Cool, yet scary, photo

Don't know exactly where this offshore rig is located, or when the photo was taken. But it is an eerily captivating look at part of my industry. (You can click on the photo to get a larger view.)

IKEA

So, I finally made it to the metroplex's newest sensation....IKEA. My friend Kelly and I actually met for brunch at this a new little latin restaurant Tres Meridas first, then headed to join the masses.

It was completely crazy and out of control.

I really don't know how the workers don't completely pull their hair out in frustration with the craziness of the teeming mob of people. Of course, they probably love it -- seeing as how all twenty checkout lanes were at least 5 people deep when we went to check out.

Whew. It really made me tired. BUT, I found a few things I needed and options for a couple of new things that I want to get to replace some old stuff. AND, I got to spend some very valuable time with a really good friend, which we don't get to do very often these days. So, a productive day. And it is not quite yet 5:00! Hmmm, what to do now?

Stress Test

The following pictures are used to test the level of stress a person can handle. The slower the pictures move, the better your ability of handling stress. Alleged criminals that were tested see them spinning around madly; however, senior citizens and kids see them standing still.

None of these images are animated - they are perfectly static.

They move slowly for me. Whew - no criminal here!

Omelet in a Bag

Fun new recipe….

I got this recipe from my 93-year old granddaddy….thought at first that it was a joke, but it really works! Great for those camping trips or when you just really don’t want to do dishes!


Omelet in a Bag

Ingredients:
Quart freezer zipper bags     
Permanent markers
2 - 3 eggs per person     
Large pot of boiling water
Filling ingredients: ham, sausage, cheese, sauteed onion, green
pepper, salsa, salt & pepper, etc.

Directions:
Each person puts his/her name on a bag; breaks eggs into it and squishes the eggs to (scramble( then adds whatever filling ingredients he wants, gets all the air out of the bag, zips it and squishes some more to make sure it(s all mixed up.

Place bags in rolling, boiling water for 13 min. (4-6 in large pot).  After 13 min., dry off bag & open carefully to check & see if omelet is done enough.  (Put back in pot for 1-3 min. more if needed ( 3 egg omelet may take longer.)  Open bag & roll out omelet.  Serve immediately.

Centennial Chapel

Well, I had a great weekend at home. My sister, Heather, and I went home to attend the opening chapel of the 100th school year at ACU. That opening day chapel ceremony is pretty cool – the same song (All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name) and same scripture (Paul’s sermon on Mars hill from Acts 17) have been sung/read at every opening day assembly since 1906. There is a Parade of Flags – flags are carried for each country/state represented by students, faculty or staff.


It is a great visual representation – this year there are 47 states and 59 countries represented.

One of my favorite parts, near the end of the program, is at the end of the Battle Hymn of the Republic/Ceremony of Allegiance when the huge US flag drops down. It is just a cool thing to experience.


For any non-ACU readers, I know you may not “get it” and that’s okay with me. I just really appreciate the history and the symbolism that is remembered each year on the first day of school. And the fact that ACU has been around for 100 years is just pretty hard to beat ....

Comment verification

FYI - I've enabled the new word verification feature on Blogger for comments. This is just a step to try and limit spam comments.....sorry for the inconvenience. Hope you understand.

More Random Info About Me

I shamelessly copied this topic from Little Light …. though I’ve seen it other places as well

Ten years ago – I was finishing up the summer break between my freshman and sophomore year at ACU.  I spent a month of that summer on a study abroad program in Switzerland. It was great, but I kinda wish I had waited until I was a little older, or went with more people that I knew. I feel like I didn’t really get the full experience that I could have had.

Five years ago – I was miserable in my job in public accounting and so ready to quit (even after just one year). Broke free from that experience (just before the company started spiraling downhill and eventually fell apart completely) and started a new job with my current company.

One year ago – Had a great week-long vacation with my family in Branson, MO. My sister got engaged – and thus began the craziness of wedding preparations, which were much more of an emotional rollercoaster for me than I ever anticipated.

Yesterday – Work. Work.  More work.  Church. Sleep.

Today – Work.  Lunch Meeting.  More work.  Made brownies for our August birthday celebration at work.  Planning for weekend trip.

