Wednesday, October 31, 2012

FINDING YOUR PASSION...



My nephew posted something on facebook the other day about finding your PASSION.  It linked back to THIS WEBSITE which I found intriguing.

One of the questions that help determine your passion was to name your 3 favorite movies of all time.  After you do that, look for the common thread running through those.  Is there one?  That is probably your passion.  So interesting!  My hubby's was clear:  his passion is action, adventure, and characters that overcome adversity!

I had a hard time thinking of my 3 favorite movies, actually, since I watch Jeopardy or my computer and see older movies with my husband about once a week (am I a nerd or what?).  All I could think of was Sound of Music.  Looking through our drawer of movies we actually bought, I would say True Grit (new one), Invictus, and Man from Snowy River all rank pretty high for me because of their beautiful music.  Which says my passion is about family and music.  Pretty much fits me.  There is always a song in my heart.  When I was teaching, one year of it was Kindergarten and I loved it because of circle time, when we would sing seasonal songs.  I also taught at Wee Melodies when my kids were small.  So I would say this method of finding your passion might just work!

Does it work for you?  Think of your 3 favorite movies and let me know if you figured out your own!

Monday, October 29, 2012

FALL FESTIVAL - BRINGING TOGETHER THE GENERATIONS...

For a few years now, I've been helping the teenagers with the Fall Festival at our church. Trunk or Treat was added a while back, open to anyone in the church to do.  Sometimes we were overrun with teens so this year, the juniors/seniors were asked to do a "trunk" out in the parking lot.  Several did that so that seemed to ease the problem of having too many teens on site.  Anyway, I'm so proud of them for stepping out and greeting little kids, playing the carnival games with them, and cheering them on.  With a little pep talk right before the event, they did a great job!  Be sure and thank the teens you know and give them some positive strokes!  This is one of the few activities that span the generations - so good for everyone.
This was a new game we tried and it was pretty popular!  From Martha Stewart.com

Rapunzel and her prince work the Lollipop tree- yum!

A redheaded Snow White working putt-putt!

What's up the elephants nose - a classic!
First time trunk or treat workers! My cute clown - incidentally he picked this out of our costume closet. My mother actually made this costume for my first year of teaching so she was tickled to see it being used again!


Saturday, October 27, 2012

CREEPY CHARACTERS I'VE BEEN WITH ALL WEEK...

ANTIGONE  - weird Greek tragedy with a twist - they're doing it Steampunk style:

LOVE this girl with the hair!  Wouldn't you love to be her mother trying to condition it after every show?
Great actors and actress! 
The KING Creon in the middle
The poor guy who dies for love...
Had a lot of fun serving dinners and taking care of them once again!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

BASEMENT BATHROOM UPDATE...

Never ceases to amaze me what a little paint and a new shower curtain will do for a bathroom!  This is another one of my daughter's free time projects.
Before:  Mauve paint - guess it looks purple in this photo!

After:  Grey paint with a new shower curtain and bright blue towels to  match!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

FUNNY NAME FOR A WONDERFUL APPETIZER...

While in Denver we ate at a restaurant called Linger, which was one of the highlights of our visit.  I ate "Devils on horseback" a delicious bacon-wrapped date, and decided I must try to make them!  I had never heard of them, but apparently nothing is new in the Google world!  I found several recipe variations and even saw on one site this recipe is a throw back from the 1970's.  I don't think they made these in my neck of the woods in the 70's.  But I was a little kid then so maybe I didn't notice.

Here's the recipe we came up with:

Devils on horseback

Pitted dates
Goat Cheese
Bacon
Soy sauce
Brown sugar

Cut bacon slices in halves.  Cut dates in halves, not slicing all the way through, but where you can open it up to put cheese inside.  Stuff a little cheese where the pit used to be, then close it back up.  Wrap bacon around it.  Dip in soy sauce, then roll in brown sugar.  Secure with a toothpick.  Place in a pan with a rack (so it won't stick) and broil 10-15 minutes or until bacon is done.  Delicious!


Sticky and time consuming.  But so worth it!   So what do you think - maybe the healthy date cancels out the fat in the bacon?  :)


Sunday, October 21, 2012

A RARE OPPORTUNITY...

As we were driving down a little two-lane highway in Kansas, up ahead I thought I saw smoke, maybe dust, and brake lights.  I cautioned my husband who was driving.  It was 8:30 p.m., and no lights on this remote roadway.  As we came to a stop, a woman came running back to her vehicle and grabbed a yellow blanket.  We were the third car back, and I knew someone must be hurt.  We got out of our car, and I grabbed a water bottle, my husband a jacket.  As we approached, there was a man lying in the middle of the road, dressed totally in black, with a helmet on.  A motorcycle lay in the ditch, 40 feet away.  He was unmoving, but speaking.  We spoke to the woman, and she said her son was calling for help.  Two other motorcyclists were milling about, apparently with him but in shock.  We talked to him, and offered him a drink of water.  My husband held the water bottle to the side of his face and gave him a tiny drink.  He held his hand and asked his name.  We talked to him and he said he was married, "27 wonderful years."  The other woman said she was married 28, and I replied that I was 29 - we must be close to the same age!  The man was embarrassed.  The road was under construction.  His bike had gone up on the ledge between the two lanes, then back down, then when attempting to get back in his lane up on the ledge, he had lost control.  The bike went off and he rolled 4-5 times.  I saw no visible bleeding but he was wearing leather and a helmet, thank goodness.  My husband guessed that his leg was broken.  The fact that he was in the middle of the road and did not get hit by another vehicle in either lane was a miracle to me on this dark two-lane highway!  The policeman arrived and quickly assessed he needed an ambulance.  As soon as we saw the ambulance approaching, we decided to get out of the way.  I urged my husband to pray with Mark.  I was remembering a time 7 years ago that my husband had been crushed by a tree while doing hurricane relief work in Jasper, Texas.  While they were waiting for the ambulance, a black man came over from across the street because he could tell something was wrong.  He prayed an urgent prayer for him right then.  It was very memorable to all who were there.  I wanted Mark to be encouraged and lifted up.  I knew he was coherent enough and his pain was numb at the moment, and  he would appreciate it, if he was a believer or not.  We asked him then if we could pray for him and he agreed.  We knelt down beside him on the road and my husband prayed a simple prayer for Mark.

