10 Spot Ramble: Perfume

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I spent the day smelling like tomato soup.

And it wasn’t because I spilled that actual substance on my being.

Somehow or another, probably because of something really complicated like the law of aviation or thermodynamics, the little bottle of perfume has turned. What used to be a lovely concoction of citrus notes of lemon, along with basil, white rose, and white jasmine has become a personally overwhelming aroma of lunchtimes favorite congealed liquid meal, tomato soup!

This is a continuation of random odorific events in my life. Yesterday I rode a plane (all by myself!) and switched seats because my original parking spot was saturated with the sour smell of body odor.

I’m thinking the person in that seat before me was more nervous about flying than I! At least I don’t think I sweated so badly I left a funk embedded in the naugahyde seat coverings…

Regardless of that fellow travelers unfortunate aroma issues, the truth remains that after I got to the hotel (defying death once more in a hotel shuttle that appeared to be moments away from falling to pieces), slept hard, woke up, showered and then sprayed my first world scented luxury, I was stuck with an odor I did not expect.

Here’s the truth: I don’t like smelly like a soup, despite it’s undeniable comfort-food rating. Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup are a combination I remember vividly from my childhood. I just don’t embrace the soup. It’s a congealing food item and that scuzzy skin the soup develops is in the same gross-out classification system as spiderwebs, using words like “moist” and “probe,” and the sight of a rabbit wearing a Harvey costume.

It just doesn’t feel right.

I’m curious about what really happened to take my perfume to the dark side? I searched Amazon for a clue and found this disclaimer in the product description of my favorite scent:

“Recommended use: daytime.When applying any fragrance please consider that there are several factors which can affect the natural smell of your skin and, in turn, the way a scent smells on you. For instance, your mood, stress level, age, body chemistry, diet, and current medications may all alter the scents you wear. Similarly, factor such as dry or oily skin can even affect the amount of time a fragrance will last after being applied.”

OK. Seriously. Since when did a perfume need a legal abdication of responsibility for its stink??

This description helped me realize there’s a whole lot I don’t know about perfume, so it’s definitely time for a 10 Spot Ramble: Perfume Edition. Without further ado – your top 10 bits of fragrant trivia:

1. Perfume and Football go Hand in Hand. (And not just because of the copious amounts of perspiration on the field.) Perfume historians believe that they found evidence of the use of perfume 3,500 years ago when they saw a series of murals in Queen Hatshepsut’s temple in Thebes. These showed an Egyptian fleet sailing off to get myrrh and other exotic aromatics from the Land of Punt. I believe Punt is located to the south of Pass, approximately six miles northwest of Blitz.

2. It’s all about gods or poop. Your call. The word Perfume comes from Latin and means “through Smoke.” Incense was first and foremost used to waft prayers to the gods, but was also pleasing for the olfactory nerves and in addition it concealed bad smells from sewage drains.

3. It Might Make You Hungry. (Which validates the tomato soup aroma from today.) The earliest modern style of perfume was created in 1310 for Queen Elizabeth of Hungary. This fragrance, known as “Hungary Water” was a blend of rosemary, thyme, and verbena essence in brandy. Originally it was used as tonic water as well as a perfume, and physicians prescribed it to gargle with for all sorts of ailments!

4. Perfume Can Mimic Parenting. Perfumes can also contain animal ingredients, although nowadays many of these are created synthetically for ethical reasons. Some of these animal “fragrances” include honeycomb, civet, musk, castoreum, and ambergris (whale vomit!). Ambergris really is whale vomit! It’s a waxy grey substance regurgitated by Sperm Whales which often washes up on beaches. Aged ambergris has a sweet, earthy scent, and has a wonderful mellowing and enhancing effect on other fragrances. Because vomit makes you mellow.

5. The Most Popular Fragrances can Also be Monikers for Your Gal. The two most commonly used flower essences in modern perfumery are Rose and Jasmine; which are staples in commercial perfumers’ palettes.

