In the pink...

It's a pink diamond.  24.78 carats. Incredibly rare.  My guess is that it isn't being worn.  I think it is on display.  Or I think that it is in a safe.  It's pretty.  But pink isn't really my thing.  Even when it looks like that.

What is up with the phrase "Nothing is certain but death and taxes".  That is a crock.  You know what else is certain?  Laundry and dishes.  If they weren't certain, there would be a bunch of tetanus riddled naked people walking around.  So, can you guess what I was up to today?  That's right.  Cleaning.  Real cleaning.  Not just maintenance to keep Hubs happy cleaning.  

Apparently the new exertion of cleaning wiped me out to a degree that I was unable to post last night.  So, it is now today and we will continue on rather than begin anew.  How often do we get to use that word?  Not often enough, I say.

Fine.  I will come clean.  I was watching Veronica Mars.  Until 1:00 am.  Here is a little something about my personality.  I find something that I like and I suck the life out of it until I'm bored or it ends and then I move on looking for the next best thing ever.  Shows, games, people, hobbies, books, movies - whatever.  So, right now, it's Veronica Mars and I'm not savoring it.  Oh no.  I'm gobbling it up and then I'm going to be all bummed out when I reach the end of the series.  And then you are going to have to find me some other show that is comparable so I don't become a lunatic.  Or a really awesome book that I read up in the span of 3 days.  That's right.  It's on you.  No, really.  Help a girl out with some good suggestions...

Hubs is in the middle of some ridiculous deadlines.  He's working hard.  He texted me that he was coming home to help put the kids in bed.  And I told him that he didn't have to and he said that he wanted to.  So, he came home and took them upstairs and has been fighting with them for 10 minutes solid.  Because putting our children to bed, regardless of it being the exact same scenario every single night, seems to take them by surprise and they totally forget what it was they did the last time we did all this, which was, you know, yesterday.    And also, he hasn't eaten dinner yet so I'm thinking he's super glad to have made this special gesture of coming home to snarky hyper children who forget that they have exactly 3 directives every night - pee, brush teeth, get in bed.  That's it.  Even pajamas are optional but if they want them, they dang well better get them on before they get in bed because in bed is the end of the line.  Hopefully, eating some pizza I made for him and sitting next to his hot honey will make up for it.  He's awesome.  Last night he took some time to rub my back.  I felt like I either had a pinched nerve or was well on my way to one.  He's a good back rubber.  Then he asked me when I was going to start exercising and make my back stronger.  And what I heard was blah blah blah you need to get back to making fudge.  So that is what I did.  I don't care where I go, the fantasy fudge recipe on the back of the Kraft marshmallow cream jar is the best tasting of all time.  And the batch I made today is the best I have made yet.  It could be that it has been so long.  It could be that I needed it that bad.  But this is what I do every year just about this time.  And the earlier I start, the more frequently I can make it before the season ends and I just look pathetic.  And fat.  And happy.  Those can all go together, right?  

For today's new thing, I did some shopping.  I know!  But until the big companies start reading my blog and want to send me stuff to tell the world about, I have to write about what I know.  Or, you know, what I don't know because it's new.  

Ollie's Bargain Outlet

513-825-2500

2220 Waycross Road
Cincinnati, OH 45240

Hours of Operation
Monday - Saturday: 9am - 9pm
Sunday: 10am - 7pm

I was in a wandering mood today.  It's my last day of freedom.  I mean... it's my last day before there will be kids at home for the next 6 days.  Straight.  So for no particular reason, I thought of Ollie's and how I had never been there and should check it out.  Ollie's is excellent for wandering.  It's a little of everything.  LOTS of books.  Linens, some foods, Christmas goods, flooring - a myriad of products, if you will.  I tried to be pretty good.  I didn't even grab a cart on the way in.  I just walked.  It wasn't until I scored some $2.99 bags of coffee that I grabbed a basket.  And I didn't fill it up.  I was restrained.  It was mostly coffee and coffee related products.  And protein bars for Hubs.  There was other stuff I considered.  But I've made a commitment.  More on that in a sec.  If they had had a coffee maker that grinds the beans and brews them right up, I would have been in a world of temptation.  And since I left my mini muffin pan in Myrtle Beach last summer after not even using it, I had my eye on one of those.  But the only thing they had was a micro muffin pan. And that was not what I wanted so I didn't get it.  They had some Rachel Ray cooking stuff.  They had oodles of scrapbooking stuff...really cute, really inexpensive scrapbooking stuff.  And none of it made it into my basket.  I know.  It was fairly miraculous.  It's a close-out place so if you like to hunt, you are in luck.  And if you see something that you like, get it.  With close-out places, it's hit or miss.  The stock constantly changes.  And they don't take coupons.  I will give Ollie's 6 out of 10 Jenny jewels.  The organization is not awesome.  But there's some good stuff to be found.

On a highly reliable website that I have never checked before and have no intimate knowledge of it's accuracy, I looked up the phrase "in the pink".  What it has come to mean is in in perfect condition, especially of health.  One of the coolest things about that is that when I was googling, there's a reference to a site called "In the Pink".  It's a non-profit boutique for women living with breast cancer.  I love that.  It's got the pink and the hope all wrapped up in some lovely clothing for women living life in the most perfect condition that they possibly can.  My friend who has breast cancer has had an awful week but it's getting better.

During church this weekend, the number was revealed of how much our church is committing to all the initiatives we want to accomplish.  And it was all pink all the time.  We look crazy, but we are healthy.  We will be helping other people be healthy.  In South Africa.  In India.  In Cincinnati.  Are you ready?

46 Million Dollars.

I am surprised.  I am humbled.  I am excited.  I am ready.  I am in.  This is big.  This is how miracles happen.  This is how the world begins to change.  And it has to.

And that pink diamond up there?  A man paid $46,000,000 for it.  One ring.  One stone.  One man.  I wonder if I even have words to express how sad this makes me.  Over 10,000 people decided to sacrifice.  One woman decided that she will not be coloring her hair anymore so that she can give.  One couple gave up their motorcycle instead of keeping it or selling it - they gave it to the church.  I didn't buy that yummy smelling candle at Target.  I'm not saying that God wants us all to get down in a loin cloth and live in a hut and tend to lepers or live in a van down by the river.  We all have a call.  This is mine.  This is our church's.  It may not be yours.  And that's cool.  I don't judge you.  I do judge a dude who has the kind of money that he can blow a wad that big on something so audacious when so much more could have been done with that money.  I bet it wasn't even a conflict free diamond.  Knuckle head.  That is so not the word I wanted to use there but I'm trying to maintain some sort of PG to PG-13 continuity and honestly, I don't know where douche bag falls on that line.  Apparently, I'm not totally heeding God's call not to judge.  Or call people feminine care products...

I have to go now.  If I don't, Veronica is going to keep feeding me cliffhangers so that I watch just one more episode to see what happens.  And also, I've done like three lines of fudge so probably I should be on a different level of the house than the pan... And something got all wonky with my post and I ended up having to type it twice.  And that, my friends, is bordering on work...

foreign...

Mayhaps you would be surprised to know that I still have muddie buddies in my house.  I know.  Me too.  Although I just made a pretty good dent in them.  And I didn't make fudge yet but I got the ingredients.  And latch on to this magic.  You take pretzels (not the stick variety) put them on a cookie sheet while the oven heats up to 400.   You place a rolo on top and stick them in the oven for about 4 minutes.  When they come out, you smoosh a pecan half on top.  I haven't made those yet either.  But I have the pretzels and the pecans on stand-by waiting for the rolos and as you can see, I have memorized the recipe.  I didn't read it just now and type it out for you.  Oh, no.  It's up there just a waitin'.  You may recall that previously, I was interested in losing weight.  I think a more successful venture would be to see how much I can put on.  That way, if I fail, I win.

Turkey day is on the way.  It's going to be low-key.  I just realized that Hubs wants me to call the Saudi and invite him over to eat with us.  I mean, I didn't just realize that happened because we only just talked about it like an hour or two ago.  What I mean is that it will be interesting.  As I am serving ham.  The Saudi joked once about me serving him pork sometime and just not telling him.  I think he was joking.  There's a part of me that is convinced he really wanted me to because he wanted to try it but didn't want to be held accountable to Allah for eating it.  Let's be real.  Bacon is just about worth conversion.  But I never did bait and switch him.

Skunk and Peanut are having a Thanksgiving feast at their school on Monday.  We are supplying the corn and the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  Because peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were sure to be part of the original cross-cultural exchange.  Peanut and Skunk don't like peanut butter and jelly.  They like peanut butter and "chocolate" - which is Nutella.  I fool myself into thinking that it's extra protein since it is derived from a nut.  So, we asked the teacher if we could bring both kinds of sandwiches in.  She said yes.  So, here is what I was thinking about the corn.  I was thinking about taking the little baby ones that come in the jar.  I mean, kids totally dig miniature.  Pretty much, the smaller something is, the more thrilled and obsessive they get with it.  Observe Polly Pocket et. al.  So, instead of taking boring old canned corn, what if they had miniature cobs that they could just eat the whole thing of?  Fun?  I think so.  Probably Skunk and Peanut are not going to touch corn in any formation so it doesn't matter much.

