A Texas Girl in Montana's Frozen Tundra

Best BLT Part II

2009-04-21T19:10:00.004-06:00

So you have tossed you bacon in the oven and now you wait a bit before starting on everything else. I ate an orange.

Here is everything else you need. Salad (I use the stuff in a bag), tomato, avocado, pesto and mayo!

Lest you are offended at mayo, look it has omega 3 in it. I feel better already. For some reason my tomato and avocado pictures did not load. But I am sure that you can figure out how to cut up a tomato and avocado. You must use the avocado! MUST MUST MUST!

Oh, and if you have frozen pesto on hand from before you realized that it is cheaper to buy the stuff at Costco, then pull that out as well.

Put a buttered slice of bread down, then the pesto on the other side.

Then put the tomatoes and bacon on.

DO NOT FORGET THE AVOCADO!!!

Oh, I guess some healthy stuff. And top with a slice of bread with mayo on the inside and butter on the outside.

Now tell me that doesn't look great.

Part 1 of the best BLT ever!

2009-04-19T22:39:00.002-06:00

Through trial and error (and a lot of taste testing), I have discovered the secret to the best BLT ever. This is part one, but is also it's own recipe to great bacon. Let's make bacon! And no turkey bacon allowed. First crank that oven up to 400 degrees and place your bacon on a cooling rack over a baking sheet. I place foil on the baking sheet to catch the grease, foil makes for easier cleanup.

Place the sheet, rack and bacon in the oven. (If not using for a BLT, set timer for 15 min, take out, drizzle maple syrup on bacon and place back in oven for 3 to 5 min). However, we are using this for BLTs so no syrup. Just bake for 17 to 20 min.

Ohhhh, look at the pretty bacon. Sometimes I take a paper towel and wipe the fat bubbles off. This is a great way to cook bacon for several reasons.

One: you can do other things while you cook your bacon. Two: The bacon isn't cooked in grease and isn't as bad for you (maybe).

And I may or may not have eaten some bacon while making BLTs.

Ten Commandments

2009-04-19T21:33:00.002-06:00

Mr. M and I drove up to Eureka the other day (well, OK about 2 months ago). There really isn't a lot going on in Eureka even though the name implies otherwise. But we did get to add another photo to our ten commandment collection.

This one is steel, in front of a church.

So Sorry

2009-04-15T23:14:00.003-06:00

to have disappeared for so long. My crazy job is sucking the life out of me. However, dum de de dum, I have purchased photoshop elements and am hoping to learn how to use the crazy thing to post cool pictures. Does anyone know of any websites out there devoted to use of photoshop elements instead of photoshop (the expensive one). Thank you Internet for all the wisdom you provide.

Speaking of which, the Internet is an amazing thing. In college, my roommate were debating if hamsters can have diabetes. We googled it and yes they can. We loved google and were on the verge of asking them to put together an e-mail program when lo and behold, one appeared! It was a very happy day for us, but stressful as well. You see we had real options about what our e-mail accounts would be without adding crazy numbers at the end. We could pick whatever we wanted. The pressure was on. It had to be creative, but one that could stand the test of time, and yet represent us. I settled on my favorite coffee drink at the time, and it has served me well, although I get a strange look from time to time. Don't worry, I don't use it for business use. So thank you Internet for changing my life (mostly) for the better. I can't imagine being in Montana without it.

More sleep

2009-03-17T14:56:00.002-06:00

Sign I have been on call to much:

I got out my toothbrush, then pulled my deodorant stick out of my drawer and pulled the lid off before I realized it wasn't what I really wanted.

Empty

2009-02-22T19:50:00.006-07:00

To borrow a title from Dooce, but I couldn't think of a more fitting title. In early January I found out I was pregnant. We were very excited. As a nurse I have stats on miscarriages running through the back of my head, but as we approached 8 weeks, I felt that we had made it through the last 2 months and we were so excited and started to tell people.

I had my first doctor's appointment at 10 weeks. So far I had some uncomfortable symptoms of pregnancy, but nothing to miserable and I was excited to be nearing the end of my first trimester. We had started looking around at cribs and making plans. We would have a September baby and a 3 month old at Christmas. It would be my parent's first grandchild and Mr. M's mother's 15th.

Mr. M. came with me to my appointment. I knew at 10 weeks we should hear a heartbeat and we were excited to hear it together. The doctor couldn't find a heartbeat with the Doppler, but that is not unusual, so we went over to have an ultrasound. There is no heartbeat. It appears that the baby stopped developing at 6 weeks, but my body still thought I was pregnant. I choose to induce a miscarriage this weekend. And now it feels so empty.

It is empty, but not without hope. I am still so blessed. I have a wonderful husband, I have supportive friends and family. Both my husband and me have secure jobs, we have a church where we are engaged in and comfort in a sovereign God who knows our pain.

Our church building

2009-02-22T19:26:00.002-07:00

Our church building is a classic building that is peaceful both inside and out. It looks better in the summer, but the snow lends it its own charm. Sorry for all the pictures, bear with me as I am playing with my new camera.

New Camera

2009-02-22T19:13:00.002-07:00

For Christmas I was given a Nikon D60 as a gift from my wonderful husband. Here are some of pictures I have taken. I am still learning. These pictures did not load in the order I wanted them to, but I am to tired to figure out why.

Some winter berries in the neighborhood around my church.

More summer thoughts

2008-12-15T23:07:00.007-07:00

This summer, Mr M and I went on a medium (but very uphill hike) where I whined about so much uphill. But I am really glad that we went.

For starters, I have a picture of Mr. M with a good smile.

And once we got uphill a ways, it was a wonderful view (I bet that lake is frozen now).

And we finally reached the grand waterfall (that is an icicle now)

where Mr. M refilled his water bottle. I do not approve of drinking untreated water myself, but he wanted to risk giardia.

As we were resting, a little visitor came our way,

and marched right up to our backpack. Hmmm, I think people have been feeding him.

Other things to do in summer...

2008-12-15T22:41:00.007-07:00

Since I am trying to focus my mind on warmer times and not on the -8 F weather, shall we look at some pictures from a happier time? Mr. M's mum and niece came to visit this summer.

Look! I am wearing shorts! Shorts! And Mr. M's mum is wearing carpis. How I long for those days.

We hiked a trail that leads to a lake (original I know, but worth the effort). As you get closer, the view teases you from behind the trees.

Then you sit on the edge of the lake and check out the driftwood. And the million dollar view.

Your husband decides to take pictures of you staring at mountain walls.

And you attempt to get a picture of your husband where he is somewhat smiling. And then you see it just as you are getting ready to leave. Something you have heard about, but never seen.

A bear!

Which is fortunately far away, but makes it difficult to get a good picture due to the safe distance between me and the black bear.

Warm thoughts

2008-12-15T22:02:00.003-07:00

So I am updating. So much has happened in my little life, I am not totally without excuse. Since my last post I have moved, a relative died, visited Dallas, visited Austin, and worked a bunch of hours.

And right now it is about -8 degrees. But let's not think about that. Turn up the heat and pretend we are somewhere else or some other time perhaps. Like say summer. Say that you were to come visit me in say Sept, like my friend R.

We could go to Glacier, which is only about half an hour from my house.

We could see baby deer and take this picture to prove how close we are. Hi, R! (I know that it is a fawn, but baby deer is so much more fun to say.)

This is really cool, another deer (not the baby mama) came over and the the baby deer got in a submissive position. I am still not quite sure what that is all about.

Are you ready for your closeup little one with sweet spots?

Here is the baby deer with the baby mama. Stay warm you two!

This just in...

2008-10-21T17:39:00.002-06:00

The Missouri flooded in June. Yes for those of you that did not know that. For those of you who live in a cave and don't watch the news or check it online, I have pictures of the flood in Kansas.

In Attichison Kansas there is this cute park by the river.

Except the park was flooding.

This is really a huge tree floating down the river.

Oh, look a bridge that goes across the river.

Here is the kicker. See the train tracks that appear to be only 6 inches above that water? I am not talking about the upper set. The low ones! Trains were still crossing on that bridge! This did freak me out a bit, but I wasn't on the trains so I just went back the my hotel.

Way back in June...

2008-10-21T13:34:00.004-06:00

I was in my friend S F's wedding. Hence the reason I had posted prairie pictures a few months ago. I was driving across Kansas to be in her wedding. S and I have been friends since we met in eighth grade. She moved a couple of years after we met, but we have always managed to maintain our friendship. (Even after A&M beat Nebraska our freshman years, ending Nebraska's 3 year winning streak. But, hey, I barely remember that day.)

Here we are all grown up the day before.

Here is S opening all the tacky things that every bride needs that bridesmaids supply.

She got really good at bossing us bridesmaids around.

Probably because we needed bossen. If she wasn't watching us, we were running off to Sonic to enjoy cherry limeades. It was a warm day. I don't have any actual pictures of the wedding because it is generally frowned upon for bridesmaids to snap pictures during the ceremony, but it was quite lovely, I assure you.

Ah, ha, a picture of the groom! Might I add that he made the groom's cake, that beautiful chocolate thing at the bottom of the picture. What a guy!

That's my mom and me looking good in black.

More wedding fun...

but then we got cold and warmed ourselves by the hand dryer in the bathroom. See we needed more bossing around.

Ahem, I would like to thank Mrs. S for choosing black bridesmaids dresses, because I looked quite nice in this one. And S's dress rocked! (Because we all know that that's what a wedding is all about.)

Well, then again, maybe it does have something to do with true love and all that jazz. Congrats to my friend S. You make a beautiful bride and wife.

