// January 31st, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Uncategorized
If you’re anything like me, you’re feeling a little saggy, baggy and in need of a makeover. OK, well you’re cool and I’m stuck but we can always get our blogs spiffed up. My blog backgrounds and headers get boring quickly. I need a theme – do you? Beth in NC is having a contest so head on over to hers and try to win! Just click her button below!
Tea this afternoon: leftover breakfast Jasmine
// January 31st, 2009 // 8 Comments » // Faith, Family, My Fabulous Life
With all the Super Bowl hype, and my obvious favoritism for Kurt Warner, I realized we have an awful lot in common. OK, that’s a stretch. I sound like a groupie (I am). But whenever a good Christian Iowa boy who used to work at my favorite grocery store hits the Super Bowl, ya just gotta give him a shout out in a blog that’s read by hundreds tens a handful of readers.
You may think you share a lot of the same traits. Come join the club. I’m claiming Kurt and the Cardinals this weekend as big winners. And if they don’t win, Kurt will still be my BFF. Watch why.
// January 27th, 2009 // 11 Comments » // Uncategorized
MamaSpecialPower Bars
4 cups miniature marshmallows2/3 cup fresh ground peanut butter
2 Tablespoons canola oil margarine
2 cups brown rice krispies (I use Barbara’s Brown Rice Crisps)
2 cups granola (my fav is “honey gone nuts”)
2/3 cup rough chopped almonds — toasted
2/3 cup ground flax seed (I use a mixture of gold and brown)
handful of craisins or dried blueberries
Put first 3 ingredients in a large mixing bowl, microwave on high for 1 minute, stirring every 15 seconds, until melted and smooth. Mix the remaining ingredients in another bowl. Add rice krispie mixture to marshmallow mixture, stirring quickly to combine ingredients. Flax seed will go to the bottom of the bowl and stick in the marshmallow, so scrape bowl quickly with a large metal spoon coated with canola oil. Put a little margarine on your fingers and mix by hand if necessary.
Put the mixture in a 9 X 13 pan that has been lightly coated with canola oil (I use a sprayer). Push down firmly so mixture is uniform in the pan. (I use a piece of waxed paper and smash down with brick.) Let mixture cool, cut into 16 pieces, bag or wrap individually, and freeze.
Makes 16 bars. Hide them. Don’t tell the kids they’re in the freezer. They will go quickly.
Tea today: Tazo Zen
// January 26th, 2009 // 4 Comments » // Uncategorized
I did not find myself missing the tennis court and my tennis buddies so much that I went back in the archives and found an old picture of me at…err….Wimbledon, was it? Yeah, check out those guns. And I taught Maria Sharapova everything she knows…
I did not find myself in the horrible position of telling a long-time friend/employee that she no longer has a job after 27 years of loyalty to our organization and to her patients. It was not one of the hardest things I ever did, and I certainly would have handled it with the grace and acceptance that she did. This economy does not stink.
I did not find it hurtful that a certain someone did not stop to see me, Ron Burgundy, or Lucky when he was in town this weekend 
LET.IT.GO.
OK, I’m over it (or will be, eventually).
I have not become so immersed in my current Beth Moore Bible study that I’ve read ahead about 2 weeks. Some of the most simple scripture speaks so loudly, doesn’t it?
I did not spend the whole day cooking “people food” for my dog, and nothing for Ron Burgundy. Aw heck, I taught him (RB, not the dog) how to make wraps so it really doesn’t matter. Wrap and roll.
Tea today: Snow Water Green Cloud
// January 25th, 2009 // 6 Comments » // Uncategorized
My blog friend Liz over at Eternal Lizdom has graciously given me the Butterfly Award! No hoops, no tricks, just a sweet little award from a sweet little lady that I’m honored to pass on to a few of my favorites. I do this in honor of my mother, who loves the Christian symbolism of the butterfly, and who has threatened to disinherit me if I ever get her a computer.
Congratulations, ladies!
// January 24th, 2009 // 7 Comments » // Uncategorized
When I saw this video aired on Nightly News last night, I couldn’t help but think of my own kids as they grew up.
True, their Dad was never the President, but in these parts (read: 24 counties), everybody knows Dad. And while there are thousands of kind and loyal viewers who bestow honors and fill out Nielsen books faithfully and think he’s “all that,” there are those who criticize everything from ties to hair to comments made during transitions.
I’d be remiss to say the kids always took the “famous” hype humbly, but they were, in fact, kids. Selfish in nature (seriously, aren’t we all?), they name-dropped when it was to their advantage, and the boys, in particular, sported a certain swagger when it came to that pretty-girl-pick-up line.
Expections were a bit higher for them, because after all, Dad holds a position of respect in the community. Some of them (boys, you shall remain nameless) took full advantage of pushing the envelope, thinking they were above the law and that Dad’s connections would allow them to do exactly as they pleased. That’s when Bad Cop (aka, me) stepped in and was the first to utter “Book ‘em, Danno.”
The Father of Second-Shift Guilt was not the disciplinarian in the House of Steele.
At the end of the day, it’s important that people recognize what “being famous” means at our house.
It means you get invited to parties and events by people you don’t even know.
It means people are offended if you don’t know them, because they know you and really, don’t you see them every day?
It means your skin gets really, really thick from the criticism (like the woman who shot off a nasty email when he said “Our new President Barack Obama” instead of “President Barack Obama…”). Geesh.
It means your sons get all the girls and the guys are scared to date your daughter (and rightly so).
It means you don’t go to Home Depot, Hy-Vee, or the mall without a thousand greetings from perfect strangers (and people still recognize you in a hooded sweatshirt).
It means yes, you really are shorter in person than you appear on TV.
BUT, also, at least in our house:
It means you put your pants on, one leg at a time, just like everybody else.
It means you have feelings, dreams, and visions for your family, just like everybody else.
It means you walk around with a hole in the seat of the pants of your expensive suits from carrying your Bible with you. Every. Single. Day.
It means you love attending personal events (graduations, funerals, weddings) of families you have featured in stories that ripped at your heart.
It means your humility and respect for others trumps every bit of anger, cynicism, and pride that ever welled up inside of you.
It means you speak very kind things about your wife to anyone who cares to listen, even though she is often not deserving (remember, she’s Bad Cop).
It means you spend hours editing a video about your dog before he goes to the Rainbow Bridge, because when he goes, you know your heart will be too broken to focus on the task.
And in your heart, it means the most important status that was ever granted to you is that of “Dad.” And those people who call you that are the most important people in the world to you (well, them, and Bad Cop)
In the end, my kids have a lot to learn from this, and I pray they will remember who their dad really is in his heart and dismiss the salty few of those half million viewers who think he is someone he is not.
“For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Tea today: Green with lemongrass
// January 18th, 2009 // 11 Comments » // Uncategorized
I did not spend a total of 36 hours flat on my back in bed last week as a result of an inner ear infection. It did not force me to “army crawl” to the bathroom, and the cat did not think I was down there to play. Ugh, misery, albeit short-lived.
Tea today: Earl Grey Green
// January 17th, 2009 // 10 Comments » // Uncategorized
Four Little Men and Girly Twins is sending out a random picture challenge – eighth picture for January. Mine is really bad on so many levels. From a cell phone, my car thermometer, traveling 65 mph (more or less) on a -40 degree wind chill day. But suffice to say I was up for the challenge! Title? Simply “Minus 21.”
Tea today: Passion Fruit Na Pali (Hawaiian Islands Tea Company)
// January 17th, 2009 // 6 Comments » // Uncategorized
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