Diet?!

Tim put himself on a diet about a month ago. It's part of this whole fitness program he wants to go through. It's hard to cook meals with extremely limited fats and carbs, but it's good for Tim.

It could be pretty annoying, BUT he's very willing to cook his own things most of the time, and helps think of groceries. It's also a convenient time because I eat several small meals a day anyway, so it's like we're both on our own. Another benefit is that he's also forced to be creative about possible meals.

As a result, I wanted to brag about some of the meals we've had lately. Last night, I cut up a pineapple. Tim grilled tilapia in some of that Mae Ploy sweet chili sauce, and then grilled pinapple on top. It was actually pretty amazing, and I cooked alongside him, substituting chicken in for the meat in my skillet. The night before it was Cajun spiced turkey patties with sweet corn on the cob. Here's a picture of Tim's lunch one of the past days:

I don't like shrimp or mushrooms, but it definitely looked delicious!

October is My Sunday School Month

Stories from Children's Church

One boy was looking at me for a little bit. Then, to the shock of me and my fellow teacher, he blurted out, "Why don't you take your shirt off?" When we asked him what he meant, he explained that he noticed I was wearing two shirts. I guess the idea of an undershirt seems excessive to a five year old boy. I'm starting to realize just how much I will have to learn with my son.

A little girl said she would pray for our snack while we were in the middle of the lesson. After the lesson, we passed out drinks and napkins. A boy said "Where's our crackers?!" The other teacher said, "Well, we have to pray fir-" but before he could finish the word 'first,' the girl interrupted him by practically yelling, "DEAR GOD!" We all missed the first line in a mad scramble to bow our heads and fold our hands, and then I missed the rest of her 'outside voice' prayer because I was concentrating on not laughing.

Next week:

As we were going around the circle, introducing ourselves and our favorite animals, a girl raised her hand out of turn. "Yes?" I asked. "It looks like that's the baby's nose." she said as she pointed at my stomach. "Oh! That's my belly button!" I smiled as the girl looked bashful, and as a few of the other kids said, "Oooh!" like they had been wondering all along.

Then a little boy blurted out, "How does the baby get out of there?!" My shock at the question helped me stall long enough to assess the room's reactions. Most of the kids looked like that was a good question they hadn't thought to ask... until now. A few kids giggled, one of which said, "I don't think we're supposed to talk about that." I was in mixed company. I realized I couldn't get away with a truthful, but vague answer. The few kids who seemed to know probably wouldn't let me get away with a lie. Ironically the lesson I was about to teach was over the ninth commandment, anyway. After all this pondering, I ended up giving the children a seven second pause that they used to get bored with the subject, and turned back to their favorite animals. Whew!

Next week:

One boy interrupted the lesson with his hand raised. He then told a random but short story about a pocket knife. Of course, the result was that every other boy in the class had their hand raised before he had finished. The teacher doing the lesson let each boy tell his knife story. One went like this. "One time, I cut my finger off with a pocket knife. But then my mom blowed it back on. I don't know why she blowed it, but now it's on for good." He then started pulling on his pinkie finger as hard as he could.

Throughout this series on the ten commandments, we often stress that everyone sins. To enforce this, I had the children play the "Have you ever..." game with a circle of chairs. I went first with, "Have you ever told a lie?" The other teacher caught on and even some of the kids did too with questions like, "Have you ever not obeyed your parents?" or "Have you ever sinned?" One five year old stood up with "Have you ever killed your dog?" There was a pause, and I managed to hold in my laugh. "Well! I guess that's nobody! It looks like you'll have to go again!"

Baby Supplies

In an attempt to look for an "I love my Uncle" onesie for our coming niece, Tim stumbled on a lot of cool baby stuff. Here are a couple of our favorites:

yep... it's a Mr. T rubber ducky.

That time

It's that time of year again!

It's still summer, but the school year has already started. It's still pretty warm out, but a little bit of cool weather turns everyone's minds to autumn.

It makes me want to put on a plaid shirt, and to open all the windows if it ever gets colder outside than in. I purchase apple cider and make roast for dinner. I get excited about the candy aisles even though Halloween is another month and a half away.

We've had a few cloudy days lately, bringing our highs down to below 80 degrees, but I know that's nothing compared to the wonderful weather in Kansas! (High of 58 today?!)

Dale mentioned something I forgot about: the smell of turning on the propane fireplace.

Are there any other excited-for-fall behaviors I forgot about?