Friends

2008-09-12T17:41:00.002-06:00

I have been lucky enough to have 2 dear friends come visit me the last 2 weeks. Rachel L came out for a few days and then Mrs. Juicebox made an appearance. It was so fun to have them here. We hiked, watched HGTV, ate deserts, ate some more, read books and had great conversation. I miss them dearly. Sigh. I managed not to cry when I put Mrs. Juicebox on the plane this afternoon, so to reward myself, I bought a kitchen aid stand mixer in Empire Red. I still might cry, maybe I will make some bread instead.

And now I am on call all weekend. Please, Lord, don't let the pager go nuts.

Very belated...

2008-09-12T17:03:00.003-06:00

Way back in May, Mr M and I packed up our things and moved across town. We are now farther away from our jobs and no longer have a garage, but we do have 3 important things:

1) No more mold. I knew we had mold, but I had no idea how bad it was until we moved and I found it everywhere! I have not been sick since we moved.

2) No more navy blue carpet that everything shows up on. I never thought I would be so happy to live around beige in my whole life.

3) We have a dishwasher! Now when our friends come over they ask us how it is living the high life with a dishwasher, and I have to say, "Life is good!"

Here are some belated pictures of our new place:

Starting by the front door, here is our dining area that is also part of the kitchen.

Here is the kitchen, note the dishwasher!
Here is our comfy living room. I have no idea why I did not fix the pillows before taking pictures.
Don't you like our wedding pictures all up in a row? I love them. So does Mrs. Juicebox, she kept looking at them when she was here.
Our blue bathroom.
Our room.
Our garage sale dresser we spent a weekend painting. It really brightens up a room.
We now have a guest bathroom. I may have overdone the white. But if anyone visits, you don't have to share with us!
Last, but not least, is the guest bedroom for those of you who want to plan a vacation up our way. It has a Serta mattress and I am assured by several people that it is a very comfortable bed.

Driving across Kansas

2008-07-03T01:07:00.003-06:00

I was recently in a wedding in Kansas, and I drove from Dallas across Eastern Kansas and most of the flint hills. I was reminded why I like the prairie. It feels like home.

I think I have figured out a way to describe the difference between the Rockies and the prairie. See where I live is surrounded by harsh mountains of rock and trees that are pointed with pointy leaves. The environment is strong like a man and designed for self defense.
But the prairie is like a woman, her soft grass invites you to run, and her trees invite you to climb. She doesn't restrict your view of the sky or feel the need to surround you. Though she has a temper that appears during tornado season.
She invites you to play and wander. There are few thorns or sharp plants.
And you feel that if you could run fast enough at sunset you might reach the sun. It's not blocked by a mountain.

Exop II

2008-07-03T00:33:00.005-06:00

You didn't think I was done with all my expo education did you? I learned a lot more. I learned that logging sports is a collegiate sport. Funny, I don't remember my college having that sport. Long distance track, yes. Logging sports, no.

Anyway, there is the two man saw. Go boys, go!

The one man saw. Go Boy, go!

The ax throw.

This guy isn't bad. I want him on my side next time I have to throw axes at bad guys.

OK, this is interesting, you start below where they are standing, run around the log, run up the log, balance on the log while starting your chain saw and saw the log you are standing on. Safety glasses anyone?

Next is a demonstration, because this is too dangerous to do at the college level. First, you chop a small hole. Oh, and this guy is on ESPN for his excellence in logging sports. (I am NOT kidding).

You stick a stick in it, get up on it,
chop another one, repeat twice.
Oh, and don't forget the just saw through a log with a chain saw competition.
Last, but not least, is the chop through a log with an ax. They gave this guy a special ax head because he is graduating
Don't you feel more educated now that you too are a part of the family forestry expo?

Expo, Expo

2008-07-03T00:14:00.002-06:00

Last month I went the the Family Forestry Expo. What?!?!?! You haven't heard of the Family Forestry EXPO?!?!?! Just to prove that I am not making this up, I took a picture of the sign:

See, it does to exist. One of the things to watch at the Family Forestry Expo is how modern day logging is done. I had no idea. First, this red machine just cuts the log and then picks it up,

and lays it gently on the ground. Really, you couldn't even hear it drop.

Then, this yellow machine comes and hauls away a group of logs.

And takes them to this machine that picks up a log at one end and strips the log of branches as it goes through to the other end.

The logs are organized by size so that all the logs in one pile will go to one place to be cut the same size .

And that is what I learned at the Family Forestry Expo.

My shoes!

2008-06-21T22:45:00.004-06:00

When my little brother really got the walking thing down, my parents bought him his first pair of shoes. He was so excited to finally be a big boy and wear shoes. (We didn't have a lot of money and my parents weren't going to buy shoes for a non-walker.) That night as he lay in bed, my parent's heard him exclaim to himself, "My shoes! My shoes! My shoes!"

And that is what I felt like when I got my new shoes. I needed some for work and I just thought these were too cute. I got a black and brown pair, and here is one of each.

The best part is the stitching on the heel and side.
Very comfortable with good arch support.
And even the bottoms of the shoes are cute.

More 10 C's!

2008-05-05T23:15:00.002-06:00

I know that you can all barely wait for the next instalment of creative ways to display the 10 C's, so here is another one for your viewing pleasure. Good news is that my new job requires lots of driving, so I will be finding some more specimens for you all.

Adventures in moving

2008-05-05T22:54:00.003-06:00

So Mr. M and I decided that we were tired of living in a moldy apartment with navy blue carpet and a neighbor who likes to drink a lot. So we moved last weekend. As soon as it is presentable, I will post pictures. But the real point of my story took place yesterday. Yesterday I was placing some platters and such on top of my cabinets above the fridge and I looked over and saw this:

That would be a gun laying on the cabinets of my new apartment. So I called Mr. M and said,

Me: "Honey, do we own a gun I don't know about?

Mr. M: "Ha, that's me hiding guns from you!"

Me: "No, really do we own a rifle?"

Mr. M: "Of course not, why are you asking?"

Me: "Well, I just found a gun on top of the fridge."

Mr. M: "Riiiiiight."

Me: "No, really I am for real"

Mr. M: "You are really for real?"

Me: "Yes"

I then decided to call my landlady and left a message on her phone.

Me: "Hi, this is D from apt X, ummmm I found a gun on top of my fridge. I haven't touched it, and I am not really quite sure what to do with it. Perhaps the last tenet would want it back? Call me back and let me know what you think."

Then I thought, "Hey, my brother is in the army the more I look at this thing, the more plastic I see, I will call him and ask if it is a real gun."

Me: "Brother, hey I found a gun on top of my fridge, but a lot of it is plastic, do you think it is a real gun?"

Army Brother: "Oh yeah, it could be a real gun, my expensive pistol has lots of plastic on it. Take a picture of it and send it to me. Just don't point it at anything."

Me: "Umm, I don't think I am going to touch it."

Army Brother: "Hey I am at R's house seeing her new baby, do you want to talk to her?

Me: "OK"

R: "Hi, how are you?"

Me: "Fine, I just found a gun on top of my fridge."

Mr. M later came home and determined that it is an air gun, and by brother wrote me back and told me the model of the gun. My landlady picked it up today, so I don't have to worry about it any more.

Loose Ends

2008-03-29T23:28:00.002-06:00

Sorry to take so long to write a new post. Life is just busy. So wrapping up some loose ends:

1) When I said I would vote for Clinton in a previous post, I was referring to the primary held that day in Texas. I was not talking about the general election. Which by the way, if I had wanted to vote in the Republican primary here in Montana, but I could not. Why? Because only elected officials and precinct captains could vote in the Republican caucus. That's right, only about 2,000 people in this state were allowed to determine the Republican delegates from this state. Where is the ACLU when you actually need them?

2) Andrea wrote a great comment about health insurance. I was really tired and not making a lot of sense that day, but she said most of what I think. What I really think is that we should all carry just disaster insurance. Example: insurance only kicks in after you shell out three grand or so for the year. This would bring a lot of pricing down because people would ask how much things cost. When was the last time you went to the doctor and asked how much a straight up visit would cost?

3) I will be starting a new job soon. It doesn't make a big difference for this site, since I don't really write about my job, but for those of you who know me in real life, I will be working for hospice. I am really excited and a little nervous to be starting a very different way of being a nurse.

Back to our ...

2008-03-04T09:48:00.002-07:00

regularly scheduled silliness. Here are some more 10 commandment signs for your viewing pleasure.

This is on the front of a church.

In a random field. Isn't that a nice barn?

Not quite sure where this one is, Jana took it.

Don't forget the billboards.

And another billboard. I stopped taking pictures of billboards because there are so many of them.

If I still lived in Texas...

2008-03-04T09:15:00.002-07:00

I would go cast my vote for Hillary today (I can't believe I wrote that). But you can vote for whomever you want. But for your reading enjoyment, here, here and here is why I am not a fan of Obama. (Not that I am crazy about Hillary, I just think that she might not send our county into as bad of a recession.)

Just a dip

2008-03-03T21:53:00.003-07:00

To appease Mrs. J, I am posting a few thoughts about national health care and such. But just this one time. I promise not to make a habit of it. Any by the way, feel free to disagree with me. Many intelligent and caring people fall on both sides of this issue. But no name calling, please.

This is simply to say that I think a national health care system is a horrible idea. I am not saying that we have a great system, but putting the government in charge is not the answer. Anything that the government tries to do, can be done much better most of the time by someone else. Anytime the government has tried to help make something affordable it makes it worse (anyone heard of gas lines in the 70's? Anyone noticed that college tuition went through the roof when student loans were so easy to get? The money pit that is the public school system? Tariffs on sugar so that our food will have corn syrup from that American farmer and we are now all fat?)

