Chewing gum is hazardous to your health...

Okay.  I must insert a CRUDE WARNING here.   The following material is raw and genuine, and if you are sensitive to descriptive language about bodily functions, you can stop reading HERE.   For the rest of you, here is a funny story...  I laughed so hard, I just couldn't resist writing this down in my blog because it's worth remembering:  

So, our dear daughter enjoys chewing gum.  And she would probably chew gum every waking minute if I would let her.  We hadn't had gum in a couple months or so...and yesterday I bought a pack at Wal-Mart.  Since then, the moment we get in the van we hear, "Mom, can I have some gum?".  I'm not exaggerating.  So, tonight, I said, "No honey, I just don't think that's necessary.  You've had gum already today, and we're about to eat supper.  Besides, gum is fine in moderation, but people who chew gum excessively can actually poop out their pancreas."  Silence.  Then, Mike starts to giggle, and I realize what I've just said.  We all start to die laughing as we envision some kid in the bathroom passing an internal organ from excessive gum chewing.  ;-) 

So, in case you didn't know, gum is pretty dangerous stuff! 

And in case you're wondering, no, I'm not crazy.  The neurological connections between the jaw and the pancreas are such that the act of "chewing" stimulates the production of digestive enzymes.  In the short-term, this can be beneficial in some instances, but for someone who chews gum continually, they can actually, "poop out" (or exhaust) their pancreas by producing wasted enzymes.  So, if you have a child asking continuously for gum, try telling them they'll poop out their pancreas and see what kind of a response you get!  ;-)

A family gift exchange...

We were going to wait until we were "in the clear" from sickness for a few days before we had our family gift exchange.  But...there was a little person in our house who has missed so much this last few months...and has been so patient...but her little countenance fell when Daddy suggested that maybe we should wait until later this week to exchange gifts.  So, Mommy and Daddy discussed it, and while neither of us were feeling great, there was no way to know how long it would be before we were all healthy.  There was no Christmas music playing in the house...no dainty appetizers in the kitchen...nobody was wearing Christmas colors...but there were presents under the tree, so why not open them?  Here's the excited little one ready to open some Christmas presents: 

Actually, we had 2 excited little ones.  Gretchen gets presents at Christmas time, too.  We usually forget her birthday, but when the tree goes up in the basement and colorful boxes and bags start appearing beneath it, she knows what's going on.  One night, Mike had to scold her because she had sniffed out one of her gifts and was about to snitch it from under the tree!

Gretchen got to be the first one to open a gift:

We are usually pretty "practical" about Christmas presents, but this year we got Beth Marie something very special.  We bought her an entire wardrobe of old fashioned doll dresses that were handmade by my niece, Dorothy Rowe.  They are SO beautiful.  I separated them into 3 packages.  Beth was absolutely overwhelmed with excitement when she saw how many beautiful new clothes she had for her favorite dolls!

Here, Beth is modeling a couple of the dresses on her two favorite dolls.  Here is Beth with Naomi:

And here she is with Kirsten:

Here is Daddy opening his much wanted "walking stick" which was intended for an upcoming adventure that he was planning. You'll probably have to visit his blog to read more about that:



And here I am with Beth Marie and the beautiful primitive doll that she gave me:

 

We had a very nice time together exchanging gifts.  And as we get better, we'll have to sit down with the calendar and begin to reschedule visits to the many people that we didn't get to see at Christmas time.  :-)

Wow...what happened to Christmas?

Whoa, was that Christmas that just flew by?  Sorry, I musta missed it!

I found our Christmas doll sadly positioned like this on Christmas morning.  I think this picture speaks well of what Christmas was like at our house this year.  :-)

