How to Make Chicken Nuggets

I decided to make chicken nuggets for our supper on the go.  Here's how the process went...

1) Grab the recipie.
2) Realize I'm out of homemade "Bisquick."
3) Pull out the Bosch mixer - fastest way to make bisquick.
4) Realize that the butter and sugar is still in there from the attempt to make cookies two days ago.
5) Decide to finish making the cookie dough
6) Dump all ingredients together before realizing that I used the full amount of flour, but only half amount of the other ingredients.
7) Decide to double the cookie recipie.
8) Realize that additional butter is in the freezer.
9) *sigh* and rescue the baby that just woke up from the nap.
10)   ... umm... I haven't decided yet.  But I'm running out of time.

Part II
11) Grab plastic container to put unfinished cookie dough into. Find fake bird and bird nest inside.
12) Wash said container.  Transfer cookie dough. Insert into fridge.
13) Decide to mix Bisquick and extra nugget flavorings as one process.
14) Add paprika to other ingredients already measured.  Discover I don't have enough.
15) Say, "Oh well."
16) Finish mix and grab chicken tenders from fridge where I put them to thaw yesterday.
17) Dump meat out and realize that the bag contains not chicken tenders, but the bones and scraps from the chicken breasts from which the tenders had previously been cut.
18) Extract crock-pot from the cupboard. Dump chicken bones and scraps in crock-pot for cooking.
19) Grab chicken thighs from the Sprouts sale.
20) Finish assembling nuggets and insert into oven.

Hopefully that's the final part to this adventure and the rest will be uneventful.
Ah, if there were only a nugget of truth to that.  When is life ever uneventful?

Ooh! A New Toy!

I was sorting out some things in the van during a stop on our recent road trip. A loaf of bread got dropped onto Baby J's seat while I rearranged food items.  I snapped this series of photos...

Ohh... what's this?

Maybe I can pummel it with my foot...

Oh! Squishy!  This is fun!

Chosen Personality Not Available

Have you ever had one of these days?

This printer error message made me think of last Friday.  I woke up with a headache and in a bad mood and stressed and worrying over almost anything and upset with God.  I knew I didn't want to be like that, but I couldn't seem to fight it off.  I cried in the shower, burst into tears when my husband said he liked me, and generally moped.  What was I upset with God over?  That Jesus had to die.  That there wasn't another way.

It was Good Friday.  That was a good thing to be contemplating and valuing.  Too often I go through life not realizing the vastness of the decision God made to take the punishment of death for sin upon Himself.  Or not comprehending the price that Christ had to pay.  Or understanding how heart-wrenching (if such sentiments can be applied) for God to watch His Son die.  I see things differently this year, but I still can't fully comprehend.

On Friday?  Greg took me out to Garden of the Gods to climb on some rocks and get some fresh air and get my attention off of ME.  Then we stopped by a Good Friday service and watched as young people testified of their devotion to the Lord and followed Him in baptism.  Such cause for rejoicing!  And then we ended the evening with communion - that physical reminder of God's forgiveness for us.  For ME!  All my sins are washed away!  And yes, my attitude got better.  (Thank you for not just putting up with me on Friday, Greg, but also for embracing and loving me!)

I was talking to a friend yesterday, reminding myself through conversation with her that God's promises never change.  His truth and the faith that He gives are two of our primary tools in fighting discouragement (AND bad moods!).

And the error message above?  The "Chosen Personality Not Available" message?Oh, that's a real error alright!  I snapped that photo this afternoon when trying to print to the office's color printer.  Gotta love a printer with multiple personality disorder!

Never Give Me a Mic

Was it at our wedding?  Or just after we were engaged?  Pastor Mike made some kind of comment about the dangers of giving Dorinda a microphone.  And those of you who know me know that's about right!  The quote came up again yesterday. :)

We visited another church in town yesterday, seeking to see where the Lord would have us plug in with a church family.  (You can pray for this for us.)  The church was small enough that they introduced visitors as part of the morning service.  Since we didn't have someone to announce us, Greg patted me on the back and said, "Go for it, honey."  So I did.

I stood up in the row and introduced us saying that we were new in town, so they could all invite us over for supper... er, umm, I mean, come to our place for lunch!

Quote the pastor, "You fit right in!"

And what happened after the service?  We got invited out to lunch!  A couple in the church makes it a weekly habit to invite someone home with them for lunch and well, we got picked this time!  "Sometimes we have a hard time finding people, but you just volunteered yourselves!"  And we got another future invite from someone else!