Just some thoughts:

1) One of my nursing instructors explained that when she had researched British health care, the government did not pay for kidney dialysis after the age of 50. So you turn 50, you have a big party and 2 weeks later you are dead. The government decides how valuable your life is. I have been to dialysis centers in the U. S., 90% of the people I saw are on dialysis because they are drug users, did not control their blood pressure, or did not control their diabetes. But someone (the federal government) pays for their dialysis. I don't see how having nationalized health care would make it better.

2)Our local paper ran an article the other day talking about the huge number of Canadian babies being born in the U.S. because the Canadian hospitals are full. So Canada ships laboring mothers to the U.S. If Canada could not use the American system as a back up, they would be in trouble.

3) Studies have been done that show that people who have good health insurance in the U.S. overuse the system.

4)People in the British heath care system are often on waiting lists for months to have surgery or see a doctor. When was the last time that you heard of someone in the U.S. being placed on a waiting list for care? (It happens, but it is rare and often involves the government paying for the care.) Or check out this Canadian lady's experience.

5) Click here, here and here for some interesting articles.

To be perfectly clear

2008-02-28T22:14:00.004-07:00

There are some interesting people in our small town. A large number of the population believe in displaying the 10 commandments. Why this is so important to them, I am not sure, but it's a big deal. These pictures go along with the eternal question from college, "Who does that?"

Here is one classy lady's front yard.

Look closely, during the Christmas season, this contains Mary, Joseph and a baby Jesus. But during the rest of the year we have a large wooden Bible.

On the other side of her yard, we have the 10 commandments. Two things I love about this sign. 1) The commands get smaller as you go down and 2) the "thou"s start to appear at command 6.

Now my neighbor has a bit more money and her son bought her a real granite sign. Got to love the bald eagle on either side.

While I am not a big fan of putting up 10 commandment signs, you have to admire the creativity that goes into some of these things.

No Title

2008-02-17T17:37:00.002-07:00

Here we are parked on the east coast of the island, looking west.

And if you turn around and look east, you see it was a really windy day.
You also see Chinaman's hat.
And you might see me later that day making fun of models.
Now I have superpowers and I can fly.

Driving Along the North Shore

2008-02-14T17:54:00.002-07:00

Ahhh, some more pictures to make us feel warm, wait it's the heating vent I am sitting next to that makes me feel warm. But, hey, pictures are nice too. Especially when they are of the North Shore. I don't own photoshop (I am to poor) so these are the real deal.

Mom and Dad testing the water.

Trying not to get nailed by the body boarders.

The Dole Plantation!

2008-02-12T23:36:00.004-07:00

I promised some Hawaii pictures to make you feel warm and cozy inside, and here is part I.

First, just take a look at the veiw from our balcony.

Mr. M is checking out the pineapple plant.Just in case you didn't believe that we were at the REAL Dole plantation here it is spelled out in plants.
Acres and acres of pineapples. I have to tell a story on myself. When I was in Papua New Guinea a few years back, I came across a lone pineapple plant growing a pineapple. I thought it was a joke. See, I always thought they grew in the ground like a potato and the green on top was the plant. I felt a bit foolish.And these are some coffee plants, in case you were wondering.

Education is the key.

2008-02-09T18:23:00.000-07:00

Today Mr. M and I went to try out a new little Mexican food joint. The food is OK and we will probably go again, even if they think that an enchilada is a tortilla placed on a grill with cheese, put the fillings in, roll, top with sauce and never sees the inside of an oven.

However the kicker is how the employees answer questions:

Girl: Do you want the hot or mild sauce?

Me (looking at a red enchilada sauce and a green one): What is in the different sauces?

Girl: One is hot and one is mild.

Girl: Do you want Mexican rice or sweet rice?

Me (I should have known better): Well, what's the difference?

Girl: One is sweet and one is Mexican.

I give up.

Cold

2008-02-06T00:29:00.000-07:00

I am back in the frozen tundra after a lovely vacation to a place where I actually understand why the housing market is sky high as opposed to wear I live. I don't understand why people are willing to pay so much to live here. Some of my friends from down south have asked me questions such as: "Do you have snow up there yet?" Ahem, yes. Here are a few examples.

This is the street I live on. Do you see that car? Our mailbox is behind it. I have to walk over a lake of ice every day to check the mail.

This is the back of my little red pickup.

This is our yard.

This is our balcony. Look at the snow, it is trying to get in. It is right up against the window trying to get me, but I won't open the door.

I will post some pictures of our trip, but I am still trying to sort through them. If you have a facebook account, you can look at some I put up there.

One Week Countdown

2008-01-19T14:16:00.000-07:00

I have not made this announcement before for fear of losing my 3 readers out of jealousy. But here it goes: One week from today, I will be on a plane headed for Hawaii. Now before my 3 readers get to up in arms, let me remind you of 2 things:

1) Most of you live in the south where it will not be 1 degree this Monday morning, and

2) I will post lovely pictures that will bring joy and happiness to your life even if you couldn't be there yourself.

In my excitement I have taken to online shopping since it's not like I can get the right equipment for Hawaii at this time of year in the frozen tundra. I bought a swimsuit and some new sandals.

The Best Oatmeal Ever

2008-01-16T22:57:00.000-07:00

I realize that this is turning into a bit of a foodie blog. My apologies, but there isn't a lot else to do up here in the winter time besides cook. I am a fan of oatmeal in the winter time, here is how I make it using the fewest utensils possible.

1/2 cup oatmeal in a bowel.

One cup milk. (I have been using rice milk due to breathing issues, but use the real stuff if you can.) Use the 1/2 cup filling it twice.
Grab a big handful of dried blueberries or Crazins and put them in there. (Do you like by fluffy fleece robe? See the sleeve in the picture?)
Microwave for 1and a half minutes.
Using the spoon you will eat with, get some brown sugar and put it in there. I find 3 spoonfuls to be adequate. Breakfast will never be the same.

A Christmas Feast

2008-01-13T16:28:00.000-07:00

This is a bit late, Christmas is over and Mr. M grew tired of waiting for me to take down the tree and did it himself. But we did have a tasty Christmas meal for the two of us.

I roasted some lamb with potatoes, but I should have spent more money on the lamb as it was a bit fatty.

Here is my lovely spinach gratin. It was good, but if you use the Barefoot Contessa recipe, use only 4 boxes of spinach instead of 5.

Throw in some provincial tomatoes, and we had a very nice meal.

I also made a chocolate moose for dessert, but I forgot to take a picture of it.

Adventures in Chili

2008-01-03T20:35:00.000-07:00

Every Christmas Eve at my parent's house, they make chili. I wasn't there this year, but I can tell you exactly how it went down.

Mom: Puts raw onions in the chili because that's how my parents like them. (I never liked onions as a child, I have since discovered that I like them, just now on the verge of raw.) And here is where it gets good. She doubles the amount of spices because she is thinking about how my dad doesn't think he has eaten unless he can't feel his tongue at the end of the meal. Mom wanders out of the kitchen to let the chili simmer.

Dad: Wanders in and thinks that there is no way mom could have put enough spices in the chili and besides his sinuses need to be cleared out. So he dumps some more in. Dad wanders out to watch whatever sporting event is on TV.

Mom: Comes back in and remembers all the leftovers from last year and thinks that it must be because she didn't add enough spices. So she dumps some more in.

End Result: Dad is crying by the end of the meal and loves it. The rest of us are wishing we had a fire hose handy and have mostly subsisted on the peanut butter crackers. We can't feed it to the dog because she won't even eat it.

Lest you think I am joking, I have watched them do this dance many times. Well tonight I made some chicken chili from a Barefoot Contessa recipe. I figured I would be safe since the woman isn't afraid of spice, but she knows when to quit. One problem, I halved the recipe except I forgot to halve the spices, and what I ended up with was very close to my mom's chili. An avocado mashed up in a bowel and some tortilla chips made it eatable, but sure brought back some scary memories.

N. T. Wright

2007-12-30T15:13:00.000-07:00

Most of you will NOT be interested in this, but that's OK. One of my favorite authors is N.T. Wright. He is an Anglican bishop in England and considered one of the top theologians of our time. Here is a fabulous interview of him. It lasts about an hour, so I am warning you. For the few of you who may find this interesting, I would love to hear some of your thoughts about this interview.

Old Memories

2007-12-29T14:17:00.000-07:00

The Christmas season always makes me think of one of my strangest Christmas memories. I was doing the gift exchange with the family of a guy I dated in college. The guy's mother was a sweet lady, but a little odd. I felt a bit sorry for her as her husband wouldn't let her have a Christmas tree since in the last few years he had decided it was "pagan" without consulting his wife on the matter. So I got her some Christmas tree scented candles since she said she missed the scent of the tree so much. That's me, always promoting martial harmony.

Anyway, her future daughter-in-law (the girl engaged to the brother of the guy I was dating) really outdid me. See Mrs. T had a thing for cats. They had 2 cats and she was always taking pictures of them, getting cute little cat things, she was a cat person. (I always found it odd that the cats didn't actually like her, but that doesn't really pertain to the story.) And since she couldn't have a Christmas tree, thanks to her loving husband, she extracted revenge by decorating the entire house in snowmen.

Really, snowmen everywhere. The guest bathroom had snowmen towels, snowman soap dispenser, and a snowman picture. That was just the bathroom under the stairs. One entire counter in the kitchen was taken up with stuffed snowmen. Don't forget snowmen dishes, snowmen blankets, and snowmen candle holders. You name it, she had it. Or so I thought.

The future Mrs. T presented her future mother-in-law with the most hideous sweater I have ever seen. A red button down sweater with snowmen appliqué that are really snowcats! Snowmen with pointy ears and whiskers. There is something to be said for being creative, I am all about creativity, but this was creativity gone very bad. She loved it. No, no, she was ecstatic about it. She showed it off at all times. Mrs. T had it on every time I saw her for the next 2 months. I just tried my best not to say anything.