6. Is That You I Smell or A Decomposing Animal? Back in time when bathing was a rare luxury even the rich didn’t indulge in very often, perfumes were used to cover up unpleasant scents that came as a result of such questionable personal hygiene. Rich but rather smelly, European aristocracy relied on these expensive mixtures to help mask the “scents” produced by days and even months of not bathing.

7. You Are Your Own, Self-Created Scentsy. You don’t need to waste half of the bottle to ensure long lasting smell, one spritz on your chest and one in the back of your neck is all it takes for it to smell great all day long. These zones turn into “hotspots” in times when we’re scared or excited (due to the increased blood flow) and the scent that was subtle just moments ago, starts releasing faster.

8. Sensory Overload is Avoided with a Trinity. When you are testing new perfumes, don’t try more than three at once – your nose can’t differentiate the aromas. You’d better wait for a while till your nose is in a proper condition to evaluate accurate smells after applying on your skin.

9. Scented Gloves Started it All. Europe did not use perfume much until the sixteenth century when Catherin de Medici came from Italy to marry the future king. She wore gloves of perfumed leather and suddenly everybody wanted this because she was a trendsetter.

10. When Jewelry and Perfume Fell in Love. Van Cleef and Arpels are not bizarre examples of onomonatopoeias. In 1976 Van Cleef and Arpels introduced ‘First’ – a very appropriate name for the first perfume by jewelers.

Thanks for sticking around for the 10 Spot Ramble, my stinky friend. May all your days be joyful and missing tomato soup scent. Do you have any perfume facts to share?

“Me Likee” Link Up – Homeschooling Edition

Stories for Homeschooling

I know I just posted a “Me Likee” Link Up but there have been so many good articles lately that I need to post on them more than once a month!

As you know, we homeschool. We are logically devoted to this lifestyle, largely because Classical Conversations gives us a roadmap that means Mama doesn’t FREAK OUT about what exactly to teach when all your children really seem to want to do is study their navels and pick lint from their toenails.

Because, yes, we are genetic overachievers like that.

Here are some of my favorite posts on homeschooling in the recent past – enjoy (and if you have your own, please post them in the comments)!

1. School Staring Age: The Evidence. For quite awhile I’ve been suspicious of the idea that enrolling your child in 6+ hours of school at age 4-years-old might be a little… dodgy. This study confirmed my gut instinct that little ones need lots of time to play – not worry about standardized testing.

2. Why I’m Not Cut Out To Be A Homeschooling Mom. When we tell people we homeschool the overwhelming response I get is, “Really? That’s good for you. I wish I could but I’m just not cut out for it.” While we are all called to different paths, there’s a chance that you were cut out for it… and just don’t realize that none of us are “cut out for it”! I appreciated this candid piece about how many ways we are inadequate – and yet wholly perfect – to teach our children.

3. Why Generation Y Yuppies are Unhappy. This isn’t exactly a homeschooling article, but I think it’s a thought-provoking look at the choice to raise our children differently than we were raised, with realistic expectations instead of inflated perceptions of our own awesomeness… which really doesn’t make us happy!

4. Why Preschool Shouldn’t Be Like School. I am susceptible to feeling like my children are good enough, smart enough, and driven enough to achieve, achieve, achieve! Except my oldest is currently 7-years-old. And children must be given the freedom to be a child. Our culture is telling us to push our children harder than we, ourselves, were pushed and it really isn’t the way to make our kids fall in love with learning.

5. And Then I Realized I Was Doing It All Wrong In Homeschooling. When your child is in the traditional school setting you get parent/teacher conferences and pick up waiting conversations to help you figure out where your kids are ranking in the general scheme of education. When you homeschool,you are constantly wondering if what you are doing is enough… or too much… or…? This article talks about the paradigm shift one parent had in their value system for homeschool success.

6. Myth of the Teenager. We have bought into the propaganda that teenagers will be rebellious and difficult and forgotten the long-held belief that teenagers are in their maturing capstone, moments away from adult responsibilities. This post debunks the idea that teenagers have to be difficult.

7. To the Moms of One or Two Children. Now that we have four kiddos in our family I frequently have people say they don’t know how I do it all. The reality? Whether you have one child or 16 children they take all your time and the parenting journey is one of high highs and low lows. I appreciated this note of encouragement!

