Easter Sunday

The fam

My girl

My guys

More on CVS...

Since a couple of folks have asked about it...

Here are some great links on the CVS Extra Care Bucks Program.

A great intro is here. An article titled CVS 101 has more detailed info. There's even more info here, Making CVS Work for You.

It can be overwhelming. My advice is -- don't give into the pressure to find The Perfect Deal your first times doing it. I wandered around the store today for 30 minutes and emerged with nothing. Digest what you can and if you think it will help you and your family, go try it out, and try not to get discouraged.

And let me know how it goes!

Let's celebrate the first day of spring with... um.... a Winter Storm Watch?

Yep. That's what we're going to be looking for tonight and tomorrow. Good Friday services are going to be contingent on what happens after the stinkin' Winter Storm comes through.

This winter just doesn't want to give it up, does it?

My new best friend, CVS*

I LOVE CVS!!!

I went and got a deal today. I am such a newbie at this and am almost completely unable to do it on my own. But thanks to brilliant, wise and amazing Money Saving Mom and the very creative Centsible Sawyer, I was able to get -- 1 lipgloss worth $8.99, 1 bodywash worth $6.99, 2 deodorants worth $1.69 each and a gallon of milk -- ALL for $3.12!!!

AND I got $12 in Extra Care Bucks to spend next time. "Next time" is going to be tomorrow, I think, when I'm going to try out a different deal and see if I can make some more ECB's! So much fun -- and all this stuff I don't really need!

*with apologies to my real best friends.

Bloggity blahggity blah blah blah -- 10 things on a Tuesday

1. Dennis is home! I picked him up from O'Hare on Sunday night at 7:40, got him home with requested pizza by 9:40. We walked into the house and Annalivia said, "Hi, Daddy," like it was any other day. Daniel was running laps, thanks in part, I think, to the steroids he's on. We all got to bed late, but it was worth it.
2. Daniel is doing much better after a bout with... asthma, maybe? We were in the emergency room on Saturday for about 7 hours while he cried and wheezed and gasped and so on. But he's better now.
3. My Holy Week is ending up to be pretty organized. I have services on Wed, Thurs, and Fri. I only have a bulletin, a meditation and a sermon to finish. I'm feeling pretty good about it.
4. The carpet is almost done at church, which means we are going to get to spend some time on Thurs and Friday playing with Easter arrangements in the mostly finished sanctuary.
5. My church secretary has been totally amazing lately -- coming in early, working hard, finishing everything in time, AND not doing anything "helpful," thus causing more work for me.
6. Dennis has agreed to have a couple of yard sales this summer and spend the summer decluttering, organizing and painting up the parsonage as though we are going to live in it for the NEXT seven years, too. He has no classes this summer. That means he gets to be my peon. :)
7. Our Easter outfits are coordinated and mostly assembled. I love Easter outfits.
8. After church on Sunday, we are going out with some other pastors and their families for brunch. One couple we know very well. The other we are getting to know, but like tremendously so far. I'm looking forward to it and am praying for exemplary behavior from my daughter.
9. I got an anonymous political comment recently. I kind of feel like I hit the big time.
10. My Sunday paper did not have any of the coupon inserts in it. It had plenty of ads. No coupon inserts. This bothers me because I'm trying to legally pillage CVS through the Extra Bucks program and I planned to triumph today. Since my call to the paper has not been returned, I guess I'll have to wait.

24 hours

This time, tomorrow, Dennis should be home. Thank you, Lord.

Interesting info on Muslim thought

Did anybody else out there catch the Mar. 3 broadcast of NPR's Talk of the Nation? It was an interview with Dalia Mogahed, one of the authors of a recent book called, Who Speaks for Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think which was based on a self-funded six-year Gallup study of Muslims throughout the world.

I thought it was very interesting. I would like to see the hard data -- in addition to the interpretation -- and have asked my library to see if they can inter-library-loan it for me so it can sit on the desk waiting to be read until I return it. The program was about 30 minutes. As with all call-in shows, part of it is ridiculous, but part of it is fascinating. I'd recommend it if you have the time.

Among the interesting points --

• That which is most admired about the West by both Westerners AND Muslims was freedom and technological advances.
• That which was most criticized about the West by both Westerners AND Muslims was the breakdown of moral values.
• Radical Muslims are not more likely to live in poverty or be undereducated.
• Those who identify themselves as radicals do not generally identify themselves as more religious than moderates.
• Most Muslims thought Americans were likeable, though most had not met Americans.

I don't really know what all this means, but it is an interesting conversation and one that could be very informative.

Not to count chickens prematurely...

BUT -- I must record this here because it is just too...full, I guess, to hold in my brain alone any more.

• Amazing things are happening at my little church.
• The carpet in the sanctuary has been torn out.
• To do that, the junky funeral-home organ and piano and everything else have been moved out.
• The gorgeous hardwood floors under the pews have been refinished.
• While the carpet was torn out, a group of folks decided that we may as well change the chancel while we are at it.
• We got bids and hired a contractor all within a week (it took 7 (SEVEN!!!) years to actually agree to getting the carpet replaced.
• Work begins tomorrow.
• The built-in pulpit and weird railings are coming out. It will be opened up into a lovely design a la my sweet love.
• Work should be finished on SATURDAY!
• The new carpet -- a completely new color -- goes in on Monday.
• We should be back in the sanctuary on Easter.
• There has been talk of not moving the organ back and getting a clavinova instead!!
• There has been talk of taking down the picture a friend calls "the Olan Mills' portait of Jesus" that hangs over the baptistry in the very front of the church where normal churches have a cross (I know, I know) and getting stained glass windows to hang in the baptistry window instead.
• I have not been part of any of the discussions, for the most part, and have been doing behind-the-scenes scheming and influencing instead.

And, lo, it came to pass in year seven that...something changed. And the place where the minister was confronted about an affair in worship and the children stopped being baptized because they were no longer there and half of the congregation walked out of worship after a pastor was fired -- was suddenly -- not the same.

This is big.

Mamet, I concur

Friends, and folks with access to my Facebook profile, and people who drive by my van with the John McCain sticker, know that I am trending towards a more conservative political view these days. David Mamet, well-known playwright, has recently published a piece, "Why I am no longer a brain-dead liberal." It resonates with me. You can read it here.

(Those with delicate sensibilities should know there is a bit of profanity.)

