Random Dozen

It's time for another random dozen questions. Below are my answers. Feel free to put some answers of your own in the comments. To read more answers, click on the button.

1. What was the last song you listened to?

Actually I don't know the name of it. It was something about wanting to know what love is. It was on a commercial for the new Alvin and the Chipmunks movie that's coming out. The three chipmunks had just encountered girls, and there was a lot of dreamy-eyed staring going on. And since this is a dozen questions, I'm going to refrain from getting into the whole love-is-not-the-squiggly-feeling-you-get-the-first-time-you-see-someone thing. I'll save that for my kids.

2. Have you ever had “buyer’s remorse” over anything?

Once or twice I've bought something that was a little small, thinking it would be an incentive for me to lose weight. That was really stupid and a total waste of money. By the time I got down to that size, the outfit would be out of style anyway.

3. What is something in your life that you are thankful for now that you didn’t think you would be at the time of the event? (Something that seemed ill-timed, inconvenient or hurtful which turned out to be a good thing)

Believe it or not, I'm thankful for our dog. (At least most of the time.) Our household is so full and so busy, I didn't think we needed another pet, but Sonny is absolutely adorable. He plays hide-n-seek with the boys and he actually grins when he's enjoying himself.

4. Do you watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade every year? If so, do you have a favorite float or balloon?

We used to watch it every year when I was growing up. It was as much a part of Thanksgiving morning as football was for Thanksgiving afternoon. I've kind of grown out of it though. I love all the traditional stuff, but I hate the commercialization it's turned into. I want to watch a parade, not a few floats in between each of the new tween or country acts that show up to perform. And please don't get me started on the commentators. They may be absolutely brilliant actors, news anchors, etc., but the illusion they try to give that we're all sitting and watching this together makes me glad these people aren't visiting at our house for Thanksgiving.

5. Share a quote, scripture, poem or lyric which has been an inspiration to you lately.

"Life is hard and then you die, so eat your breakfast." I guess I can't really say that inspired me lately since I'm the one that said it. It came out of my mouth in response to one of my kids whining about something. They've threatened to put this saying on my tombstone.

6. This is meant to be a fun question, and this is a G-rated blog, but please share a “guilty pleasure,” something that you enjoy that’s probably not the most edifying, time-worthy or healthy thing you could be indulging in. Did I mention--G rating?

This is a difficult question. See, I don't like guilt. And if something makes me feel guilty, it sucks all the joy out of the "pleasure" part of it. Plus, I'm not sure I know you well enough to share what I would enjoy that would make me feel guilty.

7. What Thanksgiving food are you looking forward to?

Obviously there's the turkey. And the homemade stuffing. Mashed potatoes. Gotta have the green bean casserole. My boys look forward to the orange salad. My husband likes the stuffed mushrooms. Everyone likes the cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Ham rolls are an absolute must. And we've gotta have a relish tray of olives and pickles. My husband likes both the pumpkin and pecan pies. The kids like the chocolate pie and apple pie. Obviously it's hard to choose. This year I'm mostly looking forward to not cooking since we're going to someone else's house for dinner!

8. What is your favorite book to read to children, or what was your favorite childhood book?

My favorite childhood books were the Nancy Drew series. Could not get enough of them. If I'm reading to my kids, I love reading from the Bloodhound series by Bill Myers. They're so funny, and they also teach some good Biblical truths to kids.

9. Do you collect anything? (Feel free to post a photo.)

Years ago I used to collect music boxes. Most of them were destroyed by one too many games of football or wrestling in the living room. Now I collect some Boyd's Bear stuff. I also collect shoes. My goal is to have a pair in every color known to man.

10. Gift bags or wrapping paper?

When we went to Uganda, I took gift bags with us because I couldn't get wrapping paper over there, and gift bags are reusable. Now that we're back here, I'll use a gift bag if I'm giving to someone outside the family. For family, especially at Christmas, it's wrapping paper, baby! With all the ribbons and bows and trimmings. It's an enormous job, and you can tell when we're getting towards the end because the "extras" tend to get a little sparse.

11. Share an after-school memory from when you were younger. What was your routine like on an average day?

After changing my clothes and doing whatever chores I had to do, I would watch an episode of Batman. Yeah, the one with Adam West. Then I would go outside and ride my bike or play football with the boys next door. That was all before I was twelve. I held a part time job after school from the time I was twelve until I wasn't in school anymore.

12. True story: Once, in a job interview, I was asked this question and told there would be no clarifying; I simply had to answer the question: “When you’re fishing, do you feel for the fish?” So what about you? When you're fishing, do you feel for the fish??

