Scriptures to Ponder

Do not let this book of the law depart from your mouth meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Joshua 1:8 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, so that it may benefit those who listen. Ephesians 4:29 The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward apprearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. Jeremiah 29:11

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

31 and counting...

One full year of my 30's down and 9 more to go. Last year was pretty uneventful & my 31st birthday was less than uneventful. Here is what I did yesterday to celebrate:

8:15 woke up & laid in bed
8:30-9:00 took a work conference call
9:00-11:00 played on the computer & answered some great birthday wishes
11:00-11:30 decided to wash face & brush teeth
11:30-12:30 went to rent a movie, tried to go to gym, came home
12:30-1:30 made grilled cheese sandwiches & chicken noodle soup
1:30-3:00 watched soaps, played on computer some more
3:00-5:30 played guitar hero
5:30-6:45 cooked & ate a ham dinner with mashed potatoes, stuffing & green beans
6:45-8:15 watched Igor with boys
8:15-9:30 watched TV & went to bed

NOW please contain your excitement about what a funfilled day I had. Where did my day go??And even with all that I had to do I could not manage to blog, but I did manage to throw some laundry in there. So my next post will be about how I've gotten tickets to the Oprah show. For now, I hope you all will strive to have your birthday as exciting as mine!

Monday, January 26, 2009

Oprah Take 2

I got the opportunity to go the Oprah show again. The first/last time that I went was 2 years ago in January. My trip this time was not as much of an adventure.

Matt & I drove up on Thursday for the Friday taping. We did not know the show topic but knew it was her Oprah live taping. Usually there is a panel there and we were excited for that, but since they had just been in DC, the panel did not come back for this week's live episode. Caroline Kennedy was supposed to be on there but she canceled & Garth Brooks was going to perform but he couldn't make it. So they were just going to show an already taped episode. Then they remembered they were going to have a live audience there. So, they had one guest from the Chicago Sun Times scheduled and they threw the rest of the show together. And it showed.

Jeremy's mom came with us. So the 3 of us went to the show. It was a good experience just like last time, but again, I felt like I got ripped off on the show. Last time they changed the show to the boys that were kidnapped in Missouri and I was disappointed with that show because it was so sad. This time they just threw the show together & Oprah was so tired & it seemed very blah. During a taping of a regular show there are not any commercial breaks. Well on this one since it was live (in Chicago where it airs at 9:00 am there only) there were commercial breaks and Oprah was not very social during the breaks.

Since it was Oscar week they did discuss the Oscars and tired to Skype some of the Oscar nominees. They had problems with Skype Friday too.

Oh well. We got a Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack. And Oprah is helping promote the volunteering/giving back agenda along with Starbucks. So we got a pledge card from Starbucks for a free coffee if we pledge 5 hours of community service and the whole audience received a $20 Starbucks gift card. I was pretty excited about that. And since I already volunteer then the pledge was easy to do.

After the show we managed to find the Oprah store, which Holly and I did not see last time. We even commented on how it was weird that Oprah did not have a store. So I bought something for Holly this time, since she could not make it this year.

Tomorrow I will post on how I got tickets both times to the show.




Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Hair Dresser's Nightmare

I guess that is me. I have had short hair for about 3 months now. Including the first time that I moved to my new do, I have had it cut 5 times. I am not going to post new pictures because I am sure it is just my own "issue", but you can refer to my original post to see the major difference. Although now it really doesn't even really look like the last picture. OH well.

But after 5 haircuts I'm still not very happy with my hair. I cannot decide if I like it short because I am not 100% happy with the style. I have gone to 3 different people & none of them have done it the way that I have asked. The first time it was too long, even after I went back a 2nd time to get more cut off. Then the next person cut it too short & stacked too much in the back, then the next person made it lop sided. Today it is ok, but I had to ask her to keep doing little cuts like 10 times. Then I came home today & whacked on it myself. Now I think it looks ok, but again maybe too short. I feel like just giving up!! I think I should just go back to longer less difficult hair.

I am really not blaming the hair people, maybe I need to realize that my hair just will not do what I want. I have come to that realization with several other hair styles. Let's just say I do not have white girl hair. My hair seems to be pretty difficult to "style" & cut. I know this so I try to not be too difficult, but I want it to look the way I want it to look. Is that too much to ask for? My "regular" stylist is my friend & she told me today that if we could still be friends after today's visit she must REALLY like me! I really don't obsess over my hair more than the 15-20 minutes in the morning that it takes me to do it, but that whole time I analyze exactly what is wrong with it.

What do you think, should I give up or keep pressing on to the goal of a perfect "short" cut?

Sunday, January 18, 2009

My Grandpa

I went to visit my grandpa today in the hospital. He has been in the hospital off and on for the past 3 years. When this all first started I went through a lot with him so I thought nothing would be shocking to me when it came to him. Well...

Some might call him a cranky old man, even I might call him that. But I love him, he is his own person and he always makes me laugh. He wears his hospital gown backward so the gown will open in the front. He likes to leave it open when he gets hot. Today a nurse asked if she could do anything else for him besides leave him alone & he replied no, that should to it.

