21st August, 2008
Two happy things
1. I have an IPOD!
2. I no longer have DIAL UP internet connection.
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted at 6:53 am | Comments (3)
13th August, 2008
Drink More Coffee
See! I’m not crazy (well, not without good reason anyhow).
And because I was curious, I took this test and scored VERY high on the “strong tendency to ADD” part:
Attention Deficit Disorder Symptoms List
Fascinating!
Posted at 7:52 am | Comment (0)
9th June, 2008
Dustbusters…
are evil, vile, useless contraptions.
The only thing they suck up is the cash you spent on buying it.
There are a whole lot more enjoyable ways to waste time, energy and money.
~ Just a friendly public service whine announcement.
Postscript: Using a Dustbuster while PMSing is a very, very bad idea.
Posted at 11:59 am | Comment (1)
5th June, 2008
A moment of silence, please.
It happened while I was scooping ice cream.
While I was thankful the flying debris didn’t knock me unconscious, I was left temporarily dazed and confused.
Thankfully, I recovered within a short time and still possessed enough brain cells left from the day to remember our old, trusty spade sitting idly in the recesses of our utensil drawer.
Of course it was only 2:34pm (but don’t tell anyone OK?).
I now plan to invest in a super duper, top chef quality scooper.
One should not underestimate the necessity of such a tool for serious ice cream eaters.
Posted at 6:12 pm | Comment (1)
21st April, 2008
Proof that presentation is NOT everything.
Let’s just get this over with right now.
My first reaction upon seeing this photo of myself was one of horror and deep, deep depression. So much so, that I scurried to the kitchen and began to bake a nice batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies so that I could eat large globs of batter while crying in the corner.
Now seriously – I had already planned on baking up cookies. It just hastened my resolve, that’s all.
Back to the photo.
I confess I’m vain. That’s why the fact that I posted this unflattering photo of me shows I have grown past my vanity. I’ve matured. Grown up. Accepted my flaws. Embraced my double chin with joy.
And I’ve also become a great fibber.
Truthfully, I was just going to crop me out of the shot, but you just cannot fully appreciate this um, dish, without also seeing my response to it.
On our recent west coast vacation (of which I still need to post a gazillion photos of – post forthcoming), we took Jeff’s parents out to dinner at a quirky little restaurant on the pier. It was very blustery day (making the hairspray I applied only a half hour earlier of absolutely no use whatsoever) and we were hungry (wind will do that to you).
Reasoning to myself that I was really tired of sandwiches and did not much feel like meatloaf or chicken and dumplings or crab tacos or a kid’s grilled cheese sandwich, I honed in on the salad section of the small menu before me and began to contemplate my choices.
They did not look good.
I took my chances anyway, and ordered the Salad Trilogy (which really would have been more appropriately titled, Salad Tragedy, but I decided not to pass on that bit of constructive criticism).
Now, it’s my theory that the reason the salad was served up in a ginormous stripey salad bowl designed to hold 11 servings instead of 1 is because deep down, guilt plagued that chef’s soul. Guilt for creating such an odd concoction of vinegar soaked shredded carrots, pickled olives, sprouts, lentils, bell peppers and enough parsley to correct even the worst beta carotene deficiency one may have walked into that restaurant with. Guilt for charging $12.50 for it and not even including the bowl as part of the price tag. Guilt for not having been fired for it yet. My theory is, he wanted to distract you from what you were eating which in turn would cause you to wonder why you were eating it and not really enjoying it because, WOW! LOOK at that bowl!!!!
But, being one to always look for the silver lining in everything (hahahahaha), I consoled myself with the fact that I left healthier than I walked in.
Anyway, back to the photo.
When my husband took out the camera to take this picture, I thought he was just aiming for the salad. I had no idea I was being photographed against my will. If I had, I would have jumped out of the shot. Or at least smiled for it.
So what you see in this expression – it wasn’t staged one bit.
Now, on to Ian. This is also not staged. He’s whining. I don’t know what about, does it even matter? I would wager to guess he whined during most of our meal about something or other. I just tune him out. Can you tell?
