the formation.

Sunday, March 07, 2010 10:04pm

The boys stand in Anna’s room. Saying goodnight, because on Sunday nights we're all as whipped as...well, I'll just use the word Jana used last night: spunked out. :)

Oh, look, it’s the gathering! I say.
Uh, no, I’m going to bed! Anna.

No, no, look! It’s the migration! Caleb squawks, like a bird. He starts flapping his arms, half-bent. Come on, everybody, let’s fly in formation!

We laugh. Yes, cue the laughs.

Oh, my gosh. Wow, Caleb, you sound really intelligent.

Like, as intelligent as a seagull.

Squawking like a bird.

We’re supposed to be geese, he insists.

By the way.

We’re not always like this.

;)

sunday, randomness, and knives. heh heh.

6:03pm

Today I've played peacemaker, I've played prep-chef.
While listening to Shane and Shane (thank you, jen!) --I peeled and 'finely chopped' seven apples for the Fresh Apple Cake/or Coffee Cake that we're having tonight with homemade butterscotch-caramel sauce --after a dinner of asparagus carbonara.
Here's the quick recipe, in case it sounds good to you. :)


1/2 cup butter
1 cup honey, or a bit more than a cup of sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
4 cups peeled and finely chopped apples (it said baking apples, but heck, we got a ton of God-given apples from the orchard 5 minutes away and no way do I care if they're the 'baking' kind or not. they're good. boo-hoo.)
1/2 cup nuts, chopped, optional

So yes. I'm hoping it'll come out beautiful. It was simple, so I'm pretty sure it will.
The boys are boiling sap like crazy, outside on the brick contraption. We're tapping a ton of our neighbor's trees, all up and down the street. Woo-hoo.
While chopping a bit of frozen butter out of the quart bag it was frozen in, haha, I kind of jabbed myself...with this:

That, is a bee-u-tee-ful K5 Cold Steel knife. We got several a few years ago, at the insistence of the boys, and goodness, those serrated knives are good. Slicing tomatoes was never so easy. Check into it, peoples. I don't think you'll be disappointed. (sorry for that advertisement there, but really, except for cutting myself nice and good into fingertips, etc., over the past year or so, they are some sweet knives! ;))


Well. It's 6:29, and I've got asparagus to chop, as well as some lovely mushrooms and onions.
Robin Hood is on. "I deserve to die!" Oh, Little John. *sniff, sniff* Poor Little John. Goodness me.
Okay. Y'all have a lovely night.
Over and out.

(and no, i don't really care how funny i sound. thank you!)

By the way. I haven't had coffee for like, 2 days. Uh-huh. A record, right? Not really...but I've been a bit under the weather, taking healthy potions and whatnot, so tomorrow I'm hoping to wake up better than I felt today. :) And hey, it's a cheerful thought that it's warmer outside! Yay!
Gnight!

guns and me.

Interesting story, involving me and my brothers, etc., and sorry, I can't remember all the funny amusing things we/I said. Darn it. My deepest apologies. :)
Well. Last night I finally got out to the shop to practice Revelation Song (done by Kari Jobe, amongst others).
The boys were out there, and as we talked while unscrewing cymbal stand thingys and got amps out, well, inbetween all that, I picked up one of their m4 guns.
Yes, a gun.
No, not real. Just an airsoft version, but I guess...that without the orange tip, it look exactly like a real m4. Who knew?
(sarcasm, sorry.;))
So I picked one up. There were two sitting there, on the huge table saw area.
They weren't worried. They kept talking.
Never assume you're safe in the room with me. There are ricochets. ;)
So while they talked, I fiddled. I found the little switch thing, ya know, the safety. Heh heh. And then I found, just by tugging, pulling and jerking different parts, how to cock it. So I did, of course.
They heard, and I took aim quite, um, casually, as they noticed me.
So, I pulled the trigger. It was...interesting. They both kinda ducked on impulse, I guess maybe worried or something.
"Did that just shoot something?"
Um. Yes. That was me.
"Look, Ben, it made a hole in the window!"
A window is straight across from where I stood, and yes, there is a tiny whole in the plastic material of the shade, thanks to me.
Caleb took that gun away, and so I picked up the second one and cocked it.
He startled, putting his hands out to stop me. "Be careful. Point it down."
Well, I learned a few things.
I'm just kidding. I knew them already, ya know, those tips of caution.
So I pointed it down, as in, way down. I put it close to a camo jacket laying on the ground (because, ya know, it can ricochet), and shot just to see how it felt. Then I gave it to Ben.
"Hey, you want to buy an m4 for 10 bucks?"
I told you, peoples, I get awesome sister-discounts on the stuff my brothers sell. i.e., pens, guns, bookshelves, etc. ;)
Um, no, I told him.
Oh, come on!
Haha, no. I'm really not a gun person, if you couldn't tell from the above scene. I've seen a pig get shot before getting butchered, and goodness me, it's something I probably could've lived without. But, for the record, last spring I did play a few games of one-on-one airsoft with Caleb, around the house outside, a couple extra layers of clothing, and fully-auto airsoft guns. :)
If you were interested, the gun I shot a hole through the shade with, looked kind of like this:

Onto another subject . . .

