a tale of two potato dishes

Monday was the first day of passover, so we had lamb just for fun. It has a very different taste. The little lamb chops are super cute though. :) Yes, I'm aware that I'm weird. Apparently Kroger doesn't have a large Jewish clientele because they don't carry matzo bread; we had kosher crackers instead. (I thought they were ok tasting, Bob thought they were gross) I also bought some leeks because I remember the Israelites always complaining about not having melons and leeks and figs and fleshpots and things like they did in Egypt, and Bob's allergic to melon and I have no idea what a fleshpot is. So I found a recipe for potato leek casserole that involved butter and cooking wine and milk and it turned out mostly just strange. It didn't taste bad, it just didn't set up and was really milky and not very casserole like. At least it all smelled really good while it was cooking.... different though it all was.

So then I had to figure out what to do with the rest of the leeks... and I was supposed to take potatoes to rotating potluck... hm.... I found another casserole recipe. It turned out much better, maybe because it had heavy cream and cheddar cheese in it and no wine. :) Potluck was a great time. It's so fun to just sit and listen.

Halfway through I got a bad headache, which I hate. So yeah, the rest of my night was not so much fun... but I feel much better today. Stinking Schlipf genes that are all of the sudden manifesting themselves. This makes two migraines in the last year- eesh. Ok, I know I shouldn't complain, I am very thankful that I don't get them much at all...

Bob's birthday is tomorrow. Woot!

das Wochenende

Have I mentioned that I love weekends?

• Sleeping in is fabulous.
• My house is clean. :)
• We got pictures taken so I can get a new passport... we don't have any trips planned, but just in case the need should arise... haha. Plus it still has my old name on it. And the cost for renewing goes up on the first.
• I changed my headlight all by myself! I got the new bulb, dismantled the "headlight assembly", put the new one in, and reassembled everything with no extra pieces. Yay. I feel so... so... accomplished. :P or something
• We tried a new pizza at Firehouse Pizza. It was good, as always. :)
• We spent Sunday in W-ton. Good times. Matt has a very large new potato gun that we got to try out. We were shooting it over the road into the field and a few people drove past.... dootdado, we're just hanging out in the front yard...
• Shelly and I played Barbies and American Girl dolls with my cousins on Sunday. So funny. We didn't get the car out so Christina decided a stuffed hippo would work just as well. Ken may or may not have said "Barbie, I can't carry any more stuff, let's load up the hippo and go home!"

These, I, Singing in Spring

THESE, I, singing in spring, collect for lovers,

(For who but I should understand lovers, and all their sorrow and joy?

And who but I should be the poet of comrades?)

Collecting, I traverse the garden, the world—but soon I pass the gates,

Now along the pond-side—now wading in a little, fearing not the wet,

Now by the post-and-rail fences, where the old stones thrown there, pick’d from the fields,

have accumulated,

(Wild-flowers and vines and weeds come up through the stones, and partly cover them—

Beyond these I pass,)

Far, far in the forest, before I think where I go,

Solitary, smelling the earthy smell, stopping now and then in the silence,

-Walt Whitman

I love spring. I have a bunch of bulbs peeking up through the dirt... and then the rabbits eat the leaves. Hopefully at least a few of them will bloom!

I love wandering around town (now that it's warmer) and trying to classify all the different houses by architectural style. I'm not very good at it, but it's fun to try.

My Dad dropped off a 3x5 box for me to grow things in. Hooray! I'm quite excited, although I will definitely have to invest in some chicken wire (or a shotgun) to protect my plants from rabbits.

Dang came for supper last night. Otherwise it's been pretty quiet, which I love. Next week is going to be busy again; hooray for holidays.

Blessings.

is it spring yet?

So I spent the rest of last week getting ready for potluck. Hooray for working full time. But, I got everything done and cleaned and ready for people by Friday night. And then it was all done for Saturday. :) It was a good night. I didn't burn the meat. And it was fun to have them at our house, even though it is kind of a tight fit around our table.

Saturday morning I went to 3rd Saturday quilt club and barely made it on time. But I did make it. When that was over I went to Mom and Dad's to pick up some beef. Woot woot. I love having meat in my freezer.

We had communion that night. I did not get the giggles, which is good. Probably because Shelly wasn't there.

I want it to be warm again for good. I'm tired of being cold and I'm tired of long underwear and I'm tired of my winter coat. I want to see green again. And I wish I had some means of permanently disposing of the rabbits in my yard that are nibbling on my crocus. I'll stop complaining now.