I have tried my best to dig up a picture of the horrible thing, but alas someone has realized that a good sweater, it does not make and is not making it anymore. Too bad.

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

2007-12-23T17:27:00.000-07:00

This is my all time favorite Christmas hymn. I normally prefer it with a single female voice with a lone guitar but the video really made this version for me. Hope you enjoy it.

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That morns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

Chorus: Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel

O come, O come, Thou Lord of Might,
Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai's height,
In ancient times didst give the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save
And give them vict'ry o'er the grave.

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
O drive away the shades of night
And pierce the clouds and and bring us light.

O come, Thou Key of David, come
And open wide our heav'nly home
Where all Thy saints with Thee shat dwell
O come, O come, Emmanuel!

Party in a Lampshade!

2007-12-19T23:33:00.001-07:00

Mr. and I were wandering through Target the other day (because that is what we do for fun around here) and we came across this little object:

Being intrigued and because we had an extra $5 lying around, we bought the each one uniquely made light bulb. Just think, all that stained glass art for only $5. This was going to bring our living room to a whole new level. Disco meets the Renaissance. And we were right, check out my Eiffel tower lamp now.

Another plus to this bulb is that it is only 25 watts. Now the reader might say, "but that isn't much light!" and you would be correct. However, I was reminded of a cookbook that Make Mine a Triple gave me back in the day entitled "I Hate to Cook Book." I have always admired Peg Bracken as a writer since then. I can't find that exact quote, but she writes of a hostess who never cleaned her house before a party because it was just going to get dirty during the party. She would change out all her light bulbs to low watt bulbs and called it mood lighting. Nobody ever noticed she had not cleaned. If I am ever in a time crunch and I have you over and all my bulbs are like this, you know I haven't dusted.

Evolution of a Christmas Picture

2007-12-19T23:07:00.001-07:00

Here is a record of my attempt to take a Christmas picture using a timer on a camera. Poor Mr. M was subjugated to my attempts to capture us in front of our tree.

First, we tried sitting in our futon, but our posture was lacking.

Next we tried a bench, but I wasn't crazy about the angle and Mr. M kept trying to feel up his unsuspecting wife.

Mrs. M then tries to point out their wedding pictures as an example of a good smile

Next, Mrs. M convinced Mr. M against his will to try keeling in front of the tree, but the camera was too high.

Change the camera height and voila, Christmas card picture. (AKA this was the end of Mr. M's patience). You should be getting these in the mail sometime after Christmas.

Adventures in Tree Cutting

2007-12-13T22:02:00.000-07:00

Here in Montana, you can buy a $5 pass and go on state land and chop down your own Christmas tree. So last Saturday, we bought our pass and proceeded to wander the woods for the afternoon. It was cold and icy and even my pink snow boots weren't keeping me warm. And ALL THE TREES WERE HORRIBLE!

We would see a tree, take a closer look at it and see that it was really 3 trees growing together. So if you cut one down, you would have lots of area with no branches. A few not growing together were just horrible looking, or to short or to tall.

So we did what all good Americans do: bought one out of a parking lot for $35 (gasp, that a 1/3 of a fake tree that doesn't DIE). Once we got home I realized that it was spray painted, that's why it looks so nice, but at this point, I don't care. Here is our fresh cut tree:

And here it is all decorated. Note the tree topper hanging from the ceiling.
Here is a fun centerpiece I put together with a Target candle, Target cranberries and candle holder we got for our wedding.
Also Bath and Bodyworks is selling the cutest tea light holders and if you wait until after Christmas you can get this table runner from Target at half price like I did last year. Yes, I love Target. I would live there if I could and then visit Bed Bath and Beyond for lunch.

TenThousand Villages

2007-12-13T21:13:00.000-07:00

Are you done with all your holiday shopping? I doubt it, so here are my shameless plugs for two organizations I think are great. The first is World Vision. I usually buy something from them for my family. Go check it out.

The second one is Ten Thousand Villages, a fair trade organization. You can order online or check their store locations. (I know that they have a store in Austin, Texas.) Check out their website to learn more about their fair trade policies. A local church in our area had a 3 day holiday fair and brought in some of their products to sell. Here are some things we bought.

We bought this basket for Mr. M's mother. Made in Uganda, cost $20.00

A cat ornament made out of a gourd. Made in Peru, cost $8.

A wacky wind chime. Made in Indonesia, cost $10.00

Cute ornament. Made in India, cost $8.

Large purse/bag. Made in Bangladesh, cost $10.00

So if you aren't done with your holiday shopping, head on over to these websites and check out these goods. You can get good stuff and help the world! (Note, I only used gifts on this website of people who don't read this site. So don't worry, I am not giving any surprises away.)

Living in a Winter Wonderland

2007-12-13T19:37:00.000-07:00

We had our first big snow in the valley a few days ago. Here the the view from our deck. Note the lovely ski slopes if anyone feels like skiing.

Here is our deck. Anyone feel like coming over for some BBQ?

Of course there are a few upsides. This tree branch looks nice in white.

And this tree is enjoying her winter coat.

And I get to wear my pink snow boots!

This doesn't really make up for their being white stuff all over the ground, but I try to stay positive.

Thanksgiving

2007-12-11T10:42:00.001-07:00

I have been waiting to get some more Thanksgiving day pictures, but it may be a while. So here are a few of the things I cooked. We decided to do Thanksgiving with Noah's parents and T and I split up the dishes. They made the turkey, gravy, stuffing and mashed potatoes and bought some pies. I made butternut squash puree, zucchini rolls, cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole and a pumpkin tart.

The morning of Thanksgiving, Mr. M woke up not feeling very good. I thought he was being whiny because whenever he has a headache, he gets all grumpy and I have to force him to drink water and take Advil. But I did feel bad, because later as I was in the shower, he started vomiting in the toilet. I guess the honeymoon is over. Don't worry, he was all better by the end of the day, but I had to leave him and take all the food since I cooked. (I am not being a mean wife by leaving him. He warned me before we got married that he gets grumpy and wants to be left alone when he is sick. So I just left him alone.)

But I was in love with my sweet potato casserole. Here it is in all its glory. With a butter, brown sugar and pecan topping. Yum. I will have you know that I did NOT use canned sweet potatoes. I roasted them and scooped out the insides.

My favorite thing. A pumpkin-banana tart. Sounds strange I grant you. But hey, the Barefoot Contessa made it, so it has to be OK, right? I don't think I could go back to plain old pumpkin pie. And there is no crust to roll out, what could be better?

The best grilled cheese ever!

2007-12-05T12:52:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about putting some of my cooking ideas on this blog. After reading this blog, I really got inspired. So here it goes, the best grilled cheese ever! This is so good that I serve this for lunch when people come over after church with some soup.

Here are stars: wheat bread (none of that white crap), fresh basil, mozzarella, a little pepper jack cheese, butter and a tomato.

I mean, just look at those beautiful veggies!

Pick the basil off the stems and put the leaves in a nice little pile. This works better if you put the larger leaves on the bottom.

Then you roll the leave up.

And cut them length ways. This is called chiffonade, but we won't use that term again.

Next, slice the tomatoes as thin as you can.

Grate your cheese. You don't need much pepper jack.

Put your butter on your bread. Don't use margarine, nasty stuff. I like to melt my butter in a little bowel and brush it on using a pastry brush.

I am lucky enough to have a cast iron skillet (although my dream is to have the Cuisinart sandwich press). Put your bread on the skillet and place a small amount of mozzarella on the bread.

Next sprinkle some basil on there.

Now for some fresh tomato. I try to buy the ones that are still on the vine. They have a much better flavor.

Next sprinkle just a bit of the jack cheese and a little more mozzarella.

Cover with the other piece of bread and if you have a bacon press, stick that baby on there. Helps it cook faster and keeps your sandwich innards from falling out.

Just look at that beauty. Mr M loves these just the way they are, but if you have a man that must have meat on his sandwich, fry up some bacon and add that as an extra layer.

Tasty, tasty!

New Blog I Love

2007-12-03T14:22:00.000-07:00

I almost wet my pants when I read this post.

Other rules on dating

2007-11-28T22:07:00.000-07:00

I had an interesting conversation with a friend the other day. We were talking about dates and dating and I was reminded of some things I had come up with back in the day before we were married. Of course we all know the basics, date someone that you have things in common, someone you like, shares the same religion, yada, yada, yada. These are some fun extras. Some of these rules came from my own experiences and others came from friend's experiences. If anyone has other rules they would like to add, feel free to write them in the comments section.

1) Don't date a guy who does not have a car if you do have a car. (This used to be: don't date a guy who doesn't have a car, but I have amended it for people who live in NYC.) The dynamics are all off. I tried this once, don't recommend it.

2) Don't date a guy who when you cut your foot, his first reaction is to be more concerned about his parent's new carpet then the huge gash in your foot that is squirting blood.

3) Don't date a guy who is rude to service people. (For that matter, pick friends who are nice to service people.)

4) If you start having to do more and more editing in your head before bringing up topics, get out now.

5) Don't date someone who won't admit he is wrong, and don't be that person either.

6) If you have just worked a 13 hour shift, gone home, taken a shower, driven 2 hours with your boyfriend to go to lunch with HIS mother, she give you the silent treatment because you are 15 min late, and he grovels and apologizes to get his family to talk, while you are thinking about how you have been up for almost 20 hours, get out, get out, get out.

7) Don't date a guy who never wants to hold your hand or touch you in any way, and makes you feel ugly after hanging out with him. He really is gay. (I am not saying that a guy should be all over you, what I am saying is that you should get some sort of sense that he finds you attractive)

8) Date someone for a least 6 months before getting engaged. I don't care how long you have known him or how wonderfully you click. If it is meant to be, then you can date for at least 6 months.