Godsends

Right now, Annalivia is playing with our family friend, 14-year old, K. K is here to spend the night and then will go to church with us in the morning. I am SO grateful that she is here and is able to entertain Annalivia while I finish stuff tonight.

My mother-in-law just headed home after having dinner with us tonight. She came over when I had to visit a parishioner in the hospital. Tomorrow she is going to watch the kids while I am at my choir rehearsal and Evensong and then she's coming over on Monday to stay with them while I'm at the doctor's office. Then on Tuesday, she's going to go with us to the Quad Cities and on Wednesday, she's going to watch them during a church service.

Thursday she's going to Wisconsin for a much-needed break.

During this time that Dennis has been gone, it has amazed me how much help I've received from other people. His mom has been available at the drop of a hat; my grandparents entertained us in their basement after an impromptu visit. My sister and mom provided diversions when we got out of the car after our trip south, or before getting back into the car to head north. Friends have watched Annalivia and Daniel run around while I was cleaning up a church dinner and church members have stepped in to lend a hand so I wouldn't have to do so.

We are so blessed. I find every day to be filled with unexpected gratitude for others.

It leads me to pray I never again go through one of those pitiful phases of life wherein I think no one cares about me or the perceived challenges of my life.

The evidence to the contrary is just overwhelming.

The problem with being repetitive

So, someone in our house recently left for Russia. Upon saying goodbye, those of us at home gathered in the living room where I was a little teary. Annalivia climbed up on my lap and asked me why I was crying.

I told her that I was a little sad and why.

She wiped the tears off of my cheek with her hand and then asked very gently, "Can you go do your fussin' in your bedroom?"

Stinker.

The perils of motherhood

Tonight, I had a church service to lead so I dressed sort of carefully in a new top and similarly-toned cardigan.

I made the mistake, however, of putting my clothes on a couple hours before I left. Mothers of small children, will tell you that's a poor idea, especially during cold season. I was reminded of this during a conversation with one of my more fun parishioners who has raised several children of her own.

Parishioner: You look nice. I think you have something in your hair, though.
Me *feeling hair*: Ugh! I think it's snot.
Parishioner: You also have something on your sweater.
Me *looking at smudge on sweater*: Also snot.
Parishioner: I hesitate to mention it, but you also have something there *pointing to my top*
Me: That would be... snot.
Parishioner: Well.... at least it goes with everything.

A proper tea...ish

Annalivia has been wanting to have another tea party for a while, so today after Daniel went down for his nap, we had a proper tea party. Sort of. We had table linen and a lovely embroidered runner, teacups and an actual teapot and creamer jug. And we had hats.

What we did NOT have was a proper appreciation for tea.

I promise -- we did have a nice time...

Our resources

Dennis and I are not what I would call "frugal" people. Not at all, really. We like getting a deal on something as much as most folks, but I would not say we have a frugal mindset.

Or, rather, we haven't.

In the past few months, I've been taking notice of the expendable and disposable nature of many of our daily choices in our lives. We have not been deliberate in using our resources, I'm ashamed to admit. And it is something we are working on changing. Our goal is to learn how to live on less than one income and it has been, rather abstractly, for some time. Now we are taking concrete steps towards that goal. Baby steps, but actual movement, nonetheless.

I've found a lot of inspiration from several places recently: Like Merchant Ships, Money Saving Mom, Frugal Hacks and Frugal Abundance. Most of the women who write at these sites are motivated to frugality less out of absolute necessity and more because of their personal philosophies and especially, their faith.

I am very appreciative of these people who challenge me to put faith into action in ways I've not considered, or have been lax in enacting. I'm realizing that the way I treat my resources -- and not just the money we earn -- but also my time and my talents and the treasure I have in possessions and, most importantly, people -- speaks volumes to the extent of my desire to follow Jesus with my whole self.

So I'm working on becoming a "frugal person" with a frugal mindset. I'll be letting you know how it goes.

The looming departure

So I've not mentioned it here because it may be stupid, but someone in our family is getting ready to go to Russia pretty soon.

It's not me.

This weekend, we are preparing ourselves: Doing important things like airing out the mattress -- well, our version, anyway, which involves opening all the windows in a bedroom and shutting the door; And we're doing lots of laundry; And cooking lots of stuff; And making lists; And making sure bills are paid and that there are detailed written instructions about what to do in case Chechnyan separatists ruin the trip. That sort of thing...

AND, and, and!!! Dennis and I are going on a date tonight!! By ourselves!! (I'm kind of excited -- can you tell?)

There are definite advantages to preparing for absence. One becomes acutely aware of presence.

And that sure is a good thing.

Anyone near an Office Max tomorrow? Need Sharpies?

If so and you've not seen this coupon, run out and take advantage of it. Looks like you can print the coupon twice and give another to someone else in your party. A 12-pack usually runs about $25. This is a good deal!!

Wow. An extra day...

What to do? What to do?

I got nuthin'.

Substitutions gone awry

The Pioneer Woman has a new recipe up today at her cooking blog. It looks delicious. I have a love/ hate relationship with recipes that use industrial ingredients as substitutes for real cooking. Like these rolls, for example. Part of me loves them. Part of me is just disgusted with myself every time I make them. (I'll be disgusted with myself again on Sunday when I take them to First Sunday Fellowship, fyi.)

I modified PW's tomato soup recipe last night with stunning results. I had to make some substitutions. I used a 15 oz can of tomato sauce instead of the tomato juice. And I used leftover real whipped cream from Valentine's Day (don't worry -- I ate some a day before to make sure none of us would die or have "intestinal issues" -- I sacrifice for this family) for the cream and sugar. And I used red wine and boiled it before adding the cream. But despite all the substitutions it was delicious.

When I was telling my sister my plan, I told her I'd have to make some substitutions. I didn't have sherry. But I did have NyQuil and that has alcohol in it, right? I'm sure it would have worked.

It occurred to me today, while reading PW's apple dumpling recipe, that there probably is a recipe out there using NyQuil. Maybe a cherry cobbler or cheesecake?

I bet it is delicious, too.

On the less festive side of things...

Daniel has pneumonia. Right now, I think he's doing ok. He got an antibiotic shot yesterday and he's getting breathing treatments through a nebulizer and oral steroids and antibiotic. We go back tomorrow to see if he is better.

