Round 3

skinny dip skin test
get the skinny skin flick
a skinny latte skin deep
skinny bones skinflint

thin
Definition:
Having little flesh or fat on the body.
Synonyms:
angular, bony, fleshless, gaunt, lank, lanky, lean, meager, rawboned, scrawny, slender, slim, spare, twiggy, weedy

Can you tell what I'm thinking about? No, it's not a guessing game. It's a lament I guess. Wasn't it two years ago I was wanting to lose weight? Oh wait. It was two years ago. And it was last year. And now, third year in a row it's still me wanting to lose weight. Only now it's 3 times more than what it was 3 years ago. This is pathetic. I do ok once I get over a certain 'hump' in the whole process. But that takes weeks. I shouldn't do this at the same time every year, I'm in a rut I guess. Onward to skinny or maybe I should just go with slim.

Kroesche family Games

This was such a fun Christmas game! One of the rules was that the "kids" had to be creative! And they surely were. Prizes. Competition. Craziness

Chirstmas House

You probably noticed I haven't been online for a few days. That is, of course, because we have been having a blast with a total houseful here. Mountains of food and dishes (hurrah for diswashers) keeping kids out of 'trouble' and for me-lots of picture taking. So here are just a few really random shots of the days we spent together. I will upload a cool scavenger hunt movie for you tomorrow. That was quite a bit of fun too. We were going to do the Kroesche Family Amazing Race but it turned into a photo scavenger hunt which was just as fun. Will save the Race for later. And don't you love the camoflauge coat? Turns out we can get new camo coats for our kids every single year because there are dozens of different kinds of camo. Phin thinks his dad's new coat is pretty cool. He is too!!

Hurrah! Random pictures from Nate and Kristin's camera of kids. I got all their pictures after they finished their photo scavenger hunt. Now those will be fun pictures to post.

Snowy Blizzardy Cold White

I like summer. Getting through this stuff is like trying to run in the water. What a mess. What a lot of it. And right now. The wind is blowing and it's just downright cold out there. The good thing? I'm home. I don't have to go anywhere. I can cook and clean and do my laundry and crack the whip for that Ron of mine. This stuff will be deeper tomorrow. Eeek. And I read that we only have an 85% chance for a white Christmas.

Partners in Cooking

Tonight is night # 2 for our cookie making sessions. I think we should have enough cookies after this round to feed, well, the whole family anyway. We made chocolate peppermint cookies from a pioneer Woman recipe. Should have used white chocolate instead of Almond bark. I don't like that flavor. We made spritz cookies too. Those are always super easy to make and so buttery they melt in your mouth. Lynn was in the mood to decorate them, so I let her. Seemed a lot of work for something that's going to get popped into the mouth and swallowed in one bite. No one in my family will be getting any of those.

And in more serious news there was an industrial accident in the making of these cookies. I was cleaning up and the kitchen aid mixer popped down on my thumb. Wow! My thumb is still throbbing. It's not bleeding anymore though. Not to worry about blood in the food, though. The cookies were done and safely out of the way.

In lighter news; I brought on a guest blogger to help me finish my Christmas cookie baking saga: my baking partner.

The Baking Partner says: I learned that we are "totally way different." How so, you might wonder?! Well, I'm into petite, pretty and neat to the point of adding extra coloring and details. So pretty, but it will taste the same in the end. I also learned that making cookies with someone else is better because there is someone to talk to. It gets really quite and "lonely" without someone to help clean-up. The other partner said, "We would have never been friends in kindergarten." That's a whole 'nother story for another blog.

PS: I failed to give Sue lessons on how not to use the mixer. I can't say I've ever encountered the same flesh eating problem.

Where are all the Strawberries?

So if you remember, this past summer I froze a "ton" of strawberries. I had gotten them fresh from the farmer's market, we picked a whole bunch up at the U-pick place near Sheldon and of course we ate them fresh=pies and what not. Well, here is the winter I have been waiting for so the better to enjoy them, right?! I have a slight problem, though. THEY ARE ALL GONE!! Ron swears he didn't eat any. Well, I recall eating few. Out of the refigerator freezer. Maybe 2 packages. Maybe it was 3. Well, Ok I can't remember how many but they can't be ALL gone already. It's only December. Honestly, I've moved everything around in the downstairs freezer and there's nothing in there but bags and bags of sweet corn. I am so bummed. This is impossible. Or else I'm losing my mind.

