Luscious Limeade - Is Your Tongue Dry?

The weather is finally feeling like Spring!  With the transition to warmer weather I got to thinking about all the great limeade that we made and drank when we lived in Mexico.   Here is another article that I had to write for my writing course - inspired of course from hot-Mexican days!

IS YOUR TONGUE DRY?

            What do you like to drink when your tongue gets so dry that it sticks to the top of your mouth just as if you’ve eaten a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on white bread?  A tall glass of milk?  A cold juice box straight from the fridge?  A glass of ice water so cold it makes your hand numb when you hold it?   What about some limeade?

Limeade is just like lemonade only it is made with small green limes rather than lemons. Limes grow on small bushy trees in the most southern parts of the United States, Mexico, Central America, and South America. Limes can’t grow where it gets cold.  They need lots of sunshine and warm weather.  When the weather gets too cold it kills the lime trees.

            A key lime is the smallest type of lime in the lime family, about the size of a ping-pong ball.  Both the skin and the flesh are greenish-yellow in color, and it is very juicy.  Perfect for making juice!   Key limes not only make great juice, but they are also very good for your body?  They are packed full of vitamin c, like lemons and oranges, which helps your body fight off colds and other germs.  Do you like being sick?  I didn’t think so.  So, make sure that you drink lots of limeade and keep your body full of vitamin c!

            Why don’t you ask your dad or mom if you can make fresh squeezed limeade?  It may be easier and cheaper to buy a premix package and just mix it with water and sugar, but it’s more fun to make it fresh!  And, because you get greater amounts of vitamins and nutrients from eating or drinking fresh fruits it is the healthy thing to do.   Here is a great recipe to help your body fight germs and keep your tongue wet!

LUCIOUS LIMEADE

You will need:

• 11/2 cups of juice from key limes
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 gallon of water or 16 cups
• Hand held Lime juicer/ Citrus juicer
• Sharp knife
• 1 gallon pitcher

What to do:

1.  Wash the limes and ask an adult to help you cut each one in half.

2.  Juice all your limes into a measuring cup.

3.  Mix your sugar with 1 cup of boiling water until it is dissolved. 

4.  Add lime juice and sugar mixture in a gallon pitcher.

5.  Add the remaining 15 cups of cold water to the top and stir.

6.  Pour over ice into a glass and drink up!

Now, imagine yourself on a hot summer day.  Is your tongue dry?  Pour yourself a cool, cold-fighting glass of limeade and enjoy! Ahhh…!

Time for T

One of my writing assignments was a non-fictional piece.  Here's what I wrote.  Even thought it was written for older elementary / pre-teen age group I think it applies to all.  I know it does for me as I spend WAY to much time on the computer.  Several months ago I had to take a break from facebook when my daughter came home from school and her first words to me were, "you're always on facebook."  Maybe I should take another sabbatical :D !

Time for T

“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise.” Ephesians 5:15-16 NIV

What are some of your most favorite things to do? Type on the computer? Talk on the phone? Text? Think about what you do everyday and write down three of your most favorite:

1. ______________________________________

1. ______________________________________

1. ______________________________________

If I asked you what being a good steward is could you tell me?  Would you say that it is being responsible with money or things?  Well, you would be right.  But, do you know that you can be a good steward of your time as well. Yep, you sure can!  Time is something that God gave you.  Ephesians 5:15 tells us to “be careful, then, how we live—not as unwise but as wise.”  You are wise when you are careful with your time.  

Janie came home from school.  She was tired! Her teachers had made her work hard and she had a lot of homework.  She threw her heavy book bag on the floor, grabbed a bag of chips, fell onto the overstuffed couch and turned the TV on.  That’s where she sat until it was time for dinner, time for a shower and then time for bed.  Oh no! What about the homework? 

Sam came home from school.  He was tired! His teachers had made him work hard and he had a lot of homework.  He took his book bag to his room, took a 20 minute nap, got up and ate an apple and then went outside to toss a football with his friends.  After dinner he did his homework, took a shower and went to bed. 

Who are you more like? Janie or Sam. Like the rest of us you probably fall somewhere in the middle.  Is it wrong to eat chips and watch tv? No.  Is it always possible to take a nap, eat healthy and get exercise? Nope - probably not.  It all goes back to the amount of a healthy or non-healthy stewardship of our time.

