thoughts from the deep recesses

I'm blogging for the very same reason I made bread pudding last night. Avoidance is one of my better skills. See, there are oodles of things I should be doing. Folding laundry. Making some meals for my family to eat while I'm gone. Making my Costco shopping list for later today. Packing. Writing out a schedule of the kids' acitivities for Asia. Cleaning my house, since no one will do it in my absence. But no, I'd rather blog. So here I am. With a big bowl of bread pudding by my side. SO excited for CHA. I hadn't really gotten excited until this week. I've been looking at lots of previews at Lifetime Moments ... they do a great job of posting lots of the fun stuff we'll see at the show. So I've been looking. And taking notes. And wish lists. Yesterday at work I worked on labeling the poster sized map of the trade floor. Marking the must-see manufacturer's booths with a red box. Putting *'s on the booths we have coupons for. Fun stuff. Airport - 6:...

Closet: organized. A box and two bags to Goodwill. Getting rid of all my 'fat' jeans. Not going there again. Love an organized closet. Yay, me!

Are you aware of StoryPeople ? I absolutely adore Brian Andreas and his fun and funky art. I love his quirky way of looking at life. I pretty much want to marry him because I know he'd make me laugh every day. I get a daily 'Story of the Day' email - which is the only daily email I've ever kept for more than a week... some of my favorites lately? "Death take me now & spare me the pain, she said. It was difficult for me to get that excited. Get a grip, I said, it's only aerobics." "Do you ever listen to me? she said & I said I did but sometimes it took a couple of days to sort it out in a way that didn't make me want to murder her in her sleep." I know, I know. I already have a husband who makes me laugh every day. I.am.going.to.clean.my.closet.out.today. (I'll post pictures later to prove it!) I've decided the whole layering-three-shirts-at-once fashion thing that's happening right now is only for people who have perfectly...

So. I've been dying to get some snow pictures posted, and pics of my new shelving, and ended up running around like a crazy woman all day instead. Now, I should be helping the kids with homework. And instead, I'm blogging. Just a quickie though...laundry to fold, dinner to make, kids to direct. The shelves went up in my studio Saturday night. I am one happy chickie. Seriously, getting all this stuff up and off my desk and other surfaces has changed the 'feel' of my studio tremendously. I can breathe in there again. Good stuff. Don't they look great? And look - there's still space to put more!!! I need to go get some baskets or something to put on that large open shelf... LOVE the crisp, clean design of these. Now, of course, I'm motivated to get in my studio - and finished up some design work last night. Amazing what a clean slate will do for your creative spirit. We're all fighting colds here lately. Lots of sniffling and coughing. Bring on the Nyquil. ...

Woke up at 5:00 am. It's okay. I needed some quiet this morning. Feel like I've been running this week with no time to just be . So this morning, I've had my coffee. Written my morning pages . Let the dog out. And it's quiet. Good. Not sure why I feel so disjointed this week. There hasn't been any more going on than usual. But I just haven't had time . ***** One of my 'resolutions' this year was to choose a daily project and accomplish it... things like organizing a drawer or deep cleaning a kids' room or cleaning the baseboards or such... and I've done it, for the most part. Got my new dishes moved into the cupboards and organized them. Cleaned out the junk drawer with some beautiful new bamboo drawer dividers. But boy, do I ever have a lot more to do. One day at a time, though. One project at a time. Next big project - the closet. Too many clothes in there. I can't possibly pack for CHA until I've weeded things out. ***** I've lost...

Lots going on here. Classes, projects, laundry, American Idol... Not much time to blog. I wanted to share a picture of Tejan though... Isn't he cute? Hope everyone's doing well. Happy Thursday!

No Tuesday Ten. Just 'cause. We had company all weekend - Ryan and Mindy - who are very much in love and such a sweet engaged couple. It's fun to watch them discover each other. It's also fun to recognize that I'm glad I've been married for fourteen years. Where their relationship is intense and new, our is comfortable and trustworthy. While they look longingly into each others' eyes, we smile wrinkly, knowing smiles of stability and constancy and contentment. So happy for them. So happy for us, too. We got a phone call on Saturday night from Children of the Nations . They are the organization who cares for Tejan. They formally asked us to be his foster parents while he is here for his surgeries. We are so excited for this opportunity to love on him and be his American family. E. asked if we would be sad when it was time for Tejan to go back to Africa. I can't think about that now. I do know that God put us here and prepared our hearts for this. The timeline...

I had a couple of requests for my slow cooker French Dip recipe... so here you go. Really, it doesn't get any easier than this, folks! Enjoy. Slow Cooker French Dip INGREDIENTS 1 tablespoon ground black pepper 1 tablespoon paprika 2 teaspoons chili powder 1/2 teaspoon celery salt 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 1/4 teaspoon mustard powder 1 (4 pound) rump roast 1/2 cup water DIRECTIONS In a small bowl, mix together black pepper, paprika, chili powder, celery salt, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and mustard powder. Rub mixture over the surface of the meat. Place roast in a slow cooker, and add 1/2 cup water. Cover, and cook on Low for 8 to 10 hours. When meat is tender and well done, transfer roast to a serving platter. Skim fat from juices, and strain; serve with meat. I serve the meat on hoagie rolls that I've buttered and toasted under the broiler. The sandwiches are also yummy with added sauteed onions! This is a spicy recipe - if you don't ...