A scary moment, but a faith builder for me personally and hopefully one for our son who was with us.  I'm still praying for Mark and asking God to use those moments to build his faith too.

"Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."(James 5:13-16)

Friday, October 19, 2012

DENVER'S NOT ALL PRETTY SCENERY...

There's a lot of other fun stuff to do there!  Years ago we did the Mint, Zoo, and Natural History Museum.  We could probably do those again sometime, but the kids are a little more grown up - so here's the kind of stuff we find ourselves doing now...
We biked downtown...

Shopped REI in this old train station - feeling pretty hip in our biking gear!

Lunch on the rooftop of LINGER- where I ate "Devil on horseback" and my son loved the beet salad! 
Played cards and ate pizza in her basement place!
Outlet mall shopping at Castle Rock- time to get professional clothes!  We also shopped Park Meadow and Cherry Creek Mall, ate at Brio, Cherry Cricket, and walked one evening to Bonnie Brae Ice Cream.  It was a pretty tasty trip.

And finally, siblings saying goodbye....

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

BEAUTY IN CHANGE...

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.  Romans 12:2
   



Change is hard for us.  It's uncomfortable. But necessary.



It's not hard for our heavenly Father!  He made the seasons to change and he can transform us as we renew our minds in Him and forget the world.



It's a beautiful thing!  Thank God today for the way He is transforming YOU!

Sunday, October 14, 2012

IT'S EASY TO SEE WHY SHE WANTS TO LIVE HERE...

in Colorado.  It's GORGEOUS!  Within the first hour of our arrival, we set out on a walk and got a little tour of our daughter's new neighborhood..
    There's a huge Blue Spruce in the front yard!
She's just a few blocks away from this public park with great trails and ponds.
Some lots have had total makeovers with new houses
but  most of the original ones are still there, kept up with great care.
The fall color is bursting out everywhere
It's a charming neighborhood!
And steps away from her back door is a pizza place...what more could you want?

You could say she's living a totally opposite kind of life than we are in the suburbs.  We find it fascinating!  Interesting old houses with basements and steps away from parks and pizza.  Not to mention the mountains nearby...

 Fascinating that she is embracing this new kind of life.  It was a sweet visit.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

CHEVRON PAINTED CHEST...

Besides job hunting, biking and hiking in Denver, this is what my girl's been up to: reviving Mom & Dad's chest of drawers we got way back in 1983!  No chance of bumping into this in the middle of the night...

Monday, October 8, 2012

PARTY IN THE HOUSE...

because once again, the rain foiled our plans!  But it went fine and we had a great crowd.  All of these lovely ladies that volunteer as leaders for our highschool girls class helped me throw this Halloween party by bringing all the food.  

We had a scavenger hunt I had created many years ago and being the pack rat I am, I still had all the goodies for it.  They had to look for things like:  Sustenance for a squirrel (acorn), Garden protector (scarecrow), Lunch catcher for a spider (web), Worry for arachnophobes (spider), and lots of other fun things hidden throughout the house.



Pumpkin desserts!!!



Mr. Jack Piñata fulfilled his purpose in life :( but provided lots of fun for us!

Saturday, October 6, 2012

WILD WEEKEND...

Just got back from a women's retreat!  It was a lot of fun!  Not WILD fun, but "With In the Lord's Design" kinda fun.  My sister-in-law does a great job planning these - I think you could call her the "theme queen!" Not only does the program and decorations reflect the theme, even the little chocolates on the tables and crafts go with the theme.

Funny story about these centerpieces - they announced that the shoes were actually for sale.  If you know me, you know that I would never even THINK about a heel this high, much less leopard print.  At the first break we had, so many ladies were trying these one and all but 1 or 2 pair were bought!!!
A women's retreat and shopping all in one night - couldn't get much better!


The best part of the retreat was that all the speakers were relatives of mine.  Two were regular talks and two were devotionals.  I filled in for the absent song leader and loved it.  I love women singing together!   Can you guess who the "theme queen" is here?  My sis-in-law Lori, and you can check out her blog HERE.  She speaks a lot in southwest OK for women's functions.  Next to her is her daughter Lauren, my niece Shanelle holding baby K, her mother (my sis-in-law) Delia, and finally my sweet mother-in-law, Sharon.

 Another perk was getting to hold my 2 month old great-nephew!  This little guy was a trouper-he even spent the night!  He has a brave momma!