A Phone Call....

Last night I was at a Bible Study. It is a great study with Beth Moore, who is just awesome. She knows her stuff. I was sitting there with the ladies chatting and my cell phone rang. People rarely call my cell phone. I looked to make sure it wasn't Jake calling to tell me I needed to rush home. It wasn't him. It was a number that I didn't recognize so I didn't answer it thinking it was probably a wrong number. Later, after I left, I check my phone and there was a message. Intrigued, I decided to listen (a big shocker, I know, since I usually don't EVER listen to my messages). It was a couple of people from my pottery class. Jake had a little bowl he never glazed so last week I decided to glaze it. Since it wasn't mine I took the liberty of experimenting with the glaze a little (LOL). I made a combination that to my knowledge, no one had tried (in our class). Apparently it is beautiful and everyone wants to imitate it. Cool. I haven't seen it yet.

Wordless Wendesday.....Grandpas

Delilah, Heather & PapawElise & Poppy

Wordless Wednesday

I won't be able to move in the morning...

Are you sick of hearing about my exercise follies? If you are - I'm sorry but I am going to tell you more. Today I decided to try out a Pilates class. I have been hearing about Pilates for some time now. It is exercise that strengthens your core muscle group. Whew does it ever. I am still burning all over. I didn't laugh quite as much in this class (more like screaming in pain) because it was hard. The teacher made it look effortless and so did the 75 year old woman next to me. They all said it gets easier and it is a class you can really see progress in so I think I will stick with it. I decided to go with it other than that jump rope class - I would have been the only one in the class and until I get an industrial strength sports bra I don't think I will be doing that much jumping around. Friday I am going to a kick boxing class, which I have been wanting to do for a while now. I am looking forward to it. Don't worry I will keep ya'll updated.

Little Momma Elise...

The other day I was doing laundry. I was upstairs (second floor) and had Avery on my bed. She was sitting there nicely, so I thought I might run down to the basement and change my laundry around. Elise offered to stay and "read" Avery a book. I thought that was nice of her. She likes to "read" to her almost every day. Well, I went down and before I got the laundry situated I heard Avery crying. So, I quickly finished and headed upstairs to tend to her. When I got up to the first floor I saw Elise, who was sitting nicely next to Jude. (That should have been my first clue something was fishy. I asked her why she came downstairs and she said she wanted to play with Jude. I could buy that. I continued on my way up to my room, where I see Avery with rice crispies stuck all over her face. I cleaned them off then went downstairs to speak with Elise. I said, "Elise, is there anything you need to tell me?" She said, "yes". I said, "What would that be...". She said very matter of factly..."Avery doesn't WIKE that cereal." Nice. Poor Avery.

By the way, something is wrong with my laptop. When I turn it on it just keeps typing the letter U over and over again. Anyone know how to fix it?

Adventures in my Kitchen...

I would like to state for the record, I am adventurous. That trait has followed me into the kitchen. I love trying new recipes and even when they are delicious I rarely make the same thing twice. I know it is kinda weird. This week I tried a bunch new and different recipes and I have to say I am quite delighted with all of them. The first was eggs poached in a tomato sauce. We had it for dinner with a side of Spinach w/ orange (I think I am going to call it Orange Spinach). Both dishes were absolutely fabulous. I had never had poached eggs - let alone poached in tomato sauce but the combination was so good. We are trying to eat less meat so it was a nice way to get our protein in the meal. Sorry I didn't take any food pictures this weekend. So, Saturday Jude, who is always making strange food requests asked me to make Ratatouille. I had never tried it but it is really just a vegetable stew of sorts. The recipe called for eggplant, which I HATE with a passion, regardless I added it because I don't want to be one of those Mom's that won't give her kids something just because she doesn't like it. I did try it but still thought that part was gross. Overall the dish was very good. I made whole wheat couscous as a side and it was very, very good. There are a bunch of different recipes. I used the one from my Joy of Cooking cookbook. We were going to watch the movie afterwards but since the kids just watched it last weekend we settled on Mary Poppins instead. Either way, Jude said my ratatouille wasn't like the one in the movie. Perhaps I should have watched it first.

