Here's What Let's Do

Because together we are powerful

2011-11-06T16:09:00.000-05:00

Ok, people. I need your help.

I love science fiction. I love it so much that I think I would die if someone made this genre illegal. I dream science and SF the way I dream poetry. As a result, there are some stories that are simply a part of who I am. Stories that have actually changed the way I think or the way that I interpret the world around me. After all, that is the goal of good science fiction, and always has been.

Anyhoo... I have been trying for what seems like forever to find one of these fantastic stories. The problem is, that I can't figure out what this story is called or who wrote it. As a result, I have been unable to find it again. It was in a science fiction short story anthology I read once. That's ALL I know.

I am hoping that someone, somewhere also read this story and can tell me what it is.

Here's a synopsis.

Two astronauts/explorers encounter the remnants of a once grand civilization on a distant planet. In the remains of a city are a couple of locals who travel by jet packs or some sort of hover/flight equivalent.

The explorers want to replicate the technology and desperately plead with the locals to explain how the packs work. (perhaps even how all of the technology they see around them works) The locals are unable to answer. One of the explorers believes that the locals are purposefully refusing to answer the questions, that they are unwilling to share the knowledge. He becomes increasingly agitated and angry.

The second explorer has a moment of insight at the end of the story where he asks the first to explain how a match works.

The first says, "You take it out of the box and strike it to ignite."

The second then repeats the question. "No. Not 'How do you use one?' I meant, 'How do they work? What's on the match stick? What's on the strike strip? How do you make a match?' "

The first stares at him, dumbstruck, realizing they will never understand the technology because the locals' culture had advanced beyond the point where they knew how to create what they used.

Any ideas? I read this story probably 20 years ago. It is one of my very favorite moments in reading, but I cannot recall what the story is called....

You will be my hero forever if you know what story this is.

-- Ahem -- Sorry about that

2011-10-27T17:20:00.000-04:00

I'm so glad you have a sense of humor. :)

Perhaps you'll like this one I wrote in college a little better?

Moss

A fuzz of furry softness -

shining - green and gold

A forest, unseen, below

A bad haiku, just for you

2011-10-26T21:14:00.000-04:00

Fall in VA

Puff of fur and meat:

mostly inside out, poor thing.

Should have looked both ways.

More Change on the wind

2011-10-15T21:02:00.000-04:00

Ah, Change.

I always wonder why things can't just be stable with my health, but as many of us with auto-immune disorders know, that's not always the case.

In a frustrating turn of events, I've started to feel pretty lousy again, and my doctor put me on a new fast to rule out another food-driven issue. I am now restricted to eating only

fruits
vegetables
meat
fish

No dairy, no grains, no potatoes or corn (because I eat them both almost daily).

Good news: I've already lost 5 pounds.
Bad news: I have no idea how to cook...

So.... THE POINT of this little story is to reach out to those of you who may be vegetarians or who eat a wide variety of vegetable dishes. I like vegetables, I really do. But...

I need carbs. I can't really function well or keep my blood sugar as stable as I like without them.
I need variety. There's only so many salads I can handle.
I need to stay away from soy and dairy.
I need to do this for at least 2 weeks.
I need ideas. How do you keep variety and interest in what you eat? How do you keep your nutrition balanced?

Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated. If you have a favorite reference, cookbook, website, or recipe you can share, that would be awesome.

So, I had this really great idea....

2011-08-04T13:48:00.000-04:00

But I have no idea now what it was!

- le sigh -

My brain's on summer break, for sure. Instead of an interesting, original post, please enjoy some nonsense, on me.

I had to put my fish in time out

2011-07-07T17:41:00.000-04:00

A few years ago, I got a fish tank (with all the accessories, of course!) for my birthday. I did some research, and decided to purchase Cichlids. They're pretty much the closest looking to tropical fish that you can get in freshwater fish. They're also somewhat aggressive. They did great for a while, and then - without warning - they all ate each other.

I was so upset that I left the tank untended for about a year. Maybe longer.

I've repopulated it now with Mollies. Here's a shot of them for you. I call it "Mollies in Motion."

In honor of Matt

Yeah, it's pretty much impossible for me to photograph them, so I made some videos for you.

This first video shows the creamsicle molly, mickey mouse platy, and swordtail platy.

The second video shows the rainbow shark, balloon molly, the other fish, and - in the back - a dalmatian molly named Perdie.

So what's the problem, you ask? This is the problem:

Pongo

Pongo, the other dalmatian molly, is in time out. Several fish have died recently, been replaced, and died again. I couldn't figure out why. The water was fine, the food was fine. The snail population healthy. The algae count low. Today, one of the balloon mollies finally stood up to him, and I realized what the problem is. It's him.

Mean, mean, MEAN little Pongo.

Perdie misses him, but if he's going to insist on being a brute, he's gonna have to continue to sit in his time-out jar in the corner of the tank. I just hope he learns his lesson.

Cactus Update

2011-07-01T16:58:00.001-04:00

Happy summer, everybody!

I came today to post a silly story I'd written, but my comment moderator was FULL of cactus questions! FULL, I say!

I find this excellent for two reasons:

People are still reading my old posts
I just bought new cacti!

See my coral cactus? It's the large one in the pot on the right.

The others are some little friends I bought for it to hang out with.

My paternal grandmother always had a window full of cactus, and I remember spending a lot of time trying to figure out which ones I could safely poke. :) I loved how she had so many different kinds, and Lowe's had little bitty cacti on sale for pretty cheap, sooo....

Cactus Day! Huzzah!

Let me introduce you:

1. You all remember the coral cactus, right?

Well, it's grown quite a bit, and I moved it out of the polka dot pot and in with some little bitty flowering cacti.

2. Pink Crown cacti are the whiter appearing two around the coral's base.

They're actually a dark green, but there are so many bristles that you can barely see it. They put out very pretty little pink flowers all over the top of the cactus bulb. If you look very closely, you can see that there are two types of bristles: the straight white ones and slightly curved reddish ones. The curved ones are just like velcro. They stick to everything, even skin, at the slightest touch. (Guess how I know.)

3. The next little guy is a Rebutia Miniscula. It buds out from the base as seen below.

BUT -- It also flowers, and also in a dark pink. So pretty!

4. This next one might be my new favorite. It's nicknamed the Devil's Tongue barrel cactus.

Lookit those spines! You don't want to mess with this guy. It was quite challenging to get this one out of his store pot and into the coral's old pot.

Take a close look at the spines: they're ridged, curved, and very hard. You can actually drag your finger down one and hear the spines - that's how tough they are.

That brings us to the last pot.

On a side note: I was very fortunate to find these shallow pots for the cacti. I didn't want them in deep pots or plastic pots, and I was just about to give up on getting more cacti when I found these shallow ones.

There are four different cacti in the pot. I'll keep them here for as long as they're healthy, butI'm not sure how long they can stay together. And that's because....

5. The Pilosocereus Gounellii shown below grows to a mature size of TEN FEET.

I couldn't say no to it, though. It was too awesome.

6. This is the appropriately named Christmas Tree cactus. I luv Christmas!

7. This fluffy guy is a golden ball cactus.

It's the other one in the running for new favorite. The description reads "harmless bristles" (It lies - I'm still picking them out of my hands). The golden ball cactus is definitely golden, but it's not a barrel cactus, exactly. If you look at the base, you'll see that it looks a bit squished. The golden ball cacti are more like squished pillars than balls. As this one grows, the ripples at the bottom will become more pronounced.

8. Finally, the last cactus! This is a Clothed Opuntia.

It really IS harmless to the touch, unless you grab on to it very firmly. The white fuzz is very soft, almost felt-like. It is blooming right now - the shiny green "spikes" are the blossoms. There's two pictures of it here, so you can see its interesting growth patterns.

I'll always be grateful that Grandma got me interested in cacti when I was a kid. I just wish it hadn't taken me so long to get some of my own. I hope you like the cactus as much as I do, and for those of you who are still reading - Thanks for hanging out and being so patient with me!

I hope to write more often for you now that summer's here again.

Pain

2011-01-17T22:22:00.000-05:00

Today was painful.

My daughter lost a friend. My sweet little 13 year old lost one of her best friends in a freak accident. She has no concept of this idea, of grief. I have no idea of how to help her feel this and move through it.

So, we share the pain. We chat when she wants to. We pray. We hug a lot.

It hurts.

I told her today that when one of us hurts, we all hurt. I wish she still couldn't understand that.

Snow Day!

2011-01-12T09:40:00.000-05:00

Happy snow day, everybody. It seems that all my friends, no matter where they live have seen snow in the past few days: Washington, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee.... Man, what a great time for those who love snow.

I hope that those of you who like snow are having fun and that those of you who don't are staying safe and warm.

Enjoy your awesome flakes!

PS to my gluten-free followers: the GF-GF blog has been updated today as well: Check it out.

Summer Reading

2010-07-20T23:58:00.001-04:00

My "new" job keeps me pretty busy during the school year. (I've held my current position for nearly 2 years now, but it still feels pretty new to me!)

As a result of all this busy-ness, I tend to keep recreational reading to a minimum during the school year and make up for it by nearly blinding myself with reading during the summer. -sigh- so happy.....

This summer, I have been reading these books:

The Little Stranger

This was, by far, the best gothic novel I have read in a long, long time. It was superb. And British! :)

Captains Courageous

I couldn't stop thinking about the Discovery Channel's show, The Most Dangerous Catch. I liked this book very much, but Kipling is rather long-winded for my taste, I think. I was ready for the book to be done about 3 chapters from the end.

On the Origin of Species (yes, STILL --- It's pretty dense)

I started reading this forever ago, and it's interesting, but very heavy on the scientific terminology. I was going to finish it this summer, but I left it at work. Oh, well. I am about a third of the way through.

Dune

This has lived up to, and perhaps exceeded, its reputation and my expectations. I cannot wait for the 2nd book. It was not at the library today, so I have requested it.

The Killer Inside Me

I picked this up from a feature stand at the library. It looked creepy and was billed as a "cult classic". I am a sucker for anything that falls into that category. It was riveting. Disturbing. A little gross at times. I loved it.

Infected: A Novel

I will never look at anyone with Morgellon's disease the same way ever again. Or triangles. Or the woods in Michigan. Ever. Very good SF book.

Gypsies

(Note: This cover is icky and tacky. I like my book much better.)

This book was nothing that I expected, and while the title may throw people off of reading it, it really shouldn't. It's a great book about parallel universes and specialized powers without being all magik-y. It was a very quick read, but enjoyable.

I know there was another one that I bought with a gift card at the end of the year,

but now I cannot find it! Hmmm.

I bought it with The Little Stranger. Hmmmm.

I'll let you know when I figure it out.

UPDATED: I remembered! I woke up with the book in mind this morning. It was...

The Windup Girl
A really really good dystopian novel. I couldn't find it because I had given it away to a friend of mine who also loves dystopian novels because Bacigalupi had decided to include two very explicit scenes (the windup girl is working as a prostitute for part of the book) that made me not want to re-read the novel. I liked this book so much in spite of those two scenes, however, because the society portrayed is a plausible one. One that I hope never, ever arrives, but plausible nonetheless.

I also checked out an SF collection of award winning short stories, but I just wasn't in the mood, and I ended up returning it, unread.

Coming up: the books I checked out from the library today:

The Indifferent Stars Above

A novel crafted from a survivor's account of the horrific winter. This was on a featured display.

Cemetery Dance

I don't usually like series, especially long ones. I cannot stop reading the Preston and Child books. Cannot. They are so awesome! A little graphic at times, due to the fact that they usually follow the investigations of Special Agent Pendergast of the FBI's serial killer division. They do write other storylines together at times, and they also each write separately. Any author who makes me look up words to know what's going on makes me happy. I can't wait to read this one.

Wyrm

I really needed this one to be about dragons, but when I read the flap, it said, "The countdown to the millennium has begun and apocalypse is as close as your computer terminal" and "every hacker should read this book." I had to pick it up!

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Chinese historical fiction is one of my favorite genres. I decided to read this one even though the author looked white. I have to admit that I almost put it back when I saw her picture....but never judge a book by its cover, right? I looked her up when I got home, and it seems I have picked up (at random, nearly) her masterpiece. Lisa See is Chinese-American, born in Paris and raised in California. Many of my favorite Chinese authors speak highly of her, and she lived in China to research the history and story of this novel. I can't wait to read this now. I kept it because it reminds me of another favorite of mine: The Secrets of Jin-Shei. I'm very glad now that I did.

2666

This was published posthumously and is billed as "not just the great Spanish-language novel of this decade, but one of the cornerstones that define and entire literature." I wish I could read it in Spanish, but I will have to settle for a translation of Bolano. Again, I picked this up off of the featured display. I really like our librarians, and I've liked almost everything I've picked up from these displays.

Well, that was a long post, but I hope you've made it this far. If you're reading this, won't you add a comment telling me what you've been reading lately? I'm always looking for ideas....

Memory Triggers

2010-07-09T23:42:00.000-04:00

It never ceases to amaze me what triggers the most profound memories.

