Tuesday, July 28, 2009

New blog!

Hello everyone! I started a new blog to chronicle my adventures in New Zealand next month. I probably will not be posting here during that time so check my new site for updates and pictures! :-)

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

In The Light

I keep trying to find a life
On my own, apart from you
I am the king of excuses
I've got one for every selfish thing I do

Whats going on inside of me?
I despise my own behavior
This only serves to confirm my suspicions
That I'm still a man in need of a savior

(chorus)
I wanna be in the light
As you are in the light
I wanna shine like the stars in the heavens
Oh, lord be my light and be my salvation
Cause all I want is to be in the light
All I want is to be in the light


The disease of self runs through my blood
Its a cancer fatal to my soul
Every attempt on my behalf has failed
To bring this sickness under control

Tell me, whats going on inside of me?
I despise my own behavior
This only serves to confirm my suspicions
That I'm still a man in need of a savior

(repeat chorus)

Honesty becomes me
[theres nothing left to lose]
The secrets that did run me
[in your presence are defused]
Pride has no position
[and riches have no worth]
The fame that once did cover me
[has been sentenced to this earth]
Has been sentenced to this earth

Tell me, whats going on inside of me?
I despise my own behavior
This only serves to confirm my suspicions
That I'm still a man in need of a savior

(repeat chorus 2x)

[theres no other place that I want to be]
[no other place that I can see]
[a place to be thats just right]
[someday Im gonna be in the light]
[you are in the light]
[thats where I need to be]
[thats right where I need to be]

Saturday, June 20, 2009

My timing is way off...

Mom had to work this evening so I was given dinner duty. After working a five hour floor (that means lots of running back and forth) shift this morning in the wrong shoes after waking up at 5:30 am. The last thing I wanted to do was slave over the stove either heating up left-over cream of broccoli soup (bleh) or cooking garlic pork-chops. I'm not a big fan of cream of broccoli, I'll eat it the first day if it is set in front of me, but second day C.O.B. is gross, just gross. And garlic pork chops, they're good, don't get me wrong, but I'm rather sick of pork and it sometimes makes me sick.

Anyways, I didn't really want to do either so I hopped onto allrecipes and found this. Awesome. Looks great, I've got everything. I can use the pork chops but not have to feel like I've had it a million times. I can make garlic mashed potatoes to go with it and we have sugar snap peas. Perfect. Suddenly, my dinner duty didn't seem too dismal. I put my country music mix on and got started.

I peeled potatoes and chopped them up kinda small because I wanted them to cook quickly. I sauteed some mushrooms and onions, then browned the pork. I threw the mushroom stuff, pork and two cans of condensed cream of mushroom soup into a pan and threw it in the oven. The original recipe called for you to bake it for 45 minutes but I had thin-sliced chops so I put the timer on for 20 minutes because I can always put them back in. About half-way through the 20 minutes I started getting worried because the potatoes weren't even boiling much less mushy enough to mash. While I was waiting for the stuff to cook, I was able to set the table very nicely though. Fortunately, the taters boiled right after that and I was able to mash them and every thing right when the timer went off for the pork. Perfect! Everything is coming together!

*buzzer* WRONG!

The pork was NOT done. *deep breath, sigh* The potatoes are done to a perfection but the pork...not so much. Now the potatoes are getting cold and icky.

At least the table looks nice.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Whaddya Think?

Just found this cute background online and customized my colors to match it. Now I just need a new banner. Although I was really proud of the one I made, I just couldn't find a background to match it and I kinda wanted to update the colors. So what do you think?

Lord Have Mercy on a Country Girl

I'm sorry about the lack of post on Friday. It didn't feel polite to be sitting on the computer blogging with company even though they weren't strictly my company. Friday night I had to work and then I went pretty much straight to bed because I had to work at 7:30 Saturday morning. When I got out of work, I ran home, ate lunch, watched two episodes of Barney Miller with Nenu and then had to go to my first company softball game in Wolfeboro. That game was a little embarrassing. We lost 30-4 in only 7 1/2 or 8 innings. We switched up the teams a little (we got two of their best players they got one so-so player of ours) and played a 3 inning game. We lost 5-3. Not too bad. Better than before but one of our best players pulled his hamstring halfway through the second game and had to sit the rest out. After the game I was totally wiped so I took a nice long shower and got right in my pj's. There is nothing like that feeling. You're tired, sore, sweaty, grimy, and just generally icky, you take a nice hot, hot shower and totally pamper yourself. I almost soaked my feet but I was too lazy and relaxed to do anything after my shower.
I didn't sleep too well last night. I got hit just below my knee, in that kinda funky place between your kneecap and your shin, with a softball that was coming pretty fast. I didn't bruise but by bedtime it hurt to walk so I put a rice sock on it when I went to bed and it hasn't hurt since (although I think that is the only part of my body that doesn't hurt!)

