What Child is This?

How could it be?
16 Christmases ago, I couldn't even imagine...

...what this child would be like now.











Love you, Goob.

Plants Vs. Zombies

The Goob got this video game for Christmas.  Looks like the zombies might be winning.

Ox and Friend

 Last week we sang "What Child is This?  and  "Good Christian Men Rejoice" in the morning worship service.   Which means we projected the word 'ass' on the sanctuary wall and sang it right out loud in front of God and everyone.  Twice.

Why lies He in such mean estate?
Where ox and ass are feeding ...

(I know I should be mature than this.  Butt I confess I struggle.) 

Ox and ass before Him bow,
And He is in the manger now...

Pope Benedict says he finds no evidence that there were any animals present at the birth of Jesus.  So I begged the STP to change the lyrics to ox and sheep.  What difference would it make?  Same number of syllables.  Just as likely to be present at the manger.  Less likely to make me and junior high boys giggle.  But no, we sang it again on Christmas Eve.  And then this happened:

Our manger scene donkey tumbled onto our train track (which, while it is a traditional part of our under the tree Christmas scene, is probably not authentic to the Christmas story either) and broke his ear off.  It is not the first time our donkey has lost this particular ear.  But it is the first time I couldn't stop referring to it as our sorry ass.  And wondering (aloud to the STP) if it would be appropriate to blog that I broke my ass on Christmas Eve.  And giggling some more.  Which is probably why Santa did not bring my fox hat this year.

I glued it back together, but sadly you can still see the crack.

Just a Few Words

Sometimes a gift is just perfect.  Like the little pottery dish that sits on the little round green table.  It holds rocks that we picked up on the beach on Cape Cod.  And any heart shape rocks that the STP hauls home from wherever in his pockets.  (What's it gots in its pocketsss, Precious?)  Mostly the rocks just sit in the dish, but sometimes they crawl out and arrange themselves in the sun spots.

And these wooden letters.  I am always glad to take them out of the Christmas boxes and arrange them on top of the hutch.  (They can not arrange themselves because it is too high for them to crawl up there all by themselves.  Plus, unlike the rocks, they are clearly believers in intelligent design.)  
Two Christmas gifts from years gone by that bless my heart.
Enjoying the little things this evening.  A movie with my guys.  Snuggling with the SLD.
Making a grocery list and checking it twice.  Some more of my favorite words:
pecans
cornflakes
brown sugar
red jello
crushed pineapple
grapes
cream cheese
sour cream
green chilies

You're Getting Nothing For Christmas

Dear Siblings, Siblings-in-law, and Nephieces,
Blah, blah blah--just read the bold print for the quick version (which may be passed on to those who never read the blog.)
On the marker board is a remnant of a list.  One that I made last year at this time.  The last thing on the list, the thing that never got done, is:  Write 2011 letter. ( It's still on the board because I hate to give up on it.  Hopefully, you are not holding your breath waiting for it.)  In light of that, I did not make any new lists for the end of 2012.  No gift list.  No to-do list. No note to write a 2012 letter. 
But if there was a theme for 2012 it would have something to do with giving.  With doing small things with great love.  With living beyond myself.  It included a couple of books on living simpler, a mission trip to Mexico, a dusty Lent, an Advent focused on acts of kindness.
In light of that, here's what I did with your 2012 Christmas gift.  I bought a sheep with it. To welcome the Lamb of God in your honor.   Because what I want you to know at the end of the year is that I love you.  And while homemade caramels and silly mustaches (which seem as silly to me right now as they must have seemed to you last year) might communicate that love, I think it will be just as effective to just tell you this year.  Hopefully you know that. Hopefully when I saw you this summer and/or fall I told you that.  Hopefully you don't need to open a package to know that you are loved and you aren't unhappy that I gave a sheep to a family who can really use the milk and the wool.  Because they need food and clothes. (And trust me, you don't want Aunt Brenda buying you clothes.)
And while I was at it I gave them three ducks.  Because that way they get milk and eggs.
And with the money I saved on postage, I bought a bicycle.  For a girl who will ride it to school.  So she will be safer.

