Thunderless parenting

My junior high daughter had a ball point pen that leaked all over her pencil pouch and got it on her fingers while driving home from school today. But then she reached over and purposely WIPED THEM ON THE BACK SEAT OF MY CAR!!! Her name was MUD very enthusiastically for a few minutes, then I told her she'd have to clean it off when we got home. I told her how it would take a LONG time because ink stains SO badly, "blah blah blah, rant rant rant". We looked up 'getting ink out of upholstery' on google. So she took my hairspray out to the car and after one spray and a quick scrub it came right up.

I hate it when my thunder goes *pfft*

But apparently hairspray will do the trick. (on ink, but also on humility)

Mother of all crock pots...and her baby

I told e-mom, at Chrysalis that I would post a picture as soon as I got the crock pot that she gave me for pastor's (wife) appreciation month. Thanks again e-mom! I am cooking chicken jambalaya in it tonight. (It has a 6.5 quart capacity....huge!....and it also came with this little baby crock pot, 2 cup capacity for party dips....cute!)

Scavenging for Treasures?

I'm playing in a scavenger hunt for ministry wives. If you are a new visitor from the Treasure hunt, WELCOME to the nest!

The Treasures

1.  First Name
Christie

2.  State and Country of Residence
Arizona

3.  Husband’s Ministry Title

Pastor

4.  Length of time in Current Ministry Location
Three and a half years

5.  Children?  If yes, give gender and ages.
Hannah, 22
Bethany, 19
Emma, 17
Maggie, 12

6.  Number of unique homes in which you’ve lived during your marriage.
Garage apartment
Mobile home
Brick parsonage with scary basement
Ranch style parsonage by a creek
Small home with big mortgage in big city

7.  Cook Sunday lunch or eat out?
Unplanned, usually eat at home

8.  Typically on time for Sunday School or not?
Typically: running by the seat of my pants late; lately: early (I have to set up the coffee pot!)

9.  Favorite TV Show
The Mentalist, House

10.  Something you watch/like/do that you would never tell the church people.
I would love to have a mildly restored VW bus. (but couldn't drive it in traffic here!)

11.  Most annoying church-related pet peeve.
People who tell me things (usually complaints) so that I will tell the pastor about it and he will fix it. People who constantly drain him or hog his attention.

12.  One thing you need to throw away but can’t bring yourself to do it.
I just purged the house, including my closet, so I have no answer!

13.  The one food you can not live without.
Chocolate

14.  Parsonage or have your own home?
We own our first home after 25 years of marriage. (well, the bank lets us think we own it)

15.  Freak when the doorbell rings or always ready for a visitor?
Both! I used to love visitors but nowadays I'm worn out from work and our schedule.

Stuff I like

*I got a job! Since being laid off last May, I have had not a whiff of a job lead until now. My daughter Beth emailed me a job posting (she does the job postings for her office at a college where she works) for a preschool assistant job. It was part time but with the potential of being closer to full time by January. I applied and took in my application, was asked to come back that afternoon for an interview and she hired me on the spot! It turns out that I'll be 8-11am until December when I will be working 8-3pm. Yeah, I thought it was really part timey and it turned into more hours than I had last year, but God knows what we need and hopefully it will really help with 3 girls in college next year!

*One of the blogs I read is Stuff Christians Like. Very funny, kinda snarky and always easy to identify with and makes you laugh at yourself....or your church. Today's blog post almost made me choke when I saw it. SO funny and something that drives me crazy!

*I also got my coupon for my new crockpot and ice cream today! Thank you e-mom for the wonderful gift! (it is for pastor appreciation month) You are a blessing!

Iced Pumpkin Cookies

These are yummy little darlins. I doubled the recipe (to take to the kids at AWANA) and rolled the dough into 1 inch balls, so they were small and cute and there were bazillions of them! Thank you to Brandy and Ariel for helping roll, bake and ice!

