Weisure time and fried scorpions

The Daily DeMo - Edition 10

DD76 :: Friday - HUH? Living on the moon?

DD77 :: Saturday - I learned how to snap a bottle cap with my fingers. I'm not really good at it yet, but I know that it's possible to do.

DD78 :: Sunday - Fried scorpion tastes... crunchy. (not personal experience!)

DD79 :: Monday - Which side do the bread plate and glasses go on? To find out, make an "okay" sign with both hands (by touching the tip of each thumb to the tip of each forefinger). The left hand forms a lower-case "b" - for bread. The right hand forms a lower-case "d" - for drinks. (Thanks, Becky!)

DD80 :: Tuesday - A woman doesn't become a Mrs. simply because she got married. It comes from when she changes her name. So if a woman keeps her maiden name, she technically is not a Mrs.

DD80.1 - "weisure time" is the new buzzword for combining work and leisure.

DD81 :: Wednesday - Here are instructions for facebook purity, an add-on that will block facebook applications, including all of those stupid quizzes that get posted: http://spacefem.livejournal.com/544201.html

DD81.1 :: With lots of prayer and preparation, leading Life Group really isn't that bad.

DD82 :: Thursday - According to a commentary piece on ABC News's website, the average British worker gets 28 paid vacation days a year, Germans get 35, the French get 37, and Italians get 42 days to lay around in the sun. In contrast, Americans get about 10 paid vacation days off a year and America doesn't have a set vacation policy for the country, unlike some European countries. {from Working Girl}

Like Jack Sommersby pickin' off the hornworms...

I picked budworms off my petunia plants tonight. Grrrr. And I know that there are more, because I've been reading about how to kill them (in an organic, non-toxic way [I know you'll appreciate that, Mel.]) and I'm pretty sure that as big as these were tonight, there are more to come. If I'd known that my holey blooms were because of budworms, I'd have been looking for those stinkers sooner than now. I have been noticing that some blooms had holes, and others were much smaller, and I just thought it was because I hadn't watered them for a couple of days and they didn't appreciate the 101* temps lately. But that's not the problem. I deadhead my plants every night when I get home. But tonight I noticed this:

No blooms! Caterpillar poop!

And this is how I dealt with all 20 that I pulled off my plants (and I'm not apologizing to PETA).
What's so disgusting is that all that green stuff came out of that one caterpillar. Eww.

"I was a big event"

I have until August 14 to finish reading The Guardian and My Sister's Keeper. Then I can see this movie. The one that I've watched the trailer for 6 times in the last 20 minutes. Maybe it's because I love Rachel McAdams from The Notebook. Or maybe it's because of this Eric Bana guy. (Where did he come from?) Or maybe it's because I hear Lifehouse playing throughout the trailer. Or maybe it's because New Line Cinema makes some of my favorite movies (Corrina, Corrina. Frequency. i am sam. Secondhand Lions. The Wedding Singer. 8 Seconds. 50 Cent: Refuse to Die... {j/k on that one}). Whatever the reason, it's been added to my need-to-see list. After I read the book.

Elton John = Reg Dwight

I just got home from seeing My Sister's Keeper with Angela tonight. I didn't cry. (But I cried during Up last weekend. Twice. Hmm.) I think tonight I was just too concerned with Cameron Diaz being an over-protective mom, and the make-up job on Kate and how they got her to look so sick. It's not that I wasn't emotional tonight. I started to cry, but it takes a lot for the tears to actually fall and not just sit on my eyelids. I've heard that the movie ends differently than the book, so maybe the book can get some moisture out of my eyes. But first I need to finish reading The Guardian. And before I do that, I hope to have created my own C25K podcast. Here is a very overdue Daily DeMo. Edition 10 will be up soon!

P.S. MSK has a great soundtrack. Pete Yorn, Regina Spektor, James Blunt, Jeff Buckley... yum.

The Daily DeMo - Edition 9

DD69 :: Friday - Amelia Island is the only community in the USA that has existed under 8 different countries' flags.

DD70 :: Saturday - Putting up 12 window clings onto 6 windows in the morning sun is a very hot job.
My friends and I did some construction work for the Habitat for Humanity ReStore at Harry & Hillside. The ReStore sells new or gently-used appliances, fixtures, hardware and is open to the public. They have some pretty good stuff available. I'll try to post some before & after pictures because the changes that we made are incredible.

