Middle of the month

We are in the middle of August already!  Whoa!

School started yesterday in Santa Clarita, and if Amos and I still lived there, I would be in junior high right now, taking notes for Pinkie.  (I just typed Pinkie into my blog search bar, but I accidentally substituted an O for the P: Oinkie.  Oh dear!)  However, I am NOT in California, so I'm not in school yet, but I will be soon!  I'm signed up as a substitute teacher with three school districts and a Christian school.  I should start working in September; hmmmmm, I should probably find out where all the schools are...If you prayed for us, thank you very much!  The Lord showed us just in time 1) that I needed a job and 2) where to get one. :)


Today I am doing several things...

- reading this post from Mike Gaston about a mutual friend with a brain tumor (Our friend went back to work yesterday, teaching high school history!  Talk about a good recovery so far, thanks to the Lord!)

- making tapioca pudding using Amos' mom's recipe

- burning a nice pumpkin-somethingorother candle

- eating Aussie Bites!  I adapted this recipe a bit (vanilla, some chia seeds, a little regular flour), and the cookies/fiber muffins/whatever-they-are were really good. Amos likes them, too!

- listening to Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (Anne was a nut!)

- cleaning vegetables out of the sink and washing dishes

- looking up books via Modern Mrs. Darcy's August twitterature post (check out her website; I like all her posts about books and reading)

- investigating new places to live.  Our lease is up in six weeks!

Books and snacks

When you have lots of books on your "currently reading" pile, sometimes you pick the one that lies the flattest so that you can read and have a snack with minimal effort.

Hint of Lime chips, guacamole, water, and
The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom

I was reading The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy.  The title is great, and cute little pictures are sprinkled here and there in the book, but it was just ehhhhh.  The climax was anti-climactic, the characters were interesting but not inspiring, and the ending was cliche' (one of the characters basically says, "I'm going to write down all our adventures and turn them into a book!").  I picked it up to see if it was appropriate for Gio and Luke, and it's probably fine, but, ironically, The Hero's Guide definitely wouldn't spur them on to be better young men.  Oh well!  Better luck with...


The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames by Kai Bird (biography of a CIA agent working in the Middle East)

One Vision Only by Carolyn L. Canfield (biography of Isobel Kuhn, including Isobel's abridged, unpublished Vistas; must get the unabridged version from Wheaton College)

Elisabeth Elliot: Joyful Surrender by Janet and Geoff Benge

My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud'Homme

Odd, continued

Here are a few more strange things about Oklahoma...

Okra.  The grocery stores sell fresh okra and frozen okra, and it seems like Sprouts has dried okra on sale every week!  Another grocery store had dried okra samples; I didn't try them.

Chicken.  Chicken restaurants are everywhere.  We have Chick-fil-A, Raising Cane's Chicken, Church's Chicken, KFC, Ann's Chicken Fry House, Slim Chickens (haha!), Popeye's, Eischen's (apparently this is the best), etc.

Water towers.  Amos says that the water towers create water pressure (Oklahoma is pretty flat).  The water towers all look different.  Some of them, like this one, are orange and white.  The water towers in Yukon all have red lettering.  (I like water towers, but they kind of creep me out, too.  They look like huge, blood-sucking bugs!)

Masonic lodges.  There are lots and lots of Masonic lodges. I have no idea why!

405. The whole state has just four area codes; FOUR.  405 is the Oklahoma City area code.  Since one-third of the population of OK lives in the Oklahoma City Metro area and thus (presumably) shares this area code, I have been writing my own area code (530) REALLY BIG on all of my applications so that the school districts will call the right person. :)

Gas meters.  Most of the homes in Oklahoma City (or at least NW OKC) have gas meters in their front yards.  Not the prettiest thing to have poking up out of your lawn, but it could be worse.

I am listening to...

someone's music turned a little too high.
librarian voices.
magazine pages turning.
a clicky keyboard.
clearing of throats.
magazine shelves clanging up and down.
automatic doors opening.
more coughing.
textbook pages.
cracking knuckles.
my thoughts.
book receipts printing.
sniffing.
yawning.
discussions.
muffled, shuffling footsteps.
a printer.
protestations.
whispers.
the beep of a scanner.

the library.