  It's been an unusual few months around our house...    Since mid-October when we started waiting for the Chicken pox to arrive, we've had sickness in our home almost continually.  Our calendar was full of events that we never attended--many of which went on without us.  It's always a strange feeling when, for various reasons, life in our little corner of the world comes to a standstill...while time passes by everywhere else.  Time, like so many other blessings that the Lord gives us, is a resource.  While activities and memories can be made on any day, a day missed is a day that can never be recovered.  In some ways, it's a little sad for me to think of all of the family gatherings that went on without us...the decorations that remain packed away in Rubbermaid bins...the cookies that were never baked...and on and on it goes.  And again, I am reminded that we have much to be thankful for as this is certainly unusual for us to have such a streak of poor health.    I am also challenged to redeem the time.    The word "intentional" is one that Mike and I have discussed a lot in recent months.  It can be so easy to slip into "survival mode" in life, going about our daily routines on "auto pilot", and before you know it, the time escapes you and all of your good intentions of quality time and fruitful ministry never happened.  The days turned into years...  The pitter-pat of precious little feet in the house has grown quiet...   Relationships have grown cold because they were never nurtured...  And you wish you could go back and cherish the moments that passed you by. So, I've been thinking a lot about what it means to make each day count.  There's nothing wrong with counting down the days on the calendar until holidays, or birthdays, or vacations.  But tomorrow cannot be taken for granted.  So, I'm again reminded of the importance of being "intentional" about making memories in our family on the good days so that it's not so hard when life has to stand still again for awhile. 

One of the reasons why I like having this blog is that it has been encouraging to look back on the discouraging days and remember the good ones.  I'm thankful that we have many good memories to reflect on...and these will mean so much to Elizabeth when she grows up.  And I'm challenged that there is still much more that we can do to redeem each and every day that the Lord gives us!

Go Team Culvers!

Well, I know a picture is worth a thousand words...but this time I don't have a picture.  :-(  I wish I did!   My husband's city league basketball team--Team Culvers--got their first earned win in 2 years tonight.   That's a BIG deal!
 There have been a lot of close games, and a couple of wins by forfeit, but tonight, they finally pulled out a real WIN.   Hopefully, it will be the first of many.  :-)   Either way, watching Daddy play sports will always be one of my favorite family activities.  Beth Marie and I are his adoring fans.  :-) Nothing quite beats watching him score the winning run of the championship game in church league softball last summer, but this was a memorable evening for sure! 
 

This . Was . Sooo . Good . . .

This was tonight's supper.  It didn't occur to me that I might want to post the recipe until we had already dug in and realized that it was very good.  Tonight's supper was a celebration of my new favorite grocery store--Trader Joe's--which just came to Rochester.  I didn't know what I was missing all these years!  Those of you who have experienced Trader Joe's know that they're loved for their cheap wines, vinegars, and olive oils in addition to their wonderful organic produce.  What better recipe to celebrate the arrival of this great store than this one? This is my version of Noodles and Company's "Pasta Fresca".  While I wasn't able to find the official recipe anywhere online, I found numerous imitations.  I started with a recipe from food.com and modified it from there.  One thing you should know about my cooking is that it's always about improvising.  I never follow a recipe.  But, this one is worth remembering, so here goes...

Fresca Sauce:

(I made this ahead which made for much quicker and easier preparation at supper time)

1 head of fresh roasted garlic

2 scant-ish teaspoons of kosher salt

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup sweet white wine

1 cup extra virgin olive oil (I used less)

(and I don't know what sweet white wine is, this tasted awfully salty to me, so I added some sugar.  Probably a few teaspoons, to taste...)

I tossed all of the ingredients in the Blendtec and processed on the dressing setting.

So, for the saute, I started with the following ingredients:

Just shy of 1 (12 oz.) box of penne pasta, prepared al dente

Good, vine-ripened tomatoes, chopped (I used about 5 small)

About a quarter of a large red onion, sliced thin

A couple handfuls of fresh baby spinach

Generous handful of fresh parmesan cheese (I used Trader Joe's Parmesan, Romano and Asiago)

Crumbled Feta Cheese

Fresh Parsley

Salt

Pepper

Chicken--this time I marinaded the chicken in some of the fresca sauce and broiled it.  It was very good.  Normally, I wouldn't have used an olive oil marinade in the broiler, but it wasn't grilling weather tonight.  If there weren't a snowstorm, I would have seasoned the meat and thrown it on the grill.