Iced Pumpkin Cookies

(Yield 3 dozen)

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 
2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.
3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.
4. To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency.

Update on prayer for Polly

Please continue to lift up little Polly in prayer in the next few weeks. Here is an update on Polly. She is still seizure free and has regained the motor coordination she had lost from the stroke. She needs to stay seizure free for a few more weeks so doctors can do two brain procedures on her. Lots of tests and trials coming up for this little girl! Thank you for your prayers.

Much ado about fuzz

One of my household chores is to trim the dog. She is bichon/poodle and grows fuzzy, curly fur like a machine. She doesn't like to be trimmed though and struggles and wiggles the entire time. I can't even do her feet so she often looks like she's got slippers on. (when I get to her feet, she gnaws on me while I'm cutting and she is constantly pulling away from me very hard at the same time)

The other day I started in on her. I just got her head done, but it wasn't 'done' done, just scissored and very wonky looking. Her neck and body were like a huge puff with her little petite head stuck on, no neck. We could not look at her without giggling, so she was starting to feel self-conscious.

So this afternoon I worked up my nerve to continue. I got her back, sides, bottom, and neck done. So now she has huge puff legs and an under carriage of fuzz. I will try to finish her off (play on words and my attitude) tomorrow, but her legs and feet are the worst part of the job, so I might be putting it off. (just sayin) I guess it's worth saving $40 to clip her myself, but it's a week long process. After I get her all scissored off, I have to even her out with an electric clipper....and that is like trying to shave a greased piglet while it's in hyper mode. She is just lucky she's the best dog we've had, because she is a PILL!

Here are some of her many 'looks'. (because I cannot consistently make her look the same way)

Short ears, very puppy-looking.
Youtube addict, mid-ear length. She like the funny cat videos.
Crazed maniac.
MOOstachio.
Jay Leno look.
Muzzle-poufed.
Flat head.
Emo legs.
Muppet. (or "I've got a lazy mom who won't trim me")
She is the one on the left. (I think)
Dandelion, or, the "early look".
Last one.
Basket case.
Oh, and her E.T. look is at the top of the page.

Happy puppies to you all!

I'm praying for Polly!

I have a new button on my right side bar, Praying for Polly. My dear friend and fellow PW Gillian has a sweet little girl who has Down Syndrome and has developed a new syndrome called Moya moya syndrome. Here is the story. Please pray for Polly and her family as they wait one month before she can have 2 brain surgeries to correct what is dangerously happening in her brain. They have to wait a month after the stroke she had to do the surgery.

This is my same friend who this year has adopted a new baby from Ukraine who also has Down Syndrome. I had a button for bringing Evangeline home for a long time too and she is finally with her new family. So this is the same family. What a year for them. Thank you for your prayers.

The Advent Conspiracy

Have you started your holiday shopping yet??

Well if you haven't, why not do something radically different this year?

Go here and ponder the difference you could have this year in your home during the holidays. Last year we did this. We didn't give to the charity they promote on the site, but we did give to foreign missions. And we made inexpensive homemade gifts for each other that were so cool to open on Christmas morning.

I'll write more about this later, including homemade gift ideas. I just can't tell you what I'm making this year. ;)

I won 2 prizes!

I won a prize!!

My friend e-mom over at Chrysalis, an e-zine (electronic magazine) had a drawing for a $25 ice cream gift card. She put the names of frequent commenters in a hat and pulled out my name. I was really happy, I love winning things. But then she added a special prize for me.

She wrote a post for pastor appreciation month on pastor's wives and I left a comment. Something was said about a crock pot idea, I don't know, hard to remember. *blush* So she is sending me a crock pot as a bonus!! How cool is that?

Anyway, she is very cool and I appreciate her as a blogging friend and comrade! She is always sticking up for us pastor's wives and leaving me comments on my blog....she is very encouraging! So thank you e-mom!!!

There will be pictures at a later time and probably a pot of chili or chicken too.