Update

Just a quick post to say that I haven't given up blogging forever. I have had an injured wrist as some may have noticed Amy mentioning in a couple of her comments. I am not exactly sure what happened, there seem to be a number of possible causes, but it seems most likely that it is due to repetitive stress from working on the computer in a somewhat ergonomically unfriendly (if not a little HOSTILE) environment, both at work and at home. So I have been trying to rest it as much as possible and take a break from blogging. The latter being Jeff's suggestion as the wrist injury has only affirmed his belief that blogging is of the devil.

In the meantime, I have used said injury to get almost an entirely new office at work. Honestly, I haven't had to squawk that much at all. What started out as a humble request for a couple of wrist rests turned into a new flat screen, glare-free monitor that can sit in the middle of my desk so I don't have to turn my head as I did to gaze upon the gargantuan model which used to sit to my left...in front of a window...that faced the west...and burned my poor little retinas all afternoon. I thought I would strike while the iron was hot and asked to look for a used desk that would sit at the appropriate height at a garage sale or thrift store or something. But now I have been given permission to price a NEW desk and/or some other office components that would better accommodate my office mate, Shari, and myself in our postage stamp-sized office. And she gets a new monitor too. AND while I'm at it, I am supposed to pick up a couple quotes for a printer for our own office so we don't have to keep getting up to retrieve our documents from the general printer in another room.

I'll have to post a before and after picture or two when it's all done.

But for now I'm off to the doctor for the second day in a row. Not for my wrist, but for my migraines. Yes, I still get them. But for the first time in a long time...maybe EVER...I have some real hope of a real cure!

More on that soon...

Please used the other door...

I'm not out to disrespect Asians, though this, and my last post, might suggest otherwise, but...

Just two doors down from my office stands Wah Wong, one of 3 fine Chinese eateries in town. And on the front door is posted this sign. And everytime I enter, which is more often than I care to admit, I simply cannot contain my amusement.

The lunch specials make it waaaay too easy to justify the expense, the calories, the fat grams, the MSG, the breaking of child labor laws...=)...I'm just not strong enough to say NO to Lunch Special #5 too many days in a row, plus I love to laugh and I am never disappointed by the plentiful provision of opportunities to do just that with every visit or phone order..."How do I help you?"..."Pho numba plea? Okay, fi ten minute!"

(I think engrish.com is technically supposed to be Japanese in origin, but check it out for other such funnies...I mean, if you're into that sort of thing.)

So today Liane had an appointment in the same town where I work and was kind of enough to pay me a visit at my place of employment and meet my co-workers. (Actually, I insisted that she MUST and wouldn't take no for an answer, so it wasn't all about her kindness...I think she might have been a little too frightened not to comply with my wishes.)

All day I eagerly anticipated her arrival. I even dreamed about it last night. Don't think me too strange, I woke early last Thursday morning with a stomach ache because I was so excited to go strawberry picking with Amy and the kids. =) Okay, that is a little strange. Anyway, she finally arrived and brought with her her digital camera (also at my request since mine is broken) to take a picture of the sign above for my blog AND for my continued viewing pleasure at home.

Bless her bunions!

After a quick tour of the office and the photo shoot, we had a delightful visit, enjoying our quaint surroundings while seated at a picnic table adjacent to the KFC drive-thru.

It was a beautiful day!

Oriental Slaw

I just wanted to share my latest favorite recip which came from my sister-in-law, Meridith. LOVE IT SO BAD! It makes a perfect potluck dish to pass or hot summer day meal...

1 16oz. package of coleslaw mix (about 5 cups)
4 green onions, thinly sliced
3 3oz. package oriental flavored Ramen noodles, broken up
3/4 c. sliced almonds, toasted
3/4 c. seasame seeds, toasted
1/2 c. salad oil
1/3 c. white vinegar
1/2 c. sugar
1/8 t. pepper

Up to 1 hour before serving (I have gotten away with doing it the night before), combine coleslaw mix, green onions, Ramen noodles (save seasoning-mix packets for the dressing), almonds and seasame seeds in a salad bowl. Cover and chill.

