Raw Potatoes

When I was little, and my mom made anything with potatoes, I always begged to eat a few pieces. I absolutely loved them! My mom would give me a few pieces to make me happy, and I would go on my merry way.

I was thinking about this as I cut my potatoes for tonight's dinner. I always eat a few pieces as I'm cutting them. They are so good and crunchy!

I think raw potatoes is something that is an acquired taste. I don't know how I got started eating raw potatoes, because I can't remember ever seeing my mom eat a piece of raw potato. I remember hearing my pastor say that he liked raw potatoes with salt. So after that, I had to try them with salt. If I remember correctly, I had to sneak that one, because we weren't supposed to eat salt. LOL

Shorts?

The weather has been much "warmer" than usual this month. But that doesn't mean it is warm--just warmer (as in it gets up to 40* or so. I was out shopping today, and I saw a woman in shorts. Brrrrr I got cold just looking at her!

You Can Do it!

The Geico commercial with Tony Little on his Gazelle makes me laugh every time I see it. Tonight I got my exercise at Sears, on a Gazelle! Yep, I CAN do it! LOL

We went to Sears specifically to buy an exercise bike. While we were waiting (and waiting, and waiting, and waiting!) for a salesman, I hopped on the Gazelle and got my exercise in for today! I probably exercised for 10-15 minutes. During that time, someone did come by to help us, but I just listened from where I was.

I don't know if I'd want to actually have one or not. I would probably get bored. But it was something interesting to do while I waited for us to finish shopping!

Cherry Butter

Kevin and I went to a funeral today, and left work a little too early. Along the way to our church is a fruit stand-type store. It is always closed when we go by--they aren't open on Sunday, and they close at 6 p.m. on weekdays.

Since we had the time, we stopped in. They have a lot of different things, including fresh fruit of the season, preserves, and baked goods. I spotted something I just *had* to have--cherry butter. I've had (and made) apple butter, but I've never had cherry butter.

It is so good! Oh, it's made without sugar too. It's sweetened with white grape juice. Yummmmmmy!

I do wish this store were open at least on Wednesday nights. I would love to stop in more frequently. It's a little too far out of our way to make a special trip for.

March of the Penguins

Last night Kevin and I watched the movie March of the Penguins. It was very impressive. After watching this movie, I can only think of how awesome God is. For people to say there is no Creator is to lie. If you have the chance to see this movie, take it. It's well worth the time.

One thing that I was amazed about is that the baby penguins are left on their own in the spring. The males and females all take off, leaving the baby penguins on the ice for a week or longer. Finally, the ice melts and they all jump in the sea. After five years, they will return to the exact spot they were born, and mate and hatch their own baby penguins. Truly remarkable!

Time in my Bible

This morning I was under the weather, so I stayed home from church. It was a very quiet morning, with about an hour spent reading my Bible. Susan posted a wonderful Bible reading schedule, and I've been following it this year. I did get a little behind, but it won't be too hard for me to catch up.

Here is Susan's post: Bible Reading Schedules.

*Big, Contented Sigh*

(And also a tired sigh as well! ;-) )

The house is clean from top to bottom (if you don't count the attic or the basement, that is), and the laundry is done (mostly--I have a few sweaters still to wash, and a set of sheets), and I even went grocery shopping (thank you, Kevin for going with me!).

Today was a good day, very busy, but I got a lot accomplished today.

I am such a S.H.E. What is that? It stands for "Side-tracked Home Executive." I get sidetracked so easily. Kevin says I was reading for an hour today. I do not think it was quite an hour, but he insists that it was. I'll take his word on it. The computer distracts me. I can find all kinds of things to distract me. If I would just put all my attention towards the job at hand, I would get done so much faster.

Oh well, the main thing is that I got all my housework done, and the house is all shiny and clean.

And now I'm off to bed (see, I was on my way to bed, but got a little sidetracked here! LOL). Good night!

It's snowing!