The smell of ancient, dusty wood or books, and I'm at my grandparents' lake house.
The coo of a mourning dove, and I can hear the water in the canal out front.
A typewriter makes me remember the feel of the carpet under my elbows as I read the "funny books" in Grandpa Hutchinson's den while he types.
The hot smell of popcorn kernels in a hot air popper makes me think of my dad.
The sound of distant Morse Code, and I recall my Uncle Chuck.
Lilacs make me think of my mother.
The smell of cobwebs and hot cement make me think of Grandpa Carley's workshop.
Mockingbirds make me think of my friend Jewell, and Spock makes me think of my friend Beth.
The ping of a well hit ball off a metal bat, and I can feel the reverb in my fingers.

What places you somewhere else, doing something else?

When Gifted Kids Pass Notes

2010-06-23T17:04:00.000-04:00

This is a note I picked up from my students mid-year, but I never got around to sharing it with you. Technically, I didn't take it from them: they surrendered it to me willingly. I think they were rather proud of themselves. The text of the note reads....

What must I do
for a Blue Mountain Dew?

There's nothing to do
The Dews not for you

Y Not
How much u got?

Just enough for me!
So please let me be!

Don't make me bawl
I'm having withdrawl!

My heart wouls sure sink
If I gave away my blue drink

Why give it away
if cash I pay?

It would cost you alot, an arm and a calf
or maybe a dollar, a dollar and a half

Maybe a dollar?
change is a bother

You have a deal.
In this not, please conceal.

That's what Dillon owes me
If you want a dollar, ask he,
Unless you take credit
because I have debit.

At you I must scoff
The deal is now off

Maybe two dollars on Tuesday
I swear I'll pay!

I do not concur
No dew for you, sir.

Spring

2010-04-11T12:48:00.000-04:00

A poem I've been thinking on since last spring....

Spring arrives shyly
          blushing
embarrassed to be caught dressing
uncertain of the fancy gown
          prepared for her party
thinking perhaps that people may laugh
         if she does something wrong
         takes a wrong step in the dance
         allows a petticoat to show
                  a jewel to drop to the ground
                  her corsage to droop.

She's not done this before.
          Older sisters have; they've given instruction

The blush fades
         she takes a deep breath
She shakes out her locks
         golden and green
Dons slippers of purple and white
         a waistcoat of white and yellow-green
         a gown of innumerable blossoms, delicately embroidered
         a blazon of pinks to be-ribbon her hair

Stunning
Beautiful
the belle of the ball

She retires
         the blossoms fall to the ground.
She rests
         and begins to prepare her younger sister.

It's almost like being in Michigan

2010-02-05T16:22:00.002-05:00

If you read the blogs of any other Virginians, you'll know this already, but we're the lucky recipients of a TON of snow this year, and we're all hunkered down for another storm right now.

I've been really really enjoying the snow this year, but not so much the effects on the greater DC area. You Northerners may scoff all you want, but 2" of snow can really shut things down around these parts! We don't have the same response teams and manpower available for clearing roads and parking lots.

...however, I digress.

This weekend brings us the second storm of the year that is supposed to drop more than a foot of snow. THE SECOND! The first was way back in aught nine :) just before Christmas, December 19, 2009.

Sunrise, Dec 20

Jimmy went hunting, and brought back this beauty.

All told, our yard held about 16" of snow, but the official number for our county was 21", I think. I hadn't seen that much snow since 1998, when we got a blizzard right in the middle of a work day. (It was such a bizarre experience that I even wrote a short story about it for one of my college courses.)

The December storm was amazing. It was beautiful! We took our friends sledding, and found out it was the first time they'd ever been. That surprised me, but hey -- we are in the South, right? I enjoyed every minute of that snow before we left for our trip to Michigan to see family. It almost felt like "the old days"! (haha)

I was sad when it melted. In fact, there were a few days in January when it was so warm I didn't even need my coat!

Then -- Winter returned.

Last weekend, just after exams ended: it snowed. We had one church service Sunday for those who could make it, but no school Monday or Tuesday. Tuesday night: more snow. No school Wednesday and a 2hr delay on Thursday. Thursday afternoon, the superintendent decided not to take a chance with our incoming storm for this weekend, and he canceled today's classes, too.

The kids and I celebrated by going shopping and eating lunch at Wendy's, but now the snow is starting to fall. It's pretty, I have nowhere to be, and my exams are all graded. It's really beautiful. I keep telling myself that it's going to get nasty later, but for now: for now, it's just pretty. Who cares if NOAA says we could get more than 2 feet of snow by morning?! It's pretty and I'm ready for it.

I took a few pictures of my favorite branch in the front yard:

Glistening droplets

The snow begins to stick

I'll let you know how much snow we actually get, but what's really interesting about this is that it's supposed to snow again next Tuesday and Wednesday. AND - as if that's not enough - there's another 4 systems lined up after that one that could bring us even more snow.

I may never get to teach again until Spring at this rate!

I love the snow. It makes it feel as if it's really winter and

not just a "dead" season around here. Let it fall!

The first, The best, The only: ROGUE

2010-01-23T13:38:00.000-05:00

I love RPGs. They are, by far, my favorite type of video game, and the love started a long, long, long time ago (the 1980s).

Until recently, though, I could never remember the name of that very first PC game that started my love on dungeon exploration, weapon acquisition, and monster bashing. I did a little wandering about the web, and I found it: ROGUE. Yes, yes! I was so excited! Here's the cover of the manual from EPYX Computer Software:

Doesn't it look exciting?! In this game, you fight your way through level after level of dungeons, looking for armor and weapons to help you on your quest to find the Amulet of Yendor. You can read Rogue's whole story at RougeLikeDevelopment.org where I found these pictures. It's a fantastic journey of adventure and excitement!

BTW - the actual screenshot looks like this:

I played this game for HOURS. Days, even. It was truly, truly AWESOME, and I thank you, Michael Toy, Glenn Wichman, and Ken Arnold for using the computers at UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkley to inspire a whole division of video games that have kept be happy for my whole entire life.

Thank you.

PS. Want to see what it's like to play Rogue? (sorta) Try out the web-hosted Hexatron Rogue. But, don't blame me if you get addicted.

(aaaah)

2010-01-08T17:23:00.000-05:00

Have you ever noticed how many different ways this sound is used?

If someone is hurt, we say, "Aw, you poor thing!"
If we are frightened, we yell, "AH!"
If we are impressed, we breathe, "Oooo.... Aaah..."
If we think something is cute, we coo, "Awwww!" with that squeaky sound at the end.
If we are fighting, we fiercely bellow, "AAAAARGH!"
If we figure something out, we let out a triumphant "Aah!" or "Ah-Hah!"
If we step in a puddle of water in our socks, we sqeual, "Aagh!"

I love the weird things our language can do.

What makes you go, "Aaah!"?

Surprise!

2010-01-07T11:00:00.001-05:00

I have a new blog: Good Food, Gluten Free.

I told you I was plotting! I've always been a thinker. I think and I think and I plan and I plot. Eventually, I get around to taking action. Eventually has officially arrived.

I have taken all the food posts from this blog, copied them into the new blog, and from here on out, that's where all the food posts will stay. If you're a follower here for gluten-free reasons, please switch right on over with me! Who knows? There may be something in it for you if you're the first follower... hint-hint!

If you're here because of my charming personality (or just because you're stuck with me because we're related), have no fear! Here's What Let's Do is not going away! Now that I have decided for real and for true what I'm doing out here in blog-land, posts will be forthcoming... eventually. (ha!)

See you on the flip side.

Greetings, Followers!

2010-01-06T20:21:00.003-05:00

I have not been ignoring you, I promise! Rather, I have been burying myself in a combination of way too much work and way too much video gaming. It's a lovely combination. -sigh-

It's a combo that also makes my family wonder if I've fallen off the face of the earth! (Hi, family)

In addition to work and play, I have also been scheming, plotting, and entering random bloggy contests. Hang tight, loyal followers. I'll be back soon. In the meantime, please enjoy some of this tasty happy goodness from my Winter Break vacation:

A well-fed Mikki is a happy Mikki

2009-11-22T17:42:00.002-05:00

Just for kicks, I checked the label of my favorite granola bar again while I was at the grocery store. Lo and behold: no more wheat! I can eat my Nature Valley granola bars again!

Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

(Of course you have to be willing to eat oats... and I am.)

I've had 2 of the 4 kinds already, and yum, yum, yum. I am happy.
-sigh-

It's so awesome when I get back one of my favorite foods.

When Spam gets silly...

2009-11-12T17:41:00.002-05:00

Yes, that's right, this little spam email is titled "Meat with no bullets easy chewable food". I really don't want to know what website one of my co-workers had to visit to get THAT spam into the system.

Shameless promotion time!

2009-11-07T09:09:00.002-05:00

My son, Jimmy, is selling popcorn to help raise money for his Boy Scout Pack.

Over at Trails-end.com, he has set up an account and made this fantastic little version of himself to help out.

Want to support scouts and help him try to earn some cool prizes? Let me know, and I'll shoot you an email with instructions on how to make sure your purchase is credited to him.

Happy munching!

Two Months Down, Eight to Go!

2009-11-02T20:20:00.002-05:00

Didja miss me?!

Well, the second month of work has come and gone, and I am terribly behind where I should be. Ah, me. The paperwork! It burns us, it does.

On the bright side, Jim still loves me, the first marking period ends on the 10th, the new version of V begins tomorrow, and I just bought a whole pack of Andes mints FOR MYSELF. mmmm.

Catch you later, you loyal readers, you. Hopefully the insanity dust will settle soon and I can write you some more interesting posts... ... ... like how in my dream last night I was sending emails to Dracula. Super awesome.

Things I love Love LOVE

2009-10-01T20:49:00.002-04:00

(notice that it doesn't say "people"... just "things")

Tools
Reading college essays
Starting a new month
Video games
Brownies
Power tools
Warm towels
Zombie movies
Knowing people are praying for my friend Jill
Sending care packages to soldiers in Iraq (want to help? I'm getting one ready right now!)
Reading a new book
The teenage psyche
SCIENCE! (insert flash of lightning)
Re-reading an old book
Fixing stuff
Learning new things
Field trips
Music
Spirit Week
Blogs

What do you like?

Jogvan Bjorn in Washington DC (aka "We <3 Pictures!")

2009-09-23T17:41:00.008-04:00

I'm sorry it took so long to get this up! It's been nearly a week since Jogvan (pronounced yek-vun) was here, but I've been having some technical difficulties. So, without further ado...

Here is our trip to show Jogvan (and Vienna) around DC.
(pssst! Want to know more about Jogvan? Check out his travels on Shinta's blog)

We started our trip by driving to the nearest Metro station to catch the train into the city.

Jogvan was very excited to ride the Metro for the first time. We managed to get a car that was fairly empty at first...

...then we looked out the window for a while and watched the cities roll by...

...Jogvan caught his first glimpse of the Capitol as we were going past Ronald Reagan International Airport...

...but soon, the rocking of the train made him drowsy, and Jogvan settled down in my camera bag to catch a quick nap.

We arrived in DC, and the first thing Jogvan saw was the Washington monument peeking out from behind the Department of Agriculture buildings, so we hurried off to the National Mall for a better look.

Jogvan thought it was beautiful in the afternoon sunshine.

He also really liked the red-roofed, collumned buildings that were nearby.

Silly Jogvan! You can't climb the monuments!

As we walked around, Jogvan settled back into his favorite spot - the camera bag - so that he could see everything. He wanted to see the Capitol again, so we started the long walk down the Mall in that direction.

We stopped at a souvenier shop and let Jogvan choose something to remember his trip. He picked up this little brown bear. It's tummy says, "I love Washington, DC".

We also stopped to get a photo of Jogvan with my favorite Smithsonian building. It looks like a castle, doesn't it? It's a great museum.

Jogvan took a break by this lamp post. (I love it when the metals turn green! It looks so neat!)

We were finally close enough to get a good shot of Jogvan and the Capitol: he was so excited!

We turned off of the Mall next, and headed over towards the Smithsonian buildings. We found the beautiful Mary Livingston Ripley garden with a fountain, and Jogvan begged to go in, so we wandered the garden paths for a while.

Jimmy was ready for a break, too.

Jogvan and I found some pretty flowers.

Soon, it was time to head home, so we went to the Smithsonian Metro station. It's one of the underground stations, and Jogvan really liked the tiled ceilings.

Here come the trains! Time to go back home.

We had so much fun with Jogvan, and we can't wait for him to meet Vienna and give her all of our love.

Jogvan has arrived!

2009-09-20T09:23:00.008-04:00

Have you ever heard of Flat Stanley, the little guy who school kids send around the world on wild adventures? Well, meet Jogvan (pronounced yek-vun) Bjorn: he's on an adventure of his own.

Jogvan stopped in with us here in Virginia during his travels, and we are so excited to have him visit! Here's his traveling box from Switzerland.

When we opened it, Annie said, "Look! You got Switzerland's golden ticket!" And you know what? She's right. It is like winning a prize. It's very exciting to have this little house guest.

He was so excited to get out of the box that he started dancing.

Then he made friends with our Rottie, Bill.

Jogvan got to be a guest "speaker" at our church today, too. He went up on stage and soaked up lots of love and prayers to take back to his little Vienna!