This illness came on SO quickly!! He had a runny nose on Saturday morning and then yesterday, I could tell he wasn't breathing right and we got him in to see the doctor. In the meantime, he had all of the typical cold treatment -- warm bath, Vicks on a kleenex in his pajamas, a steamy bedroom with the help of the vaporiser. But the pneumonia set in, anyway. And he also has two ear infections. Poor kiddo.

While we were at the doc yesterday, I had them check Annalivia out. She has one ear infection. I'm hoping that explains away some of her recent squirrliness.

All of the above meant that Annalivia had a very pre-fab birthday dinner yesterday. We stopped at Kroger and got a rotisserie chicken, bread and some frozen veggie mixes as well as a Pepperidge Farm cake and some strawberries. It was so nice to have dinner mostly made. Dennis' mom came by and we were actually able to have a pretty nice celebration despite a very hectic and trying day of a sick, fussy little guy, office visits and lab work and delayed prescriptions and sleet and snow.

Today, we are staying in. I've got the chicken from last night in a pot on the stove and we're having chicken noodle soup tonight. It smells wonderful and warm in here. Daniel and I are still in pajamas. Annalivia is in ballet gear. Again.

It's a good day.

One last birthday photo

Ballerina birthday

My ballet-mad daughter got a complete ballet outfit including homemade tutu, some Angelina Ballerina dvd's and a ballerina puzzle for her birthday today. She wore her tutu all morning and when we got home this afternoon, immediately changed back into it.

Now she is showing Grandma how to do specific moves. I, for one, have never seen such lovely pirouettes...

She's 3 years old!

Moveable church

We're making some long-overdue improvements to our church right now. We are pulling up the carpet in the sanctuary and refinishing the floors under the pews. Everything is out-of-place right now. Pews are everywhere, hymnals stacked on flat surfaces, organ in the hallway...

We had planned today to have church in the fellowship hall. But yesterday my board chair/ custodian called and told me that the fumes from the floor sealant were overpowering. So -- a gajillion phone calls later, we decided to convene church at the American Legion today.

And it was lovely. Since I had called everyone last night, we had lots and lots of people there. Everyone had gotten a personal invitation, after all. We had no piano, so we had to sing songs that we, a non-singing congregation, knew well. And we had to kind of wobble the church service about. It was great.

A couple of years ago, a friend of mine told me about his congregation that had experienced a fire in the sanctuary. For four months they had to meet elsewhere and during that time, they doubled in number. I remember him telling me that the wonderful thing about being church someplace else, is that everyone is a guest. Hospitality is essential.

And I think he was right about that. We're going to be worshipping elsewhere for at least the next two weeks. This might be about the best thing we have experienced in a long while.

Fun Mom

I'm making a concerted effort to spend some time just having fun with Annalivia each day, especially at this age when she gets SO much correction. Yesterday, we had a tea party while Daniel was napping. Today we made newspaper hats (just like Kipper!). More fun to come...

Teething

Daniel has sharp teeth. Nothing is safe.

Oh good.

More snow.
We needed that.

Brrrr.... (a recap)

Brrrr.....

You know what? I'm done. I've completely had it with winter!! I'm tired of cold, tired of snow, tired of coats and sniffles and being inside. WAAAAAHHHHH!!!!

Ok. I feel better.

So today, on this extremely cold day, we are headed to the office for a while. I don't have much to do there, because I already have a sermon and bulletin done, because... we got to cancel church on Sunday. (And we aren't die-hard lectionary-followers). So, hurrah for being prepared a whole week ahead!

Our decision to cancel was a late call. But when I got to church and slipped and slid my way across the rain-soaked packed-down snow on the sidewalk and parking area wearing my largely slip-proof Keens, the board chair and I agreed it was silly to ask a congregation of older ladies to imperil themselves for church. So, we cancelled.

Dennis needed to work on a presentation for class so I took the kiddos to the Disciples church across the river. And -- oh. my. word. My husband is a saint. It was literally the second time I have sat in worship alone with both of the kids -- the first time being when Daniel was 3 weeks old. I was totally flummoxed. We must have entered and exited the church 5 times to deal with Daniel's fussiness. We ended up in the nursery where we stayed for the ENTIRE service until we came back to collect our stuff and apologize profusely to the people sitting around us. Somehow Dennis is able to keep the kids in the sanctuary for the whole service at least 75% of the Sundays they come to church. I'm going to figure out how he does it, though probably not for a while.

Sunday afternoon I had rehearsal for my Canterbury Singers. I wasn't able to stay and sing Evensong this week, but will next week and I'm looking forward to that. It's a neat group and they sing just REALLY good stuff.

Yesterday we stayed inside and in pajamas all day. It was lovely. I baked -- some things more successfully than others. We had bland cauliflower soup for dinner while Dennis was at class and Annalivia did not want to eat it. About two hours later, she decided that she'd eat it so she could have a piece of chocolate. She kept asking for crackers in it; it really was not very good. But when Dennis got home, he liked it. So.

And now to get on with this day. This freezing, frigid, wind-chilled day.

Brrrr....

Macaroni and cheese

Photo from Daddy's lunch with the kids.

Supah sistahs

I got to hang out with my sisters today!! I love it when I get to hang out with my sisters. They are so freaking hip. And they are hilarious. When I leave them, my stomach and throat always hurt from laughing. But that's a good thing.

We were pretty low-key today. We went to a couple thrift stores in Peoria, much to Kali's chagrin. My sistah, Roo, is a thrift-store pro. She is amazing. We went into one Goodwill and gave ourselves 10 minutes to get to the checkout counter. By about six minutes into it, Roo had found a pair of Born sandals, a pair of BCBG pants for Lil, a very cool lampshade and some other thing I've forgotten. I was amazed. I ended up with a stone baker at that store, and later found some overalls, a fleece snowsuit, and some shoes for Daniel, and a funky tablecloth that could be made into cool shopping bags, were I to be enterprising. And I also found a very cool maple dresser at a Salvation Army on my way home that I might try to buy next week, if it is still there.

Before we went thrifting, we had lunch at One World, a very funky and cool coffeehouse next to Bradley University. We have been going to One World since I was in high school and it is just a good place to go -- good food, good coffee, good drinks, good atmosphere. We each ordered different stuff and shared, so we had spinach and feta pizza, falafel, asian spring wraps, and grilled chicken. They were all delicious.

I got to introduce falafel to Lil, who is just born to eat it, and the experience reminded me that I have a great pita recipe and have made some really good falafel in the past. So here is that middle-eastern recipe, in honor of my middle-western sistahs.