Because when I think of you, I remember how blessed I am to have ridden through the Big Savage Tunnel with you this year.  And how blessed we are as a family to be healthy and wealthy enough to ride our bikes for pleasure.  And I remember how lucky I am to have you in my life and how much I love you.  Merry Christmas.

One of a Kind

Still going out of my way to be kind this month.  Which seems to be a particularly unkind month.

I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion, then it will start a chain reaction of the same.  People will never know how far a little kindness can go.
~Rachel Joy Scott (1981-1999)  First victim of the Columbine High School Massacre

It's Good To Be Fancy

Love this child and her brother more than you can imagine. 

 Having a kindergartner in your life makes Sandy Hook news even more heart wrenching.  And even more unimaginable.  

A Wintry Western Welcome

Welcome to the front porch.  Fresh greens and a smattering of pinecones in the flower boxes.
Took the lanterns down to hang the snowflakes.  Used the upside down flowerpots on the steps as pedestals for the lanterns.  (God Himself decorated them with fresh snow.)

Added two garage sale trees with white lights and garage sale icicles to the one sad and lonely tree I already had.

 Filled the big blue pot with more pine cones and coneflower seed heads. (God Himself frosted the tips of them.)

Freshened the bow on the barbed wire wreath.  

Cause nothing says 'Welcome' like barbed wire.

Candles, Trays, Ornaments, Pinterest

 A 10 cent tray, ornaments no one wanted, three upside down birthday glasses, half a pack of clearance candles from Michael's (a real store).   Voila!  Big room coffee table.

 A knitting needle.  More ornaments no one wanted.  Green glass bowl the dog once drank from on the patio.  Voila!  One more tree in the living room.

Three free 2 quart jars.  Epsom salts.  More ornaments no one wanted.  The other half of the candles from Michael's.  One silver garage sale tray.  One silver star ornament from the box of ornaments. Voila!

  I'm pretty sure this justifies all the hours I've spent on Pinterest this year.

Kindly remember: I Do Not Collect Flamingos

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.
--Aesop (Fabulist)

Still trying to keep up with acts of kindness.  The Goob has decided that it is okay to do more than one kind act a day, but you can not bank them. As in, yesterday's second kindness can not count as today's kindness.  Being kind is a little more challenging than I first anticipated.  So today I set out to do a small thing:  Hold my tongue.  And trust me, it is keeping me busy.  But I offer you two more small kindnesses.

1.  I offer you the definition of

fabulist  (ˈfæbjʊlɪst)
— n
1.	a person who invents or recounts fables
2.	a person who lies or falsifies

Use this in a sentence?  She is such a fabulist.  Say it with a smile and it may be a kind way to call someone a liar.  I mean, she is a fabulist on the order of Aesop!
(Sadly, I can not offer you the pronunciation. ˈfæbjʊlɪst ??)

2.  I share another peek at the decking of my halls.

 Remember that I do NOT collect flamingos.  But I have to admit...

one or two flamingos in a palm tree are a welcome sight on a snowy day.

And since we're decorating our house plants--how about some flower bulbs?

(Can you believe someone was throwing these away?)

So the question of the day remains:  Can we believe anything attributed to Aesop?

Kitchen Trees

I added 10 trees to the kitchen this week.
 (And maybe a partridge or two)







Three of them are Scandinavian flavored chalk trees.  They are on the refrigerator.

Four of them are glass.  Two of which are filled with kisses.

Yes I know there are only 3 pictured.  Trust me--there is a fourth glass tree.

And there are three more trees inside a glass canister.  

Between the tea bags and the sugar.

These are possibly my favorite new decoration this year.  Thanks to being at StuffMart last January on 75% off days.  $1.50 Thank you very much.

In addition to fitting 10 trees in my kitchen, I decorated the window with snowflakes and jingle bells to match the canisters.  (Because I'm the kind of woman who decorates her kitchen canisters, that's why.)

I got these snowflakes at a storage unit sale this summer.  I didn't have to buy the whole unit.  Just 50 cents worth of snowflakes.  (I also got those great vintage curtain hooks at a storage unit sale this summer and I made the curtain from what was left of my vintage tablecloth.  I don't think I've showed you them before this.)

