checking in

Since Pumpkin Week drug on ad-nauseum, you faithful blog-readers missed out on a few important things!  Like Thanksgiving.  And this little party we threw my parents.

Pumpkin Week: Pumpkin Pancakes

And now, it's (finally) time for the (not-so) grand finale of pumpkin week.

Here's the recipe: Pumpkin Pancakes

This recipe was straightforward  simple, the perfect batch size, and delicious.  Of course you could be traditional and serve them with maple syrup, but I preferred to go the pumpkin dip route.  Which was a great call.  And since you're making pumpkin dip, you may as well make molasses cookies.  This recipe is perfection, of course, because it's Laura's.  So good, guys.  So good.


The real reason I brought you here today was because I wanted to share some quotes from the past few days, but I realized I hadn't finished pumpkin week (do you realize I started it 3 weeks ago?!) and I have this weird things where I don't let myself do something else until I have finished one thing.  I know that this might make me sound disciplined or something, but really I just never get around to finishing what I was doing... and I don't do anything else either.  Also, it has led to a lot of leg crossing, when I use a bathroom break as my reward for finishing a project.  Really, I could focus a lot more and finish the project if I would just go to the bathroom when I first  need to, but for some reason I voluntarily torture myself.

Too much information?  Sorry.  Rest assured this was not my incentive to finish Pumpkin Week....that would be painful.

onward...

Saturday I was hanging out with my friends Kaden (6) and Jordyn (2), and Jordyn looked over at me and said 

"My Daddy...is my  Daddy."  
(You know, because sometimes I get confused and think her Daddy is my Daddy.) 
 "Yep, Jordyn!  That's right.  My Daddy is my Daddy, too." 
(Confused look from Jordyn)
"Where is your Daddy?"
"My Daddy is far away...he's in Ohio."
---
Yesterday we were practicing our skit for our mission trip to Honduras.  Sam has a role where he is supposed to be chasing someone, and he's supposed to be dark and menacing.  The trouble is, he's anything but and he runs in a hopping/leaping fashion (at least when he's acting).  We were telling him he needed to look much scarier, and that he looked like the Easter Bunny.

Sam:  Well, I've never seen the Easter Bunny, so I didn't know I looked like him.
Me: Well I have, and trust me... you're twins.
Sam: (with a smirk) "Well then, he must be a pretty good-looking bunny."

I wanted  to say "Yeah, but his ears are smaller than yours."  But I thought that would be taking things too far.

Pray for us...

---

Today at work, our HR director (who works across the hall) had her door shut because she was trying to get benefit enrollments finished up.  She came out for air and told me and Mindy..."That's it!  We're no longer offering benefits!  I can't take it."  She went downstairs and came back up a little later.  "Ok, there was chocolate downstairs... we can have benefits for at least another year."  Maybe if I bring her cookies I can get a raise?

Well, that's it for pumpkin week.  Sorry it dragged our for so long, but you really should try the recipes.  I hope your holiday season is merry and bright so far!.

Pumpkin Week: Pumpkin Gingerbread

Hi Kids!  I'm back, and I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving like I did.  I was talking to my coworker today and said it was the best turkey dinner I had ever had.  She said it was the same case with her.  I wonder why that is... did they feed the turkeys something different this year?  I don't know, but everything was AMAZING.

Friday and Saturday me and my family (but mostly my family) worked our tails off to throw a 30th anniversary party for my parents.  Everything turned out well, and it was a great party.

Now...back to Pumpkin Week.  You know... that thing I started two weeks ago?  SOMEDAY I will finish this bugger up.  Here's the latest (and maybe my favorite) installment.

Pumpkin Gingerbread is wonderful, and amazing, and cozy, and delicious, and really pretty easy to make.  But it seems impressive.  But its easy.

