This weekend on our way home from OKC, we stopped in Duncan, Oklahoma to see WE’s old stompin’ grounds. When we went by the high school I noticed a picture of their school mascot on the wall that was so creepy…
I’m totally cool with calling yourself the Duncan Demons. But couldn’t they come up with a demon head that isn’t so, well you know, demonic looking?!??
I’ve been working on this post ever since our 6 month anniversary when WE and I danced to our *newest song.
Don’t get me wrong - having lovingly labored over this post for more than 5 minutes doesn’t mean that it will be exponentially more insightful or clever than any of my other posts. But it does mean that this one means alot to me.
As I think back on the last year – my first year of marriage – it has been the happiest yet of my life.
Here are a few of the reasons I’ve found this year that Two is, in fact, Better Than One:
- Re-routing the GPS after a wrong turn is 10X easier when you are not simultaneously driving but rather have a designated navigator.
- PTO tends to be used more for adventurous vacations rather than catching up on sleep.
- Having someone to force more water down my throat when I’m sick
- A living space that is not a rental but our own with our very own fenced yard! (even if it is un-landscaped still) I realized this week that when we got married, I had spent a more than 1/3 of my life living in apartments with landlords and cleaning checks! Crazy. Now, I am my own cleaning check lady 
- Joint accounts and more responsible (transparent!) spending and savings.
- Always having someone fun to sit by at church on Sundays
- Graduating from the singles ward, period.
- Good excuse to try new things and to change old bad habits
- Magically made bed for me and magically clean clothes for WE
- Someone to push me to develop talents and skills I might not see in myself
- Goodbye and welcome home kisses!
- A good reason to dance in the kitchen
- Practice for retirement as professional B&B critics
- Holding hands at Thunderbird rollerskating
- Courtside tickets to the NCAA Bball tourney and twice the volume of Cougar cheers!
Thanks to WE for a fantastic first year! Can’t wait for the many more to come!
(*Don’t worry, we haven’t ditched ‘Someone to Fall Back On’ – but in this era of digital playlists and mobile, downloaded hits…I’m pretty sure we can claim more than one as our own)
(Does this video work??)
WE – if not, can you fix it
Sorry my love… I got nothing
how about this: The White House Goes Green Again
Last Thursday, WE and I went to see the Phantom of the Opera at Fairpark. I had forgotten how creepy the storyline is and we spent the whole drive home joking about manipulation tactics… “I’m here inside your head”
Somehow all these years, the Phantom lives on (only because of the great music) and I couldn’t believe how packed the theater was that night. The music brought back memories from 7th grade when we sang the Phantom medley in choir and how I didn’t get the Christine solo 
Well, it’s not like anyone really needs anymore reality TV shows to watch. But WE ran across this show – Undercover Boss - and I think it’s a pretty cool idea. The premise is that a high-level exec (so far, it’s usually been the CEO) in a large corporation grows alittle facial hair, grabs a cap, and heads for the production line.
They get to see for themselves what it’s like to do the real work. Most of the entertainment comes when the boss can’t hack it or when they simply get put doing the really dirty job. (This CEO of Waste Management actually got fired his first day by the trash picker-uper manager because he wasn’t gettin’ er done fast enough). I don’t know how they’ll be able to keep everyone’s attention for more than a season since it seems that each episode seems to pretty much be the same thing. But it is pretty fun to imagine your CEO on the show.
Actually, they’ve almost all been Dallas based companies on the show so far so it’s not out of the realm of possibilty 
So, for FHE this week WE and I used a borrowed ‘Back to Basics’ wheat grinder (from my awesome Visiting Teacher!) to hand grind wheat into flour. I admit that I’d probably really only want to use that thing IF 1) I really needed it and 2) because of the dire situation, I had nothing else to do all day.
But it was kind of fun too.
We both took our turns cranking and then used the freshly ground flour to make this cookie recipe.
The cookies were actually SUPER yummy. I used golden raisins instead of brown though because 1) they taste better and 2) they look better. Also, I didn’t worry about soaking the raisins in water/vanilla either. Too much effort
The best part was that the cookie stayed gooy on the inside and yet crispy on the outside! Yummmm
So yeah, we haven’t actually bought a wheat grinder or any wheat yet (we are still doing our homework). So if you have advice or tips on hand wheat grinders, do share. Maybe we’ll have to continue our little experiment and test a few more grinders based on how well the cookies turn out
that Peppermint Lifesavers that are slightly stale are much more tasty than the just-unwrapped.
I gave a talk (sermon) in Church yesterday. My assigned topic was “How I live the For the Strength of Youth Standards, especially regarding Entertainment and Media.” I spent a lot of time preparing an outline (ever since my mission I never actually write out a talk/lesson plan anymore) which ended up being really good because you never know exactly how much time you will have and then it’s alot easier to use less of what I had prepared/studied including only the most important points.
In fact, our Bishopric was reorganizeed (same Bishop but new counselors) so I ended up only speaking for about 7 minutes.
Anyway, one thing that I learned and wanted to share is that there are 4 specific things mentioned in the FTSOY pamphlet that the Spirit of God cannot be entertained by. In contrast, the 13th Article of our Faith includes 4 types of things that DO entertain the Spirit of God in our lives.
The bottom line when it comes to Media and Entertainment is: that God wants us to enjoy good entertainment in medias of all kinds. But more than to enJOY he wants us to have JOY.
We can only have true, lasting joy if we always entertain the Spirit of God by replacing things that are: 1) immoral with that which is virtuous 2) pornographic with that which is lovely 3) violent with that which is of good report and 4) vulgar with that which is praiseworthy.