9) Don't date a guy who is always talking about other beautiful women all the time.

10) Don't date a guy who is probably clinically depressed.

11) Never date a guy who lives with his parents, ever. (There is a difference between a guy living with his parents and his parents living with him for health reasons and such.)

12) Don't have a crazy long engagement. It's to stressful for everyone involved.

13) Do have pre-marital counseling and don't cheat on the questions.

14) Do date a guy who supports you and encourages you to pursue things you enjoy.

15) Do date a guy who brings over soup and medicine when you are sick and will sit on the couch with you all day because he knows you are bored.

16) Do date a guy who helps with the dishes.

17) Do date a guy who has the same financial goal as you.

18) Date a guy who your best gal pals really like and they aren't just saying that.

19) Date a guy that likes to interact with people.

20) Date a guy who does not have apron strings attached. (I find that dating a guy say about 7 years older then yourself helps in this matter. Although Mrs. Juicebox was able to work it out with a guy about 5 years older, but that may be a unique situation.)

Little Montexan

2007-11-25T21:02:00.000-07:00

On October first, our good friends, B&T, had a little boy now named Noah. Since T is also from Texas she had brought a ziplock bag of Texas dirt so that her son could be born over Texas soil. The hospital staff put it under the operating table and they dubbed Noah a "Montexan" since he was born in Montana over Texas soil.

T has been generous to offer to share her soil with me should we decide to have any babies in Montana. If we come to that point, I may just take her up on it.

Here's little Noah the day he was born. We were his first visitors!

T wanted to take some baby pictures to send out for Christmas, here are a few of our attempts yesterday.

Farewell to Jana

2007-11-20T17:14:00.000-07:00

My friend Jana moved. This is distressing to me as she is one of my friends in Montana that I can say "hey, let's grab coffee," or "let's hike in the Glacier" at the spur of the moment and she is usually up for some girl time.

But since she is leaving no matter what kind of fit I throw, I decided instead to throw her a going away dinner. Here is my lovely table set for fall. I was going to put applesauce in the little pumpkins, but they are too cute to butcher, so they are gathered around the candle.

Bye, Jana! We will miss you!

(I apologize for the fuzzy picture, I won't let Mr. M take them in the future.)

First Snow

2007-11-16T23:43:00.001-07:00

Yesterday morning I looked out my dreary window and saw for the first time this winter, snow. It melted in a few hours and I didn't even have to wear a coat today.

My rosemary bush is still going strong.

I put some red stars up in the window, but it's hard to photograph them.

Character

2007-11-16T12:06:00.000-07:00

Most of the time, the only time that one hears character referenced is in regards to politics and even then, only at election time. However, the other place it is referenced, though not discussed is in sports. There is a show on Saturday morning called the "Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year". It's a nice show about what football coaches all over the country are doing to help their teams. It's also an advertisement for Liberty Mutual (whom I hold no ill will since they did feed my family for about 10 years).

The thing that gets me, is during the show's introduction the talk is all about the brave and wonderful coach who has so much character and leads his men to victory. He has character to keep being a football coach. This is the point when I roll my eyes. Sure we like it if the coach who wins is also a nice guy and his players go to class, but the reality is we like a coach who wins.

Players talk all the time about a fellow players great leadership and "character." OK, but this same guy may play great ball, but he has how many kids by how many different women and how much time does he spend with them?

Everyone loves Tom Brady. "What a great guy." "What a leader!" What character!" What if Tom Brady announced tomorrow that being away from his infant son is not good for him. What if Tom Brady announced that he was going to live near his son and work a normal job and be a real and consistent father to his son? Can you fathom the outcry? No one would be talking about character. They would be saying "what a waste."

Or how about a more down to earth example. What if the local high school football coach decided to just be a teacher in order to have more time to be a better father and husband? Why he would be "letting down the community."

What shows more character, doing something you don't like day after day because it is good for you or your family or doing what you love and running over everybody in you life in the process?

*Disclaimer: I know that there are many wonderful people involved in sports and I think that often sports can be a very positive thing. But sports like many things has a dangerous side that our culture refuses to look at or deal with.*

Congrats!

2007-11-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

Congrats to several people in my life.

First, to Mrs. Juicebox for passing the bar exam. She is now a real live lawyer.

Second, to my friend Sarah, who got engaged. I am in the wedding in June!

Third, to Betsy, who is going to be an aunt in May!

Wii Update

2007-11-16T11:59:00.000-07:00

I am in the castle of Bowser, but it is tough to throw those little guys at him.

Tiramisu

2007-11-16T11:44:00.000-07:00

I recently inherited a collection of ladyfinger cookies and did what anyone else would do in my position: made tiramisu. Barefoot Contessa cookbooks are some of my favorites and I decided to use her recipe. Glancing over the recipe before going to the store, it calls for mascarpone cheese. I forgot to write down how much cheese I needed which I usually remember to do.

So I got to the store and found mascarpone cheese. Turns out that it is an Italian cream cheese and it is being sold for $4.oo an ounce. Now I am willing to spend some money to make things right (never use dried basil when you can use fresh is my motto), but 4 bucks for 1 ounce of cream cheese is a little much, even for me. So I bought a can of 8 ounces of light American cream cheese (a store brand) for $1.19. When I arrived home, I read that I needed 16 ounces of this stuff. To make the recipe the way it called for required at least $64 to make the tiramisu according to the direction. That doesn't even take account for the rum I bought too!

I will never do anything useful in life again...

2007-10-23T20:40:00.000-06:00

Yesterday Mr. M and I set out to get me a birthday present. He had given me the choice of pearl earrings or and old super Nintendo set to play super Mario brothers on. I, being the strange creature that I am, chose the video game.

Turns out that the store didn't have any in, but then we found out something else. You can buy all the old games from the old Nintendo systems and play them on Wii ! You just download them for a few bucks off the web. Oh, oh, oh! We had looked at Wii before and thought it was a cool system and looked fun, but we didn't know that little tidbit. It pushed us over the edge. We had some birthday money from different relatives and buy the Wii system we did. It is even cooler then we thought.

Between joining facebook and having the Wii system, I doubt that there is much usefulness left in me. That book I was thinking about writing has fallen by the wayside.

Week in Dallas

2007-10-23T20:28:00.000-06:00

For those of you who are wondering, my mom is doing well. She probably won't be able to drive for a few more weeks and will go stir crazy, but her eye is doing excellent.

I had a blast in Dallas; I got a new haircut, my eyebrows waxed, did some Ann Taylor shopping, and got new makeup. I feel like a new woman. (yes, I did hang out with my mom as well, I did not neglect her.) I also got to see a bunch of people who I love and they love me. It was great.

I took a plunge and bought a starter kit of bare minerals makeup. Brushes and makeup are all included in the kit based on skin tone. It took a few days to get the application technique all worked out, but I love the stuff. It feels so light on my skin, washes off very well, and looks better the longer I wear it. I don't even have to wear moisturizer any more! (I am not quite sure why, but my skin is not near as dry.)

My brother convinced me to join facebook and now I will never ever get anything done again. It is way to much fun to look up people I know and see if I can find them. Turns out a guy I knew in college was up here a few months ago on vacation and I had no idea. But like I said, way to addicting. My brother's facebook page has a picture of him standing with Ron Paul. What can I say? It takes all types.

Change of location

2007-10-07T00:23:00.000-06:00

I will be in Dallas from October 11th to the 17th. Turns out that my mom needs some eye surgery that involves a lengthy recovery and I am coming down to play nurse( I mean be a nurse, yes, I am one in real life).

I don't know if I will be able to get out much, but if anyone wants to swing by the house, we would love to see you. (Plus my birthday is the 15th and I know you all want to throw me a big party.)

Baby goats!

2007-09-27T10:49:00.000-06:00

I am sitting on the floor next to my dining room table. Why you may ask? Because my back is sitting in front of a vent blowing hot air on me. It is my favorite place to drink my morning tea from September to mid May.

However, our summers are nice and in an attempt to get people to come visit me I am posting some pictures we took this summer.

Baby goats checking each other out.

Baby goat staying close to Mama.

Goat licking the parking lot.

Critter begging me for food (he is about the size of my hand, maybe a little smaller)

Mr. M and me in front of a waterfall on the road.

If you come see us in the summertime, we can take you to see the goats too. They live about an hour away from us. Come on, everybody loves baby goats!

Law Enforcement roundup

2007-09-21T17:47:00.000-06:00

Our small town newspaper has the daily law enforcement round up. It is usually about the police telling the local teens to go somewhere else, but today's issue had 3 items of note.

1) "Flathead County sheriff's deputies recovered a gun stolen 23 years ago in Missoula. It was purchased by an unsuspecting buyer at the Kalispell gun show earlier this month. To play it safe, the man who purchased the gun called deputies and asked them to check the serial number. It came back as stolen, and the man was forced to turn it over to the authorities. He is only 20 years old , and thus not a suspect in the theft, investigators said"

I don't even know what to say about this. How does an investigator say that with a straight face?

2) "Deputies broke up a fight between two men, both set on possessing the same item recovered from the Columbia Falls dump."

Yet another place we can all go shopping, but hold on to your purse.

3) "Pink binoculars were stolen from an unlocked car on Kokanee Bend, the seventh reported theft from an unlocked vehicle on that road in the past four days. Deputies would like to remind the residents of Flathead County to lock their cars and take valuable items with them."

First of all, Duhhhhhh and second, who in the heck reports that your pink binoculars are stolen? Do the police really have nothing better to do then fill out a police report about your pink binoculars? (Then again, maybe they don't.)

