Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Elastic Girl

Reagan has taken to calling me, at times, Elastic Girl. I think it was the pregnancy and that she saw my belly getting increasingly huge. Unfortunately, I haven't bounced back, like the fictional Elastic Girl, who was able to stretch her body and back within seconds. Last night, Reagan said, "You're almost Elastic Girl, Mom. Not yet, though." Oh, the mouths of babes...

And just to make sure the point was hammered home, I put on a jumpsuit outfit to take Reagan to school in and the jacket is at least one size too small given my current girth. This is what I felt like this morning...



Oh well. I guess it's time to start exercising.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Monday's Mixings

I enjoy being in the kitchen. I tend to express myself through my cooking and baking. I love knowing that I have made something good. I have been accused of showing off in the kitchen, but I'm not sure that's such a bad thing. Is it showing off when you can be good at something and enjoy doing it?

Anyways, today was not one of those days.

For dinner I started with left-over turkey, turkey stock, and pie crust. It should have been easy. It should have been delicious. It wasn't.

Anyways, I added cream of mushroom soup, mixed in green beans, green bell peppers, celery, topped with cheese and the pièce de résistance was french fried onions. It was not good. I'm really bummed. The idea was green bean cassarole in a pie crust. I'm of the opinion that everything is DELICIOUS in a pie crust.

It turned out as a soupy slop with a hint of pie crust. What a bummer. The green bell peppers were not cooked well, the celery didn't meld. Basically I was left with green beans swimming in cream of mushroom soup with a side of pie crust.

The meal wasn't a total waste. At least there was cheese and french fried onions. Yum-oh. But now I don't know what to do with the left-overs. Should I try to salvage them? Should I toss them? Keep in mind that I'm fairly frugal with food. I don't like to throw it away. If you have any ideas, please share them.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Man-Made Climate Change is a Hoax

I have always thought that the idea of man affecting global climate change is ludicrous. There is no way we, by going about our daily business of driving, breathing, existing, can affect the climate in such a way that risks our very survival.

And now I feel totally validated.

Here is an article that explains the current scandal regarding the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the data they've been collecting and what they're distributing. I think the article explains the complex science of observing climate change very well and then goes on to elaborate on the actual hoax. I highly recommend reading it, although it's heady.

Here's the clincher:
After all, the stakes are enormous: perhaps trillions of dollars and unquestionably every American’s personal liberties. Tomorrow, over 20,000 delegates from 193 nations will gather in Copenhagen to craft an agreement which would not only force American power consumption to levels equal to those of about 1910, but would also have us pay reparations for an imaginary “climate debt” we’ve accumulated by building the world’s greatest economy of all time. That debt is based on the amount of CO2 our financial growth has purportedly pumped into the atmosphere, which, according to the conclusions of the IPCC and based largely upon reports from the CRU, has selfishly imperiled the planet by inducing climate change.

Of course, asking Americans to pay reparations based on the claim they’ve done harm to other nations by spoiling the climate is like asking me to pay damages to my neighbor based on his claim that he can’t sell his house because my great-grandmother’s ghost is haunting it.

As many have known and as Climategate has proven, both situations are equally preposterous.
You see, this fraud is not about saving the environment. It's about controlling who succeeds and who does not. Who stays in poverty (the developing world) and who does not (the already wealthy).

This web interview is excellent. It really picks up after minute 4. If you can skip to that part I would.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Sleep Deprivation

So, today I had a dentist appointment to get a couple of cavities filled. (I never had cavities until I started having children. Those babies take everything I've got, including whatever calcium needed to keep my teeth healthy!) In any case, I found a babysitter for my kids. I arrived at the dentist with 10 minutes to spare.

I should have known something was wrong because the receptionist had a totally blank look on her face when I said, "Hi, I'm Jessica." She said, "Did you have an appointment?" Me, "Yes."

No, I didn't. At least not for today. For TOMORROW!

I rescheduled my appointment for a couple of weeks from today. And my gracious friend let me have a quiet hour to myself, which I spent in the parking lot of Reagan's school reading Voyager. (So Good!)

The kicker is that I did have the appointment in my palm pilot. I just had the days mixed up in my head! Oh man, the sleep deprivation is a killer!

And this is so not the first time this has happened recently. On Saturday I forgot what time a party started and had to call the hostess to find out. We were almost an hour late! And we were going to a wedding a couple of months ago and didn't even bring the invitation with the directions because I could have sworn that I knew where it was. I was wrong. We went to the wrong location. Thankfully we were super early and not late to the ceremony.

I can not wait to sleep more than 5 or 6 hours consistently.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Did Someone Say Self-Control?

There is something about this season that causes me to think about self-control. The food, the parties, the shopping. I find that I have a difficult time limiting myself, saying no to my fleshly desires. I am tempted this time of year to eat more, drink more, and spend more. I went to an awesome party this Saturday. But the next morning I was asking myself if perhaps I imbibed too much, or so I think the headache was telling me.

All of this brought to mind Galatians 5:13-25.

13You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 14The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." 15If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

Life by the Spirit
16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.