How can you be a good steward with your time?  How can you be careful how you live? Here are a few examples:

• Don’t hit the snooze button on the alarm – get up instead and spend those extra 5-10 minutes with God.  
• Spend less time in front of the TV and more time with family and friends.   
• Limit your time on the computer.  There’s a lot of junk out there that is unwise.

Write down three of your own ideas here:

1. ____________________________________________

1. ____________________________________________

1. ____________________________________________

Take some time for t today: time to be thankful, time to train yourself to be careful and wise and time to take time to be with the One who gave you your time.

The Runaway Captain

A few years ago John encouraged me to take a writing course; as if I had nothing else to do.  I had been talking about if for a long time and so I took the plunge and applied to The Institute of Children's Literature.  Part of the application was submitting a fictional writing piece.  Below is that work inspired by the horse we owned until I was six.  Captain was a beautiful horse that I still miss to this day. 

The Runaway Captain

Captain was my yellow palomino horse.  In my young eyes he stood a hundred feet tall.  His breath was hot on my face.  His large nostrils flared as he snorted.  He ran with the speed of a whole pack of wild horses.

I remember running barefoot in the soft green grass to meet him at the tall electric fence that kept him prisoner to the wide pasture.  I remember feeding him juicy red apples, and pouring ice cold 7-Up into my small palms for him to drink.  I remember sitting on his tall back, with his full mane in my hands and letting him take me wherever he wanted to go.

I woke up one fall morning to an orange sun rising up over our old brown barn.  I went out to give Captain his daily bucket of grain.  As I came near the tall fence I noticed that the gate was wide open and my horse was nowhere in sight!  I ran to the house, my eyes full of tears, screaming for my mom to help.

My mother gathered up my sisters and me, a bucket of feed, and a rope.  We headed down the long gravel road that ran in front of our house in search of my runaway Captain.  A little way down the road we spotted a flowing yellow tail.  As we got closer my older sister got out of the car, bucket in one hand and the rope behind her back in the other hand.  She walked slowly and quietly toward Captain.  He looked at us with a sparkle in his eyes.  Then in one quick motion he turned and sprinted off, his thick mane flowing in the wind! 

After a minute or two he stopped, turned, and waited for us.  As we approached him he again looked at us with a beautiful sparkle in his big dark eyes.  I looked back and smiled.  He allowed my sister to almost get close enough to slip the rope over his head, and then once again he ran off with a spring in each step.

My mother was the first to say what I already knew, “Captain is playing a game with us! Let’s go home and get ready for school, that horse will come home when he gets hungry.”  I didn’t want to go home; I didn’t want to get ready for school; I didn’t want the game to be over. 

I went to school that day but thought only of my horse running around without me.  As soon as I was back at home I kicked off my shoes and ran barefooted through the grass to the electric fence.  My runaway captain had returned and was anxiously waiting for a juicy apple and a cold 7-Up.

If I Were a Lost Crayon

This is my latest work.  The other day Evan was searching for his crayon and kept repeating over and over what is now the title, "If I were a lost crayon where would I be?"  With a smile on my face I watched him hunt all over.  Then I picked up my computer and began to write.  Enjoy the following inspired by my 6 year old little man.

If I Were a Lost Crayon

   Baxter Beaver wanted to color his friend Toby Toad a picture.  He wanted to color himself and his best friend playing in his backyard by the big tree. First he got paper from his paper drawer.  Then he got his color box off the shelf.  

“I’m missing the green crayon.  How can I color grass and a tree without the green? How can I color Toby Toad without the green? 

Baxter Beaver looked all through the color box.  It wasn’t there.  He looked on the high and low shelves.  It wasn’t there either. He looked in all the craft drawers.  He could not find his green crayon. He thought and he thought and he thought.  

“If I were a lost crayon where would I be?  Would I be under a bed?”

Baxter Beaver looked under his bed.  The crayon wasn’t there.  He looked under his brother’s bed.  It wasn’t there either.  He looked under his mom and dad’s bed.  He could not find his green crayon.

“If I were a lost crayon where would I be?  Would I be in the living room?”

Baxter Beaver went in the living room and looked under the sofa.  It wasn’t there. He looked under the TV. It wasn’t there either.  He looked under every chair and table.  He could not find his green crayon.

“If I were a lost crayon where would I be? Would I be in a bathroom?