My last adventure of the weekend was Orange Sherbet! I used my Kitchenaid ice cream attachment and made a very low maintenance sherbet with real orange juice! It was delicious. I left the pulp in - even though the recipe said to strain it out (WHY?). It was tasty.

2 1/2 cups orange juice
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp corn syrup
Mix together and chill.

After chilling add 3/4 cup of half & half with the zest from one orange.
Put it in your ice cream maker and viola!

I love making stuff from scratch. I can't wait to share the stuff I am planning for this week....

drug treatment

again...

I decided to do a little research on some of the questions and then tweaked a few of my answers. Here is what I got.

84% John Edwards
82% Barack Obama
81% Hillary Clinton
78% Bill Richardson
75% Chris Dodd
73% Joe Biden
67% Mike Gravel
57% Dennis Kucinich
47% Tom Tancredo
41% Rudy Giuliani
39% Mitt Romney
36% John McCain
29% Mike Huckabee
29% Fred Thompson
24% Ron Paul

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

Whew...glad to know I am off the Dennis trail - even though my marijuana answer stayed the same. With all this political talk and talking about the economy, I thought you might need a futures broker....I am not even sure what that is.

I LOVE it.

I'd say I am an armchair politician. I love politics but I have to admit I need to spend more time really researching the candidates before I make any decisions. Last weekend while with Millers I was greatly outnumbered by Republicans (as demonstrated in the cat issue - they'll all get that). One of Jake's family members (no names please) said he really likes John McCain. He then stated he does not like John Edwards and admits it may be because he ran as John Kerry's VP in the last election. Well, this week I heard (on the radio, of course) that John McCain was almost John Kerry's running mate last time. WHAT!? They called him a turn coat. OOOOOOooooohhhh. LOL. Anyhooo. I am a big John Edwards fan - I don't care how much he pays for his haircuts. I know he isn't the top dog right now but I think everyone should consider getting to know him a little better. In the debates he has presented himself very well. Yes, I am a dork and watch those things - and I am completely fascinated by them. Today I was browsing the web and I found this quiz. You answer questions and it tell you who is in line with your concerns/values. Here are my results. Do you need business performance management software?

78% Mike Gravel
77% John Edwards
77% Bill Richardson
72% Dennis Kucinich
72% Hillary Clinton
71% Barack Obama
64% Chris Dodd
62% Joe Biden
36% Mitt Romney
35% Rudy Giuliani
34% John McCain
34% Tom Tancredo
31% Ron Paul
29% Mike Huckabee
26% Fred Thompson

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

I don't even know who that first guy is but as you can see....John Edwards is my man. I did kinda like Bill Richardson but he dropped out. I would NEVER vote for Crazy Kucinich not that it matters because he dropped out too. BTW...Jake likes Fred Thompson (he also dropped out). Can we be any more different politically? I guess we just cancel each other out.

Another Ex-Men Story....I totally forgot about this one.