January has been unusual here in Michigan. It has been without much snow. It hasn't been completely devoid of snow, but for most of the month (and the latter part of December too), the ground has been snow-less. We've gotten some snow, but it has been too warm for it to really stick.

Well, tonight it is snowing! It looks quite pretty out. I love it when the snow first falls, and no body has shoveled, or driven on the snow. Otherwise, once people start moving about, the snow becomes dirty and not quite as pretty to look at.

Whenever I say the snow is pretty, people always say I like it because I'm not from around here. :-) The novelty of it will wear off eventually, I guess. But until then, I'll enjoy it. As long as I'm inside. *Grin*

The "Lovely" Michigan Left Turn

When we first moved to Michigan, we were puzzled at certain intersections. There would be a "No Left Turn" sign posted, for no apparent reason. At the intersection in question, we could go straight through it, or turn right. Once, out of desperation to turn left (and noting that no police were around! LOL) Kevin turned left. (Shhh don't tell anyone!)

Finally we figured it out! We even learned that it has a name. Here's an example of what a Michigan Left Turn is like:

Often maligned, often misunderstood, the Michigan Left Turn is an operation which causes much consternation among out-of-state drivers and nary a second thought from locals. Developed in Michigan in 1960...these turning set-ups exist across the entire state, from Niles to Escanaba and from Detroit to Marquette. (Yes, the Upper Peninsula has Michigan Lefts!)

The Michigan Left was developed to avoid the interlocking left-turn movements along divided highways. In this way, the only turning movements allowed at such an intersection are right-hand turns. Traffic lights can be placed at busier Michigan Left intersections if warranted. For the most heavily-used "crossovers," specialized traffic signals may be placed to ensure traffic does not back up on the highway waiting to turn left.

Quote taken from http://www.michiganhighways.org/indepth/michigan_left.html

I'm so excited!

Tonight at church I found out that one of the ladies I frequently talk to is a knitter! She was telling me about some of the things that she has made, and she said she'd try to remember to wear one of her sweaters next Sunday so I can see it.

She said that her mom got her and her sister started in knitting when she was in 7th grade. Her dad thought that the only people that should knit were old ladies, so she didn't knit when he was around. LOL

I've been knitting for several years now, and she is the first non-old lady I've met who knits. *Grin* (And just for your info, I dearly love the old-lady knitters!)

Differences in opinion

Most of the time Kevin and I have the same sense of humor. We laugh over a lot of things together. Yesterday's blond joke was not one of those shared times. In fact, while I thought it was terribly funny, Kevin thought it was terribly stupid. I'm still snickering over it. LOL

THE Blond Joke of all Blond Jokes

Kim posted this blond joke. I admit, it took me a few minutes to figure it out. Nope, I'm not blond. It is quite funny!

Did you believe *every* thing your parents told you?

When I was little, there were a few things that my parents told me that I just didn't believe. For instance, when I was around 5 and 6, we would have taco dinners. My parents would heat up the tortillas in the broiler, and sometimes during our dinner, they would heat up additional tortillas, since we had run out at the table. They always told me, "Be careful, they are hot!" when they gave me one right out of the broiler.

I didn't believe them.

Why? Well, by the time that the thin tortilla had been transferred from the broiler to my plate, it was warm, not hot.

One day, I got one that was super hot! I was stunned. So then I did believe them on that issue!

Another thing that they said, if I happened to be around a paper cutter: "Keep your fingers away, it might cut them off."

I seriously doubted that it would even cut me, much less cut my fingers off, since it had a hard time cutting 5 pieces of paper.

Yesterday at work, I learned to listen to my parents. *Grin* The paper cutter handle doesn't stay up, and as I was cutting some paper, I realized I was cutting something that I didn't want to cut. I reached to grab it, and the handle came sliding down. On my thumb! Ouch!

Of course, it didn't cut my thumb off. But I have a nice little cut on my thumb, that will persist in bleeding if I do not have a bandaid on it.

