Pickles for Nickels

And We're Back...

2012-01-14T15:19:00.000-06:00

I know this little blog has been sorely neglected as I (Jamie) pursued my Masters in Teaching over the course of the past 18 months. Good news: I am done! Officially. :) I'm teaching at an elementary school in Nashville and I couldn't be more excited. Also, big news since our last post here, Trevor and I are adopting! For all the details on that little endeavor, check out our adoption blog.

Now that we're all caught up, I can't promise that this blog will get as much attention from us as it used to, but check back from time to time if you're interested in what we're up to next.

The main reason for this post is because we have had a fantastic food week at our house and can't wait to share what we've been eating. So let's get to it, shall we?

Tuesday night, we ate Mediterranean Portobello Burgers. They were, in one word, incredible. Healthy and delicious too (okay, that was three words but I could seriously go on all day). This is one recipe that I hope will be in heavy rotation at our house. I think we'll make them again this week.

Thursday night, we made pizza with pesto, tomatoes, and feta. Again, fantastic. Our grill is out of propane and it's not exactly prime grilling season, so we just made it in the oven. I made the whole wheat dough but we used store-bought pesto. We served it with spring greens and a homemade red wine vinaigrette (that we made up on the fly). It was really good.

This morning, I spent some more time in the kitchen. I made my grandma's banana bread and some fresh naan. Naan is an Indian flatbread. I improvised a little and just threw everything into the bread machine dough cycle while my banana bread was baking. I wasn't sure how it would come out but I was pleasantly surprised. It came out of the oven soft on the inside and a little crispy on the outside. It paired wonderfully with the spinach feta hummus I made earlier in the week.

I wish you could have joined us as Trevor and I had a little dance party in the kitchen eating the warm naan fresh from the oven with our hummus, drinking iced tea and listening to Rend Collective Experiment on Spotify. It was a seriously wonderful 5 minutes :)

Alright, so this was a pretty random first post back. We are glad to be settling into our new routine, so perhaps you'll be hearing more from us soon. Until then, what have you been eating at your house? Any recipes you're dying to share?

Menu Monday

2011-02-21T13:00:00.000-06:00

Another Monday has arrived, can I get a collective, "WOOT WOOT!" No? Okay, one tiny woot then? Whatever. It's Monday nonetheless and Trevor and I are one week in to our consious effort to eat less meat during the week. Last week was great! We tried new things and ate lots of good fruit and veiggies. I think we're going to like it. Here's what this week looks like:

Monday: Dinner with our accountability group
Tuesday: Lentil Sloppy Joes and sweet potato fries
Wednesday: Bulgar Wheat with Fried Chickpeas, Roasted Red Peppers, and Spinach

Thursday: Leftover Lentil Sloppy Joes
Friday: Dinner with the Youth Group
Saturday: Macaroni and Cheese with Cauliflower
Sunday: Popcorn, Apples, Grapes, and sharp cheddar cheese!

Life and Death

2011-02-17T08:47:00.000-06:00

Do Yourself a Favor

2011-02-16T11:28:00.000-06:00

...And make this chili. It was delicious and perfect for a Tuesday night at home. I don't believe you will be disappointed.

Alyvia the Christmas MerLady

2011-02-10T21:42:00.000-06:00

It's official: We have the CUTEST niece ever. Sadly, she lives with her parents in Idaho, which is a long way away from here. BUT here's a video we took in Nampa at Christmas as proof that she is, indeed, THEE CUTEST little Lubiens there ever was!

Nashville+Snow=Insanity

2011-02-10T19:15:00.002-06:00

Menu Monday

2011-01-31T21:55:00.000-06:00

Pretty simple, but this is what's on the docket for this week. If you're stumped, I'd encourage you to try the black bean burgers or the black beans and rice. They are both seasoned with a mixture of spices similar to taco seasoning, so they're YUMMY!

Monday: Chili
Tuesday: Black Bean Burgers and Sweet Potato Fries
Wednesday: Sandwiches
Thursday: Black Beans and Rice, chips and guacamole
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: homemade deep dish pepperoni pizza
Sunday: popcorn, apples, and cheese

There you have it. What's on at your house this week?

Wild Turkeys

2011-01-28T09:20:00.000-06:00

So there is a pack of wild turkeys residing in the forrest behind our house. Once in a while, they come out and graze a neighbor's yard. And they gross us out, every time. These things are ugly, and HUGE. We've never known quite why we are afraid of these monster-fowl, but we are. Seriously. We have even practiced evasive manuevers on our scooter, just in case of an attack. Check out this video from the TODAY show. Consider our fears validated.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The BEST Homemade Granola

2011-01-19T10:59:00.000-06:00

So we were feeling domestic yesterday evening and after dinner had a hankering for something sweet. Since we're trying to make better food choices, we haven't been keeping sweets in the house. We did have some honey flavored Greek yogurt (which is amazing), so we decided on that for dessert. It seemed a little blah, though, so in order to spice things up a bit, we thought granola would make an awfully nice addition on top of our delicious yogurt.

The search began. Most recipes had way too many ingredients and some used butter or oil, two things that, while tasty and good in moderation, didn't exactly contribute to the goal of a lighter snack. SO - we turned to FoodNetwork.com and found this. I didn't follow the recipe exactly. Since it was a last minute decision, I just used what I had in the fridge and pantry. Without pecans, and with very few almonds left, I used mostly walnuts with the few remaining almonds thrown in for good measure. I also added a little wheat germ and flax seed to give it a little umph. We also realized that our raisins were over a year expired (don't judge), so we left those out as well.

Even though we made some slight adjustments, we were not disappointed with the end result. This granola is fantastic, and comparatively light. It was amazing on our yogurt last night, and I ate a serving with milk for breakfast this morning. I would not be surprised if we quit eating cereal in the mornings and use this as a tasty and healthy alternative.

If you enjoy granola at all, you should definitely give this recipe a try. I think you'll love it. Enjoy!

Nutty Granola

2007, Ellie Krieger, All rights reserved

Image courtesy of FoodNetwork.com

Yield: 9 (1/2 cup) servings

Ingredients:

Cooking Spray
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup chopped raw, unsalted walnuts
1/2 cup chopped unsalted almonds
1/2 cup chopped unsalted pecans
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins, optional

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl combine the oats, nuts, maple syrup, salt, cinnamon and the raisins, if using. Spread the mixture onto the baking sheet and bake until golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Transfer the sheet to a cooling rack and let cool completely. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

Disclaimer: Again, this recipe is not my own. It is from FoodNetwork.com. Here's the official link. I don't want to take credit for someone else's hard work.

Menu Monday

2011-01-11T11:36:00.000-06:00

This week is pretty simple, but I think we've still got some good stuff in store. I have a hankering for something a little more interesting, so hopefully, future weeks won't seem quite so ho-hum.

Monday: I'm re-making the Tomato Gorganzola soup from last week. I blended it so it was nice and creamy and used skim milk instead of the cream. We didn't miss it at all...yummy! (with homemade cornbread)

Tuesday: Dinner with Brooke and Kev. They are trying one new three course meal every week this year and have invited us over for a sampling!

Wednesday: Church night = leftover soup and the last of the corn bread

Thursday: Breakfast for Dinner: Breakfast sandwiches on sourdough with hashbrowns

Friday: Homemade Deep Dish Pizza

Saturday: Lunch: Sandwiches
Dinner: Corn Chowder with ham

Sunday: Lunch - Out with friends
Dinner - Popcorn, fruit, and cheese (what else?)

Thats it for us this week. What's on at your house?

Menu Monday

2011-01-04T14:13:00.000-06:00

Monday: Out with friends to celebrate the last day of vacation!

Tuesday: Creamy Tomato Gorgonzola Soup and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches on Sourdough

Wednesday: White Beans and Cornbread

Thursday: Leftover Soup

Friday: Leftover White Beans (gotta clean 'em up)

Saturday: Corn Chowder with Ham

Sunday: Lunch - Out
Dinner - Popcorn, fruit, and cheese -- YUMMY!

Menu Monday (on Tuesday)

2010-12-28T20:03:00.003-06:00

Wow! This, the first post since Halloween, is not starting off well. I intended to post this yesterday since I was off work, but then I decided to play all day instead. Better late than never, right? We do have some pretty fun stuff coming up on the blog...lots of video of our holiday adventures and our gorgeous new niece, Alyvia. For now though, it's menu time!

We've got lots of leftovers from our Christmas feast (pictures to come), so this menu has been pretty fun to put together. Here we go:

Tuesday: Homemade deep dish pizza - Chicago style with the sauce on the top

Wednesday: Shredded Pork Tacos

Thursday: Dinner out with Friends

Friday: Left over pizza

Saturday: Chicken White Bean Soup (using leftover Cornish Hens instead of chicken)

Sunday: Lunch out after church

Dinner - Popcorn, apples, and cheese (per the usual)

So that's what we're eating this week. What's on at your house?

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T16:45:00.003-05:00

We had a good time last night watching football, drinking caramel apple cider (OMC style) and carving pumpkins. My very talented husband decided to use a picture of my lil punkin to wish you all a VERY happy halloween!

*Image is property of Trevor and Jamie Lubiens. We know it's awesome, but please don't steal it.

Trevor trips in Chicago

2010-09-25T09:35:00.002-05:00

This is a random clip from earlier this year.

Innocent Blood by The Waiting Kind

2010-09-21T08:34:00.001-05:00

I just saw this video for the first time this morning...Amazing. To God be the Glory!!

Our friend Derek wrote this song. His band, The Waiting Kind, is currently on tour. If you're anywhere near, you won't want to miss a chance to worship with them.

Random Date Night 2

2010-08-28T08:20:00.002-05:00

Friday Date Night

2010-08-14T23:18:00.004-05:00

Alright, so I know it's been awhile since we last posted - we're busy people, what can we say? So, we decided that Friday night would be our date night this week. We ate at Chick-fil-A and painted pottery at a local studio. We had so much fun together - although, we ALWAYS have fun together. Here's a glimpse into the life of Team T&J:

And P.S....we do have eyes. Trevor just chose not to film them most of the time :)

Planning

2010-05-24T16:30:00.001-05:00

I am a planner. I love to plan. I love to plan menus and schedules and budgets.

I am terrible at following through with my plans.

Does that mean that I love the thrill of planning and then straying from the plan? Does it make me feel spontaneous or rebellious?

Or do I just lack self-discipline?

Sticks

2010-05-24T16:25:00.002-05:00

People in our neighborhood run with sticks. Big sticks.

We don't have a stray dog problem.

It's too hot to need kindling for a fire.

Trevor thinks they all meet somewhere along the way and battle.

Menu Monday

2010-05-03T16:21:00.005-05:00

Okay, even if we are in the middle of a natural disaster, we still have to eat, right? Here's what's cooking at our house this week:

Monday: Runza Casserole - Trevor bought cabbage last week on accident, so it needs to be used up. Runza is not something I usually make (haven't had it since High School), but Trevor has never tried it...tonight it is!

Tuesday: Chicken Tacos

Wednesday: Fresh Green Salad with Berries, Pecans, and Rotisserie Chicken

Thursday: Bulgar Wheat with Fried Chickpeas, Roasted Red Peppers, and Spinach

Friday: Fresh Tomato Pasta (3rd Recipe Down)

Saturday: Leftovers or Hot Dogs on the grill

Sunday: Homemade Pizza on the Grill...yep, it's that time again folks.

I LOVE grilling, comfort food, and easy recipes. Sometimes I like to stretch my culinary wings, but for now, I'm pretty excited about the simple cooking. So now tell me, what's gracing your dinner table this week?

Water inside the Opryland Hotel

2010-05-03T16:10:00.005-05:00

Although the rain stopped yesterday evening, the Cumberland river continues to rise. Here's a video of how the Opryland Hotel looks today. I hope the 1500 guests who were peeved to have to evacuate last night will be thankful after seeing the footage.

This is Crazy!

2010-05-02T13:29:00.003-05:00

So as you may be seeing on the news, Nashville is currently experiencing the second worst flooding in its history. Trevor and I are safe and dry...our yard is washing away as we speak, but we are thankful to be inside and okay.

If you've missed out on the action, check out this video from cnn.com. Trevor and I watched this happen live on TV yesterday afternoon. It is right next to the freeway exit by our first apartment. CRAZY!!

We know people whose homes are mostly underwater, roads are totally washed out, trees are being blown over, and schools all over are canceling classes tomorrow. It feels unreal, but again, we are so thankful to be safe and relatively unaffected. If you think about it, pray for people who are stuck in buildings and people who have lost everything.

We'll try to keep everyone updated. For today though, we are enjoying the time together, playing games, cleaning, cooking, working, and resting. I guess no matter what, it's always good to be a Lubiens.

Menu Monday

2010-02-08T11:43:00.002-06:00

Because of some unexpected dinner invitations by some dear friends last week, we didn't make it all the way through our menu. Thus, this week was easy. I'm repeating because I still have the ingredients, but mom and Dixie, I promise I'm not forcing our beloved Trevor to dine on the same offerings week after week.

Here goes:
Monday: Chicken Enchiladas

Tuesday: Mustard Crusted Pork Roast with roasted veggies

Wednesday: left over pulled pork or chicken enchiladas

Thursday: Chicken Tacos (thanks to cheap left-over avacados fromt the SuperBowl which I did not watch, I'm ashamed to say)

Friday: Dinner out with the Hardy's!

Saturday: Brunch - whole grain waffles, quiche, turkey bacon and fruit
Dinner - Cider-braised pork chops with mashed potatoes and fresh bread

Sunday: Leftovers/sandwiches/brunch for lunch
Popcorn, Apples, and Cheese, as is our tradition after The Gathering

Not gonna lie - I'm pretty pumped about this week. Now tell me, what are you eating?

Menu Monday (err...Wednesday, as it were)

2010-02-03T10:31:00.004-06:00

Sorry it's late. After a particularly incredible, but tiring, weekend with the TCC youth group in Gatlinburg, everything is happening a little slower this week. I went to the grocery store last night and had a LOT to buy. Thanks to store sales and coupons, I walked out paying $94 for $175 worth of groceries. This is a little more than I tend to spend in an average week, but they had lots of things on sale so I was able to stock up. I bought (6) 8-oz blocks of cheese to freeze. They were $1 each, so I had to. They also had pork on sale, so I stocked up. We needed some personal items, like razors, and even with coupons, you know how those can add up. All in all, I'd say I did alright.

OH, and BY THE WAY, I got up to the counter to check out and realized that I didn't have my debit card. Decided that I was fine because I knew I had enough cash. Once the pre-savings total started aproaching $150 though, I freaked out. Needless to say, I was one happy camper once my shoppers card was swiped and all the coupons were entered. I payed with cash and went on my way. This morning I found my debit card. In my purse. I had it all along and gave myself a little heart attack for nothing.

I know, I know...this post is called "Menu Monday" for a reason, so I'll get to it. Here's what we will be eating (or have already eaten) this week:

Monday: Turkey melt on sourdough with sharp white cheddar cheese. With corn chips and applesauce.

Tuesday: Whole wheat homemade pizza with Canadian Bacon. Many thanks to Trev for this meal - it was sooooo good!

Wednesday: Chicken Enchiladas

Thursday: Wings and Fries with some friends

Friday: Pulled Pork tacos

Saturday: Brunch - whole grain waffles, quiche, turkey bacon and fruit
Dinner - Cider-braised pork chops with steamed veggies

Sunday: Sandwiches and leftovers before the super bowl party at church.

Looks like it's going to be a tasty week!