Artwork

Since moving to OKC, I've found some little projects to while away the hours, one of them being watercolor painting!  I copy ideas from Pinterest or I just paint different color schemes.  All of these are on 4x6 pieces of paper.  Click to enlarge.

My anniversary card for Amos :)

I used a AAA sticker to make this one, haha!

This one is supposed to be vertical...

A sailor turtle with freckles!

Fifty-cent peanut butter

It's that time again!

Amos and Jennica: Ummmmm, where did our money go?!  We haven't spent THAT much of it.

*Amos does a quick expense report*

Well, no more Chick-fil-A!

I don't like not having money.  It makes me feel anxious, and now I really should go out and get a job.  It was nice being Pinkie's note taker because I went to work every day and I got paid every day.  I was making close to what Amos was making, so we almost doubled our income and thus we paid off my school loans, bought a new computer to replace Amos' dying one, tuned up our car, paid for my trip to Canada, spent more money on groceries, put money away in our savings account, bought some nice Christmas presents for people, went out to frozen yogurt once a week, paid for a few trips to NorCal, etc.

Everyone we talked to said that the cost of living would be a lot cheaper in Oklahoma, but as Amos said, that was just people talking; we really didn't know, and I just trusted what our California friends said.

But, car insurance isn't cheaper (hail damage), internet isn't cheaper (they just raised the price on us, too!), food isn't cheaper (farther from the fields, orchards, and ports), rent isn't cheaper (we had the cheapest place available in Santa Clarita), even gas isn't that much cheaper (per gallon it is cheaper, but stores and church are more spread out in OKC).

So now we are back to scraping by, and it isn't that fun; I'm sure many of you reading this can relate.


But in the mean time...

Before, we couldn't get by just on Amos' income (I had to sub at least a few days a month to make it work), and now we can, though I'm still going to get a job.

I filled out applications, looked up substitute opportunities, and e-mailed a lady at church for information about the Christian school that shares the church campus.  I heard back from the headmaster today (I didn't know headmasters existed in the United States), saying that there weren't any openings at the moment but that they are always looking for substitute teachers and I am welcome to drop in and meet him; I plan to do this tomorrow or Wednesday.

Amos and I figured out how much I can spend on groceries, and it isn't very much, but I like shocking people with how little I spend for how much I get.  (I got all-natural peanut butter for $0.50 a jar today.) :)

Matthew 6:8b: "...your Father knows what you need before you ask Him."

Canada

I've been to Europe once, Africa twice, and Asia four times, but I'd never visited another country in North America, until last Tuesday.  I spent a week in Canada with Lester, my college friend and semester-long Aptartment 29 roommate.  We had a great time wearing Chacos, listening to a crazy guy in a bookstore, eating Timbits, visiting Niagara Falls twice, petting all the puppies, checking out the new library, going on walks and hikes, not getting ticks, talking about books, picking up and delivering anodized aluminum parts for her dad's business, attending her church, and getting to know her family a bit more.

Here are some pictures of my trip!  Click to enlarge.

Lester: "I don't think you should take any more pictures now..."
At the border crossing

Lake Ontario at sunset

A church in Saint Catharines

Sunset in Toronto

A field of huge clover behind Lester's dad's shop

Niagara River and Rainbow Bridge, looking at the Canadian side

American Falls, from the deck of the Maid of the Mist

Maid of the Mist, with the customary blue ponchos
and drops of water on the camera lens

Beside the American Falls

American Falls in the foreground, Horseshoe Falls in the background,
city of Niagara Falls, Canada, across the river

We may or may not have stepped into the river at one point...

Horseshoe Falls, with a Maid of the Mist boat

Horseshoe Falls, with the American Falls out of sight on the left,
and the old power plant building in the foreground on the right

Maid of the Mist in the basin right below
Horseshoe Falls

RIGHT at the drop-off of Horseshoe Falls

It was very bright and wet

Hiking through the woods down to the whirlpool,
where the Niagara River turns a sharp right angle

Out to lunch/tea

From the left: Lester's sister Andrea, Lester's mom's mom, Auntie Eleanor, Lester's dad's parents, Lester's mom Mary Ann, me

New links

June isn't looking very promising as a month of many blog posts...oh well!  This weekend will be rather busy, with a family reunion and birthday party for Amos' grampa tomorrow, Amos' family visiting on Sunday, hurried packing and cleaning on Monday, and my flying out to Canada on Tuesday!