Pumpkin Week: Pumpkin Bread Pudding

So this one time two years ago, Mandy came to visit and run a race with me and Sapphire and Leah and Lalaiana.  After the race we cooked up a storm to celebrate Sapphire's birthday, including donut cheeseburgers (cheeseburgers with donuts as the buns).  Then we did the Holiday Stroll really quickly because we had to get back and watch PW's Thanksgiving Throwdown with Bobby Flay.

It was quite a day.   I was very tired.  And full.

Pumpkin Week: Pumpkin Soup

There are some things that make me feel like super-productive, efficient person.  Not that these things have any relation to productivity or efficiency, I just like being on top of these things, or having them happen.  For example:

• Laying out my clothes the night before.
• Having pickles in the refrigerator.  Not that this means I have been productive and industrious by making pickles... just buying them at the store makes me feel good!  And its not like we eat a lot of pickles!  I just like having them there.  It gives me peace of mind.
• Running a pen out of ink.  Like when it actually runs out of ink.  Not dries up so the ballpoint won't roll anymore... I mean run it out of ink.  So productive.  Productive people write so much with thier pen that it runs out of ink.
• Getting up when its still dark out.  Even if that's just because the sun doesn't rise until 9 am, and I get up at 8:45.  At least I can still say to myself, "Yeah, I'm That Person that gets up before sunrise."  Never mind that everyone else is That Person too.
• Scheduling blogs posts to post, because I am so on top of things that I wrote them all ahead of time...

That's what was going to happen for pumpkin week.  I had several of the recipes typed in here way back in the first part of October.  I had the pictures taken by halfway through October.  The plan was to post every day about my new things in October (ha!)  meanwhile, behind the scenes, I would be working ahead and getting the Pumpkin Week posts lined up and scheduled to post.

I live in a dreamworld.

Pumpkin Week: Pumpkin Bars

It's no secret that I'm a disorganized mess that can't get things done on time.  So is anyone surprised that the pumpkin week that I promised last Friday is just starting now... on Tuesday night?

You know how it's the easiest recipes that you make that people love the most and ask for the recipe most often?  Like Macaroni & Cheese and Santa Fe Cheese Soup. That's what these pumpkin bars are.  This is definitely my most-requested dessert recipe.  But maybe that's because I make it frequently, because they're so easy.  And delicious!

Friday Night

I don't know what a typical Friday night looks like at your house, but ours started out relatively normal.  6 teen-aged guys (The Guys) coming over to play X-Box.

Things really kicked up a notch when Tim executed a pre-meditated project.  And by pre-meditated, I mean he thought about the fact that it could get done.  Not so much the particulars of how it would get done.

Trying New Things: The Last 3 Days

So...it has come to this...

...The last 3 days of my month of new things.  Is it just me, or did this month fly by?  The other day Mindy said "How is it November already?!"  And I said "Because we just skipped right from August to November.  October really didn't happen."

Except it did.  In a major kind of way.  I did LOTS of things in October.  Here are the last 3 days.

Trying New Things: Days 23-28

Tuesday, October 23rd

Honestly, guys... I can't remember what my new thing was today.  I really have no idea at all.  I worked late, so I came home late, and we had leftover pizza for dinner...I pinned minky to a quilt top, but did no sewing.  

Wow... I can't remember at all.  It seems so long ago...

Update:  I remembered what it was!  I tried that tip that says you should only check your email 3 times a day, and close out of it so the notifications don't pop up.  Totally successful!  I love it.  I am going to work on trying that on days when I can (sometimes I am waiting on emails to finish what I need to do).  I HIGHLY  recommend this one.

Trying New Things: Yesterday & Today

Yesterday was sunny and the house was clean, so my "new thing" was going to be a house tour blog post.  I went all over my semi-clean house snapping pictures... or at least I thought I did.  When I went to upload them, they were not on the memory card.  Still not sure what happened.  Bummer.

