fragments of a Mother’s Day weekend.
In case you don’t follow me on facebook or twitter, here’s a little compilation of my weekend updates:
Friday, May 11, 2012 – Trying to learn this: “The difference between being 95% prepared & 100% prepared (whatever that is) is infinitesimal. It is not perceived. But the energy expended in moving from 95% to 100% is immense, much more than that required to move from 75% to 95%.” Alan Weiss
Saturday, May 12 2012
11:24am – My husband loves me! He just used his AMEX points to buy me a new phone for Mother’s Day!!! (I’m not eligible for an upgrade till November). I hope I love it as much as I think I will! But if not, I ordered it from Walmart. They let you return anything.
4:19pm – Tackling the paper mountain that is my office. I’ve avoided working in there since I brought the 45+ pounds of paper home from my mom’s house after her death in December. Time to reclaim my work space. #somuchpaper
7:45pm – More than three hours later and I’m still going through the 45+ pounds of paper I’ve ignored since I brought it home from my mom’s after her death in December. Thousands of pieces of paper – mementos, letters, records, photos…when I started this weekend project, I didn’t even connect it with Mother’s Day. God is weird that way.
10:53pm – took over 6 hours to sort all the paper from my mom’s house. Now I’m ready to deep clean and purge my office of our own paper and clutter. Well. not NOW. Maybe tomorrow.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
2:34pm – So proud of PinkGirl! She did a wonderful job on “Mighty to Save” this morning during the 8am and 11am services. And an added mom bonus? She LISTENED and FOLLOWED MY ADVICE during her vocal warm up this morning!!! A Mother’s Day miracle! #ilovemydaughter
3:08pm – I ordered my new phone yesterday. I’m ready for it to be here now. #impatient
I’m going from a 2.5 x 2.5 inch Motorola Flipout to a 7 inch Dell Streak
This is a HUGE change for me. No more tucking my phone in my bra. Just saying.
3:27pm
PinkGirl’s text to her dad about singing special music at the 8am service this morning: “The power went out so we stopped and I messed up double so yay!” 8:29 AM
PinkGirl: “DAD!” 8:31 AM
PinkGirl: “Yo Horton!!!” 8:31 AM
Her Dad: “Bummer. You will do better at 11″ 8:34 AM
PinkGirl: My dress was sooo short i was afraid i was gonna flash the congregation! 
” 8:36 AM
(Mom Note: she is so impatient. I don’t know where she gets it. and the dress was short, but not that short. There was no view of London or France at any time.)
7:06pm – I had to complete a scavenger hunt to find my Mother’s Day present. Seven clues later, it was a coupon for “a FREE two day pass to PINKGIRL WORLD! Where PinkGirl will tend to your every need and do whatever you want willingly without grumbling or complaining. Not valid on School Days.” The location of this priceless coupon? Buried in the cat’s litter box. At least she scooped it first. #ilovemydaughter
All in all, it was a good weekend. Finally got to meet a long time blog friend and her family at EPCOT Friday night while they were vacationing here. A rare Sunday morning praise team set where I think we had a perfect balance between abandoning ourselves to worship and striving for excellence and time spent with friends and family on Sunday afternoon.
God is Good. All the Time.
little known facts: I am a Peep Hater
I haven’t added to my “little known fact” list since January of 2011. It’s way overdue for some attention.
Here’s #30:
I would rather eat a Brussel sprout than a Peep. bleh. It’s like goo with glitter on it.
and again. bleh.
and #31:
I have absolutely no problem, however, purchasing Peeps for the sole purpose of blowing them up in the microwave. After seeing this on facebook, we’ll be new to “Peep Jousting” this year. As Larry the Cable Guy would say, “I don’t care who ya are, that’s funny right there.”
and a fitting end to a Peep in my opinion.
Like this:
poor jack.
I’ve murdered jack.
cut him up into small chunks.
Now, I’m boiling jack.
pureeing jack.
and freezing liquified jack.
soon I’m going to bake him in a few loaves of bread.
later this month, we might even turn him into soup.
poor jack.
(and his friend, Harry Potter.)
