ramdom things

Oh my golly, I feel like my life is a random bag of
craziness.
As will be reflected in this post.

I have no deep thoughts or funny stories or anything
that will add to the richness of your life whatsoever.

Just randomness.
Because I am jumping here, there, and everywhere.

Here's what I'm talking about...



My multi-grain bread.
And so sorry...no recipe for you yet.
I'm still not 100% happy with it.
Let me tweak it a bit, then I'll present it to you.

But, they sure are purty loaves, yes?

What I haven't mentioned much is that we are into
soccer season, full-force.
It's Nick's first time playing since he was about 8 years old.
But he made the varsity team and is having a blast!

Here's a cool pic that was in the newspaper of him
playing in a scrimmage game.

Here's a pic I sent Brenden.
I told him I was going to get this for him for Christmas
so he would stay warm and cozy at college.
I told him to tell me what color he wants.
He never responded.
Go figure.



Here's an adorable pic of B & Lucy that I found on my
cell phone from last summer.
I may have already posted this a while back,
but I love it so much that I had to post it again.
Lucy misses her Brenden soooo badly.
She prays for him every single day.
And often her prayer includes asking God to let him
come back home and not go back to school.
Sometimes I give that a big AMEN.
Then I envision him forever in our basement playing video games.
I then take back my amen.

And here are a few funnies that pretty much sum
up my demeanor lately.

So there you have it.
I told you it would be random.


We are kicking off our weekend by going to see the movie,
Courageous tonight!
Our church has rented out the movie theater.
It's gonna be great.
I hope you all get out to see it too.


Have a fun-filled weekend, y'all!

misc. ramblings {nothing else to post}

I don't think my kissing is any better than my cooking these days.
Or vice versa.

What I am doing quite well is,

*Not cleaning house
*Not finishing projects
*Not even making my bed every day

I could go on.

Anyhoo,
things are crazy around here.
That's all I'm going to say about that.

My bread-making (and other such bread products) fun continues.
And after talking to my
friend/pastor's wife (who also recently adopted two children),
I found out that she is also on a bread-baking rampage.
We've concluded that it is our coping mechanism.
It's very therapeutic.
And not the least bit fattening.
No, really.
Partly because I use my fresh-milled whole grains for flour
(it really is much easier on the bee-hind, in many ways).
And....I have thrown out more unsuccessful bread experiments
than I care to admit to you.
It's a super quick way to eliminate calories.

I hope to post my multi-grain bread recipe for you soon.

I know you're on the edges of your seats.



Oh, and just to give you an update on my
vanilla brew...

it's doing marvelously.

And yes, it's ALL still there.
Well, minus about a teaspoon because I just couldn't
resist and had to try it.

Yep, it's vanilla alright.
It tasted horrible.

But will be fantastical in a batch of cookies.



And for that very inspirational and enlightening blot post
from me to you,

you are welcome.

*Sarcasm, no charge.

lost in space

Oh, for Pete's sake.

My poor little bloggy has been lost in cyber-space
for the last few days because
I tried to change it over to a private domain site.
In other words,
I was trying to get for myself a big girl blog,
that didn't have blogspot in the address but I royally
messed it up.

Thankfully,
I was able to switch it back.
AND I wasted $10.

I am so not tech-savvy and I will never-ever-ever mess
with it again for as long as I live.

Thank you all for your emails of concern.

I'm back and we can all cheerfully start our week now.

happy gotcha day {macy}

HaPpY GoTcHa DaY
to
MACY!!

Two whole years ago she became our darling daughter
forever and ever!

I'd say she's blossomed a bit, wouldn't you?

We love you, Macy!!

a little boy and his great big dog

Pretty much 95% of my children are horribly terrified of our
big ol' dog, Zeke.

I really have no idea why.

He's nottin' but a big cuddly teddy bear.
What's to fear?

And just for the record...he doesn't intimidate me in the least.
I call his giant-size bluff.
He might lick you to death, but that's it.
Well, and knock you down doing it.

Anyway, Isaiah has a fascination with him
and wants to get close soooo badly.

So K-man arranged that very thing...

Come on, dude...he's a love machine, really!

Okay, okay...I will take one step closer.

Oh wow, he's really soft...just like you said he was.

It's really quite easy, Isaiah.
Just get in there and give this bear a man-hug.

See?

You've convinced me...
I must...I will.

Ahhh, this is good.

Look at me! Look at me!!

And tomorrow we'll have to start all over again,
rebuilding this confidence.

But it's worth it, wouldn't you say?


Have a fun weekend!

my new obsessions

I have a new obsession.
Two, actually.

One is,
glass jars.

I am putting everything I can think of in them.
If I had the money,
everything I own would be in a glass jar.

Take a look...

Glass jars make me so happy.

I have no idea why.

But they do.



My other newest obsession is Pinterest.
Do you know about this?

My friend Kristy told me about it.
I checked it out just nonchalantly and was wowed.

And when I signed up as a member (or whatever they're called),
I saw that I have several friends already on there.
Why didn't you people tell me about this earlier?

I am obsessed.

Here are a few things I've found....

I showed this to Brenden and asked him if he wanted
me to knit him up one of these.

He said,
"Yes, yes, and heck yes."

Love this so much.

And I love this too.
Even though I never drink champagne...
and rarely dance on tables.
Rarely.

Anyway, I have "pinned" many recipes
and ideas.

It is life-changing.

And I am so happy to have found it.

I will report to you more of my findings as I see fit to do so.

the joys of homeschool

Here's a glimpse into a typical morning at our house...



Isaiah watching TV while wearing a Santa's hat.

Me disturbing the perfect balance of peace and quiet
by taking a picture of him.

And really stirring the peace-pot by letting
him put the hat on me.
Then letting Lucy take a pic.

