photo-shoot {pretty please}

Dear Macy,

The next time you decide to whip out the camera
for an impromptu photo-shoot...

would you pretty please make sure....

that Mama has been through hair, make-up

and wardrobe first?


Oh, and whatever plastic surgery is available at time.


Thanks a bunch.

Love,
Mom

bologna and hot sauce

Lucy has discovered more common ground with her father.

Bologna.


Yuck.


They are quite the pair, those two.

Bologna and Frank's Hot Sauce sandwich
after church the other night.

She is forever ruined, food-wise.

fresh wind, fresh fire {a MUST read}

I sure hope your weekend was wonderful, friends!

We had over 15 people come forward to receive Jesus
at church!

Oh my word,
it just makes my heart burst with excitement to see
so many lives changed by our Savior, week after week.

God is AT WORK.



Which brings me to my latest read.

My mother-in-law passed this book onto me.

Wowie, is all I can say.
It is an amazing book about the power of prayer.

Fresh Wind Fresh Fire
"What Happens When The Spirit
Invades the Hearts of His People."


I'm not even finished reading it
but decided that I needed to tell you about
it right away.

AND...

I am giving away a copy!

Leave a comment that you'd like a chance
to win and I'll throw your name in the hat.


And since there can only be one winner,
I highly recommend that the rest
of you go buy yourself a copy.


And if you've already read it, let me know what you think.




I'm going to wait until the end of the week
to do the drawing, giving everyone plenty of time
to enter.

garage kitchen

Remember the post about my fantastic new
FREE stove?

The one that God provided so I could have an extra oven
to bake bread in and cook on in my garage when
it's hot out and I don't want to heat up the kitchen?

Remember that?

Well, God bless my dear husband because he simply
can't do anything half-way.
And he lives to get an oooh and ahhh out of me
by blessing me with his awesome skills.

He is building me my own little garage kitchen!

On the other side of the oven is an old mini-fridge
and another counter top.
With my giant freezer just on the other side of that.

Now I need to order me a sofa and bunk beds and
I'll have my own little apartment.
Just kidding.
Maybe.


So fun!!

Isaiah's ABC's

Homeschooling at its finest.

throw-back thursday

Awww, the late 70s.
There's just nothing that compares to this era.

The fashions.
The hair styles.
Well, everything.

And in my first of hopefully many installments of
Throw-Back Thursday
posts,

I give you....

my four sisters and me.

Left to right,
Robin (she's still this skinny)
Me (I think we all can agree that I haven't changed at all)
Kindel (good gracious, that hair...it does look way better now days)
Dana (though she remains the tallest and most modelesque of us all, we have somewhat caught up with her in size)
Keri (the youngest and most tormented of us all, poor girl)



Oh golly, that was fun.

Now if you'll excuse me,
I have some damage-control to do with a certain four ladies.

your movie suggestions, please

As I mentioned recently,
we downgraded our satellite TV package to the lowest
we could get.

And quite frankly,
I *almost* think we could handle just fine doing
away with it altogether.
*ALMOST*

That DVR thing is like crack though.

Oh how it is a lifesaver with little children around.

If I had a nickle for each time we had to back up to
hear the weather forecast again...and again...
because certain loud-mouth babes were yammering on,
I'd be one rich little lady.

So for now, we're keeping that sucker.

And we've also delved into the world of Netflix.

I know.
We're so whimsical and crazy, right?

But we can only get the DVDs by mail because our
primitive internet isn't fast enough for the live-stream.
That's just how it is here on Little House on the Prairie.
Or as my friend Mary calls it, Sherwood Forest.

Anyway.

Far be it for me to feel sorry for myself.
I do have me some nice indoor plumbing and modern appliances,
and they aren't even on my front porch.

Life is good.

My point in all this is this.

I'm all ears to hearing about your favorite movie
recommendations!

They must be family-friendly.
Very, very, very family friendly.

Can't wait to hear your suggestions!!