Check out the recipes – both with a print-friendly version in PDF:
Bread Recipe: jack-o-bread
Soup Recipe: Mom’s Pumpkin Soup
(After spending so much money on pumpkins, I can’t, in good conscience, just throw them away. Have you SEEN the price of canned pumpkin these days?) eek!
NOTE: If you BLEACHED your pumpkin to make it last longer – do NOT do this.
Like this:
Halloween 2011
6:45am:
Me, trying to wake PinkGirl this morning:
“Good morning Ida.” (her character in the play she’s in rehearsals for) nothing.
“Good morning, Luna” (the character she’s dressing up as tonight) nothing.
“Good morning, PinkGirl” nothing.
“HAPPY HALLOWEEN!”
PinkGirl: “JUST A MINUTE. I’m almost finished with my dream.”
1pm:
I know some Christians have a problem with Halloween, but in our house it has always only been about two things: costumes and candy. Like theater, but on a sugar high.
5:45pm:
Any personal recommendations for spice/flavor if I attempt to roast these pumpkin seeds? And, I suppose, any instructions on how to roast pumpkin seeds? I can Google, but I haven’t gotten that far yet. I’m still dealing with jack-0-lantern guts.
6:45pm:
kids fed dinner. check
kids dressed in Halloween costumes. check
jack-o-lanterns carved. check.
pumpkin guts cleaned up…kinda.
mini-Snickers in the freezer. check.
7:45pm: There’s a guy driving down my street in a golf cart, pulling a lighted, homemade mini-Halloween float with kids on it. #toomuchtimetoomuchmoney
The witch from Snow White, painted by MY DAD! Unfortunately, there’s something about her that says: “Don’t wait for someone to open the door, just go ahead – reach out and open it yourself! Had to lock the door between trick-or-treaters!
8:45pm: A tiny little boy pulled down the bowl of candy I was holding to look for a lollipop, which I didn’t have. PinkGirl chased him down the sidewalk to give him one from her pillowcase.
baking is not my forte.
it’s a BOXED cake mix, for cryin out loud.
Attempt #1, which tasted like oil.
I was supposed to be baking a cake shaped like THIS for a children’s home:
My cake was so flat it would have looked like the bunny was roadkill. (sorry kids)
It was past midnight. I was leaning toward bailing on the bunny cake commitment.
Then FavoriteSon asked: Are you starting over?
Me: No. it’s too late to start over.
FavoriteSon, mocking me: “okay…but those kids can’t start over.”
fine.
So me and Betty Crocker, baking another cake at nearly one in the morning. The good news is that this cake didn’t taste like oil. It actually tasted like cake. Very dense cake, but cake. The bad news is that it was flat AGAIN. Like, pancake flat. Roadkill bunny flat.
So I switched gears and cut out the bunny cake shape in my Easter Bunny Cake blog post of 2009. The one that got over FIVE THOUSAND hits that day. My blog is getting insane traffic on this post and I had yet to make one of these cakes since my childhood.
I cut it out, iced it and PinkGirl decorated it this morning. Just so you can get a good understanding of the flatness of this cake, the mini-marshmallows littering the tray are taller than the cake.
and now there are sprinkles stuck to the bottom of my feet.
I suppose I should clean the kitchen floor, it appears cats don’t like sprinkles.
Wassail. revised.
(I originally posted this back in December of 2008, but I’ve made a revision since then. I used to float cloves in a coffee filter, sealed with a twist tie. Not very Martha of me, I know. But I’m reformed. Check out the photo below.)
When I was in high school and college, I sang at a few madrigal dinners. If you’re unfamiliar with madrigal dinners, here’s a sampling. (and no, I’m not in this video).
One thing was a constant in every madrigal dinner – Wassail. It’s a kind of warm cider drink my choral director would make every year. I’ve made it on Christmas Eve for years. It’s a family favorite and a longstanding tradition. It only takes about 5 minutes to prepare, but allow it to simmer for a couple of hours in the pot if you really want the flavors to blend together.
Wassail
Needed:
1/2 gallon apple juice
2 cups pineapple juice
2 cups orange juice
2 cinnamon sticks
2 teaspoons whole cloves
1 orange (optional)
Instructions:
Pour all juices in a pot or crockpot.