Super easy falafel(-ish)

Hummus (chickpeas, garlic, tahini (see note below), lemon juice, salt) -- about two cups

egg or two

breadcrumbs or coarse flour

onions, finely chopped -- 1 or 2

fresh parsley, chopped -- half or whole bunch

cumin -- 1 T or more

coriander -- 2 t or more

more garlic, minced -- at least 2 cloves

Add garlic, parsley, onions and cumin to hummus (to make falafel green, finely chop parsley or mix in food processor). Taste for salt, etc. Add an egg or two (or don't -- see note below). Add flour, a tablespoon at a time until it is a thick mixture that can be formed into a patty. Form into a ball -- slightly larger than a golf ball and flatten slightly.

Heat coconut or olive oil until hot, but not smoking. Add falafel(-ish) patties and fry until brown and crispy.

Serve in aforementioned pitas with parsley, tahini sauce and yogurt sauce. Lettuce and tomato are nice accompaniments, too.

Yogurt sauce

Yogurt

mint

parsley

pepper

chopped tomato (optional)

Mix. Adjust. Eat.

Tahini sauce

4 cloves garlic
1/2 c. tahini

1/2 t. salt

1 T. water

juice of 3 lemons

Use food processor to chop garlic and mix tahini, salt, and water. Add lemon juice slowly into food processor until very creamy. Add a bit more water if necessary.

This is obviously not completely authentic falafel, but it IS delicious. And really easy. And delicious. Really delicious.

Edited to add: A purist has noted that these recipes may contain verbotten ingredients (i.e. egg and, apparently, tahini which should not be IN the falafel). If there's one thing I truly adore, it's a purist. Especially one who is insisitent upon removing time-saving adaptations to time-honored recipes. So, I've changed the name on this recipe to "falafel-ish". And if you are aghast at the idea of feeding your family a variation on the REAL, authentic falafel (which you can apparently find through the blog link left in my comment section or through a google search, using the words "authentic falafel" and then ignoring any that return egg in the ingredients), please, please, please -- DON'T use the above recipe. You are only setting yourself up for heartbreak and misery and a truly simplistic dining experience with ingredients you may have on hand. And I know you wouldn't want that.

Unless you do. In which case, grab the hummus in the fridge and make some falafel-ish. And enjoy. :)

Book tag

Andrea tagged me. So, here goes...

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

The book closest to me happens to be Enough by Juan Williams. Part of the first sentence is on preceeding page.

"In the days after his first comments about crime at the 2004 Brown celebration in Washington, Cosby sent the press a statement in which he explained that he was speaking out as a call to end the feeling of helplessness among black people dealing with crime in the black community. He wanted to ignite "righteous indignation" as a basis for action against this scourge. He was willing to mention this cruel monster in the house as a first step toward organizing a plan for fighting back.
"'I travel the country and see these patterns in every community," Cosby said in his statement, "stories of twelve-year-old children killed in the crossfire between knuckleheads selling druge, the fourteen-year-olds with a sealed envelope as their first into the criminal justice system.'"

I will look forward to actually getting to this page to find out what all of this means.

I'm tagging whomever wants to play! Let me know if you do, ok?

Friday Five: The Water and the Word

From the RevGals...

1. When and where were you baptized? Do you remember it? Know any interesting tidbits?

Well, we emerse as Disciples, so I remember it very clearly. I was baptized on Palm Sunday in 1986. I was in fifth grade and had just completed Membership class. I remember wanting to take communion before my friend, Becky. So I made my confession of faith, not really understanding what it meant. I stood in front of the congregation in my junior choir robe and was SO nervous, but I very clearly remember our minister, Marvin, smiling his very gentle smile as he asked me, "Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the son of the Living God and have you accepted Him as your personal Lord and Savior?"

The baptism itself was in our beautiful, but little baptistry at Eureka. I think there were at least three girls baptized that day. The baptismal seemed HUGE and deep and I remember Marvin wearing his waders over his suit. I also remember being annoyed that I didn't feel much different afterwards.

2. What's the most unexpected thing you've ever witnessed at a baptism?

I baptized a woman in our church who was a larger woman. Our baptistry is RIDICULOUSLY shallow, so I always tell folks that it is imperative that they bend their knees as I lean them back. As I dunked this lady, she lifted up both feet and kept her legs straight. Essentially, she was floating, only with more splashing. Consequently, she had some problems standing back up and I kept saying, "PUT YOUR FEET DOWN!!" as firmly as I could until she did. That was just awkward. Though it did give my youth group at the time some hilarious fodder for a very irreverent cartoon.

3. Does your congregation have any special traditions surrounding baptisms?

In our congregation, as soon as someone wants to be baptized, we do it. We don't require it to be during the service. That's a little weird to me.

4. Are you a godparent or baptismal sponsor? Have a story to tell?

I AM a godparent. First, of my nephew Rhys, who was baptized recently. I missed his baptism. I'm also a godparent of Ethan and Caitlin, children of my childhood friend and her husband, one of my dearests from seminary. Because we baptize after the "age of accountability," godparents haven't traditionally performed much function in Disciples tradition.

5. Do you have a favorite baptismal song or hymn?

It's not a baptismal hymn, per se, but I love Go, My Children with My Blessing. I love the line that says, "In my love's baptismal river, I have made you mine forever."

I especially think it's perfect for people who performed baptisms in the creek out back behind the church. Great image.

Praying for NIU

I know many have heard about the shootings at Northern Illinois University. NIU is about 50 miles from us. Lots of high school graduates in this area choose NIU as their school. Our area, and many of the communities around us are powerfully affected by this tragedy. Please pray.

Loves

He sure is GOOD

Valentine tulips from my sweet love.

Last minute pressies

So, let's suppose you are the kind of person who had Valentine's Day covered back in January. If you are that sort of person, this post is not for you.
(And if you are family from central Illinois, why don't you come back sometime this afternoon and read this? No reason...)

If, on the other hand, you are scrambling about trying to figure out what you or your children can make in the next two hours for someone, here are some ideas...

Annalivia and I made these very simple bookmarks tonight. I cut the pieces out with pinking shears and applied the glue. She applied the ribbons and heart.

These are some hair decorations for my niece. She loves rainbows and hearts and pink and anything sparkly and girly. The idea came from Family Fun magazine. It was SUPER easy!

