food poisoning

I don't recommend it as a diet. However, in the week before a cruise, it does help. I will now look great in all of my clothes. Something I was actually worried about because I felt like I was the size of a hot air balloon (my jeans were way too tight, I measured my waist, it was the same, but I knew something was wrong). Yes. Something was wrong. My entire weeks worth of meals came out of me in a twelve hour period on Saturday. Yuck! So now that I've completely de-toxed my body, I get to go buy a new pair of jeans today. You know something? The B.R.A.T. diet does do wonders for one's weight. I think I'm going to try to eat it for the rest of the week.

I digress, this last weekend was supposed to be very busy. I was supposed to clean all day Saturday, after cooking breakfast for the Jr. Highers. Sunday, the flute choir played in church (I was supposed to be a part of that) and then, immediately after church, I was supposed to go to Grandma's to visit her, Mom and Skylar. Well, obviously I was not involved in any of that.

The Jr. High showed up for breakfast, but the adults cooked it and cleaned up (thank you again!!!). I was, as Heather said, "pretty much ready to blow chunks at any minute." I managed to wait until after they left before that party started. I had to call Mary (head of the flute choir) and explain to her 90 year-old aunt (whose name is also Mary) that I had food poisoning, "what?" "FOOD POISONING!" "You have a new position?" "NO! I HAVE FOOD POISONING!" "Oh, food poisoning, that's terrible dear." yes. tell me about it. Don't worry, Mary called me on Sunday to assure me that they did fine without me. And that there would be no practice since they had played in both services (um, I wasn't going to go even if there was practice). And that the next performance will be Dec. 16th. Sorry, I can't make it!!!

I didn't get to go see Mom, Grandma, or Skylar either. Bummer. I had a whole bunch of stuff to give to Mom. Oh well. I'll see her in December.

Yesterday didn't start out so well (the cheeseburger Sunday night, while it tasted wonderful at the time, wasn't so wonderful the next morning). It wasn't until Heather told me some of the lines from the overnight and I laughed that I finally started feeling better! (well, that and the one piece of toast I ate all morning)

I just thought I'd let you know that we leave in four days. For the Mediterranean. I am finally feeling better. Much better. Very clean on the inside, that's for sure. I'm also hungry...

the annual Halloween party

Jenny has always had a Halloween party. This year was
no exception even with a cruise looming on the horizon. It was a great turnout! We had Mona Lisa, a cop and her prisoner (he wouldn't dance to Thriller though...). Dr. Mel Practice was there. Lily Potter, Kid Rock, Persephone, the Black Widow, the list goes on and on.

My first stop was on Friday, at Ikea. From there I headed to Toledo to visit Anna, Dan and George. I stayed the night there. Saturday morning, after a yummy breakfast of french toast, I headed back towards Detroit. I met Jenny at the cemetery in Birmingham. I was a little late due to horrible construction traffic, but Jenny and Ginger gave me a private tour and we latched on to one of the groups so I could hear a few specifics. For instance, the architect of the World Trade Center, Minoru Yamasaki, his parents are buried at this cemetery. So is Marshall M. Frederick whose sculptures can be seen all over Michigan! (pictured at right, the Leaping Gazelle, one of his favorites, and his grave marker)


From there, Jenny and I headed back to their house.
We got crescent roll ghosts ready and ate dinner. Then it was time to get ourselves ready for the party.

I was Persephone. I had my pomegranate (not pictured). And just to clear this up; Bill and I have started dressing in costumes that go together. The first year we did not. He wore a toga (talk about last minute costume, "Emily, can you go buy me a sheet?" one day before the party) so this year, to "fix" that, I "matched" him from 2003, that's where the idea came from. That and the cruise. Since we'll be stopping in Greece, I figured it was appropriate.


Jenny was a waitress, John the chef, and
Ginger was the lobster. Their special
that evening was Lobster Bisque.



Heather was the Black Widow. You didn't want to mess with her! And yes, she left her spiders everywhere, much like the feathers from a few years ago... (I know that was Greg, but he was dressed as Heather...)


Also, to keep up with
tradition, we had our
tequila shot. We always look so excited
before, and so disgusted after. But it makes for a great photo!


There was Vampire wine, which was tasty, and Drinko. The green chip is missing. It may have ended up in the trash. But that makes a good party, when you know you just set something down, and now it's gone...

The food was delicious, and there was plenty to drink. It was after all, an adult Halloween party.

That was it! We all crashed somewhere around 2am. We're looking forward to next year... Who's hosting it???

Now on to the final countdown.

a week behind

A picture is worth a thousand words... or two; "Quack, quack".

This was last weekend at the UMC Youth Leader retreat. We met at Wesley Woods and had a fun time as only crazy youth leaders can...