Float Cinnamon sticks in the pot.
Here’s the update:
Take an awl and poke holes in an orange in any pattern that strikes you. Then insert the stems of whole cloves in the holes. Float the cloved orange in the pot while simmering.
When it the smell starts to waft, you know it’s gonna be GOOD.
Enjoy!
For a print friendly version CLICK HERE.
well, you see officer . . .
So, the festive Christmas lights FirstHusband zip tied to the entire length of the luggage rack of my van work GREAT.
The low beams on the headlights, however, do not work at all. If I can’t get them fixed tomorrow, I either don’t drive at night or annoy everyone by driving with the high beams on.
Or I could duck tape Maglites to the front of the van and just go Christmas shopping.
We know it’s Christmastime…when the Mickey wreath goes up.
We’re long time Disney freaks and I adopted this idea YEARS ago after seeing it at Walt Disney World.
I LOVE me a Disney Christmas and I’m REALLY missing Candlelight this year! But it wouldn’t be frugal. Best time EVER? Front row, smack in line with the sign language interpreter. My FAVORITE narrator is Marlee Matlin.
we know it’s Christmastime…when I put all my coffee mugs in the attic.
AFTER getting all my Christmas mugs DOWN from the attic. I do NOT stop drinking coffee in December!
We just don’t have room in the cabinet for all of them at the same time, so I switch them out. (I know I have two Cupids in the picture, Vixen was already in use.)
We know it’s Christmastime…when we hear the sound of crashing jingle bells.
We hang jinglebells along the stairwell for easy whacking as we go up and down. Not surprisingly, PinkGirl does the most whacking. Sounds of the season.
We had some for the front door knob, but they broke. This post may have prompted their replacement this year.
We know it’s Christmastime…when the Veggie Tales sing about Polish MEAT.
“What’s a pierogi?”
“It’s a dough. Wrapped around meat.”
“oh.”
“What’s a gwumpkey?”
“It’s a cabbage. Wrapped around meat.”
“oh.”
“Now, what is a paprika?”
“It’s a bell pepper. Stuffed with meat.”
“I see.”
“What’s a kielbasa?”
“It’s pretty much just meat.”
“oh”
“The seventh Polish Christmas dish I bring to the party,Seven pitted prunes…”
“I don’t like prunes!”
“With this food, you’ll need ‘em son.”
EASY Easter Bunny Cake
I originally blogged about this Easter Bunny Cake back in April 2009, but every year around Easter, it’s my most popular post. If you make it, post a link to a photo or comment and let me know how it turned out!
Growing up, my mom often made an Easter Bunny cake like this one for Easter. My favorite version of this cake is dark chocolate with white icing, covered in coconut!
Like a GIANT Mounds bar – but BETTER! (page down for more decorating ideas)
Bake a cake, any cake, in two round cake pans. (Mine will be dark chocolate, in case I neglected to mention that. There is no reason for me to eat cake unless it is chocolate.) Let it cool and then cut it like you see in the photo on the left, below. On the serving plate (my mom always used a piece of cardboard covered in aluminum foil), CAREFULLY arrange it like the photo on the right, below. I’ve also seen the cake arranged so that one of the bunny ears is lopsided. Very cute.
Then, frost and decorate! My mom always frosted it white and covered it with coconut shavings as a base. Dark chocolate cake with coconut – mmmm – just like a Mounds bar. But CAKE!
Here’s some more decorating ideas:
I really like the whiskers and mouth on this one to the left, but I think it’s because it reminds me of a cat – which makes me wonder if this is an easy convert to a black cat cake! DOUBLE DARK CHOCOLATE. (Although at that point, it would be so rich I wouldn’t be able to finish a piece.)
Scroll down and check out a retro, kid friendly how-to video from ZOOM, a PBS show I used to watch as a kid! A Zooma Zooma Zooma Zoom!
The one on the left below looks the most like what we made when I was a kid, and I really like the ears on the one on the right. Are those red hot candies?
This next one on the left has GREAT eyes! And they don’t look too difficult. Love the strong Red Twist outline of the bow tie on the one to the right. I think I would take my favorite parts of each of these guys and put them all together on one cake. Dark chocolate, of course.
something Irish-y.
