some things to discuss.

once upon a time, my sister told me my eyes looked like a cat's.
um.
i don't necessarily like cats.
kittens are pretty darn cute. without claws.
but cats? ehh.....no thanks.

but she does have a point. in natural light, there's this intense shade of caramel (yes, a food name;) that shows up in my eyes along with the green. pine and moss, if you will. ;)

see? click on it.
okay.
random talk of eyeball color: over.
i just need you all to know another random thing, though not so random considering it is the beginning of march, and thus here in the midwest we just got a bit more snow....and some ice has formed. lovely.

so the thing you all need to know?
heels, no matter how sensible they are, do not mix with even the smallest patches of ice.
nope.

we took two vehicles to church because some of us go earlier, so today after church dad took anna, rach, lyd and me on a grocery run for a few things, and then home.
so. good news? actually, ahem, great news?
we bought the above bags of coffee.
dad picked out the roasts. all i did was root for us needing at least 1 bag of whole bean.
;)
so here we are with two bags by the two major coffee places around here.
funny, i think.

i love the color of that kitchen towel.
and to be frank, i like it when kitchen towels are made to absorb water. some are like the feathers of a duck or something; water rolls right off. and that bugs me.

i had the privilege of experiencing the bliss of sleep in the early afternoon hours today.
2-3. but let me tell you, it was hard falling asleep; noise coming from downstairs where most normal people were awake, and the symptoms of perhaps some drippage in the back of my throat (thankfully not sore) and a slight cough. which, of course, i'm not taking back, so i've gulped healthy potions a few times today, and am going to bed at a better time than the past few nights' 12am.....

on to one last cosmetic subject: i really like the color my hair has faded to; roots notwithstanding.
in a week or so, i'm thinking a lighter brown with red? and then the next time...oh boy, in the present moment i'm hating to type this... the next time, i'd be going for dark blonde with perhaps some red highlights throughout.
*sniff sniff*
the other day i was pretty darn ready to be blonde again, but seeing a picture in good light like the one above makes me want to stay this color forever. i'm so weird.

Our siblings push buttons that cast us in roles we felt sure we had let go of long ago—the baby, the peacekeeper, the caretaker, the avoider.... It doesn't seem to matter how much time has elapsed or how far we've traveled.
[Jane Mersky Leder]

the concept of which i've never explored before.
well, the angle and time of day and wonderful sunlight, that is.

i'm kind of getting excited (well, i have my moments of inspiration for this type of "public speaking" that vlogging is) . . . so, if you please, you should go visit this post and comment. ask me something. what are you wondering??

Siblings are the people we practice on, the people who teach us about fairness and cooperation and kindness and caring—quite often the hard way.
[Pamela Dugdale] ^^so true. so darn true.

the end.
oh, did i mention that the other day anna ordered our tickets for a josh groban concert in the summer?
yeah.... his voice is amazing with a capital a, but we think he's also quite adorable. quite. plus, he loves coffee. i remember him saying that once in a video or something; that he's always on a caffeine high during shows because of all the espresso or something. ;)
we're psyched. i'm just not that psyched for the price of the ticket. at least it's not in the nose-bleed section.
♥

hmmmm. ideas. :] ...a.k.a. vlog q time!

we're going to watch the movie red, anna lyd, gram (hahaha) rach and i.
i love that movie.
anna didn't get to see it when the boys and dad and i watched it a few weeks ago. she was gone for the evening to a doula-friend's house to watch a birth documentary. fun fun!!
and yeah, i'm blogging this at 4 in the afternoon, unlike my normal 10-11 night-time postings.... whatever. someone will read this someday. hopefully soon.

last night with sarah {and eliyah} was so fun. great conversations and encouragement.

eliyah is the cutest thing ever. carrying around 2 spools of thread and her mommy's car keys. ;) and that polka-dotted shirt? man. can't they exist in my size?!
. . . 
so.
questions.
throw 'em at me.
nice ones. good ones. interesting ones. random ones.
deep ones? heck, why not.
psh.
but just remember--i'm not a philosopher, and definitely don't as big a degree on theology as i do in coffee knowledge. ;)
once i've given this post enough time for enough people to read and comment, i'll answer them in a vlog post. yay, huh?? *laughs*
p.s. it occurred to me that i could have one of the siblings record me on a camera and upload that on youtube--coffee tips, and how i make a pot. ha. ha. ha. fun stuff. it would be ridiculous. what do you think??

this is what one does while onions and spinach are simmering.

i made slop today. it's chickpea curry, and as long as you don't skimp on the salt and curry, it. is. good. i'd have to say that today's curry was the best i've ever made of this recipe. i wonder why??
--and yes, the above picture is what i did with a fork tine while the title came into play. ;)

so sorry for the torture i inflicted with that lovely wordless wednesday of coffee cake yesterday....hey! it's not like i didn't warn you; there was the word sorry in the title. ;) ahem.

rachel's forget-me-not plant. :) isn't it cute?!
i've never tried out my green thumb. or whatever color it is.