Which brings me to point out the difference between people raised in a small town and big town.

Me: I have locked myself out of my truck at least twice in the nine years I have owned it (one of the times I was all dressed up for a wedding, wearing flip-flops and it was starting to rain, but I digress) in my knowledge that cars must be locked.

Mr. M: I once could not find the keys to my truck, after having looked for them in vain, I took the spares. I found my truck unlocked and the keys in the ignition! Now Mr. M states that he just forgot about them and I believe him, but it just demonstrates the intrinsic difference between us. There is no way I could just forget about it. I was raised in too large of a city.

Glacier in July

2007-09-08T11:21:00.000-06:00

I know, I am a few months behind on my blogging. Mr. M's mum and step-dad came to visit us for a week. We took them up to Logan pass in Glacier park. Mum really enjoyed those steep mountain roads!

Looking down into the valley about half way up.

Mr. M's reaction to the beautiful scenery.

At the top of the tree line, the trees are all disfigured from the winter snow slides and wind. Looks like an enchanted forest.

I like this picture because you can see where the tree line ends. If you only looked at the top of the picture, you might think you were looking up from a canyon and not at a mountain peak.

What the...?

2007-09-05T11:42:00.000-06:00

My parents came into town a few weeks ago and spent 10 days with us. We had a fun time driving around and playing lots of Settlers of Catan.

Most of you have met my mother, but for those of you who haven't, my mother is one of the sweetest, gentle and caring people you will ever meet. We took my parents to church while they were here. There is a coffee and pastry time in between services at our church.

So my sweet wonderful mother sees a particular pastry she would like to sample and goes over to the other side of the room. She starts chatting with a woman she meets. She introduces herself as all normal ladies do and asks the other woman her name.

Response: "Oh, you won't remember it, so I'm not going to tell you."

My mother is a little flabbergasted at this point, but in the spirit of good manners attempts to continue the conversation. My mother enjoyed her bit of pastry during the conversation and decided to have another one. After she placed it on her napkin, she was told, "Oh, I was going to have that piece."

At this point, my mother really doesn't know what to do and offers the woman the piece on her napkin which the woman refuses.

And people wonder why we haven't made oodles of friends here in Montana. They don't want to share a muffin or a name!

Baby Bison!

2007-08-20T13:33:00.000-06:00

I am a few months behind on our summer activities. Back in June, Mr. M and I wanted to get out of town so we went to the big city of Missoula (a college town of about 100,000). The next day we went to the Bison range where we saw lots of bison and various other animals.

Here is a big boy, doesn't he look friendly?

Here, is his closeup (it might be a different bull, but you get the idea)

Here is a buffalo chip, if you don't know what the pioneers used these for, you need a history lesson. (Hint, there is very little wood to burn on the prairie.)

Just some flowers growing in the rocks.

And the best thing about spring: BABIES! Here is a baby bison. Isn't he a cutie?

And then there was one...

2007-07-22T22:30:00.001-06:00

After all my complaints about the heat, relief came for a short time last week. Mr. M and I had decided to run to Target for a few things. There were some clouds moving in, but nothing to be alarmed at.

Well, we being the intelligent people that we are, left the windows down in my little truck. Thinking that it needed to be aired out, it was getting a musty smell. We walked out of Target and it was PORING. The wind and rain were so hard that it was actually raining sideways. We looked at each other and

Me: Did we leave the windows open?

Mr. M: No. No, of course not. Well.....

Me: We did, didn't we?

Mr. M: Maybe, but I think I closed them

When we got to the car, every inch on the inside was soaking wet. We were soaking wet as we drove home because of sitting on our sponge like seats.

Then we turned onto our street and this is what we saw:

Estimated at $4,028 worth of damage. Sure put getting my truck soaked into perspective. (And don't worry, we have insurance.)

It's hot

2007-07-17T10:45:00.000-06:00

Now I know that I am from Texas and I shouldn't be complaining about the heat, but take a few things into account with me.

1)The ice storms in Texas aren't that bad, we just don't have the right tools to deal with them.

2) Same thing applies here except the opposite way. Nobody has AC.

3) We live on the second floor of a condo with a flat roof (that's black). I have stopped running the dryer. It's not so bad until 3:00 and then it doesn't really cool down until about 9.

4) In Texas, if you walk into a Starbucks, you instantly wish you were back outside, because it is so cold (esp the one at Frankfurt and Preston. I think a guy in a wool suit works in the back.)

5) I am not so sure the lone Starbucks here even has an AC. It wasn't on when I was there.

6) So we flee our home in the late afternoon and go where there is AC. We are limited to Target, Boarders, and Best Buy. The problem is, we then tend to spend money. A few dollars here and there, but when you go to that store every day, it adds up.

7) I never had problems with my car overheating in Texas because it's flat. Here, whenever we go up a mountain, our Durango threatens to overheat. In fact, we were driving around the bison range with the HEAT ON when it was already 100 degrees outside to cool down the car.

Mr. M water skis!

2007-07-16T10:44:00.000-06:00

Why you should not wear baskeball shorts and waterski at the same time.

New Job!

2007-07-16T10:40:00.000-06:00

Two weeks ago, Mr. M started a new job. His stress level has dropped from "out of this world" to "fun to be around." He also has good benefits and gets off at 4 every day. He did take a pay cut, but it's worth it. Just thought I would update those of you who have been wondering about the job situation.

My Encounter with a Mule Deer.

2007-06-30T12:38:00.000-06:00

My friend, Jana and I decided to hike a trail in Glacier park a few weeks ago. Here we are at the lake we hiked to. And yes, those are waterfalls that drop into the lake. It is about a 3 mile hike there and back and not to steep. One of my favorite hikes in this area. Plus you get such a great reward halfway through by getting to rest and hang out at this lake.

At the beginning of the trail is a beautiful gorge, this is a picture of it about at its highest water level during the year.

On the way there, we kept coming across a mule deer, but she didn't want to pose for us, this was the best shot we got.

Then on the way back, she decided to play nice and come about 5 feet away from us to nibble on some leaves.

We thought she may be preggers based on her tummy size.

My neighbor's garden

2007-05-30T15:20:00.000-06:00

Part II

2007-05-30T15:12:00.000-06:00

Part III

2007-05-30T14:58:00.000-06:00

Memorial Day

2007-05-29T10:10:00.000-06:00

For those of you who know me in real life, you know that I am not the type to buy DVDs very often. Most of the 15 or so that I own are gifts. However, I have decided to buy a documentary that I watched yesterday. "The Conscientious Objector" a film about a WWII medic, Desmond Doss, who believed it is against his religion to kill, but chose to stay in the army and help the wounded. For his bravery in the Pacific he was awarded the Medal of Honor. (They don't give those out for just anything, most of the time you have to die in order to get it.)

www.desmonddoss.com Take a look around and read his story, although what is on the website is not near the story presented on the film. I have to warn you, I bawled my way through this film.

Our Home

2007-05-25T12:30:00.001-06:00

After a request to see pictures of my home/condo, I have posted these pics. This is after I cleaned the place, so it does not usually/never looks like this.

Our living/dining area: the navy blue carpet is NOT my idea.

I love this table, Mr. M got it at an Amish auction several years ago.

My kitchen, note the wonderful pink cabinets that don't match anything else. Also note the lack of a dishwasher.

Our coffee stand/baker's rack, also my kitchen island on wheels.

My Home Part II

2007-05-25T11:59:00.000-06:00

View from our deck:

Our bedroom:

Our bathroom (note the candle holder, found at Target for $20,

totally a Pottery Barn knockoff.)

Glacier in May

2007-05-24T20:25:00.000-06:00

The frayed knot

2007-05-24T13:26:00.000-06:00

Does this article live up to what you see in the world around you?

New friends

2007-05-23T13:12:00.000-06:00

I put up some new links under blogs I read. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

50 things

2007-05-23T12:34:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago, I was reading an article in Real Simple magazine about going through your house and throwing out 50 things.

I made the decision several years ago that I was going to own my stuff and my stuff is not going to own me. Since I have moved almost every year since turning 18, it helps keep the amount of crap in my life to a minimum. However, I did not move this year and I have plenty of crap, so here is my list so far.

1) Candle-given to me as a gift, I love it, but I can't even light it any more, so out it goes.

2) Issues of alum magazines.

3) Old Sports Illustrated that my husband agreed to get rid of. (I let him keep the ones he really wanted.)

4) My collection of root beer bottles (but I saved my Dr. Pepper bottle collection)

5) Several days of newspapers.

6) An old Bible study that way 100 pages long.

7) Sunday school lessons that we never looked at.

8) Sudoku book (I had filled most of the puzzles out)

9)Women's ministry registration form (I am not signing up to minister this year)

10) A packet of info on my albuerol inhaler.

11) Old Pottery Barn catalog.

12) Half of a bottle of mag citrate.

13) Mr. M's muscle rub (that expired in 2000)

14) Birth control pill wallets (2)

15) Erythromycin oint for an eye infection several months ago.

16) Big Red chewing gum (it was really hard)

17) Used boarding passes.

18) Used post-it notes.

19) Watch links

20) Bed and Breakfast evaluation card.

21) Lots of rubber bands.

22) Old sponges

23) Nursing protocols (they have new ones now.)

24) Old envelopes

25) Best Buy reward zone card

26) Credit card applications

27) Gift registry cards (please don't put them in your wedding invitations, it's tacky!)

28)Coffee pot (we got a better one)

29) Old socks that I don't wear anymore.

30) Old lip pencil

31 & 32) 2 sets of commentaries.

33) Random books we didn't want.

34) Box of tea (the flavor was just bad)

35) Old perfume bottle

36) 5 phone books

37) A pair of shoes.

38, 39, 40 & 41) 4 bags of clothes from my closet to good will.

