Justice

On Wednesday me and two of my friends got together for a night of prayer to stop human trafficking. The sex slave industry has been growing exponentially and many women even children are enslaved. Even in Columbus there are children being trafficked. Here are a few websites for more information: http://www.ijm.org/ and http://www.humantrafficking.org/
Many people feel removed from it since it seems so far away in places like Thailand, Haiti, Russia, etc. However it can happen anywhere. I just read The Sacred Bath about a woman in a middle class family who was a victim of sex slavery. Many of these women are forced to have abortions too - and that also angers me!

Yesterday at the abortion clinic though was awesome! One of the nurses (who are generally very hostile to us) came and picked up some tracts. What she will do with them, who knows? But she picked them up and took them inside -yea!

My family is coming to visit for the weekend so I made a lasagna and a caramel cake for Erik's birthday. While making the lasagna, Sarah got ahold of the spoon (and proceeded to make a mess!). See picture. The frosting on the caramel cake is awesome!! 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, 1/2 cup light brown sugar melted in a saucepan then add 1/4 cup milk until it boils. Remove from heat and add 2 cups powdered sugar and 1tsp vanilla extract. This was fabulous!! For Erik's birthday I got him 2 books and 2 games. I got him The Death Ship of Dartmouth by Michael Jecks, the BBook of Geek from a website we like bbspot.com, the Seinfeld Scene it Game that I'd like to play when Joel comes to visit this summer, and the Railroad tycoon video game. I think he will like all these games but I don't see him read much. Maybe I'll read the books for him.

Just one note about lasik. It is a miracle! I wake up and can see. I am free of contacts and glasses. I really LOVE it! The recovery time was so quick and I feel awesome. I love seeing :). We even played squash last night since the doctor said it was okay to play!

52 points on Quiddler today. There was a Q and I just couldn't use it!

Update on my Goals!

100 days ago I came up with a list of goals I wanted to accomplish in 100 days. To keep track of my progress, I set up a spreadsheet (obviously) and unfortunately I did not do too well. Here are my goals and the percentage complete:
1. Go to bed by 11pm (50 out of 100 days) = 39/50 days, 78%
2. Read 2 fiction books = 13/2, 650%
3. Read 1 nonfiction book = 2/1, 200%
4. Read 1 journal paper = 1/1, 100%
5. Lose 5 lbs = gained 4 lbs, -80%
6. Exercise (30 out of 100 days - 30min) = 22/30, 73%
7. Pray at abortion clinic on Fridays (12 times) = 7/12, 58%
8. Go on 3 dates with husband = 3/3, 100%
9. Go on 2 mommy dates with Jenna = 1/2, 50%
10. Write in journal (80 out of 100 days) = 47/80, 59%
11. Do Iron Chef = 2/1, 200%
12. Try 3 new vegetables = 3/3, 100%
13. Memorize 1 verse per week (15 verses) = 12/15, 80%
14. Read to kids besides bedtime (45 out of 100 days) = 44/45, 98%
15. Clean desk 3 times = 3/3, 100%
16. Take Stats or Graphics design course =1/1, 100%
17. Have girls movie night = 1/1, 100%
18. Learn something new about GIMP = 0/1, 0%
19. Serve dinner at Faith Mission=1/1, 100%
20. Take a Pilates class = 0/1, 0%
21. Try 10 new recipes=9/10, 90%
22. Level my EQ2 character 2 levels =2/2, 100%
23. Do 3 things for my secret sister (mommy group) = 3/3, 100%
24. Paint master bathroom =1/1, 100%
25. Write conference/journal paper =1/1, 100%

Well this list is pretty dismal. 14 out of 25 goals were greater than 80% which is only 56% and thus I scored a "D" on my goals. Of course I could have probably finish some of my other goals if I would not have read so many fiction books. The fiction books count my audiobooks too so this really is a little skewed.

This list shows me that I need to rework my goals and come up with a new list or maybe scrap the whole goal thing as I don't seem to be very good at it.

I'll keep you posted!

68 points on Quiddler today and made the word "ute". Whatever that means!

Was blind but now I see

I had my Lasik done yesterday by TLC, the company who fixed Tiger Wood's eyes. The procedure itself was short, weird, and unpleasant. It did not hurt, however I did feel a lot of pressure. On the way home, my eyes were burning and I wanted to claw them out. That was not entirely pleasant either. We got home and I laid in bed for a few hours while tears streamed down my face. I couldn't sleep but could listen to my MP3 player - yea for audiobooks!

In a few hours though I felt better and today I feel great. And the best news of all is that I can see!! I can see my alarm clock in the morning. I can stand in the kitchen and see the leaves on the plant in the living room, and the panels on the door and the clock across the room. I can see!
My eyes are all puffy, red, and bloody (I look pretty yucky) but I can see!!! This is totally awesome. And I feel 100% even though the surgery was 24 hours ago.
One thing I'm sad about is that I can not play sports for 2 weeks after getting lasik. This is a bummer as Erik and I discovered a new sport that we love. We love SQUASH!! We have had difficulty reserving racquetball courts as they seem to always be reserved. The squash courts right next to the racquetball courts are not reserved that often so we decided to play it. Wow!! It is amazing!! I feel like I am more competitive at squash and that Erik and I have more fun. In racquetball, sometimes the returns would go over my head, and even though I have a huge 1/8 inch vertical leap, sometimes I can't hit the return. Thus I miss the volley unless I turn around and hit it off the back wall with limited success. In squash the ball doesn't bounce as much, so I'm able to volley more often. The court is shorter, which also helps me (not because I'm short), and there is a minimum line that you must hit balls above on the wall. This prevents kill shots. Erik and I seem to be more evenly matched at this game since it is more about endurance than height and reach. I can't wait to play it again!
82 on quiddler today.

