From the kids...

Here are some cute things our kids have said lately!

During family home evening tonight we reenacted the story of David and Goliath. Isaac chose to be Goliath for the second replay.

John: (What does Goliath say?)
Isaac: Choose your character!
(snickers from the audience)
John: I am David, and I am coming to fight you to protect my kingdom...
Isaac, flabbergasted: A BOY!?!
(John tosses jelly beans at Isaac, who dodges the first two and then collapses on the floor groaning "I died!")

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Isaac was really sad when he woke up yesterday, calmed down after his request to pray over apple muffins was granted, but had a fit when Jeremiah started saying a prayer when it was Isaac's turn... Jeremiah said, "Know what? You are so sad."

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Danielle and I were playing on the living room floor this afternoon. She randomly looked up and said "Dad?" So I looked up and saw him coming to the door. She must have heard him park in the driveway...

Sore muscles= Working hard

I associate sore muscles with hard work. Exercise, stress, strain, repetitive movements and motions.

So I know that I've been working hard when...

I have muscle spasms at the computer, from the computer (or at least the amount of time I've worked on the computer). Did you know that it takes much effort to hold my arm in a comfortable position when I'm dominantly using the mouse? It does. I never would have thought that. Maybe I AM a geek.

(Aaah! The pain of occasional acceptance!)

Making Hummus!!! and Roasting Garlic

We're having our Visiting Teaching Conference tomorrow during Relief Society (the men are taking care of the Primary and Young Women), and I volunteered to make a couple "spreads" for our crackers. A "Sun-Dried Tomato Hummus" and a "Warm Broccoli Cheese Spread." The hummus recipe I was given called for a mix I couldn't find at two stores, and I don't have mayonnaise in my house so I'd have to buy that too...so I made a different recipe. And oh boy! It's SO good! I love hummus, and I've wanted to try making it for a while, and now I have, and I don't know when I'll stop! So yummy! (Okay, I love beans and make tons of stuff with them, and I grew up eating them straight from the can--garbanzo and kidney, at least--so if you don't love beans in general as much as I do, hummus might not do it for you like it does it for me. But, oh! It's good!)

So the recipe I used called for roasted garlic, which I didn't happen to have on hand, so I looked up how to roast garlic (super easy!) and I did! (Also something I've wanted to try but lacked motivation for!) Oh, and of course while my garlic was roasting, I was munching on Cherry Cordial Hershey's Kisses (also yummy...) but after a few minutes I couldn't force myself to eat them because I was smelling this strong garlic smell from my kitchen. So next time you have a craving that you don't want to give in to, try roasting garlic. It worked for me, this time at least. (And if you don't use fresh garlic, it's easy and cheap and kind of fun--try it!)

So, if church isn't cancelled (temperature plus wind chill factor should be in the -25 to -40 range, but we'll see if cars start or phone calls are made), I'll get to share yummy goodness at church, otherwise...there's no way it's lasting until we reschedule the VT Conference, so... :)

Sun-Dried Tomato Hummus Recipe
1 15 oz can garbanzo beans or chickpeas, drained and rinsed
3 tbsp sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
2 tbsp roasted garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice

Combine in food processor or blender, blend, and enjoy on crackers or pita bread!

(In the case of your food processor not working...mash it up and mix with a hand blender. :)

Thinking Happy Thoughts

"I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and heart to get here."

-Ronald Reagan
From his farewell address to the nation in January 1989

tag

5 things I was doing ten years ago:

1. Debating as a four-person team in the Wisconsin state debate tournament (we took second place!)
2. I was stamping out foam math manipulatives for first and second graders with friends (Eagle Scout Project)
3. I was playing guitar for the (lower level) Jazz band, guitar for the (lower level) show choir, cello for the orchestra (last chair), and French Horn for the (higher level) band (first chair)
4. I was playing Necromunda (fun tabletop game with little painted sci-fi gang members) at next generation listening to Daft Punk - Discovery.
5. I was getting in one of at least three unreported car accidents (the at least is, three I remember)

5 things I will do now:

1. Get by Dental Abscess fixed (most likely by getting my tooth pulled :( )
2. Work on my puddle (see previous post)
3. Fill out 1099s, 1096s, W2s, W3s, and a myriad of other forms after an hour commute to Black River Falls, Wisconsin
4. Learn International Finance (I have a week before I teach it)
5. Make a smart whiteboard out of my laptop using a Wiimote

5 things I'll be doing 10 years from now:

1. Installing printable solar panels on my roof
2. Wait, in 10 years I'm going to be 38. This list is stupid.
3. But I can't stop: I'll be up in the middle of the night talking to my team in Mumbai about development on the new game.
4. From my libertarian base of operations in Antarctica... or space. I can't decide.
5. Reading Jay's novel.

5 favorite toys I have:

1. Alison's Tupperware spatula: it is just so cool in many and multiple ways.
2. Kongregate.com
3. FlashDevelop
4. news.ycombinator.com
5. My pinewood derby car (it's got a real, working, LED light-up propeller)

5 favorite toys I want:

1. Wiimote
2. RepRap
3. BugLabs
4. Anybots
5. Electric Car

5 people to tag

1. Todd
2. John
3. Thomas
4. Lawson
5. John

Look at this!

Hi everyone,

So I have a new hobby; I have been dabbling in open source flash development for a few weeks now, and I've finally made something fun. It's basically a pond that you can drip water on using your mouse. I think it makes a cool looking effect; it's fun to see the ripples bounce around. If you hold down shift while you click you build walls for the waves to bounce off, and if you hold down ctrl you create source points that emit waves over and over again. If you push space bar, nothing happens yet, but I'll make it do something sometime. I like to make antennas, or see how high (light blue) I can make the waves using source points.

I'm "It"?

Five things I was doing ten years ago:
1. Going on my first date: to a carnival with The Grossest Boy in my class. And I liked it. :)
2. Deciding I'd wait until I turned 18 to get my driver's license.
3. Show choir before school.
4. Attempting to pole vault (and do all the other "field events" in track and field).
5. Getting my name in the local newspaper for finishing first for my school in a cross country meet.

Five things to do today:
1. Sew 99-6" squares together to make the front of a baby quilt.
2. Laundry.
3. Prepare a spiritual thought for a presidency meeting.
4. Decide which frozen vegetable to microwave to go with homemade chicken nuggets and roasted potatoes for dinner.
5. Laundry.

Five things I want to do in the next ten years:
1. Take my family (as in "husband and children") on a backpacking trip.
2. Run a marathon.
3. Discover my favorite type of cheesecake.
4. Overcome/accept my fear of heights and go on a ski-lift so I can learn to ski.
5. Go on a weeklong retreat, by myself, and sleep and be massaged and eat yummy food and not do laundry and sleep and be pampered. And sleep.

My favorite toys:
1. My piano!!!
2. My YMCA membership--they watch my kids for me so I can shower!, I mean, exercise.
3. John's laptop.
4. My Tupperware spatula. It's just perfect.
5. My foot spa.

The five greatest things about being a mom:
1. Being the one that is loved the best.
2. Feeling giddy inside when my kids eat their vegetables first at dinner.
3. Being here to watch them learn: Jeremiah going from 3 words to entire sentences over the course of a year, Danielle climbing stairs and starting to walk, Isaac sitting through Sacrament meeting quietly and reverently and happily.
4. Having a magical ability to blow kisses to "owies" that makes them disappear.
5. Enjoying, relishing the peace and quiet when they are all asleep.