This and That, a Recipe, and a Race

It's been a rather rough week, hence the lack of blogging...any prayers you feel like sending would be appreciated :)  We're still chugging through fertility help with the NaPro doctor, and hopefully will be making some progress, but it's definitely an emotional and uphill climb.  But, as I remind myself, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, and really...despite the fact that my way seems awfully sensible to me, His way always turns out better.  

But I digress...

On a funnier note, do you know who wrote the Bill of Rights?  Do you know what the First Amendment is?  I hope you do, or at least have a good enough idea to realize that Senator Schumer is a little off.  For your reading pleasure: Sen. Schumer Credits Jefferson with Bill of Rights.

Also, this Banana Muffin Recipe is amazing!  Made it yesterday, and we polished off five (don't laugh!) within 20 minutes of them coming out of the oven.  Delicious, even without the nuts that I wanted but didn't have in the cupboard.

So, the Belmont will be running in a couple hours, and California Chrome might be the next triple crown winner.  He has the Preakness and the Kentucky Derby under his belt...time will tell if he'll get the all three.  What do you think?  Does he have a chance or will the extra quarter mile distance do him in and end his bid where so many others have ended?  If I had any idea how to do a poll on here, I would!  Secretariat ran it in 2:24 second, which is still the record.  I doubt it'll get broken today; people don't train for stamina like they did back then.

Secretariat at the Belmont - so easy...

Photo Credit

Americana

I hope everyone had a nice day off!  In honor of all those who served and are serving in the military, I am only going to write about the holiday aspects of Memorial Day, because I was appalled at how the government (coughobamacough) handled the memorial part.  So, rather than preach to the choir and bore you all with my political opinions, we're going to talk holiday.  You're welcome!

Oh, one note sort of on politics.  The Husband's work car still has Sirius radio and it is soooo nice!!!  We got to listen to all sorts of interesting news about the VA scandals, live coverage of the Memorial Day events at Arlington National, and lots of other good things.  If I were looking for a splurge, and I drove a lot, Sirius radio would be it.  Hands down.  It is so great!  (And no, no one paid me to promo this - it's pure radio fangirl.)

Isn't this beautiful?  I wish I'd had a panoramic lens to use because the sky Sunday evening was absolutely beautiful.  When you hear the words, "Oh beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain," this is it.  The plains of the western USA produce stunning skies.  Stunning thunderstorms too, as I learned - it sounded like the thunder was right in the attic and I was rather concerned for my in-laws house lest it (and us) get fried.  Anyway, we survived.  But just look at that sky, and the pump jack too.  Americana.

We spent Sunday evening celebrating Memorial Day and my in-laws 30th anniversary by going redneck and barbequing on the back porch.  My dear sweet husband was marching around with the grilling tongs in one hand, a loose grey tank top, sports shorts, and cowboy boots.  He then topped the ensemble off by putting his earmuffs (mother in law attempting to shoot a rabbit that keeps procreating enthusiastically in their backyard and allowing her multiple offspring to eat what little green there is!  Poor rabbit, haha!)...what was I saying?  Oh yes, he had his earmuffs on but was wearing them above his ears since there was not much shooting actually happening.  Between the wifebeater shirt, the shorts and boots combo, and the 'muffs, he looked like someone Uncle Si might approve of very much.  Quite a sight!

And what's worse than the outfit...get ready for this...I've truly fallen into redneck territory here...I thought he looked darn good wearing said outfit.  Gotta love it.  

The other item of note from the weekend was that we saw Godzilla.  Don't laugh, I didn't pick it!  Considering that I walked in expecting it to be somewhere along the lines of painfully awful, it wasn't bad at all.  Quite politically correct, but actually halfway decent!  If anyone has teen or preteen boys and is looking for a good action flick, boys would love it.  Good monster fight scenes, and a happy ending.  Definitely PG13 violence and some language, although I don't remember too much potty mouthing.  In all fairness, however, I often don't notice it anymore because a member of my house has a bit of a mouth so I've gotten quite adept at doing the good ol' mental bleep :)  He more than makes up for it in good qualities.  So if language really bothers you, check a pluggedin.com review or something before taking my word 100%.

Has anyone seen X-Men?  I really want to...contemplating the drive-in later this week, but we'll see.  