Pastors Rich and Jay with Jogvan in first service

Pastors Rich and Jay with Jogvan in second service

I'm so excited that all my friends got to meet Jogvan and pray for Vienna today!

We have one more afternoon together, and then he's off to Pennsylvania, and my friend Erin.

Yummmmm. Chili.

2009-09-16T19:15:00.007-04:00

It's Wednesday, and time for another recipe for my recipe group: What Can I Eat that's Gluten Free? hosted by Linda at the Gluten-Free Homemaker.

This week's recipe? Chili!

Ingredients:

Olive oil
2 onions
1 head of garlic, chopped
4 bell peppers, various colors
1 large carrot, sliced

2 small cans green chilis
1 can dark kidney beans, drained
1 can light kidney beans, drained
1 can pinto beans, drained
2 cans tomato sauce
2 cans diced tomatoes

2T chili powder
1/2t cayenne
1t garlic powder
1T oregano
2T basil
1T cumin

1 to 1 1/2 lb ground beef

A note: This is NOT a spicy chili. If you want spicy, then add several different kinds of peppers of whatever heat level you like. You can also increase the amount of cayenne pepper as well.

Preparation:

1. In a large kettle, heat olive oil over medium heat.

2. When warmed, add onion and garlic. Saute until onions begin to clear.

3. Add diced peppers and sliced carrot. Stir occasionally.

4. Meanwhile, in a separate skillet, brown meat while veggies cook. Drain, if necessary.

5. Add seasoning to veggies and stir well.

6. Add canned items to veggies.

7. Add meat.

8. Stir well.

9. Simmer on low for an hour or two, at least, or transfer to crockpot.

Note: Chili is best if allowed to cook for at least 6-7 hours (overnight). Always best the second day.

Enjoy!

(PS - Hats off to my mom-in-law for the original recipe. Which of course I lost. Three times. And then just made up again from memory. Thanks!)

1 Down!

2009-09-11T23:46:00.002-04:00

Today was the last day of the first week of the school year, and I think it's gonna be a good one! I have several good groups of kids, nad interesting things to teach, and -ahem- IAMNOTTEACHINGANYTHINGNEW!!!!!!!!!!!

Needless to say, I am somewhat excited by that.

That's not to say that it's going to be an easy year: I still have four preps (and, yes, that's a lot), and I'm still pursuing my National Board Certification (and, yes, that's a lot), and I still have two kids, a house, three pets, and a hubby to take care of (but that's fun).

But it's gonna be a good year.

35 weeks left!

Pork loin with apple-raisin sauce

2009-09-09T18:56:00.002-04:00

It's Wednesday! Time to find out what you can eat that's Gluten Free. Thanks, as always, to Linda for hosting: Check out her blog to see everybody's recipes.

Step One:
Slow roast a pork loin (or your favorite cut).
Season with: garlic, onion, salt, pepper, basil, and oregano
Top with: raisins and sliced green apple
Add a little moisture, if you like - a splash of water or broth, maybe

Step Two:
After meat is finished, remove roast and cover to rest.

Step Three:
With a hand blender (or whatever), blend the juices, apples, and raisins
Strain into a saucepan or skillet to remove excess pulp and meat bits
Heat to boiling and slightly thicken with a mix of cold water and corn starch
Season to taste

Step Four:
Slice meat and top with apple-raisin sauce
Enjoy
Yum

PS: Sauce is also good with potatoes, even when it's not really quite thick enough to be gravy.

Caprese

2009-09-02T20:35:00.005-04:00

Ok, so I forgot that this week was supposed to be an appetizer week! Grr. Well, here's a salad that I usually have as an appetizer. (Does that count?)

Check out Linda's blog carnival (What Can I Eat that's Gluten-Free) for the other appetizer recipes this week. She also just posted the August summary, in case you're looking for some variety.

------------------------
Caprese - a summer salad

Ingredients:
Fresh, vine-ripe tomatos, sliced, room-temperature
Fresh mozzarella, sliced
Fresh basil, torn into small pieces
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper

Optional ingredient: Balsamic vinegar (I always used to add this, but it is mostly an American addition, from what I've been told. I tried Caprese without, and it is better. The flavor balance changes dramatically. It's a very different dish if you add the vinegar.)

Layer the tomato and mozzarella slices on a plate.
Sprinkle with basil salt and pepper.
When ready to serve, drizzle a little olive oil over the whole dish.
If you're a vinegar person, you can sprinkle a little of the balsamic over the plate as well, but just before serving. The vinegar combined with the salt and tomatoes will turn everything mushy if left sitting.

The reason why is because....

2009-08-31T16:30:00.002-04:00

(Did you just cringe when you read that? Good! You should! It's wrong...very, very wrong.)

The following are reasons completely unrelated to blogging that probably have a lot to do with why I am not blogging:

It's back to school time for teachers.
I miss my kids.
My hormones hate me.
I'm trying to plan for yet another new class.
The cat is feeling cuddly.
I found gf crackers that actually taste like crackers.
There are new video games in the house.
My kids are texting me.
I found my old Jezzball and Chips PC games.
The Saunder's chocolate sauce is calling my name.
The dog is sick.
Jim gives good hugs.
My Netflix movies came in.
Our friends called and invited us out to dinner.
I like to cook.

What else do you do? (or do you just sit here online and let the world roll by?)

Gasp! Buried Treasure!

2009-08-26T21:09:00.009-04:00

When I was working on my degree and certification, I had to take a class on how to use a computer. (Family: have you stopped laughing yet? Ok, I'll go on.) One of the things that I had to do was create a website with a PowerPoint-based photo slide show.

Today, I found those photos on some old 3.5 disks! I thought they were lost. I give you now a quick (somewhat incomplete) peek at my life and family in photos, circa 2003.

Granny Weidler

Great-Grandma Hutchinson

Grandma and Grandpa Hutchinson

My Mom

Me

Me at age 3

Me in Kindergarten

Grandpa and Me, Sault Ste. Marie

Grandpa's 70th Birthday party

Me with Mom

Me with Mom and Dad

Me with Mom and matching perms
(what exactly were we thinking?!)

Wedding Day with my Jim!

The infamous Marker Boy

My lovely daughter in a jacuzzi tub.

Probably my all-time favorite photo of Jimmy, age 3.

Little Annie in Kindergarten after her first big hair cut.

Me and the yearbook kids from my student teaching

Me, 2003

Steak Ceasar

2009-08-26T18:11:00.002-04:00

It's Wednesday, and time for "What can I Eat that's Gluten Free?"

Ingredients:
Thin-sliced steaks, any cut. (I prefer strips or sirloins for this salad.)
Romaine lettuce
Cardini's original salad dressing
Parmesan and/or romano cheese
Thin-sliced red onion and tomato
GF croutons

Procedure:
I like to either marinade/glaze the meat with the salad dressing or season it with garlic powder, salt and pepper before grilling. After grilling, let the meat sit for a few minutes before slicing thin.

Prepare salad as usual.

...and a gracious good evening to you.

2009-08-25T07:13:00.002-04:00

My dad says this ALL the time when he calls me on the phone. It's like his catch phrase or something. :)

I get to see him today (probably) because I bought him a present on our recent trip to Michigan. That's why I wasn't posting, BTW. No internet access for me on the trip until near the last day.

So what did I get him for a present?

Pop, Pickles, and Chocolate Sauce.

(Really?!)
(Yes, really.)

When one of us goes home to MI, we always buy pop, pickles, and chocolate sauce. Why? Because there are three things that we love that you can't get in VA.

Pop

Pickles

Chocolate Sauce

Yum!

The Dreaded Sleepover

2009-08-15T07:19:00.003-04:00

Why is everyone so afraid of sleepovers?

...and I don't mean the kids, either. One time - just one! - have I ever had a kid ask to call dad and go home. I'm talking adults. What is it about sleepovers that frighten you?

I have found that these are the #1 easiest parties to give.

There's no need for goodie bags (don't even get me started on those.)
They're cheap.
Kids love them.
It's amazing just how many kids love either Lucky Charms or Cheerios Honey Nut cereal.
Glow sticks can entertain them for hours. Literally -- HOURS.
So can any action figures/Littlest Pet Shop toys
Ditto for Legos, flashlights, lightsabers/Nerf guns, and BBQ chips

Our kids take turns getting a birthday party. We started doing this because we were poor, in college, and living on ramen noodles and hope. We continued it because now that we're slightly less poor, out of college, and living on canned soup and student loan bills, the kids can have either a really nice present every year or a great party.

Back to the sleepover: they love them. Ever since they were old enough to have one, they want them all the time. ALL THE TIME. There have been 3 this month. One while Jimmy was at camp, one while Annie was at camp, and now -yes, now- one for Jimmy's birthday. Which is today. You may now send him presents.

It never fails, though: parents always tell me I'm brave or they could never do it or ask me if I'm quite sure I'm stable since I seem so happy about being invaded by a pile of children for 14 whole hours. I'm not brave. You CAN do it. and Yes, I am stable, thank you so much for asking.

14 hours of sleepover:
Hour 1-2: scream hysterically as each new guest arrives. Tell each guest something ASTOUNDINGLY AMAZING. Guest who have already arrived are welcome to add, change, or embellish details. Watch cartoons/play video games AT THE TOP OF YOUR LUNGS even though you're all mere inches from each other because you're so happy to be together that it's almost like you think it's a mirage and your friends will disappear the instant you're not in close physical contact with them.

Hour 3-4: Option a) eat voraciously everything that is set in front of you. Option b)claim an allergy to whatever is being served and instead make yourself a pb & j which you secretly feed to the dog when no one is looking, never mind the fact that said pb & j will cause the dog to lick its face for the entirety of hours 4 and 5 so it's not like you're being that sneaky - you are after all the only one who had peanut butter in the first place. Wait for it to get dark so you can go outside. Play with anything and everything you can find. Birthday party: Option a)Eat half a slice of cake Option b) eat a whole slice of cake, and then randomly finish off the other slices when you think no one's looking. Hey - you have to make up for that pb & j somehow, right? You're hungry!

Hour 5: Run around with glowsticks and flashlights. Get the hose because there's always one puppy pile that gets missed and there's always one kid who will step in it.

Hour 6-9: Laugh at the kid from hour five at random moments. Have a long extended committee meeting over which movies to watch. Make popcorn that some of you will eat, and most of you will feed to the dog to see how high she can jump and catch at the same time without knocking over the lamp. Fall asleep watching the movies.

Hour 10-13: Sleep. Sort of.

Hour 14: Eat afore-mentioned cereals and/or pancakes, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns, fruit, juice, milk, leftover dinner, dog food, toast, or whatever. Breakfast is, after all, THE #1-most-likely-to-bring-out-the-PICKIEST-eaters-ever meal of the day. Pack your stuff. Act surprised when host kid asks you to help pick up from last night, but say, "Sure, whatever!" and help out anyway because that's what kids do 99.5% of the time. Decide not to be that .5% kid because chances are you won't get asked back, and everyone likes a sleepover.

Ta-da! Done!

And, if you've done a good job as a parent and let your kid stay up until the wee hours of the morning and then given them sugar for breakfast, they will crash again in about 3 hours and the whole house will be nice and quiet.

You're welcome.

PS. Believe it or not, that was NOT satirical, but the honest truth of how sleepovers go around here. Party on, dude/man/bro/chick/whatever your catch phrase is.

PPS. Best overheard line of all time: Holy Snap, Dude!

Meatloaf and pan-fried potatoes

2009-08-12T17:57:00.004-04:00

Well, it's Wednesday, and time for another recipe. This is the least random part of my blog, but I didn't pick the day, so it still feels sort of random to me!

This week: Meatloaf!

Ok, so it's just a link to an old post, but I don't think I've added it to my recipe circle before.... I hope.

I just made this yesterday, and for a side dish I briefly fried some thin-sliced potatoes and onions in olive oil - just enough to brown them up - then I added a little water, covered them and turned off the heat. Oh, if you're using a gas stove, you'll want to keep it on low.) The steam cooked them the rest of the way while we set the table and got drinks. Salt and pepper to taste.

Ta-da! Dinner!

Toadstools Gone Wild -or- What kind of fairies ARE you?!

2009-08-11T00:00:00.000-04:00

I like mushrooms. I do!
But may I say, that for those of you who do not...
This post is not for the faint of heart.

We've always had mushrooms in our yard: It rains, a few pop up here and there, it dries up, they disappear. The whole process usually happens so fast that I have no time to dig them up, even if I feel the desire to. This year is different.

What do you think of when you think of mushrooms? Are you a romantic, like me? Do you think of these little spotted cuties?

...complete with a tiny fairie to sit atop them and enchant the crickets?Well, I got news for you, pal. I think my yard is infested with evil fairies.

See her? She has it out for my yard, I just know it. Take a look at the very NOT cute mushrooms occupying my front yard:

Oh, sure, they don't look so bad in that picture - a little obnoxious, maybe. Heh heh heh. Take a look at them with some common items thrown in for reference!

Can you say, "Holy crap, ya'll!"? 'Cause, um, holy crap!

(That's a size 9 1/2 sandal, btw!)

When I went out to dig those guys out of the yard, I realized that they were not alone. (cue dramatic music) In addition to those "lovely" specimens, there were at least 5 other varieties growing ABUNDANTLY in my grass!