That man at the end of the table – that’s Lee, Jeff’s dad. He’s a big believer in Strike-up Conversations with Total Strangers. It’s his calling in life, and he’s extremely good at it. Just out of range is the husband of the owner – the Strikee. I think they discussed the economy, the salmon ban and the windy weather. I don’t think he asked him why I had to be served salad in a trough, but whatever.
The lady in the back – she’s the owner. She scared me a little.
Now the moral of this story is this. Presentation is NOT everything, people! No matter how much you try to deflect attention from a bad haircut, affixing a sun-like ray of metallic spires shooting from your head will NOT help.
It’s no different with food.
Just a friendly tip.
Posted at 11:03 am | Comments (8)
10th April, 2008
Blog Meme: Do you blog like you talk?
First off, I’m not entirely clear on what a “meme” is.
Hold on. I’ll go check.
Here we go – from Dictionary.com:
meme –noun- a cultural item that is transmitted by repetition in a manner analogous to the biological transmission of genes.
Well, that clears it up!
Hmmm…there’s more…
meme philosophy
/meem/ [By analogy with "gene"] Richard Dawkins’s term for an idea considered as a replicator, especially with the connotation that memes parasitise people into propagating them much as viruses do.Memes can be considered the unit of cultural evolution. Ideas can evolve in a way analogous to biological evolution. Some ideas survive better than others; ideas can mutate through, for example, misunderstandings; and two ideas can recombine to produce a new idea involving elements of each parent idea.
The term is used especially in the phrase “meme complex” denoting a group of mutually supporting memes that form an organised belief system, such as a religion. However, “meme” is often misused to mean “meme complex”.
Use of the term connotes acceptance of the idea that in humans (and presumably other tool- and language-using sophonts) cultural evolution by selection of adaptive ideas has become more important than biological evolution by selection of hereditary traits. Hackers find this idea congenial for tolerably obvious reasons.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.K. What. Ev. Er.
Let’s just move on to the question because I *think* I understand that.
Do I blog like I talk?
Yes.
And no.
Yes – the silliness, the dorky comments, or the long winded philosophical/theological stuff…um..yeah.
Anything that makes sense or that accidentally sounds cool on my blog – no.
Do I have anything in that category?
OK truly…I have always communicated more clearly through the written word than I speak. I’ve been told that for years (huh, Mom?). I’m not sure if that’s a good thing, but it is what it is.
I spend too much time “thinking”. Now, do not confuse that with intelligence. Thinking and intelligence are not the same thing. I HOPE I’m not an imbecelle (I have just tried to spell that word about 10 different ways and every single one is showing up incorrect on my spellchecker so I choose to accept it), and I truly TRY hard not to be. The fact that I’m always thinking means I often get “lost” when someone is sharing something that IS intelligent, why I can “tune out” when my toddler repeats “Mommy? Mommy? Mommy? Mommy? MOMMY?!” for over 5 minutes before I think to answer him, and why I can often confuse others when I speak because my words don’t line up to or catch up to my thoughts very well.
Which is totally embarrassing.
And which in turn makes me self conscious.
And I mull over that self consciousness.
Which makes me more self conscious.
And then I feel like I’m acting self conscious.
So I try to stop.
But by then, it’s a lost case.
Anyway, I think that I “think” the way I write. Speaking what I think – it just gets all gummed up.
Which is why I like typing so much better for communicating.
Which is why I’ve found I really love to blog.
Which tells you something about how often I think when I only update this once a week….
Which I bet makes you wonder why you even asked the question to begin with.
Posted at 9:08 am | Comments (4)
1st April, 2008
Jeff’s Embarrasing Moment #87,694
Several ladies on a message board I post on were raving about Sonic’s “chewy” ICE about a year or so ago. Having never been to a Sonic and therefore not grasping what could possibly be so exciting about ice, I reasoned that I must have been missing something but tried to encourage myself by telling me that my life is still complete despite this unfortunate situation.
Months later, just about the time when I thought I had accepted my Sonicless fate, we were driving back from visiting my parents 400 miles away and low and behold I spotted a Sonic sign!
“HONEY!!!!! PULL OVER!!! WE HAVE TO GO TO SONIC!!! THEY HAVE CHEWY ICE!!!”
