I'll update more later.

We're getting ready to head out again

We are packing the van and getting ready to head out again. We have our Rand McNally 2010 the Road Atlas all ready to go. We're packing our clothes and we'll be heading out. No Verizon Wireless Navigator this time. All atlas and google maps. LOL I'll be updating while we are on the road. If I can't update here you can follow me on twitter.

I've been so close to tears all day

It's been an emotional day for me for some reason. 

A few weeks ago a guy (23) died by suicide.

A high school kid, only 17, crashed and died this weekend. The car he crashed into had 3 people in it, a 12 and 13 year old and a 59 year old. 

Layla Grace passed on about 19 hours ago. 

I am consumed thinking about Patrick, my friends son who has stage 4 cancer.

I had a resident break down and cry last night. I sat with her for 30 minutes listening to her sob about a husband that left her years ago for "a floozy" (I used the nice version) and how much she loved him and how much she'd do for him. She sobbed that she didn't understand and she didn't do anything wrong. I cried with her. I didn't know what to say, so I just dried her tears, told her how wonderful she is, gave lots of hugs and tucked her into bed. 

Man, that is so sad! And just one thing I can handle. But this is just all at once. Everything! The shit bucket bottom opened up and all the crap fell on me. 

I want to write so bad today but I keep tearing up and getting all fleklempt. 

I'm ready for something different. Let me be specific... something POSITIVE.

AntiVirus Soft- The Bitch of all Viruses!

After many frustrating hours, my computer is clean again and functioning properly. Here is the article I wrote about how to get it off your computer. All other forums online did not help.

AntiVirus Soft Removal Guide
AntiVirus Soft is a virus. This guide tells you how to get it off your computer.
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The worst thing about this virus is that it reinstalls itself and disables everything you need to fight it. I finally got it though.

Hey, Mendel... See, all those computer skills came in handy. You're Welcome :)

What do you think of the new look?

What do you think of the new look for the blog? I am trying to figure out the heading area. But for now, I think that's just adorable! And I can change it when I want to now :) I just think it's SO CUTE!

Next AC article

A Rant About Analogies
Analogies are great when you understand what they mean.
Read More

I wrote this because... well, uhm, because I could? It struck me so I wrote it out. I also have another waiting for upfront payment.

I am creating a website

In my spare hour each day I am creating a website called "The Cleaning Nymph" to help those of us who can't stand Fly Lady anymore or what she stands for. I created a blogger blog for the Cleaning Nymph also. This is the running commentary type blog for the site.Next week it will be updated automatically. This week I am just winging it as it gets started.

Flame away... but Fly Lady has become a materialistic, ego maniacal, dictator of the housekeeping world. When I first started using her, she was great but the downward spiral in her approach has really turned me off of FlyLady. 

The Cleaning Nymph Website is in progress and I hope to have it fully functioning soon. But if you'd like, you can check it out and watch it grow.

Great Article I found

I found this article on Associated Content and wanted to share it because I think it has great tips for long distance parents. Being a military brat and military wife I find it even better!

10 Tips for Long Distance Parents

Some parents are miles away from their children, but you can still be a wonderful parent from long distance. It is always a good idea to keep communication going with your children.

 Hope you enjoy the article. I think the author did a great job!

Update... Almost there and I am behaving! (sort of)

I can update through my phone on twitter, facebook, myspace and my main blog (this one). Here are my thoughts so far on this little experiment.

1) I am writing more for money so that is good!

2) I am on social sites less and in a way that is good. But I also use them for work so staying off for fun is a bit difficult.

3) I didn't think about all the news reading I do online each morning and I am not buying a newspaper. That's $7.00 a week (or something close) that I can spend or save on something else. I can get a free Montanian Newspaper once a week though and any extra are .25 so that doesn't leave me newsless.

4) I wasn't thinking about support online when I said no computer. I will confess, when I check my emails if I see an update on Patrick, my friend's 20-month-old with cancer, I check the updates. I am not going to skip out on my friend during a time like this. I can't do it! Also, I am following the pray list for David Hames, a missing US citizen in Haiti. I feel that pulling my support for a week to anyone would be rude and I can't do that. Sorry.

Here are my thoughts on each site...

FACEBOOK- I'm finding it a little hard to stay away from Facebook since I am posting my articles. Although, by now my Facebook is looking a little spammy I am sure. And I can't even go look because I am behaving. I miss saying hi to everyone too.

MYSPACE- Can't say I miss myspace very much. I'm not on it but once every 2 weeks or when I can figure out how to share an article. I'm just not into myspace.

TWITTER- I do miss twitter. We writers post our articles there and retweet the articles we like. I find it a social working site. Tweetdeck actually keeps me behaving and now that I am not on it, I can see that. I have to go to each site to update with an article. I'd say that Tweetdeck is one of the better tools I have. I like it a lot better! And I can check Facebook status updates there too. I think after Wednesday I will be using it more so I can use my time wiser.

THE BAKERS ACRES- Yes, this blog! I miss it but I usually update from my phone. I did hop on to correct an HTML code and add a tag or two. I'll have to post more pictures to it today.

The other three blogs... Y'know, working on this no-computer-for-fun-only-work project has made me realize that I am not really into the other blogs I have. I like the homeschool blog for updates but I think I can get rid of a few blogs. This blog stays, the review blog and the homeschool blog all can stay. The chunk of cyber dust, the rambling blog, the other homeschool blog... They are all going to go.

I started a website during this. It's the brain child of me and my friend. I'll let you know when it's a little more together. It's a housekeeping website. I won't say any more than that. But it'll be ready to debut in about a week (or less).




My grade for myself so far? Hmmm, I am thinking maybe a B. I get points off for not leaving my friends hanging and continuing to read their updates. I also get points off for starting a website since it wasn't in the plan for the week. I am not trying to make money off it (more points off) just trying to help people (can I have points for that?) I did add ads to the website on the sidebar... can I have points back for that?



Okay, so what do you think I should get?

Well, I am off to get more articles done and see what I can do for money and income! At least I am having fun while doing it LOL.

Happy surfing without me!
Dotchi

Another article accepted! I'm on a roll!

Save the Planet and Your Wallet with Five Easy Beginner Steps
You can make small changes that will help you Go green without taking drastic measures to make a difference. Try out these five easy baby steps to be kinder to the planet (and your wallet).
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Top 10 Best Fishville Fish for Gaining XP
Playing Fishville on Facebook? Want to level up faster? This list of Fishville fish will tell you which fish to use to gain the most XP per minute.
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Naming My Inner Brat. I Call Her Dotchi
While researching Housekeeping tips, suggestions and websites I came across a website called the Brat Factor. It helps you meet and name your inner brat and then beat her to death with a cast iron skillet...
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Crisis Cleaning- Boxes, a Bin and a Bag System
Are you wanting to get your house in order? Using this system will take your house from crisis to presentable in no time.
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