Friday Feast #178

I have not participate in a FF for several weeks... The questions have been too hard for me to dwell on and I just said "pfft, not going to do it." This week's q's are very nice and superficial (a good thing for me lately), so here goes:

Appetizer
What is your favorite kind of cereal?

I do love cereal, but it does not like me. I've got sensitive teeth and the milk is COLD, and I think I'm a smidgeon intolerant of lactose.

Wheat Chex
Special K with red berries
Cocoa Puffs

Soup
When was the last time you purchased something for your home, what was it, and in which room did it go?

In November we bought a tree. It's an evergreen elm (click the link to see one). They are beautiful trees, fast growing and they give great shade. We planted it right beside our brick patio because the summer heat makes the patio unuseable during 3 months of the year (unless you're baking a pizza). I hope it becomes a shade monster!

Salad
What is the funniest commercial you’ve ever seen?

This has got to be it:




Main Course
Make up a name for a company by using a spice and an animal (example: Cinnamon Monkey).

turemic turtle
anise fleas
Bay bee
chipotle chihuahua
garlic gnu
minty maltese
mustard mustang
vanilla chinchilla

I could go on, but it's past my bedtime. =)

Dessert
Fill in the blank: I haven’t ______ since ______.

I'm not good at these. *pass*


***Go to Friday's Feast to learn more or to do your own spread.***

Special of the day

The other day I was browsing the recipe section of a women's forum I go to. My friend who will remain nameless unless she just really wants me to link back to her with this info, said she was making a "Mammogram Special" for supper. I asked why it was called that, did she pound the chicken flat?

She said, "Just baking chicken and serving it with summer squash. I made it up in honor of the mammogram I probably need to schedule."

My dense nature had kicked in and suddenly the word picture of it hit me, "Oh I get it....with summer SQuASH on the side...yes, that makes it more mamogrammish."

By the way, have you had yours?

Kelsey at Holy Mama! has a monthly prize drawing for ladies who do their BSE. Just go to her blog on the 17th of every month, its called, Club 17, and leave a comment that you've done your BSE and be put in a drawing for the prize.

And hey, the real prize could be finding something early and living a longer, healthier life with your family. Think about it.

Free rice....very nice

Please! Go over to Shannon's blog, Windscraps, and see the average weekly groceries for families (actual pictures of real families) from around the world. It is fascinating.

And then go to Free Rice to improve your vocabulary as you help donate rice for this world hunger organization. All you have to do is play the game.

Oh and I didn't forget the turkey today. Instead of a huge 20 pound raw turkey in my fridge, I've got a gallon container full of roasted meat to use up!

It's as plain as the turkey in front of your face!

So this afternoon, I pulled out some stew meat to make my locally (meaning my house) famous Irish beef stew. I put the hunka meat in the microwave to defrost it. I set it to 11 minutes on defrost, then took the dog outside. When I heard the 'ding' and came back, it had cooked for 11 minutes on high! It was almost cooked through. I put it in the pot with water, some broth and went to the fridge to get the worchestershire sauce and swigged some in. And while it was swigging, I noticed that it didn't smell like worchestershire sauce. That is because it was soy sauce. I ended up making an oriental stew and threw in onions, garlic, baby carrots, yellow bell pepper and sliced cabbage with the little chunks of beef. Then I added more soy sauce and served it over rice.

It was niiiiiiiiiiiiice.

Oh yeah, I forgot to add that I've had a turkey...huge 20 pounder....thawing since Friday. I was going to cook it today but totally forgot about it! I was even looking through the fridge to find something to cook and it was right there!!! (probably rolling it's little turkey eyes at me) A huge 20 pound bird....and I'm like, "Hmmmm, what should I make?" DUH

I hope I remember tomorrow. Maybe I should leave out a can of cranberry sauce as a reminder or

.....leave a trail of yams to the fridge
.....make pumpkin muffins for breakfast
.....dress like a pilgrim
*lightbulb goes on*
.....ask Charles to 'fix' it. Anyway, it is always his job to unwrap, wash, empty out the weird things inside and put it in the pan. (The big oval roasting pan in the garage honey! Thanks!)

Laughing at Danny

Charles ordered 3 dvds from Amazon with some reward bucks. He did well this time, ordering three Danny Kaye movies! We watched Court Jester tonight. It's so silly, but we end up laughing hysterically ever time we watch it.

Here is a clip from Hans Christian Andersen. It's been my favorite scene ever since I saw it on tv as a child. For a couple of years after seeing it, I would scan the tv guide every week to see if it was going to be on again. Charles also got this one and Inspector General.