8. Homeschooling by the Numbers. Have you ever wanted a quick snapshot of the demographics of homeschoolers in the U.S.? Your wish has been granted!

9. We are Going to Homeschool our Children but that’s Only because We Hate Education. I am falling in love with Matt Walsh’s writing! I admire the way he is able to grab words and shape them into something beautiful and passionate. He turned his skill and humor toward education in this blog post – and I liked it!

10. Mothering Young Children: Come Singing and Sighing Unto the Lord. I’m not going to lie. This isn’t the headline that catches your interest and makes you think, “Oh, yeah! I can’t wait to read that article!” But let me tell you something: a friend sent this to me and I was moved, almost to tears but its encouragement and honesty. Try it. Really.

What are some of your favorite homeschooling reads around the Internet?

8 Really Misleading Movie Titles

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It was a hot date Saturday night and Mr. Casanova and I headed to dinner and a movie.

We don’t get out much, so the anticipation leading up to this event was huge. We picked out the movie, Gravity, about three weeks ago and looked forward to our dinner rendezvous on the other side of town.

We didn’t anticipate it’s Homecoming day for the local university. Our dinner location was packed. So was our second and third choice. We were all set to scrap the romantic plans and hit Taco Bell when we passed Cold Stone Creamery and decided ice cream for dinner sounded fabulous!

And then they didn’t have cherry pie filling and who wants to have cheesecake ice cream without cherry pie filling? That’s a travesty and it was not going to fly on Date Night.

We walked out of Cold Stone in dejection, wondering if we would be eating a movie theater pretzel for dinner, when we realized we were right near the Hot Wok. We’d never been to the Hot Wok before but it was on our list of new restaurants to visit and it’s called Hot Wok, which is a name I could chant under my breath repetitively just for fun.

Hot Wok was awesome! Loved the Hot Wok. Took the last bit of my cashew chicken in a to-go box and later discovered it was like having a styrofoam box of toots on my lap but that’s a different story.

Now. Gravity.

Gravity. Gravity. Gravity. It was not uplifting. It was the worst case scenarios of EVERYTHING, set in space. And it was a poor date night choice.

I told Lizard we are never going to another movie the critics like. I’d rather go to movies with horrible reviews but make me happy, like the Cutting Edge or Elf. I had absolutely thought Gravity would be a romantic comedy set in space, instead I was on a continual, apprehensive adrenaline rush watching people’s faces get hole punched by space station shrapnel.

Kind of a downer.

It reminded me of the time I became scarred for life when a friend invited me to go see Seven by telling me it was the new Brad Pitt movie that Disney had produced.

True Story. Scarred.

The whole experience helped me notice there are some movies you should just know the whole story about before walking in to them blind, or you’re liable to walk out with a heaping portion of Regret you paid a solid $9 to experience. Also, sometimes movie titles are misleading. For example:

We Bought a Zoo. This is not a Madagascar version of a family film. The pictures that kid draws are eerie and the creepy crawlies still give me goose pimples.
Being John Malkovich. Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich! The redeeming feature of this movie is the 1/2 floor and that makes me happy, but the ending… you should prepare yourself that what you expect is not what you get unless you like… well… Malkovich.
Napoleon Dynamite. There is nothing French or explosive about this movie. It’s hilarious and to this day I make liger comments, but if I’d been looking for a piece of historical pyrotechnics I would have been sorely disappointed.
Cinderella Man. There were no chorusing birds or carousing mice. There wasn’t a fireplace to clean. It’s a boxing movie and it brought tears to my eyes and inspired me but, nope, no evil step mother and no prince to rescue them all in the end, they had to make their own rescue.
12 Monkeys. Brad Pitt was on a creepy roll there for awhile with Seven, Fight Club, and 12 Monkeys. Suffice to say there were no bananas, no throwing poop, and no monkeys. Definitely not a Disney movie, either.
Grease. Did I miss something? It’s a classic – that’s whhhaaaaayyy more raunchy than I ever realized when I watched it as a young thing – but I didn’t notice a bit of pig lard. Or vegetable oil. Or any lubricating ointments. Ew… I said ointment. Sorry.
Salt. Not a cooking flick. This is no Julia and Julia where you can garner some nice tips for how to flavor your food. It’s a gritty movie of deception and multiple double-crossings and Angelia Jolie pulls off being a passable dude. Not a seasoning. Definitely.
Chariots of Fire. I stole this description because it’s so much better than what I would write: Sounds Like: The most awesome film Ray Harryhausen never animated, crammed to the toga-tops with belching hell-lizards, winged racing carts and blazing skirmishes with chillingly rheumatic armies of the undead. When In Fact: A handful of stringy, translucent blokes in thoroughly depressing short shorts splash through the grey shallows of a windswept Scottish beach, recreating a true story about 1920s men running fast and winning stuff. A bloody good one, mind. But still.