Let's see, it not too late on that Friday night because Heather G. Holt is giving Sami fertile bunny ears (yup, that's what bunny ears really mean, you're fertile) so that means she hasn't left the game of Apples to Apples, so it must be around 10:30pm. We were just getting started. We were warming up.

In fact I have a certain card in my possession that cracked all of us up.

Yes, Tony Blair. I had the card in my hand and decided to play it when the green card was something along the lines of hot & sexy... As the cards were being read, Jimmie pulled out some gum. This is what happened next,

Sami, "Tony Blair!?"
Emily, pointing at Jimmie and his gum, "Can I get a piece of that?"
Sami, "You want a piece of Tony Blair?!"

Followed by hysterical laughing. Where else can Tony Blair be considered hot & sexy but in a game of Apples to Apples.

I now stare longingly at Tony Blair, who has a prominent spot on my desk!!!


We continued to play Apples to Apples until the wee hours of the morning, 2:30-ish. I like playing A to A with Sami. Her rules are; the game isn't over until she wins. None of this whoever gets five cards first wins. I ended up with 13, my lucky number, so I was happy. I did not win. Neither did Sami. I'm sure there were other hilarious jokes, but I can't remember any of them, other then Tony Blair kept coming up. We were only playing with the expansion set, so for eight of us (at one point twelve) the expansion set wasn't enough cards. Next time we bring along all the sets. There is a Bible expansion set out there... I hope Sami can find it! (of course the expansion set had Adam & Eve and David & Goliath) Oh yeah, it's North & South DAKOTA! Not just the North & South.... Poor Dakota...

My favorite month

It is National Popcorn month. I love popcorn. But you probably already knew that about me. I eat it for dinner when Bill is working. Like I did last night! My favorite way to eat it is air popped, with butter and Kraft's popcorn cheese topping. It combines two of my most favorite foods; cheese and popcorn. I prefer air popped over any other kind. I have some Amish popcorn that is a variety of kernels. I like them. Those are best with butter and salt, so that you can taste the different flavors of the corn itself. The best corn to pop (in my opinion) is the Boyscout popcorn. It pops the biggest, fluffiest kernels then any other popcorn I have ever tried. It's either a white or yellow kernel popping corn. I wonder if Alton Brown has ever done a "Good Eats" episode on popcorn. I know there's a "Secret Life of..." popcorn episode.

Other random facts:
I have eaten an entire bowl by tossing each kernel into the air and catching it in my mouth.

I can stand five feet away and throw popcorn into a recipients mouth (depending on how well they do, I rarely miss)

For more information, visit these links...
http://www.popcorn.org/index.cfm

http://www.wyandotpopcornmus.com/

especially if you like popcorn like I do!!!

Thanks to Orville Redenbacher for selling this tasty treat!

Some day I will make it to the Valparaiso Popcorn Festival! (I know, I'm from Indiana and I love popcorn, and I've never been to the biggest popcorn festival known to popcorn connoisseurs.)

http://www.popcornfest.org/popcorn.html

So here's to my favorite snack food, popcorn! Pop away!

300!

Yes, it's true. Today is the 300th day that I have been 29. That means only 65 days until my 30th birthday.

Today is:
Leif Erickson Day
World Post Day

I spent the morning in the post office with Sami. We sent out over fifty care packages to the college students and military from our church! There was only one window open, we felt pretty bad for the long line of people behind us. We apologized profusely!!!

I searched for television shows that have aired 300 episodes (knowing that the Simpson's were one of them). All I got besides the Simpson's (aired Feb. 2, 2003) was The Stephen Colbert Report (aired August 17th, 2007). Apparently 300 episodes is a very high achievement. And no one celebrates or brags about it...

If you could do one thing on your birthday, what would you do? (seriously, I am asking because I want the feedback)

Here's food for thought...

I am not sure how it happened but I am somehow on the e-mail list for WebMD. I've thought about unsubscribing, but decided against it because I've read several interesting articles. The following came in the newsletter that I received this morning. It was too good to pass up.

Random Knowledge: Twinkies!

WebMD Feature from "Esquire" Magazine

By Anya Yurchyshyn

Twinkies are as amazingly good as they are disgusting. But do you know why?

Twinkies are as amazingly good as they are disgusting. But do you know why? We've picked a few facts from Twinkie, Deconstructed (Hudson Street Press, $24), by Steven Ettlinger.

Phosphorus, part of a key Twinkie ingredient, was discovered in 1669 by German alchemist Hennig Brand when he boiled down the urine he collected from local nuns.

Other Twinkie ingredients include the rocks trona and limestone.

Twinkies made per year: 500,000,000.

Twinkie cream gets its slippery sheen from cotton cellulose, which serves the same purpose in rocket fuel.

Despite popular lore, Twinkies will not survive a nuclear war any better than you will — their average shelf life is 25 days.

President Clinton put a Twinkie in a time capsule.