Five snacks I enjoy – sour cream and onion potato chips, popcorn, peanut m&m’s, Quaker Chewy lo-fat chocolate chunk granola bars, cheese & crackers

Five things I would do with $100 million – pay taxes :-(, give away a LOT, buy a house, plunk a bunch into savings, take a trip around the world

Five TV shows I enjoy – Alias, General Hospital, Survivor, Law and Order:SVU, CSI

Five biggest joys of the moment – another successful hosting of Dinner Club this past Monday, looking forward to a weekend trip home, wearing jeans to work tomorrow, finished the re-read of a book in a fabulous series, all the chances I’ve had this week to hold babies

Baby Fix

Last Sunday, I was priviliged to sit with Emma Grace in my lap all through church, while my friend Kelly held her twin sister Ella Margaret. Rhonda, the twins' mom, and I have gotten to be friends at church through several women's events and scrapbook nights and retreats over the past few years and it was a blessing to me to help allow her to actually fully experience worship.

Tuesday night, while at my weekly dinner with my friend Martha, her niece Stacy's two-year old son, Cody, sat in my lap for a while and just cuddled.

Today, at a meeting over lunch, I was able to hold little Rhett for a while. His mom, Chrystal, is on the Board of New Friends New Life with me.

And just a few moments ago, I jumped over to Mae's blog and learned that she delivered Miss Hadlee Anne Hale this past Sunday! Congratulations Mae and Brandon!!

All of these experiences in the past few days have helped me to get some of my required "baby fix." But they are no substitute for me having children of my own, which I think I could be ready to do anytime. Now, if I could just find a husband.......

One year!

Well, it has been one year since I started writing this little blog over in my corner of cyberspace. I started reading blogs two years ago with Mike Cope's and quickly progressed over to BST's and on to so many others through links and comments. Still, I think I could waste an entire day just coasting from blog to blog to comment to profile to blog. It is such an addictive habit.

Over this past year, I've made a bunch of new blog-friends. It is still hard to describe you people when I am talking to my friends here. It always sounds so awkward - don't really know why. But, I feel like I have a whole new group of people that are praying for me and thinking about me and remembering me. It is pretty cool. Thanks for being new friends!

And it still amazes me to find out that my friends read my blog - like at Dinner Club last night, Brad mentioned that he knew what to expect for dinner because he had read my blog that day. It's just a little surreal when people comment on my posts. And it always feels a little odd to mention it - or to not be embarrassed when others mention it. Almost like it is self-promotion. But not.

Over the past year, I know I've written about silly stuff, serious stuff, rants, raves, encouragements, and much, much more. It's kinda crazy - I never thought I'd have anything to say. But here I am, a year later, still writing and you people are still reading! So, here's to the start of Year Two!

Success!

Yes, another successful Dinner Club. Everything turned out perfectly (and there's not too much left over!!). We had twelve tonight - just the perfect number for the place settings that I have!

Just so everyone knows, yes, you can use a metal stacking cooling rack to create additional cooking space in your oven (as long as it is stable). It worked great!

Then a big thunderstorm blew through:


So, we turned out all the lights and played silly games while listening to big thunder. It was great! Of course, I think everyone was trying to wait out the downpour before leaving, but when the clock struck 10:00 it was time to make the mad dash to the car. Just as Murphy's law would say, it pretty much stopped raining about 10 minutes later! Oh well - sorry for all of them....of course, I was already home!

Now the dishwasher is running and I'm off to bed!

Sink full of dishes.....

So, I'm hosting Dinner Club again this week. I've had several people ask me why I'm cooking again so soon. The truth is, I love to plan and prepare a meal and be able to open my home. Plus, Allyson (the Dinner Club President) had an opening. So, I volunteered.

The menu this time around is:

Cracker Crumb Chicken
Disgustingly Rich Potatoes (aka Disgusting Potatoes)
Green Bean Casserole
Rolls (yes, from scratch)
Pineapple Upside Down Cake

So, yesterday I spent starting to get the food ready. I baked the potatoes and mixed up that casserole. I made the roll dough and started it chilling. I started thawing the chicken.

Today, I mixed up the green bean casserole, made the cakes (two round, rather than one 9x13), and crumbed the chicken. Hence, the sink full of dishes.....the dishwasher is running and I decided it would be better to go ahead and do the rest by hand, and then the dw will be empty and ready for all our dishes tomorrow!

So, the only thing left for tomorrow is to make the rolls and get it all cooked. One question - I have metal stacking cooling racks -- wonder if I could use them in the oven to give me another layer of cooking space? Anyone know - or have a thought? If not, I'm gonna have to get creative on how to get it all done and hot at the same time!

Prayer Request

My aunt Geneva just called my dad and said that they admitted my grandma (his mom) to the hospital today. She hadn't been feeling well, wasn't eating and had been throwing up some, so Geneva and the nurse where she lives conferred and took her to the ER. The doctor said she is low on potassium which could be from the blood pressure medicine and diuretics that she is taking. They changed some medications and she is doing better, but will be in the hospital for several days.