I had these little brown ones growing both alone and in forest form:

...hiding under grasses, even.
I have fairie mushrooms like the first picture, and even one or two pink ones like this:

I even had one of these little teeny tiny buttons! It almost seemed a shame to dig him up, he was so cute snuggled into the moss under the pine trees!

Why am I blogging about mushrooms, you ask? Well, let me tell you something: normally, I wouldn't, but you see this bit of yard here?

(Lovely, just lovely. Oh, thank you! You're welcome. Where was I?)

Oh, yes. In this tiny little corner of yard, on my way to the big ones, I found all of these:

Yes, my friends, that is a flower flat FULL of shrooms. Those little buggers were hiding EVERYWHERE! What should have been a 5 minute dig turned into a 30 minute - how dang hot is it out here anyway - event of torture!

All told, my (quite fragrant) crop of mushrooms came to this:

Here's that big sandal again - just to help you soak it all in:

Sheesh.

Now THAT's a lot of shrooms.

PS. My son has been saddened by the loss of the mushrooms. Apparently, they weren't disappearing last year after all -- he was running out in the morning and kicking them. -sigh-

PPS Next time, HE gets to dig them up.

PPPS Don't kick mushrooms. They like it.

Memories

2009-08-10T00:00:00.000-04:00

Isn't it funny how a powerful memory can be triggered by something tiny? A sound, a smell, a jingle, an old photo...?

Every time I hear a mourning dove, suddenly I'm at G'ma and G'pa Carley's house. I can smell the water of the lake and hear the cuckoo clock, and I can see the canal out front. All from a soft coo of a bird.

Or, fire up a grill and throw some chicken on there, or give me sun-warm raspberries, and suddenly I'm out back with Grandpa Hutchinson and he's making chicken for us while I roll down the hill and raid the berry patch.

One of those moments happened to me at church Sunday morning. I was walking down the hall and glanced into the youth pastor's office. I saw this:

Suddenly I was a little girl again, and I wanted my daddy. This green suitcase, a bit beat up, made me miss him so bad!

We used to have those suitcases - a whole set of them. I remember that I loved how hard they were; they seemed practically indestructible. They had a silky lining, with little elastic pockets around the edges. And they smelled funny. They always smelled funny.

I haven't seen one of those suitcases in 20 years, probably.

I think I'll go call my Dad.

My Coral Cactus

2009-08-08T22:01:00.006-04:00

Jimmy and the coral

My paternal grandmother loves cacti. She's very ill now; she has Alzheimer's. She has forgotten my generation - or rather - she thinks we're all very small.

The last time I spent a few days with her, she told me some great stories about my "Uncle George". Then she'd shake her head and say, "No, he's your grandpa, isn't he?" We had a good time, but I think what bothered me the most - more than her forgetfulness, which was expected - was that her cacti were disappearing. There weren't nearly as many as before. That made me sad. Those cacti were a big part of who she was to me when I was little.

Grandpa built his ships, and Grandma had all kinds of cacti. She had a cactus with flowers, one that was tall, one that was fat, a soft one, a super spiky one... all kinds, all shapes. I've loved them ever since. She said she liked them because they were "hard to kill". :)

Boy was she right! I have a coral cactus that I bought at Wal-mart (of all places), and I don't think I've watered it since Christmas. It's quite happy on my deck in the heat and humidity. It rains occasionally, so I guess that's all it needs. I stuck it out there once the cold evenings had passed. Before that, I had it sitting on an end table by a bay window so that it could get light and warmth. It sure is happy. It's even getting ready to blossom again!

Before I show you the current pictures, I want you to see how it looked when I bought it. My mom, Clara, took a picture of it for her photo hunt shortly after I had bought it. Here it is, with tiny flowers and all:

Isn't it cute?

It's a bit more rugged now, I'll admit, and I thought maybe I had figured out a way to kill a cactus. You see, it lost its purple almost entirely, and the green became spotty. Then, last week - boom! - Purple and flowers and new growth. Practically explosive! This is the second time it's grown (the first was shortly after I got it), and it's growing like crazy right now! Check it out:

All of the bumps and folds you see in these two pictures are new growth. The fold in the picture above began with the 1st growing cycle, and it is accelerating quickly in the second, with a matching fold on the far side now. The high bumps in the picture below are new this summer.

All of those bright purple ridges are flowering and will be producing new growth soon. I am so excited! I can't wait to see what shape my coral will take next.

Thanks, Grandma, for giving me (among other things) a love of cacti.

I don't wanna grow up, I'm a ToysRUs kid!

2009-08-08T00:10:00.003-04:00

...and there's a million things at ToysRUs that I can play with!
(and now you have the song in your head! haha!)

Perhaps it's because they're trying to keep up the million toy count for the whole truth in advertising "fad" or maybe they're just lazy, but ToysRUs trips have sort of morphed into what-kind-of-wacked-out-scary-toys-are-on-the-shelf-today trips.

Yesterday was Jim's birthday, so I took him out on the town for the new GI Joe movie and then some shopping. Here is my latest cache of weird, strange, and disturbing items found at your friendly ToysRUS.

1. liquefying Bambi "Look, Ma! No bones!"

2. Zoo Dr Barbie "Look, Ma! No dress code!" Seriously, when is the last time you saw anyone who deals with random bodily fluids on a regular basis dress like that?
Before we move on from here, check out that monkey x-ray. Apparently it ate a radioactive partially-peeled banana. Whole.

3. Animal Planet's Shark Attack play set, complete with dented cage and biting motion. "Look, Ma! No funny one-liner!"
Aside from the fact that this perpetuates an unhealthy stereotype (sorry - soapbox moment!), check out the fine print.
And, no Animal Planet, that does not make up for the disturbing little play set you've created.

********************************************

And remember, nothing lights up your world with love like an $8 neck-less doll!

Yet another reason to <3 Ben and Jerry's

2009-08-05T00:01:00.003-04:00

What's for Dinner Wednesday has changed names again

and is now What Can I Eat that's Gluten Free?

This week, we are focusing on cold treats, and so I am featuring Ben & Jerry's. My birthday was Sunday, and I love ice cream cake, but I haven't been able to enjoy any for a while. Ben & Jerry's is my new hero. See, the Dairy Queen, Carvel, and Maggie Moo's cakes all have a cookie crumble or cake layer or both, but Ben & Jerry's allows you to have a gluten-free cake.

You have two options: all ice cream or you can bring in your own filling. You can bring in cookies or brownies, whichever you like, and then you place a special order. The Ben & Jerry's that I visited had a binder at the counter that listed all the gluten free ice creams. I chose Phish Food and Vanilla, chose my cake style, and handed over my brownies. The clerk wrote "GLUTEN FREE - USE CUSTOMER BROWNIES" in the special instructions. Even better: we got a discount for bringing in our own brownies.

I came back a day and a half later to pick it up, and it looked good and tasted good, too.

Check the Ben & Jerry's website for a location near you!

Ode to a roll-y chair*

2009-08-03T19:37:00.003-04:00

Oh, roll-y chair...
Sweet roll-y chair...

Why sit you over there?

I ponder you
with padded blue

seat cushion and nowhere

to go. Your wheels
are cracked; your steel's

all rusted; your padding,

loose; your plastic,
gouged. Was a stick

behind your cruel beating?

Yet ask I must -
it's not the rust -

What are you doing here?

It's not your place.
This is my space.

I laughed until a tear

rolled from my eye
because - well - I -

I'm in the bathroom, dear!

*based on a true story!

Shameless, just shameless.

2009-08-02T00:01:00.000-04:00

It's my birthday today.

Hooray!

Got Celiac? Start Here

2009-07-31T05:00:00.001-04:00

Recently I was contacted in regards to a new cookbook: gluten free every day by Chef Robert Landolphi.

Would I like a free preview copy? No strings attached. Feel free to write about it on your blog, but you don't have to.

um... ... ... YES!

Shortly thereafter, the book arrived, and I began to read. Turns out it's not just a cookbook.

The whole first chapter, "Gluten Free Basics", is informative. Each successive chapter begins with a quick breakdown of what you need to know to cook the type of food in that chapter. Some of these informational segments are just a few sentences, and others, such as chapter three "Entrees", for example, you get a two page list of possible coatings to replace the traditional flour breading. (THANK YOU!)

I wish I had had this book last year when I was first diagnosed. I didn't know which way to turn, and it seemed that almost the books I came across were either way too organic or too gourmet for my tastes and style. (Or they just had awful foods! Bleah.)

This book is excellent for someone who is just starting out. It's easy to read and it does not contain the words "for dummies" (for me this is super-important).

It's also a fairly versatile book. It has recipes that would appeal to a variety of people. Here's a short list of some of the items it contains:

Beer-battered onion rings (super yummy, btw, and a little spicy!)
Baked beans
Cranberry-Hazelnut Rice Stuffing
Shrimp and Vegetable Pad Thai
White Chicken Chili
Ricotta Cream Berry Trifle
Parmesean-Pesto Chicken with Pecans

I think that whether you're just starting out on your gluten free life or you've been at it a while and are just looking for something new and interesting, this is a good book. I hope you like it as much as I do.

I really should stop using the phone

2009-07-30T13:45:00.001-04:00

Today I called Comcast Cable at 1-800-Comcast and was greeted with this:

"Hi, this is Shaquille O'Neill"
"And this is Ben Stien. Thanks for calling Comcast!"

Oh, my. My, oh my, oh my.

When Random Attacks

2009-07-29T05:00:00.002-04:00

Time: 9:35AM
Place: Living Room
Situation: Drinking coffee, enjoying solitude, watching a documentary on modern pirates

--phone rings--

Me: Hello?

Him: Is Michele there?

Me: (mental categorizing of possibilities commences) people who call me "Michele". List follows: doctor, government, central office employee, telemarketer, charity (aloud) This is.

Him: Oh, great! Good morning. I am "Bob" from ReMax and ...

Me: (mentally) Oh wonderful, what do they want? To offer me a wonderful re-finance deal?

Him: ...we're calling to let you know that there's a wonderful little house for sale on "nearby street". It's a 2 bedroom...

Me: (mentally) Wait! Remax doesn't do refi's! They're a realty company! Wait.... Huh? (aloud, shamelessly interrupting, and rather confused) Why are you calling me?

Him: (not missing a beat, not losing the smile in his voice) You know, that's a good question. Well, Michele, we were calling today to see if you know anyone who may be looking to move into this area --

Me: (interrupting yet AGAIN - and actually laughing a little bit) Wow. That IS a new one. Look, take me off your list, Ok?

--click--

What "It" Is

2009-07-27T23:30:00.004-04:00

A big, big thanks to everybody who played along this time, and gave a guess.
In case you missed it, here is the original photo:

I must say, some of the guesses were... ... um ... interesting. From tornadoes to x-rays to ice cream to poltergeists, I really really thought I had you stumped. Some of you were close with words like fuzzy and cotton, but for the most part everybody was way, way off.

My favorite guess is Marina's: a cow. (I just love cows.)

Strangest guess is a tie between (and this should be no surprise to those of you who know them)
- Secondary Roads (aka Uncle Chuck): ham bone
- and Jill: cotton candy

But there was one man who actually got it right. Yes, he nailed it. So hats off to my winner: BA_Hutch (aka Cousin Bryant the wise), the one who guessed "the furrow between a dog's eyes". How did he do that?! Look, here it is, zoomed out a little:

Yup, that's our little Daisy,
and the photo was indeed the wrinkled furrow between her eyes.

Wanna see the whole picture?

Here she is, in all her festive glory. Merry Christmas!

Thanks for playing!

Some things are just wrong!

2009-07-27T08:00:00.001-04:00

Have you entered the latest What is It? Contest yet? You have one more day.
The answer and winner(s) will be posted tomorrow.
Go ahead! Give it a shot!

Number 1: Jenga, the video game

amazon.com

Game-addicts.com has the funniest line in their review for this game where they mention "the excitement of removing wooden blocks from a stack of…wooden blocks, one piece at a time."

I actually love love LOVE Jenga, but to play it as a video game just seems wrong!

Number 2: Drawing eyes on animal crackers

These eyes, especially. What kind of animal could that even be?!?!? Yikes. I was rather freaked out by these when I saw them in Toys-R-Us, and it turns out that Stauffer's does this to all their animals, some with better results than others.

Number 3: Pet Fashion Week

The Globe and Mail

There were many sphinx cats in Moscow's Pets Fashion Week fashion show, along with a variety of dog breeds, both large and small. (Mostly small) Perhaps the best line from the Pravda article I read about the event is "In winter time dog owners can dress their pets in natural fur coats. Such a fur coat will cost about $1,000." If you want to see more pics, click on the link below the picture or just do an image search. There's tons of photos out there!

Number 4: GameStop Employees who Make their own Signs

I took this photo while Jim was buying a game for Annie. Yes, that is an adorably fluffy bunny cursing in joy. -sigh-

Number 5: Dating in the Dark

Wow. Have you seen the commercials for this show? Just wow.

What is it? Challenge #3

2009-07-25T12:00:00.000-04:00

Well, you won't win much more than a heartfelt "Kudos" in this contest,
but that's pretty much because I'm just a poor teacher.