Total cost of kitchen decorations: $2.00

In case you think all I have been doing in my kitchen is decorating it, think again.  Tonight I made cake balls.   Carrot Cake Balls and German Chocolate Cake Balls.  

Okay, now you can be impressed.   

Missing the Princesses

"Make your home as comfortable and attractive as possible and then

 get on with living.  There's more to life than decorating."   

This quote and picture are from the October 2012 issue of Real Simple magazine.  (I was thinking I could attribute the quote to Albert Einstein, but it was already attributed to Albert Hadley.)  And this quote made me think of Princess Amidala.  And then I looked more closely at the picture and realized that might be Princess A herself holding the basket (and wearing the tights).  And the blurry blonde might be her 'get right in the middle, as well as the spirit, of things'  royal sister.  And the pony tailed one (please note--in the matching dress) would be the Slovakian Princess who came up with the wonderful Jillian Jiggs-esque idea in the first place.  And I was transported back in time to a high ceiling living room in Spring Creek.  Where a whole lot of living took place with three little girls.
Today I will finish with the Christmas decorating before lunch and get on with living this afternoon.

Lets Kind of Talk About Albert Einstein

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.
Albert Einstein, (attributed)


As a family we agreed (read: I had this great idea and decided we would all participate) to do acts of kindness through the month of December.  So far we have rung the Salvation Army bell, volunteered at a fundraiser, ordered a book to donate to the elementary school library, made a snack to share and shared it, and gave some pine boughs to a stranger.  I also compiled a list of possible kind acts and a separate list of kindness quotes.  
But at the end of 4 days of deliberate kindness, I am left wondering what counts as kindness?  Does it have to be a deliberate act?  Something out of the ordinary?  Can I count holding the door open for someone if I would normally do that any way?  Does it count if I only held the door open because I needed to log a kind act before the day ended? 
If I just do something to be kind, what kind of person am I? 

And about that Albert Einstein quote. Why is it 'attributed' to him?  Did he kind of say it?

Acts of Kindness

A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.
--Saint Basil

Today I will endeavor to more kind,  more saint-like,  or at least eat something seasoned with basil.

Crossing the Finish Line

91.  Sons-in-laws
92.  Having a big family
93.  Graham crackers
94.  Sunshine
95.  Chocolate kisses
95.  Cheese balls
96.  Water
97.  Bubble baths
98.  Lists
99.  Sweet Vidalia Salad Dressing
100.  Head lights

Count on Me

Counting down the days till I see the Kiddos and it is getting down to hours.  Which is a lot exciting and a little intimidating because of all the things I need to accomplish before that happens.  Because I still have to work 12 hours, take call 8 hours, travel 12 hours, get two nights worth of sleep, and do laundry, pack, and, oh yeah, finish that project that I started on Saturday because I really can't go to Thanksgiving without it.  All in less than 48 hours? 

On the done list: I downloaded a book to my kindle for the trip. (thinking...thinking...thinking...) okay, I guess that's it for the done list.

And now for the count-up:
72.  Amidala
76.  Mark
77.  Flush toilets
78.  Brains
79.  Bibles
80.  Iced tea
81.  Ice cubes
82.  Ice makers
83.  Clocks
84.  Numbers
85.  Hands
86.  Smiles
87.  Teeth
88.  Dental Hygienists
89.  Three ring binders
90.  Zumba

Really more excited than intimidated.  Really really.

Going Over Seventy

66.  Projects and plans
67.  Vintage fabric
68.  My sewing machine
69.  A mom who sewed
70.  Text messaging
71.  Google
73.  My sense of taste
72.  Just seeing if your still reading
74.  Fresh fruit
75.  Exotic fruit

Going to eat a pummelo this week.  Among other things...