What are the movies you’ve seen that knocked you off guard like a sip of Sprite when you’re expecting water?

“Me Likee” Link Up – It’s Inspiring

Stories that Inspire

I’m a sucker for the stories that make me think, make me want to be a better human, or encourage me to never give up. I’ve come across a few that inspire me lately — here are the links:

1. Couple Loses 538 Pounds. We watch the Biggest Loser and are always so inspired by the tremendously hard work people complete in order to live a healthier life. This article is similar — and the couple is ridiculously attractive!

2. You’re a Stay-at-Home Mom — What do you DO all day?! I haven’t had many people give me a hard time for being a stay-at-home mom, but occasionally I get knuckle heads who can’t understand why we have laundry on the sofa or grapes smashed on the floor when I’m at home all day doing nothing. (Ha!) I loved this husband’s defense of his wife’s career choice… and it inspired me to work harder at being the mom I know I can be.

3. 25 Things Every Woman Needs to Know. There are some nice tidbits in this article that rank right up there with making sure a woman always has access to a power drill. And a plunger.

4. When Life Feels Like It’s Stuck on Repeat. I’m a big fan of Lisa-Jo Baker. Her writing encourages me often. This post gave me the extra needed boost I needed (in addition to a cup of coffee).

5. There are no “cool moms.” Another from Lisa Jo Baker that reminded me I’m pre-approve (and so are you!) and that’s… well… that’s just awesome.

6. Seeing A Woman. I’m realizing more and more that pornography and sexuality is a crazy serious issue. I adored this wisdom from a father to a son on how to really see a woman.

7. Less is More. Have you ever wished your marriage possessed just a little more attention? This post helped me think through the ways I can study my husband in order to know him more.

8. Marriage Advice from a Divorced Man. They say regret can be a powerful motivator; this heartfelt blog post from a divorced man looking back at 16 years of marriage almost made me cry in its beautiful simplicity.

9. A Week of Food Around the World. A photographer set out to showcase cultural differences by taking pictures of families with a weeks worth of groceries in different countries. It’s hilarious… and sobering all at the same time.

10. The Prize for Motherhood ISN’T Great Kids. It’s funny how much better my life is when I take the spotlight off of my own issues and realize I have a sphere of influence I can control and a whole lot more in this life I can only observe. Reading this post helped me realize my reactions to events are 90% of the fight.

What are some of the stories/articles/blog posts you’ve read that inspired you?

Hot Mess Tribble

I’m friends with a lady who befriends Tribbles.

OK, I admit it. That’s an overstatement in the “I caught a fish this big,” kind of way… so let me start over.

There’s this picture floating around the World Wide Web these days:

Betty Chu’s English Angoras

No, it’s not a picture of the result of cotton candy machine in gastrointestinal distress! But I wish it were. Cotton candy is my very favorite of all treats designed to make your body shut down in sugar shock and just looking at this rabbit makes my mouth water.

But it’s not to be. That is not cotton candy.

It’s false cotton candy advertising — kind of like those plastic grapes people use as centerpieces on their tables. They look so good! My mom had these and they were a constant temptation throughout my childhood. Sometimes I just couldn’t stand it and would gobble one of the plastic globes down.

It was always a disappointment.

Back to my story and the picture, I know the woman beaming next to that big ball of fuzz – her name is Betty! I know someone famous!