I hope you'll give a guess just for the fun of it!

Here's your photo:

What is it?

Enigma

2009-07-24T13:16:00.002-04:00

Today I - your basic European-American-Caucasian-Mutt - emerged from the grocery store bearing fruit from the tropics and fixins for a Tex-Mex dinner only to find that next to my car was a Hispanic man eating Chinese food while listening to rock and roll and sitting in a van covered in Native American stickers.

Softball Camp

2009-07-23T21:29:00.002-04:00

This week, Annie has been going to softball camp. She's been wanting to try out for the school team in the spring, and we decided the best way for that to be possible was to get her some experience. We're also going to try to get her on a fall ball team.

This week she's learned a lot and also come to grips with the fact that she's got a lot more to learn and a lot of practice ahead of her if she is to have any hope of making the team in the spring. On the bright side, she seems to really be falling in love with the sport.

Keep your fingers crossed for her!

I rarely ask you to do things....

2009-07-17T18:28:00.004-04:00

...unless you've volunteered for kids ministry. heh heh heh: then we are fellow minions and all bets are off! (and I mean minions in the most spiritual sense of the word, of course... duh)

ahem

Where was I?

Oh, yes.

Do something for me?

As you may have heard (unless A-you don't eat gluten-free or B-you do, but live under the proverbial rock), Starbucks is going to pull its one gluten-free pastry, the Valencia Orange Cake because "We heard that it was too much of a treat, and not a nutritious snack. The KindSnacks bar is replacing it" (Starbucks Twitter, July 15). -sigh- For me this is a big, big, sad, obvious sort of thing. Cake = treat, not nutrition. Um, yeah, sure does.

I have pestered them already, asking when they're also pulling their brownie, donuts, muffins, cookies, rice crispy treats, and bacon sandwiches. No answer yet.

Here's something more productive you can do: sign this petition. It's being hosted by Triumph Dining, aka the advertiser at the top of this page. Please sign.

Please?

Tag - YOU're it!

2009-07-17T15:23:00.004-04:00

Well, well. Here we go with another interesting one. Ok, I'm it.

I received this “15 YOUs” tag from my Uncle Chuck.

She gave the following instructions:
1. Write something about 15 persons you know.
2. Don't mention the names of these 15 persons.
3. If someone would asks who they are, don't tell them.
4. Tag 15 persons but don't include persons you refer to in your post.

-- And away we go . . . --

Y O U

YOU - Snore really loud, slobber everywhere, shed on the furniture, and make me complain a LOT! ...but secretly, I love you.

YOU - Came looking for me once when I was thinking about running away.

YOU - Always make me laugh.

YOU - Gave me an example to try to live up to when dealing with adversity.

YOU - Are the epitome of "punny".

YOU - Scared me by drinking a beer once.

YOU - Laughed so hard that your recliner tipped over backwards and we had to pick you back up, chair and all.

YOU - Showed me that talent is often the result of hours upon hours of difficult work and commitment to the minutiae.

YOU - Helped me see that faith and science are not enemies.

YOU - Are the reason I am addicted to blogs.

YOU - Showed me how to be a great wife, but you don't even know it.

YOU - Never grew up, did you?

YOU - Inspired me (pushed me!) into teaching in a gifted program...thanks.

YOU - Like goats more than any woman should. (Ok, that one was obvious. Sorry.)

YOU - Embrace your geekdom, and I am proud of you for it.

YOU - Talked me out of dating a stoner once. Thanks. I still owe you one.

------------------------------------------

I am SO not tagging 15 people! I'm going to go the easy route: like the meme? Use it! You've been tagged.

A New Chapter

2009-07-15T15:49:00.002-04:00

Well, well, well. If things aren't getting interesting in my world.

Some new interesting developments:

An prospective author friend of mine has graciously allowed me to read a draft of her novel. I can tell you nothing, but it is super interesting, and so far, I love love love it!
I get to test out some new recipes in an upcoming cookbook by the Gluten-Free Girl. Super yum. Again, I can't tell you anything, but how excellent!
I got an email from a publicist asking me if I'd like to try out a new cookbook. I am really looking forward to trying out the recipes, and then I'll post a review of this for you:
I am considering splitting my blog into two. One on celiac stuff and one on just my usual random ramblings... your thoughts?
I am starting a new professional goal: National Board Certification. It takes 1-2 years to complete.
I get to be lead teacher for my new job a few times this year, for a Shakespeare unit and for a short stories unit.
My children are both going to a week of summer camp this year for the first time ever.
We're smack in the middle of this year's Backyard Blast, and it's going well: tons of fun and what-not. Come join us if you're in the Stafford area, Ok?
As if I'm not busy enough, I've found my mind wandering down the road of composing again, as evidenced by the post "Scars". Did you like it?

Phew! What a whirlwind!

We survived!

2009-07-13T10:17:00.005-04:00

Jimmy as General MacArthur

It's been a long. long weekend. Thursday morning, my little man started complaining of a headache. I pretty much ignored that because his first 10yr molar is coming in. Instead, I tossed him a tube of ambesol and told him to drink a glass of water.

By mid-day, his temperature had risen, and I sent him to bed. I took him to the pediatrician the next day after his temperature registered at 102.6. "It's just a virus," they said. "Keep an eye on him."

Ok. I took him home, gave him a corner of the couch, and a bottle of water, and waited
.

Saturday night, his aches turned into pains, and he couldn't really walk well or climb his ladder to bed. The pains seemed to be coming from his lower right side, and he miserably failed the "jump-up-and-down" test, so we went to the ER. Jim and I texted furiously the whole time and he kept me cheery in the face of not knowing what was going on with Jimmy.

The poked, prodded, hooked up an IV, checked vitals, drew blood, took urine, filled him with contrast, scanned, poked and prodded again. "It's just a virus," they said. "Keep an eye on him."

Ok. It's 2 AM on a Sunday and I have to be at church by 7:30/8. Sure. Why not.

Jimmy spent Sunday quarantined in Jim's office, and seemed to be getting better. Fever was down to 100.3 that morning, and his appetite was back. Abdominal pain was pretty much gone, and his spirits were high.

After church and lunch and naps, he said he felt much better and asked me to check his temperature. 103.7. Oh, good heavens. Took it again. 103.4. Jim told me it would be ok. Much muttering of "What do we do now?" ensued.

I did what any self-respecting, intelligent, mother of 2 older kids would do. I called my mommy. I told her the whole story. I did my best not to cry. (It sort of worked.) She told me it would be ok, and suggested that - since I'd tried everything else - I should put him in a tub of lukewarm water for 5 minutes and douse him, hair and all, then bundle him back up.

When the 5 minutes were done, Jim went up to get him out of the tub, then came down and said that he was a new kid. And he was! He was smiles and appetite again. He ate (a tiny) dinner and felt playful. I gave him one more dose of medicine for the fever and sent him to bed.

This morning, I handed him the thermometer and held my breath. 98.5. Hooray! We made it!

The mystery virus lost.

I think I'm in love with Bette Hagman

2009-07-09T23:13:00.002-04:00

For those of you who don't know, Bette Hagman is one of THE people to buy a cookbook from if you have celiac disease. I have tried recipe after recipe from her book The Gluten-Free Gourmet Cooks Comfort Food and I have loved them all.

Today she saved me from a world with no pie. Yes, that's right, pie. I love pie. I spent a couple of years finding and perfecting the perfect pie crust, and then -poof!- no more pie for me! So very very very sad was I.

But take a look at this.

Isn't it just gorgeous?!

This is my deep dish strawberry rhubarb pie with a gluten-free crust. The crust was easy to work with, flaky, crisp, soft, and practically perfect. It's just going to take a little tweaking, and I think it will be just as good, if not better than, my original, wheat-filled crust!

Buy the book. Buy it. Now.

Here's my strawberry rhubarb pie recipe for you:
4 cups rhubarb
3 cups strawberry
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup corn starch

Place in your favorite pie shell. Brush top with beaten egg white and sprinkle with sugar, if desired.

Bake at 425 for 50 minutes. Put a cookie sheet on the rack below the pie to catch any drips. Loosely cover pie with foil part way through baking to keep crust from burning.

What's for Dinner Wednesday - Dessert Week

2009-07-08T11:51:00.005-04:00

Yum! Dessert! Be sure to check out all the yummies over at the Gluten-Free Homemaker today! And be sure to forgive the awful quality of these pictures. I am ashamed of myself for making you look at them. I will make it up to you my graciously accepting the new camera you buy for me for my birthday so that I no longer have to take pictures of things with my phone. You're welcome.

To the recipe!

This one is quick and easy and good luck fighting others off so you can get some yourself. And by quick, I mean, I had everything assembled, done and tidied up in the time it took my husband to go pick up the girl from youth group and come back again. I also had a nice surprise for them to come back to. Yay, me!

Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries and Whatnot

Tools:

Bowl
Spoon
Knife
Wax paper

Ingredients:

Almond Bark
Oil
Berries

(Yup, that's it)

Suggested Optional Ingredients - for toppings: (double check for gluten-free-ness!)

Sprinkles
Coconut (Weird, but tasty!)
Crumbled cookies
Mini-chocolate chips (Nothing like chocolate topped chocolate!)

Procedure:

Chop almond bark into smallish chunks and place in microwave-safe bowl with the oil. You want approx. 1 t of oil for every 4 oz. of chocolate.
Microwave 30 seconds, remove, stir. Repeat as needed until chocolate is melted - smooth and silky. KEEP AWAY FROM ALL LIQUID! (If you've just washed your berries, pat them dry before dipping!)
Grasp strawberry by top. Dip and roll in the chocolate.
Dip and roll in topping, if desired.
Place on wax paper to harden (takes only minutes - no need to refrigerate)

As you can see, I also dipped some fresh cherries. Super Yum.

Note: The Mrs. Fields recipe I based this on/hijaked this from uses actual chocolate, but my mother-in-law got me hooked on this almond bark, so that's what I use. You don't really NEED the oil when using the bark, but I liked how it changed the consistency, and I always use it now.

Scars

2009-07-05T21:08:00.006-04:00

(Based on a true story ... loosely)

Let's start somewhere easy: I don't remember my childhood. Nothing particularly traumatic happened to me: I asked my parents. But others can recall their preschool years, their second grade plays where they dressed like bunnies and ate cake while sitting on plastic seesaws. I look at my elementary pictures and wonder what fourth grade was like.

Ok, so I lied.

I remember a few things, but one thing I can't remember is how I got this scar on my leg. I sit and stare at it as it shines in the moonlight, the lamplight, the sunlight. And I wonder, where did you come from, little scar? Was I bit by a cat? Did I fall out of a tree? Is this the aftermath of trying to pull a 180 turn in a pile of gravel on the asphalt? I don't know. But as I wonder, my thoughts turn to Shayla.

I discovered Shayla quite by accident. She just sort of appears in my memory, riding a bike on a sunny afternoon. The details of our friendship are fuzzy and my mom didn't want me going to her house and my dad didn't want me near her at all and I gave her my favorite doll before she disappeared from my memory. We were friends - fast friends. Our friendship blossomed quickly, and we were bound together forever the day she showed me her scars.

Why did she show me? Maybe I told her about the time I burned my hand on the stove. According to my folks, when I was, oh, three or so, I reached up and placed my tiny hand on a hot burner. Screaming and wailing on both sides ensued, and the next days were spent with my hand bundled and iced and propped on Dad's or Mom's shoulder as I fitfully dozed on their laps.

I bear no memories of this incident, and no scars.

But maybe I told Shayla this story one lazy summer afternoon while we hid from our folks in the lilac grove and dreamed of lives lived in far-off, exotic locations. Maybe that's why, unexpectedly, she took me into her confidence. Maybe that's why.

She said, "You wanna see something?" and then she took off her shirt to show me her frail little eight-year-old chest.

I had no words.

The swirled, twisted, striped texture of her melted skin stretched from her waist to her neck, over her right shoulder. It drizzled down past her right shoulder blade and disappeared into her shorts.

She held out her right arm. "You can touch it."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

It felt smooth and wondrous. It felt foreign. Her shoulder was a silken, alien substance.

"Wow," I breathed. I looked back at her eyes. "What happened?"

Sunlight flickered on our faces as the wind rustled through the lilacs and Shayla pulled her shirt back on.

"Well, when I was four, I pulled a pot of hot water off the stove. My mom turned her back for just a sec. I was sick a real long time."

And that was it. No dramatic re-enactment, no emotion, no inflection of any kind.

We never spoke of it again. I never asked any more questions, and so I received no more answers. But they are always here, those scars. Under her shirt and under the lilacs as the sun flickers softly in the shadow.

It's a Celiac Miracle!

2009-06-28T23:19:00.002-04:00

Well, maybe miracle is too strong a word. Or maybe my food life has just been more sad than I'm willing to admit. Either way, today was a good day.

First, breakfast. I had Cocoa Pebbles. Yup. Apparently everybody and their sister (including Rachel Ray) knew this already, but I had heard that Post had changed the recipe for Pebbles and had added barley malt, thus rendering it inedible to me. That was only for the Fruity Pebbles, though.