OATMEAL

2010-02-02T10:02:00.002-06:00

Sorry I don't have my menu Monday post up yet - but it will come. I do want to share with you my new morning obsession - oatmeal!

Keep in mind, I'm not talking instant-from-a-pack-loaded-with-preservatives-and-sugary-junk-oatmeal. I'm talking real, old fashioned rolled oats...Irish or otherwise. So here's how I've been making my oatmeal lately that has me drooling on my desk just thinking of it:

1/2 cup Irish rolled oats (regular Old Fashioned oats work fine too)
1 cup water or skim milk
1 T ground flax meal
1 T wheat germ
6-8 walnut halves, crushed
1/4 - 1/2 c frozen cherries (no sugar added)
1 T maple syrup

Cook oats in water according to package directions. Mix in ground flax meal, wheat germ, walnut halves, cherries and maple syrup. You can vary this recipe with many kinds of fruits or nuts...it's so filling and comforting, and I feel energized and alert all the way to lunchtime.

I'm so exicted to hear what you think about this recipe. I LOVE IT and I hope you will too. Happy Tuesday!

Menu Monday

2010-01-25T09:58:00.002-06:00

Monday already???

Due to a short week (youth retreat this weekend), I took the opportunity to be boring, again...but it's cool. At least we have good food to eat, no?

Monday: Whole Grain Spaghetti with roasted red pepper and garlic sauce, tossed salad, and rosemary garlic bread. Discovering that whole grain pasta has quite a bit of protein has revolutionized my thinking. I no longer feel like i HAVE to have meat sauce with pasta.

Tuesday: Grilled chicken with roasted veggies and potatoes

Wednesday: Three bean and beef chili with sourdough and white cheddar grilled cheese sandwiches.

Thursday - Sunday: not cooking at home...

As for those pork dishes I promised last week - they're still in the works. Just not for this week. When pork goes on sale again and when I have more than one evening at home to cook for the week, we'll give 'em a shot. I can't wait to try!

Menu Monday

2010-01-18T09:33:00.003-06:00

Monday: Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup with sour-dough rolls. I replace the beer in the soup with one can of reduced-sodium chicken stock and it comes out perfect, everytime

Tuesday: Chicken pasta with onions and peppers, rosemary focaccia bread

Wednesday: Finishing off the pot of soup

Thursday: Grilled chicken and couscous with herb-roasted veggies

Friday - Sunday we are off on adventures and therefore, not eating at home...Makes this an easy week. I feel like my menus are pretty boring lately. I have a hard time since we eat at the church 2-3 times per week. I'm limited to meals that are fairly portable. Tell me, do you have a favorite recipe that is perfect for an on-the-go dinner?

On the other hand, I found some great pork recipes this weekend, so next week look for apple-glazed porkchops or mustard-crusted pork tenderloin, whichever happens to be on sale...

Happy Monday everyone!

How to Eat an Elephant :: Lesson One

2010-01-13T15:38:00.003-06:00

Hold your nose, take a deep breath, and try not to throw up.

Menu Monday

2010-01-11T15:27:00.002-06:00

It's not very exciting, but here's what we're eating this week:

Monday: Italian Baked Chicken and Pastina You have to try this - it's amazing! I baked it last night so we can eat it at church tonight before our activities begin. Right out of the oven with some fresh hot bread though, this stuff is irresistable!

Tuesday: Homemade Baked potato soup

Wednesday: Leftovers or Sandwiches (church night)

Thursday: Homemade Chicken Tortilla Soup and Grilled Cheese sandwiches, probably

Friday: Homemade thin crust veggie pizza (unless I decide to do deep dish...mmmm...)

Saturday: Brunch with whole wheat pancakes, eggs, and fruit
Dinner will either be out or leftovers...I have coups for one of our favorite places in
Nashville, so I'm betting that it will be out.

Sunday: Chili and Baked Potatoes with TCC University Ministries
Dinner: Per the usual - Popcorn, Apples, and Cheese!

Okay, so now that it's on paper, it doesn't look so bad. I do need to look for some new recipes this week. Tell me, what have you cooked lately? Any good vegitarian dishes?

Not Nearly Enough...

2010-01-10T21:05:00.004-06:00

I didn't accomplish nearly enough this weekend. I am sitting here in our freezing little house (because we're too cheap to turn up the heat) and I'm sad. Well, sort of. Not moping around sad, but a little scrunch my nose up in disappointment sad at not getting more done this weekend. I did rest though. And watch a movie with Trev. And brunch with Trev. And rearrange our room. And clean out the closet. And make an even bigger mess in the junk room. And clean the kitchen. Several times. And bake - several times. And go to Starbucks with Trev. And go to church. And sing on the worship team. And go to a University Ministries meeting. And make some Christmas exchanges. And do a little shopping, both grocery and otherwise. And cook dinner for tomorrow. And write a blog...

Maybe I'll have more success next weekend. :)

Just Wednesday

2010-01-06T14:54:00.003-06:00

My boss writes his notes for me while on the eliptical each morning. You can imagine how fun it is to try and decipher them....

Worst.Blogger.EVER. with some Bachelor thrown in for good measure

2010-01-04T22:30:00.003-06:00

Sorry for the long silence. I think two people read this regularly and one happened to notice that we missed a [few] ;)

Well, tonight I'm feeling motivated (and not tired), so we're back...for now. What's this new motivation, I hear you ask yourself? Why it's none other than my favorite TV trash, The Bachelor, back to waste 2 hours of my life each week. And I LOVE it!

Jake is a total dud - this much we already knew. But he is very pretty. The whole night was just awkward for me though. Of course ABC had to compensate for the lame, awkward 31-year-old boy scout who still says things like, "Gosh darn-it" and "Golly me", so they went above and beyond to harvest the most plentiful crop o' crazies that have ever been assembled. Those girls were awkward! Do we notice a word pattern here? I almost wanted to change the channel, but I was afraid I'd miss something really juicy...Here are the highlights that I can remember:

Jake's back-zit that they forgot to edit out as he put on his pilot shirt during the opening montage

Jake riding cautiously on the motorcycle

Jake stopped on Laguna Beach with his bike in front of the sun with a plane overhead. I gagged a little in my mouth.

The neon lighting around the doors at the mansion - Is that a set, or an actual courtyard? Do the girls just head backstage and wait to head overthere, or are they actually going inside.

Jake telling every girl to find him inside - only after he pretends to follow them each and I have a little mini-stroke because he's not staying on his mark and the camera guys have to stop filming for a second and ask him to get back in place.

Gia the dancer from Manhattan whose mouth dumbfounded me as I could never understand a word she mumbled. She did have great "hair" though.

The girl that totally ate it as she stepped up to meet Jake

The girl that tripped on her dress and totally ate it by the pool

The constant tugging of strapless dresses - girls, if you're going to wear a strapless dress to the party, make sure it fits the whole time. Or better yet, buy a dress with straps if you insist on having size 24HH boobs. K? Thanks.

Psycho (Michelle was it?) and her uber-intense pursuit of all things marriage and babies with our bachelor who she had known for 2.5 seconds

The girl who gave out parting gifts to the others as she arrived

The girl who gave Jake a gift to remember her by..oh wait, that was all of them...

The boobs

The botox...don't these women know that they're in their 20's. They shouldn't need this much plastic

The girl from Nebraska who totally reminded me of Janice Dickinson (the formerly beautiful cover model who just won't give it up - see below)

Anyone notice Nebraska's crows feet as she was sitting on the beach at sunset with her really wide-spread boobs and have a hard time believing that she's only 29? Yeah, me too...

I digress...what else was there?...

The daddy's girl from FL was a piece of work. You know, the one with the dog who wears sweaters, eats strawberries with her, and licks her in the mouth? Vienna - is that right? 50 bucks says she's not there because she wants a husband...

Jillian and Ed stopped by for a little support and Ed seemed really edgy. Jill too. I wonder if the little visit was in her contract. Her ring looked great though, and as per the us ~~ush~~ ~~yoojsh~~ usual, she looked super cute, and I wanted to be her friend.

The pep-talk from Chris Harrison was terribly forced and I wonder if Jake will ever look natural up there. I'm betting on No...but I want to hope for better. Mostly because I'll be the one watching all season.

The rose ceremony was hardly ground breaking, though I felt terrible for the Air National Guard girl (the one with the quarter flip) when she thought her name had been called only to realize that he was talking to another girl with the same first name. I liked her. I thought she was fun and easygoing and definitely worth a second look.

I'm always astonished at the girls who cry after being let go on the first night. Although they have been up all night drinking and the sun is rising as they are sent packing.

I'm sure there were many many more highlights, but those are the ones that came to mind. I'm excited about this season only because there is surely drama to come. My bet is that Jake will cry more than twice, and that the crazy one (token producer-pick) is only there for heightened drama (did you see her kiss the rose at the end...reminds me of a boyz 2 men song and maybe a little Sting and the Police thrown in for fun..) Jake is sure that his future wife is in the bunch and I am beside myself with anticipation. This should be fun!

Now hurry on over to my favorite bachelor blog, www.ihategreenbeans.com and be prepared to laugh yourself out of your chair. She posts on Tuesday afternoons. Warning: you might get addicted and proceed to watch this silly show season after season just so you'll know what Lincee's talking about on Tuesdays. Consider yourself warned.

Chris Harrison also blogs on people.com's popwatch site. I don't know the address to that one, but it's usually worth a quick skim.

Thanks for joining me this evening. As always, I would be delighted to hear what you thought of tonight's little debacle...comments please! Let me know I'm not the only one...

Loving me some bachelor goodness,

Jamie

Biggest Loser Blog 102009

2009-10-20T19:01:00.006-05:00

We're currently sitting in our living room, getting comfy on the couch with our laptops and warm blankets. First funny comment of the evening comes from Trevor. He's in the kitchen putting away our dinner dishes and as the credits end, I hear him say, "Whoa, and so ends the happy music." He's so funny. You all know what he's talking about, too. This week should be good.

The blue team saunters into the living quarters and tries to explain why they sent Mo home. Black's not buying it and neither are we. Let's face it, with Tracey gone, so is the season. They HAVE to keep her for the drama factor. I, for one, am glad she's still around.

Tracy can't decide if she wants to bawl or not. So she does, then she doesn't, then she buries her head in her hands, then she smiles, and then her gears jam and smoke starts coming out of her ears.

There is so much awkwardness in the living room that I'm super relieved when the tribal drums beckon us back into the workout room

I'm sure we're all excited to see that Tracey's workin' out! It's her day. It's her time. I wonder how long this attitude will stick around. Of course, it's Tracey. I shouldn't have to wait long to find out.

As the sun turns into the moon and then into a tiki torch, I am amazed at the special effects team on this show. They are especially capable when it comes to the morph feature. I think they deserve more credit.

The tiki torches provide a nice little segway to the next challenge. We suddenly find ourselves on the Survivor set where our contestants will have to dig in the sand for 4 keys to unlock boxes straight from Pirates of the Carribean. I told you they were in cahoots. Allison the Indian-Giver (is that racist? I've never known) asks them if they want to know the surprise that awaits them in the boxes, and then says too bad. If they want to know, they'll have to win. Oh, snap!

Next we find out that AMANDA HATES SAND. In fact, she thinks it's a nuisance. It doesn't matter. While Amanda and her clean hands look on, DANNY IS KILLING IT and Shay is doing snow angels. Liz looks like she's competing in the backstroke, and yet again, I wish we had a DVR. We may have to get on that.

DANNY says this is like digging a slow hole to china. It doesn't stop. Hi DANNY, Jamie again..you're digging a hole. It's not going to stop until you do.

Rebecca says her hole is 6 feet deep. I feel dirty just typing that, but I want to remind her that if she's only standing up to her ankles in the hole, I'm pretty sure it's not 6 feet deep.

DANNY looks up to the sky in angst like a frustrated 5 year old, and then victoriously pulls his box up. He's the MAN!

Okay so I definitely missed the part where the keys are in the boxes. I thought they were just loose in the sand and couldn't figure out why they were all digging 12 feet into the ground. Um...guys, when the water starts coming in, you've gone too deep.

On the blue team front, I think if my house burns down, I want Allen to come dig me out. Did you see him flinging those boxes?

Blue team wins the mystery prize - tickets home. Allen drops an H bomb that shocks us both. But then decides to offer the prize to the Black team. DANNY says it's a sweet pain because he gets his wife, but doesn't get Jillian. Hm...

When the black team tells us where they're going home, I notice that most of them are from the South. Coincidence? I think not. Unfortunately when I moved here 5 years ago, I heard on NPR that Colorado was the healthiest state and Tennessee was the 47th healthiest. Yes, out of 50. I'm sure the only ones that were worse were Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana.

Be honest, who else cried a little when Daniel's grandma saw him for the first time. Huge blue hair, penciled eyebrows and all. Daniel's family was stoked to see him. Think about how weird it would be to have not seen someone in just 5 weeks, but seeing them 50 lbs lighter all of a sudden...

Dina's little boy gives her flowers and I start to cry again. And then I stop because I think her husband is in a tux? Oh no, just a suit. OK. Not really, but okay. Whatever floats your boat, I guess.

Shay comes home to her husband and stepkids. Wait - Shay is married? I thought she was younger for some reason. I'm not sure those kids are very excited to see her. Her cabinets are sure pretty though. I'm puzzled that these children didn't know where she was. I'm also puzzled at the subtitles when Shay's husband is whispering to her. I could understand him perfectly clearly.

I guess I show my ignorance here, but I'm surprised at how thin Amanda's parents are. They seem to have a very petite build. Oh come on, you were thinking it...

Oh gosh, here's DANNY. I think I'm gonna crah (that's southern for cry, of course)

Our contestants are pumped to lose weight at home. Just wait, they'll be crahing about how hard it is by the end of the week.

Shay shops for organic food with the tots. Forget digging in the sand, grocery shopping is the real challenge. Way to bring it around full circle, Shay. Danny shows his 5 year old his food diary and promises her candy if she'll sit still while the nice man films them on the bench in the neighbor's back yard. With daddy gone, their's hasn't been mowed in awhile.

Rebecca does an side interview and I have no idea what she said because I'm so distracted by the huge chunk of hair stuck to the side of her face.

Liz is really struggling today and drops the second H bomb of the episode. And thinks she was going to DAH. (die. Aren't you glad I'm learning Southern so I can translate for ya'll (you all, of course))

If I didn't know Abby just went swimming, I would have been really impressed with her sweat-soaked hair.

How cute was Dina's son sitting there reading his book like the little task master he is. Run faster, mommy. Keep climbing those stairs, mommy. I'm just gonna sit here in my glasses with my spikey hair and read this science book. He's the little kid that turns into a super hero. You'll see.

Amanda is so distracted and can't figure out how to do the machines at the gym. I'm reminded of a Brian Reagan skit about some scaffolding.

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good thing Jillian calls and tells her she can do it. Thanks, Jill. That advice was priceless.

Shay says she feels uncomfortable at the gym - like people wonder why she's there. Um Shay, you're wearing a Biggest Loser t shirt and being followed around by an entire Biggest Loser camera crew. I think they all know what you're doing there. Why do you think the tan blonde girl kept fighting your step sons for the machine right next to you?

They all talk about how hard it is to be disciplined at home. But we know that's not true. Trevor is popping some popcorn. It's lite butter. Now that's discipline.

During the commercial break, on our station, we were treated to a L'Oreal Mascara commercial. I was enticed at first and then I remembered this little episode and got over it.