All peace ended after this.

Here is Lucy enjoying (and I really do mean, enjoying) her school work.
And a cup of coffee.
Because Mommy's habits have a way of rubbing off on the children.

Ta-da!!

Now, on this fall-ish Monday morning,
I genuinely look forward to another week of
being Lucy's teacher.
As of this moment in time, it is a joy.
Check back with me in a few months and we'll see
what my attitude is.
And her's.


Have a great week, everyone!!

super-fantastic mom

Well, happy day.

I must be the best mom in the whole wide world
cause I can add to that list:

*Cluttered laundry room
*Dusty furniture
*Unmade beds (mine)
*Yucky toilets

I better stop there or you all will be jealous
at what a super-fantastic mom I am.

kindergarten {first grade}

Yesterday Lucy started her kindergarten class.
It's a homeschool enrichment class at a Christian school.
Even though we started homeschooling a couple
weeks ago, this made her school-years-career seem very official.

And we weren't out of the driveway 47 seconds on the 30 minute drive
before I started crying.

Because I'm so certain that it was just yesterday that my oldest
little guy had his first day of kindergarten.

And now look where he is.
At college, having fun. Lots of fun.
Without me.
And probably getting tattoos and growing dreadlocks
at this very moment.


But all went well at Lucy's school.
I held it together and didn't cry when I dropped her off.
Although I did feel like bawling my eyes out over
the fact that I was clearly the oldest mom there.

Anyway, Lucy had a great time and told me that
she warmed up and wasn't shy.
She said that.

Then, we hadn't been home 10 minutes and I got an email from
the gal at the school.

Turns out that they think Lucy would be much more challenged
being in the first grade class.

We are using first grade curriculum at home as it is...
so I guess it's now official.
She's a 5-year old first-grader.



See? It's already happening.
Tomorrow she will be in college, I just know it.

church notes...

What Do I Pursue?

"Our lives are defined by what we flee,
by what we follow after, and by what we fight for."

We are defined...by what we pursue.

1 Timothy 6:11
"But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness,
faith, love, endurance, and gentleness."


*Pride and Faith Cannot Coexist*

Habakkuk 2:4
"Behold the proud,
his soul is not upright in him;
but the just shall live by his faith."


*Spiritual pride is deadly*

James 4:6
"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

*Faith is: Total dependence on God*


Agape love is the only non-emotionally based love.

Agape is based on Truth.

Agape is predictable, since it's not based on emotions.

*Love seeks the highest good for others*

"Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it-- because it does..."
1 Cor. 14:1 (Msg)

laundry and chin badgers

Brenden's home, Brenden's home!!

And so is his laundry.

Nick and his chin badger...
(completely unrelated to the fact that Brenden is home. Just thought I'd share).
(It was a funny, funny moment. Guess you had to be there.)

Laundry done.

And comfort food abounds.


I hope your weekend is super great.

Mine sure is!

call within the next ten minutes...

I tend to not use cookbooks much,
although my red Betty Crocker that was given
to me by my much-adored high school home-ed teacher is always
on-the-ready for solid foundational recipes.

I cherish that book.
Thanks, Mrs. G!

But nowadays...I search online a lot for recipes.
Oh golly, a lot.

So that makes for many, many printed recipes.
I put most of them in a notebook...but I also
tend to tape my favorites up inside my cabinets...

I have five cabinet doors that are covered in recipes.

But since my doors are filling up,
I started looking for something that I could buy to hold
my recipes while I am making that particular dish.
Something that I could put at eye-level.

I couldn't find a thing.

Then my own ingenuity stepped up to the plate.
I came up with a high-sophisticated device
to hold my recipe-of-the-moment.

Two-sided tape and a clothes pin.

It's the greatest invention ever.


Be on the look-out for my infomercials.


And if you call operators within the next ten minutes,
I will give you an exclusive offer that will not
be available in stores anywhere.



Call now.

musings on rum, canning jars, and humility

This morning I had some thoughts on humility.

I think it came shortly after plucking an obscenely long hair
out of my facial region.

So my thoughts brought me to start humming the song,

Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble...when you're perfect in every way...

You know the song, right?

Every single time I hear or sing that song
(not that it applies to me in any way shape or form)...
I think of middle school.
My Jewish music teacher in middle school
(not Jewish music, my teacher was Jewish. Not that I wasn't open
to learning Jewish music. And not that any of that matters
to this story whatsoever),
would put the words to various
contemporary music (of the day) on the over-head projector
and play the record...and all of us children would merrily
sing along.
And that song, Oh Lord, it's Hard to be Humble...
was one of the songs she would have us sing.

But she adamantly made sure we didn't sing the word damn.
So we didn't.
Actually, we probably did, just quietly enough not to get in trouble...
I don't remember.

Such a nice song, full of wholesome values to teach youngsters, yes?



I have no idea why I told you that little story.
Just relaying to you what was rattling around in my brain while
I was blow-drying my hair this morning.




So last night I bought some canning jars and rum (hiccup).


Let's dissect that sentence.

I bought the canning jars simply out of pure lust
for all things homemaking.
I have zero intention of canning anything.
I have nothing to can.
Well, there are a couple quarts of blackberries in the freezer
that we got from my in-laws.
But those are ear-marked for pies...as strictly relayed to me by
K-man who loves him some blackberry pie.
And vanilla ice cream along side.

But I will find a use for that case of farmy-home canning jars,
don't you worry.

And the rum?
Lest you think I've spiraled down a very slippery slope,
what with the vodka and all,
THAT is ear-marked for a Bananas Foster
(thanks to PW's post).
I simply could not resist. It is a dessert of pure delight.




So those are my musings of the day.



Enjoy your evening and think of me often.

Love,
Lori