This is another hair thingy for my niece. It is an elastic band that I covered in a small grosgrain ribbon that we got at Hobby Lobby for 14 cents the other day. To make, you just cut a length of ribbon and fold it in half to make a loop. Place the loop against the elastic, then pull both ends of the ribbon through the loop. Tighten the loop against the elastic. Repeat until elastic is covered (and try not to stretch the elastic too much).

Here is final product.

These can be made in lots of different colors. I find that the sheer skinny ribbons work best. The grosgrain will tend to undo its loop and the thicker sheer ribbons need to be cut longer to work well and look nice in the hair.

And if you have just a bit more time to play around -- back to the pinking shear hearts -- if you have a lot of costume jewelry lying about, a couple of hearts can be fixed together with a pin. You may need to add a self-adhesive pin on the back. Annalivia was glad to help with that part, too.

If you have any ideas for last minute (or well-planned) celebrations, feel free to share them here!

Afternoon scene

If you were here at our house at this moment, you would see toys all over the place. Annalivia is doing ballet moves to Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy and telling me periodically to "Just feel the music and you'll be fine." Daniel is also dancing -- walking in big circles and laughing and Annalivia and I are laughing with him. And I am wearing Annalivia's styrofoam princess crown and working on Valentine gifts, thinking that a more charmed life cannot be found.

Plastic junk

I have been inspired. Various bloggers have been addressing "disposable thinking" lately. It is a philosophy that has far-reaching effects and can even influence such mundane things as how we present a daily meal to our family. I've been moved to start chipping away at the iceberg in my own mentality and try to begin creating beauty where possible.

So -- today we began phase one with a transition away from cheap plastic junk to glass and various ceramic-type storage stuff. We rounded up all of our plastic storage containers and cheap mixing bowls and will donate them to Goodwill. We replaced them with glass containers. I have a feeling it will be harder to misplace the lid to a glass container. That's my hope, at least.

We also bought a bunch of canisters and mason jars for dry goods. I'm trying to get my pantry a little more organized rather than having half-filled bags of flour and sugar and such all over my cabinet. If I need to cook more, I really need to be able to do it pleasantly.

I think this project will take me into tomorrow, also. But hopefully, I'll emerge with less cluttered cabinets and a cleaner counter. We'll see...

The Birthday Boy

Daniel Robert Stewart

1 whole year old

What a big boy!

The waitress

Today Annalivia came up to my chair with a pad of paper and an orange crayon, apparently to take my order. She asked, "Would you like a sandwich, Mommy?"

"Yes, I would," I said.

"Soccer balls?" (meatballs)

"Yes, please."

"Hedgehogs?" (cheese balls)

"That sounds delicious."

"Tomatoes?"

"No, thank you."

"Jelly? Toast? Meat? Chicken? Eggs? Soup? Pancakes? You want some ice cream? I'm going to make cookies for you."

"Wow, Annalivia."

"And if you go pee-pee and poo-poo right in the toilet you get a sucker, ok?"

"Very thorough, Annalivia. Thank you."

Local news

Tonight, for the first time since October, we watched local news as we wait for election returns. I had forgotten about how utterly stupid local news can be. We have a station in the Quad Cities that has a "LIVE. LOCAL. LATE-BREAKING" tag. That's supposed to be a good thing, but this station does the most ridiculous live reports ever. Tonight, at 10 p.m., they had a woman, bundled up in her parka standing on a city street with sleet pouring down around her. She was reporting on the lack of salt for city streets. And to illustrate the subject, she poured some ice-melt out of a cut off milk jug saying it was "the only salt the street see" in the next few hours.

Why in the world did this poor reporter need to be outside? Is live news really that necessary?

I think not.

Random thoughts on the week ahead

Tonight Dennis is off to church to drop off the gumbo I made for an impromptu Mardi Gras celebration tomorrow. I invited the congregation and local clergy and families to stop by for gumbo, french bread and king cake during lunch. I intended to make gumbo for about 30, but somehow made gumbo for 100. I'd consider myself extremely blessed to have 30 people show up. My guests may not consider themselves blessed, though; they're all going to be required to take home gumbo.

I'm excited about Super Tuesday. Most of you know that I am wholeheartedly supporting John McCain. Some of you think I'm crazy. You're right about me being crazy. But not about this. Regardless of where one falls on the political spectrum, it is very, very good to be able to actually have our votes matter this year! I don't think I've ever been so excited to vote!

Anyway... moving on... the next day is Ash Wednesday and we will start our midweek Lenten service, Soup for the Soul. We are hosting it this week and I am in charge of making soup. It may be leftover gumbo.

This is one of my favorite times at church, partly because of the shear business of it, but also because it is a time to really hone in on how we are living out our faith in everday life. I just adore the whole vibe of Lent.

Dennis and I have been thinking a lot about what to do for Lent and came to a decision a few weeks ago after I got several books by Michael Pollan from Amazon. Our family is going to try a Lenten experiment of giving up as much industrial and processed food as we can without going broke. For us, this is going to mean eating as much organic produce and grains as possible and using organic and free-range meat very seldomly. Both he and I are kind of excited about it. We have been increasingly aware of the questionable way our country manufactures food with corn and its subsidized products being used in EVERYTHING. So we are going to see what it would be like to get off that merry-go-round.

We are, however, making an exception on Thursday, the second day of Lent, because our big boy is TURNING ONE!!! :( :( Everyday we are so grateful for this wonderful little being who has been entrusted to us. That he has been here a whole year is just amazing. Last year at this time, I was in hour 8 of the 39-hour labor marathon that brought him into the world. Crazy.

And on Friday, my incredibly generous and wondrous husband is going to take a half-day so I can go visit all my shut-ins in one fell swoop for the month. We'll see how that goes.

I have a feeling I'll be ready for Saturday.

The Brit at our house

To start with -- those who don't know us should know that we are non-descript speakers around here. We don't sound like Chicagoans. We don't sound like Wisconsin-ites and we certainly don't sound like Southerners or Bostontonians. No one in this house has an accent of any sort except the indistinguishable midwestern kind.

Except for Annalivia when she uses the phrase, "I can't!" Which she pronounces, "I cahn-t"

We usually reply, "Yes. You cahn."

"But I cahnt," she says. "I cahnt."

Crazy child.

Friday Five: February Celebrations

The RevGals have a new Friday five with an option -- Superbowl or Holy Days. My guess is most of us church nerds are choosing #2.