Wow - has anyone noticed a huge change in Liz? She's ridiculous right now. Super negative and vindictive. I think I'm over that too.

Do you ever wonder if they're contractually obligated to go out to eat at least once during their trip home?

Cut back to DANNY's place where he is filling the grill with kabobs. How many people are coming for dinner? That allotta food. But how cute is his wife?! And supportive to boot! Then he makes me cry when he tells his little girl that he can't go to the zoo with her because he wants to live. Live, DANNY, live!

Shay takes some buddies to Subway. Move over, Jared. She reads the cue cards perfectly and we all want Subway now. Thanks, Shay. Well played, subway.

Lots of tearful goodbyes, and it's back to the ranch.

Okay, if this show doesn't pick up, I'm going to start blogging about the commercials. Anyone see the pistachio one with the beauty queen?? I'm still giggling to myself.

The arial shot of LA through the smog reminds me one of the reasons why I'll never live in LA.

I think they show video of that pool almost everytime they come back from commercial and no one's ever in it. I would choose to swim all.the.time.

Do you ever wonder if one of the contestants says something really good and then the producer makes them repeat it for the cameras? For example, DANNY: Well guys, we've had a lot of distractions this week. I say we all get dressed and get back in the gym. PRODUCER: Good line, Danny. Do you think we could get a shot of that as the others look on and nod? Okay, great. Just one more time and we should have it. Can you be a little more animated on this one?

Back to the gym it is for the last chance workout. Since being home, DANNY has been able to go faster and longer than ever before. He is Superman.

Longer shirts, folks - PLEASE!

Jillian mounts Daniel and he looks as uncomfortable as we are. Her crotch was literally in his face...We're about to find out why he's not living up to his potential. Here it comes. It's because of his relationship with his mom. He has lots of regrets about how he treated her. I'm confused, did she die? Jillian confirms that she did not die...so why is he talking about her like she's gone? I'm so confused!

All of a sudden (actually after a 3 minute commercial break and a pretty awkward Biggest Loser social awareness spot), thunder begins to roll as the sharks and the jets march into the gym. It's weigh in time. Bob's gonna be pissed if Blue loses again. I wonder how long it takes to set and reset that weigh in area every week. Or maybe it's just a completely different location?

The Results:

Allen: -8 = 270
Apparently he and his wife invented the concept of a short term sacrifice vs. long term gain. He should go down in the visionary's hall of fame alongside Al Gore, the inventor of the internet.

Rebecca: -5 = 232
She's going to look GREAT when she's done. She's very pretty.

Tracey: -4
Are we surprised at the freakout that just ensued? On a positive note, she just gave me my quote for my next senior yearbook: "four shmoore, go get some marshmellows, 'cuz it's not enough" Yes! This is why we watch, people!

Confident Liz: -4 = 228
Are we at all surprised by her cynical response? Fail.

Rudy: -14 = 355
Are they fuzzing out his crack? Pull up your pants, big guy. 87 lbs in 6 weeks? Un.healthy.

Trevor just asked me if Blue is going to lose. Wouldn't it be DRAMATIC if they did? Until Rudy weighed in, I would have said yes. Tracey treats us to a little more crazy eye just for good measure.

Amanda: -6 = 218
I do wish we could tuck in the side boobage on these ladies. Maybe just some bras that provide a little more coverage?

Shay: -5 = 411
65 lbs for her in 6 weeks. She's happy with -5 at home. Of course she is...it's AMAZING. I wish I could lose 5 lbs in 3 months!

Abby: -4 = 204
Majestic and foreboding trombone accompaniment softens into piano and I wonder if this is foreshadowing the fact that they're going to lose.

Shay says that 4 lbs doesn't cut it for Abby, yet she only lost 5 and she's twice her size. Kettle, this is Pot. You're black.

Dina: -5 = 218
She's ecstatic about that and is empowered that she did it at home. Even with her son being there the whole time.

We begin to wonder if DANNY is going to save it for everyone. I'm sure getting the Black team loses vibe, which makes me skeptical. Oooo, or maybe Daniel lost like crazy. We shall see.

DANNY: -15 = 357
Trevor cries a little beside me. Team DANNY! Even Jill sheds a tear or two. And then she farmer blows into the corner to remind us all that she's still butch.

Did I call that or what?! Allison can count and reminds us that there's just one to weigh in. Did Daniel do it? Or are they just blowing hot air up our workout capris? Widemouthed gasp from Bob before the cut tells me he's golden...

By this time of the show, Trevor and I have started our own contest. It's called the biggest winner and we play by trying to see who can eat the most and still be hungry. I'm super annoyed when I have to wipe the hot fudge off my chin before I can begin to type again.

I want to tell you something, but you have to promise not to tell anyone. I think Daniels nipples are the size of Tracey's eyes. Tracey's crazy crazy oogely googely eyes. Credit to Trevor for the comparison to the eyes. I actually said they were the size of his face. I'm not a nice person sometimes.

Daniel: (drumroll [or little trumpet/percussion/scale beep fanfare], please) +1. Oh suck.
The team is super supportive and agrees that it could have happened to anyone. I feel like inside they disagree. However, a closeup shot of DANNY makes me think he may sacrifice himself now realizing that he can lose 15 lbs at home. Dina wants Daniel out because he already had a second chance here. Shay is a wild card right now.

As our contestants take their designated spots at the elimnation banquet table, Allison informs us that DANNY can't go home. I'm relieved.

Pet peeve: the way everyone says "this person" in the elimination room. Just say it, already.

Just got this txt from my darling sis who is also a die hard DANNY fan:
"Oh commercials...You suck! Come on!" Yes, yes Jenni. Indeed they do. But did you see the heavenly light emitting from the building just before the cut? Now THAT's something to stick around for!

We return to the elimination banquet and Dina is on the chopping block. Shay just twists the knife with her soliloqy about Dina's strength. We knew she wouldn't vote for Daniel. No surprise there.

At the ranch, Dina lost 35 lbs in 6 weeks and gained a newfound respect for herself, and for talking about herself in the 3rd person. I'm so glad. First person narrative was getting a little dry. Next time we see her it will be all her. ?

When she started at the ranch, she weighed 253lbs. She weighs 188 today. Her son works out with her and I wonder what kinda gym lets little kids sit on the weight stacks.

The biggest news, however, is that she can now jump up on the lion tamer podium! Hooray! She can almost clear it by 1/4 of an inch. I'm so relieved. *gag*

Because she feels like a new person all over, it's time for a new look. As her friends gather around, a la TLC Makeover Show, we are treated to a quick peek at her new look. Here are my thoughts in order.

Her hair looks pretty good. It's still a little long for my liking, but it's okay.
Have her teeth always looked like that?
There is a subtle pattern on that dress
She looks great. Go Dina.
What the cleavage? Anyone else think it looked a little off?

Decent episode all in all. I'm excited about next week. Apparently something CRAZY is about to happen.

What about you - what did you think?

Biggest Loser Blog coming later...

2009-10-13T21:43:00.002-05:00

Not a ton of goodies during the episode tonight. I'll look over my notes and will try to post something by late tomorrow night.

2009-10-12T22:17:00.003-05:00

What did you do this weekend?

The New Ride

2009-10-09T20:30:00.006-05:00

I can't believe it has been almost thr

ee weeks, and we're just now making the big reveal, but we are now a two car family. Meet our newest addition.

She's a 2007 Volvo 2.4i, big enough to cart around music stuff, but sleek enough to still feel good doing it. And we got a screamin' deal.

I'm sure you'll see more of her in the future, but for now, just look and enjoy! :)

Biggest Loser Recap 100609

2009-10-06T19:03:00.006-05:00

I thought just for fun I'd post some thoughts on my new favorite reality show, The Biggest Loser. I jotted some notes while we watched on Tuesday and, of course, I'm just getting them together into a somewhat solid state. I'm sure there are lots of good moments I missed, so please feel free to leave comments so we can all laugh with you, which we all know is better than you laughing alone and/or discussing it with a co-worker who has no idea who you're talking about.

We begin with the obligatory recap and tearful confrontation and I quickly remember one thing: Tracy is CRAZY...straight up. And I know that Shay has been through a lot in her life, but I'm definitely getting some drama queen/whoa is me vibes.

After the producers have had enough confrontation for the first two minutes of the show, we cut to your favorite trainers and mine, Bob and Jillian. I love me some Bob! And Jillian is crazy, but I love her too. I need her to bring some of her toughness to my house and take these cookies out of my hands :) She'd make me cry for sure.

Next, I have the following note with no idea how to tie it in, so here goes:

I've played sports for as long as I can remember. Started golf at 4; tee-ball at 5; softball at 7; basketball and volleyball at 9, so I know how to workout. (that's not the note, just a preface - here's the note: ) Maybe I've never worked out hard enough, but I've never sweated that much in my life. These people are raining.

On to some one on one interviews with pretty scenery in the background. Don't get me wrong - I like the insight that comes from the little interview, but I have a major pet peeve that I must get out in the open right here at the beginning - using the term "you" when talking about oneself. For example: Contestant X might say, "When you're there, in that situation, you just have to push yourself to the MAX." Jamie: "Wait, I thought we were talking about him. Is he talking about me? I do, or he does, or you do, or?" I'm confused.

Tracy goes in for her checkup with Dr. what's his initial... We see a flashback from the first episode where she collapsed on the beach and return to Dr. whoever he is telling Tracy that she can't do anything until he clears her. NOTHING. She can't even swim, or make any significant movement other than walking up the stairs to her room and back down to the kitchen to eat. OH CRAP, TRACY! What are you going to do now...and what did you do secretly last week to reinjure yourself so badly...and why can't you cry real tears right now? Don't start unless you can deliver, sister!

Tracy claims she is a panther inside. Complete with crazy eyes, of course. I'm not sure what this means, but I'm hesitantly excited to find out.

First challenge time - our weary but still-excited-to-be-here contestants come into the kitchen to find the cupboards and refrigerator are all padlocked shut. Being the helpful narrator she is, our host Allison, making an early first appearance this week, tells us that it will stay this way ALL WEEK LONG. That's 7 days, people. The contestants will be ordering out every meal for a week. Shoot, even I think that's a little severe. This seems to be a pretty tough bunch so far, but really, EVERY meal for a week?

Here comes the challenge: the teams will be choosing from three chicken dinners, dinner A (poached chicken breast with creamed spinach, some other stuff, a dessert and iced tea), dinner B (rotisserie chicken with skin and more stuff that I didn't write down), or dinner C (BBQ chicken with skin and more accoutrements I forgot to note). The team who picks the healthiest meal of the three gets a kitchen stocked with healthy food for a year. Who wins? Wait, cut to commercial first. Surprised?

And we're back. Don't we all just love Danny. Brown, Pink, and Orange are guessing the calories for the year's supply of healthy eats; we are all at the edge of our seats, I'm sure.. And the winner is....PINK team. Really? Pink? Don't they both probably still live at home with their parents anyway? Why do they need free food for a year? I digress... Orange team's guess was SO close, but just a little over. Anyone who watches Price Is Right all morning every time they're home on a weekday knows all to well...you have to be closest WITHOUT going over.

My unusually quiet but extremely dashing and witty husband, Trevor, said if he guessed last, he would have guessed ONE CALORIE, Allison. Oh snap. He would have lost.

Meanwhile, the show has continued without me. Better start paying attention again. Our contestants are busy ordering in their first meal. Liz is on the phone for what seems like five (5) minutes repeating over and over that she wants her dressing on the side. Something tells me this is going to end badly. Surprise, surprise, NOTHING comes the way they ordered. It's a tough life out there in the real world. You know, the one they left just three (3) short weeks ago. They've gotta learn sometime. Our little babies are all growns up. :)

For some reason they keep cutting to the guy fidgeting with the packet of Extra chewing gum.

Wonder how much they paid for that little plug?

Oh yeah, big picture, sorry...After lunch, our defeated and hungry little bunch has the opportunity to pow-wow with Bob and Jillian and bring them up to speed. We learn that Bob and Jillian want to date the contestants. Or at least take them out for supper. What a nice offer. Everyone gets cleaned up and they venture out of the house for the first time in three weeks to eat...

WHAT?! Mexican food. Ooohh..I'm interested...but more interested that Shay is dressed like a fairy. Not like a girly man-type fairy, but like a real-live Tinkerbell fairy; sheery, shimery, lettuce sleeves; light-my-way-through-a-dark-hallway teal eye shadow and all. As if we had any doubt in our little nutritionistas, they forego the chips and salsa after Jillian reminds them to remove temptation. And then she makes the pretty girl cry.

All joking aside, I am excited about the calorie breakdown that ensued and how they talked through how to actually eat somewhat healthfully at a Mexican place. See, this is why I watch this show. I'm not rotting my brain away on two hours of rediculousness...I'm LEARNING. I'm also a touch devistated that I can't justify eating 6 tacos and 2 bowls of chips and salsa anymore. Maybe I should take a nutrition class though, because I was having a hard time following Jillian's logic.

After dinner, we head back to the ranch, and our host Allison announces that Immunity is hanging on the line. Literally.

Let me just reiterate that I LOVE DANNY!

Tracy shouts how crazy this challenge is. Crazy, huh Tracy? Weird. I giggle at the irony.

The contestants are all forced to put on the smallest lifejackets that I've ever seen and hang from ropes as the platform they once stood on begins to slant more and more, dangling them 12 feet above the pool. We're off and running and one thing is for certain. Although I like her most of the time, our little host Allison does not have a nice yelling voice. On the other hand, I certainly don't envy her having to give a play by play for 12 people hanging from ropes for 5 minutes. Times like this make me very thankful for good editing. Let's jut see who can hang in there the longest, eh?

AAAANNNNDDD the winner is - Daniel! He is beside himself for actually winning and cannot believe he is going to make it past week 4. Having seen him last season, he looks AMAZING. I'm super stoked that he has come so far, especially after his partner was such a supreme chach last season. But the question remains how did he get to come back? Can someone please fill me in? I thought you only got one shot at the show...

I took a couple of things away from this challenge, but the most important question is this: Can we please get these contestants some longer shirts?

After the success of the previous night's rope challenge, we find our contestants in the gym and participating in their Last Chance Workout. Jillian told somebody (Julio maybe?) that she was going to break him in half. Really, Jillian..are you going to break him in half? Literally in half? Like down the middle top to bottom or side to side? Just wondering so I can be prepared. Thanks.

Liz jumps up on a huge agility platform. She only stays for a moment and then falls off on her hyney, but she definitely shows some toughness. Go Liz...you jump up on that platform!

Cut to sad Tracy writhing around and crying on the floor in the house. What in the world is she doing with her time?!? I guess I'd make the most of it and catch up on some reading or something.

Julio says Coach Mo is like an old warrior. What?! Yeah, me neither.

Amongst the hubub in the gym, we see our old warrior Coach Mo doing dips on the bench. He seems to be struggling a little when in the corner of the shot we see some strange man. Who is this man in black with Mo? Seriously..are there more trainers than just Jillian and Bob? Are we being fooled, America? And what just happened to old warrior Coach Mo? I didn't see any injury take place. My bet is that he's at his breaking point and will need to either overcome or quit. Bob thinks old warrior Coach Mo needs to get his head on straight. That's right, MO - YOU OVERCOME!! It's last chance workout, sissays!

The pitter-patter of little sandals under the full moon to the DaVinci Code soundrack can only mean one thing, folks...it's weigh in time!

