Friday Update – 9/5/08

Adoption Update: Our agency didn’t have any referrals this week, it has been since the week of 7/11/08 since the last set of referrals and probably none for the next couple of weeks.

Running and Push-Up Updates:  Same as last week.

Gardening:  I still have a ton of basil and didn’t want to dry it all to preserve.  A friend recently had asked me if I was going to make pesto with all that basil, I had never eaten (to the best of my recollection), let alone made it.  I found out it was pretty easy to make and I could freeze it for future use.  I tried this recipe and this recipe.  I made my pesto, froze most of it and then made myself this pasta:

It was pretty yummy!  I didn’t use cherry tomatoes because I had some full size ones from the garden to use and I forgot the peas, I don’t think they would have made a difference though.

Random:

I went to walk out the front door yesterday and about walked into a spiderweb that covered the top half of my door with a big fat spider sitting in the middle.  I had just been through the night before and there was no spider, but we did have a ton of bugs which were attracted to the porch light, so the spider was just being smart as to where to build her web, of course it ended up being a fatal choice.

 

 

She was pretty ugly and gave me quite a fright!

 

New Photo Gallery!

So I have never really liked the way the old photo gallery worked. Being the web geek, and photo nerd that I am, I found a new way of making the photos work. 

Check out the new gallery here: http://photos.mattandstephaniesblog.com/
 or visit the photos page link up top. 

Some new features:
• Thumbnails with Hover for a larger preview
• Auto play to cycle through all images
• Gallery preview Images
• Easy to jump back to the gallery by pressing the lower left icon. 

Have fun. We’ll add more photos to it as we have them. 

Friday Update 8/22/08

Adoption Update: Our agency didn’t have any referrals this week, it has been since the week of 7/11/08 since the last set of referrals. 🙁


Highchair I scored off of Craigslist for Tom or Jerry (of course, Jackson gave it a test run for us)

Running Update: I didn’t run at all this week. I still have been staying up too late watching the Olympics to bother with getting up early to run, but I have been riding the exercise bike this week. It is so much nicer to exercise in air conditioned comfort.

Push-up Update: We did them this week, well I still have one more set to do, but we did them! We did repeat week 2, so we are a little behind, but I thought it would take more than six weeks anyway.

Matt got a new-to-him toy this week:

Jackson was excited about the box

Carter was excited about the foam (he loves to eat foam)

Matt was excited for the new toy and that his wife let him put it together in the house because it was so hot in the garage

Random stuff from the web:

I was looking for something to do with old magazines and might have to give this a try.

All I have to say on this story is, “Seriously!?”

Christian Emoticons

I came across this post today and it made me laugh, so I thought I would share.

 

\~~~\
This means, “I stayed in bed this morning and accidentally missed church. Please don’t judge me if we see each other at a restaurant on Sunday afternoon and I am clearly wearing clothes that indicate I did not go.” (Also known as “bedside Baptist.”)

^^^^
This means, “Our church had to install speed bumps in the parking lot because despite what the sermon said, I will run you over if you get in my way when I am trying to leave church.

0:)
This means, “I am a Christian with a halo and a unibrow. I wear both proudly.”

!!!
This means, “I drink coffee during church! Lots of coffee!”

.oO
This means, “Our small church is becoming a megachurch.”

Y Y Y
This means, “You will see lots of people singing with their hands raised at our church.”

&
This means, “I am a bald worship leader.”

