Dayton Vote!

No, I am not talking about the presidential election/primaries. I am talking about ActiveDayton.com's "Best of Dayton" contest. Starting Monday you can vote for your favorite Italian restaurant. We, of course, think you should all vote for Troni's. They are not currently an option. We have nominated them. You should all head over and nominate them as well. Then vote for them. Or don't if you're afraid of having to wait for our favorite Italian food. We hope you aren't that selfish, though. We really think more highly of all of you than that. We have faith in you. We also really love Troni's so we hope you do the right thing (that would be voting for them if you missed it). Thank you in advance for your vote.

Husband is Home

Ralph spent Tuesday to Thursday in beautiful Toronto this week. I worked all three days he was gone. I tried to get Kenya to stay inside with me—preferably in our room. Now that I've been married a few years, I find that I no longer enjoy being home alone. I used to love it. I think it came from working nights for those years. I used to live to be home alone. Now I hate it. I hear every creak the house makes. I have to sleep with a light on (which is tough because I can sleep through anything but light). So, I came up with a solution. Kenya should sleep in our room with me. I don't really like dogs on the bed, but I was willing to be flexible. It is a king sized bed after all. Well, she wasn't having it. She would pace the room and pant like she had just run a marathon. She really is a winter dog. I eventually had to put her out and sleep with Jedi (who eventually left me too; I tossed and turned too much).

I made a mistake on Wednesday morning. I complained to a bunch of single girls. On a normal morning, we get up at 0430. Ralph heads downstairs and makes my breve and breakfast smoothie and if it's cold he starts the car and scrapes it if needed. I take a shower and get ready. Usually by 0505 we get to cuddle for 10 minutes or so. It's a somewhat relaxing routine. With him gone, I had to get up 15 minutes earlier and did not have any time to sit down before I left. It of course snowed that first morning, so I had to clean off the car before leaving. That's what I want to do at 5 am! Anyway, I was whining about this to the night shift when I got to work that morning. I was told, "Welcome to single life!" They also asked where they could find a husband like mine. ;-p After that I made sure I only told my tale of woe to married people—they were much more sympathetic.

I am thrilled to have my husband home again! He brought great news with him. A job offer. Kind of two job offers. He only gets to pick one though. He can't have both. That would just be greedy. Pray for us in this. It may mean a move to San Jose for us. Not sure if we're California people. If we stay, it would mean a lot of travel for Ralph which has a lot of ramifications for many areas of our lives. It may affect how/where I work as well (even if we stay). We are hurry-up-and-waiting for next week and the official offer/process to start. We'

After the Oscars

We had such a great time at our Oscar party last night! I always try to class up the house and decorations by using gold, black, silver, red and crystal. This year we got a HUGE boquet of white flowers--think old classy Hollywood On the drink table, I used a white table cloth, a red runner to mimick the red carpet (thany you Rachael Ray). Also courtesy of Rachael Ray, I got white napkins and drew black lines on them and where they met I put a gold seal. They looked like the envelopes--except this year they used red seals. Oh, well. I was happy with the results. I picked up some red burlap fabric on sale and used that for our red carpet. Ralph picked up some really fun prizes. We have used Blockbuster gift cards for the last few years so we of course used those again this year. We also gave away a "Juno" soundtrack, an "Enchanted" soundtrack, "Michael Clayton" on DVD and two "date nights" (two tickets to a movie, popcorn, and something else--Ralph got them). Everyone seemed to have a great time.
We served hot apple cider, a champagne punch (minus the simple syrup), French press coffee, and water with lemon. The punch is a wonderful light, refreshing punch. It serves quite a few people and is really easy to make! We had some really creative food again this year. I just picked a couple to show. Our friends Jeff and Sarah made the "There Will Be Blood Pudding." Jeff spent all afternoon on the structers. Kelly made the "Mrs. Lovett's Meat Pies" for "Sweeney Todd." I have to admit--I loved what I made. They are called "Texas Millionaires." They are caramel, pecans and chocolate. So yummy! I made them for "Charlie Wilson's War"--about a politician who surrounded himself with Texas millionaires.
I will go into the dresses in a later post but overall no huge fashion blunders--some should look at hiring a new stylist and some should maybe get one, but overall I loved the dresses!