In the first place, I don't like fishing. In the second place, no! Do you feel for the chicken when you buy eggs? Do you feel for the cow when you buy milk? Better yet, do you feel for the cow when you buy ground beef? Why on earth would you be fishing at all if you have any sympathy for the fish? (My husband shot Bambi's mother, and I'm proud of him!)

Fall Festival

We had our annual Fall Festival at church this past Saturday, and it was a lot of fun.
Here's the cake I entered in a contest.

I lost (and rightfully so) to this cake.

Here's my husband taking a dive in the dunking booth.

Paul enjoying the horseback riding.

And Joel enjoying the moonbounce. That's Nicky in the background.

All in all it was an absolutely wonderful day spent with family and friends. I just wanted to share a few pictures with family and friends from the blogging world. Thanks for stopping by.

How Smart Are You?

The following short quiz consists of 4 questions and will tell you whether you are qualified to be a professional. Scroll down for each answer. The questions are NOT that difficult. But don't scroll down UNTIL you have answered the question!

1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?




The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe, and close the door. This question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way.

2 . How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?




Did you say, Open the refrigerator, put in the elephant, and close the refrigerator? Wrong Answer.


Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe put in the elephant and close the door. This tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your previous actions.

3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference. All the animals attend...except one. Which animal does not attend?




Correct Answer: The Elephant. The elephant is in the refrigerator. You just put him in there.

This tests your memory. Okay even if you did not answer the first three questions correctly, you still have one more chance to show your true abilities.

4. There is a river you must cross but it is inhabited by crocodiles, and you do not have a boat How do you manage it?




Correct Answer: You jump into the river and swim across. Have you not been listening? All the crocodiles are attending the Animal Meeting. This tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes.


According to Anderson Consulting Worldwide, around 90% of the professionals they tested got all questions wrong, but many preschoolers got several correct answers. Anderson Consulting says this conclusively disproves the theory that most professionals have the brains of a four- year-old.



I flunked the quiz completely. How did you do?

The Myth Recipe

Here's the weapon. Er, I mean recipe. Handle with care!

You will need:
2 cups butter
4 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups sugar
5 cups blended oatmeal
24 oz chocolate chips
2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 eight oz Hershey bar (grated)
4 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla

Measure oatmeal and blend in blender to a find powder. Cream butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder and soda. Add chocolate chips and Hershey bar. Roll into balls and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes about 112 cookies.

Enjoy!

The Neiman-Marcus Cookie

There's something about fall weather that always makes me want to bake. The crisp, cool air, the apple and cinnamon candles I start lighting, the shorter days ... something about all of them just begs me to bake.

Now, I'm not Paula Dean (shoot, I'm not even a distant cousin of her dishwasher), but I've got a few baked goods that I like to turn out. Thankfully, even if I wasn't in the mood to bake, Stephanie usually was. One of the things we both like to make are Neiman-Marcus cookies.

You may have heard of the urban legend of the NM cookie. (How could there be an urban legend about a cookie?!?) Some woman was supposedly eating at the lunch counter in a Neiman-Marcus in Dallas. (Or fill in your favorite big city here.) She loved the cookie and asked for the recipe. After some reluctance, the manager sold her the recipe, but charged the woman's credit card for $250. They wouldn't give her money back, so she vowed to plaster the cookie recipe all over the internet so they could never take anyone else like they took her. Snopes.com identifies the story as a myth, and the Neiman-Marcus website even addresses it. They said they didn't even have a cookie recipe when that story supposedly came out, but in response to the legend, they developed one and gave it away for free. It's posted on their website.

It's a funny story, and it probably helps the recipe go further, but to be honest, this cookie needs no help. In fact, the recipe I'm going to post is not even the "official" NM recipe. It's the recipe that supposedly went with the myth. But it beats any other cookie ever made. Hands down. I do feel the need to post a warning: this cookie is tremendously and immediately addictive. You will not stop at one. You may not even stop at one batch, and this recipe makes a lot of them!

Stephanie once made these cookies for a bake sale that the volleyball team was having. I guess she inherited a bit of her father's business savvy. She knew that the cookies would sell, but she wanted to make sure she got the most money she could. So she gave away the first cookie to anyone that came to her table. Knowing the tremendous power of the cookie, she knew those free cookies would not be a waste.

In fact, the only time these cookies weren't a hit was when we took them to a potluck dinner at church. And that was really my fault. Stephanie started making the cookies that Sunday afternoon while I fixed dinner. After we got everyone fed, I took over the cookies, and Steph moved on to making some other things for the fellowship. I picked up right where she left off, but the cookies had a different consistency when I put them on the pan to bake. They also had a different taste. They were edible, but that's about all you could say for them. (Sadly, that's true of many of my culinary attempts!) Steph backtracked through the recipe and discovered that I'd left out the brown sugar. We both laughed my mistake, and decided we could always bill the cookies as sugar-free.