No Creative Title

But the thankful list continues:
58.  Staplers
59.  Mail
60.  Daughters
61.  Anticipation
62.  Waking up after the sun is up
63.  Leftovers
64.  Dinner out with the STP
65.  Forgiveness

Just Over Fifty

50.  Claire and Nick
51.  Candles
52.  Duck Dynasty
53.  Earl Gray tea, hot
54.  A freezer full of meat
55.  Pinterest
56.  My nephew Tyler and Golden Eagle Baseball
57.  Tyler's Mom

Feeling the Heat

It's not like things aren't happening in my life.  Just thattheyare happening so close together.  I have a few pictures that I hope to eventually share with you.  Of my halloween pumpkin.  Of my refrigerator.  Of my odometer.  Of my bedroom/bathroom remodel. Of a recent wintery sunrise.
But Amidala claims there are just 9 days until Thanksgiving, so I am feeling the pressure to record a few more things I am thankful for.

31.  Plane tickets
32.  Telephones
33.  Cinnamon rolls (and a co-worker who saves one for me.)
34.  Finally cooking edible ribs (I was too busy licking my fingers to take any pictures, but trust me, they were pretty good.  And I served them with GF corn muffins and corn on the cob. Go ahead, be impressed.)
35.  Steeler wins--even ugly ones
36.  Beth Moore
37.  Pay day
38.  Hugs
39.  Kisses
40.  New tires
41.  Snow
42.  Push pins
43.  Band-aids (I'm not even wearing one.  But I bought a box of two hundred when I was at StuffMart this week.  Flexible ones, and clear ones, and waterproof ones and neon ones.  All in one box.  Almost makes me want to smash a finger.)
44.  Music
45.  Grace
46.  The God Who is crazy in love with me
47.  The STP (who is also crazy in love with me)
48.  The Goob
49.  The SLD
50.  House plants

If you can't find something on that list to make you thankful, you should probably be on medication. 

Grateful

23.  Chalkboard paint (a quart goes a long way)

24.  Colored chalk

25.  A job

26.  Vitamins

27.  Pain free movement

28.  Pinterest boards

29.  Lazy mornings

30.  Productive afternoons

17 and Counting

17.  Skelemingoes
18.  Warm fall days--and an hour to spend in the flower beds
19.  My pedometer--not having to get 10000 steps and getting 12500 anyway
20.  Countdowns--like till Thanksgiving
21.  Brussel sprouts--who would have guessed
22.  Appointments made--and not having to keep them till next April

My Favorite Daughter

16.  I'm thankful that each of my daughters thinks this post is about them.

My Favorite Son

11.  I am thankful I have a son.
Oh, you finally got your boy, they said to me nine years after the birth of my third daughter.  It wasn't like I had him on lay-a-way.  In many ways he is the son I never wanted.
12.  I am thankful for the things my son has taught me.
Patience,  understanding, the value of the individual, who Optimus Prime is. Once I shared with him that there were things I didn't learn about God until I had children.  I'll bet you're still learning was his reply.
13.  I am thankful for glimpses of the man he will become.
Tall, thin, patient, kind, responsible, loving.
14.  I am thankful that sometimes he is still my little boy.
Giving me a hug, sharing a joke, eating halloween candy from a pillowcase.
15.  I am thankful he will spend a Friday evening with me.
He is picking the movie for tonight.  Something we will both like.  Which means he had to rule out fantasy sci-fi and romantic comedy.

Recently someone who just met us asked if he could ask about our son.  You mean where did we get an amazingly tall, incredibly thin, blonde child over whom we do not fuss?    You mean did we adopt him?  You mean is he leftover from a previous marriage?  You mean is he really ours?

Oh, he's ours.  A gift from God.  For which (today) I am thankful.

Ah Sweet November

1.  Shoes
2.  Shoe boxes
3.  Money
4.  Knees
5.  Encouragement
6.  House plants
7.  Green tea
8.  Electricity
9.  Moisturizer
10.  Hair dye

The first ten are always the easiest.

Growing My Hippocampus

Why I walked 80,000 steps last week.

With a family history of Alzheimers, I am acutely aware of my memory lapses.  The glorious thing about memory lapses is that you tend to forget how often they happen.  I am alarmed that I can't find my phone today.  I don't remember if I couldn't find it 4 or 5 times last week.  