Trying New Things: Days 17-20

Wednesday, October 17th

This new thing was inspired by Beth & Mindy.  I was sitting in a meeting with Beth on Monday, noticing the color of her (always impeccable) nails.  As is typical for this time of year, they were Raiders' colors.  (Don't ask me why she roots for the Raiders...I have no idea.  But she is a super-fan).  So, like I said... Raiders' colors.  With an "s."  8 of her 10 fingers were painted black (not a dark, goth-type black, but more of a slightly-sparkly charcoal-ish black.  It looked good... trust me) and the other two fingers (her ring fingers) were silver.  Interesting.

Trying New Things: Days 11-16

I thought I was all smart 'n stuff since I chose a busy month with lots of new activities as my Month of New Things.  And--I'm not gonna lie--it was a pretty good move.  I don't have to dream up as many new things when I already have a sister visit, two trips, and two new clubs scheduled for this month.

But that doesn't leave a whole lotta time for writing about all of these new things.  So I'm going to play catch-up... again.  Here are my new things for the past 6 days...

trying new things: pushing the limit

Last night after an interwebz conference call with my siblings (minus Kelly), Mandy and I stayed on the line while I helped her explore Pinterest. 

It wasn't long before we got lost in my board where I pin quotes and stuff, giggling and giggling and giggling.  While there are lots of funny things, there was one more serious quote I had pinned awhile ago that really seemed to go with my month of trying new things.

I want to think again of dangerous and noble things.I want to be light and frolicsome.I want to be improbable, beautiful, and afraid of nothingas though I had wings.

~Mary Oliver

I was feeling very inspired by this, so I really went out there and took a risk today.

trying new things... or should I say STYLING new things

Today, for something new, I decided I would try dressing with style.  

The main thing I wanted to try was wearing a belt around my middle.  This doesn't usually work well, because I don't have the right kind of belts so they are loose and weird.  But a few pins on pinterest inspired me to try the belt over a cardigan.  So I did.

Trying New Things: Days 5-8

So apparently, trying new things all weekend (and hanging out with your lil' sis who lives way too far away), can keep you kinda busy.  I tried lots of new things this weekend.  I will do my best to summarize.

Let's start at the beginning, shall we?  Well, at least let's rewind to Thursday night.  Not long after I finished my new workout, Mandy and Kevan arrived.

Trying New Things: Stability Ball Workout

This is a picture of me.  Just kidding...I don't wear pants like that.
(Image from fitnessmagazine.com)

I have had a stability ball for years, and have sort of messed around with it, using it for crunches and whatnot.  But when I got my October issue of Fitness, it had this workout in it.

So I decided to give it a try.

Trying New Things: Small Town Gas Station

Last night I put Vick's on my feet and wore socks to bed, intending to share that as my new thing for today.

Instead, I will share a little story about my drive to work.  First, a little background.

--------

As I may have mentioned before, I drive 30 miles to The Middle Of Nowhere for work.  I drive through quite a bit of countryside, and only past two gas stations (excluding co-ops, since we're not members).  In one Small Town is a little convenience store/hardware/gas station called "The Singergap."  Locals refer to it as "The Gap" so I will do the same for the sake of typing efficiencies.

Trying New Things Day 2: Book Club

This one has been a long time in coming.  For a couple of years, Sapphire has been saying "We should start a book club,"  and I say "Yes!  We should.  Jenn knows people... we should talk to Jenn about it."

So what happens?  A couple of weeks before Sapphire moves away, Jenn and I spend 6 hours in the car together on our way to and from the Land End Warehouse Clearance Event and we decide to start a book club.  Here's how that conversation went.

Jenn:  We need to start a book club.
Steph:  Yes!  I have been thinking the same thing.
Jenn: Great!  Let's do it.
Steph: Wait until Sapphire hears... she's going to kill me.

Trying New Things Day 1: Making Bagels

I've been wanting to make bagels for quite awhile, so I thought Try New Things Month was a great time to give it a whirl.

Egg bagels have always been my favorite, so I asked The Google for a recipe.  This one sounded the simplest, so that's the one I went with.

One Month of Trying New Things

Hold on to your hats, kids!  Things are about to get crazy around here.

I am going to spend one month trying new things.