Traveling to the Edge....from my couch

While I've been prolifically typing away here, I've been watching a really good show on PBS. With an HD receiver, we now get 5 PBS channels, one is all classical music with scenery backdrops, one is cooking and creating (how to's, crafting, sewing), two of them are regular public television channels with kids' shows and BBC productions and one is full of travel and scientific shows. Tonight a show on photography caught my attention and I have been watching one episode after another called Travels to the Edge with Art Wolfe. I have not seen such fine, artistic, creative photography in a long time. I especially loved his work on photographing the wild grizzly bears in Patagonia. Art Wolfe Photography.

Awaken with care....it's a teenager

Yesterday was Beth's birthday. She is 18! So nice to have another grown up around the house. ;)

Maggie went to the piano at 7:15 am and began plunking out the tune to Happy Birthday to You and by the third time through, she was really doing a good job. On the fourth time through, there came an answer from the den of the sleeping teenager:

It's My Party and I'll Cry if I Want to came blasting back at us from her iTunes.

Such a snarky kid.

Happy birthday Bethany!!!

Feelin groovy

I felt really good for the first time in two weeks today. I went through the house, getting things done that have been bothering me for weeks! (like mopping the floor!) Then we sat out on the patio for a long time and talked and enjoyed the warm sun. Once the sun went out of range for shining on us, it got chilly quick and we went in the house. Charles has picked up the dreadful virus I had last week and it looks like it might take just as long to get through with it.

A nice, quiet day was just what we needed. There was a youth retreat this weekend, so the teens were gone. And Maggie went to her cousin's house and spent time harvesting oranges from their trees. When I pulled up to their house to pick her up, Maggie was standing under an orange tree on the side of the house. I had no sooner wondered where her cousin was, then she plopped out of the tree to the ground, like a ripe orange. =)

I came home with Maggie and a bag of oranges...Valencia oranges...yum. The other day we were sitting outside and I spied a lemon on our lemon tree. Just one. Last year we got exactly twelve. It was the year we planted it so it was not mature yet. A late freeze last winter killed the blossoms, so not many people have lemons this year. It was a nice surprise and it was a good one too! I've been enjoying wedges of it in my water each day.

A groovy day, man.

The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)
Simon & Garfunkel

Slow down, you move too fast
You've got to make the morning last
Just kickin' down the cobble stones
Looking for fun and feelin' groovy!
(La,la,la,la,la,la, feelin' groovy)

Hello, lamp post, whatcha knowing?
I've come to watch your flowers growing
Ain't ya got no rhymes for me?
Doot-in' doo-doo, feelin' groovy!
(La,la,la,la,la,la, feelin' groovy)

Got no deeds to do, no promises to keep
I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep
Let the morning time drop all its petals on me
Life, I love you, all is groovy!
(La,la,la,la,la,la, feelin' groovy)
(La,la,la,la,la,la, feelin' groovy)

Wordless Wednesday: Up, up and awaaaaaaay...

.....on my bouncy trampoline...





***To see more entries or to join in and do your own, go to Wordless Wednesday or 5 Minutes for Mom.***

Sick in the head

I'm under my electric blankie this morning with the vaporizer blowing mist into the air by the window. I took Sudafed, Advil and assorted vitamins. Still my head is pounding. And there's no one here to talk to (except the dog) so I am being quiet.

The laryngitis has been getting a little better since I started taking some Claritan allergy medicine. I think the laryngitis was sparked by an allergic reaction on Wednesday when I cleaned some mildew from under my kitchen sink. There is a slow drip under there (which will be fixed in the next couple of weeks....til then there is a bowl catching the drips) and I got a big whiff of mildew. That evening I got a burning, dry, itchy cough and by bedtime I sounded like Rachael Ray. (no offense to Rach, but she always sounds hoarse) By the next morning it was full blown laryngitis. So for the past 3 days, when I talk it mostly comes out as a hiss of air or a squeak.

Bethany is singing a special this morning with Charles and Jesse. And I'm not there.

Wah wah wah......squeak.

See Jane on TV

Recurring theme lately:

The Masterpiece Theater complete Jane Austen series which began last Sunday night.

Everyone is talking about it. I got Charles to set up our DVR to record it. (the first time we've used it successfully!) So if you like Jane Austen stories, you're only a week behind if this is news to you!

Sick

I stayed home sick today. At church last night I started a dry, itchy cough, then my chest got feeling heavy by the time we got home, I was achy and started losing my voice! Woke up the same way. It was just so sudden...very strange.

So anyway, Charles called me in sick this morning, but then I had to go to the school (which is where I work and called in sick from!) about 10am because Maggie threw up in class, then outside, then 3 times in the nurse's office. She did it again a few times since we got home, but now has kept some gingerale down for about 20 minutes.