Here's the great part: Jim bought Cocoa and Fruity Pebbles for breakfast, and I picked up the Fruity Pebbles box to longingly peruse the ingredient list, pining and wishing the barley malt would not be on the list. AND IT WAS NOT! This of course prompted me to rush right to the web and check for the possibility that Fruity Pebbles were again gluten free, which led to my discovery that Cocoa Pebbles were, which led to my investigation of polydextrose (labeled as "fiber source"), which led to the discovery that polydextrose really isn't a fiber, but just more of a sugar/lubricant/thingy, which led to me eating one of my favorite cereals of ALL TIME for breakfast!

Tomorrow: Fruity Pebbles

(That may not seem so great to some of you, but I stopped eating cereal several years ago. I thought that the high amount of cold milk in the morning was making my stomach hurt. Silly me. It's fanTAStic to be able to eat some of my favorite cereals again and not hurt a bit.)

--------------------------------------------------------------

And if that wasn't enough, we checked out a new restaurant for dinner: T-Rex. Think Rainforest Cafe meets dinosaurs. Pretty great.

When I asked if a gluten-free menu was available, the staff said they could do one better, and one of the chefs came out to talk to me and walk me through what I could eat. Fully half of the menu was available, and he said that there were also several things that he could alter for me if I really really wanted them.

He said he would be making my dinner, and once I had ordered, he would come talk to me if I accidentally ordered something I shouldn't have. This turned out to be a good thing as the server forgot to make a substitution and accidentally left the gluten-filled side on the order. Oops! The chef popped out right away to check with me what I wanted in its place.

Awesome.

And the food was good, too!

Friday. Friday? Friday!

2009-06-26T08:29:00.002-04:00

Somehow this whole durn week got away from me.

And by away, I mean...

I sat in divisional meetings from 8 AM Monday through 12 PM Wednesday, for a total of 18 hours of meetings.
I totally forgot to post a recipe for this week for What's for Dinner Wednesday over at the Gluten Free Homemaker.
Somehow I totally missed Thursday. I was going to be productive after my last official day of work until August, but Overlord II came in the mail, so I did that instead. :)

And now? Now it's Friday. How did it get to be Friday already?

Hey!

It's Friday! Wooooooooooo!

Goodbye, Ed

2009-06-23T21:30:00.003-04:00

1923-2009

The Meadow, Part 2

2009-06-21T10:00:00.000-04:00

Here are a few more photos for you from our trip to the meadow. I've included several of the kids' more experimental shots in this bunch. We took a lot of pictures. The small ones are Annie's and the larger ones are mine and Jimmy's. (Captions are for the picture above.)

"Purple grass, Mom?!?"

One of the many butterflies

Kinda hard to see it, but there's a brown and orange butterfly just above center on this picture.

Baby trees in the grass. This one was 3 inches tall.

This is the picture Annie was taking when I took her picture.

"Look! They're mating!"

Run-off track headed for the pond

The Meadow

2009-06-20T14:55:00.008-04:00

On Tuesday, I came home from work and announced to the kids that we were going for a walk.

They were excited until I told them that they could not bring scooters and we were not headed to the playground.

I also refused to tell them where we were headed, and so regretfully leaving their wheels behind, they followed me out the door...

When we arrived at the meadow, they were, shall we say, hesitant to be excited or interested.

In spite of that, I armed them each with a cell phone camera and told them to explore: take pictures of anything you like, watch out for thorns and thistles, and see what you can see.

I also encouraged them to take photos from unexpected angles.

Within minutes, they were enthralled and I could barely keep up with them.

Annie went from flower to flower, photographing as many different kinds as she could, along with their various bugs.

Jimmy remarked on how easy it would be to get lost in the grass, some of which stood as high as his head (almost to my shoulder).

We talked about types of plants and bugs and what it would be like crossing the plains in grasses that went on for miles and how to find field mice and snakes and the kinds of birds that circled the meadow above us.

On the way home, we gathered flowers to put in a vase and the kids made me promise to take them back soon. It was so great just wandering about in a spot where we could see no cars, no houses, and no other people.

Jimmy writes:

My most favorite part was wishing I could jump in the pond. The pond was huge, but Mom said no because it was all dirty and muddy. It felt great and we kept picking flowers for a bouquet. I saw flowers like dandilions and Annie saw flowers that look like Einstien. And I saw a giant pinecone!

Annie writes:

If I may say so myself, the trip to the meadow was awesome! Wildflowers and wild, unkempt grasses as far as the eye can see! As long as you can't see far. There are bugs everywhere! A beetle on this flower, a butterfly on that bush, a dragonfly near the pond! It was so full of nature, it was overwhelming!

The flowers we saw included brown-eyed Susans, Queen Anne's Lace, and daisies.

Plus, some little spiky balls on stems with grassy things sticking up out of them, and I named them Einstein flowers.

I also saw a butterfly that was orange and brown. Mom hadn't seen it before, so I don't know what it was.

Plus there was a dragonfly with see-through wings hanging out in the grass. These are key points in our trip to the meadow.

When I Grow Up

2009-06-18T14:37:00.003-04:00

When I was a kid, I wanted to be everything at some point or another, but one of my big, Big, BIG dreams was to go into the field of meteorology and study clouds and predict weather patterns and chase tornadoes and maybe even be on TV.

So, you can imagine my excitement when today at work I heard that a new type of cloud had been discovered. As with many things you hear, that statement is mostly accurate. According to the National Geographic story that I read, this "new" cloud type has been observed and recorded in various places around the world since at least the 1950s.

Here's a shot of one of these new clouds from Iowa care of the Natl Geo article:
This type of cloud is an undulus asperatus cloud. It's characterized by rolling waves moving through the lower surface of the cloud, causing an undulating motion.

It's nickname is the "Jacques Cousteau" cloud because looking up at the clouds can remind you of looking up at the surface of the ocean from underwater.

My friend at work has nicknamed them "Apocalypse" clouds because they look like something you would see at the end of the world, especially when the sun hits them just right, as in this Natl Geo photo from New Zealand:

Don't you just love it? What a spectacular shot!

Steak and roasted potatoes - What's for Dinner Wednesday

2009-06-17T17:08:00.002-04:00

Over at the Gluten Free Homemaker, Linda hosts a weekly recipe exchange. If you have to eat gluten-free, head on over and check it out!

This week, I'm posting an easy one: Steak and Taters!

I like to marinade my steaks, or at the very least, season them with some pepper and garlic. Then, to the grill! Yum.

One of my favorite sides, though, is today's recipe: grilled baby red potatoes. Now I probably have about a hundred different ways to cook potatoes, but this is one of my favorites.

Half or quarter potatoes so that the pieces are about the same size as the pearl onions.
Peel pearl onions and garlic cloves.
Toss all three with olive oil and seal tightly in a long, flat tin foil package. The goal is to have a single layer of veggies in the packet, so you may need more than one packet if you're making a lot of potatoes.
Put the packet on the grill about 10 minutes before the steaks. I usually throw them on first and then come back in and get everything together for the rest of the meal and then I take the steaks out to grill.
Flip the packets when you put the steaks on. The potatoes should be done when your steaks are.

Happy!

2009-06-11T20:29:00.003-04:00

Things that make me happy:
Yes.

Happiness is a choice, you see. Well, maybe not happiness, but joy is. Even when I'm sad, I can be glad. I can be joyful. That's a lesson that my mom taught me a long time ago. Even when life's awful, be glad you can find joy in your life somewhere, even if the only place you can find joy is in the comfort you always will receive from God. His joy always will bring you that promised strength.

So choose joy. Be happy. And remember what a very dear, very smart, very wonderful friend of mine once said to me:

We couldn't have sunbeams if we didn't have clouds.

- Nate Buzdor

What's for Dinner Wednesday

2009-06-10T23:11:00.001-04:00

This week in our What's for Dinner recipe exchange over at the Gluten-Free Homemaker, we're doing lunch recipes. One of my favorite lunches is salads, so I'm sending everyone back in time to my hamburger salad recipes.

Enjoy!

Be sure to jump on over and check out the rest of this week's recipes, too!

It's about that time...

2009-06-09T15:48:00.002-04:00

...time to go back to blogging, that is.

I can tell because...

Vanilla called me out on my last post ("two weeks and then some," he said. Too true).
School's almost out.
I collected my last assignment today.
I started noticing that the animals are cute again.
I started noticing the kids were cute again.
I finished my paperwork. Almost.
I've been inspired by my students' culminating projects
My inbox is lonely.
I took pictures of my food this week.

What shall I write about first? Hmmmmm. Oh, wait. I just did.

-choke- -gasp- -bleargh-

2009-05-19T21:56:00.002-04:00

Loathe
this
time
of
year
when
teaching.

Ugh!

Revive me in 2 weeks.

(Until then, keep praying for Jill and girls, especially Alexa!)

Hush

2009-05-16T11:05:00.002-04:00

The air, the silence is heavy today.
As if the cosmos is waiting, just waiting...
for something

The air is still
The birds are still
The bugs are still

Even the neighbors are quiet
And the traffic is practically non-existent.

And so we wait.
The grey sky,
The green trees,
The brown and black and golden pets,
The denim-clad children,
The hubby and me.

We wait.

Sh.

Because Virginia is great like that.

2009-05-04T19:08:00.003-04:00

Just in case the pollen story wasn't enough for you....

The scene: 6:30. Exterior of an elementary school. Mom arrives to pickup her 9-yr-old son from a day-long field trip to historic Petersburg.

Mom: So, how'd it go?
Son: Great!!!!
Mom: What'd you do?
Son: I learned how to load and fire a gun!!!

Awesome. Just awesome.

He was "drafted" into the army and was preparing for battle. Here are the fighting instructions he explained. I would include the loading instructions, but it was mostly a lot of him saying, "First you took the stuff and then the thing and you put it in the other thing and then you pushed on it...." I got lost.

Where was I? Oh, yes. How to fight:
Ready - hold it like a guitar.
Aim - hold it up to your shoulder and aim.
Fire - shoot the gun.

Don't eat it!

2009-05-02T19:25:00.006-04:00

Every year when Spring comes barreling in, we see this little green box on our weather page for a week or so...

...and they're not kidding. Every car in the county looks like this one:

Every flat surface gets a coat, like a dusting of fresh snow. If we get no rain, it builds and builds and builds in the air until you can see it hovering in the stillness, like dust motes in a sunbeam.

This is the table on our deck out back.

At first glance, it may seem like a nice frosted-glass table with a few leaves scattered on it. But, sadly, no. That's a clear-topped table; the "frost" is 2 days-worth of pollen.

You can see it built up along the edge of the glass, and I wiped away a spot so you can see how clear it should be without the pollen.

On second thought, I probably shouldn't have used my hand.

Of course, the owner of this mini-van probably thought the same thing about her kids.

There is pollen on literally EVERYTHING. Even my dog. I rubbed a line down her side, too, so you could see it in her fur. She was out running around the back yard for about ten minutes or so, and came back in with a golden sheen.

I do like the way my neighborhood and my state look with all of the trees, and I love the freshness of the air, too, but my goodness, I could do without the pollen!

(and if you think that was bad: Wait until acorn season. I have seven 70 foot oak trees on my 1/3 acre lot.)

And the winner is...

2009-05-01T16:00:00.001-04:00

So, I almost forgot to post my winners! (I'm kinda new to this whole contest thingy)

If you remember, the challenge was to identify what was in this picture:

Well, I had a variety of water-based guesses, but only two people who mentioned pools, and that is the closest guess, because this is a photo of something that took place in a pool.

It's a picture of Jimmy's baptism! During the summers, our church often held baptism services at a local pool.

So the two winners are my Uncle Chuck at Secondary Roads and Shanda at A Teachable Heart.
Enjoy your award and feel free to pass it on!

32

2009-04-30T20:41:00.003-04:00

32 is a wonderful thing.

It is my age.
It is a bag of M&Ms.
It is divisible by 2, 4, 8, and 16.
It is the first 2 numbers in my favorite countdown.
It is home to my all-time favorite number: 3.
It is the amount of weight I dropped when I switched to a gluten-free diet.

It is the number of school days remaining this year.

Obligations

2009-04-30T20:34:00.002-04:00

Well, not as good as I'd hoped, but I am down .5# to 175.5#. Can't wait to get back below 175 and on my way to mini-goal 2: 160#

Guess I'd better step up the activity level at my house. It's currently....um.....none. Oh, wait. I took a walk the other day.

Thanks to everyone who stops by with encouragement. It's good to know we're all in this together! Want to join our group and track you own healthy progress? Come on over to www.oneweighatatime.com

I'm a bad kid

2009-04-29T17:11:00.003-04:00

I forgot my mom's birthday. AGAIN! I think every year I come up with a new way to fail her in this regard.

This year, I added the category "did not even notice the Facebook reminder" to my fantastic ability to fail.

MOM! I AM SORRY! I ANNOUNCE IT HERE AND NOW IN FRONT OF YOU, FRIENDS, FAMILY, AND EVERYONE ELSE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!

I LOVE YOU.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Now go visit her and wish her a belated birthday.

Last Chance!

2009-04-29T06:51:00.003-04:00

Today is your last chance to earn the Tommy Toe award by guessing what's in the picture. It does have to do with water, but no one has the situation quite right yet, so there's still a chance for you, yes you, to swoop in and win it!