Jeff looks at me a little like this: 
But being the good man he is, he reluctantly obliged.
I begin to get giddy!
As we approach the drive through, I tell Jeff I want a Diet Coke (because they are sooo much better for you than regular Coke) with chewy ice!
“HONEY! MAKE SURE YOU ASK THEM FOR CHEWY ICE!!!!”
He looks at me.
“Yeah. I’ll have a Diet Coke please. With chewy ice?”
“Chewy ice?”
“Yeah, we – “
I interupt and yell into the speaker: “Do you have chewy ice?!”
“Well, we have ice.”
“I was told it was different than regular ice.”
“Um….”
“Is it chewy?”
Hubby is now mortified.
“It’s ice, ma’am.”
“OK well, is it shaped in a special way?”
“Well, it’s kind of shaped like small balls if that’s what you mean.”
Not knowing what I mean, I figure that must be the unique feature so I accept it.
“OK great. Sounds fine. We’ll have a Diet Coke with chewy ice!” 
We pull up to the window, pay….hubby wants to crawl under a rock by now….
I open up the lid on my Diet Coke and eagerly sip up a little ice, expecting it to somehow have some kind of knock out taste to it along with the fun ball shape…
I am sorry to report that it was just. Ice.
I was SO disillusioned.
We drove the rest of the way home in silence while I pitifully sipped from my Diet Coke and wished I had gotten a Starbucks Chocolate Chip Java Frapp with creamy topping and chewy chocolate chunks instead.
Hubby silently vowed never to use the word “chewy” in public ever again.
Posted at 6:22 pm | Comments (5)
27th February, 2008
Learning to crochet
Last night at our monthly Keepers at Home meeting, the girls (and I) learned to crochet.
I think we’ve all found a new hobby! And speaking for my very uncreative self, I LOVED it!
See, I’m a knitting dropout. I tried. I did. I gave it a valiant shot. I kept going back to my dishcloth once every six months and continuing where I messed up left off at. But it never seemed to get further than halfway done, and I was bored to tears after finishing just one row. I’d look at it. It didn’t seem any different than before I stitched that new row. Except for maybe another new funky hole or double loop dip whoops-e-daisy “look”. And my hands. Woe was me – my hands! They hurt. I couldn’t figure out how to knit like a normal person. My fingers automatically go into these contortionist type positions and no amount of forcing them to relax and just chill man, would help. They wouldn’t listen to me. I was beginning to resign myself to my non artistic fate.
But then, Mrs. R. gave me hope. She taught our KAH group how to crochet a chain. And I had hope that perhaps I had a future in crochetting. And that I wouldn’t end up in Crochet Drop Out School. That maybe, just maybe, I could be a B- crochetter someday!
It’s at that exact moment that I knew – maybe, just maybe, I could be ~ artistic!!!!
*cue music*
But…I digress. I must.
Because, this is really about my lovely daughters and the new skill they are learning! What a blessing this KAH group has been to them.
Here’s our pastor’s sweet daughter, helping my oldest (on the right) to chain.
And below is the granddaughter of the wonderful lady who taught us to crochet. I love this first picture especially. I need to frame it. A. just jumped right in to help my little Emma! In fact, A. is the granddaugther of Mrs. R, who taught A to crochet when she was only 6 – the same age Emma is now.
I think we have many days ahead of sweet times together sitting around crochetting doilies, tissue box covers, dishcloths, blankets, sweaters, hats, mittens, baby socks, hair scrunchies and rain slickers.
Posted at 8:54 am | Comments (2)
23rd February, 2008
“Keep three books going”
A wise woman – an admired mother and wife – when asked how, with her weak physical health and many demands upon her time, she managed to read so much, said, “Besides my Bible, I always keep three books going that are just for me – a stiff book, a moderately easy book, and a novel, and I always take up the one I feel fit for.” That is the secret: always have something “going” to grow by.A stiff book is a challenging one. It may be one of Christian doctrine or a collection of meaty sermons.
An easy book may be biographical. It lets us into the life of another struggling person, a person with integrity, determination, and the ability to surrender to God, perhaps.