The Road to the Oscars Part 5

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The Road to the Oscars Part 4

Hey, all! Sorry for my blogging absence this past week! It's my four day week, my housekeeper couldn't come this week, we have the Oscar party on Sunday and we started working out this week. I don't have enough hours in the day. Here are my picks for the Oscar dresses. I promised you a survey but I fear this post is too long as it is. I will post the survey on Saturday and the results on Sunday. Hope you are all doing well! Here is a question for you (for those who cannot make the Oscar party): If you were coming to our party, what Oscar inspired food would you bring?

We did it!

We sponsored a little girl from Uganda! Her name is Patience Janet Nabumbo. She had been waiting for over six months for a sponsor. I have not done this since I was in high school--4 of us girls sponsored one child together. I think my friend, Sara, might have kept it up when we all went off to college and kind of faded away. I do remember that we sponsored her(?) through World Vision. Ralph and I are sponsoring Patience through Compassion. We have felt compelled lately to care for the poor and especially widows and orphans. We are also starting to work with our neighborhood SVdP chapter to help feed the hungry in our neighborhood. We pray God shows you where He wants you to serve and help. Consider sponsoring a child with Compassion or the organization of your choice. Find your local food pantry, soup kitchen, shelter, etc and jump in and help. We have been blessed with much and are required to give much.

Valentine’s Day

I love Valentine's Day. I know; some of you (my single friends) do not. You think it a silly holiday contrived by evil people like Hallmark (hate to tell you this, but I love Hallmark too). You think it's because I have a romantic husband and therefore it is easy for me to like Valentine's Day. (I do, in fact, have a very romantic husband. More on that later.) That is not the reason. I love to celebrate. Since childhood, Valentine's Day has been more about me letting other people know I love them than something romantic. I cannot think of one Valentine's Day I have pined for a romantic attachment (and not because I have always had one—I haven't!). I have always had grandparents, parents and siblings to send fun Valentine things to. I have slipped in recent years due to the whole having a husband thing. I really enjoy those things. I love all holidays—real or contrived, though some I know would make the argument that all holidays are contrived.

 

I just finished Exodus in my Bible study and have started on Leviticus. Basically, I am in that part of the Bible where God gives the Israelites a whole bunch of rules on how to live, gain forgiveness from sin and celebrate. They are to have lots of festivals and celebrations. So, without a whole lot of theological arguing, I propose we are created to celebrate. Not all the time, but at set times and often in spite of our circumstances (the Israelites were in the desert without permanent homes when they learned about these celebrations and one of them was about that!). I think choosing joy is important to the Lord as is sharing and giving joy to those around you. This is why I choose to celebrate—even when it may be hard for me. Take Mother's Day and Father's Day. We do not have children, not for lack of desire, but because of God's timing. I still choose to celebrate with my parents, in-laws, siblings and friends who God has blessed with children. I honor them and what they do and pray for them. I get joy out of this. I choose to get joy out of this. So basically I am saying that I am unashamed at how much I love to celebrate and I love Valentine's Day.

 

Back to my romantic husband. He has taken me here for a romantic and restful get-a-way for just the two of us. We are loving this B&B! It is just our style—woodsy and not froo-froey. He got me this and this. I remember looking at both the chocolates and the candles thinking "I would love those but I'll never get them—that's kinda out there." Low and behold, that is what I get for doubting my wonderful husband. The chocolates are de-lic-ious! The candles smell am-a-zing! Due to illness, all of our shopping was done on-line this year. I am okay with that. I love what I received. Oh, I also received this. I am really enjoying it as well. For my husband, I got him this and this. He loves to be comfortable and is going to be doing a lot of traveling with work over the next couple months. They just seemed perfect for him. He was very excited to receive them. I think he was as surprised as I was. Apparently, we each know each other better than the other realizes. Hee, hee. Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day!

