Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Quote of the Day

Conversation today with Jennifer, a 2nd grader:

Me: "Okay, a TRI-angle has 3 sides, a TRI-cycle has 3 wheels, how many notes does a TRI-ad have?"

Jennifer: "And a POP-sicle has stuff inside that tastes really yummy!"

LOL

Friday, October 27, 2006

No Salt Added

"Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing..." Matthew 5:13 (KJV)

I was recently posed the question, "So, how are we as Christians like salt?" I'm still not sure of the answer to that one. Do we give flavor to the world? Do we spice things up? I'll have to study this passage again to remember how exactly we as Christians relate to salt (comments welcome), but I had an illustration in my own life recently that reminded me how bland things are without salt.

I was trying to add a little more health (and color!) to my evening meal of macaroni and cheese AND baked beans, so I heated up a can of peas to throw into the mix. Those peas looked so nice and green on the plate next to the macaroni/baked beans mix--until I took a bite. YUCK! Unsalted??! Did I accidentally buy unsalted peas? I pulled the can out of the trash. Yup: "No Salt Added."

Those peas looked the same, were the same temperature as normal, yummy peas, BUT definitely did NOT taste the same!

So...how are Christians supposed to relate to salt??

Thursday, October 26, 2006

It's Fall


Here's a cool pic I took of the red maple tree in my front yard...yes, you are right. This picture was NOT taken this week! This is quite a few weeks old now; it was a beautiful day; I was home for lunch, and the sky was so blue and the tree was so red I just had to take a picture. But I hadn't downloaded it until now. Yep, Sarah's at work so I get a shot at the computer tonight! :)

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Poor Puppy

Little, 40-pound Juju is recovering from surgery. She had her routine operation to be spayed ("neutered") on Monday. Bob Barker would be proud. I brought her in to the vet around 7:45 and picked her up at 2:30. She was definitely still under the "influence," unsteady on her feet, droopy, and just prepared to sleep. I think this was the first day she didn't have an evening walk of some sort. She was pretty out of it. She has pain meds for the next 2 days, but they said she should be back to normal in a day or so! (She was feeling well enough at 2 AM to start digging through the trash again!)

Monday, October 23, 2006

IHOPping

I did something unusual on Friday night...Sarah and I went to IHOP at 11:00 p.m. Friday night for pancakes! It was great fun...partly because I'd already gotten a couple of hours of sleep so I wasn't totally exhausted. Plus that's the kind of thing I have kind of wanted to do for...ever. We thought there would be a few people there, but let me tell you that IHOP was really HOPPING that night! They were a little overwhelmed. People kept streaming in--apparently there was some deal about a football game that night or other things going on. And they only had 2 waitresses on the floor, but they did a really good job at keeping everything going. I had chocolate chip pancakes and hot chocolate. By the way--it was really cold outside! (Sarah had just come from a College class bonfire and verified the nippiness.) It was great fun to go hopping to IHOP.

Friday, October 20, 2006

Are You Ready?

I just saw this one-minute video today. Check it out!

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Wicked-ly Cool

Here's a shot outside the Ford Oriental Theatre where we got to see the musical "Wicked" on Friday night! Their voices were incredible! If you don't know what "Wicked" is, it is a twist and the "actual stories" of the witches from The Wizard of Oz. It takes place before, during, and after the story of the Wizard of Oz and tells how the Wicked Witch of the West is born green, accidentally finds her "gift" for magic, and how she really has a good heart but is misunderstood. She is roommates with Glinda the Good Witch in college (who is a really ditzy blond)...you can also find the backgrounds of the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man, and the Scarecrow. The guy who wrote the story is pretty warped theologically, but it was a cute story. I have also seen Les Mis and Phantom, and it is hard to compare this Broadway to those. I would have to say that "Wicked" is more of a "cartoon" feel (with comedic one-liners and not true-to-life characters) while Phatom and Les Mis are "real" stories that are more like old classic films that never go out of style. But "Wicked" was fun to watch, and I do like the music.

Sarah & Breanna Booth at Giordano's Pizza (on Saturday).

The group of 8 of us went out to eat at Giordano's Pizza (yes, I ate there TWICE in 2 days!) before the show and enjoyed some good Chicago-style pizza.