Yes, you read that right.  I, Stephanie Taylor, am voluntarily going to try new things.

Good Morning, Sunshine!!

Since Tuesdays are my Mondays, you can imagine how happy I was to get up for work this morning.

However, my day was made a million times better by checking my email while eating breakfast and finding this gem to greet me in the morning.

a week of meatless meals

I've been trying to incorporate more meatless meals into our repertoire here at the Taylor home for a couple of reasons:

1.)  Having a "plant slant" to your diet is supposed to be a step toward healthier eating.  That is, eating a more plant-based diet is better than one heavy on animal products.  You get more fiber and a wide variety of vitamins and minerals.  Or something.

2.)  I thought it could help us save money.  We cut our monthly grocery budget this year--partly to save money, partly because I wanted a challenge.  Shortly after that, beef prices skyrocketed.  Since I'm not so good at cooking chicken, I needed to come up with some other options.  (Also: we at a LOT of pork).

Joyce's Sweet Rolls: A Tribute

 A couple of weeks ago, my dad's Aunt Joyce passed away.  She is missed immensely, we we know she is in a better place now-- at home with her Savior.

To get an idea of the kind of person she was, I highly recommend reading these thoughts from her grandchildren.

At the funeral, by all of the pictures and photo albums, they had her apron which said "World's Best Cook."

I know those are strong words, but... it's true.  She was an AMAZING cook.  I remember her saying one time "Julie {her daughter-in-law} is always bugging me to give her my recipe for baked steak, but I refuse, because when she finds out how many calories are in it, she will never eat it again."

One of my life-long regrets is that I never got that recipe from her.

This just in

141.
In a very rare moment that my brain was actually functioning this last week, I realized that I might not have lost the picture of me and Lisa!!!

Weekly Meditation: 2 Corinthians 10:5

"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

2 Corinthians 10:5

a collection of short stories

Can I please tell you some stories?

Good.  I was hoping you would say "yes."


Two weeks ago, I was having a crapalicious week.  You can read about it here if you really want to.  Then some happy things happened.

1.
Amy and I watched Thoroughly Modern Millie.  We can officially be friends now.  Also, we ate churros from TJ's.  It was  very good day.

here it is...

As I said on Sunday, it has been quite the week.  Actually, it has been quite the fortnight by this point.  I really need a nap in a major kind of way. 

No, I'm not ready to talk about it.
But I will anyway.
Because I'm a big girl, and my life is NOT ending, and I need to get some sleep and move on with my life and stop being so dramatic.

Are you worried yet?  Don't be.  

in the mean time...

What a week!

What.

A.

Week.

It's been crazy, Kids.  Totally bonkers.

I laughed.
I cried.
Not exactly in that order.

Someone even told me I was wild!

Unfortunately, I need to eat food and do laundry and other responsible things, but until I can catch a moment to fill you in on the deets, here's a picture from this weekend to hold you over :)

Weekly Meditations: Romans 12:12

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."

Romans 12:12

recent recipes

I've been trying some new recipes lately, and it's lots of fun.  Here's what I've been up to.

(None of these pictures are mine... I think that will be obvious...be sure to check out the recipe links!)

Parmesean Baked Potato Halves from Favorite Family Recipes.

I was pleased that (for once!) they turned out pretty much like they look in the picture.  That never happens for me!

Review and Preview

Amazing how time just gets away from you.  One minute you're enjoying your summer, blogging somewhat regularly, feeling sorta sane and rested.  Then you take a trip, start one too many projects, bite off more than you can chew (me?  no... never), and get kicked in the butt by obscenely hot weather for weeks, and the next thing you know, its the middle of August, school is starting soon (not that you care), and you have a whole summer you haven't told your faithful readers about!

Sorry.  I know you all have been sitting eagerly at your computers, day after day, just waiting to see more dumb pictures of my dog or my latest recipe.

Let's catch up, shall we?  Here are a few summer highlights.