In a hot saute pan, cook the sliced onions in a little bit of oil until they begin to soften.  The rest is gonna go fast because I don't like to overheat olive oil, so assume that you're moving quickly for the rest of this.  Throw the noodles in the pan and get them good and steaming hot.  Toss in the tomatoes, fresh spinach, fresh parsley, and a little salt and pepper.  Toss in as much of the fresca sauce as you like--enough to coat and flavor the mixture.  Use just enough heat to warm the veggies through and slightly wilt the spinach.  Toss in a handful of fresh parmesan and stir till well incorporated.  Finally, toss in some crumbled feta and serve.

I served this with warm ciabatta rolls (also from Trader Joe's) and a salad of fresh romaine lettuce, chopped tomatoes, cucumber, and homemade tzatziki sauce.  Mmm...

The fresca sauce would keep in the fridge, and could be quite versatile.  I'm thinking that it would make a great bruschetta for little toasty appetizers.  I'm going to have to experiment more.  :-)   

Boorito Party!!

Remember this guy??

This is the infamous corn-syrup laden Twizzlers "dude-man" from Halloween.  Well, that dandy Chipotle medallion won a "BOOrito" party for 20 people, and tonight we made good on the award.  It took a small miracle to find 20 healthy, available people to meet up at Chipotle on the Saturday before Christmas, but we were up to the challenge.  In all, 21 hungry friends and family showed up to feast on free burritos, chips, guac and drinks.  It was a great night, and we feel like it couldn't have worked out better.

Here's the guest of honor himself--a true "burrito geek" with or without a costume.  ;-)

Mmm...Chipotle never tastes better than when it's FREE!

We were joined by a lot of really precious people.  Here are some of the littlest burrito gobblers  (and yes, Bethany may be 22 years old, but she will always be little):

And here's the crazy crew from our Friday night Bible study:

Here are Mike's folks--proud parents of the man behind the Twizzlers:

James and his beautiful daughter Bethany:

This poor fella showed up late because he had to work, so we had no choice but to get a snapshot of him devouring his boo-rito.  Sorry Sam...well, not that sorry...  ;-)

And a few candids and "just for fun" pics from the party: 

Now that's a man who knows how to devour a burrito!

Who is this crazy dude?  :-)

Pretty priceless.  :-)

Man, who's the pinch-face in the middle of this picture?  I guess this is what happens when Hubby takes one too many candid pictures of his wife...  ;-)

We are so blessed.  Thank you, Lord, for a very good day . . .

Dollar Bowling!

We've discovered a well-kept secret on Thursday nights in Pine Island.   $DOLLAR BOWLING$  This works out perfectly because Thursday also happens to be our family date night at Chipotle Mexican Grill.  And if you're wondering, yes, we are content to do exactly the same thing every single Thursday evening.  We're creatures of routine. :-)  Sometimes, we grab a few members of our extended family, and sometimes, it's just the 3 of us. But once we discovered dollar night at Pine Island Pool & Pins, it quickly became part of our tradition.  Dollar games, dollar shoes, dollar pop...makes for a cheap night of fun!  

There's Daddy--look at that form! 

There's Beth Marie--like father, like daughter.  :-)

  Just to prove I was there.  You're funny if you thought I would post a picture of my backside.  Ain't gonna happen... 

Mom and her girl.  Beth Marie bowled her first game without bumpers this week and got a 94!  Not too shabby at all.  So, disc golf is our family recreational activity in the summer, and I think bowling is going to be our winter tradition.

Setting the books aside...

It's  C H R I S T M A S   V A C A T I O N  in the Amundson household!  :-)

The school books are going to be on the shelf until January...and we have been enjoying some quality family time together.

In honor of the Christmas season, I'll leave you with my favorite Christmas song...  It's not a "feel good Christmas carol" though.  It's more of a wake-up call to recognize the true meaning behind the birth of the Savior.  I hope it blesses your heart as it has mine:

Date Night...

Wednesday evening, my hubby and I got ourselves a babysitter and headed out for the evening.  This is something we rarely do--probably because having only one child makes it fairly easy to go out on a regular basis as a family.  Beth Marie is low maintenance and pleasant company, so we generally prefer to include her.  But we've found that it is important, occasionally, to be "intentional" about dating--to reaffirm our roles as "husband and wife" when we're so very used to living day to day life as "Mom and Dad".   So, we did something we haven't done since...well...probably before we were married.  We brought a camera on our date.  :-)  So, I know this could be scandalous, but you're about to join us on an evening out. Our date began here... 

