It's the Weekend...

Go see Shannon to make your own wordle and link up!



Sleep is all I wanna do.

I have been SO TIRED this week. I blame it on the time change and the subsequent depression I sink into every year...it gets dark before I've left work, and I need my sunshine...I've been trying to keep my head above water, but really...all I wanna do is sleep.

So, sleep this weekend. That's the prescription. Unfortunately I won't be able to do a lot of that :(

Bad Haiku Friday

Put a lock and key
Round the state of Tennessee...
No more friends can leave.

Yep. My good friend Laura and her baby girl Israel are headed out next week indefinitely. She hopes to be back early next year, but nothing is for sure yet...

I'm a little over this friends moving away thing.

Thursday's Ten: True Confessions, Bloggy Style

Confession is good for the soul
And sometimes good for a laugh or two!

Today's Ten is all about confessing. I'm not talking deep dark secrets here (unless you just really wanna)...more of the silly kind of confessing.

Ten Confessions of Mine

1. Sometimes, just for a minute or two, I really think my stuffed animals can hear me and feel things. Guess that child never truly vanished.

2. I love love LOVE McDonalds. I know it's weird, especially for my former ED self, but dangit quarter pounders and sweet tea are the bomb. I DO limit myself to visits. Well, with the burgers at least. Hard to beat $1 for a large sweet tea.

3. I have an unhealthy adoration of ranch dressing. I have been known to lick it off of things and out of containers. It's like this with all condiments--I could eat them on their own. It's just that ranch is my FAVORITE.
(remember the Will and Grace episode with this dialogue?

GRACE: Yes, that's right. You've left me absolutely no time, but I once threw together a dinner party for eight with nothing in the fridge but mustard and a roll of film.

WILL: Yeah, and all we have to remember that evening is double prints of eight angry people getting sick eating mustard soup.

yeah. I could totally do a meal with nothing but my fridge door.)

4. my sleep habits are crap. I've tried to change this. It doesn't work. Something in my body will not allow me to fall asleep before 11:30 pm, and my body's favorite bedtime is 2 am. Which means I need to sleep until 9 or 10 am to get a full night's sleep in. Unfortunately, the US does not operate on that type of clock so I end up being extremely tired all day. I DO try to get to bed in the midnight to 1 am range, but every night is another battle.
(and yes, I've tried pills. But I hate pumping chemicals into my body)

5. I separate candy out by color before eating it.

6. I adore napping. This may or may not be directly related to #4.

7. I looked like this in high school. My how I've changed.

8. When I was growing up I just KNEW someone had broken into our house and if I moved they would kill our family. I would literally wake up to go to the bathroom and lay there frozen until I couldn't wait any longer then SPRINT to the bathroom and back. While I no longer have that hang-up (thank goodness) the memories are vivid.
Yet I can't get enough of crime dramas or movies. Guess it's the police officer blood in my family (dad and brother both have spent time in law enforcement).

9. In fact, if I didn't want to be a mommy more, I would have already followed the steps to entering the FBI. Dream job.

10. Since I can remember, I've always felt that I'm going to have cancer someday. Perhaps it's because my county growing up had a very high rate of cancer.. I've learned that my "feelings" on stuff like this are usually accurate.
(let me be clear...I don't currently have cancer, nor do I think it's going to be the cause of my death. but it DOES explain the fascination I have with it. It doesn't scare me...yet, at least.)

What about you? Grab the TT button, sign McLinky and then... 'fess up!

We Really ARE Nerds

Once in awhile, Anthony accompanies me on a Monday night as I babysit for a friend's little girl. If you had been a fly on the wall, this is what you would have seen after Morgan went to bed.

2 nerds + 2 macbooks + 2 hands = awwwwww...I hope!

Recipe of the Week: Freeze those Herbs!

I had a bunch of herbs this summer, and loved going to the backyard to retrieve fresh Thai basil for my ginger noodles, rosemary for chicken, basil for Italian dishes...and then came the monsoon-type rains of this fall and night freezes.

I was sad until I was at my friend Laura's house one day and saw that she had bought frozen herbs from a grocery. And then I got to thinking...why not freeze my own herbs?

So I googled and checked on how to go about it (would I need water or chicken/veggie stock, can they all be frozen, should I chop them first, etc. And it turns out...yes.

It doesn't really matter if you chop them or not, use stock or water or wine, etc. So here's what I've done so far:

Collect herbs
Fill ice cube tray about 3/4 of the way up the "cube" with the herb, chopped or whole
Fill up the rest of the cube with stock
Freeze
Place in ziploc bag and LABEL for future use. This will make actually using the herbs in the future easier, since they have a tendency to look similar when they're frozen.
Lather.
Rinse.
Repeat.

More of a tip this week than an actual recipe, but it's cheaper than buying fresh herbs all winter. In fact, you can do this with leftover fresh herbs you buy--when's the last time you actually used all that bunch of cilantro?! Continue doing this when you run out of fresh, and you'll have to buy herbs much less frequently!