Land's End (Year 3)

Life has been pretty busy lately, so I haven't had time to sweep my floor, much less post pictures and tell y'all  about the nonsense that gone on around these here parts.  I will try to get you caught up.

Let's start with Lands' End.

Weekly Meditation: Psalm 37:23-24

"If the LORD delights in a man's way, 
   he makes his steps firm;
though he stumble, he will not fall, 
   for the LORD upholds him with his hand."


Psalm 37:23-24

Up(dog)date

See what I did there?  What's updog?

Last month when Dan and Ashley were here, "Uncle Dan" whipped out his (nice) camera a few times for some canine photo shoots.  Apparently the dogs are much more willing to pose for their uncle than they are for us.  Or he has a much faster shutter speed.

Weekly Meditation: Psalm 18:25-27

"To the faithful you show  yourself faithful,
to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
to the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.
You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty."


Psalm 18:25-27

Life Changing Moments...

...you know, those moments when your life is changed forever.  And you never even saw it coming.

I am not going to mention at which point in my life these life-changing moments occurred, but I will say that it has been much more recently than I care to admit.  For the record, none of them happened today.

Whew!

The past 3 weeks have been CRAZY-NUTSO around these here parts, but we've been having a lot of fun.  Here's a bit of a recap.

Weekly Meditaion: 1 Corinthians 3:7

"So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase."


1 Corinthians 3:7

Weekly Meditation: 1 Corinthians 2:9

"But as it is written:

'Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.'"

1 Corinthians 2:9

Weekly Meditation: 1 Thessalonians 5:17

"Pray continually."


1 Thessalonians 5:17

Garden Tour & Birthday Flower

Sometimes...when I make my plans of what I would like to get done in a set amount of time...I plan too much.

And by sometimes I mean all of the time.

And by too much I mean way to much.

Mom! Mom! Mom!

Last weekend my Mom came to visit, and we had a great time.

First stop (after picking her up from the airport) was Sam's Club.  Tim and I don't have a membership to Sam's or Costco, so I was wanting to check out the prices on a few things and see if it was worth it.  While they have lower prices on some things, I think it we would just end up buying a lot more stuff that we don't need.

The Sewing Project

Well, kids...the time has finally come.  I can show you my super-secret sewing project.

Ok, its not really super-secret.  Lots of people knew what I was working on, and in the post where I first mentioned it, I also posted this picture.

Weekly Meditation: Psalm 34:17-18

"The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;
    he delivers them from all their troubles.
¹⁸ The Lord is close to the brokenhearted 
    and saves those who are crushed in spirit."


Psalm 34:17-18

Raspberries, Herbs, and Other Exciting Things

A few weeks ago when I planted my garden, I did another little project using these little buckets I got at Ikea.  I think the pictures are pretty self-explanatory, so here you go.

Weekly Meditation: Psalm 73:24

You guide me with your counsel, 
    and afterward you will take me into glory.


Psalm 73:24

Stages

My dogs are going through a stage where they are constantly barking to be let in or out.  As soon as they go out, they want back in.  They walk in the door and sit there and look out the door for something to bark at.

Weekly Meditation: Thankfulness

What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?

                  source unknown

5 things that make me cry

I wrote this post awhile ago, and just now got the nerve to post it...

I won't say that I'm not an emotional person, because I am.  I have lots of feeling and emotions, and I feel them deeply.  I just have (by God's grace) developed skills to regulate what I "present" to the world, particularly at work and with people I don't know well.  There have been quite a few times in my life where I am the only one with dry eyes in the room.  It's not because I'm super pulled-together or anything, it just sometimes is easier for me to not cry then to cry.

Weekly Meditation: Psalm 84:10

This week's meditation is copied from Kara.

"Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere;

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked."

Psalm 84:10

New car!