This morning was the second Sunday in a row in which I have woken up with the distinct feeling that it was Monday and was very surprised when Dad woke me up. Not sure what's up with that but if it happens again, I'll start getting worried about my mental health. :P

Currently in the freezer are two wonderful frozen yogurt pies. They are an awesome concoction that I think my mum made up but I could be mistaken. They're wicked easy. You just mix up two containers of yogurt with one container of cool whip, pour it into a graham cracker crust and freeze it. Easy as...well...pie! This time I made a graham cracker crust pie with blueberry yogurt and then one with an Oreo crust, black cherry yogurt and chocolate squiggles on top. Mmmmm! I can't wait until they finish freezing. They've only been in for three-quarters of an hour or so but I think we'll take them out a little early.

There is something about cooking and country music. When I'm in the kitchen, country music is the perfect thing. I think it makes my cooking better. In fact, I'm pretty darn sure it does. I can't go wrong when Josh Turner is crooning in the background. :]

Friday, June 5, 2009

Oops

I was just about to sit down and write a nice long blog entry but I just realized that we have company expected in fifteen minutes and I need a shower. Update later. I promise :-)

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Baking, Blogging, and...Singing...yeah

Right now I am enjoying a seriously awesome lazy Sunday afternoon. Sunday afternoons have come to be probably my favorite time. Sunday afternoons are the time when everyone just chills. There's no running off to get to work or school or softball practice or book group. Dad has Truth Project in the evening but other than that, there isn't usually anything set.
Today, after church, we had lunch and then everyone except Joel went to go see Pixar's Up. I won't say much about it except that it is very good and I'm recommending it to everyone I know. We went to the 2:40 showing so Dad could get out in time to go to TP so the sun was still shining when we got out. A weird phenomenon, I gotta tell you. When you get out of a movie theater, in my opinion (I refuse to stoop to the texting/IMing jargon IMO), it should be dark out. However, when going as a family, especially when you are a large family, it is best to take advantage of matinees. So when we got home, Nenu flopped down on the lawn in the sunshine and I quickly followed suit. There are few things in life more satisfying than lying on a nice green lawn in the sunshine. I almost fell asleep but it was a tad too cold with the wind blowing.
Since there is nothing that says summer like iced tea, I made some, however, it was rather weak and just kind of blah. The iced tea put me in a baking mood though so I got on my absolute favorite site in the world, Foodgawker. However nothing really caught my eye as easily makable. In a flash of genius I thought shortbread and honey. Honey Shortbread. I googled it and got this. I know, shortbread is rather Christmas-y but it's nummy and I've been on a wicked honey kick lately. The shortbread just came out of the oven and cooled a bit. Verdict: Pretty good. Not amazing. If it wasn't for the honey, the shortbread would just be so-so. The actual shortbread part is weird and when I was pressing it into the pan I got a little worried because it was really floury and crumbly and it was rather difficult to prick it with a fork without completely ruining the top. This was my first attempt at the recent fad of kosher salt on top of a sweet and I gotta say I rather like it but I only used about half the amount of salt the recipe called for and I think I would reduce it still further. I think I may have over-baked the shortbread too. That being said, I have already eaten two of the sixteen pieces and I really should leave some for my family. I know for a fact that Dad will want some, he loves all things shortbread.
I found two of our Classic Disney cds earlier, imported them to itunes and have been listening to them for the last couple hours. Classic Disney makes me so happy, it makes me feel like a little kid again. I want to go to Disney World and see the Main Street Electrical Parade now and watch all of the classic Disney movies. However, I think I will just settle for the old Hayley Mills version. However, I will leave you with this: The Power of Suggestion.