Here are some links, though...

Audiobook Sync
If your library has the Overdrive service, you can download two audiobooks for FREE every week during the summer.  Read the website carefully to find out how it works (it's pretty easy).  One of the books this week is a favorite, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein!  The other book is The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom with John and Elizabeth Sherrill.

YembiYembi
A really cool video about a couple who served with New Tribes Mission in Papua New Guinea.

A Modern Confession via Mike Gaston's blog
I thought this was really good.  Mike is the missions pastor at Grace Baptist, one of the churches in Santa Clarita.

17 Famous Literary Characters Almost Named Something Else via Mental Floss
Puny Pete.

Homemade Naan via Budget Bites
I made this naan with a few adjustments (subbed out some of the regular flour with 1/2 a cup of whole wheat flour and 1/3 of a cup of potato flakes, plus needs more salt).  It turned out really well; the potato flakes and the egg made it more pliable than other naan I've made.

So, you now have...something to listen to, something to watch, something to contemplate, something to laugh about, and something to eat!  Have a good weekend!

Off to camp!

My brothers and sisters are off to camp in just under two weeks, so you know what that means...

Packages in the mail!

The kids are very, very excited about camp.  They paid for half of camp themselves, and the other half was paid by a much-appreciated anonymous donor.

Last year, I sent a package to Brenda, and like every other camper in living memory, she had to sing "I'm a Little Teapot" with the rest of the package recipients. Gio, not having gone to camp yet, was confused about this.  He thought that the receiver had to sing on a stage all by their lonesome.  When we visited in March, he said, "Jennica, I don't want you to send me a package at camp."  I'm sending three presents in one box, but I'm tempted to write on the outside, "Gio wants to sing ALL by himself," haha!

Presents for the kids; Brenda's present will go in another box since she
got a Nalgene last year, plus she's in the HIGH SCHOOL camp!

Overholser

My blog is turning into a photo blog!  I do have one crazy story to share about our old church, but I'm waiting on confirmation of one critical detail.  How's that for a teaser?!

We have quite a few lakes and ponds and rivers and streams and such in Oklahoma.  We aren't exactly the Land of 10,000 Lakes, but we do have a lot of water.  Here are some pictures from Lake Overholser that I took over the past few weeks.  Click the pictures for a better view.

The river/drainage from the dam

Open the gates!

Overholser Dam at sunset

Amos took a picture of me...up to no good...

Sunset

Sunset, with a water tower off to the left

Overholser Dam

Beautiful

Cottonwoods, much?!

Overholser Dam

Some nice weeds

Chocolate and rain

Today's cooking adventure:
Boston Cream Poke Cake, using these directions but recipes from my Joy of Cooking cookbook

Now Amos and I are sitting on the porch, reading books, listening to the rain and thunder.

Odd

Here are some strange things about Oklahoma...

There are LOTS of drive-through restaurants.
Panera Bread, Subway, even donut shops!

A lot of men have long hair.

There are no helmet laws.
If you are riding a motorcycle, you have to wear some type of glasses or goggles, but you don't have to wear a helmet!

E-cigarette stores are on almost every street.
I don't know why, but e-cig stores and "vapor lounges" are very popular here.  There are also cigarette butts everywhere.

Lakes and ponds are ubiquitous.
I don't know where all the water comes from, but I like it!  I also like all the pondlife.

Center turn lanes/suicide lanes are rare.
The vast majority of streets here in OKC don't have a middle turn lane.  People just stop in the left lane and put on their turn signal.

No one runs when it is raining.
When it rains, there is no hurrying to the car, hurrying to the house, hurrying to the grocery store entrance; people just stroll along at their regular pace.

People spit in public.

People really like their rims.
There are suped-up cars everywhere, even Suburbans and old Lincolns!

There are no dog poop pick-up laws.
Dogs just go wherever their owners let them, and no one picks up after them.

Discarded mattresses and box springs are everywhere.
Twice a week people take their garbage out to the curb, and mattresses and box springs are always included.  I'm not sure if a sleep store had a huge sale or what!