DD71 :: Sunday - I learned today that Angela's husband Doug has never eaten at Sonic. (How is that even possible?!?!)

DD72 :: Monday - Approximately 2000 coyotes are living in Chicago.

DD72.1 :: How the soda jerk got to be called a jerk.

DD73 :: Tuesday - Nail houses. {Deputydog has become one of my new favorite blogs. If I could sit around and surf the internet all day and bookmark stuff, I would totally blog about it. I love that he does the research and has pictures for what he finds. http://deputy-dog.com/}

DD74 :: Wednesday - A Pitney Bowes survey found that "more than three-quarters of consumers still prefer to receive their coupons in their mailbox. E-mail was consumers' second preference for coupon distribution, newspaper inserts third." {What do you prefer? Did you know that you can now load up coupons on your Dillon's Plus Card? I tried it the other day and it really does work.}

DD75 :: Thursday - John Wayne's name used to be Marion Morrison. Walter Willis changed his name to Bruce when he realized that it would look better on billboards. Elton John changed from Reg Dwight.

The Daily DeMo is on its way

I promise.

I miss you all and hearing what you're learning.

I have everything written out, but not in an easy-to-understand way, so it wouldn't really help at all to just cut & paste.

Until then, read this blog about "nail houses". If you've seen the super-cute movie UP, you will understand more of what they're talking about.

Here are my upcoming posts:
Daily DeMo Edition Nine
A DIY lightbulb project
And a post all about my very special birthday

Does Couch to 5K really work?

I've noticed that I'm getting some hits on Google about the Couch to 5K Plan ("couch to 5k obstacles," "couch to 5k week 5 success," "how far do you go in week 1 couch to 5k"). While those people who visited might not be back to read, I can at least offer some advice to future visitors. If you're new to C25K, and my blog, welcome! There are many people here who can offer you encouragement. Please stick around and introduce yourself!

Here's what I'm noticing with C25K:

• The jiggly buns aren't so jiggly anymore.
• I've noticed increased stamina.
• 30 minutes of exercise 3x a week really is good for the body.
• Running through the pain does work. Last week I had a poor run from a sort of "non-use injury" but this week I kept running and realized that it wasn't so painful.
• I feel like I've accomplished something when I set a distance goal for myself and don't give up.
• No more DP and Cheese Bits every day at 10:00. I feel like I had less energy when I was drinking a DP for caffeine every day. Trading caffeine for water has made a difference.
• I'm amazed that my two feet can hit the ground and propel me forward.
• The intervals set up in C25K really help. The first week I did so-so, but there is no way that I could do Week 4 training back in the days of Week 1. And if I were to do Week 1 training today, I would be bored.
• Pick a schedule and stick with it. I do M-W-F. Another friend does Sa-M-W. Another friend runs T-R-Sa.
• Find some music to listen to that is timed to the intervals so that you're not always checking the time. When I'm running, I really listen to the song and try not to check my clock. I hold out from checking the time and when I finally give in, it's usually late enough that there are only about 15 more seconds to go of the interval. There are a few podcasts to use; some are techno, others are rap/pop. I haven't yet found any podcast with Group 1 Crew, but that would be nice to have instead of booty call music. I use the second one for my training, and this week's was pretty explicit. Just a warning.
  
• I definitely don't eat as much anymore. This is a double-advantage. The only fast food that I enjoy recently is Subway and less Spangle's, and I save money from not going out to eat nearly every day.
• It's a nice surprise to see that my weight is going down for the most part, but that's not one of my goals for C25K. I maintain a good range of +/- 3 for my height, and don't own a bathroom scale of my own. I only weigh myself when I'm at someone's house and happen to be in the same room as their scale.
  
• I think I'm starting to see that flabby tummy go bye-bye. Maybe I'm imagining it, but I like to use it as motivation to keep going.
• Find accountability, someone to ask you if you've been running and how it's going.
• I got this advice from a commenter on a C25K post and it's helped me out to remember to keep looking up and not down at the road: good luck with the running. keep your chin up and work your core too. it'll make running a breeze. :)
• I'm not training for a 5K, but just doing this for "fun" because I realize that this body isn't going to last me for forever, and I was tired of sitting around being lazy and drinking DP. If nothing else, it gets me outside and gives my eyes a break from the pixels that invade about 10+ hours of every day. Did you know that nature is not made of pixels? Amazing!

