Worth it?

Madeline asked if I would braid her hair tonight. Two french braids. She's got a piano recital tomorrow and wanted pretty wavy hair.

After five minutes of feeling her cringe with each pull of the comb, I said to her, "You don't ask for this until you've forgotten this part."  She didn't even miss a beat, and came back with, "Yeah, it's like cinnamon buns."

I got it right away - we love eating cinnamon buns, but the kneading is a painful process.  She took it to another level: "It's worth all the pain and suffering though, for the finished product."

Such a smart kid.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

These are yummy.  I got the recipe from my friend Candy after she brought them to one of our classes, and they've become one of our favorites.

LEMON POPPYSEED MUFFINS

2 cups biscuit / baking mix
1 pkg instant lemon pudding
1/4 cup poppy seeds
- mix all together

2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
- mix together and add to first mix just until moistened

Fill 12 muffin cups 2/3 full.
Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes.

Drizzle with icing made by mixing 3/4 cup icing sugar and 1 tbsp lemon juice.  (My family likes half lemon juice, half water so it's not quite so tangy.)

Classic

My new fave is CBC Radio2 on the drive to work.  They play classical in the morning, and it's so nice on the ride in...

TV and the fall of creativity

I found this great post by Seth Godin on things to do other than watch TV.  He says he never watches TV.  Ever.  There are so many other things he'd rather be doing.  This list of other things you could be doing is from that post (but I do recommend you hop over and read the whole thing):

• Run a little store on eBay
• Write a daily blog
• Write a novel
• Start an online community about your favorite passion
• Go to meetups in your town
• Volunteer to tutor a kid, in person or online
• Learn a new language, verbal or programming
• Write hand written thank you notes each evening to people who helped you out or did a good job
• Produce small films and publish them online
• Listen to the one thousand most important operas
• Read a book or two every evening
• Play a game of Scrabble with your family

For my birthday, I got the entertainment package.  On TV.  The one that has the channels that play Criminal Minds, NCIS, House, Bones, CSI... All the shows that are pulling me the other way now.  Sigh.  Oh, well - some nights I am productive and creative and some nights I am relaxed and spending time with Sean in front of the TV.  It's all about balance.

Pizza & Movies - better in 3's?

Maybe not better in threes, but that describes my week!

Pizza - We had some pie Monday night at the McCalls for birthday supper (3 of us share a birthday, so it's tradition...)  Then Friday night I was too lazy to cook a real supper so we threw in some frozen pizza before I remembered that we had already eaten pizza this week.  Then today for lunch at church we had a newcomers luncheon where the staff, deacons and new families stay and eat together... and we ate pizza.  It was the best of three, I think.

Movies - Last Sunday night the church rented a theater for a showing of the Blind Side, which was good (the movie) and strange (knowing everybody in the theater!)  Friday night we went to the cheap theater for a family night out.  We saw the Princess and the Frog, which was good as far as Disney's effects, but not so great with all the voodoo and dark side stuff.  Madeline said she wished she had picked Planet 51, which was the other option.  Then last night M had a sleepover at a friend's house, so Sean and I picked ourselves off the couches after a lazy day and went out to another show, Cop Out.  It was some laughs, but lots of language and I don't think you'd miss out if you didn't see it.

What was the last movie you saw and would you recommend it?

Lists

We went out on another 'Triple-Date' last night with our friends - we've been doing the rounds of different dessert places in the city.  It was my birthday on Monday, so they surprised me with a gift (and picked up the bill... you guys!)  The gift was a book called "List It!  Your Past Present and Future in Lists"  It's got great illustrations and quotes and every page has the title of a list.  Today we're going to tackle this topic (and you're going to play along by leaving a comment!):


Things You're Saving Up to Buy

Landscaping for our sewer-hole damaged front yard
A new fence for the back yard
New flooring in the kitchen / hall / bathroom
A new kitchen
A trip to somewhere fun

There's my list.  What's yours?

Three for Saturday

ONE - We spent the day at Mission Ridge with the youth from the church.  I'm grateful that Byron takes them every year, because there are not many other times that M gets on skis or a snowboard!  She skied today, but said she'd ride next year.  Sean and I spent lots of our time hitting jumps and boxes.  Man we'd be good if we did this more!  (Meaning that in reality, a jump of a couple of inches without falling makes me happy.)

TWO - I joined zoo world on facebook.  Tonight I got levels 7, 8, 9 and 10.  I just bred an eagle.  Silly game.  :)

THREE - Three is the number of shops that are now selling my magic bags.  Yipee!  They were in two to start with, and the hospital gift shop down the street took some at first sight yesterday.  I took them to two places last week and three this week and am hoping to hear back from at least a couple that seemed pretty interested.    Wish me luck with the other places!  If they all say yes, I could be in 7 shops!

(I intended this to be "Six for Saturday," but ran out of things to say...)

It's in you to give.

I was rejected this morning.

My hemoglobin level was too low to donate blood today.  And you know what I learned?  You STILL have to wait 56 days before you can donate again.

Boy, you try to do a good thing...