 ...for a little Christmas shopping and a couple of holiday chocolate molds.  (I should just insert that I LOVE Hobby Lobby!)  After our brief stop at Hobby Lobby, we ventured downtown for dinner:  

Mike had been here recently for lunch with coworkers, and he decided he would have to take me there for a date.  It was excellent!  The atmosphere was amazing.  The whole place was decked-out for Christmas.  Since we rarely go to trendy night spots in Rochester, I must have looked like a kid in a candy store; I was so mesmerized by all of the lights and sparkling trinkets.  I was in a little Christmas dreamworld.  :-)  It was hard to capture the dimly-lit atmosphere in photographs, but here are a few pictures:



The food was also amazing.  I would have taken pictures, but the people sitting on either side of us were obviously more...umm..."socially refined" and probably already thought I was weird for snapping pictures of all of the lighting.  But Mike had seafood jambalaya and I had prime rib with garlic smashed potatoes.  Mmm.  :-)  They had an open kitchen, and it was fun to watch all of the cooks bustling around preparing the meals. 

After dinner, we wandered around the shops briefly.  Oh, and snapped a quick self-timer portrait on a bench:

After dinner, we made a quick stop here...

...for a new toilet seat.  Yes, you read that correctly.  We found the perfect new seat for our throne on display.  We were tempted to have a seat to try it out, but...

...they asked that we didn't.  With that mission accomplished, we intended to go next door to Caribou.  But, having pulled into the parking place only 1 minute before closing, the lady came out and locked the door in front of us.  Oh well...  So, we went here instead...

...for a little dessert before heading home.  It was a very good date.  :-)  And guess what?  We'll have a couple hours alone together tonight for some Christmas shopping.  That's twice in a week!  I love Christmas vacation...

Favorite things...

  So, where was I while Mike and Elizabeth were out in the snow?    I was spending most of my time here:    ...in my favorite chair.  One of the nice things about getting snowed-in is that it gives me a good excuse to spend a lot of time next to this:  

making things like this:

I love sewing and crafting.  But I don't have as much time for it as I would like.  So, being stuck at home for a weekend created the perfect opportunity to situate myself in my favorite chair next to the fire with a needle in hand and explore embroidery.  Actually, besides 7th grade Home Ec. class, this is the first time I have ever hand embroidered anything.  This is a sweatshirt that was inspired from a quilt patch that I saw on Etsy.  While I was there, I got lots more ideas...and I think I'll be spending a lot more time in my favorite chair this winter with needle in hand.  :-)

But I won't be there tonight...because I have a hot DATE!  You might hear more about that later....

 

bLiZzArD!!!

 We were snowed-in for most of last weekend by a bLiZzArD! It's not all that often that we get a real, old-fashioned blizzard in Oronoco.  But this one was for real.  We got 20 or so inches of snow which turned into 4 foot drifts when the winds picked up on Saturday evening.  For the most part, I enjoy being snowed in.  There's something especially comforting about sitting next to a warm fireplace in my favorite chair when the wind is blasting snow against the windows.  Then again, the 7 miles to Rochester is never longer than when the snow plows are pulled off of the roads!  At one point on Saturday evening, Elizabeth tied her ankles together and was going to attempt to hop down the stairs (brilliant idea, don't you think?).  I told her to save that idea for later because there was no way to get to urgent care that night for stitches! Needless to say, Mike spent a lot of time over the weekend with this old friend:  

In the 10 years that we have lived in our house, Mike has stubbornly insisted that he will clear our driveway with a shovel--and NOT a snowblower.  Besides 2 occasions where a neighbor has taken pity on him and cleared out the end of our driveway for us, I believe Mike has kept his resolve.  Until...the...blizzard of December 2010.  Mike got the bright idea that he would clear the driveway on Saturday ahead of the winds--thinking that maybe it would reduce the amount of shoveling he would have to do on Sunday.  Well...okay, maybe not.  On Sunday morning, the driveway was completely drifted.  It took him 45 minutes just to clear the mountain of snow where the plow went by.  Defeated, there was a knock at the door...wondering if I could call my dad and have him deliver a snowblower.  Thankfully, Dad lives right down the street and loves to help, and he is always willing to borrow us equipment.  He has been sitting by the phone wishing Mike would borrow a snowblower for 10 years!  He was thrilled to bring it up...and a 3 hour job turned into 15 minutes.  And Mike was a very happy boy. 