For those of you who are running C25K, what have you found that motivates and works for you?

Changed my mind

I had it on my shopping list to get some hot dogs on sale this week. Then I saw this and I'm re-thinking my decision. But they're just so dang good in a fresh pot of Mac & Cheese.

Bye bye 24!

Rainy night fun

My last two evenings have been pretty quiet, and that's really nice because the rest of this week is going to fly by. I am working at a fundraiser dinner for The Orpheum Theater tomorrow night. It pretty much involves serving wine and drinks to people with lots of money, and bidding for them in the silent auction. I drive by The Orpheum pretty often, but have never been inside. The history of the theater and later the remodel is really interesting to me. Stories of old buildings and what they used to be like attract me to learn more. It's on my list of places to see in Wichita. I'm sure that I'll be fascinated by the history brought to life.

Wednesday night is run #2 of week #3 in the C25K schedule, then LifeGroup. And Thursday is my birthday! I think I'm the only 24-year old who is excited to turn 25. All my friends are dreading 25, but I feel like 25 just sounds so much more mature than 24. And maybe that's because a majority of my friends are 30-somethings (or almost) and I feel that much closer to them. ;) I'm looking forward to spending the evening with my parents and grandparents who I didn't see on Sunday, and maybe eating some angel food cake and strawberries. (maybe? mom? and home-made ice cream? dad? :)

And that brings us to Friday (are you still intersted in this?) where I will be at a marshmallow roast of a friend who is a birthday buddy. Oh yeah, and before that I have to do run #3.

Saturday is... the day of my pathways party! Complete with croquet and volleyball. And boys grilling food. Yum. And then a new week begins.
---
I kinda got off-topic from the title of this post. I meant to show you what I'm working on now, and why I love the rainy night. This is my latest cross-stitch project. I've had it for maybe 6 months, and really have no idea how much longer I'll be working on it. Hopefully it won't take as long as it took me to knit a scarf in college. I started knitting that simple thing my freshman year and finished by senior grad. For real. Knitting just didn't stick with me (pun!). This c-s kick will probably last for another week and then I'll get bored and put it away for a couple of months and be amazed at the progress that I made last time when I get it off the shelf again. What I like about cross-stitch is that little squares (kind of like fabric pixels) can create an image when you look at the big picture and see how the colors relate to one another.
Do you have big plans for the week?

Go Nuts! (then shoot me a Waco)

This is my friend Angela and me before the game, before we got wet from 5 innings of steady sprinkles. She never takes a bad picture (even the candid, food-eating pictures are good). This is Spinner, the mascot for the Wichita Wingnuts.
And this is the view from two rows behind home plate.
All I really wanted all night (and for the two days before the game) was a cheesy dog, and I got one but I ate it before I could take a picture of it. Angela had her first (mostly schmushy) cheesy dog and loved it (I think). Baseball games just aren't the same without having a hot dog + cheese.

Oh! And the evening was complete with some very wonderful sips of this yummy stuff:
It's so good that it deserves a photo taken from an angle that makes it look like a giant concoction of greatness. Dublin DP is made with cane sugar instead of the unhealthy high fructose corn syrup. The sad part is that you can only get it in Texas (although a couple of years ago Jason's Deli in Wichita had it). But thoughtful friends are the bestest and bring me wonderful things!

(Did you read about the guy who found the book of the pharmacist who supposedly invented DP? I'd never get so lucky to find something so cool in an antique store.)

Since I've been running, I haven't had nearly as much DP. I limit myself to one pop a day, and that's only on non-running days. Amazing, yes? Water is my new BFF.

Once all the Wacos are gone.

Bad day, good Psalm

Today's been a bit of a downer for me. I can really tell that I've been spending too much time on reading blogs and blogging and Facebook, and not enough time with my Creator. Remember when I was SO EXCITED about all the new stuff that I was discovering about listening to God? It seems to have all drifted off and landed in a pile of "Not now. I'm busy." I was catching up on some blogs in my GR, looking for some encouragement and I found this one from Ladybug Blessings. Psalm 139 is my all-time favorite Psalm, and Kristen writes about it better than I can today.