Go.

sprouting

Does anyone out there....sprout?

Grow your own sprouts, that is.

I'm gonna do it.
I'm so stoked.
I'm so weird.

But sprouts are sooooo nutritious.
And soooo easy to grow.

I ordered some broccoli seeds.
Plus, I already have a large variety of grains to sprout.

Watch out, sprouting, here I come.
Don't even try to stop me.

It's gonna be so great.

Doesn't that sound exciting?

Sure does.




And how is your Monday going?

delicious cookies!

Mercy be.

I love, love, love these cookies.

I got the recipe from my neighbor, Carla, who got
it from her friend, Pam.

And now I am passing it onto you.
See how that works?
It's what keep the planet spinning.
Not really.


Wheat and Barley Chocolate Chip Cookies

Combine:
1 1/4 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
(I used freshly milled spring hard white)
1 1/4 Cup Barley Flour
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Baking Soda
Set aside.

Cream Together:
3/4 Cup Butter
(I used 1/4 cup butter, 1/2 cup shortening)
1 Cup Brown Sugar

Add:
1 1/2 tsp. Real Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs
Beat well.

Gradually add flour mixture.

Stir in 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded tablespoons onto cookie sheet.
Bake at 400 degrees for 9-10 minutes.



Oh my.

They are so delicious.

And about the butter/shortening.
The original recipe calls for all butter.
But look,
I grew up in the 70's when butter became taboo.
I loves me some margarine.
And shortening.
I know, I know.
Don't scorn me.
I'm trying to change my ways.
I just don't like the flavor of all butter in my cookies.
Plus, shortening makes cookies more fluffy.
I loves me some fluffy.
But by all means, use what you like.
End of story.


Enjoy!

retro post

Oh, I've got such a busy day.

But I wanted to post at least a little something.

A couple weeks ago I was skimming through some really
old posts and I came upon Lucy's dance class
fiasco posts.


I laughed.

It was so funny.
And pitiful.


I thought you would enjoy reading about it, too.
Again, perhaps.



Go HERE for the first day of class.

And HERE for the 2nd day of class.



Oh my.


Whether you've read them before or not, I think you'll enjoy.

I'd love to hear your thoughts back here
if you have time.



Enjoy your weekend to the fullest!!

stretchy pants with friends

Oh my goodness.

Would you look at this?


Red Velvet Pancakes.
Gasp.

My friend Rachel sent me the recipe.

Because that's what friends do.
Send delicious ways to add to the junk
in the already full trunk.

GO HERE for the recipe.

We're in this together.
So if we all eat such things, we'll all be comfortable
in our stretchy pants together.

Ready, set, go!


Let me know if you try this recipe,
okie dokie?




Also, what's on your agenda for the weekend?
Trip to Maui?
Going to the movies?
Romantic dinners?
Wine and cheese luncheons?
Trip to Maui?


I love to hear your plans!

packing heat {and snow balls}

Two things:

It finally snowed here.
It melted about 23 minutes later,
but the kids hurried up and went out to enjoy it.

And enjoy it, they did.
Especially Isaiah, as you can see.

My dishwasher had a malfunction.
So my amazingly talented husband fixed it.
Then the plug in my laundry room stopped working.
So my amazingly talented husband fixed it.
He saves us millions of dollars by being so handy.
He's so dreamy that way.

And yes, he was packing heat.
He's so sexy that way.

And yes, as a matter of fact we do
cling to our guns and our religion.

Particularly our religion.
Particularly, JESUS.


Can I get an AMEN?

my dorky video

Well, as if the world wasn't weird enough already,
I've just added to it.

I'm delving into the world of video.

Written blog posts are so yesterday.

And because I apparently have nothing better to do with myself.

And it's my greatest desire to make you think that
I am the most dorky person on the planet.

(Oh and just so you know, I realized after the fact that I didn't have make up on)
(I normally look WAY better)
(Well, in my own mind i do)

That being said,

The End.