So, the moral of this story is to listen to your parents. They are always right! *Smiles*

One of my Christmas gifts

My brother made this shelf for me for Christmas. Didn't he do such a good job? He had some help with it, but he drew out the pattern from a picture that I sent him, he stained and painted it, and he put it together.


My kitchen in our new house doesn't have any wall space to hang a shelf on, so I looked on e-bay to try to find a shelf that would fit in the corner on my counter top. The only thing I found was a shelf like this one, only it was way to tall. So I sent the picture to my brother and offered to pay him to make it. He surprised me with it at Christmas!

Mmmmm good!

The other morning I made myself grapefruit juice for breakfast, using Ruby Red grapefruits. The juice turned out so pretty!

Pet Peeve # 3,929

Or something like that! Hahaha I think I have too many pet peeves!

You call a company, and they have you punch in or say your account number (or telephone number). That does what? Waste time so you don't feel you're on hold so long? Any time I have to do this (and I've had to do it twice this week) the first thing they ask for is your account number or telephone number. So what was the point???

Second time same as the first...

(Referring of course, to my post yetserday.) Why must getting up be so hard? But, I did it! Kevin joked last night about "returning" my alarm clock to me, since it was misplaced on his dresser.

I've had a strong dislike for the alarm clock ever since I was little. When I was six years old my parents bought me an alarm clock. I don't remember ever getting up when it went off. Instead, I developed this thing that I must get up when the minute hand was actually on a number (i.e. 7:30, 7:35, etc.). So I would lay in bed, and go to sleep waiting for the right moment to get up. Not a good thing, but when you are six, your mom doesn't rely on your alarm clock to get you up.

My next alarm clock was wonderful. I got that when I was a young teenager. The snooze button delayed the alarm by four minutes. But it also had a feature that I haven't seen before--if you pushed it twice, it would delay the alarm by eight minutes. Push it three times, twelve minutes. Or maybe twenty times...you get the picture! This alarm also had the feature that if you just let the alarm go, it would turn itself off after a minute or two. The minute or two of torture was worth staying in my warm bed. (Of course, it may have annoyed my sisters who were sharing the room with me!)

Since alarm clocks obviously did not do a good job of getting me out of bed, my dad resorted to being my alarm clock. He would come in, turn the fan on, open the blinds, and tell me to get up. Once he played a song from Patch the Pirate at full blast. The title of the song? "It's Time to Get Up". I say he did that once, because after I got up, I put the tape in my drawer, where it stayed for a good long time!

As you can see, getting up in the morning has been a life-long struggle for me! But I'm working on it! Just wait, one of these days I'll actually consider myself a "morning person!"

You'll never believe it...

I got up this morning when my alarm clock went off! What an accomplishment! Hahaha...for me, it truly is! I hate to get up in the morning, and I hate that silly alarm clock making all that noise! I have been known to turn it off, and then pull it into bed with me. Kevin says that I'm "snuggling" with my alarm clock. LOL

Last night I put the alarm clock on Kevin's dresser, which meant that I had to get up, and walk all the way across the bedroom in order to turn it off. This morning I made my bed as soon as I turned that annoying alarm clock off, to prevent me getting back in my bed.

So there! It can be done! *Grin*

Knitting bloggers

Knitting bloggers are everywhere! I started searching for knit blogs shortly before Christmas, and found some that I find interesting to read. It is amazing how many knitting blogs are written. Knitting is quite "the thing" right now. I love to see what people are creating. Knitting is my new addiction. I haven't crocheted anything for a good long time. I thought about starting a crochet project, then I started thinking of all the knitting projects I want to make! Right now I'm working on another pair of socks. Socks are fun to make--really, they don't take that much time, and they can go anywhere. I knitted on my socks quite a bit while we were traveling to California this Christmas.