Candlemas/ Imbloc/ Groundhog day/ St Brigid's day- all of these fall on either the 1st or 2nd February.
1. Do you celebrate one or more of these?
I've never really known about any of them other than Groundhog Day until this year.

2. How do you celebrate?
Dennis and I usually try to watch Groundhog Day which is one of our favorite movies. That's been about it.

3. Is this a bit of fun or deeply significant?
It's been just fun. But this year, I learned about WHY we celebrate Groundhog's Day when we do. (Do you know this? It's 1/2 way between the winter solstice and the spring equinox!) And Candlemas suddenly made MUCH more sense and had more significance. In fact, I wrote my newsletter article this month on Candlemas. Sort of. So, we may have to find something to observe in the future. My inner Episcopalian really wants to jump on board these things.

4. Are festivals/ Saints days important to you?
Formal festivals -- not so much other than the big'ns. But, my mother was always GREAT at making any celebration special. I never knew any other kids who observed MayDay, but we sure did.

5.Name your favourite Saints day/ celebration.
St. Patrick's Day. We really only observe it and Valentine's Day. But my mom has the BEST St. Patrick's Day celebration I've ever heard of. And it involves no beer.
But it does have a Leprechaun Basket.
You?

Exciting Lenten idea

I don't know if I am starting this early enough, or if it will work, but someone might want to steal it, so I'm sharing.

Today, I am going to buy a couple of packets of sweet peas at good ol' WalMart. I'm going to soak them for a day and then put a few of them into terracotta pots that have potting soil and Miracle Grow in them. THEN -- and this is the cool part -- I'm going to stick a cross about 18 inches tall, (made out of two twigs, bound together with raffia) about 6 inches into the pot. After Ash Wednesday, I'm going to wrap the pot in burlap and take them to church and stick them in the sanctuary windows.

I'm not going to tell anyone about what is under the soil. My hope is that the little peas will grow and that I can get them to grow enough to help them up the twigs and that it will surprise and delight everyone and that they will invite all their friends and family members to see them and that by Easter we will have crosses that are greening and maybe even blooming and 50 new members to add to the church!

Ok -- not really on the 50 new members, but won't it be cool if it works?

Happy Birthday, Scoot!

Today is the first birthday of my niece, Lirah. She is such a sweet girl... a happy baby turned toddler who scoots everywhere and voices her observations and opinions constantly and loudly. I can't wait to see what the next 50 years hold for her. Happy birthday, little one!

Blizzard

We're supposed to have a blizzard this afternoon.

A BLIZZARD!!!

I take it back. I hate snow.

A time for everything

Well, for the first time in 10 years of Sundays, I took a voluntary sick day.

I had to take a couple of involuntary sick days when I was on bed-rest with Annalivia and again when we were in the big car accident when I was pregnant with Daniel. This one I took because I got sick last night after dinner and tried divesting myself of dinner. I called the board chair and told him I was sick and told him that I would try my darndest to get there this morning, but I was giving him the heads up.

This morning, it was clear I was going nowhere. So since the board chair had his head already up, church went on without me.

And it apparently went really well.

And I stayed home and slept in while Dennis took care of the kids and now, I'm feeling better, though my head is killing me.

I'm hoping that the whole thing was just a 24 hour flu. It started with me having a REALLY puffy face though on Sat. morning. So what would that be about?

Daddy

Friday Five: Deep Freeze Edition

From the RevGals:
1. What is the thermometer reading at your house this morning?

This morning when I looked at it, it was -7. I'm assuming it's warmer now. Probaby -3.

2. Snow—love it or hate it?

Um, if those are the only two options... love it. Especially in theory. In actuality, I begin to tire of it in mid-January. By February, I loathe it. Aren't I a typical midwesterner that way?

3. What is winter like where you are?

This winter is snowy and cold and much like a proper midwest winter. Most other winters lately have been mild with not much snow, ice or any kind of precipitation. I like the snow. We'll actually deserve spring this year.

4. Do you like winter sports? Any good stories?
In my life, avoiding the Epiphany blahs at church is a winter sport. Which makes for lots of good stories, none of which are printable.

5. What is your favorite season, and why?
I think I like spring best, especially the spring thaw around St. Patrick's Day when the earth greens and the it is still cold and it seems like the promise of color and blooms is just around the corner...

Bonus: Share a favorite winter pick-me-up. A recipe, an activity, or whatever.
Well, the bed is large, has flannel sheets and a down comforter and my husband is nice and warm... :)

The day I ruined dinner... again

Last night I ruined dinner. I was making beef and noodles which is a perfect meal for cold weather like we've had. I had a great chuck roast in the pressure cooker. It had cooked for about an hour and smelled just amazingly wonderful. Dennis came home and I released the pressure on the cooker, opened it up and saw a perfectly cooked roast...
on top of a melted plastic pad that butchers stick in the bottom of a styrofoam meat tray.
I really hate to throw away food, but I especially hate to throw away food when it would have been perfectly fine had I not screwed it up.
Ugh.
Tonight I'll have to try to redeem myself.

Toddler Wobbler

It is fun to watch Daniel walk. He walks everywhere now and is getting faster and more enthusiastic.

What has been hilarious, though, is to watch Annalivia watch Daniel walking. Most of the time she is very encouraging. She smiles at him and laughs and says, "Here he comes!!" like we do.

But occasionally, she looks at him for a second with this little secret smile and then she will just reach out and give him a little tap, whether from the front or the back, and down he'll go.

I don't know that she's being particularly malicious because it's always a very gentle little push; I think that he just looks so ... unbalanced. He has his little arms out in front of him and is up on his tiptoes and has kind of a maniacal excitement on his face... I think he just kind of screams out "Big sister! I'm knockable!!"

So, although she is spending lots of time on the couch after such events, there is part of me that thinks -- what kind of big sister would she be if she didn't answer such an obvious call? :)

Humiliating confession

I am in love with this movie. The sisters, the lovely theme, the dancing, the music, the non-prince. It's so sweet.

And I'm a dork.

The day ahead

It snowed a lot last night. It is one of those days that I would like to stay inside and read blogs, listen to podcasts and play with kiddos. But we need to go to church because, though I prefer not to recognize it most days, I am gainfully employed elsewhere. So I suppose I should get on with it.
More important than this being a snow day, it is my sistah Lil's birthday! Happy birthday, Lillia! I love you!