42) Old movie tickets

43) Old support letters

44) 2 compacts of eye shadow.

45) Box for perfume

46) 4 hair clips

47) Old tea kettle (we got a much nicer one from Heather for our wedding)

And now, I am just stuck, I just can't come up with the last 3 things I should get rid of, any ideas?

Small Town Church

2007-05-23T12:11:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago, my Mr. M and I were sitting in church. (Well, we were really standing because the church was singing a hymn, but you get the idea.) This older couple and their adult children then proceeded to come up to us and tell us, "Excuse us, but we usually sit here." Then they just stood there, waiting for us to move.

If I hadn't been so shocked, I might have said something, but we just got our things and moved down the row, and then they acted a bit miffed that they even had to sit next to us. (Come on, I shower at least once a week.)

But now I am questioning if we did the right thing. (By the way, watching an episode of "King of the Hill" is what reminded me of this incident, I am not quite sure what that says about my life.)

Pros and Cons of moving our seats:

Pros:
1) Don't really want to cause a ruckus in church.
2) Don't really want to be rude to the old people.
3) Don't want to make enemies.

Cons:
1) We gave up aisle seats!
2) We are enabling rudeness
3) By enabling the aforementioned rudeness, we are making it harder for other new people to join the church.

This would be much more funny if it wasn't so true. Any thoughts on what my response should have been?

Carter

2007-05-23T11:59:00.000-06:00

I don't like to delve into politics that often, but no matter which side of the divide you fall on, you can appreciate this article.

Back in the Frozen Tundra

2007-05-02T10:37:00.000-06:00

Got back from Texas on Monday night where I wore shorts, drove on freeways, spent way to much money on clothes and ate cheap ethnic food along with bluebell ice cream.

Here is a picture of Mrs. Juicebox and me:

It was so nice to see everybody and enjoy being with family and friends. We played lots of Settlers of Catan and if you have never played that game, you are missing out. It was so good to see Mr. M with a group of guys just laughing it up.

After going out on a walk with one of my friends, my husband and I were lounging on the couch. He looked me over and said:

Mr: "Your shorts look kind of old."

Me: "They do? I mean I didn't think they were that bad."

Mr: "How old are those shorts?"

Me: "Hmm, about 6 years old I guess."

Mr: "How old is that sweatshirt?"

Me: "About 5 years old, but the shirt on underneath it is only about 3 years old."

Mr: "I have finally found someone who wears clothes longer then me, and it is my wife!"

But back in the frozen tundra the cherry trees are starting to bloom:

Just because...

2007-04-19T16:48:00.000-06:00

it's spring and is is SUPPOSED to warm outside. I SHOULD be wearing flip-flops, capris, and a tank top. But I'm not.

Nope, I wore a coat today and sat next to the fireplace in Starbucks. (I don't go to the Starbucks too often because then I feel as though I am in a metropolitan area and then I feel sad to leave and look at all the wildlife again.)

Getting organized

2007-04-19T16:33:00.000-06:00

It is amazing what I find interesting. A few weeks ago Dooce published some pictures of her attempts at organization. And I really enjoyed looking at the cool ideas she came up with.

I was so inspired that I bought some canvas bins and went to work. Check out my lovely linen closet:

Two bins are for sheets, one bin for table linens and the last one is for towels. Trust me, it looks a lot better somewhat contained.

Next is an attempt to make my closet better organized, see the four blue bins? I once had all that stuff in one giant tub. Not a fun thing to search for your swimsuit top in.

I also took a gander at my coat closet and my other closet. My husband is wondering how many of those bins we really need. I only have 12, so I am off to a good start. He won't let me but his clothes in them though.

Dallas, here we come

2007-04-14T13:26:00.000-06:00

Due to job upsetness in our household, sickness and my wonderful parents visiting, I haven't posted. But I do have some fun things in mind for later.

The big news at the moment is that we are coming to Dallas next Saturday the 21st and will be in town until the 30th. My parents are having a big cookout on the 22nd starting about noon. If you want to come, just let me know so that we can have a head count and you might want to bring a lawn chair. I hope to see you all there!

True Romance

2007-03-25T18:59:00.000-06:00

I received some upsetting news the other day involving a divorce.

So that night as a I lay in bed, Mr. M and I had this conversation:

Me: blowing nose "I know you already promised me when we got married, but promise me again that you will never leave me" Blow nose again.

Mr. M: Putting arms around me : "Don't worry, you would have to scrape me off, kind of like mold on bread"

Me: "Really? That really does make me feel better, even if I throw away moldy bread and I don't scrape anything off it."

The funny thing is, it really did make me feel better.

Sick, sick

2007-03-22T08:33:00.000-06:00

You know it is bad when you are the admitting nurse for a patient and you are secretly thinking that you are WAY sicker then the patient.

After 2 and a half weeks, I broke down and went to the doctor, and I am now the proud owner of an advair (think steroid inhaler, to the tune of $141) and an albuterol inhaler. I have to rinse my mouth out after I use the advair so it won't rot my teeth out. I also have fun narcotic cough syrup that makes me loopy and not fit to drive, so I can only take that at night before I go to bed.

Turns out that I have a reactive airway disease. I have suspected this for some time, I just never found a doctor that believed me.

I don't really know why I am posting this except that I don't have anything else going on. Just trying to stay on top of all my medications. Oh yes, and after watching the first 2 seasons of "Lost," we are now obsessed with "Firefly." I need to get out more, except every time the cold air hits my lungs, I go into a coughing spasm.

What happened in February

2007-03-08T13:44:00.000-07:00

Not much. Sorry for the lack of posts, but when every single day is dark, cloudy, gray and cold, there just isn't a lot to write about. Two things worth mentioning.

1) We went to Ohio for a weekend for a surprise party for Mr. M's brother. He has been working at a church for 20 years, so they threw him a surprise party and flew us out there.

2) I came down with a case of the shingles. Shingles is usually something old people get, but no, I had to get it too. It is actually chicken pox that goes and lives in your nerves afterwards. All of you have it in your nerves, but mine decided to venture forth. At first I thought that I had been bit by something, then the pain spread and I woke up several times at night thinking I was being stabbed. Don't worry, I got over it.

At the moment I am sicker then a dog with a nasty cough and I won't tell you what my GI system is up to.

Oh yeah, and Mr. M and myself are totally obsessed with the series "Lost". Someone lent us the first 2 seasons and we watch it whenever we can. We just finished the second season last night. I think Michael is a total jerk!!!!!!

100th post

2007-02-06T09:06:00.000-07:00

For my 100th post, I was trying to come up with something special, but nothing came to mind. So here is the adventure of the top of my wedding cake. Here is a picture of the cake on that happy day.

I was looking forward to visiting my parents this spring, because I had heard that the lady that did my cakes had a great way of freezing them, so that they still tasted good a year later.

Well, for some reason, my mother thought it would be a good idea to mail me the top of my cake for our anniversary. So she sent it on Jan 15 by priority mail. Yesterday on Feb. 5 it arrived. Here it is in the box.

This is my attempt to unwrap it.

Lonnie and I just kind of looked at it, but neither one of us was really brave enough to try it. It has probably seen more of the US them me.

So the moral of the story is: don't send a send cake by priority mail.

5 a day

2007-01-25T12:37:00.000-07:00

The other day I thought that I would attempt to eat the five servings of fruit and vegetables recommended by the government. It turned out to be much harder then I thought it would be, because I also stop eating when I am full.

Breakfast: 1 banana, one small orange, a cup of tea, and 1/2 liter of water.

Lunch: 2 pita pockets in which I inserted half of an avocado into each pocket.

Dinner: About one cup mashed sweet potatoes, and about half a pizza that I cooked. Mr. M ate the other half. The toppings were fresh tomatoes and fresh chopped basil. So I had about half a tomato and some basil thrown in.

Note that I didn't even eat any meat that day. So how realistic do you think the 5 a day plan is? I really believe that Americans should eat more fresh produce, but a little overwhelming to someone just starting out. (I eat a lot of fruits and veggies, so this wasn't that hard for me.) Maybe we should start people out on the 3 a day plan, so that they wouldn't feel like failures and continue on the crazy x a day plan.

Happy Anniversary

2007-01-23T11:36:00.000-07:00

Happy anniversary to myself and Mr. M two days ago. We didn't really do much the day of, but two weeks ago, we stayed at this bed and breakfast in this room. Quite nice.

So many people talk us before we got married that the first year is the hardest. We were supposed to fight all the time and drive each other crazy. We had a chat about this a few days ago. Both of us agreed that the hardest part of being married this year, was not the being married part, but the moving and starting over part. Trying to make new friends, work crazy jobs, and just adjusting to a different way of life up here.

Of course, we both have things about us that drive the other one crazy from time to time, but it hasn't resulted in any huge fights. So it turns out that both of us have been pleasantly surprised that the marriage part of this year has been so nice. (My personal opinion is that it helps we married later in life.) And lest anyone is too concerned about our fiances from the last post, we could afford to buy a sound system for our anniversary present to ourselves. We were also very proud of ourselves that over the past year, we have put over 8 grand toward debt repayment (mostly left over from grad school and having to buy a "new" used car.)

$2

2007-01-18T13:28:00.000-07:00

After balancing our checkbook the old fashioned way, I have determined that we have $2 in our account. I don't know that our going to Quicken is that much better. Fortunately, I get paid today, and Mr. M gets paid tomorrow.

Merry Christmas

2006-12-26T08:24:00.000-07:00

Last shot of Christmas decorations. Here is my $16 nativity set. I like it because the baby Jesus looks like a baby and not some sort of strange creature floating above the manger half naked on a cold night. Because holy people are always walking around half naked (Especially in renaissance paintings). As holy as I am, I should always wear a tube top and mini skirts.