One thing that I recently came upon is the Clapotis. You can see one at knitty.com. I don't know if I'll make one or not, but they look intriguing. Today I looked at a blog that had a collection of blogger's pictures--there were probably 50 or more pictures of them. They are beautiful. I don't know if I'd actually wear one or not though. It is not a shawl, and it's not really a scarf--it's something in between.

I want to make myself a sweater, but I've yet to find a pattern I like. I'll have to go searching sometime!

My latest read

For Christmas, Kevin gave me Beverly Lewis' newest book, The Preacher's Daughter. I just finished it last evening. As always, the book ends with nothing being resolved (All the books in her series are cliff hangers, the last book in the series wraps everything up). And, as always, I can't wait till the next book in the series comes out! I started reading Beverly Lewis' last series, Abram's Daughters, when the first book came out. That was torturous. I had to wait for her to write and publish each book in the five-book series. I vowed never to read a series of hers until ALL the books in the series were published.

But I couldn't help myself. After all, wouldn't it hurt Kevin's feelings if I didn't read the book he gave me for Christmas? Also, who can let a good book just sit around without reading it? Not I. So read it I did. So now I'm obligated to buy the books as they are published!

Oh, very atypical for me, I did not read the end of the book first. *Grin* Kevin thinks it's awful to read the end first. (Well, I don't really read it first...I read the end after I've gotten into the book, and really, really can't wait to find out what happened!) So, for Kevin's sake, I saved the end for, well, the end! But since it wasn't "the end" of the story anyhow, it didn't make that much of a difference anyhow!

About a year or so ago, I got to meet Beverly Lewis at a book signing she did at a nearby Christian bookstore. She gave a little talk, and then opened the floor for questions. Then she signed books. She is a very sweet lady, and it was fun to briefly meet someone whose work you admire.

What's in YOUR wallet?

Well, not the right card. I guess I'll get carried away by Vikings! Or maybe I will have to combine ALL my holidays into ONE holiday, because I don't have the *right* card. Too bad, so sad.

My wallet currently has in it:
my driver's license
debit card
Citi bank Master Card
a gift card to Kohl's
a credit-card size calender
Kohl's credit card
JC Penney's credit card
Health insurance card
Dental insurance card
Sam's club membership card
My library card
two punchcards for stores I hardly go to
my badge to get into work
three business cards (for businesses that I hardly go to--but want to remember where they are!)
insurance information for our car
four receipts

and NO cash!

That's ALL I have in my wallet! What's in YOUR wallet? =)

Happy New Year!

Wow, 2005 sped by so fast! I look forward to 2006 to see how the Lord will work in my life, and how I can better serve Him.

The start of a new year is a time many people take for making resolutions. I typically take the time on New Year's to write out a list of resolutions. Sometimes I write my resolutions on my birthday (in November). I believe the quote, "If you aim for nothing you hit it every time."

Have you noticed that the advertisements and merchandising at the beginning of the year are focused on: weight loss--weight loss products, exercise equipment, gym memberships, etc.; gum/patches to help one stop smoking; and organizing products. We were in Sam's Club, and Kevin mentioned that the large shelving units that are usually set up to separate the doorways were no longer there. I pointed out that there were products there for resolutions--all kinds of exercise equipment. The merchandisers know how to make their money this time of year.

I don't want to spend a lot of money on the resolutions I make. In fact, I really don't need to spend ANY money on the resolutions I've made. This year, I resolve to:

Have a closer walk with the Lord
Exercise and eat healthy

For my walk with the Lord, I realize I need to get up early (which is something I do not enjoy doing!), and go to bed earlier. With God's help, it can be done!

I already have the dvd's to exercise with. I love to eat healthy foods...I feel so much better when I do! Last year, I went for nine weeks on a diet called "Fit for Life." I have never felt better in my life! It just takes a lot of time in the kitchen, and a lot of vegetables and fruits. But when I take the time, it is so much better for me!

God's blessings on everyone's New Year!