What I find more troubling is the slowing of my thought processes.  I remember(!) going to the eye doctor when I thought I might need bifocals.  When I looked up at the TV from the book in my lap I was aware of my vision adjusting.  A slow refocusing from close up sight to farther away viewing.  Oh no, the eye doc said, when they stop adjusting all together--that's when you will need bifocals.  My brain is in a similar state.  I am aware of the intervening thoughts that occur as my brain tries to make sense of what it sees or hears.  

Yesterday, I napped through two quarters of the Dallas/NY game.  I woke it in the third quarter to hear the announcer say,"...is walking along the giant sideline.  That is never good..."   

The giant sideline...is that the really thick sideline?...the sideline where giants, like really big ugly men, are lined up?...clearly a bad place to take a walk...

"...headed to the locker room..."

Oh, Giant sideline...as opposed to the Cowboy sideline.

Will there come a time when my mind will no longer be able to arrive at the right conclusion?  When it gets stuck in the process of thinking?  Will I watch a football game and call the kids in NYC and warn them about giants in their neighborhood?

Not to fear--I am increasing my aerobic exercise which should increase the size of my hippocampus and my memory.  So I am tracking my steps in an effort to log 10,000 steps a day.  

Now where did I put my pedometer...

Walking On

This week I logged 80000 steps on my pedometer.  Evidently I spend a lot of my life going in circles.

In A Fog

New San Fran Fog rolling in over Old San Fran Fog

I choose a light gray/kinda neutral color for the bedroom walls.  Called "San Fran Fog".  And I had it mixed by the magic computer paint machine at the Dodge City Building Center.  And I brought it home and opened it up.  And it looked really bluish in the can.  But I know the color in the can is not the dried color on the wall.  So I started putting it on the wall.  Where it became a dark blue gray.  Don't worry, the STP says,  it isn't dry yet.  But when it is dry it is even darker blue/gray.  And instead of an ephemeral* misty neutral San Fran Fog, it is an deep dark depression, excessive misery Los Ang Smog.  It'll be fine, the STP says.  And so I continued cutting in along the ceiling.  And the longer I painted the more depressed and miserable I became, until I knew I could not live with that color.   And so I took it back.  And it turns out three different paint colors in the wonder paint computer are named San Fran Fog.  After careful selection of the appropriate one, I got new paint.  And now, three days later, after priming over the wrong paint,I am going to put the right paint on the wall and see if I like it.

Great Joy:  I love to paint things.

*edited:  The color I was aspiring to was ethereal:  Light,airy, extremely delicate and refined, heavenly

What I got really was ephemeral:  Short-lived

Coming to an End

Since our return from Mexico we have been hosting Taco Tuesdays at our house.  Wherein we gather all the fixins for tacos and anyone who wants to comes and eats them.  Pretty low key affair.  We have had anywhere from 2 to 25 people join us on any given Tuesday and over 50 different people over the course of the last six months.  In the process we have learned to make pretty good guacamole and our own taco seasoning.  But just yesterday I discovered Rachel Ray's sand art version of taco seasoning.

 Just layer, admire, and shake.  ( Just saying--the oregano is from the SFG)

Gluten free, cheap, easy, fun, and functional.  

Next Tuesday will be out last Taco Tuesday for now.  We are taking a break.  The Goob (who doesn't eat tacos) wanted to know how long of a break.  And we don't know.  Maybe a permanent break.  Maybe a seasonal break.  Maybe three weeks from now, we will be starving for tacos and company, and I will be mixing up a new batch of seasoning.
But for now, next Tuesday is your first last chance to join us.

B. cereus OR There's a Bug in my Soup

I don't think this is really Bacillus cereus, an endemic, soil dwelling, gram-positive, rod shaped bacterium capable of causing vomiting and diarrhea.  But I think B. cereus is a great choice for a naming a bacterium (by a microbiologist who clearly wasn't being serious at the time).  
Just goes to show you what a fun bunch of people we microbiologists are.


So, just for fun, I share these pics from work with those of you who do not have ready access to your own microscope.

Gram negative rods--with spores

And even more fun pics:

  Gram positive cocci, umm.., square dancing? 