A couple of years ago I wrote a little weekly series called Ex-Men Monday (& Tuesday for a while). I got kinda bored with it and I quit doing it. Recently while reading through those AWFUL journals I came across a bunch of stuff I wrote about an old friend of mine. To keep him "anonymous" I will call him Rex. When I was 19 I moved to Georgia and lived with my Aunt Debbie. After a few months I decided to move home to Ohio. My best friend that I had since sixth grade had a serious boyfriend and things had really changed. When I got back to Vermilion she told me she wanted to fix me up with this guy, Rex. He was from Georgia and had moved with his family to this little town close to my home. Stephanie (my BF) worked with him. When I met him I was a little confused because Rex was short and little. I always liked guys that made me look smaller so this guy was obviously not for me. But because he didn't have any friends around and I was a little out of my element he and I became instant friends. We hung out together all the time. Sometimes he would just come over to eat my mom's food and other times we would go to the coffee shop together. He was into photography, as was I, so there were times where we would head somewhere with a pocket full of film and just take tons of pictures. We took a lot of pictures in old abandon buildings and cemeteries. Weird, I know. If I had time (which I don't) I would scan some of those pics in and show you - maybe later. Either way, along the way I decided I liked this guy. I think it was more that I didn't want anyone else to have him. Dumb. There is a bunch of stuff about him in those old journals. One time we went to this dance club in Cleveland called Smart Bar. We ran into this girl I knew who worked at Oberlin College. I introduced her to Rex and they immediately hit it off. I was so stupidly jealous. Tiffany was with me too (which is a story in itself because she was not even 18 yet and didn't have a fake ID instead she used a southern accent and we told the door guy she was from out of town and didn't have an ID like they don't use ID's down south or something! It worked!). Funny, we didn't drink when we went to those places. We mostly went to dance and act cool. I'm not saying we never had fun but seriously we were just trying to fit in. So....Rex is with this Oberlin girl, I get mad, Tiffany and I decide to leave. I told Rex we were leaving and he said I'll catch a ride home. WHAT! We laughed about it the whole way home. The next day Rex called and he had been stuck in Cleveland all night. My friend Stephanie went and picked him up the next day. He apologized, which I loved. Silly me. Well, there are so many more Rex stories - I could do a series on him. He was an outlaw (seriously) and quite mysterious. He had a motorcycle and liked really gross stuff. He called me DeathLilac. I don't know why. He and Stephanie ended up having a secret relationship until her boyfriend found out then they ended up dating for a long time. I was upset that they hid it from me but by then I had moved on. Rex ended up going to Kent and being friends with all my friends. We hung out together from time to time. Once he kissed me - YUCK - it was all wrong. We laughed about it. After college we lost touch but one day Stephanie called me and told me her aunt saw a wanted posters with "Rex" on it. I did a little research and sure enough he was wanted by the Federal government for stealing identities. He called himself Rex. He had swindled a bunch of money from some girl and was getting a government check for some dead guy. Crazy. He always said you could do that. Also when I was looking him up I found out he is a professional photographer - he even took pics of Tori Amos (one of my favs). He was eventually apprehended and has served his time. He is my friend on myspace. We talked once and he told me he got married, he never mentioned the whole being in jail thing. Crazy isn't it? Look at this volcom clothing.

A Miller Weekend in Photos....

If you head over to Stephanie's Blog she pretty much sums up the weekend so I guess I won't have to bother with that three part series. I don't know when I was going to get around to it anyhoo.... Here are pictures from the weekend.

Mamaw, Papaw & the grandkids taking a tour of the farm.

Our outing to Hillbilly Hotdogs.

The Wreck....

We ended up stuck at the store for two hours waiting for another vehicle and to talk with the police etc... It was an odd little store. This is the fish tank. Someone seriously needs to clean it.

What is worse....being stuck their or taking pictures of it like it was some sort of adventure?

Linda is still smiling (maybe delirious????).

Nolan was trying to win some money.

This one is from Sunday. Today Elise said Vivian is her best friend.

I would say it was a typical Miller weekend except no on threw up. Other than that....well, you can see it was interesting. The only other thing that could have added to the weekend would be these funny t-shirts!

Wordless Wednesday....I used to be a little girl, too.

wordless wednesday

A Test....

Here is my first challenge...it is snowing fiercely outside. So, do I go to the gym for my jump rope class or do I stay home in my cozy home. Hmmmm. I have 40 minutes to decide.

On another note, we had a VERY exciting weekend with the Millers. I plan to do a three part series this week. Stay tuned for that. I am going to try to get to it today. It is always an adventure with those Millers.

One last tidbit - I am going to be doing some freelance work over at All Things Simple. I am pretty excited to have a paid gig. I figure since I pretty much HATE tv these days I should spend more time writing. I do have news for those tv writers - once they loose me I won't be going back. Jake and I have been spending a lot of time over at the Travel Channel (Andrew Zimmerman) & Discovery (Dirty Jobs!).

Okay, now I have 36 minutes to decide....good time for a self assessment.

Just a few things....

OMGosh....so busy as ever. Here are a few things I want to tell you. I went to my class yesterday and my legs are not sore today - that is a good sign. I've been working out and I have now lost EIGHT pounds. Yeah. I'd feel better about it if I hadn't gained 10 over the holidays but what can I do about that now? I did ride the bike this week and have yet to try the elliptical. I guess I will get around to it.

Remember Justiene? She called me this week to let me know she is going on a date with a guy named Elom. Guess what...he used to be Amish! I LOVE it. I can't wait to hear how it goes. I am excited for her. Hopefully he is a nice guy.

I went to pottery last night and tried the wheel again. I decided to give it one more try before I gave up... It went great. I made two decent sized and pretty cool bowls. I am excited beyond belief. Hopefully I can glaze them next week and post pictures soon. Other than that the crafting has been at a stand still. I have a lot of work to do.

We are going away for the upcoming COLD weekend. I may or may not post while we are gone.

A Mustard Memory....

I've been taking a look at those journals and I really don't think I have the guts to share them with you. Seriously, I was so immature (and mean). I am truly embarrassed. It is funny though...there are a lot of things I wrote about in there that have stirred up some memories. Isn't it odd how that works? There are things I COMPLETELY forgot about. Crazy. I do remember this one thing....I think it is funny. Most of my readers are my age or older so you will probably remember those Grey Poupon commercials where there was two cars next to each other, the window would roll down and one person would ask the other, "Excuse me but do you have any Grey Poupon?" They would say it in some rich, high society type accent. They were funny commercials. Well, one day I was in the car with my Mom. We were stopped at a red light in Elyria. There was a car load of teens (I was in high school at the time) next to us. They rolled down their window and motioned for my Mom to do the same. She did (my how times have changed!). I think we thought they were going to ask for directions or something. But the guy said, "Excuse me, do you have any Grey Poupon?" My Mom very quickly replied, "Well, first let me ask you a question....Are those Bugle Boy jeans you are wearing?" You may remember there was a Bugle Boy campaign at the time where people would go around asking people that question. Those kids cracked up. They certainly weren't expecting her to be so cleaver. It was fun.

So, fast forward to today. Grey Poupon is still a great mustard but it obviously isn't just for rich people (which is what I thought back then!). Lucky for me, I was given two jars of the latest and greatest from the mustard world and asked to sample them then tell you what I honestly think about it. Isn't blogging so cool? I was so excited to be able to do this. Either way, the day I got the mustard in the mail I almost immediately whipped myself up a sammie. I decided to go with the course ground version. OH MY GOODNESS. It is so good. It is relatively low in calories and pretty spicy (which I love!!!). There are other ways you can use mustard you know.... Last night during my pottery class this woman was telling me that she uses it on chicken all the time. Here is basically what she does....takes a chicken breast cuts in open and stuff with asparagus & cheese - smears it with mustard and coats with crushed corn flakes - then bakes. She said you can prepare it ahead of time or the day you want to bake it. She said it is one of her favorite recipes. I can't wait to try it. If you check out the website they have all sorts of delicious sounding recipes. Then you can have a mustard memory in the making!

Elise being cute....

Elise asked me if we could have snake for dinner. I said, steak? She said, no, snake. I told her we don't eat snake. She got all frustrated and tried to explain to me she wanted snake like the snake we had before. So, I asked her if she meant the animal that has no legs and makes a hissing noise. She said yes. I asked her if she ate it before....she looked at me like DUH, we eat it all the time. So, apparently all along she has thought we were eating snake and she liked it. I swear my kids would eat anything.

Then we were at the library and she went running for the elevator and yelled, Mommy, lets ride in the alligator. I love this age!

truck accessories

Bounce It Out.....

Okay, now we are going to do a bounce lunge. Lunge, lunge, left, right....one more. Alright, that is great now bounce it out. No, I am not going crazy. It is the latest class I signed up for. Oh wait....I didn't just sign up for it - I signed Jake up too. It was called Aerobic Ball Bounce. I had NO IDEA what that meant. I just knew it was at a time Jake and I could both do it. So, Saturday we made our way to the gym. If you haven't been keeping track I'll tell you - it made four days in a row for me. That is more than I went to the gym all last year! Once we got there Jake wanted to leave. He told me he was going to go ride a bike (or do the ellipticals.) He was the only guy in the class but luckily it was the same teacher from the other class I took and only a handful of other women. I think there was 5 of us total. Not bad. The class started with us sitting on one of the big aerobic balls and just bouncing. Then we had to get our arms into it. It was fun. Then she kicked it up and we were doing everything from jumping jacks to push ups (all with the ball), lunges and kicks. Then in the end we did a bunch of those yoga type stretches. I think the class was so fun. Ridiculous but fun. I laughed the entire time. I didn't see anyone in the class that was graceful on their ball but I'd have to admit Jake and I were the comedy of the class. Jake told me I laughed too much and he wasn't standing my me next time. LOL. I'll have to say, the class may have been fun but it kicked our butts. We were both sweating like pigs. And I am still sore today. Jake complained all week-end that he was sore. I can't wait to go back.

BTW....Jake gives you his take on the class on his blog. Check it out.

Avery Girl...

If you notice, she has a few hair clips in thanks to big sister Elise making her hair "pretty".

And The Adventure Continues....

I am really behind on my blogging so I may post several times today. I hope ya'll can keep up.

It has really been quite an adventurous week. I haven't even told you the half of it....Bhangra was only the beginning. Later that day I went and had an Herbal Therapy Body Wrap. I won it on the radio. It was interesting. Basically I stripped down to my undies and this lady came in and measured all sorts of places on my body. Then she proceeded to wrap my body in gauze that had been soaked in an assortment of herbs. It would have been humiliating but honestly after having three kids and that Bhangra class I basically have no dignity so to be honest....I didn't even care. So, she gets me wrapped up real good and she asks me if I was just interested in my butt being smaller or if I wanted a little "lift". I told her to give me the lift - she wrapped more gauze in a way she was trying to pick up my butt flab. Nice, I know. After that process is complete she asked me to put on this plastic sweat suit. I was wrapped so tight I couldn't even bend over, so she had to help me in. Then she put me in this darkened room with very bad music and I am supposed to sit there for an hour! ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? Sitting is the last thing I want to do. I hate sitting around. At this point I didn't have a choice so I sat down. I hadn't expected the sitting part so I didn't bring a book and by time I spotted the magazines across the room the lady was gone and I couldn't get up by myself so...... I eventually started digging through my purse to find something to do and came across my Ipod, which I had put in my purse for moments like this (needless to say, this was the first time I used it). I was going a little crazy so I decided to text message Jake. I am soooo slow at texting and since it cost 15 cents per text I was trying to get my monies worth and was writing a LONG text. Right in the middle of it - he called and my phone erased the whole thing. Dang - but I saved 15 cents. After my hour of sitting the lady came back, unwrapped and remeasured me. She said I lost 11.5 inches, which basically came out to 1/4 inch here and 1/2 inch there. They measure a lot of places. I did loose like an inch from my waist (supposedly). I am a bit skeptical. On the way out they gave me a hard sell sales pitch which I declined but I did buy an introductory wrap for Jacki because she was watching the kids. Hopefully she will give you a review on her new blog. In the end I think I would rather pay to have a massage but if I had another free wrap I guess I would do it. They sell them in packs of 6 - perhaps these women who pay $349 need some sort of addiction treatment.

Oh, the fun didn't stop there. When I got home Jude got his toe smashed in Elise's closet door. There was some blood and a lot of crying. He is fine. Jake took him to the doctor the next day and they put a hole in his toenail to relieve the pressure. I guess it was gross - glad I didn't go. The doctor sent him in for an xray but it isn't broken so that is good.

Thursday was a very crazy day.

BHANGRA VIDEO

Here is what Bhangra looks like.

Bhangra

Man it has been a busy week. At the beginning of each quarter I sit down with all the local brochures (YMCA, Metro Parks, Library, Quirk, etc...) and schedule things to do. I take the time and write down what is going on where on my calendar. Some things are classes that are written in stone, others are just in case I am looking for something to do. This way we don't just sit around watching T.V. all day. During the week it isn't a problem for us but on the weekends it seems to be. Plus, I get depressed in the winter. The gloom and cold drives me crazy. I start to get a little nutty. So, I force myself to leave the warmth of my house. I was getting out about once a week during the day but I decided it wasn't enough. AND - I have that resolution to get healthier. So far, so good, although I have eaten out WAY too much this past week. When Jake is away I have a difficult time getting dinner on the table (excuses excuses, I know). Anyhoo...I signed everyone in the family up for classes at the YMCA. Jude is in Basketball (I'll have to tell you all about it another time), Elise and I are taking a kid gym class and Jake and I are in this ball aerobics class (I am pretty sure it is going to severely kick our butts). I still wanted to take another class to get me in the gym during the week and while it is still light outside. So, I looked through the book and found this class called Bhangra. The brochure described it as this:

Bhangra is an aerobic class giving you a full body
workout while teaching some traditional dance from
India. Burn calories and have fun doing this trendy
new class.

Now that doesn't sound bad does it? Not at all....I think it sounds fun. I all but begged my friend, Sherry to take it with me. She looked at the description and laughed. She told her husband I am weird. I guess I can accept that. I am a little weird. But I thought it sounded more fun than Power Cycling (yikes!!!!)

So, yesterday was the big day for my class. It starts at 9 A.M. so it was a big deal to get out of the house with the kids dressed and fed by 8:30 -a workout in itself. I accomplished it. I was a little nervous since I haven't taken a class like this for quite some time (years and years). When I get to the room I am introduced to a bubbly woman wearing all black (note to self: good choice on the black pants & tank top you picked). She told me to get my shoes and socks off (another note to self: paint your toenails when you get home!) She then told me to pick out a couple of scarfs from the box and tie them to my middle finger (yet another note to self: you are weird! what are you doing here???) Before long several other woman join the group, from all walks of life - none of them look weird. So, the class starts and the teacher is explaining the dance moves. I was obviously the only one who had not been to a Bhangra class before. So, she was basically explaining them for me. What can I say....the moves were very foreign to me. What did I expect. I've never been a great dancer. My motto was always if you can't sing or dance well at least do it funny. This was definitely funny. There was yelling. I think they were saying Bali Bali. I am not sure. It was fun but I guess I need to loosen up a little. At one point (I think when we were doing the "sexy arms" move) I just stopped and started laughing hysterically. I was just thinking about how GLAD I was that my friend Sherry was not there to see me make a complete arse of myself. At the end we did these stretches that were some Yoga moves (I have never taken Yoga and I am NOT flexible at all). One move was called a can opener. Funny. Overall the class was good and I can't wait until next week. Every muscle in my body is sore today - I didn't expect that. I hope it is better for my aerobics on Saturday. I'll let you know how it goes!

Are you interested in computer rental?

New Blogs in Town....

I just received an email from my Aunt Shelia introducing her new blog. I am so excited. She is my Mom's sister (and neighbor). She has been battling an aggressive form of breast cancer (Inflammatory or IBC) for about two years now. If you remember the Correction G blog from a while back...that is her son. Speaking of which, I wonder whatever happened to that blog.... Well, stop on over at my Aunt's new blog and make sure you bookmark it! It is called Only the Lonely.

The other new blog is from Jacki. I know some of you keep up with her blog. She started a new one called In My Opinion. She is going to be reviewing books, movies, shows, and many other things. I am interested in seeing what she comes up with.

I Made It From Scratch....I might be getting good at this.

The other day I went to the grocery store without a list. I know, bad idea. Of course, I forgot several things. One of the items was Pita Bread. I needed it for a meal I had planned. Since it was a very busy week I and I never made it back to the grocery store, I decided to make it from scratch. It turned out okay. I think it needed a little more salt. No one complained. Here are the pics and the recipe.

Elise helped roll out the dough. She likes to eat flour too (note the evidence on her face.)

This is what they looked like after the rolling out process.

Fresh out of the oven. Only some of them puffed up but all of them had a pocket...how the heck does that happen???

Hey, I was just following the recipe. It says to soften them in a paper bag but it doesn't give a length of time. I waited 10 minutes....note to self - not long enough.

I chopped up some veggies and part of a chicken I stretched this week - added a few seasonings and cooked. (Like my new pan???)

Pocket Proof

There's my boy...loving the "dough" (that is what he called the pitas).

