Cooking for an army

I feel like Pioneer Woman.

Not in the way that she lives on a ranch.

Or has four kids.

Or has her own cooking show.

Or has basset hounds.

I feel like Ree because I just cooked enough food for a ranch. I made sloppy joes for youth group tonight. I used ten pounds of ground beef.

Let me repeat that. I used ten pounds of ground beef.

That is a lot of beef.

I'm a very poor judge of amounts. For instance, when it comes to leftovers I either pick a dish that's too big or too small. When it comes to parties, I typically have way too much food.

That's better than running out of food.

I have nightmares about not having enough food.

Thanks Depression/history class.

I'm pretty sure I have enough for dinner tonight. I planned on cooking for twenty-four. Then I rounded up to thirty when I bought buns. I'm pretty sure I could feed eighty.

There will also be chips and krispy rice treats.

After our hearty dinner, our respective groups of youth will head out for ArtPrize 2014. I have a feeling I'll have a few pictures to post tomorrow.

Football, Parades, Pork Tenderloins, and Presents (not alliterative, but almost)

Can you smell it?

Not the smell of rain.

Or the crisp air.

Or fall…

but…

Football!

It's here.

We're going to watch CMU play next weekend. They beat Purdue today. Hehe

Next week they play Syracuse. We'll see if they can do it again.

MSU is currently playing Oregon. And U of M is playing Notre Dame. It's an exciting evening in our house.

I do love football, but I gave myself a pedicure. Ha!

I'm trying to relax before my "first" day tomorrow. It's not my first day, it's my third year. And it's not my first day back this school year, I've been working for a couple of weeks now. No, tomorrow is what we call "Homecoming Sunday", the first Sunday back after Labor Day weekend. Our activity schedule starts to get back into the swing of things.

We're kicking the school year off with one service and a lunch afterward. Then we'll have youth group. Sunday school will start next week. I have one more week to find more teachers. Want to teach Jr. High Sunday school once a month? They don't bite, I promise. In fact, they're awesome!

No? Okay, then will you at least say a prayer that someone else will step up and fill the spot? I'm not going to worry about it. That won't do me any good. But I am going to start asking everyone I see.

I didn't blog the last two days because I was in Indiana for the Pork Festival!!! The last time I was there was 2008 and lucky for you, I wrote all about it here.

I also have anniversary presents from my parents that I need to go open. All in all I have a lot to write about but it's late and this post has gone on for long enough.

sugar rush

When you have too much sugar you do silly things. You might giggle, act silly, dance like no one's watching and other things. 

Bill and I had a lot of sugar today. This morning was Teacher Appreciation at church. Since we both help with youth group, we were appreciated with cake, pastries, fruit and other sugary foods. As a result we didn't have Bill's Big Sunday Breakfast. But we did have lunch. 

Bill broke in his new grill with filets and veggies. They were delicious. I can't wait for this summer and more grilling.

Then at youth group, the Sr. High appreciated their seniors and the Jr. High appreciated moms. The Sr. High went to Jersey Junction. The Jr. High decorated (and ate) sugar cookies.

I wish I could describe and show you Bill's "overdose" episode. Thank goodness Chandra and Jason were there to witness it too. There was running (think Phoebe from "Friends"), jumping onto cars (still in the parking lot) and more running. It was definitely a sugar rush. And it was so silly.

call first

This is my new rule. If you're going to come over and visit and we're not expecting you, call first.

I will no longer be answering the door.

I have had the misfortune of answering the door three times in the last week to sales people. I understand they are just trying to do their job. I politely listen to their pitch. Then I politely tell them no thank you.

If I want to buy something, I'm going to do research and then I'll call the "right" people. I don't think I'll ever buy something from someone who knocks on my door, save for the Girl Scouts and their cookies or Boy Scouts and their popcorn (or the neighbor kids and whatever fundraiser they're selling, so basically if you're older than fourteen, I'm likely not going to buy something from you).

We frequently have people knocking on our door because they, "noticed our old wood windows". Yup. We have the original windows. And why would I replace them, when they are just as efficient (or will be once Bill finished restoring them), replacing them only adds more trash to the landfills, and the replacement that the salesman is trying to get me to buy are vinyl.

Our house in Jersey had vinyl windows. They were crap.

Wood clad windows are a better choice. No one is selling those door-to-door. Do you know why? Because they're expensive. If you want those windows, you know you want them.

Vinyl is the cheapest solution. And there's a reason. Because they're made cheaply.

I wasn't going to get on this soap box, but the guy at the door gave me something to blog about.

He tried telling me that his aluminum windows were better for the environment than our wood windows. This is what I told him, "I'm not going to stand here and argue with you because it's Sunday..."

That threw him. He had no reply. I wished him good luck and told him that I was glad he had sunny weather in which to do his job. I made it clear that I wasn't going to listen to him any longer.

Did I mention I'm in my pajamas? Tonight at youth group, we're having a pj party. So when we got home Bill suggested going ahead and putting on our pj's. I did. He did not.

He didn't answer the door because dear, sweet Juliette was sleeping on his lap. She's still there. Lucky me.

Unlucky for the poor salesman.

Bill is still chuckling.

Acquire the Fire

This is the view we had at Ford Field the first night. We were in the LAST row. I'm squishing the speaker with my fingers. We heard Skillet, Hillsong United, and... I think that was it that night.



The next day, we heard Hillsong United (two more times), Hawk Nelson, and P.O.D. We also heard from several speakers. You'll have to forgive me, I forgot who this is, but he is a Colts player, and he shared his story about how his faith helped him get through eleven years of not winning the Super Bowl!