Really, Allison... Red and pink? Who dresses her? Anywho...we are reminded that one team is going home, and that the orange team is safe this week. It's time to see how they did. Shay wants to weigh in under 400 this week. I'm guessing she didn't quite do 37 pounds since they ate out every meal, but when she puts up a -5, I'm quite impressed. I would have definitely gained 5...or more. Daniel, however lost nothing. Could it be a little game-play in the air? Hmmm...

Green team's up. Abby couldn't work out due to an injury, and as the music crecendos and makes me think we might actually get to see 10 minutes of show without a commercial, we cut to break.
AAAAND we're back. Here's how the rest of the weigh-in went down:
Green

Abby (the sweet southern girl with the touching story): -3
Allen (the firefighter): -7

Blue
Dina (the girl we never hear much from): -5
Rudy (who killed it in his last chance workout): -11
65 pounds in 4 weeks, suckas!! That's CRAZY...I'm glad they have Dr. what's his face monitoring their progress because it seems unhealthy, but I'm excited for him. Can you imagine how motivating that would be?

Brown team - cue Pirates of the Carribbean Music for some reason
Liz in her brown sports bra loses 3.
DANNY (the teddy bear of a guitar player that we LOVE): -8
Look at how our sweet Danny helps Liz off the platform. Can I get a collective "AWWHH"

Purple
CRAZY Tracy is up to her antics...she proceeds to babble on about something for several seconds. I missed it and we don't have Tivo so I have NO IDEA what she said: -4 Are you kidding me right now?? How in the world did she loose 4 pounds without moving a muscle all week? Something doesn't add up for me.
old warrior Coach No MO (the overcomer): -8 Way to go Mo. Unfortunately, right after that, we are forced to witness the most CRAZY awkward hug on the top of the platform..and more SUPER smug panther grins from Tracy..ICK.

Julio is up next. Why do I feel like he doesn't give a rip? We don't see much emotion from him anyway. He loses 4 pounds and realizes it's not enough. I feel a twinge of sadness for him. In unrelated news, is his tongue just huge? Jillian is flabbergasted that he didn't lose more.

Pirates music returns. I feel like Cap'n Jack should be swordfighting Kiera Knightly in the background. It's time for the pink team to weigh in.
Pink Ladies
Amanda: -5
Rebecca: -4
Both are still standing and victorious over evil restaraunt food. I have eaten two more cookies by this point and can't believe that any of them lost weight at all after having to eat out three times a day for a week. That's ALOT of eating out! I'm excited for them, until I realize that DANNY is below the line. I'm strangely confident, however, because I sorta feel like Julio is toast. UNLESS there is some major gameplay and everyone else figures out that 2 gone is better than one. What is UP with this music?! Are they kidding here?

Now might be a good time to ask, what is that clicky sound they make just before they go to commercial? You know, the sound that is supposed to be kind of like the noise you think the TV might make when it shuts off....very computery and pointless??

I hardly have time to eat a final cookie when some elaborate pogo stick house music signals our return. Liz says the black and brown teams are so close so this is going to be a hard choice. Julio makes a speech about giving and receiving and loving and sharing. I gag. Both teams say this is the worst case scenario. I bet the other teams would disagree - afterall, it could be them on the chopping block. They all use the word "journey" several times. GOSH I LOVE DANNY!

Tracy begins with her bulgie-eye-wide-mouthed-fake-cry. Don't start with us, sister. We're not buying.

What's this, a commercial break? Something new and exciting for us. Coming up, the Biggest Loser Transformation moment - see how the eliminated player looks today. Hmmm...Freudian slip, or are they trying to trick us with this singular player comment. Well played, Biggest Loser. Well played.

The license on the Pirates of the Carribbean music must have expired (or been revoked by Disney since they are only in cahoots with ABC - obviously) so the signal is given to cue the Lord of the Rings - Caverns of Mordor soundtrack. Allison puts on her sympathetic face and I'm betting we have at least one more commercial break before this stinkin' ceremony is finished.

Rudy says that the brown team has eachother to keep them going at home. Um, hello Rudy, Jamie here, this is not Biggest Loser Couples...they're not going home together.

I don't remember who voted first and second or who they voted for, but Vote 3 goes to Julio. In case you can't count, Allison reminds us that there are now 2 votes for Julio, one for the brown team. I bet $50 that they interview the teams beforehand and tell them where to sit to increase the suspense.

Trevor is over all the crying and people saying they love eachother. Me too. I just gagged a little, but then again, it could be the FOUR cookies I have eaten during the course of this show.

I wish Tracy would no longer speak. She is a hot mess of contradiction and angst. The violins are really making me nervous. Purple votes for Julio which is weird because as we all know, old warrior Coach Mo is a rock and Tracy never gets her way.

So week four (4) is the end of the line for our big tongued friend, Julio. He says that he's okay with going home because people at home love him and won't let him quit. I hope he's right. His tongue is still huge, but I kinda feel for him right now.

It's Biggest Loser Transformation Moment and wow! Julio looks pretty good. He talks about how he likes to cook everything from scratch and then proceeds to chop tomatoes and dump them into a tossed salad. Wow, Julio's family - way to make that salad from scratch. Nonetheless, he's working hard and looking pretty good.

Before we can leave the silliness for the evening, we get a preview for next week: does Tracy in fact get the golden ticket and the power to choose the teams? We'll have to wait a whole week to find out! This is way too long already, but now it's time for you to sound off and let me know what you thought of this weeks Biggest Loser...

Lovingly and of course all in good fun,

Jamie

Nothing

2009-09-16T09:09:00.002-05:00

Last night, we hung out on the couch and did NOTHING. If you know us at all, you know that we are on the go ALL.THE.TIME. Tuesday is our only free night during the week and last night we took full advantage - worked out, fixed dinner, skyped with Jenni, cleaned the kitchen, then sat down with our laptops, coffee (tea for me), and leftover birthday dessert, and just enjoyed being at home together. Of course, we were in bed by 9:30 because 5:21 a.m. this morning came way too quickly...

Look for more this week (hopefully) with pictures and stories about Trevor's big birthday weekend...

It's Been a Good Day

2009-09-12T15:58:00.002-05:00

Today has been a good day.

Our alarm went off at 5:45. We got up and dressed and I took Trevor to meet the guys for a little pre-birthday golf outing. Meanwhile, I stopped by Starbucks on the way to the grocery store (got a free upgrade all because the Barista was pleasantly surprised that I gave a tip) and I was reminded why I love going to the grocery store at 7:00 on a Saturday morning. Everything is freshly stocked and besides a few employees here and there, I've got the place pretty much all to myself. I pulled out of the parking lot with groceries in tow by 7:40 and was home with groceries put away by just after eight. I quickly cleaned up the kitchen, which I'd been neglecting to do for a few evenings :\ and headed upstairs to print off some music and get myself showered and dressed in time for...

My first recording session with The Nashville Choir!! We recorded in the RCA/Victor studio on music row. The room was amazing - apparently a TON of film scores are recorded there. So I recorded all morning and had a blast!

I left the studio to pick up Trevor, who was freshly showered and shaven (and HANDSOME) after his golf game, and we went to the airport to pick up Kendra who is staying with us for a few days!! We got home and gave her the tour and played our guitars and now we're headed to Trevor's 30th Birthday Bash.

Can this day get better? I submit that it can....

Grow Up

2009-09-10T11:09:00.002-05:00

I have to grow up.

I don’t want to, but I have to.

I want to rest on the assurance of things I’ve done already, things I’ve seen, things I know are safe, comfortable, easy.
I have to grow up.

I have to put childish things behind me. Laziness, procrastination, disorganization.

I don’t want to grow up.

I don’t want to, but I have to.

I have to grow up.

Menu Monday!

2009-09-01T12:43:00.005-05:00

Alright, so it's Tuesday, BUT I made my menu and shopping list on Sunday, so taking the mathematical average of Tuesday and Sunday, I get MONDAY...so it's still fair. Plus, it's my blog so I win. :)

Our menus are going to be pretty skimpy this fall because of our schedule. Due to early evening activities at church Wednesdays and Thursdays, we'll be eating at "The Caf" at Trevecca. Sundays after church, we have decided to eat out with friends most weeks. So that leaves just a few meals a week, but after a busy and sporadic summer, I'm super excited about cooking again. And fun fall foods are upon us. If you read this blog at all, you know that I LOVE FALL!!

So here's what we're eating this week at our house:

Monday: Leftovers (starting out with a bang)

Tuesday: Oven baked corn dogs, salad, and chili roasted sweet potato fries

Wednesday & Thursday: TNU

Friday: Pizza on the grill, salad, and green beans

Saturday: Muffins, turkey bacon and fruit for breakfast; Leftovers for lunch; Oven-Baked Pressed Sandwiches for supper

Sunday: out for lunch, BBQ with The Gathering students for supper

See, I told you it wouldn't be super-exciting, but I am looking forward to corn dogs and sweet potato fries tonight! Let me know what you're making this week.

Bye Bye Bean

2009-08-28T13:20:00.005-05:00

My best childhood chum is moving across the country in the opposite direction today.

We didn’t plan to end up so close together in the first place... just both happened to jump at opportunities east of the Mississippi after college.

I miss hear already which is strange and probably a bit inappropriate because we never saw each other, and I’m terrible about remembering to call, so we only talked on the phone a few times in the past four years. But it was nice to know that if I wanted to, or if I needed her, she was a measly two hours away. I’m kicking myself for not spending more time with her while we could. Wish we could have at least met for a Saturday or two every once in a while…

My heart is heavy in her absence, which is so utterly selfish because I couldn’t be more excited for her: Moving to THEE PERFECT city for her, her boy, and their dog; Living downtown in an unfathomably amazing location, with hundreds of new things to explore along every neighborhood street; Fantastic job opportunities await…

Maybe too my heart is realizing that now I’m all alone out here…realizing how exciting it would be to be moving back to a place where I could be a 15 minute walk from my BFF...or a 4 hour drive from my family..in case I wanted them to join me for dinner some Sunday afternoon...

I love you, Bean, and I'm so excited for the new things that await you. This muggy, ridiculous, wild mannered South will miss your glorious presence. Save a spot on the floor for us as we’ll have to visit you and Ashton SOON!

home is no longer my home

2009-08-09T08:39:00.003-05:00

I started to title this post "home sweet home" but then I couldn't.

I'm sitting in the office at my Dad's house in Colorado, on a crisp, beautiful Summer Sunday morning, and having an absolutely smashing time visiting my family this weekend. Friday night we went to a Rockies game and watched our hometeam soundly defeat the Cubs. We played all day yesterday at our favorite Denver summer spot, Water World, and made the two and a half hour trek back to Yuma for dinner at my favorite mexican restaurant. After dinner we caught up with my favorite Yuma aunt, uncle and cousins, and chatted into the night/held a quick make-shift early birthday with my sweet mama.

After the day ended, I fell asleep next to my sister in a room that is not my own. There's been a little bit of shuffling around in the Campbell house, and my sister Kirsten now resides in what was my room (for one summer while I lived in this house after college). This change is certainly no problem for me at all because she's an almost 18 year old girl who needs her space and I'm glad she can use the room that I might have maybe stayed in once a year for the rest of my life.

What this change does represent, however, is how I've grown up and replaced my thoughts of home with a different place. While I will always say that Yuma is my home, ie: flying HOME for the weekend; going HOME for Christmas; as I began to title this blog "home sweet home," I realized that Yuma is not my HOME. My home is the little brick house in Nashville where Trevor will be waiting with open arms when I fly HOME on Monday.

My family will always represent my home of the past. One that I will cherish, and hope to visit often. But Trevor represents my home, both now and always, and I can't imagine it any other way.

Lazy Saturday

2009-08-01T10:13:00.002-05:00

It's 10:13 a.m. and we're still in bed. I am thoroughly awake, and have been playing on facebook for an hour, however. I should prolly get up and be productive. Especially because I've been home one evening out of the past 4 and did nothing relating to housework that night either...

Laundry, here I come.

Where we've been

2009-07-30T20:02:00.009-05:00

Oh my gaahsh...you thought we fell off the face of the earth, didn't you? Well, we were close. After almost a month of company following a week of General Assembly and two weeks of intense GA prep, we were exhausted! BUT we had a fantastic time, and now we're reasonably rested and ready to reflect. The posts might be kind of random, but I hope to share some pics and video from our summer so far.

A major part of Trevor's new job for the first few months was helping plan Trevecca's promotional stuff for General Assembly. He even convinced them that he could build and furnish the booth for the convention center at 1/2 the cost. It was a TON of work, but he pulled it off beautifully! My photos aren't working right now, so you'll just have to take my word for it tonight. I'm sure we'll blog on General Assembly more in depth, so I'll leave it for that post. I know, I'm killing you with the suspense...

Then Mom and Jenni came on Thursday the 2nd to spend the long 4th of July weekend with us! We relaxed and shopped, played MarioKart Wii and ate lots of yummy food. The only thing we didn't get to do was see fireworks (it rained) but that just means that they'll have to come see them next year.

Unfortunately, Jenni could only stay for a few days, but mom got to stay through my birthday on the 15th. We had so much fun together. One Saturday we went down the the farmer's market and the bicentennial mall, enjoying the sites and fun things the city had to offer.
This little boy was making smoothies and lemonade at his parent's fruit stand in the market.

There is a huge map section at the Bicentennial mall. This one is 3-D.

This one is huge...maybe bigger than a regulation sized basketball court?

There is a giant amphitheater at the mall that looks up at the state capitol. I wish I would have gone and stood down there so you could see just how big it is...

That night, we headed down to Centennial Park to watch people swing dance.

She also got to watch Trevor and I play softball which we love to do in the summer, and we all got to go to a couple of minor league baseball games - thanks, Trevecca!

Trevor was able to score extra tickets, so Stephen and Brian came too. They're cool...they play worship with us at church.

(We had great seats)

We tried to go to the Loveless Cafe for lunch, but even at 2:00 in the afternoon, there was a line out the door. Come visit us on a weeknight and we'll be more willing to take you out there. It is an experience for sure!

I'm a little disappointed that I've been working on this post for an hour and I'm not even close to covering all the fun we've had this summer. I haven't even mentioned our amazing week with Torrey and Anni last week...that's definitely coming in another post. Trevor is ever-so-patiently waiting for me so we can go home, so I'd better wrap this up. There WILL be more to come, I promise...and with more frequency then I have been posting, to be sure!

Note to Self:

2009-06-26T13:09:00.001-05:00

Buy this book

Happy Anniversary to us!

2009-06-10T23:49:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was our 3rd Anniversary...my oh my how time flies when you're having fun. On one hand, I can't believe it's been THREE years, and on the other...it's hard to imagine my life without Trevor in it. He's my best friend and I love it that he's next to me when I go to sleep, and is there to greet me when I wake up. Okay, okay...enough of the sappy stuff...

We thought about going out to a nice dinner last night, like we usually do to celebrate milestones, but were having a hard time deciding where we would go and when. To be honest, with our busy schedules, we hadn't spent an evening at home together for quite a few weeks and I think we both just really wanted to have a night in and relax. So I picked Trevor up from work and we went to a charming little "Meat and 3" near downtown. Now, if you're asking yourself what a "Meat and 3" is, stop right now, put down your laptop, run to your local library and pick up the latest copy of How to Eat Yourself Silly in the South magazine...You'll know it's the right one because on the cover you'll find a picture of Joe Tennessean with fried chicken grease streaming down his chin, butter cubes and bacon crumbles in his beard, and fried okra chunks on his bib...