We got a new car!...about a month ago.  There's not really much to say about it besides the fact that it's an '02 Audi A6 Quattro 2.7T (so it's turbocharged) with 130kish miles, 6 speed manual, with a black leather interior, the sport package (hence the stock BBS wheels pictured) and a host of other added goodies such as full exhaust, short throw shifter, diverter valve, boost gauge, drivetrain stabilizer, and the all important GIAC chip with the Flashloader (meaning I can switch from stock to performance tuned in a matter of seconds).  If that went a bit over your head, here are a few pics.

This & That

The measure of a good "this & that" post is the number of labels you can legitimately assign to it, right?  Let's see how good I am.

There's lots of stuff going on around here.  The most exciting is a secret project I am working on that I can't wait to finish and show you.  I'll give you a hint: it involves my sewing machine.  I'm super, super excited about it.  But don't get excited... its really not that exciting.  I get excited about little things.

Weekly Meditation: Daniel 3:17

"Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us."

Daniel 3:17

things around here

And now its time for another episode of Real Life with the Taylors, where Stephanie gives you a glimpse of what real life is like around here.

my dear, sweet Colleen

This is just a quick post, but I wanted to ask you to pray for my friend, Colleen, and her husband Cason.  Colleen and I have been friends for as long as I can remember, and she is very precious to me (and to so many others).


They were in the process of adopting and the adoption fell through.  You can read more of their (heart-wreching) story over on their blog.  Please pray for them, because this is actually the second time it has happened to them and it is enormously devastating.


Thanks!

Weekly Meditation: James 4:17

"Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins."  James 4:17

Garden Roundup

I never got around to telling you how my garden finished out last season.  Since I'm sure you've all been dying of curiosity, here is a summary.

My Awesome Cutting Board

I took these pictures back when I was cooking for Peanut Butter Week, but since I had already turned grilled peanut butter and jelly into a novel, I decided to skip the bunny trail and post it another time.

Then I forgot.

Until I saw Pioneer Woman's Home and Garden post yesterday.  

Then I remembered.

So, without further ado, I introduce to you... my cutting board.

Be Positive

God has been speaking to me about many things lately.  Not that He wasn't before, I just wasn't really open to hearing what He had to say.  I've finally started to pay attention a little-bit, and boy-- is there a lot to hear!

It almost seems overwhelming all of the things He is laying on my heart and opening my eyes to (interestingly enough, these things aren't the answers I was "demanding" of Him when  I first started listening... He has something better for me than what I wanted).  There are so many things going on, and I can't multi-task.  Which message should I pay attention to first?

Weekly Meditation: Proverbs 12:25

Anxiety weighs down the heart, 

but a kind word cheers it up.

Proverbs 12:25

Peanut Butter Week: Peanut Butter Play Dough

Remember how Tim and I are DINKs? (Dual Income No Kids)  Hence, the blog name "Dinkin' Around"?


I am using that as my excuse for not actually making this recipe.  There are no children at this house to appreciate it.


It has nothing to do with the fact that I am lazy.

Peanut Butter Week: Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies

I had a friend in college that would make these cookies all the time.  I would be working the front desk in the dorm, and what a blessed sight it would be to see Angela peek around the corner with a plate of cookies!

Peanut Butter Week: Satay Lettuce Wraps

This recipe is probably my favorite recipe this week.  It is good.  So, so good.  Based on this recipe from Rachel Ray, I modified a little bit based on the ingredients I had on hand.


Bonus: Its relatively cheap to make,
Double bonus: Its good for you!


Here we go...

Peanut Butter Week: Peanut Butter Pie, Two Ways

Happy Pi Day, everyone!  In honor of this irrational number, we had pie today.  And in honor of peanut butter week, I made peanut butter pie.  Two kinds, actually!

Peanut Butter Week: African Stew

You know how you have those family-friends-that-are-like-family?  Aren't they such a sweet, precious blessing from the Lord?


I have never lived in the same state as any of my aunts or uncles, but "Aunt Lynette and Uncle Tim" were always there at cross country and track meets, concerts, musicals, and awards banquets.  Granted, they had kids our ages, so they were there to support their own as well, but they really were (and are!) like family.  I remember when I first recognized this.