I have my sweet potatoes to do any myriad of ways to make many different people thrilled with the results.  And marshmallows to that end as well.  I'm not making green bean casserole this year.  I don't think we are going to miss it.  Really, if I just bought a can of the fried onions, that would be even happier than eating fatty cream of crud soup mixed with not so terribly green canned beans.  The only thing that makes that dish is the onions.  So, let's just eat the can of onions and call it a day!  Or maybe we could just go somewhere and order onion rings.  Who has the best ones?  My mom used to make beer battered onion rings.  I think she would make them like once a year or every two years.  They were the absolute bomb.  And not just in a hanging out in your arteries waiting to explode kind of way.  They were dang delicious.  That's what I would like to have on the table for Thanksgiving.  I'd be all thankful for that.

The Black Friday ads are trickling onto the Internet.  I can't figure out how much attention I should be paying to those this year.  Hubs and I have done Black Friday before.  And it's been fun.  Glorious deals to be had, caught up in the competition and the hunt and the score.  I totally get it.  Although, in some ways, Black Friday is for amateurs.  I do my gift shopping all year long hitting deals as they come and am usually pretty much done before the 4 am sales that day.

But this year is just a very different year.  For one thing, Hubs and I are doing everything we can to have a slave free Christmas this year.  I bought  some good stuff for some good people that helps some good people.  It's a win win win.  If you are interested in how you can help make that happen, start with some good fair trade coffee for the coffee drinker in your life.  Buy fair trade chocolate for the chocolate lover.  Buy local.  Check out Trade as One for a huge selection of items that help the people who make the items have a sustainable income.  It's just not okay for someone to sacrifice their childhood, their dignity, their quality of life so that I can have something cheaper - or anything at all.

For another thing, the presents for the kids will be a very different animal this go round.  For a few years, Hubs and I decided that we would only buy our kids 3 presents each for Christmas.  But the kids have 3 sets of adoring grandparents who buy them presents as well.  So three can easily turn into roughly one billion.  Give or take.  This year, we are asking for cash money, pooling it all up and buying each kid 3 presents total- from the lot of us.  For real.  Jesus got three gifts.  Good enough for the King of Kings is good enough for my kids! He's all the time giving us great examples on how to do stuff.  This is a good idea!  And you know, it's probably harder for me than it is for the kids.  I do get great joy out of giving.  And they dig getting stuff.  Unfortunately, as they have the attention span of gnats, once the getting is got, the care and keeping there is not.  Yes.  I do know I'm a poet.  I know it.  This is going to be a challenge to me.  I'm great at the gifts.  I need to be better at the meaningful.  Would Princess care if she didn't get a bracelet kit if it meant we could go do a cooking lesson together?  Would Scooby forego yet another Lego set if I took him out for pizza and laser tag?  It's just that much easier for me to express my love with a thing.  It's so much harder for me to express my love by actually giving it away or doing it how someone else needs me to do it, rather than how I most feel comfortable doing it.  Whoa.  That was deep and slightly somber.  Anywho.  A huge hope is that by reducing the number of gifts, the kids will take some time to discern favorites and there is less distraction so that when they get bored with those 3 things, they just dang well have to figure out a new way to use them.  And the thing is, I have no idear what it is they should get.  Skunk just keeps asking for various superhero toothbrushes.  I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth - or a skunk in the teeth...  If I just get those for him, I'm in the clear, right?  It's what he asked for.  And Princess and Peanut pretty much want every single girly thing that graces any catalogue coming across their laps.  So as I peruse the Black Friday ads, I'm hard pressed to see much of anything I'm willing to wake up crazy early to purchase.  Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that I won't be out there.   I

Here's today's new thing.  Veronica Mars.  Leave it to me to discover and enjoy a television show that is no longer.  I'm into the third episode of the first season and I'm totally hooked.  The writing is great and now I know where Kristen Bell came from and what the big deal is.  Yep.  This is gonna be one of those types of shows where I'll do marathon nights.  As it is, it's already midnight and as soon as this is over, I will allow myself to go to bed.  I'm giving it 9 out of 10 Jenny's Jewels.  Check it out - Netflix, library, whatever.  Let us marvel at what t.v. can be. Or was.  You know.  Since it got all cancelled or finished or whatever.

One final thing to share.  We went to church tonight and we got to hear the number raised for our campaign.  Unfortunately, that is all I can share about that.  There are 3 more services tomorrow and it is only fair to let that be as much as surprise to the people going then as it was to us going tonight.  The number is a miracle.  Any number would have been.  Given this economy, given the holidays, given all the things that demand our attention and our resources and our money.  Given the growing apathy and the growing blind eye - there's no reason to have raised as much as we did.  It's a number of hope.  It's a number of radical, unadulterated love.  I believe in my heart it's a number capable of changing the world - because of the hearts and the consideration of all the people in coming up with their own sacrifices - all in the name of love.  People are doing things they have never done before.  Our church is doing something it has never done before.  We are encroaching on new territory.  It's exciting.  And it's a little nerve-wracking like any adventure is when it begins.  Okay, Okay.  I will give you one hint.  There is a zero in the number...  S'okay.  I'll tell ya tomorrow.   Now let's go to bed.  Not together.  I only have a queen and Hubs would be confused and upset.

Here's mud in your eye...

Because I have a memory like a sieve, I want to start with the stuff I told you last night that I wanted to mention first.

Here's the cookie I want to make but I haven't yet.  I want to take a Krusteaz peanut butter cookie mix (made according to package directions) and then I want to take a box of milk duds.  Now, the next step is still a little sketchy.  I don't know if it would be best to place the milk duds on top of the cookies while they are baking or if I should go ahead and put them in the mix and bake it that way.  I haven't made these yet because I kept eating the milk duds.  All three boxes.  The movie theater size boxes.  Whatever.  Probably the same thing would happen in your house.

I like soup.  I don't make it alot.  Hubs doesn't believe that a meal is a meal if it isn't roughly 80% meat.  Sometimes that is tricky with soup.  One of the moms from my kiddos' preschool suggested doing a soup exchange.  We make a big ol' batch of soup and divide it up so that you can share with a few different family.  I got 4 different kinds of soup.  Baked Potato, Turkey Noodle, Chicken Rice and Chili.  I had the Baked Potato last night.  It was really chunky and hearty.  I loved it.  Tonight I had the Chicken Rice.  It was really creamy and delicious.  Peanut had the Turkey Noodle last night and ate it all down.  This was just such a fun and easy idea.  I guess I'm gonna have to make good on my contribution.  I owe 4 families my soup.  I'm making Taco Soup.  I'd feel guilty about how easy it is except for the part that it's delicious.  And now it's also time to stock up on a whole mess of crock-pot liners because it's getting to be time for me to plan a little less and work a little less and still provide food for people.  If you have any favorite crock-pot recipes - feel free to share!

Ginger and Zinger were strays dogs.  I drove about 1.5 hours to a shelter to check one (Zinger) out because his picture was on their website.  And since we wanted two dogs so they could be pals, I "interviewed" some other dogs with Peanut and Big Stuff.  Ginger was the very last and was perfect.  The shelter didn't really have any information to pass along about our new family additions.  I do know that Ginger's demeanor was timid and gentle and I wondered if she had been abused.  We have a short fence in our backyard that they manage to jump over.  Originally, Ginger would circle around to the front door and come back in.  Zinger was the wily one.  I always had to chase him down.  Now Ginger is just as stubborn and they run straight past me to check out the four legged neighbors.  They even have the audacity to run as close to me as a skim as they keep going and I can't get my hands on them.  Yesterday, though, I was fuming.  It took 15-20 minutes to get them - 15-20 minutes of running through mud and strangers' yards and various breeds of dog crap.  I get that dogs' memories are nutty.  They go insane if you left the room for 1 one minute and come back and they go equally insane if you take a month vacation and come back.  But really?  This is a good life here.  Sure, the kids smother them with attention but they aren't neglected, they aren't abused, they aren't hungry.  Trying to run away from us??  After all the time and money and investment. Ingrates.  Suckers.