And then comes summer when you can start all over again! :0)

Titus 2 Tuesday: Keli

People who can inspire amid pain are true treasures.

My friend Keli is like that. I've already told you her husband's story. But Keli deserves some time herself.

Keli and her husband Sam were one of the first models of a Christian marriage I saw that I wanted to have for myself. I spent many nights and weekends at their house while I was in college and was always impressed that they took time to romance each other and show that they were still deeply in love. Hard to do, perhaps, with 3 little girls under the age of 6 running around, but they managed. What an inspiration! I will never forget sitting in the congregation one Sunday morning when Keli sang a solo and whispering into a friends ear "I want my future husband to look at me the way Sam looks at Keli when she sings." I knew that if I met a man with that *look* in his eye when he looked at me, that all would be ok with us. I don't really think I'm explaining that well but trust me...you would know if you saw it.

Keli has been pretty vocal on the blog she and Sam are writing. He is the minister in the family, but don't doubt for a moment that because Keli isn't on staff at a church she isn't ministering to those around her just as much!

I'm going to let her words speak to you, from their blog the day after they found out he was not yet in remission.

Into every life some rain falls! We all get news we don’t want to hear. This was ours. It just adds some time on to our stay here…I still firmly believe that the end result will still be the same…Remission. Just not in the exact time that I had planned. Don’t you love when you lay out your time plans for the Almighty! He must laugh at us. I am continuing to learn to sit back and allow Him to carry us through this whole process…trust me …as a nurse…I would like to steer this deal my self!

I know you can look back and think of pitty parties that you have thrown for yourself. They are not fun! They usually include a pouty lip, puffy eyes, furrowed brow and a list of injustices. I have had my share. I had a mini one this morning….and then I quit…because the parties I prefer include cake, friends, and all around good feelings.

I am aware that we are confined to the hospital until the chemo is done and Sams counts are up…whatever that takes. I am aware that we didn’t get the diagnosis that we wanted. BUT DO NOT FORGET That the same God we were praying to this morning before we got this diagnosis…is the same one that is still able to sustain and heal our bodies AND our spirits. I am so thankful!

I'm so thankful to know this amazing woman, and to call her my friend.

Their beautiful family. Sam loves to say they're the "blonde leading the blonde."

Monday's Memory: The One With The Amazing Small Group

(Christmas '06, that's me playing the flute)

Most of the time we just chatted and loved each other.
Until the dark period when there were tears each time we met.
Times of betrayal, trust broken, healing, and restoration.
And through it all, there was music.

Music, after all, had brought us together in the first place.
Music brought us laughter and joy.
Until music was painful because of the memories it evoked.
And in the end, music brought closure.

This is one of the last times most of us were together.
I'm so incredibly thankful to have captured some of it.
Always my family.
Always love.

If you're so inclined, turn off the music player there on your right and enjoy this poor quality video shot from my digital camera...maybe you'll sense some of the magic in this group.

Halloween 5K...or Downfall by Donut

The day dawned bright and WAY early, and Kat (who had spent the night) and I made our way to the fair town of Smyrna, TN.

The thing about Tennessee is that they love to confuse people with their directions. Hence this random picture of the road that lead where the 5K began. "East Enon Springs West" the sign reads...

Did I mention it was early for a Saturday morning? Hence the thrilled looks among us. Can YOU find the morning person in this group?

(left to right is A's aunt, granny, mom and sisters Hailey and Kat)

I noticed this wonderful car in the yard of one of the houses we passed. Klassy.

Hailey and I were the only 2 that actually ran any of the 5K. Neither of us ran very long, but hey, we did it!

And we finished together!

Anthony's mom and granny finished together too, and were laughing at us as we cheered them.

then came the refreshments for the participants...
beginning with water

but then...

came the amazing
tantilizing
glorious
homemade
DONUTS

We all enjoyed them

Oh, there was healthy food...

and oh, there was Chik-Fil-A

but donuts

Donuts screamed our name

To be completely fair, I only split a donut with Kat, and since we had burned over 500 calories according to my handy treadmill/pedometer app on my iPhone...I figured we deserved it.
Plus these donuts were AMAZING.
I even brought one home for A.
Which we split.

Next 5K: January 23, 2010
Nashville Zoo
I'm running at LEAST half of it, perhaps all of it.

Happy Halloween! And all that Weekend Stuff!

Stop by and see Shannon to create and link up your own wordle!

I'm doing my first 5K today!

Will be back with pictures. Of the whole day. I'm also doing a fantastic Halloween date with my honey starting this afternoon. Depending on weather, we're going to either go to a local winery OR see the movie "Paranormal Activity". Following that, we have tickets to the ghost tour in nearby Franklin, and following THAT is a drop in at my former voice teacher's house for a Halloween party! Busy busy busy and fun...my favorite kind of Saturday!

Happy Halloween All!