Sunrise at Virginia Beach

2009-04-26T00:01:00.001-04:00

During Spring Break week, we decided that we simply MUST get away for a few days, so we drove a few hours to the ocean and crashed at the Holiday Inn. One morning, the kids and I woke up for the sunrise.

There is a heavy mist over the water, and a naval vessel is crossing through. You can see it, beginning in photo five, crossing from left to center. As the sun rises and clears the mist, its color changes, and then suddenly its rays are reflected across the water: brilliant and beautiful.

Sunrise over the ocean:
(Enjoy.)

What is it? The challenge returns!

2009-04-24T20:56:00.006-04:00

I recently won the Tommy Toe award over at Secondary Roads for a "What is it?" challenge. I have decided to carry on this new tradition in the hopes that it will take the bloggy world by storm.

Take a close look at this photo. What do you think is pictured here?

The first correct or best guess will be declared the winner. The winner will be awarded the Tommy Toe Award for sheer brilliance.

The Tommy Toe gets its name from what my grandmother used to call this wonderful fruit that makes such wonderful sandwiches with bacon and lettuce. The BLT was one of her favorites. Every year when fresh tomatoes were available in the garden, she would get together with a friend and they would make BLTs for lunch.

I remember that this food love continued on through her years with us grandchildren, and I too love a good BLT on a hot summer day.

GOOD LUCK!
...and may the best guesser win!

Huh! Looka that.

2009-04-23T20:32:00.005-04:00

You know, I just love to know what other people think of the weird things that I (or my Jim) happen to stumble across. (Remember that awful movie UltraChrist?)

I mostly just like to hear what other people's reactions are... because I can't be the only one thinking what I'm thinking, right?! (Not that I'm going to tell you what that is.)

So here is an item that makes me say, "I just am not sure how I feel about that." (Wait! I just told you!) On one hand it's cute; it's funny in an adorable I-bet-you're-just-like-your-daddy sort of way. On the other hand... well, listen to the audience.

Check out this little guy.
(He is cute, though, isn't he? and good, too! he's really really into it!)

So what do you think of the little preacher man? Thumbs up or thumbs down?

I am so not totally unappreciative, people!

2009-04-22T20:45:00.000-04:00

I want to take this time to say thank you to those of you who nominated me for awards and what not for my little corner of the bloggy world. (even to those of you who nominated me with a statement similar to, "Look, I know you don't really get into these things, but....) It's not that I've been ignoring you, but I often just don't have the time, and with this heart thing now, I often don't have the energy, either. So, here are the awards that I remember winning... if I missed one from you, please let me know!

There's quite a few, so thanks in advance for your endurance. :)

FIRST! The coveted Zombie Chicken award. (This one I really, really wanted, so....YAY!) "The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken - excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all…" This award came from Clara (aka my mom), so I can't give it back to her. (That would be rude!) Here are five other bloggers for whom I would brave a pack of zombie chickens:

SECOND! From Vanilla over at String Too Short to Tie, I received the 2009 Friendly Blogger award. (Thanks, V!) No restrictions seem to be attached to how this gets distributed, and I must say that I'm hard pressed to pick who's the friendliest.... hmmmm. I guess I will pass this on to my friendly friends... hmmmm. Ok. You, you, you..... and you. All for you, my friendliest of friends! (You know who you are, so grab that award and put it on your blog!)

THIRD! Next comes the Marie Antionette Award for courage from Clara (aka Mom). (My mom likes to give me awards, btw, and I'm Ok with that. You'd be spoiled, too, if you were an only child.)

The tag line for this award reads, "Queen Marie Antoinette is the epitome of a real, fun, fearless woman who is never afraid of getting what she wants.” This is an award for courageousness, not selfishness, though. My mom has some interesting info about the real Marie on her blog, if you're interested.

So what do you want? Are your motives pure? Then you could be one of the seven nominated for this award. Why seven? Who knows? Here are my recipient selections for this courage award:

Meaghan of I Kicked Cancer's Ass. Meaghan fought off cancer, went back to law school, and is in the midst of surgery recovery. (Go wish her well!) She uses her web sites (she sells yummy coffee, too!) to raise funds and cancer awareness and to bring aid to others in the midst of their battles. She's a brave, positive person with no fear when it comes to facing down prejudice against those with cervical cancer.
Jill of Jill's Believe it or Not. Jill's last post details the medical issues her daughters are facing and she's not feeling so great herself. What does Jill want? Answers. Will she get them? You bet. She's also a very fun person. (CAW!!!) It was great to meet her out here in the blogiverse.
Jen at Cake Wrecks definitely deserves this award, too. Now her great battle is against the bad cake makers in the world, and I truly hope she wins, but I can't help asking myself what will keep me entertained if she does. She's fun and fearless, posting all kinds of craziness on her site. She also shows us the good side of cakes every Sunday. Thanks, Jen.
Mama Kat over at Mama's Losin' It. Mama Kat has been braving the new world of gluten-free living due to her kids' recently diagnosed gluten allergy. She's been chronicling their (mis)adventures on Allergies Shmallergies. She wants what we all want: happy kids and a crazy good time.
Liz again! Anybody who can survive all the craziness of teenage girls and rampaging priests (can I say that?!) and still be quirky and great and funny deserves as many awards as I can get my hands on.
Ummmmmm..... I am out of ideas. I guess I'll stop at five.
Tada! I made it to 7!

FOURTH! (and this one is from Mid-March!) comes the "Friends" blogger award from Uncle Chuck at Secondary Roads.

“These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.” (Eight?!? I neep a nap. Also, I'm pretty sure whoever created this award is somewhat of an attention leech. "cleverly-written text"? Really?!)

This'll be fairly easy. Kind bloggers who don't toot their own horns. Easy.

Shanda
Melissa
Jill
Erica
Rachelle - Ok, so she is a book agent, but she's so writer-centered and awesome!
Stephanie
K
Kiki

My goodness, but this has turned into an epic post! I hope that everybody enjoys the awards that I have bestowed upon them in turn, and I promise to (try to) stay more on top of my acknowledgement and thankfullness in regards to bloggy awards.

Thanks, everybody!

PS. Another one from Secondary Roads just came in! ...but I'm tired! It's gonna have to wait. I hope you enjoy checking out all of these fine folks!

Obligations

2009-04-21T19:05:00.000-04:00

I am cranky, bloated, pimply, and tired. And that was before I weighed in! (Is it next week yet?)

up 2# to 176# again.

I have been doing all good things, though! Swimming, yard work, walks, increased general activity, etc. I am hopeful that a positive weight change will soon follow.

Hi, Mom!

2009-04-18T14:04:00.005-04:00

Time for post 3 in my series of influential people in my life.

Time to meet my mom, Clara.

Um, Mom? Moooo-oooom! Where are you? Oh, there you are.

Hi, Mom.

It's taken me a long time to write this post because it was very difficult to decide what to write about. There are so many many things that I could say here. I mean, just look at me: what DIDN'T I get from my mom?

There is such a list I could give you, but I'm going to try to hold to a reasonable number.

#1. A sense of humor.
Mom's a punny lady. Very very punny. This American Gothic photo was her idea, and nothing will get a good laughter-induced-asthma-attack going like a good pun. Getting together with Mom's family always involves funny stories, jokes, wordplay, etc. This was one of her father's coffee cups:A joke in your honor, Mom (one that earned me a follower, no less!):
Three guys walk into a bar. The fourth one ducks.

#2. Acceptance of all.
I grew up in a white home town. Let's call it Super-White, even. I think it would be safe to say that I only encountered non-white people if I was watching TV or listening to missionary stories; that's how white my early childhood was. I think it would also be fairly safe to say that the population of this home town of mine was occasionally racist in nature as well. Unfortunately, so were some of the members of my own family. But my mother? She was not, and she went out of her way to protect me from the poison of racism. The thought of judging others based on ethnicity, skin color, or demographic of any kind was simply not entertained.

I am so grateful for this gift. It has allowed me to make so many friends from so many countries (check out the countries represented in our church, for example.). It has opened doors at work. It has strengthened me as a student, broadening my interests. It helps me connect with the high schoolers I teach. It has made me a better person.

#3. Faith.
No one's perfect. Mom taught me the beauty of a forgiving God. She encouraged me to explore the Scriptures on my own and not just accept the Bible stories and pulpit messages as all there was to know. For example, instead of letting me stop with the traditional John 3:16, she also taught me John 3:17: For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

She was willing to call me on my mistakes and own up to her own. She taught me songs and hymns and spiritual psalms.

She's also the one who gave me the first half of the verses I posted as my anthem today on the Stuff Christians Like blog.

Micah 7:19 .. and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
Revelation 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

I always liked the visual of God creating a new heaven and earth for us, and the verse from Micah came to Mom's mind. That was easily 15+ years ago, but the connection implied will always stick with me.

So thanks, Mom, for being who you are and for helping me be who I am.

What's for Dinner - Gluten Free style

2009-04-15T09:23:00.004-04:00

Nothing too fancy this week, just one of my favorites... It's loosely based on a Carbonara recipe. Emphasis on loosely. And as always, my chicken-allergic peoples, feel free to substitute some lean pork or something else you like for the chicken.

Chicken & Bacon Alfredo
Amounts of ingredients should be based on how many people you're cooking for. I usually use 4-5 chicken thighs, a medium onion, 4-7 cloves of garlic, a handful of bacon, and two jars of sauce. This gets our family of 4 a full meal plus leftovers for the next day's lunch.

1. Saute chopped onion and garlic in some butter or olive oil until tender.
2. Add chopped bacon, and saute quickly. If not using pre-cooked bacon, be sure bacon is completely cooked/crispy before adding chicken.
3. Add chopped chicken and saute, stirring frequently, until chicken is nearly cooked through.
4. Add Alfredo sauce. My favorite is Classico: one jar of alfredo and one of 4 cheese alfredo. (So many of their sauces are GF, and they're soooooooo yummy, too!)
5. Reduce heat and simmer gently while you make pasta. Toss and serve.

This recipe is part of our recipe group. Come and join us at The Gluten Free Homemaker!

Obligations

2009-04-15T09:19:00.004-04:00

It's been a while since I actually had a post to go along with my One Weigh at a Time committment (my weight loss/ healthy living group). Sorry about that.

I am down to 173#
(.5# loss for the week)

Tada! or something.

Looking for a support group to encourage you in your own healthy goals? Come and join us!

A Clean House is a Happy House

2009-04-14T16:25:00.002-04:00

Spring Break: a time to relax, play, and WORK!

Woohoo!

I look forward every year to Spring Break because it's a fairly unpredictable time for us. Sometimes we take off for the whole week, sometimes we stay home, sometimes we just go where the wind blows, but I like to try to fit some "spring cleaning" into the week no matter what we do. Yesterday the kids helped me work in the yard, and today we're cleaning the house.

It never fails. Cleaning = happiness. --sigh-- I should clean more often.

I like the lemony-fresh scent.
I like the lack of clutter.
I like the organizing.

It never fails: the happy, relaxed, contented feeling afterwards.

I don't like cleaning.
I don't like dusting. or scrubbing. or sneezing at the dust.
I don't like finding ant entryways and spraying them with pesticides.

But I like the results. And it never fails. Everyone's happier afterwards.

Maybe the work gets out our figets.
Maybe it's the space.
Maybe it's the sense of accomplishment.
Maybe it's the family time.

I dunno. All I know is my kids like to fight for their favorite chores and things to clean. And not like, "No, YOU do it!" but like, "I wanted to dust! Not fair! MOOOOOM! I wanna dust and s/he won't let me!" And when we're done ... or half done ... or the ice cream truck drives by ... we take a break. And we do more later.

The kids fight less.
The kids learn life skills.
The kids find toys they forgot existed.
The kids take ownership over their own stuff.
The kids begin to realize we clean up after other people a lot less when we each clean up after ourselves more.

And those all make me even happier.

What "it" is

2009-04-13T00:55:00.010-04:00

Well, not too many of you tried to guess. I suppose with no real prize, I couldn't have expected much.... -sob!- No, no, it's Ok. -sniff- I'll just ...be... ...I'm Ok.

Here's how my afternoon went on the day "it" arrived.

The setting: our dining room. Sun streams in the west windows and glints off of the gigantic eyes of "it", waiting peacefully to be discovered. My son stands proudly nearby.

Me: [startled and concerned] Aaaa! What is that?!

Son: [proud] It's my history character! I made him out of a bottle and paint and stuff.

Me: [still nervous] But what is it?

Son: [still proud] Do you like it?

Me: [recognizing the need to acknowledge his accomplishment, but unable to break away from the mesmerizing stare of the gigantic plastic eyes] Sure. The eyes are pretty creepy though. It looks a bit freaky. What is it?

Son: [avoiding the question] We made them for history and then they acted stuff out.

Me: [patiently] Wait. Listen to me carefully....

Son: [not waiting] You want to hold it?

Me: [avoiding the question] Are you listening?

Son: [not listening] Yes.

Me: [not convinced] Are you sure?

Son: [perhaps listening] Yes.

Me: [hoping for an answer that will be less creepy than the "it"] What is it?