I made a long to-do list today.  I think I accomplished 1.8 items on it.  I'm counting a .8 because there was an important thing that wasn't on my list but I needed to do it and I did it.  And so I didn't get the grocery store.  And after yesterday's experience of taking all 4 kids to Aldi, there was no way in ha ha that I was taking even half of them to another public place.  Let me just walk you through a little of it.  I was looking for some cheap turkeys and a ham and I knew that Aldi had what I needed.  And I thought that if there was even one store that I could manage all of them in, it would be Aldi.  Here's why.  It's a small store.  I couldn't lose anyone.  No nooks and crannies - it's pretty much one room.  Also.  I figure that I would be in good company.  I'm not slamming on Aldi or the people that shop there.  I mean - I'm there!  But I do figure that the more kids you have, the more you need to save money on food, the more you need a place like Aldi and the more kids you have, the less control you have to spread across more people.  I'm hoping I'm making any sense.  Let me lay this down.  I stood out at Aldi.  I was a lunatic.  They were running, they were yelling, they were ignoring, they were soliciting comments from others along the lines of "you have your hands full..." etc.  On the other hand, there was one lovely woman who said "I'm glad it's not just me".  Me too.  Meeee toooo

Today's new thing is Muddie Buddies.  I have enjoyed Muddie Buddies before.  I have never made Muddie Buddies before.  And it may be dangerous that I made them on this day.  Part of the problem is that I have all the ingredients to do it again.  A few times over.  And now I am armed with knowledge in the form of the recipe.  Because it is Yummy.  You know how some things just taste better when someone else makes them for you?  And then you make it and it's not quite as good.  Yeah.  This is not that.  It doesn't really matter who mixes chocolate chips, peanut butter, butter, vanilla and chex cereal together and then sprinkles powder sugar all over it and shakes it up in a bag for to keep all the ingredients locked in and on the cereal.  My only beef is that that box said from start to finish 15 minutes.  Apparently, even though the likelihood is that you are making such a fine, nutritious product for children, there are no children in the vicinity to bother you while you make it while they ask what it is, when it will be ready, if they get to eat some when you are done, standing in the way so that they can stare at the chocolate mixture in the clear bowl while their eyes glaze over.  I think start to finish was actually more in the realm of uhm, one hour.  It's worth it.  Believe that.  10 out of 10 Jenny's jewels.  I LOVE the beginning of the holiday bake season.

That's all I do for today folks.  I have to get up and go to Meijer at 7am.  Don't get me started...

This is a test. This is only a test.

If you missed me last night, here is all you missed:

Two Valium plus nitrous oxide = 10 out of 10 Jenny's jewels.

And then I went to bed at 9:30.

Probably I will do the same tonight. My tooth crowning situation went well.  But I'm a little achy from the part where one tooth has to scooch over a little for the new thickness of my porcelain gloriousness.  If you need a dentist, check out Fennell, Baron and Associates in the Cincy area.  Tell them I sent ya.  They put a blanket on me when I got chilly and everything.  I know, right?

I'm perusing Black Friday ads.  We're going to save that conversation for tomorrow night.  I know.  I know.  I'm being a little lame and stingy for a second day in a row.  Imagine what the additional sleep is going to do for  our conversations.  Starting tomorrow.  I'll catch you up on soup, a cookie I want to make and how my dogs almost become homeless today.  Stupid, ungrateful dogs.

My carb coma is about to go live.  Sleepy smooch.

Lighten up...

Okay.  So what do you want to talk about today?  Wouldn't that be fun?  It would be almost like an improv session.  You could give me a topic and just watch me spin a yarn a mile long about it - perhaps even making some connective points.  Feel free to leave a comment if you have suggestions and want to try that out sometime.

I have to go to the dentist tomorrow.  It's time to get my tooth fixed.  I get to sit in a chair for about 2 hours or so while they build me a crown.  It'll be custom fitted.  I'm gonna feel a little like a car - they will be all up in my grill and everything.  Woo boy.  That was a good one.  Anywho.  I was at Target picking up a prescription for 2 Valium.  I was worried because I have gone to the pharmacy with a fraction prescription before and they tried to charge me for an entire lot and I was all like, heck no and my body was all like, uhm, yeah, you can't afford to skip this stuff and I was all like, nuh uh and my body was all like, see what I mean.  So I spent the $30 co-pay for like 4 or 5 pills.  But this a prescription that was written out for just 2 Valium.  And I didn't have to pay full price.  I get to take them tomorrow.  I don't mean to sound eager but when you are someone who is a little uptight like I can be from time to always, I'm interested in a mellow down moment.  On top of that, I have to just be still.  They said I could read or listen to music.  Or sleep.  Hubs has to drive me there and home.  This is gonna be like the best dental visit of all time.  So, I was strolling around Target with my $10 gift card that I scored for letting them fill my $5.99 prescription.  And I was feeling all giddy like I do when I have money to burn.  But I didn't have money to burn.  I realized that when I was looking through the clearance sections for these amazing candles I found a week or so ago.  The scent is so delicious - just strong enough and not overpowering.  All I found was one.  It was still marked as crazy expensive - $9.xx on clearance.  I was about to take it over to the "please verify that this item hasn't become more affordable scanny thingy" when I stopped myself.  I didn't need that candle.  I wanted it - sure.  I had a gift card that would about cover it if it wasn't marked down any further.  And the reality is that even if it was marked all the way down to 2 or 3 dollars, I still didn't need it.  It was an extravagance.  And I put the candle down.  This probably sounds perfectly logical to some or most of you.  But it's not that kind of no-brainer for me.  For me - if I want it, I get it.  Fortunately, I don't much want to be dripping in diamonds, wear designer clothing or drive the most gorgeous, brand new, deluxe mini-van.  What?  I'm just sayin' - I still have munchkins to cart around and there are a lot of them so what else do they fit in - it still has to be a mini-van.  Whatever.  You know it's a lovely, roomy ride when you are in one so don't even play.  But if I want a new shirt - I get it.  I'll search high and low for a good bargain on one, but I'll get it.  I loved this candle - sought it out and everything.  But it doesn't fit in with where I'm trying to take myself at this point.  I made a commitment and I'm thoughtless and I'm selfish from time to time but I'm trying to get there.  And even a $2 candle (should it have been such an incredible bargain... do you think it had gone down again?  Maybe I should have just checked?  Wouldn't that make this all the more poignant, if it had even been cheaper and I still walked away???...) shouldn't be enough to sway me.  Now, had Jungle Jim's had some salted caramel flavored jeni's splendid ice cream in stock today - you know for $9.99 a pint, perhaps that would have been a harder temptation to resist but they didn't so I didn't have to worry about it.  I bought some milk, some yogurt, 2 packs of coffee (the little one pot size) some shampoo and some conditioner and I left.  And I still have 2 bucks and change left on the gift card.  Maybe it's enough to double check on that candle...

Speaking of stuff I like to eat (what?  It just happened - I mentioned the jeni's splendid ice cream.  C'mon, I move fast, you gotta keep up...), I just tried the Yoplait Light Boston Cream Pie flavor that I didn't get to try during the get-together and it was DEEE-licious.  9 out of 10 Jenny's jewels.  I will state that I am disappointed that I only save 60 calories with the light yogurts over the regular style.  What's up with that?  If it's all sugar free, shouldn't it be like 8 calories?  And don't tell me that it's because it's dairy because I hold firm that yogurt has barely any sort of a milk situation going on.  So, unless cultures are caloric, I am not understanding this at all.

Here's what I am processing through these days.  So, Unbound is over.  The campaign is over.  The Saudi moved out.  I know that I told you I had grieving to do.  And I still do.  But on top of that, I'm feeling ridiculous lightness.  I used to feel like the phrase "room to breathe" was really just that - a phrase.  But now I get the truly literal sense of that.  It feels as though these commitments were pressing down on me like cement blocks and I was barely even able to enjoy those things much less anything at all anymore. I'm not saying that I have made a total return and I'm Holly Golightly (I've totally never even seen that movie) but I've never been a Holly so that would have been an unrealistic expectation.  Just for now, I'm feeling an expansion.   Don't get cute - I'm not talking about my bum.  Not this time.

Okay - on to today's new thing.  And it is a doozy.  I have told you about my adoration of Netflix and the worlds it has opened up to me.  For instance, tonight I thought that I would check out a movie called, "Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter".  I dig camp.  If it was pulled off just right, that could have been a killer combo. Are you kidding me?  The Light of the World against creatures who aren't allowed to be out in light?  Think it over peeps.  It could have been killer.   But they didn't do it right.  I watched the intro and the credits and knew that it just wasn't gonna work.  So, for background I turned on something that I have had in my queue for a while.  I don't know if I should just jump in with what it is or tease this out.  The reality is that I am watching it right now and I'm struggling just a little with words.  I know.  This is that good.  And by good, I don't necessarily mean Oscar worthy.  Which is an excellent segue as this has some Oscar connection.  Alright, alright.  I'll tell you.  It's called LXD.  Here's the premise as laid out by Netflix:

This unique Web series combines breathtaking dancing and a taut storyline about the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers: a group of former nobodies who suddenly acquire superpowers and face off against shadowy enemies. Injured ex-soldier Sp3cimen (Chadd Smith), widowed nurse Autumn (Pandora), petty criminal Jimmy Angel (Travis Wong) and the other members of the LXD seek to unlock the mystery of their newfound abilities


I would like to point out that it is in the comic book and superhero genre as well as the Urban and Dance, pop cross reference.