But the best part of our visit was that instead of going to the restroom (where he could actually make it to) he used the port-a-potty in the room. My grandma, mom, two boys & I all just sat there with him while he tried to have a bowl movement. Then my mom & two boys decided to leave while he was still on the toilet (he was constipated today) and they all hugged him good bye while he sat on the port-a-potty! Brayden didn't seem to mind to much but I think Cody thought it was a little odd. I just looked at my grandma & we both laughed.

I am happy that my boys get to have their Great Grandfather around life has been fun with him.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Sopa

I'm not sure if you have ever had my Grandma's Sopa but it is one of my favorite dishes. I am not really sure why except I love corn and this is just a good mixture of pasta, spice, crunch & cheesiness. She has been making if for YEARS & I have only attempted to make it a handful of times. It never seems to turn out as good as hers (except for the time she used cinnamon instead of chili powder that was not a good time). And I have tried all of her techniques.

So, I am going to post the recipe and anyone that would like to try it - go ahead & let me know what you think. Some tips would be that she just slices onions (doesn't chop them) and she adds a small can of tomato sauce to it.

Sopa De Fideo

1/2 lb. Vermicelli, broken in small pieces
1 1/2 lb. ground beef
2 cloves garlic
2 c. onion, chopped
2 c. chopped celery
1 1/2 c. chopped green pepper - I usually leave out - which could be the problem but doubt it
1 can whole kernel corn with liquid
3 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
2/3 tsp. chili powder
1 lg. can tomatoes
1 c. water
Grated cheese for topping (or sliced cheese) - Grandma uses sliced - it's better

Saute Vermicelli (watch carefully-burns easily) with ground beef until brown. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Cover and cook gently for 25 minutes. May need to add water if too dry. Uncover and cook 5 minutes.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Family Pet

I am not a fan of pets - for myself. Sometimes I think I want a dog, but then I realize not really. Growing up I had LOTS of pets. I like animals, I just do not want to take care of them.

I feel bad for the boys because I know they really want pets, as do most kids. I have thought a lot about getting fish, and I did get Jeremy a Beta fish to test it out. Fish are ok, but he has to clean the tank every week or two, still seems like too much for me. But still a possibility.

So, this is the best solution for now. The boys got Hermit Crabs. They really gross me out. The top crab in the picture below is totally brown & looks like a spider when it comes out of the shell. So I really dislike that one.

The crabs are really low maintenance. They do get bathed 2 times a week which only takes about 5 minutes and the boys can do that without supervision. They just put some water in the sink & put them in there for 1 minute. Then they air dry.

The Hermit Crabs love bath time. That is the only time I see them out of the shell & very active.

Brayden decided to spend some of his Christmas money on the Hermit Crabs. Cody lucked out because they were buy one kit get a kit free. So, Cody & Brayden split the cost of 1 kit (one kit comes with 2 crabs) and they each got two. Brayden named his Stripes & Pinchers and Cody named his Home Slice & Home something else.


Sunday, January 11, 2009

Let me introduce...

??? - I don't know their names because I do not know who they are. I just decided to smile as I walked through the photo that Eric was taking of them. Eric works for Kodak at SDC & he was supposed to take their photo, but I do not think that I was supposed to be in the picture.

Monday, January 05, 2009

Happy 2009!!!

Happy New Year everyone. The boys are back to school and "vacation" is over. And as expected I did not manage to get anyother treats or crafts done except for the marshmellows. I did manage to take them to Silver Dollar City after Christmas one day when it was 60 degrees out. Everyone else must have had the same idea because it was PACKED that day.

I also managed to get the boy to do their thank you cards - so if you sent us a gift, you should be getting your thank you soon.

I have no resolutions by the way.
For New Year's Eve, we went to downtown Springfield to do First Night. Several businesses open for you to do various activites. It is family oriented and there are a lot of music performances but also several other activities. We actually ran out of time & did not have enough time to do all that we wanted.
We started by taking the shuttle from the car to the first location. 1/4 of the shuttle was taken up by singers & people playing music such as this man here! We decided after that we could walk every where else.


We started at the YMCA and did the rock climbing wall. Or at least the boys did the wall. Neither one of them made it to the top.




At first Brayden did not want to go to the YMCA because he thought that we were going to me singing the song. Then even after we got there, he asked if we were still going to see YMCA. He knows more about the Village People then the organization.


We had our faces painted. We had to wait in line forever for that. There was only one lady & she was super detail oriented. Brayden's is a dragon.

We went to 1984, which is an arcade. We had fun but WOW have video games changed.


We stopped by the Discovery Center but we did not have a lot of time to go there, we just stopped in to see what it was like, we will have to go back another day. It looked fun. Our final stop before the New Year was ice skating. At the entrance was this monkey. The owner had a service animal sign next to the monkey. She looked fine & when Brayden asked what the monkey did, she said it is a service monkey!?








We watched fireworks & drank some sparkling cider to ring in the New Year. It was fun!


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