We climbed in our van to head to our lunch host's home and Greg chuckled and said, "Oh, Dorinda."

"You know not to give me a mic!"  I teasingly protested.

"You didn't have a mic!" said Greg.  "In fact, you didn't need a mic!"

I'm so glad my husband loves me!!!!! :)

P.S.  During the ensuing lunch conversation, we discovered that our hosts were good ol' Sterling College graduates.  The husband had roomed in Kilborne next door to my uncle!  He remembered my uncle.  Apparently my uncle and roommates smashed a watermelon on our new friend's dorm room floor...

Face Recognition

Pumpkins at the State Fair

I use Picasa on my computer to help keep track of all of my pictures (like my pictures of pumpkins at the Kansas State Fair).  It even stores information for the photos that are on my external drive (which isn't connected all the time).  But as soon as I plug it in - poof!  It displays those photos and the tags and all the info.  That's really impressed me!

Picasa also does a good job on recognizing faces automatically so I can simply add a name.  But sometimes it does too good of a job!

Hmm... what do you think Mr. Pumpkin Man should be named?

Road Signs from India

I found a long lost file today.  I thought it had been lost forever.  The title: Road Signs.  These are actual road signs that I saw while I was traveling through India in 2005.  I didn't get any pictures taken of them, but if you search, you can find quite a few.  Here's the few that I managed to write down during my travels:

• Impatient while driving - Patient in hospital
• No dreaming while driving
• Life is precious than speed
• Reach home in peace, not pieces
• A cat has nine lives - You only have one
• Driving safely ensure safety
• High speed is a thriller but a certain killer
• Better late in this world than first in that world
• Lane driving is safe driving
• Become a hero by making accidents zero
• Control your nerves on curves
• Don't be hasty - Drive with safety
• Always believe in safe driving
• Fast drive may be last drive

I think my favorite was "Lane driving is safe driving."  What?  Someone in India uses lanes?!?  I think my new favorite (spotted on Google images) is "Safety on road is safe tea at home."

Have it Your Way

Greg and I end up eating out more than we'd like since we're on the road so much.  After a while, one gets tired of packing sandwiches around and trying to keep refrigerated stuff refrigerated.  So we end up at the dollar menu.  Phrases like "a Buck Double, no cheese" and "a crispy chicken sandwich, please" and "a McDouble, no cheese, lettuce, ketchup, onion only" tend to populate our orders.  And of course, all the of the fast food places are glad to customize our orders.  After all, Burger King's current motto is, "Have it Your Way."

Walking out of Burger King the other day, I spotted this sign mounted by the door handle:

Greg and I had a good laugh!  Can you imagine if I decided to be stubborn and stood there at the door pushing on it?  How silly I would look!  There's no way I can budge that door by deciding to do it my way!  But it also reminded me of sometimes when God is working in our lives.  And sometimes, even as Christians, we push back against God's plans or protest against the path those plans take us down.  How silly we must look, trying to push back against an all-mighty God.

And how much patience He has with us!  Thanks, God!

Comic Relief

We've been blessed with a wonderful host couple during our time here in Xenia.  P&B have a place about 15 minutes outside of town and our bedroom overlooks their 10 acres of pasture, garden, and pond.  They've got 14 chickens which provide 14 eggs a day (hmm... maybe I should make pound cake or angel food cake?), two dogs, a horse, and a donkey.

We love the donkey.  Greg is laughing right now about the donkey.  That donkey gets to hee-hawing and forgets to stop.  We'll be working away in our room, enjoying the quiet of the night and the chirping of the crickets, when the silence is abruptly broken by, "eeee-hawww, heeeee-hawwwww, heeeeeee-hawwwww." And then we laugh like crazy.  Sometimes we laugh like crazy just thinking about the donkey.

So tonight?  We caught the donkey here in an audio file.  Now you can laugh at our donkey too. :)

Whole Grain Popcorn

Just in case you feared you were eating half grain popcorn.

Coffee shop laughter

I'm sitting at my small town coffeehouse, sipping on a drink and using their internet to connect up with Action Int'l Ministries gift entry department. I'm so glad we have tools like Skype and Bomgar that allow me to see their computer screens and work with them remotely.

Coffee shops are great places for people watching. :) Or kid-tickling, in this case. There's a 4 year old boy who came over to investigate my couch area. He has new boots. And his name is Wade. And his daddy is talking. So he informs me.

A 10 year old boy wanders into our area and 4 year old Wade attempts to tickle him.

10 year old: Stop it! I'm not playing with you! I don't even know you!

Wade: I'm Wade!

10 year old: So? I still don't know you. Go away!