There are disjointed episodes with a dude who is doing some sort of cryptic story telling narrating.  And it's all melodrama and nuances and knowing stares.  And dancing.  Ridiculously talented dancing. I don't know if I'm looking too hard to find the connections or if I am missing something or what.  But I'm just having a little trouble following the common thread.

It starts with this motherless kid who grows up with an overly protective father and he's in high school and he just wants to go the last school dance of his high school career and stare at his crush who of course has a boyfriend.  But the dad is all - no way.  And the kid of course sneaks out and gets to the dance and blows everyone away because they just thought he was the quiet dork and he is an amazing breakdancer.  And some other guys come dance with him and the boyfriend of the girl tries to front him but oh, no, he can't because he's not an extraordinary dancer and therefore not in the League of eXtraordinary Dancers.  Which is who ends up recruiting the dancing kid.

The next segment is two dudes dancing it up in an warehouse.  And using packing peanuts to take their dancing to acrobatic levels.  That's right.  One says "later" to the other one because he's been recruited to the LXD.  He's all like - next time it'll be you dude.  So the other dude is all sad and doing some sort of dancey twirly stuff and this obviously bad guy is spying on him and sees sad dude's backpack and notices that there is a recruitment letter tucked in the pocket.  So sad dude was recruited too and he didn't even know it.  And I looked away for a second but I suspect that the bad dude hurt the sad dude.  Because in the next one, there are no words and this guy is in a hospital and some sort of ominous other guy is sticking a wood cube in his guts which starts dancing in him and he starts rehabilitating with dancing.  That's right.  And this nurse helps him but is wracked with guilt about something so she stops visiting him and he keeps waking up at the same time to dance with her but she's not there until finally she leaves him a note to get out because it was a set-up.  If you need to know what the set-up is - I can't help you there.

The last one I'm going to lay on you is the next one.  I'm finding it all very entertaining and definitely odd but I'm in front of it and I just don't know if it's coming across on your end or not.  It's an office setting and a secretary is filling the boss in on what's going on for the day and she tells him the new guy is starting.  So the new guy conveniently walks through the office right then and is all staring at the boss man.  And the boss man seems confused that the new guy is staring him down but he doesn't fire him - which is more proof that this is all quite so fantastical because he would totally fire the dude in the real world.  So, this goes on the whole day and at quitting time everyone leaves the office and the two dudes run at each other and have a dance off.  It's pretty awesome and only ends because in all their fury and flurry some papers go flying around and new guy slips on some paper while standing on the table and falls and cracks his head on the table.  Which is totally what I tell my kids will happen and now I have the proof that I can show them.

I'm mesmerized.  It's so weird and I just can't bring myself to turn it off.  Imagine the fine acting and cheesy set-ups of Power Rangers (without the stupid alien type beings - as of yet) and then put that to some pretty cool music and mind-blowing dancing.  You see what I'm saying now, right??  And the thing is - apparently the LXD performed at the Oscars.  Which I would know except that somehow I stopped watching the Oscars.  That's a story for another day.  One final note.  The dude who plays Mike Chang from Glee is a choreographer for the show and he is in the episode that is on now.  He has found some shoes in an ornate wooden box hidden behind a wall.  My guess is that they make him dance.  Like real good.  Yep.  I called it.  And they don't even need his help.  He's just sleeping and they are gonna dance anyway.  So far, this is my favorite one.  As a whole, I will rate The LXD 5 out of 10 Jenny's jewels.  I'm so on the fence.  You know the phrase, "that's just crazy enough to work"?  I just don't know if it is or not.  I know it's crazy.  I don't know if it works.

Speaking of Glee, I got to watch it tonight and it was incredible.  I don't like Gwyenth Paltrow.  Probably it's jealousy but I like Kathy Griffiin  and she's met her and the way that she describes her in person is pretty much exactly like I have always imagine her.  So, I was right all along.  But I'm going to give her some mad props.  She did a great job.  And there was some serious music tonight.  I have never heard any Cee Lo before.  I don't even know what local station on my radio (do I sound like a total antique right now??) would play his music.  I'm going to go find more and listen to it.  He might be a little naughty so I'm not recommending him to the under 18 crowd.  I'm just saying I liked the way it sounded and I want to know if I'm missing more grocery store worthy music.  Glee gets 10 out of 10 Jenny's jewels tonight.

Here's the deal, folks.  You have GOT to stop keeping me up so late.  I have to hang with the four year old crowd again tomorrow.  And then I'm getting a crown.  And then I'm going to the Unbound celebration.  It's a big full day.  I can't be all the time staying up until 11:30!!  Oh well.  I'm just going to tell you that you are worth it.  Do I need a sign off?  Like a regular one that I use every time?  I don't want to become predictable.  Hmmmm...   At any rate, for me, for now, it's lights out.

Feast your eyes on this...

All right, all right.  Everyone settle down.  I'm here now.

I just got back from shopping.  I know.  Shocker.  Me and Lady Gaga had some last minute mega sale-ness to attend to.  She's my favorite shopping buddy.  She's very patient when I have to go back and forth across the store when I forget stuff I already passed.  Oh.  I'm gonna tell you how that shopping trip breaks down right here and now!  This is the part where Artie would raise his fingerless gloved hand in the hair and say "testify!"  You should totally get that reference...  At Kroger, I like to give my Kroger card after everything has scanned.  It's cheap entertainment. So, after everything was rung up and before my Kroger card, my total was $249.xx.  After she scanned my Kroger card, my total dropped to $155.xx.  After my coupons, my total was $71.59.  That's right.  My grand total savings was $173.76 OR 71%.  Imagine if I still didn't have to buy some pull-ups for that sweet  skunk of mine.  Bless his heart.  He just can't hold his own in the night time.  Literally.  And also, I did buy some hummus, black olives, shredded carrots, an avocado, a cucumber AND some clearanced out Flat Outs for a totally killer sandwich for my lunch tomorrow.  I have to eat with a bunch of four year olds so I'm feeling a little entitled to a lovely grown-up meal.  So, that was an additional 10 buxish of splurge but my rationale is that Hubs DID say he wanted to have some hummus around.  And those ingredients are mighty healthy.  So, if I could just NOT eat every morsel of sweet in my house, move my arse a bit to lose a bit of it, AND eat these sandwiches all week, something good has GOT to happen.  Right?  right?

So, let's address those dangling threads from last night.  I told you I would tell you my Christmas revelation.  One of my favorite things to do when I am driving around at night alone in the car, is to leave the stereo off.   When the weather warrants it, I like to have the windows down a bit and just seep in that moving silence - moving like I'm in motion.  Not moving as in my arm hairs raise a little and I get a little verklempt.  It's wonderful.  Last night, however, I decided to keep the radio on.  The radio has been locked to the same station since roughly Halloween.  You know what I'm going to say next, don't you?  That right!   Christmas music!  I know that Thanksgiving hasn't occurred yet, but I kind of don't care.  I'm not big on Thanksgiving.  I mean - I'm HUGE on giving thanks.  I'm rather insistent on it and I try to make sure that the big dude upstairs is fully aware that I am cognizant of my blessed beyond measureness.  But I don't really have feelings about Thanksgiving as a day.  I guess because originally it was this romanticized holiday all about the pilgrims and the Indians coming together and having a feast with corn and gourds and turkey and cylindrically shaped gelled cranberries.  I accept it as an excuse for family to come together.  I certainly accept it as an excuse to eat lots of food.  But I'm not terribly moved - moved like the arm hair version, not like in motion -  or excited about the rest of it.  Maybe I'm just such a rebel that I'm not into traditions that are kind of forced on me.  For example.  I don't like turkey.  I'll eat some pressed turkey deli style product on a sandwich.  I'll eat some turkey meat with some gravy on a sandwich.  But turkey is just so precarious.  You really do get what you pay for when it comes to those big tasteless birds.  And no one wants to spend lots of money on a turkey!  At least no one I spend Thanksgiving with.  And I get that.  But, truly, the more you spend on a turkey, the more succulent it is, the harder it is to dry out and the more tasty.  But I have probably only had some such turkey once or twice in my life.  Certainly enough times to know that there is a difference.  But not enough times to treat it like a holy grail that I spend time pining for it until the next Thanksgiving arrives.  So.  For our Thanksgiving, we have ham.  Honeybaked, preferably.  But this year, we are providing Thanksgiving boxes for our church and we aren't going anywhere and we aren't hosting anyone.  We are on a budget and I don't feel bound to abide by anyone's expectations of what should be on the table.  I asked the kids tonight what they wanted for Thanksgiving dinner.  Here are the answers:  tacos, pizza, cheese, and the taco soup that she wouldn't touch for dinner tonight.  She wouldn't eat it tonight, but she wants it for Thanksgiving.  Whatever.  I just wanted to know what they would say.  Then Hubs wanted to "throw out some options".  Turkey.  Sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top.  Apple pie.  Lemon meringue pie.  Chocolate meringue pie.  Pumpkin pie.  It would seem that he thought that his mother was coming to cook him some sort of Thanksgiving feast (complete with an entire pie buffet, apparently...) because not only do I not make any of those things, but I don't even LIKE any of those things.  Not a one.  I like my sweet potatoes with a crunchy pecan, praline kind of thing going on atop.  I would eat a chocolate meringue pie if it was all I had to eat for my sweet tooth but I don't like meringue.  So, I don't know what we are going to do.  But I do know that Hubs is going to be HIGHLY disappointed.  Anywho.  I know that it's early yet to be listening to Christmas songs but I love Christmas.  I love decorating and baking and magic.  And I love celebrating the most audacious act of love ever - that God crammed Himself into little baby Jesus (oh, Talladega Nights, how I love thee...) and crashed into the earth into a smelly barn with itchy hay.  And I'm all too happy to start celebrating all that as early as the beginning of November.  So, I'm tooling around (shopping, you know.) and the windows are down and Christmas songs are playing and it's night.  And do you know what I realized?  White Christmases are highly over-rated.  I looked at my temperature gauge in my car and it said 68 degrees and I thought about all those people in California and Florida and before, I felt sorry for them.  Because I really believed that part of the magic of Christmas was the snow.  But you know what else about snow??  It's flippin' cold!!  I've had plenty of white Christmases.  I don't need snow for Christmas.  In fact, as I was enjoying those very favorable conditions, I found myself jealous.  That's right.  I was covetous of warm, clear Christmas.  I want that.  I want to wish people mele kaliki maka and not be quirky or charming because I'm saying something a little off beat.  I'm saying it because I'm in freakin' Hawaii and that's what we all say!!  And that, my firends, was my Christmas revelation.