Peanut Butter Week: Grilled PB & J

IMPORTANT NOTICE: In honor of Peanut Butter Week, I have a very pertinent poll up above.  If you would take the time to weigh in on this highly controversial and divisive issue, I would be so grateful!


Remember that time I shared my morning oatmeal routine, and I turned a very simple 3 minute process into 10 steps and 11 pictures?  This is going to be another one of those.  But the results are delicious!

Weekly Meditation: James 1:2-4

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kind, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.


James 1:2-4

Peanut Butter Week!

Well friends... the much anticipated event is now here.

That's right!  A whole week (that's seven days, folks, not my usual chintzy 5 or 6) of recipes involving peanut butter.  And I really have a variety planned.  Of course there are gazillions of "amazing" peanut butter desserts out there, but honestly, most of them are too rich for my taste, and they quickly become redundant.  I do have a few desserts planned for this week, due to a special occasion, but there are also several main dishes and even something for you crafty-types.  So get excited!  (Unless you're Rachel, or anyone else who has peanut allergies in your home... my deepest apologies).

Steph and Sapphire's Mile-High Adventure

Two weeks ago, I was getting over the stomach flu, and Sapphire arrived at my house at 6:30 am.  We loaded the car and buckled in for 10.5 hours on the road.  Watch out, Denver...here we come!

Weekly Meditation: Psalm 126:2-3

This weekend and beginning of the week have been a little crazy, and not at all as planned.  But in the middle of getting overwhelmed, God has blessed us immensely.  I am amazed at how He works.  So this verse seemed so appropriate, especially because of some blessings we have received that will be a blessing to other nations as well.  Have a great week!

Our mouths were filled with laughter,

our tongues with songs of joy.

Then it was said among the nations,

“The LORD has done great things for them.”

The LORD has done great things for us,

and we are filled with joy.

 

Psalm 126:2-3

Now...Back to Steph

I hope you all enjoyed Tim's month of memes.  I got some serious giggles out of it, because each evening as he was writing them (right about the time of day that I start to get sleepy and punchy) he would call upon me to help him narrow down the examples to post.  I still chuckle when I think about them.

Meme Day 29: Socially Awkward Penguin

Why don't we take all of the awkward things that people do, and project them on to a penguin.  Brilliant!

Meme Day 28: Bill Gates/Steve Jobs

Apparently Bill Gates and Steve Jobs actually did some sort of talk together, and there were some good screen grabs from it.  Of course people made sport of it, and funnies ensue.

Weekly Meditation: 2 Corinthians 12:9

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Read more of my thoughts on this here.

Meme Day 27: Technologically Impaired Duck

This may hit close to home for some, but consider it a Public Service Announcement.  That's all I'll say.  Besides my apparently not optional explanations (Stephanie made me).

Remember way back when with dial up?

Meme Day 26: Aliens

So there was this guy one time on the History channel (maybe more than one time, not really sure), and he's a big alien believer.  He also has some really strange hair.  Anywho, he talks about aliens all the time and has all sorts of strange theories.

Obviously the only real explanation is aliens did it, right?

Meme Day 25: Chubby Bubbles Girl

Don't worry, February is almost over, which means I'm almost done with my meme posts.

Until then, here's another meme.  What started as this image of an unknown girl from an unknown source:

...got the Photoshop treatment onto all sorts of other images.  Think of Disaster Girl, just with a girl running with bubbles.  Since there's no end to the creativity pool on the interwebs, you get all sorts of images if you extract just the girl with bubbles.  Some images keep the bubbles, others substitute the bubbles for something else.

Kaden: Another Year Older

You may remember a little interview I conducted with a little friend of mine a little over a year ago.  Okay, maybe it was a lot over a year ago.

Anyway, Mindy and I thought it would be fun to check back with him and see how he has grown and changed since my last interrogation.

Meme Day 24: Baby Godfather

Take a stereotypical mob boss and mix it with a baby, and whaddya get?  This:

Yes, I'm making you click a link to see the rest.  It's much nicer looking, and keeps you from an overloaded blog look.  You may or may not thank me one day...