Animal will always be my favorite. But that Beaker has some serious pipes! Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Check out JanMary over at Welcome to My World for an authentic Irish post and find out what a real Irish family does (and doesn’t do) to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day! She’s hosting a St. Patrick’s Day Blog Carnival.
Easter Bunny Cake Revisited.
According to my WordPress Stats, I should highlight a post I wrote last year about how to create an Easter bunny shaped cake. In the month of February, that post shows 310 views and in just the first 8 days of March, it has had 149 views!
So, if you want to make a bunny cake for Easter, check out my post entitled “Easter Bunny Cake” from April 8th of 2009 for photos of different decorating ideas.
My favorite is a dark chocolate cake with shredded coconut all over the icing. Like a giant Mounds candy bar.
the fine line between rest and lazy.
On Tuesday, I wrote this in my prayer journal:
“Lord, please help me to find the line between rest and lazy.”
The next day, I received a card from one of the ladies in my circle. In it she wrote:
“I pray you continue to feel stronger and better every day! Be extra gentle with yourself . . . and don’t push too hard. It seems a lot of surgeries are more involved than imagined. Give yourself permission to rest without guilt. Soon you’ll be ready for the beach!
Yesterday, I went for my second plastic surgery post-op, put away a few things on the back porch (while FirstHusband filled two garbage bags from even more stuff on the back porch) and went to PinkGirl’s 1/2 hour Cheer Camp performance.
Then? I laid down for a few minutes and woke up 3 hours later. When I woke up, FirstHusband told me that FavoriteSon’s Middle School State Track Meet would be webcast this morning. We decided that I should stay home and watch it on the internet instead of spend the day at a track meet, over an hour from home.
I was disappointed and told him so. I said,
“I just thought I’d be a little more active by now. It’s been two weeks. I spend a few hours out of the house and need a three hour nap? What’s that about?”
FirstHusband picked up my friend’s card and read,
“Be extra gentle with yourself . . . and don’t push too hard. It seems a lot of surgeries are more involved than imagined.”
sigh.
So, I’m home this morning, watching a webcast of FavoriteSon’s track meet. Isn’t the internet cool?
In other news:
My GYN post-op was Wednesday. Turns out my uterus was 138 grams and filled with polyps and fibroid tumors. A normal uterus weighs 70 grams. My friend wins, though, her uterus was FOUR times as large as normal. She had her hysterectomy the month before I did and I saw her yesterday. She looks and feels GREAT. I’ll catch up.
But the BIG news for me?
I got the second drain out yesterday!!!!! YEAAHHHHHHH!
I am SOOOOO happy about this. REALLY happy! REALLY, REALLY HAPPY!!!!
and
I can now take a shower using TWO hands instead of one! (no more holding the drain)
I get to drive my van for the first time this Monday!
I can’t do ANY strength training for another month.
I CAN walk – no restrictions on that, so I’ll soon be updating my exercise log again.
I still have to wear a compression binder for another month.
My stitches look really good. I’m starting Mederma and Vitamin E moisturizer.
I’ve lost at least 10 pounds since the day before my surgery and I still have a lot of swelling.
Baby steps, baby steps.
Then Sings My Soul Saturday: We Shall Behold Him
There are certain songs . . .
The great Satchmo, singing “What a Wonderful World” on Thanksgiving Day.
The Walt Disney Candlelight Processional Choir singing the “Hallelujah Chorus” at Christmastime.
And Sandi Patty, singing “We Shall Behold Him” at Easter.
For more Saturday music, check out Then Sings My Soul Saturday every Saturday hosted by Amy at Signs, Miracles and Wonders.
Easter Bunny Cake
CLICK HERE FOR THE UPDATED VERSION OF THIS POST!
Growing up, my mom often made an Easter Bunny cake like this one for Easter. (page down for more photos)
Easy, not too crafty (thank goodness), I think I’m making one this year. Judging from the number of available photos on Google Images, I’m not the only one. Check it out:
Bake a cake, any cake, in two round cake pans. Mine will be chocolate. There is no reason for me to eat cake unless it is chocolate. Let it cool and then cut it like this:
On the serving plate (my mom always used a piece of cardboard covered in aluminum foil), CAREFULLY arrange it like this:
Then, frost and decorate! My mom always frosted it white and covered it with coconut shavings as a base. Dark chocolate cake with coconut – mmmm – just like a Mounds bar. But CAKE!