Now, let's talk stuffing.  I bought more last night.  I know.  I know!  But it was apple stuffing.  And I can't get that at the mega sale.  I can't get the cranberry stuffing there either.  It's not enough to have cranberries, you gotta have cranberries IN other Thanksgiving goods.  And also, there were tear pads of coupons to try the apple stuffing.  I could get boxes for 29 cents each after that coupon.  And then, when I combined that with my buy 4 boxes of stuffing, get a fifth one free coupon, I'm not really sure how you could expect me to pass it up.  No.  Really.  How do I pass that up?

I watched Repo Men last night.  It was pretty cool.  I try not to get caught up in the personal lives of celebrities.  Actually, that is a total lie.  I am all up in their business but I'm trying not to be.  But I will tell you that I have trouble not judging a celebrity by the behavior and holding it against them when it comes to viewing their movies.  Like.  I'm definitely hard pressed to need to see anything with Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie.  I just don't respect them as people and the very public things they have done to hurt other people.  I know there are two sides to every story.  I know that it's not right for me to judge anyone.  But I do and I don't like 'em.  So, here comes Jude Law.  He's a known skank.  And maybe he's changed his ways.  I hope so.  I hope we all get  the chance to.  But I went ahead and watched his movie.  Plus I love me some Forest Whitaker.  That dude can act.  Did you see him in The Shield?   Did you see The Shield?  You just gotta.  On both.  So, Repo Men was all science fictiony and pretty violent.  I don't mind violence per se.  It's all in the circumstances.  For instance, I didn't mind it in Inglorious Basterds.  I think because it was Nazi violence.  I'm just sayin'.  They were stupid.  But the violence in Repo Men was a little tougher for me.  And I don't have something I can point to and say - that's why.  What was funny about it was that after we watched it, Hubs and I read the summary that Netlix had on it and it was completely different than the movie we watched.  The movie was based on a book so maybe that summary was about the book version.  Which is frustrating because I think you all know how I feel about the disassembly of the story that occurs when they turn a book into a movie.    I will give Repo Men 6 out of 10 Jenny's jewels.  Hubs was supposed to be working and was more interested in the movie than his computer so I'm going to say it was interesting and was a decent way to pass some time.

Since it is once again after midnight, I will leave you with my new thing for the day.  I actually have a couple I could relay to you but I'm going to go with the biggie.  Hubs and I made our commitment to the Game Change campaign at our church today.  Really we had already done it last Thursday but today was the official version.  The amount will make us bleed.  (You had to be there...).  And I feel really good about that.  I feel good that it gives me a chance to prioritize.  It gives me a chance to make choices and honor my husband, my family and my Lord.  I feel changed by the journey we went through to get to that number.  I feel more peaceful.  I give Game Change journey to commitment 9 out of 10 stars.  What?  I'm not going to be able to buy new jeans for like 3 years!  That's why I gotta exercise like right now. I can't afford to outgrow these.  It will be embarrassing on many, many levels but mostly the one where my thighs actually bust the seams.  In public.  Anywho.  I can't wait to hear the final number of how much we raised.  Don't you worry.  I'll let you know.  We find out next weekend.  Just before Thanksgiving.  And I will give thanks for all that our church will be doing in the name of love while eating at a Golden Corral restaurant so that everyone gets what they want...

All in due time...

I will own my lameness on not posting yesterday.  I went to bed at 9:30.  That's right.  I was tired and Hubs was working and I went to bed and Scooby stayed up with Hubs in my stead.  The last laugh was on me though, because when Scooby went to bed at uhm... 11PM!!!, the dogs rushed my bed and woke me up.  One came and stationed himself at his current spot of on my pillow/on my head.  Fortunately, it's the small dog .  The other one curled up beside me.  I wish Hubs had had his phone so he could have snapped a shot because I know it was funny since Scooby was laughing is hoarse butt off.  Then I woke up again when Hubs came to bed.  Then I had to pee.  Then there was dog barking.  Much dog barking.  Like "Hey!  I lost my bone!  Do you have my bone!?  I can't find my bone!"  Again, I don't speak dog so this is a rough translation.  And since the other one doesn't seem to speak dog either, he didn't answer.  Either that or he was giving her the silent treatment.  Somewhere in my haze I realized that there was, in fact, a bone at some point.  So I went into the boys' room to look for it- because that is where the dog seemed to be looking for her bone.  I didn't find it.  But I did find bone crumbs all over the bed spread. This is after Hubs had gone to address the barking situation 2 or 3 times.  If you ask him, he might say 7 or 8 but you need to just trust me on this one.  I couldn't find a bone.  So when I crawled into bed, I explained my brilliant epiphany to Hubs.  He grumbled that he had already taken the bone away by then.  Whatever.  Then there was kid crying and dawn breaking and stomachs rumbling.  So, I was quite chivalrous and got out of bed to take the kids downstairs so Hubs could sleep.   As you can see, despite being lame enough to try and get to bed and rectify my z depletion, I still have a major z depletion.  I didn't even take a nap today!  And now that it is past midnight, you know what I am going to do?  (notice appropriate usage of the question mark... this is indeed a question - rhetorical in it's blogging glory notwithstanding)  I'm going to go to flippin' bed!!  I must go and catch some zzzzs!

But as far as I know, tomorrow I am going to be talking about the Christmas revelation that I had today, the movie "Repo Men", stuffing, what I WANTED my new thing for yesterday and today to be and  the marvels of a beef that is corned.  But before I bid my final adieu, I wanted to mention that I do a spell check just before posting.  What?  I do!  Unfortunately, it doesn't do a grammar check.  Oh well.  Anywho, my spell check and I disagree nearly every day on what IS a word and what isn't.  I am, of course, correct.  But I might pull a funny for a post and just run a spell check and select it's first suggestion on each word it takes issue with.  That would be HI-larious.  And new.

All my goodness has turned to badness...

I'm in a mood.  I don't think I have been in a mood all day.  There is something about trying to get my family to eat food that stresses me out.  The same thing happens around getting them in bed.  Or ready for school.  I've been trying to identify the stressy parts so that I can work with them rather than against them.  Like, I try to add in an additional 5 minutes to my departure time to allow time to fight over how they have the same job every time they get in the car - sit down and buckle up.  I figure, we are going to fight over it anyway so if I can just allow a bit more time for the fighting then it doesn't cause me to run late and piss me off.  Just aggravate, not piss.  But I'm not sure how to alleviate the whole dinner and bed thing.  They have to eat.  I have to cook them food that they will complain about.  I realize that I could choose not to make food that they will complain about but eating corn dogs, pizza rolls, pizza, sloppy joes, tacos, and burgers is only going to take me so far.  Despite all the talking I do about sugar and chocolate and baked goods and sweets, I'm equally as crazy about a great salad or a nice ripe mango.  For real.  I took a picture of a mango for facebook once.  I had access to it for about 30 seconds because once I sliced it away from that vexing huge pit, my fruit instinct took over and I devoured it.  So if you put me in between a juicy, ripe mango and some milk chocolate it would be the mango.  If it was dark chocolate, it might be a draw.  And the kids DO have to go to bed.  Because that is the only time that I get to have a conversation with someone who doesn't declare that he hates me just because I had the audacity to, I don't know, make them eat a lovely dinner.