In a screw top jar combine oil, vinegar, sugar, pepper and seasoning-mix from the packages of noodles. Cover and shake. Chill.

At serving time, shake dressing again, pour over salad and toss to coat.

I have stirred in some grilled chicken breast and/or broccoli and carrots for a tasty little variation. I have also improvised a bit when I was lacking the full amount of an ingredient called for and it has turned out delicious every time. I think I liked it best when I used napa cabbage instead of the standard slaw mix you buy in a bag. And one note of caution: make sure that at least one other person in your household intends to help you eat it because devouring the whole batch in one weekend doesn't fit so well into most diet plans.

Strawberry Fields Forever

Today Amy and her children, Ella and Grant, went strawberry pickin' with me and "mines" to a local berry farm around the corner. My Mom met us there too. The pickin' turned out to be not so very bountiful, just few and far between and on the smaller side of small. We gave up after picking not even 4 pounds between both of our families and went in search of a local fresh produce market a couple towns away that was rumored to have good'nes already picked for a buck less a pound. Twenty miles and a few good conversations later, we were still out of luck as we found the market, but also found they were fresh OUT!

Doubting we had picked enough to make jam in the afternoon as planned, and determined to make the most of our precious time together, we decided to take in an Amish market I had been telling her about that happened to be nearby. They mostly sell scratch and dent groceries, but also carry a few of their handmade wares and delightful homemade confections. When we drove up we saw a sign on the door that said they had freshly picked strawberries inside for an even better price. Jackpot! Yeah, except they were sold out and so was their supplier up the road at the other Yoder farm. GOSH! Those Amish...you just can't trust 'em! Anyway, we did fill up the back of my van with groceries for only 60 dollhairs betwixt the two of us. I love that place! It is like grocery shopping at a garage sale...only a lot smellier because it is on the farm...and a lot hairier because there are a lot of bearded men who answer to the name Jonas scurrying about doing chores.

S'wanyway, when we finally made it back to my house we discovered we did have enough strawberries from the runt farm to make not one, but THREE batches of freezer jam. All said and done, we ended up with 9 half pints each. YUM!

Below are some other photos from the day...

Our Berry Fun Day

An Elwinism

So my Mom and Dad just stopped by for a little visit late this afternoon.

My Dad, who frequently starts a conversation with an observation about some late breaking current event, asked me if I had caught the morning news this morning. I said I had not and that I hadn't caught any headlines on the internet either. He proceeded to tell me that the Pope has the Bird Flu. Oh MY, I thought. Anxious to be enlightened on the events of the day which I had snoozed half away, I credulously began quizzing him for more detail.

(Had I forgotten who I was talking to?...Need I say more?!)

Yeah, they think he got it from the Cardinal. =)

That's my Dad! You just can't NOT love him!

That ain't very Christian!

There is a certain saying that can frequently be heard being blurted out around our house (or my workplace) when things seem to have gone awry. Jeff says it too, but it is mostly me who beats it to death. Is anyone surprised? Of course it is not my own material, but rather a catch phrase from a popular comedian of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. We are not huge fans of his work, but I must admit he has grown on me with his thick, annoying and very fake southern accent. I just recently read that he was actually born and raised on a pig farm in Nebraska and has no southern roots at all, just as I had suspected. (Yes, I am purposely neglecting to mention who he is...my mama is reading...hi, Mom!)

Be that as it may, "That ain't very Christian!" has proved to be a useful tool in variety of frustrating circumstances, particularly when the said frustration has no moral, spiritual, or otherwise religious implication. The toilet is clogged...That ain't very Christian! We're out of milk...That ain't very Christian! The printer has a paper jam...That ain't very Christian! The Chinese restaurant is out of those crunchy things you put in your Won Ton soup...That ain't very Christian! (That was for you, Shari!) You get the idea!

So Julia is five and has been diligently working on developing her vocabulary. We do live in Michigan, so not surprisingly one juicy little find has been the word "ain't". It is a delicate matter explaining why she should not say it since there are a few respected people in her life who think it is a fine word to say. I simply told her that she sounded a lot smarter when she didn't say it and that seemed to suffice. I mean, who would knowingly say something that would spoil her chances of sounding smart?! Plus, I couldn't make it a matter of rightness or wrongness and have her going to school correcting everyone as she had done earlier in the year, nearly losing her dearest friend who wouldn't heed her warning to stop taking the Lord's name in vain. A little different, but still...