I do believe I will go back to writing.
Thank you very much.

our valentine's dinner

Well last night's Valentine's dinner was
SO GOOD.

We went to this new little bistro in the small town
we live near.
That sounds really fancy.
And the food was fancy.
But the atmosphere was rustic, as it was an old farm house.
Which was very charming.



And Justin Beiber served us our salad.

Being a new place,
there were a lot of kinks to work out.
A LOT.
It took 30 minutes just to get our salad.
But it was SO delicious.
Thanks, Justin.

Altogether we were there for 1 1/2 hours.
They kept apologizing.
We just laughed at the fact that we were just a few
minutes from home, yet able to stay AWAY for so long.

I guess you have to have six kids to understand that.




I positively loved hearing of all YOUR V-Day plans in your comments yesterday!
Two of you had dentist appointments.
One of you had a mammogram.
And many other interesting things that made me laugh.
Oh, you crazy gals!

Thanks for participating!

the winner!

Tori!!

You won the Valentine's Day
Starbuck's card!!

I'll stick it in the mail to you today, friend!

Oh and if any of you didn't read her comment,
you'll want to go back and do that.
Her Valentine's Day plans were especially special.

LOVE!!

my gift to you!!

In honor of Valentine's Day,
I'm giving away a
Starbucks gift card!

All you gotta do is leave a comment telling me
what your plans are for this over-hyped "holiday"!




*If you leave an anonymous comment,
you MUST give me your email address,
otherwise I have no way of knowing who the
winner is.
Got it?

happy valentine's day

Happy Valentine's Day to you, friends!


I thought I'd kick this V-Day post off with Brenden's
Facebook post from yesterday...


Valentines day is tomorrow?? Crap, I forgot to get a girlfriend, again.

Funny.


Yesterday afternoon Nick walked in from
school with a beautiful rose for
ME!

Take your eyes off my messy kitchen.


And last Friday,
Eli came home from school with a box of chocolates for
ME!


And tonight K-man is taking me to dinner!
He made reservations and everything.

Love is in the air!



And you thought I was anti-Valentine's Day
because the men in my life don't
give me gifts.

Hahahaha.

Nope.

Not at all.



Alright, people...go out there and
love on your loved-ones!

left-overs {what to do?}

So,
I'd really love to know your
left-over-eating-policy.

Do you:

1. Eat left-overs strictly as lunches?

2. Eat left-overs as dinner?

3. Do you run out of the house screaming at the
very thought of pulling the tupperware filled with last month's
now green fuzzy entree?

This really is my fridge.
Don't judge.

We tend to eat left overs for lunches,
AND for every-man-for-himself-dinners on Sunday nights.

But I must say,
there are weekday nights when we truly could feast for days off
of previously prepared portions.

My family would consider that a ridiculous idea.

To which I think THEY are ridiculous.




Please,
share with me your historical meal habits.

the weekend

Well, my goodness.
What a weekend it was!

Lots of kids.
Lots of cooking.
Lots of noise, chaos, and chatter.

Actually, it wasn't much different than usual.


Look how excited these little darlings were for this pic.
Precious, they are.

And look how children who are now in the adult status,
are still very much, children.

Now, tell me about YOUR weekend!
What'd ya'll do?

fun, fun!

Regular programming will resume soon.

Just having so much fun with all these kids right now!



Oh, I forgot to tell you...not only is Brenden home,
but he brought three friends with him.


I am busy cooking, cleaning, and laundering for NINE children.

Fun, fun!!

lolly and polly

Ya'll are gonna wanna hop
over to
The Lolly and Polly Show.






*In case you are confused (as I always am),
my Lolly/Polly personality has evolved into an entire
website with my friend, Patty...who is now known as Polly.
Got it?

yippeeee!

Brenden's Home!!!

what lori had for lunch {continued}

There are days that blog post ideas escape me.
So I look around and ask myself,
"Hey, Lori...what could you photograph that could turn into
a blog post?"