Golly.
http://jessicaclaire.net/
Seriously, check her site out. Beautiful, goodness gracious!

counters. yay!!! :)

This, my dears, is a wee little montage. There, you see the famed counters. :) And the new faucet. And the sink that came with the counter, and yes, it's as seamless as it looks. :)

And there you see the stuff I was reading yesterday, I'm halfway through Operation Firebrand: Deliverance; and we got the Above Rubies magazines, yay!!!

Ah, there's my station. Mugs, hanging from handy little hooks under the cabinets. My dear little old Procter-Silex coffeemaker that makes pretty darn good coffee, just so ya know. ;) Caleb looked at it the other day and grimaced, and I just shot him a look, because I knew he was about to say, 'hey, we should get a new coffeemaker; that one ...doesn't look so good.' But I told him it made good coffee, and since he doesn't drink it hardly at all, just please close his mouth. :) Heh heh.

Mmmm. That right there is lemon meringue pie. Neighbor across the street needed to borrow a 5lb bag of sugar. Later that day, randomly he came over with his son (he used to own the bakery a block away, so we found it quite funny that he was out of sugar.:)), and what did they bring? 

Two whole lemon meringue pies. 

Now, let me tell you something: we were not expecting them, but in this cute small town, I guess you just knock, and when Caleb answers the door, you walk in. 

I've never done it before, but hey, I guess it works. 

One little thing, though: we were not expecting them. i.e.: our kitchen was a blooming wreck. :) A lovely wreck. 

Mom, Anna and I walked into the kitchen where the neighbor and his conveniently cute son stood, placing the pies on the --ahem, not cleaned since that morning-- counter. :)  

A moment after they stepped out the back door into the cold, smiling, jovial, and friendly as if the kitchen had been sparkling, Anna, Mom and I slid into our own little reactions. Ack! This kitchen looks like heck! Gosh, Caleb, thanks for opening the door! You could've warned us!

Well, it was fine. I kept telling Anna and Mom, Hey, nobody's perfect; no one's kitchen is clean 24/7. Especially if they use it. :)

Man, that pie was good.

This was today. I made pancakes for lunch, ;)

Dad's request.

But before that, I visited Anna next door, and there's Reese and Sammi, and Anna with them on the couch. Tired. :)

Ah, there's more of that sink. And the counters. And the eggs we get from a nice lady down the street from church who grows her chickens free-range and organic or whatever. All I know is that they're some of the best eggs ever. :)

Yay! After a bit of time passed reading Jana's blog, the picture loader is finally loading wonderfully! :)

okay. Those are the counters before. I don't know if I've posted that one in an earlier blogpost. Sorry. :)

Alrighty. Lovely!

For your information, that is, quite randomly, a stone in my hand. According to Lyd, it's prefect for skipping. :)

yes, those are the eggs again, sorry, on the lovely counter, I just love the contrasting colors, and yep, I keep towels handy on the top of the counter, not just in a drawer. I'm weird. Get over it. ;)

These, my good peoples, are the newly refinished kitchen drawers/cabinet fronts. :) Ben did a lovely job. Positively lovely. You don't know it and you can't feel it, but goodness gracious, those things are silky. Silky as...Anna says white-chocolate-mocha's are. :)

Beautiful job, Ben!

;) Um, excuse the counters. I was between shifts. Heh heh. That pretty much sums it up, though.

Have a lovely day!

Until next time. :)

p.s.

My pancakes are a triple batch of Betty Crocker's, and I double the triple. Haha, I hope I just confused you. That's why I used 6 eggs. :)

Here's the triple batch:

Pancakes

3 eggs

3 cups flour

2 1/2 cups milk

3 TBSP sugar

6 TBSP butter

3 TBSP baking powder

1/2 tsp and a sprinkle, salt

time. it's always slipping away.

I don't have enough time to write an actually post and load some pictures today, because I have to get off this thing, iron a ton more, listen to the CD of Michael Tyrell (wow, amazing goodness) dear friends of ours gave us. . . and tonight --as in, 1 1/2 hours that flies by freaking fast, haha-- we're going to the sweet little Mexican restaurant in town for a late celebration of Rachel's birthday. Hmmm.

Wow. I'm feeling kind of rushed; but a list of things to do and caffeine (yes, more of that pecan torte from that extrememly nice lady at church...LOL) running through you has a tendency to make you feel that way, right?

Hmmm. (i say that to calm myself; like a very, very deep breath.:))

This is a quick one of my second piercing (no, not a cartilage. hehehe) just as I wrote the other day . . . Click to see it bigger and know what I'm talking about. It's a wee little stud, and no, I didn't get just one done. Both ears, baby. It was fun. They didn't have February, so I picked September. Sapphire, it's supposed to be. I just like the blue. Like the sky. Like water. Like . . . you get what I mean, ja?

Goodnight, y'all, and I'll try to write tomorrow, if not this weekend sometime! :)