Baxter Beaver went into the bathroom and looked in the tub it wasn’t there. He looked behind the toilet. It wasn’t there either. He looked under and all around the sink.  He could not find his green crayon.

“If I were a lost crayon where would I be? Would I be in the kitchen?”

Baxter Beaver went into the kitchen and looked in the refrigerator. It wasn’t there.  He looked in all the cabinets.  It wasn’t there either.  He looked in the stove, the microwave and the dishwasher. He could not find his green crayon.

Baxter Beaver sat down at the table to think.  He was tired and he was sad.  Where could his green crayon be?  While he was thinking of another place to look, he heard a knock at the door.  

“Baxter! Are ya home?”  

It was Toby Toad! He had spent all morning just looking for his green crayon.  Now Toby Toad was here and there was no time to color a picture.  And, he STILL didn’t have the green crayon.

“Hi Toby.” Baxter Beaver said sadly as his friend walked through the door and sat his backpack down. 

“Baxter.  What’s wrong?”

“I’m sad because I wanted to draw a picture of you and me together but I can’t find my green crayon. I have looked all morning.  I have looked under beds, under the sofa, the TV, tables and chairs. I have looked in the bathroom. In the tub, toilet and sink. I even looked here in the kitchen. The refrigerator, the stove, the microwave and the dishwasher! I can’t think of anywhere else to look.” Baxter Beaver sighed big and dropped his head low. 

Toby Toad’s large mouth was one big grin.  It had grown bigger and bigger with every place that Baxter Beaver had told him he looked. 

“Toby! Why are you smiling?” Baxter Beaver said as he raised his head and saw his silent friend’s smile. 

“Baxter.  Did you think to look in my backpack?” Toby Toad said slowly.

“Your backpack?  Your backpack wasn’t here!  How was I suppose to look there and why would I look there?” Baxter was really getting irritated at his friend.  Toby Toad just starred at him with that large silly grin on his face and a twinkle in his eyes.  Toby Toad motioned toward his backpack that sat by the door. That’s when Baxter Beaver remembered and he started laughing and laughing.

“I totally forgot that I loaned you my crayon yesterday!” 

Toby Toad knelt in front of his backpack and unzipped it.  He pulled out the crayon and gave it to his friend.  Then he pulled out a piece of paper.  It was a picture of  Toby Toad and Baxter Beaver playing together by a big green tree.

Baxter Beaver took the drawing and put it on the table.  Toby Toad could see him adding something to the picture.  When he was finished Baxter Beaver held the paper up for Toby Toad to see.  He had drawn a green crayon in his friend’s hand.

“If I were a green crayon where would I be? I would be in the hand of my best friend next to a big green tree!” 

If I Had an Angry Alligator

ABC books have been used for years to teach preschoolers the foundation for reading.  They never get boring.  If you have a preschooler or teach kindergarten or pre-k then you know that there are endless uses for ABC books.  13 years ago I was a teacher.  The following book was inspired by a class project I had my students do.  I have been encouraged for years to send it off for publishing, yet...I drag my feet.  Maybe this will be the first step in seeing my words illustrated and placed into a book that will be read by kids for years to come!

If I Had an Angry Alligator

If I had an angry alligator

I would name him Angus

If I had a bashful beaver

I would name her Betty

If I had a clumsy camel

I would name him Charlie

If I had a dashing dolphin

I would name her Daphne

If I had an elegant elephant

I would name him Edgar

If I had a frightened flamingo

I would name her Fran

If I had a graceful giraffe

I would name him George

If I had a happy hippopotamus

I would name her Hannah

If I had an icky iguana

I would name him Ivan

If I had a joyful jaguar

I would name her Jackie

If I had a kind kangaroo

I would name him Kevin

If I had a loud lion

I would name her Lisa

If I had a mocking monkey

I would name him Marvin

If I had a new newt

I would name her Nancy

If I had a old octopus

I would name him Oscar

If I had a pretty pelican

I would name her Patty

If I had a quiet quail

I would name him Quincy

If I had a rowdy rooster

I would name her Roxy

If I had a sad snail

I would name him Sam

If I had a timid toad

I would name her Tammy

If I had an ugly unicorn

I would name him Uriah

If I had a vicious viper

I would name her Vera

If I had a weeping whale

I would name him Walter

If I had an eXcited x-ray fish

I would name her Xenia

If I had a yelping yak

I would name him Yale

If I had a zealous zebra

I would name her Zelda