Thursday, March 27, 2008

Snow, Snow...go away...

Give us Spring please, with warmer temperatures!

One friend of mine is in New Mexico right now. He paged me with a message saying it's his type of weather of 75 degrees and so sunny. That's where I should be at...in warmer temperatures...and of course in Arizona!

My stage team and I met via Sorenson VP for our upcoming Deaf Cafe-Flint, MI program. We will be doing "The Cost of Freedom" and honoring all American Soldiers who have fought for our country, for our freedom.

And I've tallied up all those who have died in battle---from the Revolutionary War to Iraq...as of yesterday's tally...comes to 631,050!

A young girl created a beautiful video clip and posted it on YouTube. I was deeply touched by her work, and she gave me permission to download and use it as part of our program.

However, many people who have reviewed that clip had left many negative comments behind so I will not post it here.

Well, since I'm off tomorrow, I don't have to worry about going to bed on time or anything. Normally I'd be showering and crawling in bed.

Not tonight. And it's still snowing outside!

Please pray for me---I still have no vehicle...and it's very hard to stay confined or limited. I might have transportation for Monday---but we'll see.

Have a good night, and perhaps I'll blog more tomorrow.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

My Easter Eggs


I promised you all I'd show you my Easter Eggs...
Quite very simple....
Use colorful 100% silk and cut in pieces that you can wrap up over the raw eggs. Use twisty ties (or if you have rubber bands, that'd be fine too. Twisty ties work best).
Make sure the silk right side is wrapped against the eggs.
After you've tied it, then cut up a white cotton (I used my husband's old white t-shirt...sorry honey!) and then wrapped it OVER the silk. Twisty tie it too.
Put all the eggs in a pot of cold water and add 1 cup of vinegar.
Boil for 1/2 hour.
After done, take them out, I like to run it under cold water as not to burn my fingers.
Unwrap them and see what surprises your silk gives your eggs.
TIP: I go to a Goodwill store or some of those second hand stores and usually 100% silk ties work best. They come in different patterns. Bold colors work best. Pastel might come out weak, but still work.
Have fun.
My picture above, I made with my sister---and she did blow the yolks out beforehand. Wanted the eggs to last longer and not have smelly rotten eggs after a week or two. We followed the directions above, but we had to "weigh" them down by placing a saucepan gently on top. Do 15 minutes on one side, then turn them over for another 15 minutes. It worked!
Ta-da. Perhaps next year you can try this.
Okay, off to work I go. Pray for me for a better day and for blessings regarding my van situation.


Monday, March 24, 2008

i hate this world

I am just being in a whiny mood today. I'm also a very unhappy person and I'm trying very hard not to be selfish in my mood today.

It really is about my van. I just want to take it out and shoot it, put it out of its misery. But I've poured so much money into it to make it better--and a new problem came up on Saturday morning...so I'm not a very happy girl.

I hope you all had a happy easter. I know I did. In spite of my van woes, I was able to enjoy the day. Went to church and did my solo (in ASL), and then enjoyed a very lively Sunday School class...

Drove out to Lapeer which was an hour 1/2 drive from Ann Arbor. Woo. That is a long drive (btw, I borrowed a sister's car). Enjoy a wonderful meal of ham, scalloped potatos, salad, rolls and ...ah yes, green beans. The ham was from a pig that my brother in law had gotten last year, and it's smoked, so it was a very challenging meal to eat something that was so rich. Finally gave my second piece to my husband. It was just too much for me.

Dyed some eggs---after it had its yolks blown out, and just empty shells. We did the silk dye. In my next posting, I will include directions and pictures. But it's really fun and easy to do. This year was the 2nd time I've done it. BUT, with empty egg shells. Those can last forever. I don't think many people like hard-boiled eggs sitting around or making egg salad. LOL.

Okay well, my lunch break is up. I think I'll go get a bag of chips to eat at my desk, and finish up another project and wait for my sister to grab me at 4 to take me home.

Maybe some good news will come to me today---and put a smile back on my face? I know it's ok to have a bad day or two every now and then.

Have a super day....

Friday, March 21, 2008

Very GOOD FRIDAY indeed!

I'm so happy it's a day off from work! My husband and I had gone to Flint last night for a meeting---and since it had been a very stressful day all day long and a stressful couple hours during the meeting, the relief afterwards was felt. I was unhappy about a couple things that came out of the whole thing---but I do pray that God will make this person aware of how wrong that was, and to come clean. If that person ever decide to do that or not.