Christmas: O Come O Come Emanuel. God With Us

One of my favorite Christmas Carols: "O Come O come Emanuel, and ransom captive Israel. That mourns in lonely exile here. Until the Son of God appears." That name. Emanuel. It gives the depth to the Christmas story. God with us. The rescue for sinners. The ransom from heaven. That word. Christmas. More than the single day. I found this wonderful devotional and it focuses in on the verse that I wanted to center our Christmas on-knowing God "face to face" in a way that is very intimate.

"All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Behold! The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel (which means 'God is with us')." Isa. 7:14

When the virgin gave birth to this Son, Emmanuel was at last present among us, yet in so many ways he was still hidden from us. Romans 11:33 says, "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearachable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways"
Have you ever wondered why God would want to live among us and even within us, when we cannot fully comprehend him?

If you've ever gone to live in a foreign country, you've known the temporary loneliness and frustration of living among people who can't fully understand you. In spite of the hardship, most likely you endured because you knew that one day you would eventually be fully understood.

1 Corinthians 13:12 promises a day when we will no longer see through imperfect eyes: 'now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.'

Could it be that Emmanuel—God With Us—is looking forward to that day just as much as we are, that day when we see him with perfect clarity and know him completely?
-from devotional by Mary Fairchild.

Fear of Heights

Look at these narrow spaces! And a view that looks over things that are a very long way down.. That little box thing? It fits about 4 or 5 people in a very small cramped space that's an elevator. And it shifts sideways as it goes up. Weird feeling. I actually had a hard time looking at the view. Ron took most of the pictures. This irrational fear was similar to how I felt going to the top of Pike's Peak. I gripped, well, whatever was handy and felt woozy the entire time on top. Which wasn't long let me tell you.

All of a sudden: Winter

Sheesh. It was -11 degrees this morning. One day we're running around without coats on and the next... winter arrives with a vengance! It was the howling of the wind that lulled me to sleep last night, warmed and comfy under a heavy winter style quilt. But only a couple hours before that we were driving smack dab in the middle of a blizzard. We has been just a mile out of town baking cookies and watching football with friends when we decided we needed pizza. That involved sending "someone" into town to pick it up. That "someone" called me as soon as they got to town and said, "We will eat one piece of pizza and then we are going home. You don't know how awful it is out here." 10 minutes later as they made the trek back through the dark blizzard he called again and said, "gather your stuff up, we are going home immediately." No pizza only a one mile dark ride in a raging blizzard. Let me describe... Can't see the road, can't see the center line or the side, the flashing lights of the car ahead of us disappears quickly and we are totally alone. The words, "white out" mean that all you can see is white. There is nothing behind or before and you are left with the mere memory of the road. And it was only one mile. It was not pretty, but we made it.

I have been in 'white-out' before. After the last one, I swore I would NEVER do that again! What could I be going to that could possibly be worth risking life and limb for? I can tell you. It was Christmas Eve. We drove a few short miles from my mother's to Ron's mother's for the afternoon. Family Christmas Eve supper was scheduled at my mom's for the evening. The whole family woud be there. We enjoyed a quiet afternoon at grandma's then started out for the Christmas Eve meal. Imagine our surprise when we found barricades across the road and the big words ROAD CLOSED. We sat a minute. "well, we can't not go." I said. "Mom's expecting us for Christmas Eve Supper. She's got everything ready!" So we drove around the barricades It didn't take too long for us to figure out why the barricades were up. The right hand lane was completely blocked with drifting snow. We drove on the left hand shoulder, unable to see more than just a couple feet, praying that no semi truck heading the opposite direction would also have been foolish enough to be out in such weather. It was the longest, most terrifying six miles I have ever gone. And did I mention that we had 3 kids in the car? I have always said that God watches over fools and little children. There were both of them in the car that night. To boot we were the only ones that managed to get out to the farm for my mother's Christmas Eve meal. And I promised..."NEVER AGAIN" Sometimes there's nothing for it. You are stuck with it. I don't want to have to do that too many more times in my life.