Blessings.

Beware the Ides of March

Yeah, so yesterday we had a minor flood in our crawlspace. Some valve was leaking (it must have been for a while because we'd occasionally hear random water running) and it was leaking enough yesterday to drop our water pressure and create a nice waterfall under the house. Thankfully it drains really well; because it never got above 3 or 4 inches. So Kerry and Sam came over after supper and fixed it (the bliss of renting...). Well, Sam and I colored pictures and Kerry crawled around in the mud and worked. I need to get more boy coloring books... Disney Heroes was a little to girly for Sam. :) I'm just glad it was an easy fix and they don't have to tear out any walls or keep the water turned off or something (I was maybe freaking out because we're hosting potluck on Friday!).

Otherwise it's been pretty quiet. Amber and Sarah came over for some quality Emma time.... such fun. We spent Saturday evening with my family and checked out the new paint and watched old slides. I was a little bored this weekend... which I love.... so I tried some new recipes. Bob and I made Dr. Pepper chocolate cake which was super yummy, and I attempted homemade tortillas. I could use more practice on those.

Blessings.

How to...

...get a weeks worth of pork loin, various slices of pie, and a bouquet of fresh flowers:

Be on the committee for adult church potluck!

It was fun. Especially since I really didn't do anything. :) There were four ladies on the committee; two did the meat, one did the paper goods, and I stopped and got flowers for the tables. Which I love. I guess we did help set up and stuff. Still, I think we came out ahead.

I like hiding in the kitchen.

Blessings.

ski bums

So I'm exhausted. We had a very full weekend, fun, but full. :)

Saturday morning Bob and I got up early (for Saturday anyway!) and drove to Chestnut Mountain to go skiing. I was very excited. And a little trepidatious. Bob had never been skiing before, and so I was little afraid that I wouldn't be a good teacher and that he'd end up falling a lot and hating it and never want to go again and it'd be all my fault. But he did awesome! I was quite proud, although it definitely wasn't my teaching abilities. :) He's just naturally good at stuff like that. Handsome too. :)

And this is the only picture of me... I forgot to ask somebody to take one of us on the slopes. O well.

It was such a beautiful day for it too! Almost too warm out, but the sun felt great and the snow was nice and soft and not at all icy. We ran into Justin S. on the slopes; he had a group of IEI students up learning to ski/snowboard. I love riding the ski lifts and watching all the people going down... and wiping out. There were a lot of really good boarders and so many cute little kids with no fear on the really hard slopes.

My phone rang while we were waiting in line for the ski lift....

My aunt Kary's getting married!!!!!!!!

I'm so excited! and we love you much, Suz!

So yeah, I'm not that sore from skiing, which is great! But I do have a lovely sunburn and raccoon eyes from my sunglasses. Bob was using my ski goggles and he doesn't have funny lines... so not fair. :P

Then, Sunday morning we got up early and went to Champaign with Uncle Howard, Aunt Janice, and Carol. It was really great to be in C-U again. We've been too busy to make it there for church in a looong time. :) It was good to see everybody again, and we got to hear Mark and Neal and some other people sing after church. And got to go to church potluck, and see Sprout's apartment. Hopefully, the next time we go Jakey and Amber and Sarah will be there... :P

Good times.

Blessings.

crazy busy weekend

I'm hoping that this week isn't too busy so I can relax a little... :)

Rustin and Sharon and Grace were here for the weekend, so we spent Friday evening with them. I taught them how to play Rook, which was fun.

Saturday morning I woke up at 6:30 because somebody forgot to turn their alarm off... and apparently he can hit the snooze in a sound sleep because it went off every 10 minutes for an hour. I finally turned it off. He doesn't remember any of it. :P

We went to testimonies that night and then we went back out to Bob's parent's for a while. After we left, we turned behind a truck that was going reeeallly really slow... and then he started drifting into the other lane, and back and forth, and I was freaking out. So we called 911 and while I was talking to the lady he drove into the ditch and came very close to rolling it into a telephone pole; somehow he managed to not crash and drove back up on the road. Rather scary. We turned in opposite directions then, so I don't know what happened or what his deal was.

Denver's wedding was on Sunday, so we went to that. It was so good to see U of I people again! Good times. We drove over with Susan and when we left the reception her car hood was full of snow... it got some weird looks from people that we passed on the road... And then as soon as we got home and ate supper it was time to turn around and go back to church for the Ordination. Which was good, but I was very tired of sitting in church and lines and being dressed up at that point.

Blessings.