Anyway, I dashed home afterwards, and grabbed the boys. My son and his new best friend. They play a game called Sock-Swords...really their stinky old socks (or clean...depends) are their swords and they just "fight" happily for a while. Sometimes it gets intense and I say WHOA! I am used to having my daughter and her friends over all the time. But finally, with my son, this is the first few times he gets a friend over---very challenging. My son's friend Dad will pick him up this afternoon. I had to reassure the friend's mom that we will be fine, but she is welcome to call us anytime she wants. She is going thru a very difficult divorce and adjusting to being a single mom. It is hard...I've been there, done that.

Later will start cleaning this corner up and the other desk corner up and prepare to swap desks with the friend's mom this afternoon/evening. It's going to be very exciting for her. She has a small living room---so it's little awkward how to arrange her furniture around. Maybe she'll let me help her.

That reminds me, I need to clean up the van. Been put off for a month it's been out of our lives (getting a new used part put in...)---oh fun, huh?

Have a happy day Good Friday, and if I don't blog before Sunday, I wish you all Happy Easter.
May God bless you today.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

DWTS...

I LOVE watching Dancing with the Stars. I stayed up to watch it last night. Monday night I missed most so that was fine. It was good to see some of my favorites there. I am very tickled to see how this season will turn out.

With Marlee Matlin as one of the celebrities, I held my tongue and wanted to see what she would do, not just for herself, but for the deaf community. I have to say, I'm very impressed! She did wonderfully and I did have to laugh when they showed their first meeting, and their rehearsal...it was fun.

After she did her cha-cha with Fabian (new addition to the line up of professional dancers), I could see off the side her interpreter was wiping tears from his face. She did beautifully, but there is always room for improvement, right? It was very well done.

The other dancers did a wonderful job---the women. I did notice a couple were very uncoordinate or too stiff, but over time, perhaps they'll work out their kinks and stiffness and become more fluid and have fun.

My daughter was so excited to see that Steve Guttenberg is one of them. She remembers watching him as Claus on that cute lovey-dovey christmas love story-movie. Recognized his voice and laugh. He did pretty good for someone who doesn't dance, but sure can be expressive and act!

I read some postings by other bloggers about Penn. Apparently a couple plan to boycott the show because he defiled the crucifixion... and some other stuff. And with him being an athiest, I don't really think religion (or lack of) should be a deciding factor of how a person dances. If I took the time, I'd do some research on Penn. But since I didn't see him dance, I do know he wasn't one of their best dancers (saw a quick review clip---he really did stink in my opinion).

I enjoy the show because I like to see how much work they put into it, how they become who they are. I have friends who like to watch The Haunting or some other shows. I have another who watches the Food Channel religiously. I know of one who discovered the History Channel and enjoys watching that.

All in all, if you have a show you enjoy watching, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. You decide and you make the judgment.

It's a rainy day today, and my son is sick...so I am staying home to call doctor later, have him seen. Then stay home. I guess in a way, my van is happy---and my bank account thanks me as well (with the rising gas costs)....

Gonna go cuddle with a blanket and finish the final chapter of a mystery/love story I'm reading and then stretch out on the couch and watch little tv.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Been gone too long...

I'm back! Sorry it's been ages. There's been a lot going on the past...what? month? But hoping things settle down a bit, and I can start blogging again on an almost daily basis.

At the end of February, I noticed my van was acting up. Apparently it was the transmission. Oh, Lordy Lord...it could've exploded. But good thing my van refused to "go forward" when I started up the car.

The mechanic down the street was very nice and very friendly. We tried to do my first choice, try to repair my tranny. Well, the guy who worked on it didn't come through for us so we ended up having to order a used tranny and put that in. It cost a bit more...yes. So during all of this, a dear good friend of ours "heard a rumor you need to borrow a car until your van is fixed or get another car...." and loaned us his second car...oh the joy of driving a stick shift! So I drove that for 3 weeks.

Well, it was a true God thing...yesterday I got home from church in the late afternoon and got a call from the mechanic. The van's ready! WOW! Then later, I called my friend who loaned me his car, and he mentioned his van was having problems (brakes) so the timing worked out really well! Took the car back to him last night...and I had to re-adjust to driving automatic. I do look pretty hilarious looking for the clutch and the stick. My husband still giggles when he sees me doing that... *pffft to you honey!

Smooth driving. I'm happy. My bank account is crying, but...in a month, we should be good again. I'm just thankful the Lord made all of this possible...and the timing worked out well.

Today's quote of the day: "May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night, and the road downhill all the way to your door." — Irish Blessing

Happy Patrick's Day!