Productive Pictures

My last post was beginning to touch on my life as a housewife once again, when I realized I needed pictures.

Here's what took up my day: I made a LOT of pickles. I didn't have my good recipe, so I looked one up which I'm not sure is as good, or as simple. This time around I learned that it's hardly worth it when you have to pay for jars and cucumbers. Next time I make pickles, I will have grown my own, and hopefully will have enough heat-sealing jars saved up so I won't have to buy more. But the prettier jars will be nicer for giving away.

Another project I've started on lately is the guestroom/baby's room. It's been good for storage, and already has a bedroom set. I'm still searching for a crib. Other than that, it's pretty empty, and I'm going to need to make curtains and decorate somehow. I've started collecting frames, and I hope to arrange them on the wall with fun pictures and prints inside. For random frames to work together, they'll all have to be the same color, so here are three I've painted black:
On a side note, I searched carefully for those specific boxes in the trashcan when looking for something disposable to paint on. Tim and I bought some Chicken Cordon-bleu type things at Walmart. They were a great idea, but a little bland for the price. I hope to check out what they're supposed to taste like in the ingredients, and perhaps make some sort of casserole out of it!

I've been looking for a certain type of chair at Goodwill. Perhaps I was looking at the "nicer" Goodwill, but when I finally went out of my way to stop by the other one, I found this!

I've been wanting an extra chair around. I was hoping for one that would look cool by the bookcase, but could be added to either the dining room or the living room if needed. It doesn't look like the most comfortable chair to sit in in the living room, but I've wanted to try my hand at upholstery. Anyway, so here are the colors of our living room I need to match it to:I've had this blue and brown fabric for a long time now, and I finally decided on what to paint the wood!
"Tim, the guy didn't card me for buying silver spray paint!"

"Well, you are pregnant."

"...I guess... and I was also buying 8 lbs of cucumbers and some canning supplies."

Productive again!

The other day, my sister asked me what I've done since I've quit work. Today is only day 3 since quitting, but there was so much to tell her.

Saturday: (last day of work) Before work, Tim and I went with our Bible Study to Lake Tahoe. They showed us the best beach on the lake, and it was beautiful! too bad I had forgotten my camera! Look up "Lake Tahoe Sand Harbor" on google images. Do it! We had sunscreen issues, and ended up with horrible leg sunburns. That night, I went into work for my last few hours!

Sunday: I started helping with LS Kids, our children's church. On days I teach, I'll get to church around 8:00 for a meeting and prayer meeting, then Tim will meet me at 9:00 for service, and then at the 11:00 service, I'll watch people's kids!

Funny Things from the K-2nd grade class:

• Every kid asked me if I had a baby in my tummy.
• The first one was a little girl who started poking my belly button as she asked.
• "My mom's belly is bigger than yours; it's THIS big!" (standing on tip-toes to stick out her belly out even further)
• A little girl tried to kiss me on the lips.
• A kid ran into the lemonade pitcher, spilling it all over the counter covered with papers and snack materials.
• During the commotion, the Coordinator popped in the class for a second to show off to the 7 yr olds that he could catch a cheeze-it in his mouth. (Why he thought that was a good idea is beyond me!) needless to say, by the time we got the juice mess cleaned up, we turned around to find the floor covered in stomped-on crackers!

Of course it was crazy, but I've always believed that age to be insane. It's nothing I can't handle, and even if I didn't like it that much (and I do like it), it'd still be worth it for the preservice prayer meeting!

I read 4 books on childbirth, particularly the natural kind. I got lots of sleep, and did lots of dishes. The last couple days have been very productive, but I think I'll take pictures tomorrow and make a more interesting post about my new projects!

Walmart Greeters

Do you ever notice the Walmart greeters? Last night, I had to get some milk and bread, and I started thinking about them. I always try to acknowledge them when I come in. Usually it's just a smile and a nod. It's not like you can even hear what they're trying to say because of the giant fan on the way in. The best I can do is a vague attempt to read their lips, which hardly ever works because greeters are usually older and mumble.

But seriously, it's their job to stand there and greet everyone who walks in the door, and they're gonna do it, even though no one can hear them, and most people ignore them.

I'm reminded of a line from Galaxy Quest:

Listen, I've got ONE job on this lousy ship! It's stupid, but I'm gonna do it, okay?!

It also reminds me of a TV show about a baby that Eden showed Tim and me while we were in Peru.