MY LEGS ARE SO HAPPY

I have been secretly coveting fleece jammy pants for a really long time. A really, super, duper, incredibly long time. Well, last night I hit Old Navy to spend a gift card for our offspring. As a sidenote, it's really fun to spend someone else's money on cute clothes for your kids. And to shop alone. And wander. And not worry about the time.

Anyway, as I was shopping for someone else's Christmas gifts to the little Ws I spotted fleece jammy pants. For adults. Like me. I showed tremendous maturity and kept walking. Well, there was some immaturity, as I kept glancing back at the $10 sale price they had marked on the rack. Suddenly, I had a vision. It was God speaking to me, I'm sure of it. I could see very clearly in my mind's eye a gift card someone had given me for my birthday back in June. A gift card that I had with me. A gift card that still had $10 on it. So, in an attempt to follow God's clear direction, I snagged a stinkin' cute and very warm pair of fleece jammy pants for myself. In blue, of course. Aren't they cute?

GOODBYE THANKSGIVING, HELLO CHRISTMAS

I recently mentioned our sneaky snowman on my "T" post. Figured now that Thanksgiving is over I should tell you about him. Here's the scoop on his magical abilities. Every night the kids say "Sneaky Snowman so cold and white, please go hide while I sleep tonight". As long as they do that, then he hides while we're all asleep. We have no idea how he gets around the house, as he has no feet. And adults find it impossible to find him during the day. He can only be found by children. Once he's been found, then the kids can play with him until bedtime. If they don't say their goodnight to him at the end of the day, then he can't hide. That's happened a couple times and the boys found him the next morning in the same spot they'd left him the day before. The magic is in the words they say to him.

Here's some non-magical info that may interest you. He's only about 5 inches tall, too big to get lost, too small to be in the way. We discover him when we unpack our Christmas decorations and he stays around until the decorations are taken down. We can only assume that he lives in the Christmas boxes during the rest of the year. We've seen snowmen that seem to be related to him at Dollar Tree. And that, my friends, is your introduction to the Sneaky Snowman.

And I'll wrap this up by sending you to see my Dad share a little Christmas spirit with you. He has a reputation for taking songs and tweaking them for the sake of amusing us. I wanted to embed the video into this post, but I'm not smart enough to figure out how to do that. Evidently using the "embed" option at the video doesn't work. Go figure. If anyone feels like telling me how to do it, then you'd be my best friend for the day. Meanwhile, just click on the link to see the video.

11/27/08 THANKFUL THURSDAY

It's Thanksgiving and I could list a bunch of things I'm thankful for. I'm going to stick with one thing each Thursday though.

I'm thankful for our landlord doing a bunch of upgrades and repairs over the last week or so.

What is one thing you're thankful for?

SHE'S GONE

Ciara's page is no longer available. It's just been one month since it was posted. Assuming that means she now has a mom and dad, I'm so happy for her. Of course, it makes me really sad for the kids that are on the Northwest Adoption Exchange site for years and years.

Oh man, I want one of those kids. I'll do some work toward adopting another W in the next few months, but won't go hardcore until the spring. Basketball has started and I'd be setting myself up for a nervous breakdown if I started a big project right now.

V - V - V - V - V - V

Victory - The Blazers beat the Kings last night, 91 to 90. Thanks to Greg & Lisa, who had tickets they couldn't use, we were able to take the boys to their first NBA game. The four of us had a great time and Naomi got some quality girl time with Kema while we were at the game.

Vocational Training - Today the boys are at work with Tim. They really look forward to the couple times a year that he brings them along! I'm enjoying the day too. I've had lots of time to play and snuggle with Naomi, read my Bible, and bake cookies. Do your kids ever go to work with their dad? Unless it's completely impossible (your husband is an ER doc, pilot, or something similar), then you should send them on occasion. It's good for them to see what their dad does when he's gone all day!

Voice of the Martyrs - Americans are so blessed to be able to choose if, what or whom, and how they worship. It's a blessing we can easily take for granted. If you go to the Voice of the Martyrs website, then you can sign up for a free monthly magazine that tells you about people being persecuted for their faith around the world.

U - U - U - U - U - U

Unsurpassed, Unbeaten, Unbelievable - That's the kind of customer service we get from Sonlight. Not only do they treat their customers well when it comes to ordering, but they truly care about their customers as people. Devon received a personal card last week from the co-founder and head of Sonlight letting him know that they were praying for him during his hernia crisis and in the days following his surgery, as he recovered. We're thankful for such an awesome company to do business with!

Upside Down Pizza - Just thought I'd share a favorite recipe around our house. There are few things that all 5 Ws are equally fond of and this is one of them. It's on my recipe blog too, in case you want to give feedback on it over there.

~ Country Magazine, Aug/Sept 2000

1 lb. bulk Italian sausage
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 c. chopped green pepper
2 T. plus 1c. all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 t. dried basil
1/2 t. fennel seed, crushed
1 can (15 oz.) tomato sauce
2 c. (8 oz.) shredded mozzarella cheese
2 eggs
1 c. milk
1 T. vegetable oil
1/2 t. salt
2 T. grated Parmesan cheese, (optional)

In a saucepan, cook the sausage, onion and green pepper over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in 2 tablespoons flour, basil and fennel; mix well. Add tomato sauce. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Transfer to an ungreased 13x9-inch baking dish. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Place the remaining flour in a mixing bowl. Beat in the eggs, milk, oil and salt until smooth; stir in Parmesan cheese if desired. Pour over casserole. Bake uncovered at 425 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until browned.

Notes: I always use way more that ½ t. of basil and I often replace it with Italian seasoning. I never use fennel, as there is already some in the sausage. I frequently use whole wheat flour because it’s healthier and people who aren’t crazy about it can’t really taste a difference due to the strong flavor of everything else in the dish. I think the Parmesan is a must, and more than 2 T. You can never have too much cheese! I always make a double batch of the base and then freeze the extra in quart-sized freezer bags. You can pre-grate and freeze the cheese too.

Urban Camping - That's the term that Becky used to describe our lifestyle lately. We've been without a working furnace for several weeks, but we've had space heaters to keep us warm. Then our electrical panel blew last week and we've had no power in our hall, bedrooms, or bathroom. We've been peeing and showering with a flashlight for several days. However, we will have a new electrical panel tomorrow and a new furnace on Tuesday. Woo hoo!!

I'M OFFLINE

Word on the street is that people have wondered if I dropped off the face of the earth.  First I post about how rough life is, then no one hears from me online.  Guess that created some suspense and concern.

I'm fine.  However, we have no power in the back half of our house, which is where our wireless is hooked up.  So, I have no computer.  I'm typing this from Becky's, but I may not be online again until next week.  I'll be back next Wednesday though, unless I pop in from someone else's computer before then.