Son: [stating a technicality] It's a who, not a what.

Me: [resigned to the logic of a 9-yr-old] Ok, WHO is it?

Son: [proud] George Washington!

Me: [huh!] Really? George Washington? Let me see him.

Son: [proud] See? Here's his wig! And he's wearing a suit.

Me: [getting involved] Oh, and I see, those are his ears?

Son: [tolerant of my ignorance] Those aren't ears! That's the bottom of his wig!

Me: [chagrined, then honest] Oh. Wow. That's pretty good.

Son: [prouder] Yes. Yes, thank you. So you like it? They acted out the Continental Congress!

Me: [honest] Um... Yes, but his eyes still creep me out.

Son: [prouder yet] Yeah, but you should've seen Patrick Henry. He had these tiny, tiny little eyes, and HE was REALLY creepy.

Post Script: George Washington now lives in Dad's office, on a prime slot of shelf real estate.

Post Script x2: It occurs to me that wierd is actually spelled weird and that all my tags are wrong and I don't want to fix them and I'm Ok with that.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

2009-04-09T20:56:00.003-04:00

In the spirit of sharing the freaky, yet impressive, things that my children enjoy creating for school, and in the spirit of my Uncle Chuck's blog, I bring you a challenge.

Please identify the following:

My son made it for school, and is very proud of it. Can you identify it?
Good luck!

Accidental Soup

2009-04-08T18:27:00.003-04:00

On Sunday morning I put some food in the crockpot for lunch. I meant to turn it down to low before we left, but I forgot, and so it sat on high heat for 6 hours. When we came home, my daughter took a look at it and exclaimed, "You made soup?! Yum!"

... I didn't mean to make soup. But it was super yummy as a soup/stew, so that's how we ate it. I pulled out the meat, stripped it off the bones, and stirred it back in.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:
approx. 2 lb chicken pieces
garlic powder
pepper
gf seasoned salt
oregano
dried onion flakes
2 cans tomato sauce
1 can each green beans and corn
4 carrots, peeled and thick-sliced
1 green pepper, chopped

Preparation:
1. layer chicken in crockpot, seasoning with the garlic, pepper, salt, oregano, and onion flakes
2. add chopped vegetables and pour tomato sauce over everything
3. accidentally cook on high for 6 hours :)
4. If needed, remove bones and skin
5. stir well to break up meat into small pieces
6. if sauce is too thick for your taste, add some gf chicken broth to thin

Like this recipe? Check out the other ones in our group this week: What's For Dinner Wednesday's

A Day of Firsts

2009-04-02T17:00:00.003-04:00

Well, this life of mine seems determined to tick me off.

Haha. I made a funny. I didn't even mean it, but I guess it was my subconscious looking for a bright side. You see, one of my "firsts" for today was discovering that I was a host to my very first personal tick. It was an icky brown one.

Later on, I found out that one of my students has Crohn's disease. That's a first for me, too. I've never had a student with Crohn's. He's a tough guy. And a nice guy. And I'm praying he'll be Ok and recover.

Finally, I went to the doctor to get the rest of the tick removed (yes, the rest... it was an unpleasant morning). He really had to work at it, too. When he was done, he said he was going to have to put a stitch in because the tick had been buried deeply. So now I have my first stitch, too. My whole life I've never had to get stitches, and I've been rather proud of that, seeing as how I'm ultra accident prone and make Bella seem calm and in control of her body. I no longer can say that.

I'm hoping for a dull and uneventful evening, but since I'm going to help Jim work at the church's new building (YAY!), I'll probably end up with at least three new bruises and/or scrapes.

On the bright side, my latest round of blood tests for my heart stuff have all come back clear. (also YAY!)

That was great!

2009-03-29T18:57:00.003-04:00

My son is a storyteller. He's not a good storyteller, though. His stories tend to end with the saying "That was great!" and are usually something like this:

"Hey, Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"Remember that one time when we were at the store and the stuff fell off the shelf but nobody had touched it and we all looked at it and I was like 'Wow! Did you see that? That stuff fell off the shelf without anybody even touching it!' and Annie was like 'Yeah I saw it too. It fell right off the shelf and nobody was anywhere near it' and then you just looked at us and said 'Pick it up.'?"

"Yeah."

"That was great!"

Strange and Wonderful

2009-03-28T21:59:00.004-04:00

I think one of the greatest things about my family is how we are impulsive and do the unexpected, and that's Ok. Just today, Jim offered to get me a new grill for Mother's Day. Not flowers, not a trip for dinner, not any of the traditional gifts. I loved it. I laughed and said, "That's what I was getting you for Father's Day!"

One of the places we are definitely strange is in our choice of pets. When we were younger, we had a cat who would play fetch. He was named Thud (he wasn't very graceful). Ever since then, we've always carefully selected and named our pets so that they would live up to his bizarre standard.

First came a female Rottweiler from the local shelter. Her name is Bill Smith. (It's a family name.)

Second came an English Bulldog. A little female dog who acts like a cat. She looks like a wrinkly old man and therefore bears the name Daisy.

Finally comes our newest addition. A cat with the name of a dog. Meet Rufus.
Once he's feeling a bit more comfortable and comes out of his cat box, I'll take a better picture of him for you.

Insult to injury

2009-03-23T18:50:00.002-04:00

As if it's not bad enough that I have become host to a parasitic little heart monitor, that I have pimples, that I have an AWFUL cold and fever, that I haven't eaten a real meal since Saturday's lunch, that I am already behind in my grading, that my school has an evaluation team coming in this week to interview us all about the wonders of our jobs.....

You'd think that would be enough things to cram into 4 days time!

BUT

I

am

out

of

Q-tips!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh! My ears are all wet and squishy and itchy now! Fooey.

PS My fever broke, so that's good! Right! Bright spot? Anyone?

PPS There really can't BE a bright spot when you're out of Q-tips. Am I right? Of COURSE I am.

Why I'm not posting right now.

2009-03-21T11:08:00.002-04:00

Hi, everybody.

I've missed writing and reading your blogs lately, but I've been having some health problems again, and it's interfering with my online activities. This is, I must admit, fairly low on the importance scale behind boring things like work and family and cooking and sleeping and going for walks.... dull stuff, you know? Nothing fun there!

Haha. Just kidding about the fun-ness, of course!

So the long and the short of things is that I've been having some troubles with heart palpitations. As a result I'm very tired, and have been visiting the doctor and the ER and fun places like that. I also have a lot of grading to do. I was just starting to catch up, too! :(

No worries: many of the big scary things have been ruled out. No heart damage or attacks, no lung damage, no thyroid problems, no pleurisy...

But for the meantime, if you don't see me around, you know why. I'll be sure to pop in now and then ('cause it's hard to stay away, right?) but if I'm not showing up in your comments or at our weekly check-in's at least now you know why!

See you on the flip side!

And please, feel free to cheer yourself up with some Weird Al Polka. It works for me. Every time.

It's the end of the world as we know it!

2009-03-14T08:05:00.004-04:00

(and I DON'T feel fine, btw)

I feel shocked, stunned, angry, and a little bit sad. Do you know what building this is? That's right, it's the Willis Tower.

What? What's that? No, no it's the Sears Tower, you say? WRONG.

It's the Willis Tower. Or, it soon will be, anyway.

(This very well could be the 4th horseman of the apocolypse's summer penthouse.)

-sigh-

Why do they have to change stuff?

I mean really.

Who wants to go and visit the Willis Tower? All you're gonna hear is random people sayin', "Whatchu talkin' 'bout?!"

Who cares if Sears isn't there anymore? They didn't rename the Chrysler building "the Abu Dhabi Investment Council building" after Chrysler left.

We'll miss you, Sears Tower, so much that we probably will refuse to admit that your name ever changed and will continue to call you the Sears Tower, and when international tourists come visit and ask to be taken to the tallest skyscraper in our land, we'll say, "Oh, yes, the Sears Tower !" and we'll smile nostalgically and point them in the right direction, and they won't care because they'll still be calling you the Sears Tower, too, and somewhere, way up high in the sky, so important that they've disappeared from the reality of life down below, there will be an administrator shouting, "IT'S THE WILLIS TOWER!" but all we'll hear is the whistling of the Chicago breeze around your twin spires.

And then we'll go eat pizza.

No I'm not.

2009-03-12T20:20:00.002-04:00

Yes, I am.

I am in denial. I am approaching my 1-year-with-celiac-disease mark. I am craving a peanut butter sandwich. I am sad. I am tired of not eating muffins. I am tired of cupcakes that taste like cornbread even though there's no corn in the recipe. I am happy to feel (mostly) better. I am tired of "Oh, wait, you can't. Sorry." I am refusing to believe that something is wrong with me today. I am refusing to write my traditional post about having celiac disease.

THEREFORE, I shall play picture tag with my Uncle Chuck.

1. On my next birthday, I will be

one of the numbers in that picture.

2. I would like to travel to

Cavin, Ireland.

3. My favorite food is

ribeye steak.

4. My favorite place is

snug in a hug.

5. My nickname is

apparently the name of a line of pet care products.

6. My favorite color is

puce.

7. My college major was

secondary education.

8. The name of my love is

Jim.

9. My hobby is

the written word.

10. My bad habit is

probably pretty obvious.

Oriental chicken and broccoli cheese casserole-thingy

2009-03-11T18:59:00.005-04:00

Look, don't EVER put me in charge of naming stuff in a cookbook, okay? Okay.

Having said, that, here's a yummy recipe. If you haven't discovered it yet, I cook like a grandma, so expect no measurements!

Here we go.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Oriental Chicken:

1. Mix Sesame oil, oriental curry, and ginger together. Brush on chicken while it bakes, basting occasionally. TIP: for more intense flavors, marinate chicken with the mixture in a ziploc for a while (30 minutes to a day). I use a ziploc because then you can use less marinade.

2. Put chicken in oven to cook and start broccoli dish.

Broccoli Cheese Casserole-Thingy:

1. You need fresh broccoli, cream sauce mix, and cheese.

2. Make cream sauce. (See previous recipe for instructions if you don't have your own. The sauce instructions are at the end of the post.)
3. While sauce cooks, chop broccoli. I used I head from the produce section: stems and pieces. Put in a small baking dish.

4. Add cheese over top of broccoli.
5. Finally, pour sauce over broccoli and cheese. Toss in oven with chicken to cook. They should finish up about the same time.

6. Top with more cheese once casserole is cooked, if you wish. (I did.) This small dish served average-sized side portions for 2 adults and 2 children.

Yummy.

Obligations

2009-03-11T16:51:00.002-04:00

Weight: 174#
Change: Down 2#

I am within 10 pounds of my first mini-goal of 165, and I think I should make it soon. Yay!

I have exercised several days this past week and a half: sledding two days, family walks two days, increased activity at home - chores, etc. Haven't started the situp or pushup challenges, though I still plan to.

Working on your health and/or weight? Come join us at One Weigh at a Time.

100th Post Celebratory Bonanza

2009-03-09T10:00:00.000-04:00

Whee. The end.

***************************************

Just kidding. In all honesty, that WAS going to be my post. It really was, but then I found out about El's and John's Profound Picture Prize Giveaway to support some good charities, to honor the memory of their stillborn son Eli, and to help raise funds for their son Seth's cochlear implants. Their little Seth is the adorabl-est!

(Isn't he SO cute?)

For a $10 donation, you'll be entered in a raffle for this package:

A Nikon or Canon SLR Camera
A 4Gb Memory Card
Camera Strap
Photo Bag
Adobe Photoshop Elements 7
A 12x18 canvas print from IPrintCanvas

The two charities which will be benefiting from this raffle are Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep and Rhyan's Hope. You can find out more about the giveaway and these charities at El's blog Profoundly Seth.

Spring Has Arrived

2009-03-08T21:02:00.002-04:00

Two days ago, I looked out my window, and perched on the branch right in front of me was a fat little robin, but that's not the sign of spring's arrival around here. I can always tell when winter's over because the tree frogs start singing.

The bulbs will come up any old time that it gets warm. In fact, the tulips have been trying to bloom for over a month now. But here's a secret: flowers are dumb. Beautiful, but dumb. :)

But frogs? Frogs are smart. And all through the county, the frogs are singing their high, sweet song. Up and down my street, I can hear them trilling away, beautifully. The frogs have become my favorite sign of spring.

Why it's Great to Procrastinate

2009-03-07T10:39:00.004-05:00

Oh, how I love to put things off!
To meet deadlines just makes me scoff.
I'd rather save the work for later,
And go play now!

................................Don't be a hater.
You know you're jealous of my scheme.
You wish YOU could flounce and preen
And run and play and button mash
And fight the zombies - hack and slash!
You wish YOU could be chore free,
Come outside, play ball like me.

Never have to work again, but rock
A fancy inter-web scam and lock
Away the ties forever. Never wear
another pair of hose or itchy underwear.
Never have to go to work
On days when coffee just won't perk.
Yes, my pals, delay is great.
Always just procrastinate!

And all of this, I have to say
Makes me sad on this fine day.
Because it's sunny, warm, and mild:
A Heaven for my inner child.
But I can't go and frolic with you.
Tomorrow morning grades are due.

(c) Mikki Black, 2009