But that's the only time this cookie hasn't lined up cookie connoisseurs around the block. So please promise me you will be careful with the weapon I'm about to place in your hands. Use it wisely.

Unfortunately, I just realized I've gone the distance on this post. I'll have to actually post the recipe tomorrow. Yes, I know it's Saturday, but I'll post it anyway so you can have a bake-a-thon this weekend. In the meantime, here's to cookies, baking with your daughter, and sugar addicts around the world.

Bookstore Visit

So last evening Terry and I went out to dinner. Can I just say that hunger is the best seasoning? All I had to eat yesterday was a protein shake for breakfast and a peanut butter and banana sandwich for lunch. I was totally starving and the food was close-your-eyes--in-order-to-savor good. I did behave myself in that I ordered things without sauces or butters and I ate exactly half of my salad and my entree. What a good girl am I.

Quite often after eating out Terry and I will head over to Books-A-Million to do a little shopping. He looks through audio books and I check out the fiction. We both usually wander through the clearance tables as well. I always enjoy our little ritual, but two things that night took a little of the joy out of it for me.

First, I ran into someone I hadn't seen in quite a while. We used to work together. When I left that job, I left it abruptly and I left it for personal reasons. We chatted and caught up a little with what we both were doing, but it felt incredibly awkward. The elephant in the room was almost visual, yet unrecognized. It's been quite a while since I've had a conversation with an elephant in the room. I don't particularly relish it.

The second thing that happened was I looked at a display table marked with the sign, "Most Popular Fiction for Kids". With one or two exceptions, every book on that table had to do with either witchcraft or vampires. I was horrified and saddened at the same time. Reading anything beyond a 140 character tweet or text message is rare in young people these days. Reading is becoming a lost art. And for those that do actually read for fun, this is the garbage with which they are filling their minds. Yes, I said garbage.

Something we don't often acknowledge is the fact that Satan is real and he is out to capture the minds of our youth. Both witchcraft and vampire themes are laced with such occultic overtones, it's no wonder kids struggle with purity, morality and the desire to do right. We're giving Satan a foothold in our children's lives from a very early age. Please don't be fooled into thinking that because the story is compelling, or the writing great, it's something your children should read. There may be certain types of poisons with a delicious flavor, but that doesn't change the damage that the poison will do to your body.

As for the elephant? I think I left it in the store. Hopefully it won't be there the next time I go. It's awfully hard to carry on a conversation with that thing waving its trunk in my face.

How about you? Ever had an elephant in the room?

Revive Us Again

Last week was an incredibly busy one, as we had revival services going on every night at our church. Today I'd like to give a quick snapshot of some of the things the evangelist covered. He started off Monday night talking about mending our nets, the nets being a metaphor for our spiritual walk with God. Sometimes the nets get holes in them from things hidden under the surface of the water. Things we weren't expecting. Sometimes the nets get torn from things caught in them. People you go to church with can hurt your feelings or cause you to want to give up on your service. But most nets get ripped through daily wear. As a fisherman pulls his net back into the boat, the net is constantly rubbing along the lip of the boat and eventually the net will tear and break. Sometimes we get so busy with our service that we also end up with holes in our spiritual life. The important thing to remember is to take those holes and tears to Jesus, because He is the only one that can mend them.

The evangelist also spoke on forgiveness. The greatest forgiveness is when God forgave us of our sins. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13 The hardest forgiveness is to forgive ourselves. Sometimes it just seems we can't let go of the things we've done. Remember that, if God loves and forgives you, than you can forgive yourself as well. The most demanding forgiveness is to forgive others. It's important to remember that we don't forgive others because they necessarily deserve it. We forgive them because God forgave us.

One of the most important messages of the week was that we only have so much time to tell others about Christ. I remember hearing a preacher once telling about how he felt the Holy Spirit leading him to speak to someone about the Saviour. He put it off and put it off and then was shocked one day to hear that the man had died of a heart attack. There is no guarantee how long someone has on this earth. If the Holy Spirit is leading you to speak to someone, don't let that chance slip away.

We also only have so much time because Jesus is coming back again. We have no idea when that might happen, but as His children, we are supposed to be using this time for Him. I remember years ago when I was growing up. My mom might leave the house on an errand, and she would give us chores to do until she got back. As soon as she left, we played and had a good time, intending to get the chores done in plenty of time before she returned. Sometimes, though, she got back early when we weren't expecting it. We were caught playing instead of accomplishing the tasks she'd set for us to do. When Jesus comes back, will He find you working for Him? Will you be glad to see Him, or will you hang your head in shame because you never got around to serving Him as you should? Look at what you're doing now. How important will that be when you're facing Him?