06.January.2010 - Wednesdays sure are busy

Wow. Wednesdays, we leave in the morning and get back around 10PM - always a long day full of...events. Today we got up, straggled out the door, ran to Gino's to check in, grab pizza and head off to our meeting with Mr. Hinkel.

Gino's could have been a 15 minute stop, but I seem to have brain damage and kept forgetting what I was doing, set keys in one place, phone in another, forgot pizzas in the oven, got to car without keys, had to go back in...add to this the Cash & Carry shopping list for Kelli (specifically, bucket of cookie dough, white chocolate chip macadamia nut, to be exact), direction to Krystal on how to make the perfect cookie (and flakey me left out at least half of my secret instruction), key misplacing 3 times, and missing phone...oh and kids in the car tormenting each other. On a side note, the pizzas were delish...a large 1/2 olive and 1/2 pineapple - with some pepperoncini on part of the olive side, and a small cheese with a side of pepperoncini and sliced tomatoes.

Nearly late to our meeting at noon with Mr. Hinkel, children didn't TOUCH their assigned work over the Christmas break, however, we did several educational activities...book reading, puzzle solving, finance managing (aka, Christmas shopping with the money you have earned and been allotted). We might have observed some high waves, sea lions, gingerbread house building...I don't remember. Oh, and they did tell a bit about Phineas and Ferb, blogging and Stargate.  Camden had many excuses for not doing anything he was assigned and then this light bulb goes on in his head and he turns to me and says, "Mom, my swim bag is at home under the table..."

Yes, he had to pay taxi fare to return for it, but not until AFTER the Cash & Carry stop, and Wendy's drive through for Frosty's (chocolate ones, the vanilla tastes sort of like...chalk). So all the way home, grab the bag, check the mail, back to town, drop Cam at the pool...sigh in relief and back to Gino's with the cookie dough.

My Fukubukuro from Lupicia Tea came. Fukubukuro = Happy Bag. Traditionally sold on the first day of the new year at Japanese shops, and Lupicia Tea is a Japanese company - and frankly - ANY GRAB BAG OF TEA would make *me* happy :D  AND IT REALLY CAME WITH A LITTLE BAG!! I was so excited!! Abby has decided the Pumpkin Pie black tea tastes like a vanilla chai she likes :D So we had a tea party at Gino's, I got to relax a bit and catch up with Boss Krystal which was delightful!

From Gino's we headed to Dad & Kelli's house, did some modem trouble shooting and swapping out, had some tasty tacos Dad made, picked up a few things I need to take to Hawaii with me for Kadi...and then headed to church.

Pastor taught about not letting the buzzards take from you your convictions/promises/sacrifices to God - citing Rizpah & Abram as examples. Abram didn't let the fowls of the air take from him his sacrifice to God, and Rizpah's sons.

After church, a few of us went to Kozy Kitchen for some snacking...eggs and lovebrowns for me :D My fave. Andrew, the Alsworths minus Jay and we Smiths minus Kurt seemed to have a nice outing. Kurt will have leftovers.

Now, I only have a million things to sort out, get taken care of, put together, tie up, etc...before I leave tomorrow afternoon with Kortni and Rob to head to Corvallis so Rob can take Korts & I to the airport Friday morning and we can fly to Hawaii!!!  I'm sure we'll have an awesome time...even when it rains (I can't say if, because last time it rained on Kadi's side of the island every day, at least once a day).

I'll add the pics from today...later. The camera's too far away from me to bother with it right now.

December 21, 2009 - Living For Jesus is Fun

Soooo...just after midnight, technically making this photo the 22nd, I say since I was still up and just winding down it counts for the 21st :)

Blooming hand tied jasmine tea :o) They have tied silver tea leaves (that would be new, young, still having the little fuzz on them leaves), clover and jasmine blossoms together - it starts out as a little ball and blooms in your pot of hot water.

I love them :)

November 21, 2009 - Living For Jesus is Fun

Happy 34th Birthday to CASEY :o) His secretary wouldn't let me talk to you, she was *sitting on the couch answering the phone* - as in Casey's phone. My niece is so smart :)

For Casey's birthday, we had tea. No, Casey wasn't here. He was at his house, far, far away, where it's much colder. Shaye and Grandma made him a cake I heard - and we're too far away to swing by for a piece of it!

November 16, 2009 - Living For Jesus is Fun

Two things are important today. The first is mentioned briefly at drink more tea, and that would be my CHAI - yes, yes, I know to you without tea knowledge this looks like a freaky pot of soup...but it's not. Okay, perhaps it's freaky, but it's not soup. It's...better than hot cocoa, so we made a gallon. Black tea, and I tossed in some white tea (pai mu tan) and green tea (gen mai cha) as well, then milk, water, about a cup of honey, spices (yeah, wish i could remember what i threw in that can - you see, i have a big can of odds and ends of stuff that is the chai blend can, so end of misc. black tea, star anise, hand grated nutmeg, bits of cinnamon, end of dried peppermint, ginger pieces...you get the picture). Simmer 20 minutes or so (after it heats up, no use timing how long it takes to get to the point where it's hot enough to simmer). YUMMY!! I tried to get a good shot of the star anise and the pink peppercorn...those are my favorite aesthetic ingredients :D I think it might be a little blurry. That's how you would see it if you tainted it with grown up beverage, which I didn't.

And photo #2 is just for Abigail, I promised her I'd post it to my blog...and she will post it to hers as well - she put together Ruby's *Polly Pocket* poster. Ruby got angry and had to disengage, no use being angry at a puzzle, it doesn't growl back :)