For novels I recommend you read good ones. My small cast of venerable novelists includes Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Nathaniel Hawthorn, George Elliot, and Charles Dickens.
Charlotte Mason advised the teacher to replenish her soul with a continual supply of ideas. “Never be without a good book on hand.”
This morning, I read this in A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola in the encouraging chapter on Mother Culture. I think I’m going to apply the advice.
For my stiff book, I need to do some searching in our “meaty” book shelves. We’ve been blessed to have acquired several wonderful theological books over the years. Some have been browsed for helpful information, others have been well read and loved from cover to cover, but some have barely been touched or cracked open – their treasure remains yet undiscovered. It’ll be fun to look through them and once I find one, I’ll update (since I know you’re all just on the edge of your keyboard wondering which it’ll be! Hee hee).
The easy book will be hard to choose. I have several going right now! Heart and Home, Victorian Traditions, Mitten Strings for God (which I’ve been wanting to blog about – it is a wonderful book!). I don’t know if I’ll be able to choose just one…
And for a novel, Pride and Prejudice will fit perfectly. Now if I can just finish it before I need to return it to the library….
What books are you reading right now? When do you find time?
A dear friend of mine gave me one of her secrets to stealing moments with a good book – keep it in a basket in the bathroom! It’s funny, but great advice for us busy moms! There have been several times my husband has knocked on the door asking if I was “OK in there?” Hee hee! I just get reading and lose track of time…
Occasionally, I also like to read before bed. It is such a comfort to retire early, settle under the cozy flannel sheets with a good book and just read. Nothing too weighty or theological – my brain is too tired then. Ohhhh….and wouldn’t a cup of nice hot tea be wonderful? Making a mental note to do that next time…
Early morning is really the best time for me to read though. My mind is most alert and I enjoy the quiet moments before my sweeties wake up!
……Do not think this is a selfish thing to do, because the advance does not end with yourself. – Parents’ Review magazine, 1892
Posted at 7:44 am | Comments (4)
14th February, 2008
Of blogs, large furniture moving and a Mish Mosh Valentine’s Day
If you happened to visit my blog yesterday from oh, the hours of 2pm to 4pm PST, you probably noticed my blog was having a bit of an identity crisis.
In my search for a simple template and a nice spring photo for my header, I must have posted at least 47 different looks. Many of which were just downright weird looking. Which wasn’t my fault. So please don’t leave for good. By 4pm I was about to scream. To rend my garments. To set my hair on fire.
But today, I had an idea. I figured out how I can put a Wordpress CCS code into my template (don’t worry, it doesn’t make sense to me either, but I excel in nonsensicalness). So I did it! And finally! It looks like spring here! And since I’m from CA and we’ve been basking in sunshine for the past week and a half, I could no longer look at my dreary mist filled tree near the water that greeted one and all to my wee little corner of the blog world.
Now, if I could only get the text to be pretty, I’d be thrilled!
Don’t be shocked if in a few days things look different here again. This is the kind of behavior I’m sort of known for. Drove my mom crazy growing up. I had this constant need for change in my environment. Each week I would move around all the furniture in my bedroom to get just the right look. I never achieved it, but I kept trying.
It’s why I majored in Interior Design in college. I could mess up and change other people’s homes to my heart’s content.
Since I ended up changing my major to Liberal Studies (blech) and am blessed to have the best job in the world, being Mommy to my kids and getting to teach them at home, I now get to rearrange their rooms on a regular basis too. Which they love. Except when they get hungry and want to eat when I’m in the middle of jimmying a dresser across the room. Or when I wrench my back and can’t change Ian’s diaper for days. Or when they keep stubbing their toes on the corner of furniture that previously wasn’t there. Other than all that.
You know, this was actually supposed to be a Happy Valentine’s Day post.
Oh well.
Happy Valentine’s Day! I’ll post later on about how ours went. My main goal is to make sure I shower before hubby and I go to our church Valentine’s “Around the World” themed dinner. Which they encourage you to dress up in costume for. Maybe I’ll go as a pilgrim. With my IKEA swedish meatballs to represent, of course, my husbands Swedish heritage.
Is it clear to anyone else I did not get enough sleep last night?
Posted at 7:22 am | Comment (1)