This one was different though... Sort of a "Meat and 3" meets hip lunch spot meats eclectic deli/catering business. The food was FANTASTIC...super flavorful and reasonably priced. Helped out of course by the coupon we clipped from our 2009 Entertainment Book: buy one entree get 2nd entree free! Anyone?

So we grabbed our trays and headed out to enjoy our supper on the back deck overlooking the city. It was a gorgeous evening and we sat and ate and talked (and ate) and talked. Realizing that it was getting late (7PM) and that our favorite coffee shop had already closed (lame), we decided to grab some dessert and head home to...

...make a fort! (What did you think?) I got the idea from a friend at work and decided I was long overdue for a good living room fort. So we got into our comfy jammies, turned the couches around and pulled them in close, draped a sheet over the backs and up over the TV (after all, what good is a fort without a little technology). There we spent the rest of the evening, talking, playing Wii, eating our dessert and drinking espresso, and watching the last half of the Magic/Laker's game, (well, Trev did more of the watching at this point...I did more of the sleeping...it was 10:00, after all) and generally enjoying being at home together for the first time in awhile. Below are a couple of pictures of our handiwork:

All in all, I'd say it was a smashing way to spend an anniversary. It was fun, memorable, and didn't break the bank. And did I mention the dessert...

He also surprised me with flowers and work: A new Starbucks to-go mug (made from 27% recycled material thank-you-very-much) filled with beautiful Hydrangeas. Hand selected, arranged, and delivered by my very sweet and thoughtful hubs. Thanks for a perfect anniversary, T - I couldn't have imagined it any better than that. I LOVE YOU!

And all the people said:
EWWWWWW! :)

Fireplace Ideas

2009-06-05T11:03:00.003-05:00

Part of our living room makeover includes updating the look of our wood-burning fireplace. We'd like to keep it modern and classy, without the expense of ripping it out and starting from scratch. Here are a few pictures I found, although I don't like everything about each one. I can't pinpoint exactly what we want, but I know I will know when I see it...hopefully these will provide a little inspiration as we move along with the project:

From HGTV.com
I like the candles inside...not crazy about how this is executed, but maybe I could deal with a nice vase of flowers in the middle of ours. And I think I like the little votives on top. But maybe not so many. It looks a little like a set for my favorite reality show, The Bachelor!

Take away the furniture and I really like the simplicity of this one - just some nice pillar candles inside and a nice big mirror on the top.

Trevor has suggested doing words somewhere - maybe this is a good place to do it.

I don't like the glass vases for our space, nor is the mirror right...but the paper lanterns are a clever idea...

The clock is wrong for our room, but I might like a few pictures leaning against the wall...and maybe lean the mirror instead of hanging it? Trevor, aka: the symmetry king, might not like that idea at all...

And probably my favorite: Obviously our mantle isn't nearly as ornate...but I like the collection of little odds and ends - looks purposeful with a touch of whimsy without appearing cluttered. Contrary to what one website said, a mantle is NOT a great place to show off your collections...

Friday Mornings

2009-06-05T08:54:00.004-05:00

Who doesn't love Fridays? But mostly the afternoon/evening part when the work week ends and the weekend begins. However, for me, there is even something about Friday mornings that I love - how the air feels crisper and the sun shines more brightly. I love the view of the big tree outside my window or the pond just beyond the parking lot. All basking in the warm newness of the Friday morning sun. Okay, that's deep and silly, but really...I wish I had a camera so I could show you. Friday morning just.feels.perfect.

Also wonderful: The Krispy Kremes placed tauntingly in the kitchenette by my friend Kathleen. MMMM...can you beat a fresh Krispy Kreme? It's definitely worth the calories with my morning cup of Seattle's Best coffee with a touch of Italian Sweet Cream creamer.

On my desktop awaits a soon-to-be-finished analytical spread sheet of state convention offering info for my boss...gotta get to that. There's also the stack of mailing files that have to be filled with samples and put away, and then the blank files yet to be labeled. Other odds and ends await as I progress through the day, but right now, Friday morning makes everything seem bearable...even pleasant. I love Friday mornings!

In Honor of Summer

2009-06-03T13:44:00.002-05:00

Ladies, please raise your big toe and repeat after me:

The Open Toed Shoe Pledge

As a member of the Cute Girl Sisterhood, I pledge to follow the Rules when wearing sandals and other open-toe shoes: I promise to always wear sandals that fit. My toes will not hang over and touch the ground, nor will my heels spill over the backs. And the sides and tops of my feet will not pudge out between the straps.

I will go polish-free or vow to keep the polish fresh, intact and chip-free. I will not cheat and just touch up my big toe.

I will sand down any mounds of skin before they turn hard and yellow.

I will remove the hairs off my big toe.

I won't wear pantyhose even if my misinformed girlfriend, coworker, mother, sister tells me the toe seam really will stay under my toes if I tuck it there.

If a strap breaks, I won't duct-tape, pin, glue or tuck it back into place hoping it will stay put. I will get my shoe fixed or toss it.

I will not live in corn denial; rather I will lean on my good friend Dr. Scholl's if my feet need him.

I will resist the urge to buy jelly shoes at Payless for the low, low price of $4.99 even if my feet are small enough to fit into the kids' sizes. This is out of concern for my safety, and the safety of others. No one can walk properly when standing in a pool of sweat and I would hate to take someone down with me as I fall and break my ankle.

I will take my toe ring off toward the end of the day if my toes swell and begin to look like Vienna sausages. Rather, I will toss the toe ring altogether.

I will be brutally honest with my girlfriend/sister/coworker when she asks me if her feet are too ugly to wear sandals. Someone has to tell her that her toes are as long as my fingers and no sandal makes creepy feet look good.

I will promise if I wear flip flops that I will ensure that they actually flip and flop, making the correct noise while walking and I will swear NOT to slide or drag my feet while wearing them.
I will promise to go to my local nail salon at least once per season and have a real pedicure (they are about $15 to $25 and worth EVERY penny).

I will promise to throw away any white/off-white sandals that show signs of wear... nothing is tackier than dirty white sandals.

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All in favor, say "I." Bring on the toesies...

Making Progress

2009-05-30T22:19:00.006-05:00

We started this morning at 8:00. We finished *almost* this evening at 9:00. About a quarter of the living room (including the bay window) has yet to be completed, but we're so close. And tired. We are so close and so tired. Here are some pictures of the living room phase
Before:

Before: (stay tuned for the fireplace makeover next)

Getting closer...

I over budgeted a little for the floors, so we had some extra to buy a rug for the living room. Trevor likes the one I picked...and he is so tired from all his hard work!

Well friends, I am about to fall asleep as I type. Tomorrow comes early with church worship department rehearsal at 8:20. Hopefully we'll get a chance to work on finishing things up, but since Trev worked so hard today, I'm not going to press my luck. Whatever strength he can muster for tomorrow will be fine with me.

Needing Advice

2009-05-29T12:40:00.002-05:00

You may remember my recent battle with the cosmetic aisle and the makeup meltdown that occurred shortly thereafter. Hoping to avoid another such mishap, I'm soliciting advice from all of you, my (3) loyal readers :) I'm in the market for a good sunless tanning lotion. Nothing too heavily scented, and definitely heavy on the moisturizing power...any suggestions? I am currently using Jergen's Natural Glow, with which I am moderately satisfied. I'd like to spend some time in the tanning bed and get good and dark, but alas, I hear that's terrible for my skin and will leave me looking like the witch in Snow White by the time I'm 30. I'm sure my years as a lifeguard at the Yuma pool didn't help much either. Speaking of the Yuma pool - Bean, do you remember all of our goggled underwater shenanigans? I'm CRACKING up right now as I think of it...but I should save it for another post...

Self-tanner suggestions anyone?

Still working

2009-05-28T21:39:00.003-05:00

Trevor had to do lots of calculating and cutting...here he is laying the underlay

Connecting to the dining room...

Our friend Jamin came over to help. I stayed out of the way on Monday and let the boys work.

The [almost] finished hallway...

Hopefully I can get the shoe molding done this weekend to finish the hallway completely.

I cannot wait for this project to be done. It makes such a difference in our little house, and we are LOVING the results! Living room this weekend...pictures to come...

Progress

2009-05-23T10:55:00.006-05:00

Entryway phase I is complete. Hardwood is harder to rip up than I anticipated. Trevor told me it would be, but I'm not sure I fully believed him. We got it though. Here are some before pictures and some of the entryway floor as we get ready to begin laying the new stuff down.

Floors TODAY!

2009-05-23T09:33:00.003-05:00

Today we begin our biggest DIY home improvement project to date: ripping up all the carpet downstairs and replacing it with this:

Gotta get to it...I'll post pictures as we go, and hopefully by Monday night - a final product!!

I Notice Things

2009-05-21T10:28:00.005-05:00

Just some random thoughts from this morning. And it's not even noon. *sigh*

*************************************************
So you know when you’re at work and someone says: “Before I bother someone important, I think I’ll ask you.” Awesome.

*************************************************
I really like confetti. I like to let it fall through my fingers. I often make spiral bound books here at work and think the little rectangular hole punch leftovers would make perfect confetti. Thus, I often ask myself why I don’t save such punches in a shoe box and use them at birthdays and in presents. And then I remember: confetti is only fun for the half-second it spills out of an envelope or floats in the air. After that it’s just irritating.

Lovely

2009-05-21T09:20:00.005-05:00

I love driving through the Tennessee countryside. It is officially beautiful here. Granted, in Winter everything looks like a tangled mess of sticks, but Spring, Summer, and Fall are simply lovely.

Trevor is working the TNU Alumni Golf Tournament this weekend at Henry Horton State Park, about an hour south of Nashville. He headed down last night to set up and will be there through Friday. Since I’m pretty much a chicken and didn’t feel like staying the night by myself, I drove down yesterday evening to stay with him. If nothing more, it was worth the trip simply for the drive. As the light streaked in oranges and yellows across the sky, I looked out over the lush, green landscape and thanked the Lord for His creation, and for giving me time away from everyday life to bask in its beauty. I know now why people don’t mind commuting an hour back into Nashville for work. I got to see it all again on my way in this morning.

I guess I’ve always pictured myself living where we do now, right in the middle of everything…but after my little getaway, I think country living might be something worth considering. Then again, maybe it’s just nice to take time away to visit…
Here are some pictures (not that I took) to give you an idea of the landscape we enjoy here in TN.

Tribe Pride

2009-05-20T08:24:00.003-05:00

My mom has tribe pride. And a little YouTube fame to go along with it. This is her singing the anthem of Yuma Middle School - trying to motivate her kids to sing along. Not sure she had any takers...

You're welcome, mom. <3

for future reference

2009-05-18T10:19:00.008-05:00

Browsing the Urban Outfitters website last week, I found somethings that piqued my interest. I'm posting them below as a reminder to myself:

close up:

I.love.Saturdays

2009-05-16T20:35:00.003-05:00

Today was a good day.
We slept in 'till almost nine.
I made whole grain waffles while listening to A Fine Frenzy

Finished cleaning the kitchen in time to enjoy my favorite cooking show: Everyday Food
Listened to a thunderstorm while I got ready for a late lunch at the Frist with Trevor.
After lunch a trip to the newly opened Urban Outfitters where Trevor picked up this little gem for his new office: I'm making him return it if anyone in the office seems even slightly offended by it's ahem...porcelain perch. Did I mention that the paperclips go in the bowl and when you pick him up, they cling to his magnetic behind? Classy. But funny...
After a quick drive through downtown to look at pretty buildings, we headed to the store, grabbed some chocolate, coffee and tea, and headed home to give second chance to a movie we both hated the first time around.

Not much better this time. Maybe we appreciated it more for its artistic merit, but I don't think we need to watch it again. So Trev whipped up a little soup and grilled cheese while I napped. Now we're on to a little Super Mario Brothers 3 action on the Wii...Look out, T, you are officially going down!
I.love.Saturdays!

It's not what you might think

2009-05-14T13:57:00.005-05:00

I'm wearing a sort of "peasant" type top today - you've seen it...the empire waist white dress shirt I usually wear with my grey vest... "Hmmm...empire waist?" you ask yourself. And yes, dear reader, you have guessed correctly: Everyone wonders if I'm pregnant. Three today, to be exact. One at lunch said she just loves it when I wear this blouse because she's so excited to see me pregnant someday and just now two women rushed over to ask when I'm announcing...

AHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA

These Ladies are funny. I can’t hold it against them. I know it's just because they love me and want to be excited with me...and I love them all too much to be mad or assume they think I'm fat. In fact, it feels pretty good to be cared about so much by my coworkers and friends.

Just wait ‘till I show up tomorrow wearing spandex from head to toe. :\

And just in case you’re still wondering: we’re NOT expecting. I promise, you'll know when we are.

case in point by 6:15 (above)

My mom

2009-05-14T09:18:00.003-05:00

Here are some pictures of my mom from her college yearbook. I see alot of myself in her. What do you think?

Mom and Dad ran track together in high school. He's the one in front with the amazing beard.

Her smile feels like home.

I LOVE MY MOM!!

Be still, Cody

2009-05-13T15:17:00.003-05:00

The following clip is one that we could watch over and over...never mind the fact that he smacks a helpless 3-legged dog with a newspaper...

It's from The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, a silly artsy film about an oceanographer (Bill Murray) who takes one last voyage in order to avenge his friend who was eaten in front of him by the rare and possibly non-existent jaguar shark. We saw it once when it first came out, but appreciated it much more the second time around. Warning, there is some brief and unnecessary nudity (female) and quite a bit of language...why do they have to include that? So the movie may not be for everyone. This scene follows one where the ship is overtaken by pirates and Captain Zissou fights them off single handedly and takes back his ship. As the pirates speed away, an insult hurling Zissou notices the three-legged dog and yells to the pirates that they are so stupid, they even forgot to take their dog. Captain Zissou then goes before his wealthy, successful, pompous rival oceanographer (Jeff Goldblum) to ask for assistance to continue the voyage. Apparently, he decides to adopt the 3-legged pirate dog as his own. The dog begins to whine while they discuss.

Begin scene:

It's probably funnier in the context of the movie as a whole...

Menu Monday

2009-05-11T14:58:00.006-05:00

In typical hurried fashion, I am assembling my menu this week based on our available groceries and funds for said groceries. :) HA! Due to a little overage in the grocery budget last week, I'm attempting to use up some pantry and freezer items, as well as some leftovers. Now that Trevor is working again, it probably doesn't matter that much if we go a teensy bit over budget. That being said, it's so much more gratifying to have $$ left in the envelope when the month comes to a close. Plus, less $$ on other items means more $$ for fruit and we are LOVING our fruit this spring!

Here's what the kitchen festivities will look like at our house this week:
Monday: PB&J, apple slices, and strawberries..mmm!
Tuesday: Shredded pork tacos
Wednesday: crock pot Tortilla soup
Thursday: whole wheat pasta bake with fresh basil
Friday: leftover pork tacos
Saturday: Waffles, fruit, turkey bacon, eggs for brunch; pizza on the grill for dinner
Sunday: VBS worker lunch at church; leftover soup/tacos/pasta (whatever I didn't dominate for lunches) for dinner

So there you have it. Not too exciting, but not all that boring either. I think it's going to be a great week!

Overkill? Maybe?

2009-05-10T19:42:00.003-05:00

Here's the deal. The other day Jame-Jame and I were driving down a quaint country road down here in Tennessee. All of a sudden we started to smell a familiar yet disturbing smell. All of us know the smell, most of us try to ignore the smell and none of us like the smell. That's right. It's skunk. Ever since we moved to the South I feel like I get to experience this smell more and more. This last experience with this skunkiness caused me to question God's creation.