The walker

Today little big Daniel took his first steps! I was holding his arms and Dennis was sitting in front of him on the floor. Annalivia was right there too and I let go of his arms and Daniel just walked to Daddy. We all clapped and cheered and he did it about three more times. Then Annalivia wanted to do it too. So she walked for us. We gave her hugs, too, but it was slightly less celebratory. :)
We called the family to let them know. My grandparents passed the news on to Freespirit Uncle who sent us this hilarious note.

Glad to hear DaBob is getting up and around. Please inform him when he feels up to it his great uncle would like to speak to him of a place called the “Horizon”.

Yours in mobility without fear,

Very sweet. But next time I see him coming, I may have to pick up Daniel and head in the other direction.

I can hardly handle seeing my baby boy walking towards Daddy. Walking towards the horizon may put this momma over the edge.

Memes galore

I've been tagged by Angela and Mrs. Wibbs to do two memes. Since Angela tagged me first -- a long, long time ago -- sorry, Angela -- here is this one.

Book Meme
1. One book that changed your life.
Traveling Mercies -- I read it in seminary when everything was shifting. I was just so darn grateful to Anne Lamott for being just completely real.

2. One book that you have read more than once.
All of the Madeleine L'Engle juvenile books, Little House on the Prairie (except Farmer Boy), all of the Harry Potters, all of the Narnia books, The Witch of Blackbird Pond -- pretty much any book I love, I've read more than twice because I never read them well enough the first time to catch everything.

3. One book that you would want on a desert island.
The Bible

4. One book that made you laugh.
Any Dave Barry book.

9. One book you have been meaning to read.
Oh my goodness, this list could be interminable. How about Unbinding the Gospel?


I'm tagging Roo and Amy who loves books and Jill-who-seldom-blogs-anymore. That's right, Jill! Hah!

Love/ Hate Meme
I love to eat: tiramisu, Mom's corned beef, Grammy's pretty-much-anything
I hate to eat: well-done steak, most canned vegetables
I love to go: driving at dusk in the summer
I hate to go: to Super Wal-Mart during the day
I love it when: Daniel and Annalivia laugh at each other
I hate it when: I know that I've screwed something up
I love to see: a straightened up house
I hate to see: messes everywhere
I love to hear: my loves laugh
I hate to hear: the Harleys ruin a lovely day or the moron in the next block revving his hot rod engine during naptime

I'm tagging Donna (have you already done this, Donna?) and Liz.

Of course, y'all who have been tagged can just ignore me. Or do it in a few months. :)

Oh how I love podcasts

I have an iPod now. I got it by giving it to my husband for his birthday. Only it wasn't really what he wanted/needed, so he passed it on to me and bought his own iPod. Which was sort of my plan anyway after agonizing for days over which iPod to get for him. I figured if he didn't want the one he got, I could take it.

Et, voila! I have an iPod.

And although I used to be a "music person" with the latest album from my favorite bands, I feel as though I have little to no space in my head for popular music since I had kids. Why is that, I wonder? I do enjoy my classical and standards, but I just don't ever really listen to my music anymore. What I really like these days is intelligent talk radio. Our NPR station here has talk from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. I love it. And if the NPR stuff is too violent or contentious or whatever, I will listen to Moody Bible talk radio (unless it also is too violent or contentious or whatever). I only ever listen to it in the car or after the kids go to sleep at home (because when they aren't asleep the last thing we need is more talking), but I do love me some good talk radio.

Which is why I am absolutely in love with the whole free-podcast concept. For some reason, my iTunes store is the UK version, so I first had access to all the BBC podcasts. They are wonderful. BBC Scotland has some great ones. And, of course, there's the NPR/PRI podcasts; I love getting The Splendid Table because we don't have that show on my current NPR station.

But my favorite so far is Pray As You Go, a podcast put together by the Jesuits in Britain. (These are the Sacred Space folks. ish.) It is such a great podcast -- scripture, gentle reflection, gorgeous music. Absolutely lovely.

I highly recommend it. And I would love to check out others that bloggy friends have found. Anyone else got any good ones to share?

Be prepared

If you have not heard about the boy scout who foiled an attempt to assassinate a president, click here. What an incredible feat, eh? Brave, brave kid. Be prepared, indeed.

Recipe: They aren't lyin' -- Best Banana Muffins ever

On Sunday, in the midst of getting to church with potluck food and taking breakfast to eat there and getting home about 10 minutes before Dennis had to leave and go to class, we left a few bananas in the car, where they froze solid.

Because the kiddos and I are trying to be at the church office at least three days a week, I knew we'd need to-go food today, so I made the frozen bananas into muffins following a recipe I found online titled, "Best Banana Muffins." I did not expect them to be fabulous because of their simplicity, but, oh my goodness, are they good! Good enough, in fact, to record for posterity's sake.

Banana Muffins
3 lg. bananas
3/4 c. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
1/3 c. melted butter
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/4-1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
Mash bananas; add sugar and slightly beaten egg, then melted butter. Add soda, baking powder, salt and flour. Mix and spoon into greased muffin cups (it does not rise very much) and bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Yields 1 dozen (or so -- mine also made 7 mini-muffins).

The crawling tube

One of the Christmas presents from us to the kids was this nylon crawling tube.
I got it on clearance at Target for $7 at the end of the summer last year. I was worried it might be a waste of money.But, it has proved to be a great gift. The kids love playing in it.

They crawl through one side.

And back again.

And lo, it came to pass...

that in Year Seven the annual meeting did not suck.

Thank you, Jesus.

Deal of the year... thus far

I found this Lord and Taylor wool jon-jon at a thrift store last week. It looked almost new, but was 75 cents.

I'm pretty sure it was so cheap because it had this monogram on it. RES doesn't really work for Daniel Robert de los Stews... but I bought it anyway.


I determined that the whole monogram would rip out pretty easily, but first I ripped out part of the R and the bottom of the E. It looked pretty good.

So, I handed it over to a person far-more-skilled-than-I-and-with-a-much-cooler-sewing-machine-than-I-and-infinitely-greater-levels-of-patience-than-I -- my mother-in-law, Alice.

Who made it into this.

I'm so pleased. Parents with little boys will tell you how difficult it is to find nice dress clothing. Let alone nice dress clothing on a budget.

My internet research leads me to believe that this was $38 new. I think we'll be able to use it for Easter with a nicer shirt than this polo.
And though, probably, the D of the monogram should be a little more diamond-shaped...
for 75 cents -- I'll take it.