Saturday Sarah and I enjoyed walking Michigan Avenue and shopping and sightseeing. Chicago is so fun to visit!! We actually had SNOW in the air on Thursday, but by Saturday it had warmed up into the 50's so I didn't even need my hat and scarf.

Of course, there is more I could share, but those are the highlights!

Thursday, October 12, 2006

In the Windy City

I'm in my hotel room in Schaumburg, IL right now, posting from my snazzy laptop. We (basically all of the teachers from my school) are attending a Teacher's Conference (for AACS in both IL and IN) here in Schaumburg. Jana Pendl and I are staying together, and we were just looking up places to visit tomorrow when we go DOWNTOWN Chicago. And the best part is that we're going to go see the musical show "Wicked" at the Ford Theatre! Tomorrow night at 8:00. I can hardly wait!!!!!

Monday, October 09, 2006

The Amazing Race


I saw Episode 4 of the Amazing Race 10 last night, in which some wonderful things happened. I won't give it away for those of you who haven't seen it yet, but I was very happy with the way things turned out. I am enjoying rooting for Tyler & James, although the "beauty queens" aren' so bad either, and I was finding myself hoping they would stay in the race and do well. Rob & Kimberly and their "communication skills" drive me crazy!

I just visited the AR website, and I must confess to being disappointed. There isn't nearly the information and fun stuff that they used to have on the website: more info on each team, polls, pictures of various race moments. The only pic I could find worthwhile was this tiny picture of Tyler & James. Now it's all videos and a big Sprint commercial. And the videos don't play on my work computer because I don't have the latest "Macromedia Flash Player," apparently, and I can't download it.

But anyway, I still enjoy watching the Amazing Race! Now we're down to 7 teams!!

Friday, October 06, 2006

Grandparents' Day!


(5th Graders at Recess)
Whew! I made it through Grandparents' Day! (BIG *sigh* of relief) Yesterday Grandparents' Day moved me to tears but the program today went very smoothly...in fact, I don't think it really could have gone better! The preschoolers sang well. No one fell off the risers or threw up or fainted. The remote worked for me to click through the powerpoint. I didn't forget any powerpoint slides. There was a man in the sound room who knew what he was doing and didn't miss any mic cues (even though he had never rehearsed with us). I had about 60 pictures to scroll through beforehand when on Wednesday I had 0. (Thanks to all the teachers for donating pictures...that's also where I got these cute pictures from...going around and taking pictures of random kids doing random school things to show in a presentation beforehand...which got put together at 7:30 this morning!) The Piano Prelude went well and was even the right length!
I am thankful that I also had a good night's sleep last night (unlike some previous years) and woke up with new ideas on my mind and things to get done this morning, but it all worked out.
But I am SO THANKFUL that it's over!
I have to admit that the last few days I have NOT been relying on the strength of the Lord. I have been trying to do everything in my own strength. That definitely leads to frustration and tiredness! As I was sitting down and finally enjoying the program today; I was reminded that I should be relying on God just as I was relying on the remote that I held in my hand that when I clicked it would advance to the next slide (or sound effect). (Well, theologically I'm sure that's not totally accurate, but I think you get the idea.)
There are special blessings that come as we rely upon God, too. He also provides us with others who are available to meet our needs. I'm thankful I have friends that will bring me food for supper (like the Knolhoffs did last night) and a sister who can let out and feed my dog (thanks, Sarah).
It is so easy to try to do things on our own, but that's why God gives us a church family and the Body of Christ to come alongside us and strengthen us and take off some of the load.
On a side note, I am also thankful for the fellowship I was also able to enjoy with Aunt Louise while she was visiting this week. She commuted to Indy every day, but we were able to chat as we took our evening walks with the dogs and when we were able to go to Cracker Barrel Wednesday night. Oh yes. And watching the Dutton kids went well, thanks to Sarah and her schedule. I've been to more soccer and volleyball games than ever now thanks to them!
But God's grace is definitely sufficient!

Monday, October 02, 2006

Happy Birthday, Tim!


I would like to dedicate this post to my brother Tim (whose myspace I got this lovely picture from). I do have to make a disclaimer on the Myspace, though...Tim's roommate made it for him...so it's a pretty funny site but not always too accurate to real life. Tim turns 27 today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRO!