December's almost gone - which is really strange since I swear it was just last weekend that we did our Imagine Christmas production. But the calendar tells me it was actually quite a number of weeks ago; and the calender doesn't lie.

The month is a blur. A crazy, exhausting, emotional, joyful, rollercoster blur. Truthfully, I am kinda glad it is almost over.

I thought I would share a random story from my day: I am driving to church this morning with the children in the backseat, talking to Mark on the phone. Lance and Tyler keep trying to get my attention, but I am trying to finish my conversation with Mark. They get more insistent, so I pause my conversation to see what they need. They promptly inform me that the guy in the car next to us was on America's Most Wanted last night and we need to call the hotline to turn him in.

Ah. It was the best part of my day.

You're a kid of the 90's if...

You can finish this [ice ice _ _ _ _ ]

And im blue da ba de da ba die!!! aka im in need of a guy!

You remember watching:
-Doug.
-Ren & Stimpy.
-Pinky and the Brain.
-AAAAAAAH Real Monsters!
-Rockos modern Life.
-RUGRATS =]


You've ever ended a sentence with the word "PSYCHE!"

You just cant resist finishing this . . . "Iiiiiiin west philidelphia born and raised . . ."

You remember:
-Full house.
-Step by Step.
-Family Matters!!!
-Dinosaurs.
-Boy Meets World!!!!
-Double Dare.


You remember when it was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watch cartoons.

You got super excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school.

You remember reading "Goosebumps"

You took plastic cartoon lunch boxes to school.

You still get the urge to say "NOT" after (almost) every sentence . . . not

when everyhting was settled by:
-rock paper scissors or
-bubble gum bubble gum in a dish or
-daddy had a donkey inky binky bonky.
-skunk in the barn yard
-ms. mary mack
-big mac a tea a tea


when cops and robbers was a daily activity.

when we played Hide and go seek until our legs grew numb.

when we used to obey our parents

You used to listen to the radio all day long just to record your FAVORITE song of ALL time.

"Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?" was both a game and a TV game show.

Captain Planet. He's a Hero.

You knew that Kimberly, the pink ranger, and Tommy, the green ranger, were meant to be together.

You remember when Super Nintendos and Sega Genisis became popular.

You always wanted to send in a tape to America's Funniest Home Videos . . . but never taped anything funny.

You remember watching Home Alone 1, 2 , and 3 . . . and tried to pull the pranks on "intruders"

You remember watching:
-The Magic School Bus.
-Wishbone.
-Reading Rainbow.
-and Ghostwriter on PBS.


You remember when Yo-Yos were cool.

You remember those Where's Waldo books.

You remember eating Warheads.

You remember watching:
-the 1st Batman
-Aladdin
-Ninja Turtles
-Animporphs
-ghost busters


You remember Ring Pops.

You remember drinking Surge, and Tang.

If you remember when every thing was "da BOMB!"

When they made the new lunchables so that you could make pizza AND tacos.

You remember boom boxes vs. cd players.

Making those little paper fortune cookie things, and then predicting your life with them.

You played and/or collected "Pogs" :)

You had at least one Tamagotchi, GigaPet, or Nano and brought it everywhere.

one word. . . . . . . . Furbies.

You haven't always had a computer, and it was cool to have the internet.

And Windows 95 was the best.

You watched the original cartoons of Rugrats, Power Rangers, and Ninja Turtles.

Michael Jordan was a king.

YIKES pencils and erasers were the stuff!

All your school supplies were "Lisa Frank" brand.

You remember when the new Beanie Babies and Talking Elmo were always sold out

You collected those Beanie Babies.

Carebears

Gak was the coolest stuff invented.

Lambchop's song never ended.

The old dollar bills.

Silver dollars, which were cool to have.

Everyone watched the WB and yelled at people who interupted them.

You collected all the Troll dolls

If you even know what an original walkman is.

if you still have one.

You remember wanting to sit on the orange Nickelodeon couch.

You've gotten creeped out by "Are You Afraid of the Dark?"

You know the Macarena by heart.

"Talk to the hand" . . . enough said

You always said, "Then why don't you marry it!"

You went to McDonald's to play in the playplace.

You remember playing on merry go rounds at the playground.

Before the MySpace frenzy . . .

Before the Internet & text messaging . . .

Before Sidekicks & iPods . . .

Before MIKE JONES . . .

Before PlayStation2 or X-BOX . . .

Before Spongebob . . .

Back when you put off the 5 hours of homework you had every night.

When light up sneakers were cool.

When you rented VHS tapes, not DVDs.

When gas was $0.95 a gallon & Caller ID was a new thing.

When we recorded stuff on VCRs.

When we called the radio station to request songs to hear off of our walkman.

When checking out drawing books and that one book about the rainbow fish from the library was THE cool thing to do.

You had slap bracelets!

Way back.

Before we realized all this would eventually disappear.

Super taster???

his lecture and learned some very interesting tOur friend Lucas is working on his graduate degree in Neuro-Science at UC Davis in Northern California - so he came over to our house to spend Thanksgiving with Mark and me this year. He is a TA for a professor there and is giving a lecture on Tuesday about taste. (I got a preview ofhings about my tastebuds.)
Lucas became convinced that I was a "supertaster," meaning that I have an above-average number of tastebuds in my mouth. To prove his theory we coated my tongue in blue food coloring. Apparently, blue food coloring will dye your whole tongue blue except your tastebuds - allowing you to count them.

Here's a picture of my blue tongue:Unfortunately, Lucas could not determine from that test if I was a supertaster or not. But he did take some pictures of my tongue for his research.

It was fun...it an odd sort of neuro-science way.

Illinois Bliss

Mark and me on the Peoria riverfront.
Mark and me in front of the bonfire my Dad built Tuesday night.
Me and my friend Laura on the field at the Whitesox stadium.
Me, Mark, Suzanne, Peter, Laura and Dad in the stands at the Whitesox Stadium.
Mark and a gorilla at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

We all had a great time. Lots of treasured memories.

Synopsis

Much has happened in a short time. Here's a synopsis:

Went to Illinois. Had a great time.
Came home and went to UNR/Hawaii game.
Car was burglarized while at the game.
Purse/keys/laptop stolen. Window smashed.
Very angry/annoyed/inconvenienced.
Window fixed. Bank accounts a mess.
Had a super Thanksgiving.
Back to work.

A Delicious Moment

Warning: If the November 1st episode of Survivor: China is still in your TiVo not yet watched...I am going to spoil the ending.

I'm sorry - but could there have been a better way for Jamie to have been sent home? The entire episode I was dying to know if she was going to be ridiculous enough to play the fake immunity idol. I will admit that I was yelling at the TV hoping it was going to be so.

And it was so. Perhaps I should have more compassion on her in light of her humiliation. I highly doubt she will ever live down Jeff Probst throwing her fake idol in the fire. But reveled in the moment and did a little dance when her fire was extinguished.

Now to vote off her counterpart, Phee-Gee.

At long last....

Just like Steve posted a few days ago...A picture is worth a thousand words.

Road trip

So last Monday Mark and I took a little road trip to Hope Valley and Markleville to see some fall colors. We were about a week late to see anything good in Hope Valley. Most of the leaves had already fallen off the trees. But we stopped in several places in Markleville and got some really pretty pictures. Here is a little photo journey....

It was the best day I have had in a long time. :)

Lessons learned

How much do you look like Jesus? My three year old step-son Lance got me to thinking about that question today.

This weekend we had a powerful drama in our services in which Jesus was portrayed in the traditional first century garb.

He saw the drama during rehearsal this morning and only had one question for me: "Why is Jesus here at church?" Tyler, my six year old stepson had the answer - "It's not really Jesus. Just some guy that looks like him."

Just some guy that looks like him. It got me to thinking. How many people were present this weekend that looked like Jesus? How much do I look like Jesus?

Ya think we were tired?

My husband and I had dinner plans last night. Too bad we both fell asleep on the couch at 6:30 and didn't wake up until 10:00 pm. We just scratched dinner altogether and crawled into bed. Unfortunately Mark had to get up and go to work at dark-thirty - but I was blissfully asleep until 9:00 am this morning.

Ah, sleep.

I have been thinking a lot lately about writing a book about Step-Parenting. Granted, I have not held the title all that long - but it's one of those trial by fire things. You learn a lot in a short amount of time.

In my opinion (and since this is my book it gets to be all about my opinion!!), I think the number one scariest and most frustrating thing about step-parenting is loneliness. Very briefly, this is why I think that...

Step-parenting is hard. Every single day you have thoughts and emotions (not all bad ones, but a barrage of them nonetheless) that you don't know what to do with. Some that you think are too horrible to say out loud. Some that you think no one else on the planet must have ever thought about step-parenting. Image management keeps you from talking about them with others - especially your spouse. And so you are prone to getting trapped in this self-made box of loneliness.