And on Wednesday I answered,
"Hey, Lori...your lunch looks pretty yummy today,
take a pic of that and tell the people about it."


So, people...here is what I had for lunch on
Wednesday, February 8, 2012.

Little pizzas made from French Bread
(no, I didn't make the bread...it's pure, unadulterated dead-bread from Walmart)
topped with sauce, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, feta and mozzarella cheeses.
With some Italian seasoning and garlic sprinkled atop.

Very delicious.


Sorry, no step by step photos on how to make this.
I think it's pretty self-explanatory.

And what interesting lunches have YOU had this week?
Do tell.

just a little soup...it's nothing, really.

On Monday I went to meet with our CPA to go over all our tax stuff.
It was loaded with fun,
as tax discussions usually are.
We once had a tax guy named Elmer who was about 87 years old.
And he stuttered.
Boy, was he a blast.
I will never understand a person who CHOOSES to sit
behind a desk and crunch numbers.
Warped and twisted, I tell ya.

Anyway, it occurred to me on the 40 minute drive over there that our
very favorite Chinese restaurant is just across the street
from the exciting and fun-filled CPA firm.
And my appointment would end, just after noon.
I resolved that in order to restore my joy after the mundane appointment,
I would run over and get some lunch.
By myself.
Don't tell the others.

I was in a hurry so I got it to go.
Have you ever eaten Sesame Chicken and steamed rice in the car?
That's exactly what I did.
I'm pretty skilled and coordinated.
But you already knew that.
I did save the hot and sour soup the half-eaten egg roll for later.

As I was driving towards my neighbors' house to pick up the little kids,
I realized I was about to be busted.
My elicit MSG rendezvous, exposed.
Quick, how do I hide the smell of Chinese food from Chinese children?

I did what any good mother would do.
I wiped the sauce off my chin and devised a plan.
I put everything in a plastic sack, tied it up tightly and rolled all
the windows down to air out the car.

But there simply is no way to mask one's guilt, I soon learned.
There's a sermon there somewhere.
Lucy knew instantly something was askew.
I had to fess-up.
But I played it down. Way down.

"Oh, that? (insert nervous laugh) That's nothing...
just a little soup...and stuff...really,
it's no big deal. It's Mommy's treat.
You got to go to play at the neighbors' house...
and Mommy got to have a nice lunch."
The deal was completely equal in my mind.

Ahem.

Fast forward to Tuesday.
The leftover soup and egg roll were beckoning me.
But I had to devise another plan, so not to have to split
my remaining Bag-O-Chinese-food, three ways.


So here I sit,
in my closet as I indulge in my left-over soup
and half-eaten egg roll.
Trying not to be discovered again.

I hope you all have a fabulous day,
filled with secretive meals and snacks in your closet.






*And yes, I did in fact photoshop my pics.
I felt I should glam-down the way I looked because, you know,
I am so darn tired of ALL those modeling scouts calling constantly.
I'm not interesting in your run-way deals, man.
I'm just a regular mom with a regular life.
Yes, that's it.

loud, ornery, crazy, so on and so on....

After having had (adopted, I mean) two girls, boys seem to be

a bit of a shock to me.
Crazy, I know.
Being that...I already have two boys.
But one little fella in particular can make me nutty (nuttier).




He is:
Loud
Crazy
Boggery
Farty
Ornery
Silly
Crazy
Loud
Adventury
Loud
silly



Then God reminds me,
Hello, he's a little boy.

He's a perfectly normal, regular little boy.

And I wouldn't have him any other way.

Isaiah Jack-Jack...
you are a boggery, loud, ornery, crazy treasure to me.




Oh and I forgot to mention...the child is perfectly
content to only have on one sock.
All day long.

Such a boy.

my favorite smells

Go anywhere on the world wide web and I'll bet
there isn't one single person who is
blogging about what I am bringing to you today.