Christmas Program

We got to go to our first grandchild's Christmas program on Sunday. While the program lasted longer, Isaiah's part was about five minutes long. Here he is singing "Away in a Manger". He knew this song! And Phin sat on Grandpa's lap and clapped for every single song. What a brother! I know this is the best part of being a grandparent. I absolutely loved this. And you know, I think Isaiah enjoyed himself too.

Dentist. Again.

I don't suppose there's anyone here who enjoys their visit to the Dentist. Last year at exactly this time I was wondering how it was that I actually had an appointment to visit the dentist in the first place. I think hubby told me that he had set up an appointment for me after his last visit. After I stopped shouting at him, he told me that it was in 6 months. Oh. Well. I could live with that. After all six months was...well, almost like never. But as you can see, the six months came and went. I survived my first visit to the dentist in nearly five years and actually set up another appointment. For a year later. That too, is like, well, almost never. And a whole year has gone by and I went and got my teeth cleaned. I guess it wasn't so painful or awful. Just inconvenient. I hate opening my mouth wide. I hate having someone poke and prod at my gums. And then the real dentist appears and tells me "well, we should take care of those cavities in those two teeth." See. I told you no good could come from going to the dentist.
Now I'm down to having cavities fixed. I don't want that. I am having a minor hissy fit over here. Although set the date for as close to never as I could get, It isn't close enough. It's Jan. 2. Maybe if I eat enough junk the two teeth in question will rot out of my mouth before then. Think there's a chance? If I didn't go back I wouldn't feel bad.

Library moments

So what could be more fun than this: I left the library for about 10 minutes this morning and when I got back there are the police arresting some guy right there in the foyer. Handcuffs and all. He'd come in the library just as I was leaving. Sheesh. I think I missed something there. And the gals at the desk told me that just as I was leaving last night the police were there to "visit" with some juveniles that had raced in earlier to use a computer..
We had another one in later on that was overly adamant about his love for Jeanne Dixon. Ok, she's been dead for awhile and her "prophecy" was never too hot in the first place, but I bet she never predicted the real weirdos that would be hanging on to her every word.
Don't I love this job?!

Isaiah helped us put up our Christmas tree the other day. He loved checking out all the ornaments and figuring out what everything was. Some of our ornaments are eggs! How weird. He helped put the pickles in, too, so those of you who want a head start can check with Isaiah to figure out where they are on the tree! The ornaments did tend to get clumped all towards the bottom, so we fixed that by using a stool so we could hang them higher! All in all the tree looks great. I have to say, there's nothing like little ones to help you get into the spirit of things.

All Angles

I can't believe 3 whole days have gone by since my last post. You wouldn't want to know what I've been filling my time with. It's really very uncharacteristic of me. Math problems. Have I ever talked about how math and I are at odds? Those of you who know me well, know that this is truly so. But these pictures of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis are appropriate anyway. You know, Angles. Math. Why everywhere you look math problems abound. I like these angle problems much better though. Don't you just love perspective? Turn the camera a bit this way, or stand over in a corner here and everything looks different. Yes. math. I didn't ever believe I would become so aquainted with it.
( by the way, who can tell me what the number is for 6 and 3/4 cents per thousand of 33,200,000?)

St. Louis Botannical Gardens

Day 2 in St. Louis

I am almost done with book number 1, you know, the one I always haul along with me for reading as someone else drives, or for that moment when I'm particularly bored. This time it's because I've had to keep my head buried in it so as not to be terrified by the traffic and the driving in it. Eeeek. Enough said there. I am still alive to report on the day's activities.