Honestly, I think I'm just downright weary in my spirit.  And I hate that.  Especially after a weekend like Unbound where you are choosing to open yourself up to hearing about the atrocities of people using other people for labor and sex and evil.  Who am I to be tired?  Who am I not to wake up every single day and not be overwhelmed with gratitude because I am alive and I am free and God loves me?  And the icing of food, shelter, a car, Hubs and the kids?  I try to take comfort in the fact that God uses these valleys.  But that for sure doesn't mean I'm happy to be down deep in one.  I need to spend some time really figuring out what feeds my soul.  How I can really allow God to feed my soul.  Writing this helps.  More than I even expected.  But now Unbound is over.  And another serving team role I have is coming to a close.  And our Saudi student moved out - unexpectedly.  And I have a friend battling cancer - and right now, it's playing pretty dirty.

And what I'm realizing just now as my furious fingers fly to convey all that is that I have some pretty major grieving to do.  Being attached to Unbound took up over 2 years of my life between joining the first one around February of 2009, having it in April of 2009, taking a small break and plan the next one for a year and half and having it last weekend.  And it wasn't an easy 2 years.  I heard and saw some really awful stuff.  It's not like that is a feeling that I can just wash off in the shower.  That stuff stays with you.  And it should.  It should become a layer of something that you take out into the world and make a small change here and there, make a statement here and there, pray big everywhere.  And the other serving role has had to do with the prayer team I have been on for our church's campaign to raise money.  I have been glad to be on that team.  And there has been some astounding blessing for me personally to serve on a team with people from my New Orleans group, as well as some people that I know from other portions of my life.  Which makes it sad when something that has had intention and goal goes away and you've gotten used to meeting, being required to meet, with these peeps.  And our Saudi.  He had lived with us for 9 months.  The irony is not lost on me as he called me Mom and everything.  We had our ups and downs and at the end of the day, he really had become part of the family.  He dug our dogs.  He thought I was funny.  He was generous and polite.  I'm also bummed because rather than coming to us with the situation, he just made the decision to go.  We didn't have a falling out or anything.  He was directed to do something within the confines of a culture that I don't understand and sometimes I don't agree with.  I just wished that he had trusted us to help him and find a good solution that would work for all of us.  And then there's my friend.  She is a small woman with a gentle spirit.  She has been fighting this fight for a long time.  And I know that she is tired and I know that she is in pain and I know this is selfish but I just really want there still to be a fight to be fought.

And so there is all this on top of the daily grieving I do in front of a mirror and see all kinds of extra bumps.  And I gotta daily figure out what to serve for dinner.  And fight with kids whose only job it is every single day is to just get into the car, sit down and buckle up.  And just generally being tired.  I don't what happened but somewhere along the line, my brain made a decision that it's going to  go to sleep sometime between the hours of 2pm and 6pm.  And my body can join in but it's not a requirement. Not stellar timing as I do frequent driving during that time frame.  How am I supposed to evaluate my circadian rhythm under these conditions??  Anywho.  I realize this is not my normal repertoire coming at you.  But I hope you will grant me some grace.  If you do, there is a better than mediocre chicken recipe that I made up tonight coming up next...

Kroger is our local grocery store and it's running a mega sale.  What that means, you mix and match 10 qualifying items and you get $5 off automatically.  You score that AND use coupons and you are gold.  So now, I have more Ronzoni Garden Delight pasta than I can throw some sauce at.  That will change once there is a good sale on sauce...  I also have stuffing.  LOTS of stuffing.  Tens of boxes of stuffing.  But, I know that I like to have it for Thanksgiving.  And again at Christmas.  And I know that I like using it in meatloaf.  And we are putting some in the Thanksgiving boxes for the drive at our church.  And I'm figuring out what else to do with it.  So tonight was an experiment.  I pounded some not entirely thawed skinless, boneless chicken breasts.  I dipped them into beaten egg and coated them with a mixture of the savory herb flavor stuffing and mozzarella cheese.  I put those in a coated pan (because really, does anyone say a "greased" pan anymore?  That just sounds gross.) and cooked them at 375 for half an hour.  Probably that would have been fine but Hubs wasn't comfortable with the looks of the inside of the fattest piece so we stuck it in for another 10.  I served it with some baked beans and some corn.  And here is what happened.  Scooby complained about the beans and the corn.  But he ate his chicken and asked for more.  Twice.  Princess ate all the food on her plate.  Skunk ate nothing.  Peanut put all her corn on top of her beans and ate that.  Hubs and I ate all the food on our plates as well.  I was worried that the stuffing would be too big and should have been crunched up some more but it was fine.  It had some good flavor to it.  The cheese acted as a combo glue, caulk situation.  Which makes it sound super appetizing, right?  Am I right or am I right?  Or am I right?  I give this endeavor a heady 7.9 out of 10 Jenny's jewels.  It could stand to be tweaked but has a solid start.

So guess what!  (FYI, there should never be a question mark after the term "guess what".  You aren't asking a question.  If anything, you are commanding something.  And if you are gonna be kind of rude like that, you shouldn't underscore yourself with a question mark.  I'm just sayin'.)  I'm tired!    In closing, I would like to note that all my goodness has not, in fact, turned to badness.  The lines from the song just popped up in my head and I thought that it was a good reflection how even good stuff can cause grief or a reason to grieve.  And that we have to be okay with that.  I don't believe that God wants us to suffer.  But I do believe that we need to learn to turn to God who adores us when we do.  And who may just have some sort of information that He can only convey when we are down on our luck.  Or down on our knees.  Begging please.  And that is about all I have to say about that.  You know.  For now.

Ranch on the side...

We are having our first family portrait since the youngest were about 6 months old.  It's in roughly 25 days. That means that I'm going to have to work out about two hours a day for the countdown.  I say this because it is becoming increasingly evident that I will not stop eating like a pig in the mean time.  And let's be honest, probably I'm not gonna work out for 2 hours a day until then either.  I think that I'm at a point where not even spanx can help.  Unless someone spanked me while I gorged on candy and sweet goodness and did some sort of negative association thing...  but it would have to be someone I don't know or already dislike because if it's a friend, they aren't going to be my friend afterwards.  And I'm bummed out because I really really want to look hotchachachacha in that picture.  Just cuz.  I mean, it's going to hang in the living room and if the last one is any indication - it will be there for nearly 4 years so I want to like what I'm looking at.  All of it.  Not just the kids. And the Hubs.  Since they are just all the time cute and he's all the time handsomer than anyone else.

Okay.  Let's get down to some bidness.  I told you when I started this blog that I might occasionally use this blog to incorporate some tying out that I do for  companies sometimes.  Here is the deal.  Different companies like to do word of mouth marketing.  That means they have ways of sending you products and letting you try it and tell people about it.  The only compensation is that you get to keep the product and you have to be honest.  I'm not paid.  I don't have to give favorable information.  I have done this with Houseparty, bzzagent and shespeaks.  And I want you to feel pretty special that I told you those names because now you can go out and become competition for all the parties I want to host and products I want to try.  Dang me and my altruism!  So that's what I'm doing here and now...

This is a program called MyGetTogether.  I had previously heard of and participated in Yoplait's Save Lids Save Lives program.  But this MyGetTogether (heretofore called MGT) was specifically to raise awareness for that program.  And I was all to happy to do it.  Because a) I like free-ness, b) I like Yoplait and c) I hate breast cancer.  So MGT sent me coupons for my friends, a book called Promise Me by Nancy G. Brinker who is the CEO and Founder (and sister) of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a gift card to buy the yogurt to share and a lovely pink bookmark.  I loved the format of how the party was set up.  Since they sent me a gift card, I was able to use my own coupons to further the savings, get any flavors I wanted,  and bought some granola bars to make it a nice little breakfast or morning snack.  I actually saved the book and donated it to a scrapbooking event called Crop for the Cure.  I was so thrilled that there were women putting their raffle tickets into the bag for that book.  It meant that people were buying tickets and the money was going to the foundation as well!!