O Lord, you have searched me and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord.
You hem me in- behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, :Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,"
even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to found them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.
If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me you bloodthirsty men!
{Psalm 139 NIV}

I get chills just typing this Psalm out. God knows every single little piece of me. I can hide nothing from Him! Why when we are afraid or scared is it that we run from God when where can we go that He could not see us? Nowhere! There is not one place that you can hide that He doesn't know where you are. He is constantly pursuing us and loving us and He wants us to know, just as David knew, that He knows everything about us. He knit us together in our mother's wombs, I love how we are fearfully and wonderfully made! Just imagine, as much as you feel your body isn't the way you want it God made your body, God made you just the way you are for a reason whether you think your thighs are too big or your nose is too long... God made you!! God knows so much more about us then we know about ourselves. He wants us to speak to Him and give Him the opportunity to reveal things to us.

I mean just thinking about it, how He knows the number of hairs on our heads (Matthew 10:30) and the number of days until we see Him again, then why oh why do we ever run from Him? Not really something I have an answer to obviously. But He loves us so much, much more than we can ever fathom that why do we spend time worrying (that would be me) and obsessing over things when we are so fearfully and wonderfully made. "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" (Matthew 8:26). David uses the word wonderfully, which to me means that God made us for a purpose and He doesn't make mistakes. God things you are wonderful! And in my mind God is the one that matters so to whoever hurts you or mistreats you, turn to God because He will always think you are wonderful!!

Now it can be debated what David means when you get to verses 19 and 20 because it kind of changes the direction of the Psalm but how beautiful a Psalm is it? Even at those verses I feel that David is just asking God to remove the evil people who speak harshly of God. He loves His God and cannot stand that there are people who are speaking harshly of Him. He is telling God to search his heart for he knows that God knows all and in the end he asks God to lead him in the way everlasting. Isn't that what we want? For God to lead us in the direction that He wants us to go. We need to slow down and listen to God, to hear Him leading us. For He knows us better than we know ourselves and who better to lead us in the right direction for our lives. I can't think of anyone but Him.

I am so thankful that He loves me so much, that He knit me together, He knits all of us individually together, knows us from our beginnings, that He gave His son for all of us. I mean, it is honestly unfathomable. To love people that much to sacrafice Your son so that others may live? I can't even imagine having to do that. Through God's love and mercy and grace we are able to be saved. He loves us that much. He loves us that He wonderfully made us.

I think I have hammered home my point too much, haha, but I get so discouraged when I see people unhappy with who they "think" they should be or who "society" thinks they should be. Does society matter over God? No, never. So why do we care so much over what others think when really the One who matters loves us no matter what. I just wish we could get away from having to have the perfect bodies and everything that is such an outward apperance and focus on the interior workings of our hearts and souls. I wish that is what society, television, etc focused on. It pains me to think what God thinks when He sees the great lengths people will go to so they can fit what they feel is ideal. It is like He is up there saying, "my child, you are ideal, you are what my ideal vision for you is. Why is it that you cannot be happy with what I have given you?" I don't mean to say we shouldn't take care of ourselves, because we most definitely should, I am not saying that at all. It just seems like society spends so much time and energy focusing on trying to be perfect and change things that they have put those things higher up than God and people let their trying to be perfect take the place of their time with God.

Sorry this went on so long. I just wish people would realize how much God loves them and cares for them and how they are wonderful in His sight. I write this as much for me as for whoever may read this because I have the same issues sometimes. But we have to remember how God made us and how He knit us together, in His image.

[via Ladybug Blessings]

Ocho

The Daily DeMo - Edition 8

DD58 :: Monday - Today I learned more about the murder of Dr. George Tiller. Still trying to figure out how I feel about it.

DD59 :: Tuesday - Grady Nichols is playing at Bradley Fair on Thursday night. yay!

DD60 :: Wednesday - How Compassion International started: {via Anne Jackson}

Back in the 50’s, a preacher named Everett Swanson went to Korea. Driving through a town, he saw piles of war orphans huddled together to keep warm. The military would drive up to these groups and make them scatter, not wanting anyone to discover the huge orphan problem the country faced. The children that didn’t survive the cold were thrown into the back of military trucks like sacks of trash.

Obviously upset by what he saw, Swanson sought counsel. The key question someone asked him was,

“Now that you’ve seen what you’ve seen, what are you going to do about it?”