The Road to the Oscars Part 3

Hello, all, from near Port Clinton, OH. Ralph planned a romantic get-a-way for us this Valentine's weekend. We are holed up in a beautiful bed and breakfast. We have a large king sized bed, a jacuzzi tub for 2 and a fireplace. I am quite excited to just RELAX! We have not done that in a while. Here are the last of the dresses. Next week you will get to vote on who should wear the dresses! I'll have a special edition next Saturday with our picks!








A Little Scary










Orange is the new pink

















Navy drape










Flapper dress

















La Perla










Gray sheer

Blogging

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Wow

I have just spent the morning living vicariously through someone else's mission trip. As if it's not hard enough to learn everyone's names and faces (together, correctly) on your own trip (where you at least already know yourself—kind of)—try to start from scratch on someone else's trip! It's tough. Compassion has sent bloggers to Uganda. They are there seeing the work Compassion does and then sharing it on their blogs. Please join me in following their journey, praying for them and if you can, sponsoring a child. Just reading their blogs, looking at their pictures and watching their videos makes me "homesick" for Africa. I can see the faces, feel the air and smell Africa through their blogs. This is a good thing they're doing. We were challenged at Apex last night by Shane Claiborne to evaluate what we are doing for "the least of these." This is an excellent way to start! Here are Compassion's bloggers:

Carlos Whittaker

Chris Elrod

Doug Van Pelt

Heather Whittaker

Phil Ware

Randy Elrod

Shaun Groves

Sophie "BooMama"

Anne Jackson

Shannon "RocksInMyDryer"

David Kuo

Tom Emmons

Spence Smith

Keely Scott

Brian Seay

Stop in and let them know what a great thing they're doing and that you're praying for them. Better yet, share your Compassion story if you have one.

Colorado's Contrasts

Because The Flu Is Never Leaving

Due to the fact that the flu has placed us under quarantine, I have no fresh blog ideas. Therefore, I am using a suggestion my husband gave me long ago--our Colorado trip from June. I wasn't blogging in June so I have not shared this trip yet. As my brain is still a bit mush, I will just share pictures today. They are my hope that I will enjoy things again. ;-p I have all kinds of fun things to share about how we planned the road trip, food packed, etc but it's all too much effort at the moment. Enjoy the beauty that is Colorado and ignore my whining.

The Road to the Oscars Part 2

There were so many options for deciding on dresses! I think I WAY overthought this. Should I look for dresses I like? Should I look for unique Oscar dresses? Should I study pictures of what each girl has worn in the past and try to find on in their own style? And the options go on and on. I finally decided for a mixture. Mostly they will be dresses I liked for some reason as well as some "strikinly unique" Oscar-worthy dresses sure to cause discussion for weeks after the fact!




Metallic chic







Chanel





Armani


















Ann Klein









The 80's are back!

The Next Big Idea

So I have been going through a Bible study reading through it chronologically. We are in Exodus now. I completely forgot that when God first introduced Himself to Moses and had him through his staff on the ground. I forgot that when he did that and it turned into a snake, Moses RAN. Now, maybe it was cold/flu bug coming on, but this struck me as so funny I burst out laughing. Let me explain to you what I saw in my head. Picture typical anime animation. Then picture with me this HUGE Voice coming out of this BURNING bush that is NOT BURNING. This Voice tells him to take off his shoes and cover his face. Serious awe-inspiring stuff. Then the Voice directs him to throw the staff on the ground. Realize, Moses had serious army training as a member of Pharaoh's household and lived in the wilderness as a shepherd—big burly man used to killing things. The staff turns into a snake. And. He. Runs. I see in my mind's eye big anime eyes, big anime beads of sweat and that funny running motion they do. As if the BUSH and the VOICE aren't scary—he doesn't run from those, nooooo he runs from the SNAKE. It strikes me as VERY funny. I can now see the whole story of Moses in anime. I can see him as a baby in the basket—those huge anime eyes. I think it's going to be bigger than Veggie Tales. I mean who would have thought a whole bunch of vegetables without arms would be such a hit—I'm sure anime Moses can be just as big. Right?