SUCH a weird morning!

So we came home, cleaned her up and did laundry (her jacket got hit) and are on the couches with blankets watching an old vhs tape a friend in New Jersey had recorded for me of Shirley Temple movies from TV long ago. (That would be your mom, Meggan) Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is playing now.

I wrote this earlier today and since then we watched Captain January and are now on The Little Colonel and Maggie has eaten some crackers and soup.

Wordless Wednesday: New 'do for the new year

We took the old pup in for her first pro grooming and we think we brought back a different dog. She has the same smile and same nose though.

***To see more entries or to join in and do your own, go to Wordless Wednesday or 5 Minutes for Mom.***

The aloof and the brokenhearted, a lesson forced upon me

One of my favorite tools on the internet is Bloglines, where you can put in the addresses of your favorite blogs and see when they are updated. That way, I don't have to check 60 pages on the internet every day. I would probably have given many of them up by now since they post sporadically. But Bloglines makes checking updates easy. When there is a new post, that blog in the list is highlighted.

One of the blogs I love to read is by Beth Moore, Bible teacher and women's ministry encourager. She is usually hilarious, very personal and honest and often has profound things right in the middle and woven all through her entertaining writing. Today she asked us who are regular readers to check in and give our age, denomination and our favorite 'truth' right now from the Bible. So that got me remembering all the things God's been showing me lately.

I have felt burdened in the past few months to put myself 'out there' more for people. I usually operate under the protection of a certain distance between my heart and other people. It is one of those things that most pastor's wives learn early on, usually after being hurt by the people we let close, just because of human nature and how we're all jerks sometimes. And although it is not right, it is a defense technique that we learn very well. And it is partly my personality to be just a little bit aloof in my relationships. My friends (and family) who read this blog are surprised by how open and personal I am on here because I don't usually do that in person. I feel like I can here because it's not one on one, it's out there to a group and I am not accountable to one person, to remember to connect with them regularly. This sounds really hideous now that I am putting it into words, but I have to be honest to make the point. I love people. I love the people at our church and where I work, but whenever I make the step closer to someone, I usually disappoint them in a number of ways and the distance is protection from that. I am just here and there in my attachments because I like contact with a lot of people and you just can't be BFF's or counselor or comforter to a lot of people.

But here is the thing....the point rather.....God puts up with that only so long before you get a friendly little shove towards someone. And then you find that it is not as hard on you as you thought and you don't tend to think about the disappointing people thing as much as when you were more aloof. So I got my shove and God is starting to give me the words for the people He is putting alongside me....because it is not from me. People who needed a connection and a friend. People who needed spiritual advice or comfort.....and prayer. I can't tell you how many people I have pulled aside and prayed for lately and it has really blessed them to be cared for like that. (by God, not me) And then the answers! There they come....very faithfully. God is amazing and although I may disappoint people in things like not remembering birthdays *cringe* or forgetting to call them when I should, but God never disappoints. I am usually a goofball and not a "Let's talk about that" kind of person. That always scared me off in the past, I think because of my personality. But God, who gives us inborn personalities, also equips us with supernatural gifts of the Spirit just when we need them. Because like I said, it was not my choice to go deeper. These people sought me out or were brought to my attention by the Lord.

I had to learn that it is not me who is the true Friend. It's Jesus. And we need to let Jesus care for people who are disconnected and lonely, overwelmed or hurting through us. And no, I just can't do it....but HE can....and He does. And i just wanted to share that in case you are needing to put yourself 'out there' a little more for others. Because, as Psalm 34 says,

17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them;
he delivers them from all their troubles.

18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

And often, He wants to use US to be His hands and feet in drawing close to those brokenhearted.

And to be 'aloof', we would just be 'a fool' when God gives the shove. (I'm really wanting to say 'from above' here but will refrain since this is supposed to be serious.)

A hard night's day...

Our burglar alarm went off at 4:30am. NO ONE in my house woke up except for me!! I had to pound on my husband to wake him up! We went running around looking for the open window or door, then push the button on the system that says which sensor went off (like smart people that we are, after running around the house looking) It was the back sliding door and when we looked, the sensor had fallen off. My adreneline was pumping so hard I could feel it moving like waves through me and my heart was beating so HARD I though I was going to have a heart attack.

It fell off again while I was at work and our 17 year old had turned on the alarm and left the house. So the police came, etc. just after I got home. (she leaves 15 minutes before I get home) It made me shake all over again just to have to talk to the police, show my ID, tell them why the alarm went off, etc. I'm so stressed out....bet I have several more gray hairs after today. It reminded me too much of last summer when I scared a burglar out of our house when I pulled up in the driveway.