I used my Thursday morning gig at my church to do the get together.  I have access to a whole slew of awesome, honest chickies and I love to bless them as they bless our church and families by getting supplies ready for the kids that come on the weekends.   They are a captive audience.  By that I mean they can't run away from me, not that they are captivated by what I have to say or show them.  Well.  They technically could run away from me but that's just rude to God since they are all working in His house and stuff so they don't.  I bought  a whole mess of flavors.  And two of my friends are diabetic so I wanted to make sure that I had the lite versions as well.  Some of my favorite flavors are Orange Creme and Key Lime Pie.  And I like coffee flavor.  But you saw that coming.  I got some of the lites and since I wanted to try them myself, I picked out flavors I would like.  I got Boston Cream Pie, Pineapple Upside Down cake, Red Velvet Cake, Cinnamon Roll.  That's right.  I was exercising a build-up of aggravation that these flavors are only available in the lite genre.  This was my pre Coke Zero Cherry Coke Zero experience (yes.  I know it is officially called Cherry Coke Zero but the way I say it is more fun).  Now I'm entirely open to knew sugar free experience. Except as it pertains to my candy. And my baked goods.  Let's not get crazy here, folks.  So, we talked and ate yogurt and saved lids to send back to Yoplait.  And here is what I will tell you.  No go on the Red Velvet or the Cinnamon roll.  The flavor just didn't live up to the hope implied by the name.  I didn't get to try the Boston Cream but I heard good things about it.  The Pineapple Upside Down Cake was awesome.  And all of that was fun.  But truly, the ability to send those lids back to the company and have them donate money to breast cancer research for every single one... 10 out of 10 Jenny's jewels.  Save the boobies y'all.  And the wondrous women attached to them.

I was feeling a little icky today so I sat around letting the kids go nuts and surfing the computer.  I am a fan of the iphone game Ranch Rush.  I can't even tell you why.  It is a bit silly.  I plant crops.  I sow crops.  I make jam and cheese.  I love it.  And now, there is a Ranch Rush 2!!!  So I looked it up online.  And I played it.  It's a tropical version of the original.  Probably if I could have been allowed to play the whole version, I would like it as much as the first one.  Maybe.  I'm on the fence about the monkey I have to sacrifice my precious bananas to so he will climb up the coconut tree and retrieve some precious coconuts for me.  I don't know if it's a fair trade or not.  And I don't know why there is a fishing break on Sundays.  For now, I will give Ranch Rush 2 5 out of 10 Jenny's jewels.  When it is a free app on iphone, I'll be able to offer you more data. 

I think that is all that I have to offer you for tonight.  It's time to go and find some sort of contrary to my goal of looking all spicy for my family portrait product that is not at all sugar free.  In closing I would like to say Bonsoir to the French contingent checking me out.  Merci!

free...

What up Denmark!  I love that I'm internationally known.  I know it's not all random too because I actually do have a friend who reads me across the pond.  Thanks Beth!  And two of your friends...

Good gravy.  What a weekend.  And actually, it was more than just the weekend.  I have been going since Wednesday.  We had a meeting that night.  Then, our church had a leadership event on Thursday night.  Which was some good food and good music and Greg Boyd spoke.  That dude is ah-may-zen.  Give him a read or a listen some time.  He is brilliant and knows some super good stuff about God.  Whenever he has come and spoken at our church, it's been a gift.  We ate some Belgian waffles and then we went home.  Because staying out til nearly 10 and giving our kids Belgian waffles and then trying to put them in bed before a super huge deal of a day is wicked smart and fun...  On Friday, I took everyone everywhere and went to church to help set up.  I had some falafel sandwiches for lunch.  They were left over from the leadership event the night before.  I didn't see them the night before so I got three.  I ate three.  They were small.  They were delicious.  Don't judge.  They were small!!!  8.3 out of 10 Jenny's jewels.  Probably if they had been bigger, I would up it another .5 jewels.  I went to pick up some of the kids.  I waited for Hubs.  I went back to church.  And Unbound began.

We had about 800 kids signed up to attend.  And it was hard to gauge a number because they were trickling in all night.  And they were teenagers.  Those suckers move constantly.  In gaggles. 

In the atrium we had various stands where people could get information about different organizations or college programs.  There was a fashion show by Stop Traffick Fashion (isn't that name the best??).  The Restavek Foundation had this amazing experience about a day in the life of a restavek.  There were henna tattoos and Unbound temporary tattoos and c4yourself's Angela came and did this incredible painted community silk with the logo.  And then there were vision rooms where you could go through these 4 connected rooms that told stories of various people in various forms of enslavement.  Christine put her heart into those rooms and it truly showed.  We showed Call+Response in one room and At the End of Slavery in another.  We ate dinner and then listened to James Pond speak.  He and his wife Athena did the most amazing thing you can imagine.  They watched a disturbing segment on Dateline as so many of us do.  But they were so upset about what they saw that they decided to do something about it and ended up moving their entire family to Cambodia to create a home for girls rescued out of sex slavery.  For the past few weeks, James has been traveling with his family and three of the rescued girls so that they could tell their story to others.  How so much courage and resilience can be packed into those tiny women is beyond me.  They were so inspirational.  We offered up the movies again, the vision rooms opened back up and the atrium was available again until 11.  Then we kicked all those teenagers out and broke down most everything and I went home at about midnight.  Hubs was still awake so we chatted as we do sometimes.  We went to bed and then the dogs were all crazy.  One had a bone and the other wanted the bone so they fought over the bone.  Then Hubs took the bone away and then they just fought.  And the small one hid under the bed taunting the big one who can't fit under the bed so the big one would bark at the little one as if to say "get out little dog who is taunting me from the protective cover of the entire bed I can't get under!!!".  I don't speak dog so I'm just guessing on that.

I woke up at 6:50 a.m.  Correction.  My alarm went off at 6:50 a.m.  I stumbled out of bed, put on clothing and drove back to church.  I think I actually woke up sometime around 9 a.m.  By then I had had a cup of fair trade hot chocolate which is terribly delicious - 10 out of 10 Jenny's jewels.  What it lacks in taste - which isn't much - it makes up for in the fact that no enslaved kids were a part of making it.  And then Charity brought me my first pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks.  I hate pumpkin pie.  I really really do.  But I like me some pumpkin spice.  I really really do. 9 out of 10 Jenny's jewels.  A shot of espresso would have put it into the double digit jewel range.  The Justice Director of our church spoke.  He's a total bad ass who used to be the Calcutta field director for International Justice Mission.  He has seen some serious bad, ugly stuff.  So, he talked to teenagers about it.  And about how critically important it is to pray for God to move in the midst of fighting such darkness.  He told of miracles in his work that only God could perform in such impossible situations.  Then we had prayer rooms open for students to go and pray for specific areas that we had been exploring.  I did my very first henna tattoo. On myself.  With the real stuff that someone brought over from India.  I only have my left hand done because I'm right handed.  It's not nearly as beautiful and intricate and ornate as the authentic but I dig it.  And, yes, that stuff stains.  But as someone who has 7 tattoos, I'm cool with that.  That experience is a 7 out of 10 Jenny's jewels.  I like it just enough to wish I had someone who really knew what they were doing to do both hands for me.  When the prayer rooms ended, it was time to send everyone out for lunch.  And then everyone was invited downtown.

The National Underground Freedom Center is a marvel.  It is a gorgeous building.  It is on the riverfront where you can see Kentucky which was a slave state while you stand on ground that was free.  There are moving exhibits.  And it is floundering.  I don't know what the miss is.  I would think that there are several different audiences that would feel the value of a visit or a membership or support of some kind.  There are history buffs and African Americans and Civil War enthusiasts and freedom fighters and all the people who love all these groups.  I don't know if it is a marketing issue or what but that place needs love and attention.  And attendance.  Unbound partnered with the Freedom Center this year.  It was a great fit.  On top of that, we were holding a fair trade market inside.  AND it was free admission to the public. 

So, let me lay this out for ya... 
*Teens come and experience awesome music and experiences and information and movies and dinner and stuff on Friday night.  Cost... Free
*Teens come and, if early enough, get fair trade hot chocolate, hear awesome music and speakers and prayer moments.  Cost...Free
*Entire community and teens comes to the Freedom Center to see cool exhibits, listen to more music and buy from victimless vendors (THAT IS MY TERM WHICH I WILL BE TRADEMARKING!!!  So, if you are going to use it, please give credit where credit is due.  First, mention God who gave me this amazing, creative, clever brain and then, mention me... or you know..  I guess you could just give glory to God and stuff.  Fine.  Just tell people that God came up with that term).  Cost... Free.  Except the part where you are buying stuff.  And that is on you. 
*Whomever wants to marches to Sawyer Point in a symbolic gesture of marching for freedom for everyone.   Cost...Free
*Whomever wants a box dinner gets one.  Cost... Free
*Whomever wants to gets to listen to awesome music by amazing musicians.  Cost...Free.

Disclosure.  The march and the concert were outdoors and it was flippin' COLD.  So, there was some cost but you'd feel like a total donkey's derriere complaining given everything else was free AND all the information about the way that others are suffering in the world. 

