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.

spring cleaning

The lab got a big grant to renovate the center wing.... which means that everyone who works there has to move to one of the other wings. So, lots of groups are going to be doubling up on lab space while it's under construction. No one is moving into my lab, but some of our other lab space is going to be shared in a few weeks, and we've been cleaning out like mad this week. Which is good. Scientists are pack rats. I've been dumping old samples by the gallons; some of the stuff has labels with handwriting that no one recognizes because it's so old.

It's a great chance for me to clean... haha.... scientists are also not real concerned with dirt and dust and grime. Or at least the "boys" in our group aren't. Seriously, I've been wiping out drawers and cupboards and cleaning sinks that they would have just been filled up again without a thought. Ick. 409 industrial degreaser has become my best friend...

My siblings came over for some real food last night... I made lasagna. It was yummy. I love Italian. :) And we had Frieda-buns, which are amazing and I need to have her over to teach me how to make them.

I finished my second 'third-saturday' quilt block. Woot. And I've been working on one I started a few years ago... the pattern was/is too hard for me and so it isn't going to turn out that great, but I guess I'd rather have it all put together and not be perfect than have a bunch of cut fabric laying around. :)

Otherwise, nothing new. I'm excited for the weekend! It's going to be a busy one...
Blessings.

flowers and frustrations and fun

These are my valentine roses... they're so very pretty. I love roses. :)


This is my amaryllis bulb that finally decided to bloom... I got it before Christmas. I like it, but it clashes with the A & W sign...

So I talked to 3 banks and my mutual fund company this week... and got very frustrated and confused and close to tears. I now officially hate finance and all things that have to do with money and investing. O wait, this is not a new sentiment. :) At this point I think I'm back to square one. They still haven't even changed my name and address on the account, and Dad and I have been corresponding with them since last September. Sooooo.... I wrote another letter of instruction... woot woot, I'm getting so good at them... and they're getting copies of pretty much all of my identifying documents in the mail. I guess it's good some random person couldn't get in and mess with my account... but then, you never know, it might be easier for somebody to steal the vast amounts I've got invested (HA! Seriously, it's not like I've got a massive account or anything, it shouldn't be this hard to just change my name!) than it is for me to change my personal info.

We had a student researcher day at the lab this week... I'm the "material girl." Yes, the pop culture reference is intended... My coworkers think it's funny; I'm not sure how I feel about that. Definitely a study in contrasts.... :D Basically I just make sure there are enough lab coats, gloves, safety glasses, and put together their lab notebooks. I wish they would have done SR days when I was in High School; they're lots of fun. There were two AC kids this time, which I loved. And one of the researchers that was presenting started telling stories about his grad days, back when you could still dump solvents down sink drains and smoke in the lab, and what happens when you try to put out your cigarette in a sink full of solvent. Hilarious. They were wide eyed.

Blessings.

I'm a slacker

O well.

We had a pretty quiet week last week, it was nice. I was a little bit disappointed that I didn't get a snow day...

Dang came over for supper and there were no leftovers. :D

My amaryllis bulb finally bloomed... I've had it since before Christmas. There's a dozen roses on my kitchen table... I love having a house full of flowers. :)

Friday we got together with our potluck for a V-day party which was lots of fun. I discovered that I don't know any valentine's day trivia.

We're still trying to get my mutual fund in our names. Saturday morning we went to three different banks because they need ANOTHER signature guarantee from us... yeah, none of them do that "anymore". But, in case you need a notary, they have plenty of people who can do that. I was so frustrated, because Dad and I walked into the bank in w-ton and it took all of 5 minutes for the lady to check and stamp our signatures. *sigh* Should have just cashed it out and started fresh.

The rest of the day I delivered dad's annual flower order and helped my mom paint. :)

We really didn't do much Sunday... went to church, R and S's wedding reception... I don't like eating out with the entire world, so I just made chicken parmesan (it's red and therefore valentiney! or something) for supper.

I didn't have to work yesterday because it was President's day. Woot. It was amazing. I went shopping, and then Bob and I met for supper at Red Lobster. Yum. I haven't been there in years. When I was little it seemed so much more upscale, maybe because we usually 'ate out' at fast food places... still, I was a little surprised at all the sweatpants I saw, and the redneck vibe we were getting from the table next to us. :)

Blessings.

various and sundry

This week was experiment with ground beef week.... I attempted meatloaf for the first time in, oh, 2.5 years. The last time I made it was with Shelly while grandma was in the hospital and we wanted comfort food... total flop. And I tried a skillet meat ball recipe, it was good but next time I'm going to just bake the meat balls. I'm not overly fond of ground beef; next week there is none on the menu. :)

Wednesday night some w-ton girls came to visit us. It was great fun, and I hope they can find it in their hearts to forgive me for dragging them up to the front and then having to sit through a member meeting. They came over after church- good times.


I planted four flats of flower seeds yesterday. Our porch is just a little too cold for them right now so they're on the floor in the kitchen. Someday, when we're rich and famous, I'm going to have a green house attached to our palatial mansion.

So this is a great Rudyard Kipling quote from "Just So Stories":

Of course, the Man was wild too. He was dreadfully wild. He didn't even begin to be tame until he met the Woman, and she told him she did not like living in his wild ways. She picked out a nice dry Cave, instead of a heap of wet leaves, to lie down in; and she strewed clean sand on the floor; and she lit a nice fire of wood at the back of the Cave; and she hung a dried wild horse skin, tail down, across the opening of the Cave; and she said, 'Wipe you feet, dear, when you come in, and now we'll keep house.'