I can see how people would have stress reactions and anxiety attacks after traumatic events if such small things make my system react like it did.

Questioning Authority

Carol, at She Lives wants your opinion on a new movie. It hits the theaters in February and will either be shuffled over, cause a controversial stir, or it could open people's minds to questioning modern science propaganda and go on a journey of finding the truth to how our world began.

I had kind of heard about this project, but not enough to really examine it. After watching the trailer, I am excited about it! My husband was a biology major in college, taught science in a Christian high school for 5 years and talks about scientific things in his sermons often. Plus my dad was a Christian with very strong scientific leanings. So this is right up my alley! Ben Stein is a very talented guy. He just cracks me up on the Wonder Years and other movie bits. It is cool to see him doing something so meaningful, although he's been doing this a while....it's just now being brought to our attention.

I do not think scientists will be flocking in to see it, but everyday people will be....and those are the people who need to understand that scientific education and research in this country is largely filled with propaganda for an unproven theory.

The truth (in most areas) will set you free. Propaganda just leads you around by the snout. ;)

Now, there are a lot of scientists who do not put stock in Darwin's theory. None of it has actually ever been scientifically proven. And just because someone is exploring intelligent design does not mean they are a seeker of Christ or of religion at all....people just want truth and all of the scientific evidence and discoveries keep pointing to a purposeful design in the universe. There are also a lot of Christians who believe in a form of evolution, and that God is the one who got the ball rolling. So we can't generalize, but it doesn't really look like he does in the movie.

It looks like Stein simply wants to be heard....to provide a whisper in the public ear of questioning the authorities that be and not be afraid to explore other possibilities.

I have to be honest. I do hope that this movie will help spur people on to seeking God....seeking ultimate Truth. But I have always been irked by science books, television shows and some, but not all teachers trying to shove Darwinism down our minds. I would really love to see the scientific world FREE to explore all the possibilities, not just their personal leanings.

Oh yeah, so go over and tell Carol what you think and watch the trailer.

List of the week

Okay, well you know when I said I was going to try to post on this blog on weekdays and not weekends? Eh....not so much lately.

I'm pooped and although there are blogables here and there, I just can't get the brain to put words down.

Here are some things that have happened lately. I could blog on them, but I'd better just give them a mention and spark your curiousity and creativity with filling in the details.....

1. School's back in, so I am working every day again. I was MISSED. Yes, I think the littles like having me back. It's nice to be missed.

2. Maggie switched schools and is now going to school around the block, where I work. She likes it. She was very excited today to report to me that she did NOT get 'invited' to come to the tutoring program. lol

3. Ladies' kick off night for our winter Bible studies, beginning next week. It was good food, very nice and easy fellowshipping and a really positive, inspiring speaker. More on that later I am thinking.... because it got ME thinking.

4. My feet do not like my work shoes. They ache. And I do a lot of standing, walking and milling about keeping kids in line at work.

5. I like playing cards...real cards that you have to shuffle, moving them around with your hands instead of clicking on them....with real people....in groups, with partners. My kids like it too.

6. Going to bed at 10pm again after staying up until the wee sma's during Christmas break is hard. Getting up at 6am is harder.

7. My dog likes me best....I kind of like it but it's kind of annoying too. My husband is jealous.

Word of the Year

Get ready...click the link...Chris Rice gave us a heads up on the announcement of the Word of the Year!

TA DA!

We had to play around with various settings to get this video the correct size to upload it. One of the settings we changed was the picture quality and it can't be redone without going back to the original camera downloading and then editing, adding music, etc processes. So here it is in low quality!

As you can see, this is after Maisy got shaved by a maniac groomed, so all her nice ringlets are gone. At the end of the movie, they are snuggling and this is exactly what happens when you tuck Maisy under your neck. She gets limp and very sleepy! It's so funny.

Making movies

Well, I took a little break there, didn't I? i have been kind of busy, but doing fun stuff, so it's okay. The other day I was enjoying a nice warm day, sitting out on the porch swing with Maggie and our dog, Maisy playing in the grass. I took advantage and ran in to get the camera....and decided to try out the video mode of the camera. It worked great! I took a short movie of them playing, then I worked for a couple of days in my spare time trying to add music and title page to it. Then it took about 3 more days to figure out how to CUT off the music that lagged for 2 minutes past the movie's end. I was soooo happy to figure it out.

But now I can't seem to upload it to either photobucket or youtube. I am so perturbed! So if I finally ever get it uploaded, i will post it here. It's very cute....just an experiment. And if i don't smash everything with a hammer before figuring it out, I may do more of this later.....

Maggie is off for 3 days to our former town with some friends of ours. It is eerily lonely here....although I'm sure I could get used to it for 3 days only.