So, here are the top 5 things I learned during Unbound:
1.  At some point during the weekend, I decided to have a slave free Christmas.  I will do everything I can to buy fair trade products.   This is a good challenge because there's an awful lot of crap in my house that's not.  But I have to start somewhere so this is where I start.
2.  I am great at ideas.  I'm not an executor of ideas.  I'm not really about the finished product aside from seeing it in action.  And maybe getting some kudos.  And I'm not proud of that last bit...
3.  I was a teenager before teenagers became slightly obnoxious and loud and crazy and hormonal and whatnot.
4.  I miss being a teenager and not giving a good gosh darn how I cam across to anyone who wasn't a peer.
5.  I am inspired that there were so many people who gave up time to put into this event.  Whether they attended or they built or they cleaned or they drove or they planned or they cooked or they spoke - every single person contributed to something that I believe in and put some of my soul into.  And it felt like a worthwhile investment.

And here is my final new thing from all the time that I have been gone.  It's "no".  No, I'm not volunteering.  No, I'm not leading.  No, I'm not joining.  No, I'm not.  Not for at least 6 months.  That's right.  I owe some serious face time to my family.  I owe some serious relief to Hubs.  I need to regroup and restore.  I can't know what's next if I'm still so in the middle that I can't see the horizon.  I'm going to listen rather than do.  So.  No.  Not to you folks!  You folks are a yes for as long as you are interested!  No gets 10 out of 10 Jenny's jewels.  It's an idea whose time has come.

Do what you can.  Freedom for all, y'all.

Treats...

I wish I was a big ol' tech geek and I knew how to do that thing they do at the very beginning of one of my very favorite shows - Glee.  That thing where they catch you up on what happened last time with some clips and catchy dialog.   It's all sing-songy in the background.  It appeals to my general feeling that I should have a theme song that plays every time I enter the room.  And perpetual clapping.  And a laugh track. 

I could blame my step-mother for the fact that I haven't checked in.  Apparently, I am heathenizing her because she chooses to read my blog regularly rather than reading her daily devotional.  I submit that she should approach the dude that writes the devotional and challenge him to be slightly more entertaining.  Because I wholly believe that God digs funny.  Or maybe my next project should be a daily devotional - Jenny style.  But, while I care about my peeps, that's not the reason for my slight absence.

We here at the Savvy Cavy household love Halloween.  We love the decorations.  We love the anticipation.  We love the costumes.  We love love love the candy.  Every year Hubs takes the kiddos out while I stay behind and pass out the candy.  Well.  This is the year that I said NO MORE!!!  I wanted us all to go out together.  It was something new!!!  Hubs was worried about how we could pass out candy but I didn't care.  Oh no.  Not I.  But Hubs took off with the kids and after going up the street and coming back down (having hit probably 20 or so houses in the process) and having only two homes pass out candy, he was done.  Our street is hit or miss when it comes to the Halloween goodness.  I'm not just talking about the loot.  I'm talking about that feeling that those of us that grew up in the 80s remember of it being crowded and fun.  Everyone wanted to pass out candy and everyone wanted to get candy.  There have been two years out of our 9 on this street that I would say that Halloween rocked out loud.  Hubs took them out and came back with a giant candy bar and a book or video about Jesus that one house gave out.  I loved that Christians were taking an opportunity to be culturally current and do something with such love.  The people knew that it was about the candy.  They knew that there are many people who think that Halloween is not honoring to God and won't even participate.  But they found this totally sweet spot of compromise.  Then, for these two awesome years that I'm talking about, they fired up their grill and handed out hot dogs to everyone as well.  Everyone was out those two years.  Everyone was smiling.  Everyone was friendly.  We felt like neighbors.  And that was a big deal because we do not live in a neighborhood.  We live on a street.  And it isn't until you live on/in one do you discover the difference between the two.  I yearn in my heart for a neighborhood.  I yearn for a community.  I want the cul-de-sac where I grew up.  We would just fire up a grill and like 5 houses would hang out and eat together.  One of the houses would do it up for Halloween by opening their garage and serving punch - some for the kids and a totally different one for the adults.  I want my kids to grow up with other kids.  I want to nestle in and take root.   There have been some highlights.  There is a friend who lives two doors down and that has helped immensely.  But I want girls for my girls and older guys for my older guy.  They need friends.  And I need a place where letting them go outside and play doesn't mean that every time a car speeds over our ineffectual speed humps, my heart drops to my stomach.  This house has been a blessing but this is not where we will be for the long haul.  Unless, of course by long haul you mean until the housing market makes a return, then yes, we will be here for the long haul...  Anywho.  About Halloween.  The one awesome house we had on our street was sold and the God-lovin', people-lovin, candy-lovin folks are gone this year.  And I'm pretty sure they didn't leave behind instructions or provisions for the new owners.  So.  Hubs comes home and we put a sign up by the candy that says take two and jump in the van.  I took a wrong turn to get to our destination but it turned out to be exactly the right turn.  We pulled onto a street that led to the planned street and it was unbelievable.  First, the weather was AWESOME (which, obviously, had nothing to do with the street.  It's not like it was all dark and ominous at our house and then we ended up at this street and the clouds parted and the heavens sang and the sun streamed through)!  And there were all these kids and parents milling about.  And the people giving out candy were all sitting outside of their homes next to fire pits and their friends and their cocktails.  They bought good candy and smiled.  At least two houses had dog treats out for pets wandering around.  Some dressed up.  Some dressed their dogs up.  The houses were decorated.  They appropriately oohed and ahhed over my children's costumes.  It was amazing.  It was a total return to our childhoods.  Hubs and I were probably far more excited than the kids.  Until we got home and we sorted and shared candy.  Then everyone was all excited.  And when we got home, our house had not been toilet papered or egged.  It seemed like the first person did not dump the entire bowl into their bag as we feared because there were pieces still in there and around it.  And I'm glad.  I really didn't want to sacrifice someone else's Halloween so that we could have a good one.   It was, by far, the best Halloween we have ever had.  It was so good that I didn't even care that I didn't make time to go dress up like a burrito and get free food from Chipotle.  That's pretty dang good.  Ditching our neighborhood and trick-or-treating as a family gets 10 out of 10 Jenny's jewels. 

I made some homemade beef stock in the crock pot yesterday.  It's a two day process and today is the congeal fat day.  So.  I'm congealing fat and don't know how it turned out.  Don't fret!  I'll let you know!

Tonight I made up a dinner in pretty quick time.  I say that.  Hubs was really hungry so he might have different idea of that...  I had some unsweetened shredded coconut, some panko bread crumbs and this amazing Thai basil sea salt mix that my mom got from Hawaii.  I don't think that amazing is inappropriate to use here so I will reiterate - amazing.  I coated some strips of chicken with flour, dunked them in the egg wash, tossed them with the mixture of the coconut, bread crumbs and sea salt goodness and pan fried them.  It was new, made up and on the spot.  I'm really quite terribly proud of myself.  It was GOOD!  8 out of 10 Jenny's jewels.  Probably it would be better for my heart if I would bake them next time...

I'm going to be laying low for a few days.  We do our run-through of Unbound tomorrow night.  And then we have a shin-dig to go to on Thursday night.  And then Unbound finally comes together.  It's gonna be big.  It's gonna be amazing.  If you live in my area (and you know who you are...), please volunteer.  We need you and honestly, you need to see this happen.

Here are two things I will leave you with.  As a result of Unbound and some ethical friends, I have decided to start with one change in our household.  From now on, any chocolate that enters into our home will be fair trade only.  This is good for a couple of reasons.  The first is the insulation project that has begun on my backside.  I don't need any more siding on the tushie so it's time to reel that beast in.  Fair trade tends to be more expensive so - I won't be buying it as much!!!  And therefore I won't be eating as much chocolate!  The second reason is that there are children who are enslaved to cut down the cocoa pods using machetes.  What I want you to envision is a boy about the age of my son - 9 years old - climbing up a tree with a machete and hacking down cocoa pods.  Then think about him holding a pod in his hand and chopping down on the pod with the machete so he can split it and get the beans out.  I have no business being a cog in a machine that does that to children.  To children who are often taken from desperately poor countries, taken from their families or sold into trafficking by desperate, selfish members of their families and forced to work under such dangerous and oppressive conditions.  It's my second step.  My first step was becoming involved in Unbound.  This is my first considered consumer move of making my dollar make a difference.  If it's not chocolate for you - maybe it's coffee.  Maybe you stop buying stuff made in China.  Just know that at some point, it can't always be about how to spend the least.  At some point, it also has to be about how to truly consider cost.  If the cost involves the oppression of someone, then a penny is too expensive.   If you will step to the side, I'll come down of my soapbox right here...

Okay.  I said I would leave you with a couple of things but then I forgot the second thing.  And you know what that means???  I'm off to bed, Fred.  I want to say goodnight to the lone reader checking me out in the Netherlands.  I want to say thanks to all who take the time.  Smooch.