That does it. We’re making this cake.
Here’s a video and some more samples:
Find great recipes and helpful kitchen tips at Kitchen Tip Tuesdays hosted by Tammy’s Recipes!
And click on over to check out the recipes at Tempt My Tummy Tuesday hosted by Lisa at Blessed With Grace
Need more? Head over to Tasty Tuesday hosted by Kim at Forever . . . Wherever!
Find more ideas over at Works for Me Wednesday, hosted by Kristen at We Are THAT Family.
Works for Me Wednesday posts prior to February 2009 are archived at Rocks In My Dryer
And I’m jumping ahead to Friday with my Would You Like Chocolate With That? hosted by Lisa at Stop and Smell the Chocolate
If you’ve got a few minutes, check out my previous chocolate posts.
chocolate strawberry bunnies
You may recognize the pink fingernails. I’ve posted videos from this lady before. She made chocolate Gobble Berries (turkeys) for Thanksgiving and spiders and ghosts for Halloween. Her level of patience is astounding.
Let me just state. My children will never eat bunnies such as these. This is way too close to crafting for me.
Besides, is it just me or do these bunnies look a little like rats? Their noses are way too pointy. Easter rats. No, that won’t catch on. Easter mice?
If you have anything chocolaty to share, post and link to Would You Like Chocolate With That? hosted by Lisa at Stop and Smell the Chocolate
If you’ve got a few minutes, check out my previous chocolate posts.
Our “Best Practices” for Disney in the Summer.
Walt Disney World in the summer is HOT. And I mean REALLY Hot. If you can go ANY other time of the year, do it. You will not miss the melting, the heat rash or the dehydration. And I am not exaggerating.
Expect the lines to be long. And I mean REALLY long. 120 minutes for Space Mountain is normal. It is possible to spend 12 hours at a Disney theme park and ride only 5 or 6 attractions. If you see a 45 minute line, be thankful. You will NEVER see this:
That’s Pirates of the Caribbean in February of 2008. Three days ago we waited 12 minutes. (February is a GREAT time to go to WDW.)
The heat and the lines aside, we’ve vacationed there in the summer for years. Even though we live 45 minutes from Walt Disney World, we’ve stayed in the resorts. Due to school schedules, we had to go in the summer just like everyone else. But we learned a few things about going to Disney in the summer:
We try to go when surrounding counties are still in school or back in school. Since we’re in private school, our calendars are sometimes off from public school by a week or two. For instance, the last day of school for Osceola County, where WDW is located, is June 4, 2009. Surrounding counties get out on June 3rd. Our last day of school is May 21st. The public schools begin again on August 24th. We begin on August 13th. So THIS year, if we were to go to Disney for a week, we would try to go at the beginning of the summer so we wouldn’t have to contend with locals so much.
Extra Magic Hours. Each day, one of the four theme parks at WDW has Extra Magic Hours. Resort guests – DISNEY resort guests – are allowed admittance into one of the parks one hour early and can stay inside that same park an extra three hours after closing. (You can leave and come back. You don’t have to stay the entire time.)
We NEVER take advantage of MORNING Extra Magic Hours. For example. Today, Sunday, February 15th, Magic Kingdom has extra magic hours. If we were staying on property we would NOT go to Magic Kingdom MORNING Extra Magic Hours because Magic Kingdom would be MOBBED with resort guests. We would instead, go to one of the OTHER parks because MOST of the resort guests are at Magic Kingdom.
Exception to the Morning Extra Magic Hours? Animal Kingdom. By far, the hottest of the parks. Not a lot of air conditioning at Animal Kingdom. If you want to see the animals, go EARLY. Leave when it gets hot. Come back in late afternoon or early evening. When you are on the safari and you see the animals lounging in what seems to be the perfect Kodak spot, it’s no accident. There’s an air conditioning vent out there to make that spot more attractive to them. The animals get air conditioning. You don’t. For years, we flat out skipped Animal Kingdom in the summer. It’s better in February.
