Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Lesson 22: “Accept the challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.” -General George S. Patton

The challenges are on. A few months back for an anniversary present I bought Tyler an ice cream maker. It is great! In the past I always thought homemade ice cream was nasty. It was salty with ice chunks and you had to twist a crank until the working arm was excessively more muscularized than the resting arm. Our ice cream maker is amazing and super fun. No cranks necessary. Recently though I have been trying different ways to make the ice cream. Attempt number one was a big failure which never seemed to be anything more than delicious delicious sugar milk... mmmm. Tyler said it was the equivalent to the leftover milk in a cereal bowl. I believe the reason for this was the new recipe. Today my attempt will be to use the original recipe but combine the milk and sugar and then boil to dissolve the sugar. After this I added the rest of the ingredients and set the bowl in the fridge to chill. I will let you know what happens. Tyler informed his Uncle Dick of my ventures and I have now been challenged to an ice cream making competition when we go to visit. He is said to make great ice cream... I had better step up my game.

Max had a challenge issued to him this week as well. Next Monday will be his final day in beginning home obedience. Graduation Day! The instructor told the class we are to come prepared with a dog trick to show everyone. Immediately Tyler proclaimed we will teach Max to PLAY DEAD! Darn it all, I was hoping to teach him to sit up on his rump all cute like. Since Google knows all, I looked up ways to teach play dead. The common denominator for all the training videos and step-by-step instructions was "bang". First the dog must sit and then lie down. With the treat in your hand, or gun, point at the dog and say "Bang".

After he does nothing (which is to be expected since he is probably thinking you are a lunatic and should just give him the treat already) you kind of do this wrap around thing with your hand where the dog will follow the treat with his head causing him to tumble over onto his back. Your dog is now dead and earned himself a treat. Max and I worked on this for about 10min on my lunch break today. We have some work to do. After a while of being shot Max lost interest in trying to please me and made every effort to just grab the treat from my loaded gun.

Tyler's challenge this week (other than the obvious one of dealing with being kicked off the futon every night by Max) is to put on his first Cub Scout meeting thing. This will be complete with kids crossing over from a lower scout level to higher, merit badges and activities. I don't know much about scouting. Cub Master Tyler has been studying up on all the different ceremonies and things that go along with tonight's meeting. It is ridiculously complex... Since my poor husband does not even own a scout shirt other than his from age 16, I am not sure if the rituals will allow him to be the presenter person... hmmm.... Also he wanted to make a fun sign for the lesson to get the boys interested. Unfortunately we are neither parents nor primary teachers, meaning there are no arts and craft supplies to be found among us.

The challenges have been set forth and there is much to be accomplished, ice cream, play dead, and Master the Cubs.... I think I like my challenge the best. ;)

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