Poor Wade.  What would we do without 4 year olds to make us chuckle?!?

Warning Sign

Saturday's weather was be-a-u-ti-ful here in Seattle and Greg took me out to see Mt. Rainier and do a little hiking (on top of 8' of snow). Who knows if I'll ever get around to writing a real blog post about the wonderful day, but one of the road signs did give this Kansas-girl a chuckle.

Narrow shoulder next 3 miles. Watch for pedestrians, bicycles, and elk.

I'm used to watching for pedestrians and bicycles, but elk?!?

P.S. Dad just told me that our neighbor in Kansas spotted an elk last week.  in Kansas?

Quote of the Day

Greg and I were getting ready to leave our host home to go visit some friends this evening when our host called us down to the basement to see something.  We came and saw and commented and then I went back upstairs to find my shoes while Greg and the host chatted a few minutes more.

I got my shoes on and returned to the basement stairs, but since I knew they were coming up shortly, I didn't expend the energy to walk down the stairs.  I just leaned against the doorjamb, not in a hurry to leave the house or rush Greg in any way, but simply leaning there as I listened to their conversation.

Greg's back was to me, so he didn't see me, but the host glanced up and saw me.  He wrapped up his comments to Greg and then added, "Your missus is engaged in delicate non-verbal communication."

I chuckled and assured him that I wasn't in a hurry and they didn't need to wrap up their conversation prematurely because I was standing there.  We chatted a few more minutes together before we left. And then  I laughed all the way to the van.  Our host certainly has a fun time with words!

IT - We're still human

I did my regular Thursday Morning IT Training today. I wasn't really excited about the topic since we were just covering Internet Explorer favorites, but I did get a couple semi-cool tips ready.

But things went south quickly. I had only tested on my laptop and apparently some settings are different for everyone else's computers - including the one I was training on. None of my tips were working. Amid much laughter and oops and a bright red face, I closed the training fairly quickly.

Quote from one staff person afterwards, "Thanks, Dorinda. I really liked the training this morning. It's really good to see the human side of IT every once in a while. It makes feel a lot better about myself."

I think I got more comments on today's training than on any other training in the last four years. At least I can laugh at myself.

Moving the Righteous

A friend came over last night to help me pack up the kitchen for tomorrow's big move and we talked about the fact that I'm starting my 7th year at GFA and starting my 7th address. She wrote me this morning: "I came across this verse this morning and thought of you with your 6 moves and another one coming up! 'I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go.' Genesis 28:15."

Thinking of scripture and moving made me go back and dig out the scripture I was given at our New Year's Eve service. Yep, I was right. It did have to do with moving. Psalm 55:22b says, "He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved."

Does that mean I need to work on my righteousness?

Funny Kid Stories

There's a family on staff that I've been spending a lot of time with. I need to decide what I'm calling on them on my blog... Today I'll call them the JMJ family.

So... Cas and Jes and I had supper with the JMJ family randomly last night. It was delicious whole wheat spaghetti and yummy sauce with lots of mushrooms. But it was the conversation around the dinner table that provided the most laughs! The oldest boy, Cody, was telling how ferocious different animals were - lions, monkeys, warthogs, wild boars...

Cas asked him, "If a warthog and a wild boar were fighting each other, which one would win?"

Cody thought for a while and then solemly answered, "The warthog would win. His face is uglier."

When your child swallows glass

I stumbled across this (very real) postscript from an email a close friend sent me a couple years ago. I laughed so hard as I re-read it. Maybe you can enjoy it too. Semicolons, commas, and parentheses are in their original locations.
...
Love,
A.

PS. Someday when you are a mother, and when your child swallows glass, (because that's what 2 year old kids do when they are faced with either throwing away their blueberry banana smoothie, or eating it after the rim of the cup shatters); so anyway, just stop and pause and remember this, that even though every mother and grandmother you ever know told you that you would have to have abdominal surgery or you would die if you swallowed glass, that there is yet hope. I know this because I asked the ER doctor and the rule of thumb is "Let it pass, my friend, let it pass." Also, if you must go to the ER after you child as swallowed glass, do not be afraid to refuse the x-ray because "Sometimes you can't see the glass, anyway." Also, one last tip. If you must go to the ER, always try to aim for 4:00 am to 6:00 am because that is when they are the least busy and can take care of worried mothers whose children have swallowed glass. I know that out of all the people in the world, you are the mostly likely to remember this seemingly trivial information to save for future use!!!

Yep, A. You're right. I saved it for future use. You just didn't know what use that was going to be. :)