And in case you have a microscope that you are not having any fun with, I offer you this link so you can do your own gram stains at home.

Just be sure to read to the end of the procedure where it advises you:

For official diagnostic purposes, an experienced laboratory technician should evaluate your slide. 

(In other words:  Be serious.  Just because you have the ability to see your germs, doesn't mean can accurately identify them.)

Today's blog brought to you by your favorite fun-loving laboratory technologist, and the letters B, U, and G.

.

Bad Bad Leroy Brown

When you buy your puzzles at garage sales you take a risk.

 A risk that you and your spouse will stay up late sorting through a thousand pieces with a bazillion pumpkin parts on them.

 A risk that you will be searching for the last piece that you never had.

A risk that your 1000 piece bargain only has 998.5 pieces.
And a risk that you will get Jim Croce stuck in your head singing the phrase 'meaner than a junkyard dog' over and over.
Sometimes when you take a risk you end up looking at 'a jigsaw puzzle with a couple of pieces gone.'

Still 99.85 percent fun.  For a dollar.

Deer Squirrel

Dear Dog-Taunting Squirrel,

Do you think it is fun to sit just out of reach of my dearly loved rat terrier and chatter insults at her?   Do you think it is a challenge to bring your pilfered peanuts to my flower bed to bury them just beyond the reach of her leash?  Do you call your squirrely friends when she is in the fenced side yard?-Hey, the dog is out.  Let's go scamper on the neighbors' roofs and run on the telephone lines where she can see us. Did you know that she comes from a long line of rodent killers and she can't help but bark her head off at the very sight of you?

Well, do you know what I have in my big room?  Besides the blow gun?

Your picture.

Sincerely,

Ms Brenda

P.S.  Squirrely is too a word.

Monkey Bars Just Came Out of the Oven

I saw this recipe on pinterest...
for Monkey Squares.  Glorified banana bread baked in a jelly roll pan and cut into bars.  So I made it just like the recipe, but I renamed it Monkey Bars.  'Cause Monkey Bars makes me giggle.
It was the first thing I baked in the new oven. (Source of great joy--oven part arrived and installed)
Now it just needs leveling.

Which I was able to do with my icing.

Which still looked bad.

So, purely in the interest of taste testing the new recipe before serving it to others, I ate that corner.

And then, in the interest of not taking a messy crooked half eaten dessert to the dessert social, I cut the rest of the Monkey Squares into rectangles * little giggle* and arranged them on my lovely matching cake plates.

Which had the added advantage of leaving two more corners that did not fit on the plates and needed to  be eaten.  Oh, the gluten-free, brown butter icinged joy of it.

What Ms Brenda likes best about this recipe (besides taste-testing):  You ice the bars while they are still warm.  So you can make it at the last minute.  And take them in the car warm.  Only don't shut the car door on your finger or you will have to go back in the house for ice and band-aids.  Just saying.

Various Trials--Part 3

I shut the end of my finger in the car door this evening.  I have a pretty high tolerance for pain.  And I'm almost immune to the sight of blood.  But when it is my blood combined with my pain, I am pretty much a weenie.
 I did manage to open the door and extract my finger.  And apply my own band-aid and some ice.
Still and all, I don't think I considered it a great joy. Yeah.  Not even once.

Various Trails--Part 2

Good News:  It's apple cake season.

Bad News:  Remember that the redeeming thing about my formerly Craig's listed, not much to look at, held together with coated wire stove was that it worked.  Well forget that.  Because when I had an apple cake in the oven, it made a little Pffft sound, and then it worked no more.  

Good News:  I was able to rush the apple cake to the church kitchen and finish baking it.  Wonderful to go to a church that saves souls and baked goods.
More Good News:  Know someone who happens to have a stove in a shed that they do not need.
Even More Good News:  The STP has a pick up truck and someone (besides me) to help him move the stove into the kitchen.

More Bad News:  The stove slips just before it is in place, and in the process the knob that controls the oven gets knocked off.
Even More Bad News:  It can not be fixed with duct tape or coated wire.

Bottom Line: Still no working oven. 
Source of Great Joy:  Part is on order