Iron Chef Shallots

To spice things up in our iron chef competitions, Erik used his culinary skills as iron chef this weekend with a secret ingredient of shallots. We absolutely LOVE shallots in cooking. They are a cross between garlic and onions and add delicious flavor to any dish (well almost any dish). Erik was the iron chef, and as this was his first time in a solo competition, he was 20 minutes over. However, his dishes were excellent! He made:

• Fresh shallot salad. This salad was almost a salsa. It was a mixture of tomatoes, tomatillos, shallots, green and red peppers, and italian dressing - absolutely yum!
• Rice with shallots and tomatoes. In this dish, Erik finely grated shallots and a ham steak and mixed it with rice and cream cheese. In the middle of this ring of rice (you can see in the picture), he put the shallot salad from dish 1. It was good but the rice needed something more to give it more flavor. Good though.
• Shallot dip. This dip with crackers was fantastic! He roasted shallots on the grill (it wasn't that cold - too cold for me to think about going outside and roasting on the grill though), then he mixed those roasted shallots with fresh shallots and made a cream cheese and spice mixture. He made two versions, one with an infinite amount of cayenne pepper and the other was milder. Both were delicious!!
• Pasta with shallots. In this dish, Erik put shallots and roasted chicken in a red sauce over pasta with shredded mozarella on top. This was also a great dish too.

A very successful iron chef. He rated himself as a 13.05 and I rated him as a 13.75.

In other news:

1. I just got my hair done and now I really look like a skunk. I wanted to touch up my highlights before my lasik on Friday (don't ask about the connection) and the highlights look blonde. So I have blonde hair now??? Well I took a picture and decided that my teeth were too yellow. So I used my mad photoshop skills to whiten them. Ummm.... I think I need to practice more.
2. I scored a miserable 54 on Quiddler today www.setgame.com because there were hardly any vowels!
3. I'm doing some Excel spreadsheet work for a local non-profit organization to help them out. I've made some nifty macros, etc. to speed up their processing. I hope it helps them.
4. Columbus Right To Life is having a 40 days for life initiative and I would like to help out. It will be over lent so I'm trying to decide what to give up for lent. I'm thinking about giving up red meat and using the 40 days to read through the 4 gospels. 40/4 = 10 which means I'll have 10 days to read each gospel (I'm so good at math!).
5. I'm getting Lasik on Friday!!! Yea!!

Quilting Bees and Bugs

Erik's Aunt Shelby is a master quilter. She makes lots of quilts and even teaches quilting classes. I asked her to make matching purple quilts for Jenna and Sarah and got so much more than I had imagined. These quilts are absolutely beautiful and so intricate. Everytime you look at it you see something new. On Jenna's quilt, her name is sewn on it as well as several lady bugs. Sarah's quilt has her name along with bumble bees. Aunt Shelby made wall hangings for both girls, pillow shams, the beautiful quilts, a play quilt for Jenna's dolls, a princess crown wall hanging, a J and an S pillow, and a "Minkie bear" toy for Sarah. I wish I could show the intricacy of these quilts but it is hard to show with these pictures. They are incredible!

So Jenna got to sleep tonight with her new quilt. She was very excited and pointed out all the images on the quilt. We do plan on getting bunk beds for the girls - and now they will have matching quilts!

Four year olds really do see the world differently from adults. We tend to take things for granted but Jenna doesn't. For example, yesterday while eating cereal, Jenna asked what made the K special? (we were eating Special K). I don't really know the answer to that question. I guess it is a more special letter than J?

I'm getting closer to my goal. On Wednesday I played racquetball with Erik and scored 7 points! So I lost 7-15 but I'm getting closer! If I can win at racquetball or railroad tycoon then he will take me out to the cheesecake factory. I'm not sure if I'll win at either but I'll keep trying.

I got 70 on Quiddler today! Quiddler is located at http://www.setgame.com/quiddler/puzzle_frame.htm see if you can beat my lame score!

Extreme Den Makeover

Just after we fixed the pipes in the basement (our basement is still actually all torn up) part of our ceiling caved in. It's not a huge amount of ceiling, but for awhile our ceiling was dripping. Jenna was holding her little bowls under the ceiling to catch the water before it caved in :). I've included a picture of the part of the ceiling (you can't see all the damage in this picture).

While our house is falling apart, Erik decided to do an extreme den makeover. We took this room that used to be a horrific mess, painted it, put Pergo floors in and got new desks. It really looks like a new room. Check out the collage. I have two before pictures (on top -obviously) and two after pictures. We also got a flat panel HDTV on the wall - and it is nice! Looking at these pictures I wonder how we let the computer room get this way.

83 on Quiddler today