"See, the penguins don't have anywhere to poop. So there's too much poop. And the iceburgs are breaking up. Because there's a hole in the ozone above Antartica. So we have to stop doing too much driving."

Wanted to post this picture of my project from last Saturday's class. I was inspired by a similar project I saw in the pages of Somerset Home . The base is the back of a cookie sheet that's been painted black. There are diffferent labels for each month of the year, and all the numbers are on magnets so they can be rearranged appropriately. Love it. I just ordered this for my studio. I've needed shelves in there for the last year and simply couldn't pass up this deal. Can't wait until they get here. Hopefully it won't take me six months to get it all hung up and functioning. The other night I put on my new 'cruise dress' to show the kids. S. had the appropriate 'you look so pretty, Mommy!' repsonse. K. backed away in a typical pre-teen response. And E.? All he could say was "You're going to have to do something with your hair, Mom." The kids just got home from school... dragging a dead Christmas tree. Apparently E. thought I would...

I went shopping yesterday. Of course, going on a cruise means I need all new clothes. I couldn't possibly cruise the Caribbean in these old rags... So off to the mall I went. I found, among other things, the most perfect dress. It's black and white and fits me like a glove, without showing any of the bumps and lumps most dresses reveal on me. Truly, it is a miracle dress. I bought it on the spot. Seriously. I look like a size zero in it. (And anyone who knows me know that that is indeed, a miracle.) I made the most delicious dinner last night. Slow cooker french dip sandwiches and sweet potato fries. Yum. I keep hearing about the book "The Artist's Way" and have it on hold at the library... gotta check this one out, I think. Anyone read it? Knitting class is officially over. K.'s scarf became a pot holder, and is still not completely finished. But he did learn to knit. The kids brought home new sign up sheets for extra curricular stuff yesterday. S. and E. an...

I realize I've not been my normal, bloggy self lately. I sit down to write and my mind goes blank, save for a few ridiculous things I can only get away with on a Tuesday Ten post... I just have very few interesting or insightful things to say these days. So I'll just write a little update. No deep thoughts or life changing revelations. Just life. Asia told me last week that he's taking me on a cruise for our fifteenth anniversary. Wow! This guy is such a keeper. Paris for our tenth anniversary and a cruise five years later? Okay, honey! I've been consumed with researching cruising... lots to learn. Looks like we'll be doing the Western Caribbean in May. Things are progressing on the Tejan front... last week they were calling our references. I still haven't heard anything for awhile, and my pastor teased me yesterday at church, saying they told him that Tejan was coming this weekend. Ha! Who knows? Our hearts are ready... but the house? Not quite. Hope we he...

When you're out scouring the very sad, nearly depleted Christmas clearance aisles at your local store, do not walk past the gazillions of bags of leftover Christmas candy. Those red, white and silver Kisses? The bags of red and silver foil wrapped Peppermint Patties? The sweet little Kissables, all decked out in their red, white and green Christmas best? Buy them all. Buy lots of them. No, we're not going to save them for next year... Ewww. (We would never put year-old candy in our candy dishes...) Here's what you do: Bring them home. And when your sweet little cherubs get home from school, set them to work separating all the reds and white/silvers from the greenies. Once that is done, bag up the greens and put them in a safe place. Place the reds and white/silvers in your favorite Valentine candy dish, and save the greens for St. Patty's Day. There you go. Aren't you lucky I'm such a post-holiday shopping genius?

I woke up this morning with a headache, which seems like the perfect excuse to not take the tree down after all, and instead, sit on my rear watching movies all day. However, I have work to do. Class samples that just must get done. And Asia is complaining about the Christmas decor... he's not a big fan of Christmas and he's more than ready to pack it all up. (or rather, have me pack it all up so he doesn't have to look at it anymore.) I have to go to the music store to pick up K.'s trombone before his band class today, so he can actually play it. He broke the trombone the last week of school and it's been in the shop being repaired. I should go to the bank and deposit my paycheck too, while I'm out and about. I (of course) have mountains of laundry to do. I'm drinking day-old coffee this morning. We made a pot yesterday that I never got around to drinking. So I'm reheating it in the microwave. Thank goodness I'm not a coffee snob, or I'd prob...

I was so challenged at church yesterday. Challenged by the idea of doing God's work. The work he has for me . And encouraged by the notion that His work often becomes apparent to us in our hopes and plans and dreams for the future. I was blown away by three college boys who stood up in church and shared their dream. They had a vision of crocheting beanies and selling them to raise money for the poor. And now they are now going to Uganda next summer to train and employ six Ugandan women - making beanies that will be sold here in the States. So cool. So simple. So amazing. (You can check them out here .) So I've been thinking. Thinking about my dreams. The things I would do if I didn't have to worry about details and money and blah blah blah... And wondering about God being able to take care of all the blah blah blah and just make the dreams happen because it's His work . Here are a few of my dreams: Host Tejan when he comes to the States. Take our family to Africa for a...