I know I have had experiences talking to other step-parents where I find out that "oh my gosh. They have some of the same thoughts that I do. Cool. I'm not the only one."

I want to write the book not because I think I have great or new things to say. I want to write the book so someone can read it and think, "Praise God that I am not the only person to have ever experienced this." There is comfort in knowing that you are not alone.

I have a GREAT title: "Try Not To Pee On Your Children - and Other Life Lessons Learned as A Step-Parent."

Catchy...isn't it??

Perhaps it deserves a little explanation.

Dogs mark their territory by peeing on things. Hydrants, bushes, couches...whatever. They put their scent on things so that when another dog walks by they will smell the other dogs pee and know that dog has been there. I have observed that parents can be the same way. They don't literally pee on their children, but they mark their territory in other subtle ways. I think on of the greatest gifts a step-parent can RECEIVE is when both natural parents give their children permission to love the step-parent with a wild abandon. In essence, when they do not pee on their children.

Mark's ex-wife Lisa is actually really great at this. She gives both Lance and Tyler permission to love me. One of the greatest moments for me as a Step-parent was a direct result of this. We were dropping the kids off at Lisa's and I was sitting in the car. Long story short Lisa came out to say hi to me and the kids followed her outside. Lance opened the car door, and climbed up into my lap to give me a hug goodbye. In front of his mom. That might not seem like a big deal if you aren't a Step-parent...but trust me when I say it is!

Anyway, the book is mostly percolating in my brain right now. One of these days I will put it to paper.

mmm mmm good...

I love muffins. And lately I have been in the mood to make some. I came across a recipe for Banana Muffins and Apple Streusel Muffins that I thought I would share.

The Banana Muffin recipe I found on the Internet. I admit I changed it a little...I added brown sugar, vanilla and chocolate chips to the recipe and they tasted...well...tasty!

Banana Muffins (makes 12 muffins)
1 1/2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
3 large bananas mashed
1 tsp Baking Powder
3/4 cup sugar (1/2 white, 1/2 brown sugar)
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 Egg
1/2 tsp Salt 1/3 cup butter, melted (you can sub 1/2 cup applesauce for healthier muffins!!)
1/2 tsp Vanilla chocolate chips (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat Muffin pans with non-stick spray, or use paper liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
2. Combine bananas, sugar, egg, melted butter (or applesauce), vanilla in a large bowl. Fold in flour mixture until smooth. Scoop in muffin tins.
3. Bake in preheated oven 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.


My Aunt Karen writes and published cookbooks. I was flipping through one of them the other day and came across this Apple Streusel Muffin Recipe. Turns out that it was my grandmother's recipe (she died about 10 years ago of breast cancer.) These are a lot more work than the banana muffins - but really good!

Apple Streusel Muffins (makes 12 muffins)
1 1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
1/4 tsp allspice
2 large eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup margarine, melted
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup apple, diced
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400. Mix flour, sugar, allspice, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and baking soda in large bowl. In another bowl, combine sour cream, eggs, butter and apple; blend well. Pour over dry ingredients and mix only until moistened. Spoon into muffin pans. Top with streusel topping and bake for about 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Streusel Topping
1/2 cup chopped nuts
2 tbs margarine
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
3 tbs sugar

Combine all ingredients together and mix until crumbly.

Both muffins are delicious. I doubled each recipe because 12 muffins would not last 12 minutes in my house...

Enjoy!

Home Sweet Home

I really love our house. I love where it is. I love that it is something tangible that Mark and I can change and adapt to meet our family needs.

But I really love our view. Late last week it rained - and this is what greeted us in our front yard...

Ignorance is Bliss

As if I needed to add to my car saga...

Tonight after church I popped my hood to add water to the cooling system. I found what I least expected. A family of mice and their nest. On top of my engine block. I screamed. So did Lance.

They ran down into my engine. Not out of my engine mind you...but into the engine. The entire way home I kept waiting for a mouse to drop out of the front of the car and onto my foot (you know...the one on the accelerator.) I had to continually give myself a pep talk: "Jeanne, if a mouse drops onto your foot you must remain calm. You cannot kill your stepchildren by freaking out and running into a tree. Remain calm."