Blessings.

I voted

Did you?

potluck

I survived. Bob survived me being nervous. And I think people had at least on ok time. :) Thankfully, I didn't burn anything (although my broiler was setting off the smoke detector- but that's to be expected), and everybody else brought wonderful food. We don't really have a lot of room around our table when it has all the leaves in it, but it worked. I used my china... and left the goblets at the back of the closet because I didn't feel like getting them out...

Yay for fresh flowers, spider mums and daisies.


And then on Sunday we went low key and spent some time playing games with Caleb and Bethany and little Alea. We went to Cracker Barrel for supper and did not eat off china. :) It was a good time.

Blessings.

stuff and nonsense

So when people ask how work is going I usually say, "Good, it's fun." And it is... but, yeah, there is sometimes more excitement and danger that I don't randomly share... it's been crazy around here... last week, somebody had an accident with sodium (they're ok) and spent the day in the ER. Yesterday when I got to work and the lab across the hall from mine was all taped off... apparently one of my coworkers accidentally synthesized a very unstable explosive... it was after I left so I missed the bomb squad and the haz-mat team. :) It's all taken care of though, no worries. :)

I've been to sewing club, church, the eye doctor, and a wedding shower this week. It's been busy. Poor Bob had to make supper one night since the eye dr. took so long. I'm ready for the weekend. But still nervous about potluck.

Blessings.

randomness

hm... I haven't blogged in a while... I still don't really have anything to blog about. :)

We have been slightly busy I guess. MLK weekend was great. We finally got the desk that we ordered put together (Merry Christmas to us); after it came with several broken pieces, and after several emails to customer service.

K and K had a singing in their barn, I met some new people.

I called my Grandma to get her taffy recipe... I already had it, but I just love hearing the commentary that goes along with getting any recipe from Grandma or Pearline... I didn't end up making any taffy. hm... maybe if it gets cold again, o wait, it's January.

Dale and Meg had potluck, which was a great time as always.

I miss green growing things... my seed catalogues are getting very dog-eared.

We're hosting rotating potluck this weekend and I'm trying not to be nervous.

Blessings.

Quilts and Cars

It's been kind of a busy week so far, full of things that make me smile. I got to go to quilting Monday night... they're making a quilt for the menno relief sale and this week was quilting week... I was pretty excited, when they say everybody is welcome to help, they really mean everyone. And they said they wouldn't pull my stitches out, even though they aren't as pretty as some of the other ladies'. :)

My car needed some looking at, so instead of going all the way to the dealership in W-ton it went to a guy here in town. It's all better now. I love knowing my mechanic. Although, I prefer that they forget who I am because they haven't seen my car in a such a looong time.... haha. Unlike that summer that the guys at Service Auto knew our entire family by first names... and what car you were talking about when you called them. *sigh*

Last night I got to hang out with K and Ambo and Sarah.... good times. We did not name the last slice of pizza, played some subjective Guess Who ("does your person look like they would enjoy playing the accordion?" is so much more fun than "does your person have blue eyes?"), and got "That thing you do" stuck in my head. So much fun to hang out with them again!

We get Monday off. Woot! Hooray for MLK jr.

Blessings.

one year ago today I found out that one of my friends wanted to marry me....

it's been a good year.

Blessings.

Happy New Year

So we made it through Christmas. It was good, and I was very thankful that everything we had to go to was on different days. Bob didn't have to work the week after Christmas... so not fair. :D Haha... but then I wound up home most of the week with a low fever, so I guess I can't complain.

We didn't do anything for New Years... And barely made it to midnight... *sigh* I'm getting to be so old and tired. :P Or something. I think it was more that I was half sick.

I didn't make any resolutions. Last year I came up with some and then I got engaged, yeah... they didn't happen. The one about using my passport REALLY didn't happen.

Sunday my siblings and Bob and I all piled into Shelly's car and drove to Iowa for our second cousins visitation. It was probably the saddest one I've ever been at... just makes my heart hurt for them. And then we got to drive two hours back home...

Jakey has introduced me to great Russian literature. I finished "Crime and Punishment" by Dosteovsky before Christmas, and he just loaned me "Eugene Onegin" by Pushkin. They're different. I think I like it. We'll see if I'm up to reading "War and Peace" which I'm told is "like being bludgeoned repeatedly about the head with awesomeness." *grin*

I'm ready for spring now.
Blessings.

Christmas randoms

In no particular order...

The boys playing Matt's 'The Office' version of Clue.

Abby was tired. :) I should have been sleeping too, since I had a fever the entire day. O well.

Uncle Randy recording hours of gift opening footage.


Our Christmas tree that took up half the living room.

Nativity.

Matt's madrigal.

The flowers Bob got me for my birthday, they were so pretty.

Jakey put soviet propaganda posters on his list...

We also got cool new t-shirts. Mine says I (heart) warders. It's from WOT. Woot.

Jakey was also modeling his sweet new 30 round banana clip...

So I was supposed to work this week, but yeah, I've had a little bit of a fever since Monday night. Too much Christmas I think. :)

Blessings, and Happy New Year!