Meme Day 23: Seems Legit

If you saw something that looked like it was plausible, what would you say?  "Seems legit," right?  Yeah, that's what this is about.  Like this:

Completely and totally legit.  Nothing wrong with that at all.

Meme Day 22: Yo Dawg

Yo Dawg is similar to Inception in the sense that it's things inside of things.

Like a pool table inside of a pool inside of a pool.  It's called "Yo Dawg" because of that guy in the bottom corner - Xzibit, some rapper and also the guy on Pimp My Ride.  He's good at putting strange things in cars, and I guess it kind of came out of that.  I'm not really sure how it made that leap, but it did somehow.  Anywho, it started off with captions like, "Yo dawg, I herd you like (thing), so I put an (thing) in your (thing) so you can (do something) while you (do something)."  Yes, "heard" is spelled "herd" on purpose.  That might be a little confusing, so here's an example of the original form:

Most are just references back to this original form - you fill in the recursion yourself.

Meme Day 21: Inception

Hopefully you've either seen the movie Inception or at least know what it's about.  If not, it's a movie about dreams within dreams...and even dreams within those dreams within a dream.  From what you've learned so far this month, it should be no surprise that an idea like this would be parodied across the web of the wide world.  This meme kind of took two forms.  One was just using the sample panes to have a mock conversation and come up with words ending in -tion, like Inception.  Others just used the theme of "going deeper" or things inside of things.  Some used combos of both.  Ok I'll quit talking before your brain blows up just like it did when you watched Inception (you did see the movie, right?).

Meme Day 20: Nokia phones

Anyone remember Nokia?  Remember those phones that everyone had and were practically indestructible?  Yeah, they turned into a meme because they're practically bulletproof.

So there's your preview.  We've gone pro now (ok I wish), so click on the title link or the "Read more" to see the rest!  (Edit ALL the previous posts!)  BTW, the technical term for this is a "jump break."  Something I didn't really know before - I thought it's just what people tended to call it.  It's called a jump break because it's a break in the post, and you have to jump to another page to see the rest.  There, you learned something for today and can go to bed now.

Meme Day 19: Close Enough

Close Enough is evoked when you try to do something and it doesn't quite turn out as expected, but close enough for rock & roll (or CEFR² as Richard Bugg would say).  Many of these examples deal with recipes found online and the results of people trying them.  Others are just pure hilarity.  See for yourself.

Jump past the break to see the rest!

Meme Day 18: Joseph Ducreux

Joseph Ducreux was a French painter in the 1700's.  One of his more famous self-portraits, Portrait de l'artiste sous les traits d'un moqueur, is pictured below.

This painting, for whatever reason, has been the subject of taking common phrases from either song lyrics or sayings (mostly common to the Internet) and re-wording them using old English language.  See if you can figure out what they are.

See more?

Meme Day 17: Chemistry Cat

Chemistry Cat is comprised of an image of a cat in a lab and a whitty joke based on some form of chemistry.  Most are either a play on words or use the Periodic Table of the Elements, the elemental names, and elemental symbols to make the joke.  It's a meme that us nerds appreciate :)  I'll try to explain these...

Light is made up of photons that travel through space

More past the break!

Meme Day 16: Strutting Leo

Strutting Leo comes from a picture taken from the set of Inception.  It's a picture of Leonardo DiCaprio merrily strutting on his way somewhere.

He has been Photoshopped out of the image and on to many, many other pictures, mostly scenes from other movies and scenes of the Disaster Girl type - wherever his jolly strut and face seem to somewhat fit, albeit ironic in some pictures (kinda the point).

Jump past the break for more.

Meme Day 15: Challenge Accepted

If I were to present you with a challenge, would you accept it?  Challenge Accepted guy sure would, no matter what the challenge!  If you have a challenge, he'll accept it - no challenge is too daring or ludicrous for him to accept.

Visit the rest after the break.