DD60.1 :: I read about The Q Line that runs through downtown Wichita. I've seen the markings on the street for the trolley stops, but haven't ridden it. I think I'll put that on my list of things to do this summer. [It amuses me that they call their FAQs "QTips."]

DD61 :: Thursday - Bears don't pee when they are hibernating. Their systems sort of "recycle" everything until it's time to wake up.

DD62 :: Friday - "Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City sits at the intersection of wealth and poverty, where some sleep in the lap of luxury only yards away from those who rest their heads on cardboard and concrete each night." {via PioneerWoman}

DD62.1 - Dave Ramsey covers lunch for his entire 265 team members once a week. {via @ramseyshow}

DD62.2 - When making black fondant, start with a cocoa base and then add color to make black. Otherwise the fondant will taste funny because of the amount of food coloring used when starting with a white base.

DD63 :: Saturday - I have some friends who have a son with an arachnoid cyst on his brain. It won't be removed, but every year they have to take him in for an MRI to make sure it hasn't grown. If it does ever grow, he will have to get a shunt put in to drain it. Scary!

DD64 :: Sunday - I learned the steps to the Charleston! I definitely need some practice, but the basics are there.

DD65 :: Monday - My bath mat has a lot more dust in it than I thought it could hold...

DD66 :: Tuesday - Three well-known climbers died in China.

DD67 :: Wednesday - [I messed up my Google Notebook by not refreshing the page before I started typing more stuff, so I lost everything that I'd saved for the last two days. This DD comes from my friend Mandy.] "I have a great factoid for your Daily DeMo. Monday, our professor told us that everyone gets cancer about every seven years but our immune systems are able to fight and eradicate it. I found no support of this factoid when I googled it, but you never know!"

DD67.1 - We rotate half of our close friends every 7 years. The size of our social network stays the same, but the people inside it change.

DD68 :: Thursday - Always double-check email addresses before sending an email. Oops!

DD68.1 - I did some research for friends on the background behind Gentlemen's Clubs (and why they are not so gentlemanly today), and also the phrase "Get outta Dodge."

How I saved Mother's Day with an X-Acto Knife

About a month ago, I wrote this uber suspenseful post about Mother's Day. And I never said anything else about it. Maybe you've figured out by now that I'm not really an on-time person. This is a perfect example of that. I'm just now getting around to my Mother's Day show-n-tell.

My sister and I combined efforts this year and I was in charge of finding a square frame to fit an 8x8 picture that my sister had designed. You know how nearly impossible that is? Even dear Kohl's didn't have exactly what I was looking for. But they did have this one:
Cousins... Mom... pretty much the same thing...

My X-Acto knife and I got to know eachother pretty well that night.

There was a black paper on the back of the matboard that I needed to take off.

Fortunately that was pretty easy to do by being patient and doing some wiggling with the knife blade. It was taped on with double-sided tape, but it stuck like it was industrial strength.
I was trying to salvage the black paper, but in the end I didn't even use it because the picture was big enough to fit the frame without it.

The next step was measuring where I was going to cut. I usually rush into things and start cutting what I think is the right thing to cut, but will turn out to be a mistake. I really didn't want to go back to Kohl's and buy another frame if I messed this one up, and I really wanted to make this work. This bottom side ended up being a little bit narrower because the bottom of COUSINS cut into the border more than I thought it would, but it isn't too noticeable in the finished product.

Probably the hardest part of this whole process was keeping the angle of the matboard the same so that you can't tell where I started to cut. This would have been a lot easier with a mat cutter that has an angled blade, but I don't have one of those, so I had to grab a sharp blade and be very patient while cutting on the same line multiple times. The first few cuts were important because they set the angle that needed to continue.

Here it is once I've made the last cut.

Then it was just a matter of erasing my lines (I made my lines on the front of the matboard because I was going to be cutting at an angle and didn't want to do that blindly), making sure that everything was centered in the frame, wrapped, and presented. :)

What crafty thing are you most proud of?

Catching up (with pictures!)

I'm usually the one that people are waiting on, but tonight I'm waiting for pictures so that I can update you on the past few days. This weekend was crazy with two nights spent in Newton and two mornings of waking up at 7:00 or earlier when the kiddos woke up. I forgot to bring my ear plugs...