Well, somehow the afternoon has slipped by again and it's time to make dinner.  Already.  Toodles kids :)

Happy memorial day weekend!

Have a fun long weekend!  We're at the in-laws (hence the lack of posting).  

My family doesn't really have any good Memorial Day traditions; do you? I'd love to hear about them!

 

Random pretty beach picture I took last year. Can't wait to go back!

{pretty, happy, funny, real} Rain, rain, please keep raining!

Linking up again with Like Mother Like Daughter for Thursday's fun.

{Pretty}

See what these are?  No, not the weeds.  They're raindrops!  We actually had a whole day full of drizzles all the way to full rain (not Virginia rain, but pretty good for what I've seen here so far).  Very exciting.  My weeds will be thrilled, and maybe my grass will turn green!  We needed the water, so this was a good thing.  And, really, there's just something special about the sounds and smells of a spring rain.  They are so refreshing and absolving, in a way.  They are definitely one of my favorite smells.

{Happy}

I love my cookbook!

If only they maintained this look of perfection out of the oven...

 Mmmmmmm!

What could be happier than cookies?!  I had some leftover egg whites from earlier in the week which I had the foresight to put in a jar and keep, so last night, we had a lovely dozen or so meringue kisses!  So good.  Technically, you're supposed to bake them at a very low heat and then leave them in the oven for something like five hours until they cool, but since I didn't even get started until 4:30, that wasn't going to happen.  I baked them at a high heat, took them out, baked my biscuits, and then put the cookies back in the turned-off oven to sit while we ate dinner.  Not quite what the recipe called for, and probably the cause of the deflation, but you know what?  They were great!  Crispy on the outside and like marshmallows on the inside.  I actually like them crispier, but the Husband said that if they were just a bit gooier they'd be perfect.  So, accident or not, I guess it was a good thing they came out like they did!  He ate half the batch...I demolished the other half.  There were two left over.  By breakfast they were not left over anymore; after all, it's just egg whites ;)

{Funny} 

This, people, is a miracle.  Don't you see how organized all my salad ingredients are?  Quite a miracle, so much so that I thought it was rather entertaining, and filed it here under "funny."

The funny thing was, after I put together this absolutely restaurant-worthy barbecue salad (perfectly arranged salad, all pretty, with fried chicken tossed in bbq sauce on top), my husband sits down to dinner and looks at it quizzically.  Now, being that he is a born and bred Texan, I kind of assumed that nothing barbecue would be foreign.  Well, wrongo because he poked at the ensemble and said, "What's this? *pause* Am I supposed to eat the chicken with it?"

I thought he was joking, and told him that duh, it's a bbq salad, like at Chilis or any other restaurant in the country.  His head was shaking nooooooooo, and the look said that he considered this to be one of my "exotic" dishes.  I don't cook exotic; no one has ever, ever, accused me of that.  But to him, my cooking is downright exotic.  So, I told him to stop arguing, eat his veggies, and say thank you.  And then I showed him a thing or two by pulling up a google images page full of barbecue salads.  So there - HA!

Why I thought the man would have ventured into restaurant salad menus, however, I'm not sure.

 {Real}

This is my project.  It's been a project for a while.  At some point in the future, it will be a guestroom/sewing room/office.  Mainly a sewing room/office until we have a baby and need the back bedroom, at which point the guest bed will move out here.  Good thing I'm not pregnant yet, because this project is moving slower than molasses in Alaska.  But despite that, it's good to have ongoing projects.  Soothes the soul, in a strange way.

Speaking of the guest bed, my mom is coming to visit us tomorrow, and I still haven't made the bed.  I did, however, clean the bathroom and if we're being honest, that's what counts the most!

Fascinating video

This is so interesting, I had to pass it along. Watching this makes me realize how vital a strong and faithful family unit is to kids as they grow up, and also how important it is that we accept gay people. Love the sinner, hate the sin.  Anyway, interesting video...i wish more things like this would come out so we can start trying to help people heal instead of just telling them they're wrong (which, if they're striving for truth and goodness, they probably know already).

Blackstone Films: The Third Way

Not that this needs to be said, but let's keep any and all comments kind. Not that I expect any since it's a beautiful day and everyone should be outside and enjoying it, not reading blogs like me haha.

This is the mourning dove that sings outside my window.  So cute!

Happy Saturday-ing!