these carrots are going to be shredded soon. and i'm going to attack a full head of celery with the k5 as soon as i'm done with reading blogs for the afternoon.
we're making chicken-gnocchi soup today...and tomorrow, sarah's coming over with eliyah to hang out and spend the night at gram's house with anna and me. there's a men's conference our church is hosting, and there's several meetings in the next few days. we're going to have some quality girl time. pretty exciting. :)
i'm also excited....for the new 4GB sd card mom's bringing home...it's only $12 or $13. another 4GB card was going for $20? um.....i'm going for the good ol' sandisk. tell me there's a reason i should go for the super-duper-crapping expensive one? ha! no way.

half of the family is out on errands or nannying next door, so we've got a pretty quiet house to ourselves...except for when gram wants to hear her. ahem. special times. give her another strawberry bar from aldi's. she loves her treats, and it keeps her happy!!

she'll grin with a wrinkled nose when she sees i've posted this, but lyd drew a na'vi person: jake sully from avatar. ;)

and, there was enough in the pot of starbucks vanilla that i just brewed, so i said she could have some today. er, she's 10...hehe.

yeah, the cutie invented this thing so she could multitask. do dishes, drink coffee. um...littlest sister after my own heart. right here. ;)

me and rach:) 
i loved this quote from charla's blog:

...growing up is never easy.
you hold on to things that were.
you wonder what’s to come.
but that night, i think we knew it was time to let go of what had been
and look ahead to what would be.
…the thing is, we didn’t have to hate each other for getting older.
we just had to forgive ourselves…for growing up.
[the wonder years]

~~~

well, it's 10:48pm now.

i made this peanut stuff. peanut butter and jelly bars. yum!! posting the recipe soon;)

we had chinese take-out, us girls:) cashew chicken, crab rangoons, lo mein, and egg-foo-young. 

and watched this movie.
since we sometimes like to have our fun with hallmarks.....we were bummed to find out that by the movie's end it was mostly sad/sweet. sad, meaning we couldn't make fun or laugh at anything. why? because. it was heart transplants the movie was dealing with.
yeah. no laughing.
it was a pretty good movie, though. okay, so i just remembered that the guy was really bold and brash sometimes....but then, someone who was about to die possibly anytime would have to put his desires out there and just do things. one chance, and all that.

and i painted today.
this is good news, folks. really good news. and i have an idea for finishing up another one i started last month........yay!!!!
for those of you new to my blog, or whatnot, ever since december's busyness (and maybe winter setting in?) my painting inspiration flew out the window. :( but last month i started 2 canvases, and today i finished one.....
it makes me happy.

and....this quote makes me want to watch the movie. or at least youtube search for the scene.

George: What is it you want, Mary? What do you want? You want the moon? Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down. Hey. That's a pretty good idea. I'll give you the moon, Mary.
Mary: I'll take it. Then what?
George: Well, then you could swallow it, and it'd all dissolve, see? And the moonbeams'd shoot out of your fingers and your toes, and the ends of your hair...
[It's a Wonderful Life]
♥

wordless wednesday: coffee cake. sorry. ;)

once in an orange-and-pink striped moon, i wake up and look not completely zombie-ish.i didn't wash my mascara and eye shimmer off. ;)

panera bread's coffee cake that the lady gave me a piece of last night.

my breakfast.
the end.

{hey, it only happens once in a blue moon!!!}

p.s. anyone want to see a low-intensity ocd's fridge? organized, etc....yeah....i did it. ;)

i love panera bread forever. and ever. amen. :] the end.

 it's 9:35pm.
we got back from panera around 8:50ish.
all while within temptation's song what have you done now {live album; found a live version on YT...happens to be the same concert}. . .
i picked up, shook rugs outside in the won't-make-you-an-icicle lovely balance of coldness outside the back door, and vacuumed most of the main floor, put the rugs back, filled up a huge mug of water and turned on my laptop.
we went to panera because rachel's birthday is coming up soon. :)

fun time.
what i got?

you-pick-two: cuban chicken hot panini, mac-n-cheese, small coffee (got refilled twice, each time with more decaf than the time before), and we were there with family having a great time till near-closing, so the lady gave me a huge slice of coffee cake. (and the manager found out rach was the birthday girl....gave us a take-home box of all sorts of pastries:) ......

me and the soon-to-be-birthday girl:) oh, and a small piece of ice cream cake. ....which was, of course, total yum.

this smells amazing and i'm going to eat it tomorrow morning with some fresh-brewed coffee. OH. my. :)
. . . random: this morning, i took a few pictures of danny. it was after i brewed the caffe verona, and he came into the kitchen with a smile on his face. "you make coffee?"
"yep. you want some?"
*shake of the head*
"ahh, yeah. you're too little for coffee." :)
"yeah, i too wittle for coffee."

um, i don't have any idea where he got the owie on his forhead. :\ but goodness he's growing up.

^^that's lyd, with a fake little red bird in her hands. :)

here's a great article on love, by brad stine. i first found him on youtube, from someone' blog (can't remember, though i have a suspicion it was charla's? or i might be mistaken)... and then i found his personal site, and then i found out he writes on beliefnet.com. first time for me on that site. interesting stuff.

^^this a.m.
there's nothing like caffe verona. definitely one of my favorites by starbucks, perhaps even above their italian roast or house blend... yep. definitely. :]

♥ oswald today:)
. . . even with doing 1/3 decaf and 2/3 regular coffee at panera --7-8pm-- i'm worried for tonight's sleeping habit...goodness. not sure i should even expect or try to sleep until after 1. sigh. and here i am, trying to go to sleep earlier in the p.m...