Wait, she doesn't have anything to do with pitas! But she's cute and I wanted you to see her.

Pita Recipe from Allrecipes.com

• 1 1/8 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1. Place all ingredients in bread pan of your bread machine, select Dough setting and start. When dough has risen long enough, machine will beep.
2. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Gently roll and stretch dough into a 12 inch rope. With a sharp knife, divide dough into 8 pieces. Roll each into a smooth ball. With a rolling pin, roll each ball into a 6 to 7 inch circle. Set aside on a lightly floured countertop. cover with a towel. Let pitas rise about 30 minutes until slightly puffy.
3. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C). Place 2 or 3 pitas on a wire cake rack. Place cake rack directly on oven rack. Bake pitas 4 to 5 minutes until puffed and tops begin to brown. Remove from oven and immediately place pitas in a sealed brown paper bag or cover them with a damp kitchen towel until soft. Once pitas a softened, either cut in half or split top edge for half or whole pitas. They can be stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for 1 or 2 months.

I Reminisce....

For the last year I have been working hard on getting rid of stuff (to make room for all my thrift store finds ha!) - no really just to clear out stuff. My other goal has been to find a proper place for everything. Instead of having junk drawers in every room I am trying to actually have a spot for things like pens, batteries and store receipts. It has really been rewarding. I still have clutter and my house will never be as clean as my mothers but I think it is okay.

In the process of all this I came across four old journals of mine...from high school and college. YIKES. Some of the things I can't even believe I wrote. A while back someone was mad about something I wrote on my blog and she left me a message saying if I wanted to write my private thoughts I should get a diary! Oh, the drama. Little did she know, I am going to share my diary with you. Not everything but every now and then I am going to open it up and give you a peak. I hope it doesn't bore you. I figure it will probably inspire more of those old crazy stories from my life that everyone loved reading. Oh, and I came across a few letters tucked away in the journals so look for them to show up on Dear Delilah!

I know you hate to comment but try to give me feedback on this. If you hate the idea I will probably scrap it.

Date Unknown
I dreamed I was driving my car along a set of roller coaster tracks. They were brightly, varied colors. I was late for work but I didn't care. Now I am sitting in class, thinking about those roller coaster tracks.

I used to work at Cedar Point - I probably wrote this then.

Crazy. After reviewing the journals (just now) I probably won't be sharing too much (I do have some dignity!) and will be having a bonfire. Just kidding (sorta).

Thursday Thirteen....Goodwill Hunting

For me Goodwill Hunting has a different meaning than the movie title. I LOVE Goodwill (are you sick of hearing about it?). Every time I go there I am amazed that I find stuff I actually wanted or even needed. I get so excited about it. There is this one cashier who works there...we have somewhat of a personality clash. I don't know how to explain it. I always tell Jake about her so when he went with me she was all nice and friendly. Of course....made me look silly. It made me see her a little differently so I have been trying to be more tolerant of her quirks. When I am go to pay for the treasures I have found I can barely contain myself. Sometimes I will say...do you know what a fabulous deal this is??? This item would cost _____ at a regular store. She always looks at me like I am crazy. I don't think she likes her job very much. Last night I went shopping and my cart was packed....this is the best time to shop - everyone is getting rid of the old to make room for the new. One of the other girls who works there commented that I was buying out the store. I know it is sad that the employees at Goodwill recognize me and talk to me like an old friend. I listen to talk radio all day, feed the squirrels and I am a regular at the local thrift store. I am a weirdo.

Here is a list of 13 things I have bought at Goodwill. Many of the items were BRAND STINKIN NEW!!!!

1. Starbucks French Press $3.20
2. Born Shoes (never worn!!!) $3
3. Books (Rachel Ray cookbook, Jodi Picoult, others fresh off the shelves of Borders) .50 - $1
4. Eddie Bauer Sweater (with tags!!!!) $3.99
5. Scrapbooks - in packaging $2.40 each
6. Evenflo Megasaucer Circus - very clean and looks new $3.25
7. Cricut Diecut Cartridge - George Font (rare) $3ish
8. Pottery Craft augratin dish & covered one quart bean pot (beautiful!!!) $4.80 total
9. Plantoys oval xylophone $1.20
10. Cleveland Browns Cap (with tags!!! I bought this one in TN while visiting my mom) $1
11. Curiosity Kits Chocolate Monster Pops kit in the wrapper $2
12. Twister Moves DVD edition (open but almost never used) $1.30
13. Full Size Sheet Pan (two of them) $4.80 for both.