So recently she was in a state of absolute hysteria over her belief that Andrew had stolen her glow-in-the-dark bracelet that Gramma had bought for her on our camping trip. "I'm not joking, I'm not lying, and I'm not confused! You have to believe me! Andrew STOLE it and you have to make him give it back!" she sobbed over and over and over and over. Since no amount of reasoning could sway her and she was clearly inconsolable, I just let her ramble on and on as I continued unpacking. But one of the last times around I heard her randomly interject, "And why are you allowed to say ain't like 'That ain't very Christian,' but we aren't? It AIN'T very fair!" and then continue right on with her rant without missing a beat.

As it turned out, Andrew was in fact not guilty as charged. The bracelet was in the seat pocket of the van right where she had placed for safekeeping on the trip home.

Boogie Man

Last night after the children were nestled all snug in their beds, Jeff decided it would be a prime opportunity to watch Saving Private Ryan. He had already seen it a half dozen times or so, but he had just purchased his own copy the day before and was anxious to break it in. Not being a fan of war flicks myself, I chose to take advantage of the quiet time to catch up on some reading and emailing, etc in our bedroom with the door shut: my sanctuary, my retreat...Oh the sweet solitude! It was delightful, minus the 6 or 8 times Andrew came in to tell me that he couldn't sleep, and then again to tell me he was hot, and then again to tell me he had already read all of his chapter books that he had just checked out from the library 2 days earlier, and then again...

But finally all the monkey business ceased and not a creature was stirring.

It had been a long couple of days. Kathryn had been raging with a fever of unknown origin for the past 36 hours, most of which I had spent holding or otherwise comforting her in some small motherly way. All day I couldn't wait to just cool down, literally, after soaking up so much heat from her fervid little body. It wasn't unbearably warm last night, so being ever mindful of the effect of rising energy costs on our summer family budget, I opted to leave the window AND blinds open rather than to run the A/C all night. This is a highly unusual occurrence at our house. I don't like open windows and I HATE open blinds.

So I sat on our bed situated in front of the open window, with the partially open blinds, with all my projects sprawled out around me as I savored the silence, when suddenly it was shattered by the very distinct sound of a watch alarm clock going off. It beeped several times and then stopped. This shouldn't be cause for concern except for, um yeeeah...we don't happen to own any watches at this house right now. And if we did, they would not be of the alarm-clock-going-off description.

Terror gripped my heart. My pulse quickened. All the blood in my body rushed to my already sweaty face. What to do now? This is why windows and blinds need to remain in the down position at all times, how could I have been so foolish? I was certain that whoever was out there with his big, fat, scary, hairy watch alarm going off on his big, fat, scary, hairy arm had already seen me. My doom was sure. But I couldn't just sit there helplessly, as he lay in wait to leap through my window and gobble me up. So after gathering all my courage, away to the window I flew like a flash, cranked down those blinds and drew in the sash.

There. I was safe. NO BODY could get through that window now. No way, no how. As I slowly regained my composure, I desperately tried to identify some other electronic device from which the noise could have come. It sounded ever so vaguely familiar, but at the same time so frighteningly foreign. I just couldn't place it. In any event, I assured myself that I had truly been braver than I believed, stronger than I seemed, and smarter than I thought. I mean, I had not even disturbed Jeff or Private Ryan with so much as a whimper. I had acted as a strong, independent woman and I was a better person because of it.

I read for another hour before calling it a night. I tidied up the bed and smoothed the linens before climbing in. Oh, but wait! What is this little bump I feel under the sheets that is just about the shape and size of the digital thermometer that goes BEEP, BEEP, BEEP and then STOPS??? Almost at this very moment of discovery, Jeff came in and we had a good laugh at my terror resolution skills. No boogie men bothered us the rest of the night.

And this concludes my first and very lengthy blog post. Anyone still reading?

This is only a test...