Being a skunk is probably harder than I think. Porcupines have sharp spines, certain octopi can actually change color and despite being big enough to step on all other land creatures, elephants have huge tusks. So I can understand skunks feeling a little shafted when it comes to the self defense.

On the other hand, really? Does it need to be that potent? Does the smell need to travel for three miles in every direction? Does it really need to last for a solid week? Apparently skunks have two glands in their anus that produce a mixture of sulfur containing the chemicals methyl and butyl thiols. Couldn't something like that be just as effective in a 100 ft. radius or maybe even just a 50 or 30 ft. radius?

I know this subject matter is completely random but I really am starting to question the intensity of the skunks self defense mechanism. I will also always wonder why the aroma of a skunks stink glands has to smell like starbucks coffee. I promise it does, just a little.

What God Has Done

2009-04-30T14:20:00.003-05:00

Today Trevor got his first paycheck for his new job and we became, once again, a two income family. Praise the Lord for His provision!

I remember sitting on the couch with Trevor in late February, after his last day of work at Towne Park. We were looking into the future with uncertainty, but with faith that God would provide. I'm sure you've all read Trevor's touching post about the faithfulness, generosity and love of our church, and you've probably even heard us talk about the ways that God provided during our time of need, but I just want to say, publicly, one more time that our God is so faithful! We were able to live for two full months on one paycheck - not neglecting any of our financial obligations, or dipping into our savings account. Don't get me wrong - we were stretched to the max, but the Lord sustained us, strengthened us, and blessed us immeasurably. I will always be a tiny bit thankful for our time of trial; for the extra time it allowed Trevor and I to spend together, for getting Trevor out of a job that he hated, and for giving us the opportunity to really re-evaluate our life and remember the things that truly are important: eachother, our families, our church family, and our faith in the One who truly cannot be shaken. Praise the Lord for all He has done!

Menu Monday

2009-04-28T10:14:00.005-05:00

You know how much I love stretching the grocery budget by making menus from ingredients I already have on hand, and this week is no different. However, this week's menu is straight from the college cafeteria. We'll try to health things up wherever possible as we go along, but how can you beat $17.00 total for the week!? Including lots of fresh fruit for breakfast and lunches? Here goes:

Monday: HOTDOGS! Reduced sodium, reduced fat, all beef franks on whole grain buns with freshly opened potato chips and strawberries on the side. This is the perfect meal to chow before heading to the ball fields for a little church softball action. Summertime, here we come!

Tuesday: PIZZA! Not healthy or homemade here. Just plain ol' leftover Papa Johns. Boy is it going to be good though - I think I'll eat a nice big salad on the side to redeem myself.

Wednesday: TACOS! We make our own seasoning, so we can cut out a ton of sodium here. We also buy lean beef and try to drain off most of the fat. Small soft tortillas eliminate the need for fried taco shells, although they are white flour tortillas...the small size encourages us to be careful about our portions. Nice crispy romaine lettuce on top...All in all, not the most healthy meal, but it will be so tasty! mmmmm! Most likely tortilla chips and salsa on the side, in order to ruin any health value we may have added to the tacos, of course!

Thursday: BURGERS! We like to add lots of finely chopped onion and garlic to the meat when we make our patties, along with grill seasoning. We find it helps the burgers to stay nice and juicy on the grill. Topped with cheese for Trev and lettuce for me on toasted sourdough buns. My favorite part of this meal though are the sides: chili roasted sweet potato fries and chili lime sweet corn on the cob...gosh, I'm hungry already.

After dinner Thursday night, we'll be packing to head to KC for the weekend to watch Jenni graduate with a degree in Psychology. Congrats, Jen! I can't believe she's graduating already, and I'm so excited to see what the Lord has in store for her life. Trevor and I are convinced that this includes a move to Nashville, but I guess we'll leave that up to her. :) We're excited to see my family and to spend some much anticipated time with them, and we're also crossing our fingers for a little KC BBQ action whilst we're there.

So that's that. I've got to get back to it...but hopefully more to come this week. Until then, let me know what you're eating this week...

Menu Monday

2009-04-20T20:56:00.004-05:00

I finally got it together and made a menu this week. I'm trying out the couponmom.com method of combining coupons with local grocery store sales, so it takes a little more time, but I made it. We were also given some leftover fried chicken at church yesterday. I saved two pieces to warm and eat and pulled the meat off the rest and threw away the breading. Contrary to popular belief, one should not eat fried chicken EVERY night of the week. :) As such, here's what we're eating this week:

Monday: Fried chicken and crock pot corn

Tuesday: Chicken Taco soup and tossed salad

Wednesday: Chicken salad pita pockets (made lighter with plain yogurt instead of mayo, and of course, lots of yummy fruit and toasted walnuts mixed in)

Thursday: Steak and sweet potatoes on the grill (the last of our amazing Omaha Steaks - sad day!)

Friday: Homemade bruschetta pizza on the grill - this is an experiment (not the grill part, but the bruschetta part) We love pizza and we love bruschetta, so why not combine them into one yummy dish?

Saturday: Brunch with waffles, eggs, bacon and fruit. Hamburgers on the grill for dinner. Sidenote: in the South, you don't "cook out" or "grill," you "grill out". We are "grilling out" with our sunday school supper club :)

Sunday: Church potluck - Fried Chicken (of course) and various starchy sides. I think we'll probably bring a large tossed salad and maybe some corn? Dinner will be either out with friends after The Gathering or home for some popcorn, apples and cheese, our new favorite nighttime snack.

So that's it, folks. Trevor played handyman this weekend and replaced our grill hose so in the weeks to come, you'll see lots more grilled food on the menu. Is there much better than cooking outside on a mild spring evening? I love the flavors, the smells, and the fact that I don't have to spend my evening cleaning pots and pans after dinner! So let me know, what's your favorite thing to cook on the grill?

Ah, the power of cheese

2009-04-17T10:26:00.004-05:00

I hope to be back later with a little Lubiens update action, but until then, I leave you with this - a video sent to me by a coworker, that warms my heart and again brings to mind the power of good old fashioned song and dance to turn an ordinary morning into a fantastic day. I hope to witness something like it in real life someday. Enjoy!

Religion vs. church

2009-04-07T11:30:00.003-05:00

This is Trevor. Jamie is really dominating me on the blog count so I thought I would post one.

I was let go from my job a little over a month ago. It was a rough couple of days. I didn't feel like much of a man. I was dealing with thoughts of not being able to provide for my wife, not knowing where I fit in the big scheme of things and that nasty feeling of rejection. Little did I know that this would end up being one of the biggest blessings ever.

I have deeply and fully experienced the love and faithfulness of God. I have also grown in my understanding of religion verses relationship. First of all, God blessed me with the most loving and supportive wife. Jamie has been everything for me. She has been a shoulder to cry on, a rock to lean on and a friend to kick it with. My family has been as supportive as you can be from 3000 miles away. Now here is where it gets even greater.

Our church, our family away from family, has surrounded us with love and prayer. Not the kind of prayer that you never know about, but this active, aggressive prayer that makes me tear up with disbelief every time I think about it. If I have a prayer cup, it is overflowing. We only told a few of our closest friends about my situation because it's hard to go through a normal conversation and avoid that topic. Out of concern and love, a huge number of people from our church now know about our situation. Since then we have received so many cards of encouragement, grocery store gift cards, money, food and most importantly, love.

This is what church is. This is what the body of Christ should be. It is not a list of do's and dont's or a checklist to be completed before you can join. It isn't a place to debate who is not going to make it to heaven or a place to create clicks in which you can feel good about yourself. It wasn't meant to be a place you go one day a week to fulfill a cheap promise to a God you never spend time with during your week.

It is people. People who are connected by many obscure ways but directly united in Jesus. People who would normally look out for themselves but instead they love others because they have recognized that their life was given to them and they live because God loves us and he died for us so we wouldn't have to die, EVER! That is the church I have been blessed with and the church I want so desperately for everyone to know.

Because the church is people and people make mistakes you can bet that there are mistakes in church. That is where God and His beautiful grace enter. I'm one of those faulty people and my mistakes are many. God is working on me because I am allowing Him to overtake my selfishness. Since I have done that I have been blessed beyond measure. I may not have much money right now but no amount of money could buy love. Nothing can duplicate love. EVERYTHING can be solved with pure, Christlike love. Science cannot explain love. Evolution cannot trace love. We cannot truly live without love.

I wish it didn't take the loss of a job for me to lose my religion about God in order to gain a relationship with Him. I wish it didn't take that but I am so glad it did. My prayers used to be, "God, give me that job because that's what I want and I would be good at it." Now I pray, "God, you know me better than I know myself. You know my strengths because You gave them to me. Help my eyes be open to whatever You have for me. I pray I don't get in the way of what You want because You can do more through me than I could ever imagine. Thank You for Your love. Thank You for all the blessings I tend to overlook. I love You."

If you don't "go to church" that's fine. If you aren't apart of God's church you are missing out on a huge, crazy, loving family and we are missing you.

25 Years

2009-03-31T20:36:00.004-05:00

Today is March 31, 2009. 25 years ago today, Doctors at Children's Hospital in Denver removed a malignant Wilms Tumor from my little 8 month old body, along with my left Kidney. There were so many reasons that I might not have made it, but God made a mighty move in my life and saved me. For what, specifically? I may not yet know, but I plan to be faithful and live my life for Him in order to find out.
My favorite part of this day is being able to share it with my mom and dad. Most parts of my story seem to be just that, a story. I don't remember the long nights in the hospital, the nurses taking me away through the doors and down the hallway to surgery, or the 14 weeks of chemotherapy that followed, but they do. They were the ones who had to live it, and I'm so thankful for all that they've given to me. I truly believe that on March 31, 1984, the Lord used the skillful hands of those surgeons to give me a second chance at life. I have spent these past 25 years living for Him, and I intend to spend the next 25 doing the same.
Today at work I received this gorgeous arrangement from my amazing mama - I love you, mom! Thanks for always, ALWAYS being there for me, in spite of all I put you through!

Disney Pics Part I

2009-03-31T12:48:00.005-05:00

We're on our way! First morning shuttle to the park

Here we are! DISNEYLAND!

Family pic in Adventureland right next to the Tiki Room!

After Splash Mountain. Torrey was just sure that the person in front wouldn't get as wet as the person in the back. So Torrey took one for the team and took the spot in the back. What you can't see, is that he's standing behind the camera. Dry.as.a.bone.

We are one mean family. In line for Honey, I Shrunk the Audience 3D show

Oh dear, we ran over Torrey...Toad is going to be upset...

More pictures to come...

Menu Monday

2009-03-30T11:40:00.005-05:00

Good Monday morning! We are back from a fantastic vacation (more on that to come) and our kitchen is running on empty, except for a freezer full of bread that I got from a lady at church. When I say freezer full, I mean freezer FULL...I'm afeared that if I put anything else in there, it will quit freezing things for lack of air circulation. Translation: I need to use some bread this week. So here's what we're eating...

Monday: Pan seared chicken with wild rice and garlic almond green beans. Buttered sourdough toast on the side.

Tuesday: Tortilla soup c/o my bestie, TaraBean. She's been cooking up some fantastic soups and I cannot wait to try her recipe.

Wednesday: dinner at church...possibly for the last time in awhile. We might finally have time to eat at home before heading to our mid-week activities.

Thursday: Dinner with our beloved Wentworth's. Menu: TBA Our contribution will most likely be some sort of garlic bread, dinner rolls, or sandwich buns...go figure :)

Friday: Pressed ham and manchego (or provolone - whichever is cheaper) sandwiches on sourdough. (I read a recipe recently that included cream cheese on the bottom of the ham and provolone...I may get brave and try that one out this week. I'll let you know how it goes) Tossed salad on the side

Saturday: Tacos for lunch and Dinner with the Pullen clan! Our contribution to this meal will also have something to do with bread, I'm sure.

Sunday: Poppyseed chicken for lunch and leftovers for dinner. If no leftovers, and as is becoming tradition on Sunday nights after The Gathering: popcorn, apples, and cheese - be still my beating heart!

So there you have it, folks. Nothing too fancy, but I'm excited about this week. I'm trying out a few new recipes, and I think I can keep the ingredients I need within budget...It looks like it's going to be a great week. Now tell me, what are you eating this week?

It really is the happiest place on earth!

2009-03-30T10:23:00.005-05:00

For those of you who don't know, Trevor and I spent last Wednesday through Friday at Disneyland and California Adventure with Gene and Dixie, Kendra and Torrey. We had a FANTASIC time, and Gene was definitely surprised. I'm trying to get caught up at work today, but wanted to post something to say that a recap is definitely in the works...

Pictures and video to come...hopefully TONIGHT!

Makeup Meltdown

2009-03-24T09:16:00.010-05:00

I hate it that I haven't written in 3 weeks, and now my first (and highly anticipated, I'm sure) post will be about something as superficial as makeup...but this morning, I had a complete and utter makeup MELTDOWN! I should preface the story by saying that in February I switched over to Bare Escentuals and I love it. I will probably never go back to regular foundation. The product is light, and the coverage is flawless. I am in LOVE!

Other than my very solid choice in foundation, however, sometimes my judgement in products is...well...questionable at best. If you read this blog at all, you know that I am a coupon junkie. Thus, it is really hard for me to buy a cosmetic product that is not a) on sale or b) packing a considerable coupon discount. So yesterday, as I was buying a few last minute items for a trip, I headed to look for thee perfect (albeit cheap) mascara. For the past few months, I've been using Almay and LOVING it...but when I got to the aisle, it was full price and a little more than I hoped to spend. I looked at L'Oreal Voluminous which also has a good track record with me, but it was full price as well. I flipped eagerly through my coupons and found one for $1.00 off any Revlon product. SCORE! $1.00 off! So I picked the Revlon mascara with the best looking brush shape and went on my way.

Fast forward to this morning: I excitedly opened my new product expecting to find a nice, soft, fine bristled mascara brush, but instead it was this scrawny flexible silicone shaft with little mounds poking out all over it. Seriously..it looked like a bumble ball toy that my brother had as a baby

Scary, huh? I guess the name of the mascara and the shape of the alien wand should have tipped me off...LashFantasy, anyone? x|

At this point I was running 15 minutes ahead of schedule and was anxious to be done getting ready, head to breakfast and be early to work. But NO...this mascara had something totally different in mind. After what seemed like 10 minutes of combing and curling and coaxing, I walked out of the bathroom looking like this

okay, so not REALLY...but pretty much. I had six of the LONGEST, STRAIGHTEST, stuck together lashes I have ever seen. I combed them again. I curled them again. I combed and I combed and I combed. Trevor laughed. I think it was mostly to cover up the fact that he grimaced when he saw them...so now, 5 minutes behind schedule, I slathered on my eye makeup remover, washed my face and STARTED OVER! Needless to say, I did not use mascara the second time. I would rather go without than look like this

(not actually me, but a good representation, since in my ridiculous state, I forgot to take a picture for your enjoyment)

I am going to call Kroger and see if they accept returns on opened cosmetics. I doubt they do, but I've got to do something. Revlon LashFantasy is by far the worst mascara I have ever tried.

What about you? Have you ever spent a good $5-$10 on a cosmetic product only to end up HATING it when you get home?

An Affirmation

2009-03-09T13:06:00.001-05:00

In the morning, when I rise
Give me Jesus.

When I am alone,
Give me Jesus.

Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus.
You can have all this world,
Just give me Jesus.

pressed sandwiches

2009-03-06T08:20:00.003-06:00

Y'all (yeah, I went there) - our pressed sandwich was such a hit last night. Talk about tasty! We've got enough fixin's left over to do it again tomorrow... For those who are curious, here's how it went down:

1. Split one loaf of ciabatta bread lengthwise
2. Start with a layer of fresh mozzerella (or shredded, whatever you have) on the bottom half
3. Follow with deli meat (we used honey ham)
4. Top meat with layer of fresh spinach
5. Add one more layer of cheese onto the spinach
6. Finish with a little freshly ground pepper and dash of oregano on top of cheese
7. Close up sandwich and brush top and bottom crust with a little olive oil
8. Squish flat between two cookie sheets and bake at 375-400 until cheese is melted and crust is crispy

We'll never have to go to Quiznos again! If it sounds good, try it out and let me know what you think.

darn groceries

2009-03-04T07:49:00.004-06:00

Remember yesterday, when I told you I was super excited about only being over my grocery budget for the week by ONLY $0.50? Well, last night it all hit the fan when I realized that at my Kroger, the tilapia was $6.99, not $4.99 as it was at the other Kroger. AND my coupon was only for $0.75 off, instead of $1.00. Oh yeah, and we needed milk. That brings my grand total to just over $5.00 over budget instead of $0.50. Ick!

Looking at the bright side though, the tilapia was buy-one-get-one-free, so there's plenty more in the freezer. I guess maybe it pans out in the long run. Someday I'm going to figure out the secret...

Menu Monday-ish

2009-03-03T12:46:00.006-06:00

Okay, I know...I'm TERRIBLE...I said that I wanted to write 3 times a week and I haven't. I want to - but I haven't. So much has been going on in our lives lately and someday I'll write a post all about it. For now though, all you get is our menu. Here it goes:

Monday: Chicken quesadillas

Tuesday: Grilled Tilapia with rice and garlic butter green beans

I'm not crazy about fish, but I'm eager to learn. Good thing Trevor is both motivated - if I like fish then we will eat it more often - and good in the kitchen. I'm excited to try

Wednesday: Dinner at church (maybe the last Wednesday that we'll have to do this)

Thursday: Pressed ham, spinach and mozzarella sandwiches

Basically a neolithic panini. I can't call it a panini because we don't have a press. What we do have however, is two cookie sheets and two 28 oz cans of tomatoes. They oughta do the trick just fine. We'll brush a little olive oil on the top, press it for awhile - encourage it physically if need be - and Viola! Pressed sandwiches! (served with dill pickles and chips, of course)

Friday: Steak and potatoes

Thee quintessential American dinner. We have some Omaha steaks left over from our Valentines Day feast a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to fix our BBQ Grill yet, so we'll probably pan sear them again this time. The potatoes are Yukon Golds, so I may oven-roast them or do garlic mashed...guess it will depend what mood we're in.

Saturday: eggs, turkey bacon and country hash browns for breakfast/brunch; sandwiches for lunch; homemade deep dish pizzas and buffalo wings for dinner; heart attacks all around for dessert. :)

We love making our own deep dish pizzas and one of our favorite shows, America's Test Kitchen (PBS Saturday mornings), has the best deep dish pizza recipe. One secret I can share with you is this: microwave your pepperonis, out flat between two paper towels on a plate for 30 seconds to one minute before you put them on your pizza. This will let the pepperonis start to cook, and also release some of their grease to be absorbed by the paper towels. This has made a HUGE difference in our pizzas, and also makes Turkey pepperoni look and taste more like the real thing.

Sunday: grilled chicken and rice for lunch; leftovers for dinner

If there are no leftovers, which almost never happens, we'll revert to an old standby and quite possibly our favorite snack ever: popcorn, apple slices, and cheddar cheese. MMMM...thanks to T-rev for introducing me to the wonder...

I'm pretty excited about our menu this week. Most exciting though is the fact that my trip to the grocery store only put me $0.50 over budget for the week. I am stubborn and even though food prices are still rising, I refuse to think that two people cannot eat for under $50/week. So instead of raising my budget, I'm trying to fix meals that are nutritious and yummy, but don't cost a fortune. I was able to buy a few things in bulk, a.k.a. Buy-One-Get-One-Free, so this $50 should stretch into next week as well. Lord knows that right now we need all the stretching we can handle...but more about that in another post.

Happy cooking!

oh blessed day

2009-02-13T13:22:00.003-06:00

It's official (this is Jamie speaking): I hate Valentine's Day. I'm not sure why suddenly this year I feel so strongly about it. I've never had a bad Valentine's Day experience. I never had a boyfriend who forgot about it, my parents always have made a point to do a little something for each of us in the form of chocolates or cookies or a gift card, and Trevor traditionally sends flowers to my office. And for that, I am extremely apreciative and grateful. But this year I do, I hate it...and I'm being a real grumpy-britches about it too.

I think the thing I hate most about it is that I heard people in my office talking about buying their spouses new expensive sunglasses and clothing and jewelry. Then I saw this really terrible ad for pajamagrams, and inevitably when I go to the grocery tonight, I will see dozens of vases teaming with roses and marked up 200% of what they are actually worth. It's not that I mind presents...at Christmas and Birthdays...

And then there's the email I got from The Melting Pot advertising some crazy Valentine's Day special for only $175/couple. When really, we could wait and go there next Tuesday or any other day and have a fantastically nice meal for $75!

I guess it's like all things in American culture: rampant consumerism has ruined the original idea of it all which was this: a designated day to show the people you love that you care about them. Then again, why is it that we need a socially mandated day to express our love for those around us? How much more special would it be for a husband to drop by and pick up flowers and chocolates for his wife, some random Thursday in June, just to see her face light up when he walks through the door? My boss says that it's a holiday for guilty husbands and I think he's right. If people need a specific date on the calendar to show their wives how much they care - what does that say about the current state of marriage/relationships? It's been hyped up by society for one simple reason: for businesses to make money.

On the other hand, I got an email from my dad today saying that my brother wanted to do something special for my mom today and wondering if we wanted to be in on it. Of course I said yes, and my heart can't help but be glad when I think of the look on her face when our gift is delivered to her this afternoon at school. She's going to love it and it's going to be an outward, physical reminder to her that she has 4 kids who love her so much. It's not like she doesn't know - we say it all the time, and try to display it in our actions, but today she will be reminded once again how much she means to us. And for that, I can't help but be a little excited.

So I don't know. Maybe I shouldn't say that I hate Valentine's Day. I guess I should say that I hate what Valentine's Day, like most holidays, has become, and it challenges me to take what our culture says I should do tomorrow, February 14, and spread it out throughout the year. To make sure that my loved ones KNOW how much they mean to me all the time. To do special little things for people, just so I can see the look on their faces...I have so many people to love...

Menu Monday

2009-02-09T12:48:00.005-06:00

Sorry for the hiatus last week. We were extra busy I guess, and I didn't even grocery shop until Thursday night...so it wasn't worth it to dedicate one whole blog to only 3 dinners. If you are wondering though, we tried a new recipe on Thursday night - a wonderful turkey tamale pie which I'll be sure to post in the future (with a few minor modifications). Other than that, it was a whole lotta leftovers at the Lubiens house. This week may be more of the same.

Monday: leftovers (see, I told you) Tamale pie, chips and guacamole -or- pizza. Healthy, huh?

Tuesday: good old fashioned spaghetti with meat sauce, green beans, and garlic bread. When planning my menus, I stray away from spaghetti because it's boring. But then when we do eat it, it always tastes SO good! Trevor will probably put this meal together while I work on our taxes. *gag* **about the taxes of course. Trevor's cooking is generally quite tasty (sorry babe)**

Wednesday: dinner at church

Thursday: chili and corn muffins

Friday: leftover pizza or Tamale pie with tossed romaine salad

Saturday: dependent on how many leftovers we STILL have (if any) for lunch.
For Valentine's day dinner, we're staying in this year, and I'm excited about our meal plans.
First course: cheese fondue (debating between Wisconsin cheddar or traditional Swiss) with assorted dippers (bread, apples, grapes, veggies)
Main course: Omaha steaks, garlic butter green beans, and mashed potatoes
Dessert: dark chocolate fondue with strawberries, pound cake, pretzels and brownie bites (maybe) Sounds good, doesn't it? After eating all that, I'd be willing to bet my left arm that we won't feel like being romantic, but it will be SO worth it to eat all that good food. Besides, we can be romantic any other day of the year. This is an excuse to throw the grocery budget to the wind and really EAT!

I know most of this post is boring and includes A LOT of leftovers. Here's why: I HATE throwing away food. Chances are good that if something isn't rank or growing a furry sweater in the fridge, we're going to eat it. Luckily, I have a husband who doesn't mind eating the same things multiple times each week. It's hard sometimes to cook for just two. For instance, I now know that the tamale pie recipe is big enough to feed a small army, and that even after cutting the recipe in half - note to self. The freezer has become my biggest ally.

As the days get longer and warmer, I'm anxious to use the grill a lot more, and the oven a little less. This spring we hope to join a CSA, but that's a different post entirely, and this one is already a little lengthy. I'm also working my way through some cook-lots-at-one-time-and-freeze-the-remaining-portions books, so I'll let you know how that goes. For now though, happy cooking!

instant gratification

2009-01-29T12:38:00.004-06:00

I (Jamie) generally pride myself on being fiscally responsible most of the time. Trevor and I try to be very careful with our finances as we plan for the future and attempt to eliminate all unnecessary debt. We have a detailed monthly budget and for the most part, do quite well sticking to it. We've come to appreciate the fact that we don't have cable or go to many movies; that we share a car and try to keep our eating out to a minimum (okay so we fail at this sometimes, but we are trying).

>>>Fast Forward>>> to today: I have been trying to figure out a way to get more cardio in to my exercise routine. Okay let's be honest, I've been trying to figure out a way to get motivated to exercise at all. I LOVE my Denise Austin Pilates for Everbody DVD, and who doesn't love a little Yoga Booty Ballet action, but I find that without additional cardio, these don't do me as much good as I would like, even if I would do them as often as I should. Ahem. :)

Oh right, so TODAY I found a top-rated workout DVD on Target.com. It just happened to be the 30 Day Shred by Jillian Michaels, the sassy trainer on The Biggest Loser. (If she can help people lose 100+ lbs., surely she can whip me into shape.) I decided that DVD would be just what I needed to kick start my workout plan. Better yet, it was only $8.49, a good price for any DVD, and I was excited to have found my thrifty little self a bit of a bargain. I thought that since Target was only a few miles away, I would just head over there at lunchtime, pick up my $8.49 30 Day Shred DVD and save myself some shipping cost. Plus, I could start my workout TONIGHT. As in, just a few hours from right now. I walked into the store at 11:45, and to my surprise, the workout DVDs weren't $8.49 like they were online. No, no. They were $14.99! $14.99, ya'll! Usually, I would have the self control to walk out of the store, head back to the computer, order the DVD for $8.49 + shipping, and give myself a mental high-five for having exercised good money management. But instead, (you guessed it) I walked out of the store at 12:00, having gained one Jilian Michaels DVD, but having given up $16.37 (tax included). I tried to justify it by saying that with shipping costs my purchase would have been close to that anyway, but to tell you the truth, I feel icky that I know I overpaid. I probably won't take the DVD back to the store...and...I probably will open it up the moment I walk through the front door and get ready to shred. But now, as I'm sitting in the in-between, I feel like I lost to the man.

I was too impatient to wait a week for something that I didn't know I needed three hours ago.

I know it's silly to be bent out of shape over $5 or $6, but I thought it a good eye opener today at what our society and ultimately what we have become. It goes far beyond dumb things like DVDs and $5...maybe if we were all wiser, more patient, and less selfish about material things, this world, and our economy would be a much, much different place.

Menu Monday

2009-01-29T12:19:00.003-06:00

Okay, so it's Thursday and I've failed. I didn't post our menu this week because, quite frankly, it is boring. Not that I'm not grateful. I'm extremely grateful and God has abundantly provided for us during a little bit of a tight month. Twice this week, people from church have given us food leftover from church functions: some bakery items, pork, black beans and rice. Thus, our meals have been very similar, but pleasingly different. I'll give you an idea of what's been happening in our kitchen these past few days:

Monday: pressed ham, mozzerella, and spinach sandwiches on whole grain baguette (ingredients left over from last week and bread from the church)

Tuesday: shredded pork tacos, lime cilantro rice, and black beans (tacos left over from last weekend, rice and black beans left over from University lunch on Sunday) The lime cilantro rice was an experiment as I didn't have a recipe. It wasn't quite Chipotle, but I think it came close.

Wednesday: (unexpected night off and, as we usually eat at church, scramble to put dinner together) grilled cheese sandwiches and soup (chicken noodle for me, leftover vegetable beef for Trevor - don't worry mom, it was frozen - I'm not making him force down expired food)

Thursday: leftovers (weird, I know). I'll probably finish up the shredded pork tacos with a little corn on the side. Trevor is going to a show with a buddy and, I think, enjoying a little fish 'n' chips action beforehand.

Friday: chicken and black bean quesadillas, (maybe)spanish rice on the side

Saturday: something with cuban pork - not quite sure yet...maybe I can heat it in the crock pot with some sort of fruit sauce or glaze. I'll let you know how that one turns out.

Sunday: probably sandwiches. I'll make a pot of chili for the church's "souper" bowl party, so lunch will be nice and simple as we will, I'm certain, be eating ALL.DAY.LONG.

Like I said before - our menu has been boring, but I am so thankful that we have enough food to eat and full bellies when we go to sleep at night. It is true that if we put our faith and trust in Him, God certainly does take care of His own. I'm sure I'll have more to share along those lines, but for now...back to work for me... #.#

Menu Monday

2009-01-19T13:42:00.007-06:00

Menu Monday already...geez, I feel like I just posted the last one. Sorry to keep you waiting, reader(s). I understand that the anticipation can sometimes be too much to bear. For the record - this week is going to be terribly boring. I have leftovers and ingredients from last week that need to be used pronto, so here we go:

Monday: PIZZA with simple green salad

Tuesday: Buttermilk Baked Chicken that we didn't get to eat Sunday

Wednesday: Dinner at church

Thursday: Leftover Soup with fresh corn muffins

Friday: Shredded Pork Tacos MMMM!

Saturday: Trevor helps himself to sandwiches/soup/salad (Jamie will be gone to a conference)

Sunday: soup or taco leftovers; or the old standby, grilled chicken with wild rice

See, I told you this week would be boring. But, what could be better than extending our $60 grocery trip last week to make it through this one too?! I think I only have a few things to purchase for this menu...who knows, maybe I'll come in under budget on our monthly groceries for the first time in a L-O-N-G while. What about you? What are you eating this week?

Menu Monday

2009-01-12T20:12:00.003-06:00

I know Monday is almost over...but it technically is still Monday. Here's what we're eating at our house this week.

Monday: grilled chicken and wild rice w/ garlic butter green beans

Tuesday: tacos!

Wednesday: //church// Wednesdays are crazy for us...Trev leads worship for a service at church, and there's not a lot of time for dinner before we have to head out to set up. Thankfully our church provides really nice Wednesday dinners for just $5

Thursday: vegetable beef stew (for real this time)

Friday: mozzarella, ham, and spinach pressed sandwiches with sweet potato fries

Saturday
Brunch: fritatta, bacon, toast, juice
Dinner: leftovers

Sunday
Lunch: buttermilk baked chicken w/ spinach salad
Dinner: leftover stew and cheese sandwiches

Seriously?

