facebook fragments: 12/28/13 – 01/10/14

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

For those of you who don’t follow me on facebook…

Wednesday, 12/25/13
What time did you wake up? PinkGirl came in our room at 8:52am.
I told her the time was too weird to get up and I had to snooze for 8 minutes.

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Saturday, 12/28/13
Toto, I don’t think we’re in Orlando anymore. #mykindamovietheater
FavoriteSon PinkGirl movie theater recliners

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Sunday, 12/29/13
“Julie’s road trip driving tips:
1. If your vehicle has cruise control, it must be used.
2. If you set the cruise control on your vehicle, leave it alone. seriously.
3. If you feel compelled to constantly change the speed of the cruise control, let someone else drive.
4. If you pull in front of me and tap your brakes, my family will be forced to hear the nonsensical rant of Yosemite Sam until I can pass you. and probably for at least 60 to 90 seconds after that. #homesweethome ”

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Monday, 12/30/13
“Out with the old (1996), in with the new. I can’t believe I actually picked FLOWERS on purpose.
#whatwasithinking #girlytominimalist”
old flowery lighting new minimalist lighting

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“I love the sound of my kids laughing together. #dontblink”

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Tuesday, 12/31/13
“My daughter is so lucky I only post stuff about her with her permission. so. very. very. lucky. #ilovemydaughter”

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Monday, 01/06/14
“Waiting for PinkGirl in car line. I’m gonna miss this when FavoriteSon’s classes start. I’ll only get to drive his car on Fridays.”
Inside FavoriteSons Dodge Avenger

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After the National Championship game that night:
“The Mills men will sleep soundly tonight. Eventually.”

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Wednesday, 01/08/14
“Setting up Outlook 2013 on my new desktop. Just Googled “Outlook 2013 ugly” #ewww”

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Thursday, 01/09/14
“This just seems like a band who got tired of trying to think of a name.
Maybe there’s artistic quirkiness or deep profoundness I’m unaware of.”
band named skillet

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“This is what PinkGirl looked like when she got in the car after school today. #ilovemydaughter”
PinkGirl free hugs

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“In my dream last night, James Garner was a drug dealer. But I think it was okay because he was the one buying the drugs from himself. And the drug turned out to be a very rare cheese. #ihavenoidea”

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little known facts: I am a Peep Hater

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

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.

#thankful: faith and health

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

I’m a day late on this, so I’ll have to do two: I’m thankful:

1. that everyone in my immediate family knows God, loves God, desires an active relationship with God and strives to serve God in their every day lives.

2. that no one in my family is battling a life-threatening illness.

poor jack.

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

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.

Halloween 2011

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

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.

well, you see officer . . .

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

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.

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

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 the Veggie Tales sing about Polish MEAT.

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

“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.”