So...we shall see if his relationship with a shovel lasts another 10 years??

This year's heavy snowfall has given a head start to another Amundson family tradition:

The Snowhill

Our yard doesn't have any large hills, so it needs a little help from Daddy's friend the shovel.  Every year, Mike creates a large mound of snow in the front yard for sledding.

Here, Daddy and Beth are breaking in the hill.  It always takes awhile for the snow to pack down and get slick enough for a fast ride.  Last year's conditions were amazing!  We had freezing rain which made the hill so slick that Beth flew all the way from our yard, about 75 feet to the outlot space, and another 150 feet or more all the way to the west ditch.  She had to bail out before she went up in the street!  Each year is different, but this year has given us lots of snow so there should be good sledding ahead.  :-) 

Here's Daddy and his girl dominating the snowhill.  It's a nice picture, isn't it?  But you know what's gonna happen, don't you? 

He's thinkin' it...

Yep.  Splat.  She was not impressed.  ;-) Daddy explained that it was important to pack the snow so that the hill would be sturdy and slick for sledding.  So, Beth Marie got to work packing snow...  

Blizzards are fun.  :-)

 
 

Choose.

Over the last several months, I've often found myself pondering the concept of "choice".  Since we know that God is Sovereign, and He knows the end from the beginning...since we know that from Him and through Him and to Him are ALL things...what is His purpose for allowing us to choose?  Because, while God is fully able--in His sovereignty--to intercede in a situation and cause His perfect will to be done, there are critical times in our lives where He calls us to choose.  He promises us wisdom if we ask Him (James 1:5).  He promises that His grace is sufficient and His strength is made perfect in our weakness (2 Cor. 12:9).  He promises that He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).  He promises that He is faithful, and will never allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear (1 Cor. 10:13).  He has granted us all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3)... Yet, it pleases Him to allow us to choose.

Last night, I decided to do a little study on the word "choose" in Scripture.  So...I'm reading through all of the results in Bible Gateway and they overwhelmingly refer to God's choosing, "...the man whom the Lord chooses..."  "...the place which the Lord chooses..."  over and over... So, I'm reading along, and then the words begin to jump off of the screen.  God is bringing His people to a crossroads in Deuteronomy 30.  The Father was calling His people, Israel, to repentance, and laying out the choice that was before them, and the blessings or consequences which were to follow as a result: 

"Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.  See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."

Then, just a couple of passages later, the words jump out once again to this familiar passage that Christians so often display on their walls:

"Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve...as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15)

Most often, you see the latter half of that verse plastered on front doors and living room walls.  It's become almost cliche, and I can't help but wonder how many people who dwell in the shadow of that verse really mean it.  To be different, I painted the first half of the verse on a board and mounted it in our living room, "Choose this day whom you will serve".  It serves, not as a proclamation to the world that we serve the Lord (although that is our desire), but as a reminder to ourselves to consider each and every day where our devotion lies. 

I love how, when our hearts are tender and teachable, God leads us to Scriptures that reinforce His truth to us...that touch our hearts right where we're at.  I love how God's word is living, and while these verses were written to the nation of Israel thousands of years ago, they are still profitable for our learning today.  Our lives aren't so very different today.  While we think that we are "unique" or our circumstances are "special", in reality, God still calls us to simple obedience.  What He calls us to do is not too difficult for us.  He still sets before us choices, each day...in the little things and in the big things.  We can walk in obedience to Him and live in His grace, strength, and blessing.  Or else, we can turn our backs on His grace and live out the consequences in our lives, and even the lives of our children.  We would like to think there is some sort of a middle ground, but there's really not.  His desire for His people hasn't changed--He wants us to love Him, to listen to His voice, and to hold fast to Him.  

After all, He is our life.  

He is our everything. 

Our time on earth is short.  The choices we make today count for eternity. 

Let's choose Him.