Please keep her, my aunt (her primary care-giver), and the rest of our family in your prayers. Thanks.

Platelets ..... and a small rant

Gave platelets again today.....a single this time. BUT, my post-count last time was high enough that I only had to have a finger stick today to test my pre-counts, rather than a hand stick. Yippee!! (Please give blood!!)

and now, for the rant.....upon some sound advice, I've removed my rant.....just know that it was there

Thursday Humor

Nothing much to write about today - and no time to do it! So, a quick forward of some funny puns that my dad sent earlier in the week......and a view of my warped sense of humor!

1. A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, "I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger."

2. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. The one turns to the other and says "Dam!"

3. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire inthe craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.

4. Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, "I've lost my electron." The other says, "Are you sure?" The first replies, "Yes, I'm positive."

5. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.

6. A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse. "But why?" they asked, as they moved off. "Because," he said, " I can't stand chess nuts boasting in an open foyer."

7. A woman has twins and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is named "Amahl." The other goes to a family in Spain; they name him "Juan." Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Amahl. Her husband responds, "They're twins! If you've seen Juan, you've seen Amahl."

8. These friars were behind on their belfry payments, so they opened up a small florist shop to raise funds. Since everyone liked to buyf lowers from the men of God, a rival florist across town thought the competition was unfair. He asked the good fathers to close down, but they would not. He went back and begged the friars to close. They ignored him. So, the rival florist hired Hugh MacTaggart, the roughest and most vicious thug in town, to "persuade" them to close. Hugh beat up the friars and trashed their store, saying he'd be back if they didn't close up shop. Terrified, they did so, thereby proving that only Hugh can prevent florist friars.

9. Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of callouses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail, and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him ........ A super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

10. And finally, there was the person who sent ten different puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.

Pizza Personality

Cheese Pizza

Traditional and comforting. You focus on living a quality life. You're not easily impressed with novelty. Yet, you easily impress others.

What's Your Pizza Personality?

I can eat pizza pretty much any time, any day. My current favorite is Canadian Bacon (aka Ham) and Pineapple from Papa John's. I especially love their garlic butter dipping sauce for my crusts.....not so good for the diet, but it sure is yummy!!!

Any other pizza lovers out there? What are your favorites?

Home Again

So, I just spent the last few days down around Fredericksburg with my parents. We stayed at a B&B - although not your typical B&B......it was an historic log cabin on a working ranch about 8 miles outside of town. It was so cute!



We slept (relatively) late each day and had a HUGE hot breakfast delivered each morning. Yum!! We went antique shopping and found a stained glass window for my parents to use in the remodel of their house. We floated down the Guadalupe and spent some time with friends who have a home in Boerne. We read and watched movies and enjoyed just relaxing! It was great.

Now, back to reality......

Sweet Friends

Just have time for a quick note today .....

I spent last evening with two very precious friends - Jenny and Kelly - celebrating Kelly's birthday. Her big day was back in June, but with all our crazy summer travels, we hadn't been able to coordinate our schedules until yesterday. So Jenny hosted us in her new home and cooked a very yummy dinner. (I'd post a picture, but we used Jenny's camera and I don't have a copy yet!)

I love those girls......I miss spending time with them - their friendships are so valuable to me and I probably don't tell them that enough. So, girls, if you are reading this - I love you both so much!!

And now, I'm unplugging -- for the next few days I'm going to be on a little mini-vacation with my folks. See you on the flip side.

Texas Women

No offense to my non-Texas friends....just thought this was too funny not to share!

Three men were sitting together bragging about how they had given their new wives duties.

The first man had married a woman from Alabama, and bragged that he had told his wife she was going to do all the dishes and house cleaning that needed done at their house. He said that it took a couple days but on the third day he came home to a clean house and the dishes were all washed and put away.

The second man had married a woman from Oklahoma. He bragged that he had given his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning, dishes, and the cooking. He told them that the first day he didn't see any results, but the next day it was better. By the third day, his house was clean, the dishes were done, and he had a huge dinner on the table.

The third man had married a Texas girl. He boasted that he told her that her duties were to keep the house cleaned, dishes washed, lawn mowed, laundry washed and hot meals on the table for every meal. He said the first day he didn't see anything, the second day he didn't see anything, but by the third day some of the swelling had gone down and he could see a little out of his left eye. Enough to fix himself a bite to eat, load the dishwasher, and call a landscaper.