As it turns out I made it home without the car breaking down or a mouse trying to eat my foot. However, about three minutes from home Tyler notices an unpleasant aroma. I tell him it is because of the recent fire about 6 miles from our home. But I suspect it is something much more sinister. Cooked mouse.

Yuck.

So I Think He Can Dance

Go Neil!!

I hope you voted for him.

We shall find out tonight!

Surprise me.

I love it when I listen to a new song and I am surprised by a chord. I'm rockin' along to I - IV - V - I and BAM!

There it is.

A sweet chord.

The kind that makes you smile.

The kind that restores my faith in the creative songwriting process.

mmmmmm. I love it.

They can definately dance

There are nights when I am not a fan of Mia Michaels. Like her alien bug routine a few weeks ago with Lauren and Neil. Many times I just don't get it.

But tonight...

The dance she choreographed was nothing short of exceptional. Breathtaking, really. In the dance she is reunited in heaven with her father that she lost to cancer two years ago. It was simply unreal the way the dance moved me. Lacey and Neil told the story so beautifully that I couldn't help but sit on my couch in awe and cry.

If you have it on Tivo, stop reading this and go watch it. It's worth it.

One of those days.

Yup. Just one of those days.

My car's broken. Again. I got home this afternoon, parked it in the rocks (it's leaking oil now so I'm not allowed to park in the driveway), and it promptly overheated, spurted steam everywhere and dumbed the contents of my cooling system on the ground. Again. I wanted to scream.

Mark pulls in the driveway 30 seconds later. I yell for him to come see. The first thing he says?? "Well, good thing you aren't parked in the driveway. That would have made a mess."

WHAT? I'm sorry...I am now without a vehicle AGAIN and the first thing he thinks about is the cement in the driveway. And honestly, I can't understand why it matters what the cement in the driveway looks like. It's a driveway. You drive on it. It's gonna get dirty.

At this point I have no idea what to do about the car. It has been in the repair shop twice now in the last three weeks and this is still happening. So I do what any girl would do. I called Dad.

He was no help. "Well Jeanne, it sounds like a really slow leak that is going to be hard to find."

He tells me to fill it with water and drive it till it comes up to temperature, but hopefully not overheating, so I can try and pinpoint where the leak is. I'm sorry...but on my list of things to do when I got up this morning that was SSSSOOOOOOO not on it. As if I want to go drive my unreliable car around so I can possibly strand myself on the side of the road in 100 degree weather so I can possibly try and ascertain where this tiny little leak is. I may have picked up some auto repair skills from my father but that was NOT ONE OF THEM.

Rewind. Mark and I are in the driveway watching my car steam and spit. He tells me he's glad I didn't get his driveway dirty. I want to kick him. But I can't do that. So what do I do? I start kicking my car. Hard. I was really trying to dent it. Had I been holding a bat I probably would have used it. But I wasn't so I had to use what was available and that was my foot. It sorta hurt but I was oddly satisfied having kicked it. My dad would not have approved. Neither did Mark.

Yup. Just one of those days.

Arrrggghhhh Matey!

It's a really long story.

Here's the short version:

About a month ago Tyler was at a birthday party and got shot in the eye with a foam dart. He was sorta devastated, but really fine.

Later that evening while trying to get him to fall asleep (the poor guy was having a rough night) he confesses to me that he is still really upset about his eye and thinks an eye patch will heal it.

"I'm sorry sweetie, I don't have an eye patch to give you."
"Well can we go to the store and get one?"
"Not tonight...it's already really late."
"Tomorrow?"
"Sure, tomorrow."

It's not Halloween. We couldn't find an eye patch. More devastation for our six year old. Mark convinced him that we could make him an eye patch if he really wanted something to cover his eye. He assured us it wasn't as good as the real thing, but that it was better than nothing. The picture details what we came up with.

He was happy. But asked that we remove it 15 minutes later. We couldn't help but laugh.

You can bet this picture is coming back out when his first girlfriend comes around... :)

mmmmm meat

I don't like spaghetti. I have no idea why because I love all other sorts of pasta. Just not spaghetti. My husband loves spaghetti. With lots of sauce. And lots of meat.

And although I do not love spaghetti I love my husband. So I made spaghetti for dinner the other night. Here is Mark enjoying the meal. He was so happy at dinner that I just had to take his picture. (the bowl to the right of his plate is the extra meat I didn't put in the sauce. Hence another reason he was so happy. A whole bowl of meat just for him.)