Joseph's hand did fall off as we took him out of the box. But what did I expect with a Wal-mart special? We glued it back on, but we aren't quite sure that it is pointing the right direction.

Just in case we get to wrapped up in ourselves, I posted my favorite video of the season. The color is a bit dark at first, but just enjoy it.

2006-12-26T08:22:00.000-07:00

A REAL tree!!!!

2006-12-23T14:49:00.000-07:00

I never had a real Christmas tree before. Most people don't have them in the south and besides my dad is allergic to them. Here you can buy a permit for $5 and go on state land and cut down your own tree!

I had to work, but here is my fearless Mr. M and my fearless brother after going out into the woods and cutting down our tree:

They look so brave, don't they? They are my fearless woodsmen braving the bears for my Christmas tree.

Here is our decorated tree. Note Mr. M's electric train.

Now for a tour of some of my favorite ornaments. Here is one of my favorites, courtesy of Mrs. Juicebox. The umbrella says "A sister is a friend forever," but since we are not biological sisters (what a pity), she nicely drew a double arrow to switch "friend" and "sister".

Courtesy of my mother from Hawaii. Alas I can't wear flip-flops as much up here in the frozen tundra.

Betsy made this snowflake for me. So creative.

Here is my gaudy Elizabethan cross, but I like it.

And last, but not least, is a little ceramic Starbucks Christmas cup. So cool. Of course this means that my mother is aware of my crazy caffeine habit and celebrates it.

Don't you wish you had one? I know you are secretly jealous.

How crafty (insert evil laugh here).

2006-12-23T13:48:00.000-07:00

Since Mr M and I are not going anywhere for Christmas, I have really gotten into the decorating thing this year. In college I had my fake tree inherited from my parents and I gleefully decorated it in maroon and white. But that was about the extent of my decorating. Since Christmas is actually here at my home for me this year, I was inspired.

Here is my attempt to rip off a Pottery Barn idea in my bedroom:

Here is an ornament that I painted at a pottery party:

My attempt to decorate a bookshelf (since I don't have a mantel) using decorations from my wedding along with some new stocking holders:

Stocking are so expensive! I had no idea. There were a few a the dollar store, but they were just ugly and tacky. So I had the bright idea to make stockings. After figuring out how to use my grandmother's sewing machine, buy a replacement part, buying a pattern in a fit of frustration and taking 2 weeks, here are the results:

I am actually quite pleased, but I am warning you, they are harder to make then I thought they would be!

No longer the ends of the earth

2006-12-23T13:44:00.000-07:00

Joy to the world (at least Kalispell), Starbucks has opened! I had mixed emotions about it coming at first. I am a huge supporter of the local coffee shop idea. However, they all freaking close at 5 pm in this town. I guess it never occurred to them that people might want to go to coffee in the evening not during working hours?!?!?!?!?!?! (Do you sense my frustration?)

The one place that did stay open in town had horrible coffee. I have tried to like it. I have in vain ordered almost every drink there in an attempt to find something that tasted good. But no luck, it all sucks. So in celebration of the opening of Starbucks and this happy holiday season, here is my gingerbread latte.

2006-12-05T08:48:00.000-07:00

I used to read a Garrison Keller weekly advice column called "Mr. Blue" on salon.com. He doesn't write it anymore, but I found it interesting at the time. About half of the letters had to do with writing and the other half with relationships. I didn't really appreciate the writing ones because it was mostly cloud in the sky kind of stuff.

The relationship ones had a formula. Here is how they went: Dear Mr. Blue, I am a somewhere between 20 to 35 male or female who has been living with or married to someone for somewhere between 2 to 7 years. At first things were great and I could barely function because I was so into this person. Now I don't feel that way. I still really care about them, but I don't feel like I want to throw up when I am around them, so I must not be in love anymore. There is this guy or girl at work that causes me to have butterflies when they are around, so I must be in love with them. Should I dump my faithful spouse and pursue my true love?

The sad thing is I don't think that most of these people were always looking for an escape. I think a lot of them believed that's what love is. Because of their limited view, they are destined to have a shallow love.

_____________________________________________________
I met a man recently who has been married for 63 years. His wife is failing in her mind and he is afraid that she will soon forget who he is. He goes and feeds her every day and can barely talk about her without crying. He recounted how they met, decided to get married and had lived a full life with children and grandchildren. I couldn't help thinking how silly these letters sounded when you look at this old man's relationship. He probably doesn't look at his wife who needs his help to eat and think "What a hottie! I feel all woozy around her; therefore I must be in love."

He is in love, because he does what it takes to love someone. He looks after her best interest, even when she is beyond knowing the difference. He was willing to do the hard and difficult things it takes to make a marriage and love last a lifetime. Real passion is not having butterflies and a wild night every time you see each other, real passion is getting up in the morning and going to work because you love your spouse and want to provide for your family. Real passion is loving your spouse even when you don't feel like it. Real passion is washing the dishes when neither of you feels like doing it.

Don't get me wrong, I am not knocking the butterflies and the fun parts of love, I am just pointing out that true love encompasses so much more.

___________________________________________________
Part of what got me thinking about this is a recent review of "The Nativity" that I read in Slate.com. Now I haven't seen the movie and have no idea how bad or good it might be. What struck me is the reviewer wishing the Mary and Joseph would get in a huge fight on the way to Bethlehem. Now I understand the desire for a little action and I would be the first to say that Bible stories do not usually make for movies. But there is something that the reviewer is missing. She is missing the real passion between Mary and Joseph.

It is generally agreed that Mary was probably widowed fairly early. There is no record of Joseph after Jesus is age 12. Much of the information about Joseph probably comes from Mary, such as when Luke interviewed her for his gospel. In Matthew, Joseph is described as a righteous man. One of the examples of his righteousness is that upon finding out that his fiancée is with child, he doesn't haul her out to the center of town to condemn her. He doesn't pitch a public fit, but plans to end the engagement privately so as to cause her as little embarrassment as possible. (Hmmm, is that still an example of righteousness, but I digress.)

He cares for Mary's well being at the cost of his pride. Joseph marries a pregnant woman at the command of an angel and then doesn't sleep with her until she gives birth. Hard core there. (An interesting contrast to Zacharias in the gospel of Luke, who is told that he will father a child, Zacharias doubts, and then has to spend the next 9 months mute.)

Then to top it all off, Joseph at the command of an angel has to flee his nation, land, home and business to protect some kid that isn't even his. There is no record of Joseph complaining. I am sure that he had his doubts and worries, but the point is what he did in spite of them. He got up in the middle of the night to protect his family. He settled in an out of the way place to protect his family. He got up every morning and worked to provided for his family. He knows what love is and he does it. I think Mary made sure that the world remembered him. Their passion was one of day to day hardship, but that got up and did it all over again every day regardless. I would wish that for all of us.

Overheard at the hospital

2006-11-30T08:25:00.000-07:00

Doc 1: Hey, did you get a new jacket?

Doc 2: Yeah! Do you remember this brand?

1: I think so.

2: I got it at ____, it is about 20 years old, but the down is still good. I love it.

1: Cool, what a deal.

Did anyone else catch that? A doctor buying a used jacket? And bragging about it publicly? I like this hospital.

Stylen

2006-11-28T16:24:00.000-07:00

Due the recent fall of almost a foot of horrid white stuff in the last week, I have implemented some changes in my life. 1) I have been making my husband drive me to work. 2) I have bought a pair of snow boots as you can see here.

Please note the little tag saying that they are good to -25 degrees F. Staying true to my love of pink and love of what is on sale, we have these results. I am sure that Mr. M is secretly horrified although he would never admit to it. They don't look quite so pink when I am wearing them with jeans covering them.

I love them!

Every Wish Fulfilled

2006-11-25T12:50:00.000-07:00

I am one step closer to checking off all those things I want to do before I die. I am so close to being a complete woman. I am now the proud owner of of a Krups 12 pump espresso machine.

As if you needed any more incentive to come see me! It is our joint early Christmas present to ourselves. It's stainless steal plates sit glistening on my counter. Milk is frothed perfectly. Espresso is not bitter or weak. (And clean up is a snap!) Life is good.

Good, except for the 4 fresh inches of snow sitting outside my door. I measured it with a ruler, so it really is 4 inches. On the other hand I have started sewing more, a nice indoor activity.

Turkey Update

2006-11-24T20:30:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: I was informed by my father that he has fixed several whole birds during my lifetime including once when we lived in California and I was about 11 years old. Sorry, Dad, I didn't remember. End of disclaimer.

Several people have asked how the turkey went. Great, and here is the story. First I go with T to the store to help pick out the bird. Turns out that Costco only has one type of turkey. Very LARGE. The smallest one we could find was 20 pounds. So we bought that one. Having been vastly relieved and heartened by this post of T&B, I figured that we could cook it. I looked up various cooking times and temps and gave them all to Miss T. She stuck the turkey in a bag, cooked for several hours and it turned out perfect. Except that we had 19 pounds of turkey left over.

The day before I worked a 12 hour shift, went shopping and cooked until midnight. I made a sweet potato dish related to my mothers with a few changes thrown in. A green bean casserole with a LOT more then 1/8 of a teaspoon of pepper, I also threw in some crushed red pepper. Last, but not least, was my attempt at homemade cranberry sauce which my husband has forebade me to ever make again. The sauce overflowed and it took him an hour to clean the range. The next morning I whipped up some whipped cream with whipping cream, vanilla syrup and cinnamon. And props to my husband for making an apple pie from scratch (even the crust) with a crumb topping.

I used my white tablecloth and napkins that dear Shelly gave me. I then passed out for several hours after dinner on someone else's couch.