Well, maybe I don’t know her precisely, as I certainly don’t know her in the Biblical sense of the word and also wouldn’t be able to pick her out of a crowd unless she was carting her big ball ‘o rabbity fluff, but I’ve been in her general vicinity and I’ve said, “Hi.”

So it’s like we’re best friends.

Anyway, Betty raises some of the most beautiful English Angora rabbits in the country and I met her earlier this year when we traveled to national rabbit show. Each of these rabbits takes an amazing amount of care to keep the hair clean and unmatted, although they can be shorn like sheep and their fur used for spinning and other lovely yarn-ish items.

It’s definitely not a rabbit breed for me, as I like low maintenance. Half the time my kids walk around looking like they just stuck their finger in a light socket and earlier this week I found a bit of dried apple sauce acting as a fixing agent in Tres’ hair.

There’s no chance I’ll be able to keep up with the grooming needs of an animal sporting a hot mess ‘do like this, but I can still point out my near brush with fame and give a nod to all the Tribble fans out there.

You know you want one.

Unicorn Mancave

Where to start?

It’s not every day you discover a piece of trivia that startles you so thoroughly you make a strange barking like a Pier 39 sea lion to catch your breath.

But, lucky me, I have experienced such an event. The news that caused my mirth?

The national animal of Scotland is a unicorn.

I don’t know about you but my picture of Scotland as a country has been highly influenced by Mel Gibson in blue war paint and Diana Gabaldon in the Outlander book series. These are both solid bits of media that portray the Scottish people as tough, possibly smelly, and rather austere.

When I think of a unicorn I have visions of Despicable Me and want to squeal, “It’s so pink and fluffy I COULD DIE!!!!!”

I couldn’t help but share this sweet portrayal of sugar and spice and everything nice a unicorn is made of:

Scottish warriors and unicorns are so opposite on another it’s hard to even imagine a kilt-wearing, horn sporting equine.

… or is it?
When this conversation appeared in my Facebook feed regarding the unicorn/Scottish national animal discord I cracked up:

“No one ever believes me when I tell them this: unicorns are manly. Also, I learned that Viking wore pink.

That means that four-year-old girls are pretty masculine.

Just think about it: their rooms are covered with pink and unicorns. It’s a total mancave. Also, if you think about it, rainbows are pretty full of testosterone and what not. I mean, God made them after wiping out almost an entire humanity’s worth of bad guys…”

Now… isn’t your world just a bit brighter?!

Homeschool Blog Awards

It’s that time again – the Homeschool Blog Awards! It’s been an awesome honor that Stealing Faith has been nominated the last two years. Can you help keep the streak going?

Go on over and nominate Stealing Faith for the Humor and Variety categories (there are 20 categories, so be prepared to nominate all your favorite blogs) – and when it comes time to vote… vote!

Extra Large Portion

Grace like a Hershey’s bar.

Today a guy I don’t personally know posted this status update on Facebook:

“Grace doesn’t come in different sizes. You can’t give a small serving of grace. It either comes extra large or doesn’t come at all.” ~Carlos Whittaker

I follow Carlos, who is a pastor in California (I think), because a few months ago he wrote a blog post I adored. I enjoy following him but wasn’t expecting to be stopped cold in my tracks while scanning my newsfeed this morning… and his insight has had me thinking all day long.

Grace comes in extra large.

Let me say that again: Grace — the reprieve from the negative consequence truly deserved — comes in extra large or not at all.

You see, as a perfectionist I don’t see grace in extra large. I feel I need to earn my way into a state of grace. If I’ve done a good job homeschooling today, I have the ability to look at the laundry pile and feel like it will be okay — eventually. If I’ve managed to get all the dishes done and a batch of bread baked then it’s acceptable that the bed is not made and the kids wore pajamas all day. If my husband has acted like a buffoon I can tell him I love him but leave an unspoken, “But if you do that again…” hanging over our conversation.