I read through that list in verse 19 and I cringe. It's not an easy list to compare my life to. And if I'm honest, I have a hard time with most of those things daily! And then the kicker is what a Spirit-filled life does look like: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. My days do not often showcase those characteristics, I'm sorry to say.

For myself, I read verses 19-25 and then I like to go back up to verses 13. Christ set us free from the law. We are free to love; not free to indulge sinful desires. I'm no where near good at this. But I wanted to share a honest thought with you. Among my other character deficiencies, it's difficult for me to admit shortcomings. I do this in hope that some may be encouraged.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Cooking Day

Something about the cooler weather inspires me to cook. And thankfully my KitchenAid is back in business so I decided to bake French Bread. It is one of my favorite breads to make. Who am I kidding? I never made a bread I didn't love. And the idea of fresh baked bread inspired me to make soup. Therefore I found a Butternut Squash Soup recipe on Recipezaar.com.

What came out was amazing! I'm so glad I made this soup. And the hot bread was perfect for it.

The soup came out a bit thicker than I thought it would, but I didn't puree all of the squash. Perhaps it would have been soupy-er if I had. I didn't have heavy cream so I omitted it entirely and I don't think it was missed. I did top with bacon and sour cream. The soup cooked very quickly, within 45 minutes.

Altogether a delicious lunch for a cold day!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Again with Baby Jesus!

Once again this year I have had to remind my children not to play with Baby Jesus. My husband wanted to decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving this year. The tension in my shoulders increased by ten-fold.

You see, to me, Christmas decorations mean endlessly telling my children to stop touching Baby Jesus. And that the Christmas tree ornaments are not toys. And that no, we can not watch stupid Frosty again because we've already watched it 50 million times today.

Erik accused me of being Scrooge on Monday.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Found in Backyard

We built our home here in Surprise just over 4 years ago. Since that time we have found some random stuff.

We find trash that floats in from other yards. We find nails which scare me since I let my girls run around all the time and frequently they end up outside without shoes.

But yesterday, as I was prepping dinner Reagan came in with a pregnancy stick. Totally without the cap. I kind of freaked out. And no, it wasn't mine. It came from one of our neighbors. And the finding of this particular device now lead to a whole discussion about what it is used for and Mati saying "When I grow up I will use that and a baby will be in my bell." Yikes. Way too early for me to be talking about this. And naturally I told the girls that it was disgusting. And they asked why. And I said because you pee on it. Oh man, what a conversation. And then when we were telling Erik about it at dinner Mati got up and went to try and find it in the garbage. Quite a night at the Wilhelmsens.

Which brings up another thing. The girl next door is troubled. I think she's about 15 or 16 and she hangs out with some questionable characters. And we find plastic chairs by the wall that separates our houses and the screen to what I assume is her bathroom looks like it's been pushed out and replaced. So, either she's sneaking out or someone's sneaking in.

All of this leads me to think that quite possibly the pregnancy test was hers. If so, should I say something to her? Should I mention that I found a pregnancy test in our yard (Which, who would throw it over the side of a wall! Hello? We have small children! Which you know about because you see them and we always say hello. Dude, not cool.) Anyways, Erik seems to think that I should keep my head down. But he's a guy. And from New York. You always keep your nose down over there. But this is my home. And I'm a Christian woman. I kind of want to mention it and ask her if she needs any help or someone to talk to. What do you think?

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Christmas Movies

I have been enjoying a wonderful month of readings from The Queen. She's posted every day for one month. I feel encouraged to do the same this month. And since it's December 1, I thought I might as well go for it.

I can not promise anything awesome. But I do so want to get into the habit of regular blog posting. It's so nice to have a place where I can vent or enlighten.

How do you feel about the animated Christmas movies? My husband is an ENORMOUS fan of the animated 60's Christmas movies. Like Rudolph the "Red Nosed Reindeer". However, now my children are sharing in the obsession. Every day it's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "Frosty the Snowman". Do you know how annoying it is to sing "Frosty the Snowman" while trying to fall asleep at night? Cause that's what I have been doing every night for the past week. Now in all fairness, my least favorite of the animated seasonal films is "The Grinch". But Frosty should be melted eternally in my opinion. I am so in favor of global warming with Frosty. (This does not mean that I believe global warming actually exists, because I don't. Anyways, another post for another day.)

I do like most Christmas movies, though. Just not the animated ones. I like Mickey's Christmas Carol. So, there's one.

My favorite Christmas movie, which is not really a Christmas movie is "Meet Me in St. Louis" with Judy Garland. It's so good. I just love it. I love the songs. I love that the climax is on Christmas Eve. I love that Vincent Minnelli directed Judy Garland and because of that they married. (Well, he turned out to be gay, but anyways, it's a neat love story.) And because of that movie my favorite Christmas song is "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas".

My second favorite Christmas movies are a tie between "White Christmas" and "It's a Wonderful Life". White Christmas because of the Sisters number. I love the part where Bing and that other guy danced and lip synched the Sister's song to provide an escape for the girls.

And "It's a Wonderful Life" always reminds me that life is not hopeless and when we feel small and insignificant God has a wonderful plan for us. We can not know the impact we have on people simply by being alive. I love that movie. Makes me cry just thinking about it.

What are your favorite Christmas movies?