\_ \_ \_
This means, “Our new church building has movie-theater style seats.”

~~~~~>
This means, “We handle snakes at our church during service.”

o o o o o o o
This means, “I am not afraid to throw Skittles in order to wake up a crowd of people.”

0$
This means, “I tip with tracts instead of money at restaurants.” (Shame on you.)

[ –> <– }
This means, “I can’t clap on rhythm during worship songs. When I try to bring my hands together, it’s like one hand is thinking one thing and the other is thinking something completely different.”

Friday Updates

I am thinking of doing a regular update post at the end of every week.  I seem to be doing a lot of random update posts lately, so I think I will just start doing a Friday Updates post.

 

Adoption update:  No news.  There haven’t been any referrals this week from our agency.  The courts in Ethiopia are now officially closed until sometime in October.  There can be referrals during this time period, but no court dates will be heard.  (Court is what legally makes the child(ren) yours, a referral is a child(ren) matched to you from the agency)

Running update:  Last week I got my three runs in, even getting one in while in Colorado.  This week no runs.  🙁  I might try to get one in tomorrow morning.  I was making good progress until this week, so hopefully I can get back on track next week.

Push-ups update:  We are total slackers!  Vacation definitely put a hold on our push-up regime!  Hopefully we can get back on track next week and get week 2.5 done!

Other random stuff:

 

Last night we had a nice big storm that brought us .5″ of rain, lightening, and wind.  The wind broke one of the nicest branches in the above tree and it is currently hanging down into my tomatoes.  Luckily my tomato plants will be just fine and the tree should survive.

 

While we were in Colorado we were able to score lots of great stuff for Tom & Jerry at thrift stores.  We bought lots of books, wood puzzles, blocks and legos, and a shopping cart seat cover.  We love to go thrift store shopping in Colorado, we always seem to score better stuff there.  We also received books from Matt’s grandparents and his parents.


We found out that Jason and Michelle were having a girl and I snagged some adorable shoes and a hat from the thrift stores.  

I will do my monthly update of the Carbon Challenge tomorrow.  I am running a little behind right now.  I should have taken the file with me to Colorado!

I hope Matt will have pictures added to his last post by tomorrow.  FYI I do not love road trips as much as he does!  I like them for a couple of hours but that is it.  I do not like being in the car for that long, but we do manage to have fun together and the time goes by relatively quick.

 

Okay I think I am done rambling!  

vacation & road trippin.

I love road trips. For some reason 13+ hours in a car doesn’t really bother me, as long as Stephanie is with me. Sure sitting that long wears on me. But I LOVE the time we spend together, We enjoy loading up the ipod with great music of past and present, great fun reminiscing of yesteryear, the deep god conversations we have, the odd conversations we have- were we some how created a non-profit (more on that later, maybe), overall I think I just enjoy the fun with great company, no matter what the destination. 

Colorado Rocked. They had record heat, but its 20 – 30 degrees cooler still. So mornings and evenings outside were perfect. 

 

***Photos Coming Soon. I have been up since 3am AZ time, and am too tired to finish editing all of my 500+ photos I took (the new camera rocks!).

 

We enjoyed time with my parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins. 

 

Thursday & Friday were spent with my parents, decompressing from the ride up, and general around town fun.

Saturday We headed up to Castlewood Canyon Park. The site of the second largest dam burst / flooding in colorado history. It was a great hike. and we had fun playing in the rocks and water.  

 

Sunday we drove home from Elizabeth, CO (near Castle Rock) the back way, which yielded some fun pics. 

 

Monday morning Stephanie and I were able to break away and hike some trails around Garden of the gods. I have been there hundreds of times as a kid, and I still love going. This was the best year so far. Usually we are plagued by clouds, but this year was a bight, warm sunny day. 

 

Tuesday we hung out with my grandparents, and toured around old town pueblo. I really dig old buildings and houses for some reason. 

 

By The Way, I think Stephanie was getting tired of all the photo shoots.

 

We had fun, but also glad to have routines, our bed, and our furry kids back. Even if it is 200° out in the valley.

 

 

A picture, some updates, and random links

The table is already being put to good use!

 

For those of you (Nicole you can do it) considering the 100 push-up challenge I encourage you to give it a try and don’t worry about getting it done in six weeks.  Matt and I have decided instead of moving on to week 3 we are going to do the third column in week 2 instead (we were doing the middle column).  We did our test at the end of week 2 and didn’t think we were quite ready for the challenge of week 3.

Matt and I have both been consistent with getting in three runs a week.  I am excited to see myself slowly improve. 

 

Now onto some links that I am just too lazy to do whole posts about.

Facts on cloth diapering.  

Wind energy is taking off

Changing lives with used bikes.

 

Go By Bike Challenge

 

Take a pledge to take all those little short trips by bike and you could win a free bike.  I personally like taking my short trips by bike and still take a few, but right now it is so HOT.  I cannot wait for fall and then I can take all my short trips by bike again and arrive at my destination a little dryer then I currently do.  

Random Stuff

My Aunt Kim sent me this cute video on being a mother and I just had to share:

extraordinarymothers

This story is inspiring.  The woman featured in the story was told she was too disabled to benefit from a service dog.  Well not only did she get her service dog, she started her very own organization matching service dogs with people who aren’t normally eligible for service dogs.

I started my running program this week and managed to get out of bed early enough to run three days, which was my goal.  🙂

Matt and I have also started our journey to 100 push-ups.  We have done two of the three recommended workouts and are feeling pretty good.  (We are doing the third tonight.)  Just don’t ask me to raise my arms above my head!

 

Best Summer TV show. Ever.

Seriously. Stephanie and I laughed so hard we were crying.

I dont know why people doing dumb stunts, falling on their faces is so hilarious, but it was to us. There is just something about average people doing impossible stunts, involving water and mud, while I point and laugh. All while saying “I could do that better”, even though I’d fall face first too.

The show is produced by the guys who made fear factor. They said they wanted to do a show like fear factor, but without the grossness, and to appeal to a family audience. I’d let me kids watch this.

Its on ABC, Tuesday Nights.

Not in a blogging mood

I haven’t been in the mood to blog lately.  Maybe its the heat, oh wait that is why I don’t want to do the housework.  I have some thoughts I have been meaning to blog about, but just haven’t made the time.  I will hopefully get them out of my head sometime soon.  In the meantime here is a cartoon to keep you entertained:

 

 

9 WORDS WOMEN USE


         
(1) Fine: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.
 
(2) Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

(3) Nothing: This is the calm before the storm.  This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.   

(4) Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don’t Do It!    

(5) Loud Sigh: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing.   (Refer back to #3 for the meaning of nothing.)

(6) That’s Okay:  This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. That’s okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.  

(7) 
Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or Faint. Just say you’re welcome. (I want to add in a clause here – This is true, unless she says “Thanks a lot” – that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all.  DO NOT say “you’re welcome” … that will bring on a “whatever”). 
 
(8) Whatever: Is a women’s way of saying up yours

(9) 
Don’t worry about it, I got it: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking “What’s wrong?” For the woman’s response refer to #3.

game 6

im pretty excited about the peguins making it out of the messy game 5 and actually making a series out of this. I can’t help but notice the stark contrast of force between the teams. The redwings are a well oiled machine. They seem to operate with such precision. While the Penguins are more of that bug that wont die.

I really like the penguins, but I feel they are really grasping at straws here. They best bet they have is persistence and luck.

Since I am playing couch coach here:

  • What’s with the offensive puck dumping? I thought only middle school hockey teams did the dump and chase offense. It hasn’t worked all series, yet the penguins still rely on this.
  • Again, how many pro level hockey players does it take to complete a pass. I mean come on! Hockey 101. Keep your eye on the puck, and your stick on the ice.
  • already in game 6 we had a 1:40 – 5 on 3 situation and Pittsburgh got off 3 shots.

I am sure I will have more coaching tips later. Here’s to the rest of the game.