We headed to the St. Louis Botannical gardens. I have often moaned about the colorless days of November, but this was one splendid color filled day! It was warm (50's) enough to just have on a sweatshirt as we enjoyed the grounds of the garden. The flower picture in the center is of a camilla. It takes a full year for them to bloom. They grow primarily in asia, i.e. China and because of the amount of time for them to bloom they are compared to a woman waiting for the birth of a son. The Chinese women avoid these flowers. But let me tell you they are sensationally beautiful. There were hundreds of them in pinks, and reds, and salmons and whites. It was a wonderful day to do this and we avoided all the mall crowds and spending too much money for things our family don't really want anyway!

Related

See these two guys? Now, these guys really ARE brothers! Don't you think they look alike?

Odds and Ends

Hey I was listening to the radio on my way to work today (now there's a shock)and they were telling about this website: birthverse.com that gives you a bible verse for the day you were born. It's kind of fun! Mine is from Matt 10: 7 "As you go, preach this message,"The kingdom of God is near."

And speaking of websites Here's one that could keep you mindlessly occupied for quite awhile. Safe for the kids too! It's this is sand.com When you get there it will make you wonder if your computer has stopped working. But just click and drag and Voila! The magic of sand. You can color it too, but the directions should pop up once you click in the little gray box. Have fun
Happy Thanksgiving!

the Acapella tribute to John Williams

I loved this video and it is amazing.

COIN WAR ENDS!

At the beginning of the month we began a Coin war at church. This was to raise money for the 3 feeding centers on the central plateau of Haiti, that are run by the missionaries that we support. Four staff members volunteered to take a "pie" in the face if they collected the most coins. (we only counted coins, not monetary value)

Our Senior pastor, our Youth pastor, our Worship leader and our children and families minister volunteered! There was quite the competition. You know, that whole serving attitude that went something like this, "I'm Chuck and I really endorse Joe for this." "Vote for Lora. Signed Joe." Look who won! We won't know for certain the exact dollar amounts until tomorrow,but I am excited about the totals. The real winner in all of this are those

children served by the feeding centers! This was a wonderful, spirited competition and our "winner" was graceful and a great sport! The pie thrower was drawn randomly from a list of many who threw their names into the hat! Maybe next year we can earn extra from the pie tosser, too. And to top it all off, over 100 kids were sponsored. They will receive packages filled with fun and necessary 'stuff'.

Disney on Ice

This was my first time I ever got to do anything as fun as this...with Isaiah! It was Disney on Ice in Sioux City. There was a crowd let me tell you. But that didn't keep us from having all kinds of fun. These pictures only show a sampling. I didn't get in the whales and sharks and Incredibles and Pinocchio, Simba and Naala, Bella, Ariel and all the other princesses. Isaiah didn't really know any of them, except batman (really the incredibles) and he recognized the fish and the whale. But the action was fast, the lighting, the smoke, the skaters, the Popcorn! The Lemonade! the music. Even using the bathroom was an adventure. It will be even as much fun for the next two I hope.

Humble Pie or Crow?

So here's a question for you. Sounds like one from one of my "queston games". Believe me I've tried both of these, but here goes: If a person has to consume one of these, which one do you think sounds like it would be better? Crow sounds pretty nasty. You know, tough, dry, feathery, gamy...ugh. I think I'd avoid that one if it's possible. Unfortunately, with my opinons and propensity for announcing same I have had to sample crow waaaa y too many times. Humble pie actually sounds a bit tastier. Really. I like pie pretty well. How bad could it be? .... It hurts the stomach for days. Sticks in the throat. But, I've heard that Humble pie is acutally good for you. Once you've tried it anyway, you'll want to be more careful with your words, with your actions, with your hurtful behavior so in that way it's probably a good thing. Crow on the other hand...

what's red, has 4 new wheels, leather interior, and gets 25-28 mpg?Did you guess we finally got a new (to us)car! Woo Hoo! I feel pretty low to the ground as I drive along in my automobile, but the gas mileage should be good. If the roads stay ice/snowless I will dirve it regularly. Otherwise there's still the pick up with its 4 wheel drive. Haven't driven a car in nearly 4 years! Wow. We won't have to fiddle with what to do if the two of us actually need to drive a vehicle apiece.. The convenience is almost to much to bear.