Thursday night I went with my friend Mary-Beth to the free jazz concert at Bradley Fair. Guys, if you're looking for a cheap place to take your girl, you should go to the concerts every Thursday until July 2. Bring a lawn chair and get there early! There's dancing down in front of the band. When I went with MB, I almost turned around to ask the guys behind us to dance. You know that phrase, "itching" to do something? I was totally itching to dance, even with a stranger. My mom says that I get my love of dancing from her parents, which is really sweet, because they've both been gone for a while, so it's kind of like they're living on through me.

I started to write a post a couple of weeks ago about my first experience learning the Lindy Hop. I titled it "Lindy FAIL". My friend Liz told me that about 1% of the people who try to learn the dance actually "get it" on the first try. That's encouraging! ha. She makes it look so easy. I'm not so sure about trying to learn that one again. Tonight I went swing dancing after Pathways and had lots of fun learning some new turns. Oh wait, I didn't really learn them, I just followed the guy's lead. Because that's what I do. I follow the guy's lead. Right, Jason? ;)

I hope to get pictures up from the weekend with my family, and dancing tonight. Until then, I'll leave you with pictures of our trip to the zoo on Thursday.

One of my favorite perks of being an aunt is when my nephews run to me in excitement. It sounds something like this: "Aunt Manee!!!"

Fearless.

What are you "itching" to do today? This week? This year?

Couch to 5K :: Week 1 Analysis

You may have noticed a little trend lately among procrastinating couch potatoes called "Couch to 5K". I'm calling this my first week of it, even though I wasn't following the rules on my first run. I was sort of on the right track though with the walk-jog-walk-jog thing, even though I didn't know what I was doing. I just knew that these new shoes needed to do some running. Technically it's supposed to be a 5-minute warm-up walk/60 seconds jogging/90 seconds walking/repeat for 20 minutes. My second run was last night, and I think it went pretty well. I'll probably not be as enthusiastic next week when the running increases though.

The triumphs:

• Being thankful that I have the ability to run, even when it seems impossible to push myself up that hill; and being amazed that God created humans the way He did.
• Knowing that I can do this! I've noticed that I want to go running, but know that I'm just starting out and need this day of rest between runs.
  
• Feeling the energy that comes from running. It's a much better feeling than sitting for hours at a time.

The obstacles:

• Jigglybuns!
  
• A stuffy nose. Could be allergies. Could be my down-filled pillow that is 8 years old. Makes it really hard to breathe in through the nose, and out through the mouth when your nose is all stuffed with...stuff. Is there a correct way to breathe while running? I kind of just found my own rhythm of breathing every three steps, but -- oh hold up. Ehow has some instructions. So my 3-in/3-out wasn't too bad for a first try.
  

My goal is to run the 2-mile River Run next year. It should be a piece of cake if I can stick with C25K.

My ipod is charged and ready to go. What songs do you listen to when you're running?

Beware of the Cherokee Casino

The Daily DeMo - Edition 7

DD47 :: Tuesday - Kansas and Oklahoma were major wine producers until the Prohibition. Then the wine production moved out west.

DD48 :: Wednesday - Two teaspoons of lemon juice or white vinegar + enough milk to make 3/4 cup = a substitute for buttermilk or yogurt!

DD48.1 - This is how the Amish made butta'.

DD49 :: Thursday - Orion is a winter constellation, which explains why he could not be found during the retreat last weekend. One of the stories is that "Orion was a famed hunter, and in one story boasted that no creature could kill him. Hera then sent a scorpion to sting the hunter. Orion smashed the animal with his club, but not before he was poisoned. Both are now on opposite sides of the sky. They cannot be seen at the same time." [here's the credit]

DD50 :: Friday - PB&J tastes better with the cheddar-flavored Sun Chips, and not so good with the salsa-flavored Sun Chips.

DD50.1 - A "toad strangler" is a bad rain storm.

DD51 :: Saturday - The Cherokee Casino in West Siloam Springs has turned into a monstrosity since I was last in Siloam.

DD51.1 - I just learned that my sister now lives in the same time zone. (We do most of our communicating on Facebook, and not so much on the phone so I hadn't noticed until now.)

DD52 :: Sunday - Kansas is going to (or already has) establish a law that you have to use the "fast lane" on the highway only for passing vehicles and then you must move over into the right lane. I'd like to see how this would work in Oklahoma since everyone -- even the slow people -- drives in the "fast lane".