9/11

HELLO DONNA...ARE YOU STILL THERE??

A MESSAGE FROM YOUR COMPUTER

Mandles - Candles for Manly Men

I've been looking for a place like this my whole life.

and my friend Chad found it in Atlanta.


My pastor used to say, "There's no such thing as the perfect church, but if you ever find one don't join it 'cause then it won't be perfect anymore."

(I think he was talking to folks in general, not just me.)

Bedtime Stories

I loved this movie. I noticed I was laughing out loud much more than anyone else in my family. Yeah, it was unrealistic and childish. Is that a bad thing?

From the critics:

--Bedtime Stories is not my cup of tea. Even the saucer. (Roger Ebert)

--Here he [Adam Sandler] fights a giant "booger monster." He says "wedgie" and "manure." He talks with his mouth full of food, and after a bee stings his tongue, he babbles. And he appears to mean every minute of it. If small children respond to him at all, it's because for 95 minutes he's speaking their language. (Boston Globe)

--For prepubescent kids, Bedtime Stories will be a perfectly enjoyable work. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Don't care. Call me a child. I still thought it was a hoot.

~~~

We also enjoyed Bolt, the story of a German Shepherd who believes he is has superhero powers. But in our opinion Rhino the hamster stole the show. All the guys kept replaying his antics and snorting. lol.

This Happened

A few random pictures taken during my recent vacation from blogging. In no particular order--

Lee was home for spring break. The guys were gone much of that time to Taylor's basketball tournament, but Lee and Mark had some great father/daughter time.




Chemistry happened in the kitchen.


Farming has begun. Mark took a few loads of soybeans to get them cleaned and bagged to use for seed. When the person loaded all the bags on the pallets he stacked them wrong--they would topple over easily. So Mark and Taylor had to restack all these.


Thought I'd take a picture of the shed that didn't get torn down.


I cleaned, repainted, and reorganized my tiny, tiny sewing room. This is one entire wall and part of another. lol. It is a tiny, tiny room. The triangle in the top right corner is part of the slanted ceiling. This is a very, very tiny room.


Here's my guy at his basketball tournament.


The kids love to take these goofy pictures. I think there were a few nice ones in the bunch, but they're all on Lee's camera.


Check out this humongous egg! Size super extra jumbo. The one on the left in the back is just your normal large size. Mark's dad must give his chickens megavitamins.


I guess I don't know for certain, but I think this would be a bit uncomfortable for a hen to lay.


We enjoyed just lounging around when everyone was home together.


Mark had a pallet of old soybeans that he isn't going to plant.


So he and Taylor dumped them all back out.

What's wrong with me??

I haven't shared this one with you yet. So sorry.

Remember my great old barn?

I've posted pictures of it before.













Well it's gone now.


It was in bad shape. Really, really bad shape. It was held up by a cable, I think. So Mark had it torn down.

Marcy, I'm gonna miss watching our boys hanging out the door of the loft and dropping to the ground. Oh, did I ever tell you they did that??

You'll never guess who's designing websites now.

It was our lucky day for church signs. Taylor found the one above, and here's mine--

(And so will learning how to spell.)

What

What I decided--March is too cold for late-night baseball games.

What I heard--"Mom, I'm not trying to make you mad, but you need to color your hair. It's ok on top but when the wind blows it, there's gray under."

What I read--Not being able to understand God is frustrating, but it is ridiculous for us to think we have the right to limit God to something we are capable of comprehending. What a stunted, insignificant god that would be! (Francis Chan-Amazing Love)

What I discovered--The eyes in needles are smaller than they used to be. Or thread is thicker.

What I got mad about--"I thought you were gonna make something good," and "You never cook anything."

The Last Week or So

We had two old barns torn down and Mark and Luke burned the enormous pile of wood. Taylor had to miss the fun, so Luke took pictures.



Mark and I went to a basketball game at Lee's old high school. I cried twice 'cause I missed her.

I also saw a kid there that looked like I think Luke will when he's older. That was weird. I thought about sneaking a picture of him, but that seemed kinda stalkerish.

So instead here's a picture Lee took at a game we went to while she was in high school. I already posted it on here quite awhile back, but it still makes me laugh. Can you spot what's wrong? Hmmm...I guess we were being kinda stalkerish then too. But it was funny.


I was just trying to straighten up my tiny sewing room, but accidentally drug everything out into my bedroom instead. Even the carpet. Mark made some new shelves and repaired a hole in the wall, then I painted the walls and shelves. Now to toss out about half of what was in there and put the rest back.

Can't make it to the fish supper?

Then how about the heart lunch? Ewww.

One Less Thing I'll Buy - Hamburger Buns

We don't have hamburgers real often, but were hungry for some tonight. And ground beef was on sale. I've always bought buns because if you use as much ketchup as Taylor and I do, it soaks through bread and makes a mess. Yuck.

I've tried making hamburger buns with my wholegrain bread and roll recipes, but they were never quite what I was looking for.

The last time I went to visit my friend Laura, she surprised me with two things--a Pampered Chef large sheet pan and this cookbook.

I'd forgotten I ordered the sheet pan from Laura's last P. Chef party. But she gave me the book just because she's a really nice friend. :) Laura, have you tried the hamburger buns in this book? Oh...mmmm....wow...They were really good.

I'll post my slightly altered version of the recipe over in my kitchen.

I wanted sweet potato oven fries but frozen tater tots were easier, which was the deciding factor tonight. Note ketchup. I added more after taking the picture.


Here's something else I found out recently in case anyone is like me and uses an indoor grill when you're too busy [reading] to fire up the charcoal grill--

As soon as you take your food off and unplug the grill, make a double layer of paper towels that’s as long as your grill.

Wet the paper towels and carefully place on the hot grilling surface. Close the lid, and wait for the grill to cool down.

The heat from the grill causes steam to form off the wet paper towels. This steam loosen oils and cooked on food. Once the grill is cool, remove and throw away the paper towels. Wipe the grill clean with another paper towel, and you’re done! Easy peasy.

To enter or not to enter. That is the question.

Another from Taylor.

If you can read this sign...

Taylor spotted this sign on a McDonald's door. Are the folks who need a braille or picture menu really supposed to read this?

(Always check out your background, Tay.)

To Serve and Correct

I'm very proud to announce that Taylor has joined the Grammar Police.

His first few arrests--

From a cd insert
From one of those advertisements
they stuff in the newspaper
From facebook