We ALWAYS take advantage of the EVENING Extra Magic Hours. Even when PinkGirl was little. She adjusted to the change in schedule very quickly. Sometimes FirstHusband or I would take her off into a nook somewhere so she could nap in the stroller, but for the most part, she was right there with us, having fun.
My FAVORITE Extra Magic Hours are at Typhoon Lagoon on Saturday nights. A water park in the dark is FUN. Blizzard Beach doesn’t do Extra Magic Hours.
Water to Drink, Water to Spray.
Drinking. A bottle of water is $2.50. And it’s Dasani. We either bring our own bottles of spring water or buy ONE bottle of Dasani and fill it up at water fountains. We invested in the Disney bottle straps and either wore them around our neck or hung them on the stroller when PinkGirl was younger.
Spraying. Disney sells bottles of water with battery operated fans attached. For $17.00 each. Because they have Disney characters on them. Walmart sells similar bottles for about $3.99 each. No Disney characters. (A few years ago – the price is probably higher now.) We have both, but I got my Disney “misters” at garage sales. (okay, except for one. I bought ONE for $17.00 one year.) FirstHusband rigged up a fan and mister for PinkGirl that attached to her stroller canopy.
Sunscreens and Hats. Waterproof sunscreen. Nowhere near a baby or toddler’s hands. They WILL rub it in their eyes. That only happened to us once. Once was enough. Hats or visors means sunscreen isn’t needed on the forehead – which means it won’t run into eyes. Sunscreen in the eyes: BAD.
Extra Change of Kids Clothes. There are various places in the parks that kids can get squirted with water. And it is a GREAT way to cool off. But later? Wet socks can lead to blisters. Wet clothing can lead to chaffing. We kept a change of clothes for each kid in a a Ziplock bag. Wet clothes went in there after the kids got soaked. I’ll write another post on our “best practices” with regard to clothing, but let me say here – denim is NOT moisture wicking and when it gets wet, it can take a while to dry, no matter how hot it is.
Take a Break During the Heat of the Day. When PinkGirl was little, we would take a break during the heat of the day. If you’ve read ANYthing on Disney vacations, you’ve seen this before. DON’T IGNORE THIS ADVICE if you have little ones. We stayed at the Yacht and Beach Club resorts, for 3 summers. They are within walking distance to the back gate of EPCOT. From EPCOT, you can take a boat to Hollywood Studios or a monorail to Magic Kingdom. So it was VERY easy for FirstHusband and I to split up during the day. One of us would take PinkGirl back to the room for a nap while the other would take FavoriteSon on some “big kid” rides. It was wonderful. One grown-up got to rest with PinkGirl and the other got one-on-one time with FavoriteSon. (We were able to stay at these resorts because we had friends and family who got us what is called a “Friends and Family” rate, but there are less expensive resorts in that same area, still within walking distance from the back gate of EPCOT.)
But our BEST strategy for going to Disney World in the summer?
We Went Nocturnal. When PinkGirl got older and didn’t need naps, we adapted again. We went nocturnal. Here’s the typical schedule:
Sleep in.
Spend the heat of the day at (1) Typhoon Lagoon, (2) Blizzard Beach or (3) the resort pool.
Take showers and get washed up for an early dinner (between 5 and 6pm)
Go to a REALLY nice dinner on property. (Character dinners are GREAT!)
Right after dinner, go to whichever park has Extra Magic Hours.
Stay for extra Magic Hours after the park closed for regular guests.
Leave that park around 2:00 a.m., getting back to the room and in bed around 3:00 a.m.
This is a GREAT summer schedule. By the evening, most of the resort guests who were at the theme park gate bright and early for Extra Magic Hours have long since left that park because they’re exhausted.
I’ll be writing more on our Walt Disney World “Best Practices” and I’ll list them under the “peace.love.mickey” page above, so check back!
Want to learn cool tips and tricks from lots of different people? Click on over to Works for Me Wednesday hosted by Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer!
little known facts & a youtube debut
I’ve been tagged for a “little known facts about me” meme by Debbie over at Midnight Musings. I haven’t added to my “little known facts page” (upper right corner) in quite a while, so this is good prompting. I’ve been doing a little recipe research/menu planning lately, so I’ll get some food facts out of the way first.