The facts are:

1. I'm tired.

2. I'm not in a blogging mood.

3. And well, my mind works in weird and mysterious ways.



So here's my subject of the day:

My Favorite Smells
By Lori

*Not in any particular order

1. New tires.
Actually, tire stores.
I like to be submerged in the smell of black rubber.
And other car accessories.


2. Lumber
I absolutely love to go to Home Depot and stand
amidst the 2x4's.
I'm not even kidding.
It smells delicious and wonderful.
Please inform me if you ever find a lumber-girl perfume.

3. Mimeograph Papers
You know, like in second grade when your teacher had
to run down to the office to "run off" some worksheets...
then came back and passed them out,
and they were still wet...and smelled divine?
Yeah, I loved that.
But it's forever gone, this side of heaven.




Ok,
that's the end of my smells post.
I have others, but I'll save those for another day.

I sure hope your Monday is turning out wonderfully...
and that it's filled with your favorite aromas.

lolly's advice...continues

Lolly here!

Listen, girls.
Polly needs my help.

You MUST go see the video she just posted
on
The Lolly and Polly Show.

You will laugh, trust me.

look what God did!

Oh my gracious.


God did a really cool thing for us!

Last summer I was thinking how nice it would be to have a stove in the garage
to cook with when it's blistering hot out, so not to heat up the house.
Well, we decided to keep our eye
out for a good used one,
but didn't give it much more thought.
Nor did we ever make an effort to look for one.

Well, as I've started baking a ton of bread,
I've revisited the hope of getting another stove.
I prayed about it.
But again,
it was one of those things that I didn't put much thought into.


BUT GOD!

So K-man has been working on a big kitchen remodel job
(he's an electrical contractor)
and told me nonchalantly that the people were
getting rid of their old stove and
asked me if I wanted him to offer to buy it.
I said sure, if we could get it for about $50-100.
So then I started praying that the people would want to sell it to us.
And the more I prayed,
the more the Lord led me to pray to get it for FREE.
FREE?
Ok, God....please provide it to us for FREE.
A few days went by.


Guess what husband came last night?

An almost-new stove, that has hardly been used.
Nary a scratch or speck of dirt.

For FREE.

Yep, that's what my God did for me.

How cool is that?

Way cool.
And SO God.

Oh how He loves you and me.

shenanigans

Dearest Husband,

When one splits out his pants at work,
one should just throw them away,
not put them in the laundry basket,
as if wifey can somehow mysteriously fix them during
the laundering process.

Love,
Wifey

And what was even funnier
was Lucy's reaction when I told her to take my picture...

"Mom, what are you doing now?? Mom, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!!
(Hands thrown in the air)
Mom, this is crazy!"


She'll eventually get used to my shenanigans.
They all do.

sold out

You know, as I was making my bread yesterday I prayed,
"Lord, help me to sell this bread."
Well, that was really only a half-hearted prayer because...
how was that going to happen?
I really didn't see how.
And I didn't give it a whole lot of thought after that.

Oh, ye of little faith!

All three loaves, SOLD.
In fact, I oversold.
I will now be baking on Saturday to take to my friend at church.


Oh, that God...He's pretty amazing at His job.




So this morning,
the littles and I are off to the new women's Bible study at church.


Oh, how I loves me some Beth Moore!
And fellowship with womens!

Have YOU done this study yet?



And then we're coming right back home to bake some bread.
Because I have none made (anymore) for my family.

That's a good problem to have, under the circumstances.





Happy Thursday, Everyone!!

GOD IS GOOD.


"She watches over the affairs of her household and does not
eat of the bread of idleness.
Proverbs 31:27

take that!

Somebody, come rescue me!!

I'm muddling through payroll tax reports, blah, blah, blah!
I can't tell you how inadequate I am in all things administrative.
It is maddening.
MADDENING!

I'd much rather be our peddling my delicious Ezekiel bread
that I just pulled out of the oven.



Please come to my house and buy some.
Cash only, please.
Take that, Johnny IRS.


Just kidding, of course.

Ahem.