Oh, my list could go on and on, although I have never seen bathroom vanities there.Doesn't it make you want to run out and check out your local thrift store????

thursday thirteen

A Not So Silent Night....

If you go HERE you can see a few pictures from our church Christmas play. Jude was a donkey and Elise was a sheep, although she wouldn't keep her costume on. Jude asked if he could wear his the next day. Strange kid. It was a cute play. It was our kids first Christmas play. I forgot my camera so I am waiting for my friends to email us the pics (hint, hint).

Wordless Wednesday...Cousins

wordless wednesday

Goodbye 2007.....Hello 2008

Wow, time really does fly when you are having fun. 2007 was, let's say, eventful for the Miller family. Here is a little recap...

The year started in a very drab place. I had lost my job unexpectedly and in the process lost several friends. We had just left our old church. We took a lot of slack and lost friends over that too. As you know, I wrote about the whole thing on my blog and that was, of course, met with angry retaliation. BTW...when I wrote that post about people being angry that we left the church and not liking us anymore, well, I was hoping any of those people would tell me I was wrong. Turns out I wasn't. I guess there was a lot more going on at that place and maybe they thought I knew more than I did but I didn't. I just wanted my old friends back. It all seems silly now. I know some of the old church people read my blog so before you go getting all worked up - I am not saying anything bad about you. It was a bunch of crap that happened and I am so over it. There are bigger things in this world. Just know, if I ever see you out - I will talk to you. If you ignore me I will just talk louder (can't you just see this scene in the middle of the mall!). Ha. So that is where we were when the year began last year. Oh yeah...I was pregnant and barfing my guts out. That was not fun but oh so worth it. Because now we have little Avery Skye to we finally got to meet in late July. She is so sweet and we are blessed to have our three kids. I really feel like our life would be boring and empty without them. Jude and Elise have grown so much in the last year. Jude has really lost that "baby" in his face (sniff, sniff). Okay, back to the year in review. We had a great summer. The kids and I went to the little wading pool several times a week and spent a lot of time outside. I love fresh air. I am going to have to suck it up and just go outside during the winter. We traveled this year. We didn't take a vacation away but did go to Tennessee and West Virginia many times. The visits never seem long enough. We finished the year strong with Jake's responsibilities beefing up at work, which means more money but also more travel. It is a great job - also a blessing to our family- sometimes I forget. So that is 2007 in a nutshell.

As I look ahead to 2008 I have big hopes. I think it is going to be a great year for us. We have big plans for getting healthy, so we can live to see grandchildren. I decided I want to live to see Jude turn 60. I'd be almost 90. I think it is possible. We aren't going on a "diet" but we are going to start exercising and eating healthier. I want to watch less T.V. and read more books. I think I am going to add a list to my blog of the books I read, as I read them. I also want to do some big art/craft shows in the fall so, I need to start creating and stocking up. I am going to do all this while catching up on my scrapbooks. I am already in the designing stages. I want to work on them a little everyday. If I cut out the nightly T.V. it should be easy to do. Oh yeah, one last thing I am working on - less complaining. Well, I have been working on that one for about a month already (have you noticed?). By this time next year, Avery will be walking, Elise will be potty trained and Jude will be in school. Wow. We also should have considerably less debt. Thanks to Aunt Nancy we have a subscription to Debt Proof Living. I started reading yesterday and have tons of ideas now. We aren't going to stress about buying a house until we are absolutely financially ready. Where we live isn't horrible.

So, there is is - the past and the future. Do any of you have resolutions?

Have a great new year!

Jacki, do you need to know about military relocation?

Happy New Year....

I wanted to wish you a happy new year. I plan to post a real post later but today I spent my time updating my myspace. You can check it out.