My grace hasn’t typically come in extra large. It’s come in little portions of sweetness, kind of like a Hershey’s bar. Hershey’s bars are scored so it’s easy to break into those little squares… but do you know a single person who eats only one square?! I don’t! I gobble a whole row in one sitting if I’m particularly controlled, and the bar is my preferred method of excess when I indulge. It’s just not good enough to have only one little square. You can’t even make a decent s’more with only one square!

I hadn’t realized until this morning that I’ve been dishing out my acceptance one square at a time. Sometimes my grace has been extended in a size small, occasionally a large. I can’t remember a time when I have relaxed my guard toward myself or others in a way that could truly be termed gluttonously, largely, extravagantly extra large.

And a smidgen of grace is no grace at all.

Grace extended with hesitancy or an unspoken, “Well, just this one time,” is no grace at all.

I feel like I’ve been hit across the face with this cold truth and will be chewing on this for quite a while as I try to change my natural reaction to something that is much, much more beautiful.

Thank you, Carlos Whittaker. That’s all I have to say about that.

No Knead Artesan-Style Sourdough Bread

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Suzy Homemaker over here.

I’ve been trying for a few years to get a recipe I can use to make sourdough bread without needing dental work after for the teeth I’ve broken on the crust. I’m not a fan of the snaggle-tooth look, although there are certain segments of the country whose residents can certainly rock the look. I’m just not one of them.

I love cooking with sourdough, thanks to my mother. She introduced it to me and at this point we only do waffles and pancakes with sourdough – but the bread. Oh, the bread! It has defied my desires… until now.

So my requirements for the recipe are that 1: it tastes good, 2: won’t break my teeth or cut my gums when trying to gnaw through the crust, and 3. is easy… very easy is best.

I’ve tried a ton of recipes and even gave up once or twice, but I’ve finally come across a winner! This is actually a combination of three different recipes I just got to feeling all frisky with the recipes last week and experimented. So far the finished products have been gobbled up within an hour of coming out of the oven. I’m calling that a success!

Here’s the recipe – I hope it works for you, too!

No Knead Artesan-Style Sourdough Bread

¼ c. sourdough starter
2 c. flour
1½ c. water
1½ t. salt

1. Combine starter, flour, water, salt in glass bowl and leave on counter for 16-17 hours. I’ve let it sit as few as 12 hours and not noticed a negative affect.
2. Place dough on well-flour surface and turn a few times. It’s not necessary to truly knead the dough, but get it a little less sticky in consistency.
3. Let the dough rise for 1½ hrs. in a greased bowl.
4. Turn out onto a buttered pizza stone and cook for 55 min. at 375°. (I sometimes spread melted butter on the top of the loaf so it will brown pretty.)
5. Cool on wire rack – and enjoy!

Makes 1 smallish loaf.

Someone’s Worst Day

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These days we live near an ambulance transport service. It has become common to hear sirens at all times of the day and night as the emergency vehicles respond to a call.

Tonight the sirens went off as I was sitting, disgruntled, looking at the sink full of dishes, feeling pressured to update the family calendar, and knowing the pile of clothing sitting in front of the washing machine wasn’t going to pick itself up and enter the tub of its own volition.

And then the sirens went off and I realized, “That’s the sound of someone’s worst day.”

When I was in college a friend of mine rather bashfully admitted that every time she heard ambulance sirens she would say the Lord’s Prayer. It inspired me to utter a simple prayer when I hear the noise: “Lord, please be with whomever is involved in this situation. Please help everyone involved to do their part to the best of their ability. May Your will be done and please allow peace to invade this moment.”

It’s gotten to be such a habit our kids will stop what they’re doing when they hear sirens and say, “Oh! Mommy! We need to pray!” but we hear sirens so often now I think I forget the significance…

That siren means someone is in danger… and I’m worried about dishes in the sink.
That siren means there’s a chance someone’s life has just changed irrevocably… and my thoughts are consumed with putting events on a family calendar.
That siren means someone’s nightmares just came true… and I’m busy thinking the laundry needs to do itself and just leave me alone.

It’s the sound of someone’s worst day. And I have so very much to be thankful for in my own life and I’m pretending this is my worst day ever.

Really? Really?!

Sometimes my life gets put into perspective by the wailing of a siren.