1. I like “clean” food. Not really a “sauce” person. Especially sweet sauces. Or thick sauces. FirstHusband is a sauce man.
2. I almost ALWAYS order salad with dressing on the side. I don’t care for salad soup, where there’s a puddle of salad dressing at the bottom of the bowl when I’m finished. Instead, I dip my fork in the little bowl of dressing before using it to stab some salad. At home, I can measure and add just the right amount , so it’s no big deal.
3. I love mushrooms. In anything. Cooked or raw.
4. I hate salmon. I went to London on an MBA class trip and was inundated with salmon everywhere we went. My classmates were convinced I would like it if I tried it baked. or grilled. or smoked. or poached. or whatever. I finally said, “How much salmon do I have to try before you all believe I DON’T LIKE SALMON?”
5. Sometimes, when we go out to dinner, I ask FirstHusband to “surprise me” and place my order for me. When I’ve made enough decisions for the day – or maybe for the week – and I just don’t want to make even one more, no matter how small, he graciously does this for me. Knowing my anti-sauce, anti-salmon, dressing on the side and mushroom preferences, among other things, he always does a GREAT job.
6. I’ve mentioned before that I’m a vocalist, but I’ve been too lazy to post any clips. Well, I finally took the time to figure out how to capture video from my antiquated camcorder, convert it to the “right” format and upload it to youtube. FavoriteSon was the camera man and he’s new at it, so we’ll cut him a break. I cut the beginning of this song because there was a dad/kid dispute near the camera which was louder than the music. This is Mary Did You Know, performed by me on Christmas Eve.
My daughter and I also performed a duet, singing Away in a Manger. She sang the first verse, we sang the second together and I sang the third verse alone. Two things of note. First, when she leaned over and whispered into my ear, JUST before we started singing the second verse, she whispered, “I accidentally farted.” (NOBODY tell her I posted that!!!) Secondly, notice her sneaky grin at the end of the song on the last few notes – JUST before she “bunny eared” me.
This last song is one of my favorites, Breath of Heaven, originally made popular by Amy Grant, but more recently by Nicol Sponberg, formerly of the group Selah. My camera man had a little trouble in the beginning, was too shy to tell a guy in a suit that he was blocking the camera in the middle and the tape ran out at the end.
7. I’ve probably mentioned that I also do a little public speaking, but until last year, I didn’t have a recording of any of my presentations. (And I didn’t know anything about uploading videos to youtube). This was recorded last May at a Mother’s Day Brunch. Please forgive the quality of the video, the lighting was not conducive to videotaping, but the audio guy did a great job!
So, Debbie, THANK YOU for the meme tag. It prompted me to FINALLY do this! I was recently asked if I had any recordings of my work and I knew I needed to get that May 2007 video up on youtube, but I was just dragging my feet. done. It’s after 1:00 a.m. – Kristin – are you up?
UPDATE: October 2009 – Uploaded more speaking samples to my youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/JulieStilesMills
Welcome! If you have time, peruse my topics & my “little known facts” page to see if we have anything in common, or find out what I do for fun & work by viewing my singing and speaking samples.
Feel free to steal my ideas, ponder my musings, disagree with my rants, jump on my bandwagon, read my favorite books, comment, email me, or just lurk. Whatever works for you.
Most Recent 10- everything matters.
- fragments of a Mother’s Day weekend.
- the foundation of my work ethic. “Would you like fries with that?”
- I don’t want to sing a solo.
- “Discovery Day” is right.
- Jesus said turn the other cheek. He didn’t say I had to stand within smack radius.
- Mythbusters question: Who packs a car better, a man or a woman?
- you see the big hat too . . . right?
- I’m going to stop being discouraged and be awesome instead. True Story.
- five minutes of crazy.
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Fitness Log: May
May Totals as of 5/21
HIIT Incline Miles: 4.5
HIIT Incline Minutes: 90
Strength Training/Yoga Days: 1
2 Min., 10 Sec. Planks: 3
Days Supplements Taken: 2
Fruit Servings: 2-
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