Dreaming

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I have nightmares every night. Last night I came home from work exhausted, hurting and sick. I took a bath and went straight to bed. Then, strangely enough, I had one of the best dreams I've had in a long time. It was one of those amazing weather days—sunny, warm but not too warm. We were at "home" but "home" was unique because we shared a yard with my parents. Our dogs were playing in the large yard—as my parents recently lost their dog, this was a new one I haven't met yet. My sister, Nikki, called and wanted to know if I wanted to go on walk. She was taking her dog for a walk and wanted to know if Kenya and I wanted to join them. Apparently, they only live a couple blocks away in this dream. I remember thinking "Wow, it's so great to live this close together. This is so much fun." Then I woke up—sick, with a headache, to the rainy, dreary day OH has to offer and my family all 1000 miles away. Maybe I can nap soon and find another "happy place" instead of the usual scary place I usually find—especially given how "scary" my awake world is today. :-D

No Respecter of Books

We pretty much accept all books here. We just got a new couch today which means all of our books got displaced. I am working on getting them all put in new "homes" around the living room. Let me give you an example of one shelf:

• Skin by Ted Dekker
  
• The Prodigal Comes Home by Michael English
  
• My (So-Called) Normal Life by Erin Zammett
  
• Disciplines of a Godly Man by R. Kent Hughes
  
• Wicked by Gregory Maguire
  
• The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
  
• The Life You've Always Wanted by John Ortberg
  
• Dear John by Nicholas Sparks
  
• Halos by Kristen Heitzmann
  
• They Called Me Mama by Margaret Nicholl Laird
  
• The Once and Future King by T.H. White
  
• Revolution in World Missions by K.P. Yohannan
  
• Freefall by Kristen Heitzmann
  
• Safely Home by Randy Alcorn
  
• The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
  
• Dakota by Kathleen Norris
  
• 10 Basic Steps Toward Christian Maturity by Bill Bright
  
• The Maiden's Bequest by George MacDonald
  
• Fox's Book of Martyrs
  
• Amazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol
  
• God Encounter by Lisa Tawn Bergren
  
• Dinner with a Perfect Stranger by David Gregory
  

I have actually read all of or part of 86% of those books (basically all but 3). If that isn't the definition of "eclectic" I don't know what is!

The Road to the Oscars Part 1

As mentioned in a previous post, I am going to post pics of Oscar dresses that I think should have/will make it to The Oscars. We're holding out hope that there will be an awards show and not just a teleconference. I will post one part every Friday up until the big night. Today is a preview of the actresses nominated (plus two).


Amy Ryan "Acress in a Supporting Role" for Gone Baby Gone






Cate Blanchett "Actress in a Supporting Role" for I'm Not There AND "Actress in a Leading Role" for Elizabeth:The Golden Age










Ellen Page "Actress in a Leading Role" for Juno






Jennifer Garner (not nomitated, but I love her!) in Juno







Julie Christie "Actress in a Leading Role" for Away From Her






Keira Knightley (not nominated but isn't she beautiful!) in Atonement







Laura Linney "Actress in a Leading Role" for The Savages






Marion Cotillard "Actress in a Leading Role" for La Vie En Rose






Ruby Dee "Actress in a Supporting Role" for American Gangster






Saoirse Ronan "Actress in a Supporting Role" for Atonement







Tilda Swinton "Actress in a Supporting Role" for Michael Clayton







Wow, that's an amazing list of women. What talent in one list! Stay tuned, next week--dresses!!!