Burning Question

Shouldn't seminary financial aid worksheets have a line in the budget for tithing?

Or are we off the hook on that for three years?

Just wonderin'.

Deep Thought

Do you think my two-year-old will understand if I tell her she's giving up Elmo for Lent?

Leftovers

I intended to blog today but my brain is as cluttered and stuffed as my fridge full of leftovers. And both are probably on the verge of rotting as well. So let me stick to the important issue of the day: we have way too much meat hanging around here!

I need an easy recipe for soup or something to make with a ham bone (and ham). Split pea probably not preferred, since it looks too much like a healthy vegetable to fool Aaron. I could do another kind of bean soup, though, right? Or a ham/corn soup/chowder kind of thing? Anybody?

I'll probably make another turkey casserole and freeze it. For turkey noodle soup, I will just wing it. (No pun intended. But I am amused.) Any other ideas?

Saturday Bullet-in

Bullet point post!

• I am still sickish. This cough is just hanging around. Annoying to self and others.
• I got really behind on my work (what else is new?) and will need every hour I can squeeze out of this weekend. Thank goodness for Deadline Savings Time!
• We had something going on every night this week. Again. (Result: see above.)
• What I'd really like to do today is sit on the couch with roasted pumpkin seeds and watch about five hours of the TV shows we haven't had time to watch. (See above and above and above.)
• Homecoming festivities were grand. Anna wore her pumpkin vest and hat getup last night. Because she doesn't get enough comments about her cuteness already--riiiiiiight. She was terribly wiggly and tired by halftime, though, so we bailed out early.
  
• I have a billion pictures to go through so I can post some and yes, send to relatives. Hopefully soon.
  

A Quick Post While I Continue to Avoid Other Things

My current state in bullet form:

• I am getting quite behind on my rush project.
• I should not be blogging.
• I should not be reading any part of the Internet.
• I should not be paying any attention to the 379 things in my Google Reader (probably including your blog posts I haven't commented on—sorry).
• I should not be going shopping with girlfriends tomorrow even though baby girl really needs pajamas her feet are not busting out of and I really need the sanity only girlfriend time can bring.

I am doing all these things.

I am sooooo mavericky like that.

Twitter-De-Do!

I'm on da Twitter! Twitter me! Twitter it up! Let's Twit it on!

I don't know why this seems like such fun to me but I love it already. I like that it's simple. Yeah, that's how it starts. Next thing you know I'll be on the MyFaceSpaceBook.

Post #202: 22 Things

There is a tradition in the bloggy world of dedicating one's 100th post to 100 Things about yourself. Well, my 100th post was long ago, but I did notice that I just passed #200. So for post #202, I give you . . . 22 things (because come on, 202 is waaaaay too many)!

1. Anna was up at 5:30 a.m. and I couldn’t get her back to sleep and really just wanted to turn in my mommy badge or maybe build a soundproof room in the garage where either she or I could sleep. Finally when Aaron decided to get up and shower, she went back to sleep and so did I—oversleeping through my alarm clock for over an hour. Good-bye, morning!
2. I have a project taking me forever that I wish would just go away already so I can turn to restoring order to my papers and finances and kitchen counter and brain.
3. I usually use the dictionary on my computer because if I use the book, I get distracted on the way to the word by all the amazing unfamiliar words just begging me to read their definitions.
4. My speech is too frequently sprinkled with quotations from my favorite movies and TV shows, such as: Seinfeld, The West Wing, A Few Good Men, Christmas Vacation, Ghostbusters, Star Wars, and The Princess Bride.
5. We have a dog named Fezzik after the giant from The Princess Bride. Why? Because he’s big, friendly, and dumb.
6. I plan to name my next dog Pavlov. (The one after that, Cleanup. Maybe Cleanup Crew if he is particularly gangsterish. Third next dog, Dyson.)
7. I get teary watching people win things: the Academy Award, the Super Bowl, American Idol. And sometimes when Oprah gives away amazing stuff (because she’s not giving it to me) and occasionally at sappy TV ads. I never used to be this way, so don’t ask me what happened.
8. I had never changed a diaper by myself before we adopted our daughter. Inexplicably, they still let me have her.
9. I am a huge Detroit Lions and NFL football nerd. I sometimes watch the NFL Network and have watched portions of the NFL Draft on TV three years running. (We’re Lions fans. The draft is our Super Bowl.)
10. I have never had surgery, stayed in the hospital, broken a bone, or had a cavity.
11. The talent I most wish I had is singing. With a big black gospel voice. Like Melinda Doolittle, my favorite Idol ever.
12. Talent I would like to learn: photography.
13. TV shows I like to watch: CSI, Ugly Betty, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, American Idol, Oprah, Seinfeld . . . let’s just stop there and say I like to watch too much TV.
14. If I come across a Seinfeld rerun on TV, I am powerless to resist watching it.
15. My favorite food is ice cream. But if I had to live on just one food it would probably be cereal. There’s rarely a time of day or night when a big bowl of cereal with really cold milk doesn’t sound good to me.
16. During high school I worked at McDonald’s. Feel free to insert a Wendy’s-related joke here, as customers frequently did when they saw my name tag. (“Aren’t you at the wrong restaurant?” “Is your dad’s name Dave [Thomas]?” “Does your dad know you’re working here?” Yeah, he does, and I’m a spy, but his name is Denny, so I report back to him at 3:00 a.m. over Moons Over My Hammy. Now do you want fries with that?)
17. I can count all my blood relatives on my fingers. We are truly a rare breed.
18. Favorite candy: chocolate orange! Fantastic morning, noon, or night.
19. I grew up a country girl on a mini-farm.
20. I was technically too young to drink alcohol at my own wedding.
21. Some of my favorite Bible passages are Psalm 51, Psalm 90, 1 John 4.
22. My worst habit is staying up and then getting up too late—see #1.

That’s all . . . I hope to blog again soon—if I don't stay up too late eating ice cream and watching TV.

Friday Face

"Raaaar!"

Also, if your mom makes you some piggy tails that are kind of crookedey but still really cute, you should totally mash your green beans into them. She will really appreciate it.

Energy

I am noticing that I have a lot of energy today after getting some exercise three times already this week. Lest you think I’m some kind of healthy person, rest assured that that’s probably more than the last three weeks combined. This morning when my computer was calling me to plunk down and surf away my morning, I was not necessarily convinced that taking a walk would make me feel better than sitting down with more coffee, but having tried it and felt pretty good this afternoon, I have to say that it did. Not that my energy has translated into any great work productivity.

It helps that we’ve had such glorious sunshine. Why oh why is it going to disappear as soon as my parents get here (and probably reappear when they leave)? The weathergods are cruel to me. Although not as cruel as my mother thinks. She’s always talking up the weather at their place: how warm and sunny it is, how the grass is greening up, how pretty the flowers/leaves/snowflakes are. It’s just soooo darn nice! she says. If she’s here and it’s nice, it’s I just can’t believe how darn nice it is! These are the only two options for weather conversations with her: how nice it is in Michigan and how surprising it is in Oregon.

What gives you energy? Quick! Name ten things!

1. Walking on the beach
2. Sunshine
3. A room full of teenagers
4. Dancing (badly, in private)
5. Sex (now forget you read that)
6. Fresh flowers
7. A freshly de-cluttered room
8. A friendly debate
9. Making other people laugh
10. Blog comments - now gimme my energy drug!