Big boy hair

Daniel got his first big-boy haircut at the barbershop ("haircut store" in Annalivia-speak) yesterday. He did so well. No fussing at all.

He looks so old.

WHERE HAS MY BABY GONE?!?!? :( :( :(

Aching

Tonight, the neice of one of my congregants is delivering her still-born baby. She has lost two babies at 20 weeks, also.

She is a very young woman, unmarried. She and her family do not have a church home. I am lined-up to do a funeral and on call this evening when she delivers.

I cannot imagine this grief.

Please pray for her and her family that they know whatever comfort they can receive.

Good for her!!

Have you heard about the meanest mom on the planet? Love it.

I love this woman's blog

Amalee turned me on to Tongue in Cheek, a gorgeous look at a woman's life in France. Today her post was just amazing. Go look and browse the archives for some real beauty.

Let me start by saying, I really love PBS

PBS and I have a long relationship. When we were growing up, we were only allowed to watch two hours of tv a day and it had to be PBS. (Unless Mom was out gardening, in which case we managed to sneak in one of the other four stations.) We never saw Little House on the Prairie or Father Murphy or whatever else all the other kids talked about. But Ye Olde PBS was great. Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street were young favorites. And Captain Kangeroo, of course. After school was Square One and 3-2-1 Contact! Tuesday was Nova and Thursday was Mystery (which we didn't watch until high school when Poirot was on). American Masters and Great Performances and Nature and Wild America rounded out our PBS experiences.

And it's still the only channel we watch.

But, but, but...

I really, really, really dislike some of the kids programming. Really.

Big, Big World is my least favorite. I don't know why, but I just hate it. SuperWhy is a close second. Curious George is annoying. WordWorld is a creative concept, but grating, at best.

The older kids' lineup is not great either. I don't mind Arthur or Postcards from Buster. But that's about it. And for the littlers, I still like Caillou. And Sesame Street, most of the time. Even Teletubbies.

But, there's more I dislike than I like. And it's yet another good reason to not watch tv.

But I'm still disappointed.

Year 7

This Sunday is our annual meeting. As I prepare for it, I can't help but get butterflies in my stomach. Historically, it is not among our finest moments as a congregation. I'm praying for a different experience this year. This IS year 7, after all.

And isn't year 7 when it's all supposed to turn around?

My favorite face

Whenever little Daniel is excited or frustrated or impatient, he crinkles up his little nose and breathes really quickly out of it.

I'm a goner. Everytime.

King of the cake

This morning, we celebrated Epiphany with a delicious and super-easy version of a King Cake (recipe follows). Dennis is found the nut, so he got to wear the crown (left over from our wedding, actually!) After church we went to our favorite bookstore and got a great book on clearance that we read this afternoon. Tonight we are having meatball subs with three meatballs on them and then we'll put the nativity set and Christmas cd's away. Does anyone else feel like these 12 days just flew?

Recipe: Super easy King Cake. Sorta.

I wanted to make King Cake for Epiphany this year, but with a funeral yesterday and a secretary in the hospital all week, when we came down to it all last evening, it was almost a no-go. Then I remembered these rolls and came up with this variation. It worked great! And we had a very easy, tasty King Cake-ish for breakfast this morning!

King Cake. Sorta
1 package frozen dinner rolls
1 small package vanilla pudding mix
1 cup white sugar
1 stick butter, cut into thirds
orange extract
food coloring

The night before, grease a bundt pan or tube pan of some sort.Throw rolls into it.
Sprinkle vanilla pudding on top.
Then sprinkle sugar on the rolls.
Melt butter in batches, mixing the butter with food coloring (yellow, green and purple are traditional representing both the kings and power, faith and justice, respectively). Also add 1/4 -1/2 teaspoon orange extract (more if you love it).
Pour the butter over 1/3 of the rolls so that when finished you have a pan of rolls with three different sections of three different colorings.
Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit at room temp overnight.
The next morning, insert a nut such as a pecan (or a coin or a baby Jesus charm if you want to be more authentic) before cooking.
Cook at 325 for 25-30 minutes.
Cool slightly and invert.
The person who gets the nut gets a crown. And maybe in the future, they'll get the rest of the family to wait on them for meals.

The singing nativity

As Christmas draws to a close...

"We are the song of the universe. We sing with the angelic host. We are the musicians...the stars are the singers. Our song orders the rhythm of creation."
- Madeleine L'Engle

Sing on, friends! Sing on!

In the words of Kermit the Frog

"It's ok. Life is made up of meetings and partings. That is the way of it." ~Kermit the Frog as Bob Cratchit in The Muppets' Christmas Carol

One of my dearests passed away yesterday. She had been dealing with congestive heart failure for a long while, but it was a surprise when she actually passed away. I think my congregation is just in shock.

She had long told me that she was looking forward to going to heaven. She always said it with a huge smile on her face. And most everyone I've talked to talks about her return Home. But her family and friends and her church family will just ACHE with her loss. She was one of the kindest, sweetest, most selfless people ever and such a gift to all of us. It's always difficult to part with such dear ones.

And today I started this post in the wee hours of the morning waiting for my godson to arrive to spend a few days with us while his little sister (and our goddaughter) made her way into the world. This evening she arrived safely. And tomorrow we will meet little Caitlin Elyse and welcome this little gift into the world.

Partings. Meetings. Meetings. Partings.

That is, indeed, the way of it.

Fast away the old year passes

Well, it's 2008.

Lord, I'm old.

We had a very nice New Year's celebration. It was Dennis and the kids and I on New Year's Eve. And on New Year's Day friends came over for dinner and to watch Illinois lose. :(

This morning, Annalivia woke up and announced that she needed to go pee-pee in the potty. Which she did all morning and afternoon until naptime. She must have run into the bathroom and hopped on the toilet about 50 times this morning. At least. But she kept those undies dry. I'm so proud of her.

I'm thinking about making some gentle resolutions this year. Is Jan. 2 or Jan. 3 too late to make resolutions? How 'bout Jan. 4 or 5?

And in other news, for the first time since Oct. 14, we have a tv plugged in at our house and in our main living area, no less. Right now I have it on while the kiddos are napping and I realized that, had I asked Dennis to move it in tomorrow evening instead of this weekend, I might have missed every single political ad for the Iowa primaries. Oh well.