2009-01-07T11:04:00.003-06:00

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

Upon further discussion with my co-workers, we have determined that this is infact a spoof. They did have me going for awhile there.

Menu Monday

2009-01-05T08:29:00.005-06:00

...and we're back...
After a wonderful week and a half with my family over the holidays, we're back and ready (or not) to get back into the swing of our normal, crazy life. Here's what we're eating at our house this week. Mostly trying to finish up all the leftover groceries from last week:

Monday: chili with tossed salad (sounds like a school lunch feature; Trevor has a meeting, so just Jamie for this one)

Tuesday: omlettes

Wednesday: chili with cornbread

Thursday: homemade pizza (on the grill perhaps?)

Friday: ~~vegetable beef stew~~ I've discovered that the bag of frozen soup veggies in the freezer isn't frozen soup veggies at all. It's frozen stir fry veggies. My beef cubes are already cooked and frozen in my broth, but I think I can still manage a stir fry out of this. (I told you - I am avoiding the grocery entirely this week) So Friday will now be beef stir fry. I think.

Saturday: leftovers and sandwiches

Sunday: lunch out; soup for dinner

As you can see, this week's menu is certainly not my greatest culinary accomplishment. However, I'm trying to go through it using only ingredients from my fridge and pantry - with no trips to the grocery store. We'll see...

One Uppers (booooo)

2008-12-23T15:11:00.003-06:00

Why? Why do people feel the need to "one up" other people?

I went to the mall to return something today. It was 25 degrees with 20 mph wind. It was cold. I was wearing a puffy coat my sister got me for Christmas last year because when I was outside I FELT COLD. During the exchange at the store the lady behind the counter asked me a question.

(Lady behind the counter) - "That looks like a warm coat. Is it cold outside?"

(Me) - "Yes. Not quite as bad as yesterday but it's about 25 (degrees) and the wind is whippin' today."

(LBTC) - (laughing grunt) "That seems warm to me. Where I am from it's 40 below!"

(ME) - "Where are you from?"

(One upper lady) - (smugly) "South Dakota"

(Me) - (in my mind) "South Dakota huh? So that's why you're socially awkward."

Obviously I didn't say that but SERIOUSLY LADY? That seems warm to you? Do you know the ideal temperature for a standard refrigerator is from 35-40 degrees fahrenheit? Are you ever at your house and you think, "hmmm, it's chilly in here. I think I'll jump in the fridge and warm up!"? I don't think so. Cold is cold.

This happens all the time at the hotel. People, mostly fat guys, will be out of the warm hotel for five seconds, see all the valets bundled up and say, "You guys act like it's cold out here. This aint cold!"

A. If this isn't cold then come hang out with us for eight hours in your sleeveless shirt and overalls.

B. Why don't you just say, "I don't have a very high self esteem so I am going to build myself up by saying that I am more of a man than you are because I don't think this is cold and you do, you panzie a$$"

C. You might be warmer because of all the extra layers of fat protecting you from the cold the same way a manatee, aka "the sea cow, is protected from the arctic waters.

I guess if you like to insult people in a somewhat indirect manner, learn the art of one-upping. If you want to be a good person ,let people tell their stories and have their opinions. I promise everyone will like you more or at least dislike you less.

Watch us work

2008-12-16T22:21:00.003-06:00

Tonight we walked into the mall at 8:40 (we were going to go earlier, but I got caught watching the Biggest Loser finale (of which I missed the last part, so shhhh...don't tell me yet)). We made a little pit stop at the Starbucks kiosk (thanks Lindsay & Jamin) and headed to finish the last of our shopping. We walked out of the mall at 9:30 with all purchases complete for everyone on our list. And because of the struggling economy, we scored bigtime - GREAT gifts that we're really excited about for crazy low prices. Can it get better?

Team T & J: we just know how to get it done. :)

Menu Monday

2008-12-15T11:44:00.005-06:00

Okay, I'm going to "borrow" an idea from my friend, Tracy, and start posting our weekly menus on Monday. My reasons are many, but mostly - it's fun for me to share with you something I have come to enjoy greatly - cooking. Also, while I'm planning our menus, I find it helpful to check other sites and blogs when I feel like I need some inspiration. Who knows, maybe our menu will spark your imagination and give some motivation to insert something new into your menu. Here goes:

Monday: Shredded Pork Tacos
Actually leftovers from last week. We've already eaten on this one recipe three times, and I think we've got one more in us. I love meals that I can make once and stretch throughout the week - I got the pork roast on sale, and this one has been a real budget saver. We'll probably forgo the slaw and do chips and salsa instead! :)

Tuesday: Vegetable Soup and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
The soup is from a friend's recipe. It's pretty much any kind of veggie you want to throw in with some tomato juice, beef broth, seasonings and water. You can add meat if you want, but we're trying to limit our meat consumption, plus stretch our wallet, so the vegetarian variety suits us just fine. Check out Phil's recipe below:

2 bags frozen soup veggies
1 bag gumbo veggies
1 Lg. bottle of tomato juice
2 cans of low sodium beef broth plus 2 cans of water
½ cup of rice or macaroni
1 can of dark kidney beans
1 Lg. can of diced tomatoes
½ tsp of red ground pepper
¼ cup of Worchester sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp. of ground cumin
10 dashes of hot pepper sauce/Tabasco
2 tbl. Of dry parsley

We also learned that if you shread your cheese before putting it on the grilled cheese, it melts better. (For those of you who don't know, Trevor is a cheese snob who doesn't like the "fake" Kraft singles cheese.) We buy block cheese that is harder to melt, thus, the shredding idea was a revelation for us.

Wednesday: Baked Manicotti
From America's Test Kitchen. The link won't work because it requires a password, but I'll give you a little run-down. If you'd like the full recipe, let me know and I'll email you. What makes this manicotti dish so much easier is the fact that you use no-cook lasagna noodles instead of those hard-to-stuff manicotti shells. You pour boiling-hot water over the noodles in a baking dish (making sure they don't stick) until plyable. Then you just spread your cheese mixture on the flat noodle and roll it up. SO much easier and SO much faster than stuffing those other noodles. MMMM!

Thursday: Buffalo Chicken Strips with Blue Cheese Salad
We may just put the chicken strips on the salad and do a little copycat version of our favorite salad from Chili's.

Friday: Spaghetti with red sauce
Basic Spaghetti. If I have some hamburger meat left over from the manicotti, I may throw some in the sauce. If not, I've got some frozen peppers and onions that I think I'll put in there. A little garlic bread and some green beans, I'd say we'll have ourselves a meal. :)

Saturday: night out - WooHoo!

Sunday Lunch: Chicken Roll-ups with Spinach and Feta I'm differing from the recipe a little because I don't have Arugula or goat cheese, and I need to work with what I've got. I think the Spinach and Feta will work just fine, and I may cook these in the crockpot with a little homemade tomato sauce just for fun. Let's hope it works!

Sunday Dinner: Leftovers (we're bound to have some somewhere) Otherwise, it will be peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for all.

Okay, so that's what we're eating this week. I'd love to know what's on your menu. Please, feel free to share.

It's so pretty

2008-12-14T21:20:00.006-06:00

This afternoon, Trevor and I unexpectedly welcomed a new member into the family. As the gender is yet to be determined, here it is:

After church we went with our friend and keyboardist, Stephen on a hunt for a new keyboard to replace our amazingly awesome but beastly Roland Fantom. While we found the keyboard we were looking for - a Roland RD300GX - we wanted to wait until the Fantom sold before we purchased a replacement. As we got ready to leave the final store, Trevor decided to take a quick walk through the guitars, (his has been having some issues staying in tune and such), when lo and behold, he found one that he just had to have. Giggling to myself, I figured I'd give him 5 minutes to tinker around before dragging him out of the store and home to help me clean. After 25 minutes, I realized that he was seriously looking at this guitar. 10 minutes later still, he had worked out a deal that included a hard case and new strings and we were out the door. I have to admit that, for a brand that I've never heard of, this guitar is gorgeous and the sound is incredibly rich. I'm excited to see what new inspiration it will bring.

Christmastime is HERE!

2008-12-12T20:19:00.007-06:00

As promised, and I should know (it's been on my to-do list all week)...here are some pictures of our little house all decorated for Christmas. Enjoy!

Our Christmas tree. The ribbon was Trevor's finishing touch, and I LOVE it!

Living room fireplace.

My copycat version of a wreath I saw in Flower's Express. It's a tiny bit uneven, but I love it. Stay tuned for more on how I made it...

Stockings, new stocking hangers and our copycat version of a berry decoration we saw in Target. We probably should have just purchased the one from Target. But it was fun to try!

We wish you could be here to visit with us in person, but thanks for stopping by to see our cozy little home at Christmastime. We LOVE it!

Video Wednesday

2008-12-10T09:03:00.002-06:00

While I had very good intentions last night, it didn't work out for me to post pictures of our little house all decorated in Christmas cheer, so this will have to see you through until I have a free moment and our camera at the same time. Trevor and I are in love with this imaginative and articulate little girl. We imagine that maybe we might be blessed have our own adorable little storyteller someday. (No - that's not a subliminal message, so check all speculations at the door) :)

Our friend Ellen first showed us the video, and yesterday Jolleen posted it too. I couldn't resist:

Le petit conteur (The Little Storyteller)

Fall has Fallen!!!

2008-12-04T18:46:00.007-06:00

In October of 2006, Jamie and I found a cute brick house on a corner. It was the beginning of autumn and the eight trees in our future yard were turning the most beautiful colors. After we moved in, I must repeat AFTER, those beautiful leaves all fell to the ground. Every year they fall. All of them. Every year.

We decided to stay on top of the raking this year. We tried to wait until the yard was just starting to look like a wild forest and our neighbors we giving us the "it's called a rake" look. Twelve 30 gallon leaf bags later, our yard still has leaves on it. If it wasn't so gorgeous when the leaves change I would go straight up Paul Bunyan styles out there. I guess I'll stick with looking and raking and raking and raking...

There Will Be Blogs

2008-12-04T15:27:00.002-06:00

After receiving quite the scolding from our four, that's right I said FOUR loyal readers, Trevor and I have made a committment to attempt to try to blog (maybe) three times a week. You heard me. I said "Three times a week" (maybe). Now I know it's a bold statement, but we really are going to try. You see, we have lots of good topics, and plenty of motivation - it's just that none of that matters at 8:30 when we're tired and just want to veg in front of the T.V. until bedtime. We're working on it. So check back; refresh the page often - these will be days you will NOT want to miss! Err, maybe you will...but for Pete's sake, don't say it outloud. Our feelings are fragile enough as it is.
Watch for the first one coming TONIGHT!

2008-11-04T16:02:00.002-06:00

Media's Presidential Bias and Decline
Columnist Michael Malone Looks at Slanted Election Coverage and the Reasons Why
Column By MICHAEL S. MALONE
Oct. 24, 2008 —

The traditional media are playing a very, very dangerous game -- with their readers, with the Constitution and with their own fates.

The sheer bias in the print and television coverage of this election campaign is not just bewildering, but appalling. And over the last few months I've found myself slowly moving from shaking my head at the obvious one-sided reporting, to actually shouting at the screen of my television and my laptop computer.
But worst of all, for the last couple weeks, I've begun -- for the first time in my adult life -- to be embarrassed to admit what I do for a living. A few days ago, when asked by a new acquaintance what I did for a living, I replied that I was "a writer," because I couldn't bring myself to admit to a stranger that I'm a journalist.

You need to understand how painful this is for me. I am one of those people who truly bleeds ink when I'm cut. I am a fourth-generation newspaperman. As family history tells it, my great-grandfather was a newspaper editor in Abilene, Kan., during the last of the cowboy days, then moved to Oregon to help start the Oregon Journal (now the Oregonian).

My hard-living -- and when I knew her, scary -- grandmother was one of the first women reporters for the Los Angeles Times. And my father, though profoundly dyslexic, followed a long career in intelligence to finish his life (thanks to word processors and spellcheckers) as a very successful freelance writer. I've spent 30 years in every part of journalism, from beat reporter to magazine editor. And my oldest son, following in the family business, so to speak, earned his first national byline before he earned his drivers license.

So, when I say I'm deeply ashamed right now to be called a "journalist," you can imagine just how deep that cuts into my soul.

Now, of course, there's always been bias in the media. Human beings are biased, so the work they do, including reporting, is inevitably colored. Hell, I can show you 10 different ways to color variations of the word "said" -- muttered, shouted, announced, reluctantly replied, responded, etc. -- to influence the way a reader will comprehend exactly the same quote. We all learn that in Reporting 101, or at least in the first few weeks working in a newsroom.

But what we are also supposed to learn during that same apprenticeship is to recognize the dangerous power of that technique, and many others, and develop built-in alarms against them.

But even more important, we are also supposed to be taught that even though there is no such thing as pure, Platonic objectivity in reporting, we are to spend our careers struggling to approach that ideal as closely as possible.

That means constantly challenging our own prejudices, systematically presenting opposing views and never, ever burying stories that contradict our own world views or challenge people or institutions we admire. If we can't achieve Olympian detachment, than at least we can recognize human frailty -- especially in ourselves.

Reporting Bias

For many years, spotting bias in reporting was a little parlor game of mine, watching TV news or reading a newspaper article and spotting how the reporter had inserted, often unconsciously, his or her own preconceptions. But I always wrote it off as bad judgment and lack of professionalism, rather than bad faith and conscious advocacy.

Sure, being a child of the '60s I saw a lot of subjective "New" Journalism, and did a fair amount of it myself, but that kind of writing, like columns and editorials, was supposed to be segregated from "real" reporting, and, at least in mainstream media, usually was. The same was true for the emerging blogosphere, which by its very nature was opinionated and biased.

But my complacent faith in my peers first began to be shaken when some of the most admired journalists in the country were exposed as plagiarists, or worse, accused of making up stories from whole cloth.

I'd spent my entire professional career scrupulously pounding out endless dreary footnotes and double-checking sources to make sure that I never got accused of lying or stealing someone else's work -- not out of any native honesty, but out of fear: I'd always been told to fake or steal a story was a firing offense & indeed, it meant being blackballed out of the profession.

And yet, few of those worthies ever seemed to get fired for their crimes -- and if they did they were soon rehired into even more prestigious jobs. It seemed as if there were two sets of rules: one for us workaday journalists toiling out in the sticks, and another for folks who'd managed, through talent or deceit, to make it to the national level.

Meanwhile, I watched with disbelief as the nation's leading newspapers, many of whom I'd written for in the past, slowly let opinion pieces creep into the news section, and from there onto the front page. Personal opinions and comments that, had they appeared in my stories in 1979, would have gotten my butt kicked by the nearest copy editor, were now standard operating procedure at the New York Times, the Washington Post, and soon after in almost every small town paper in the U.S.
But what really shattered my faith -- and I know the day and place where it happened -- was the war in Lebanon three summers ago. The hotel I was staying at in Windhoek, Namibia, only carried CNN, a network I'd already learned to approach with skepticism. But this was CNN International, which is even worse.

I sat there, first with my jaw hanging down, then actually shouting at the TV, as one field reporter after another reported the carnage of the Israeli attacks on Beirut, with almost no corresponding coverage of the Hezbollah missiles raining down on northern Israel. The reporting was so utterly and shamelessly biased that I sat there for hours watching, assuming that eventually CNNi would get around to telling the rest of the story & but it never happened.

The Presidential Campaign

But nothing, nothing I've seen has matched the media bias on display in the current presidential campaign.

Republicans are justifiably foaming at the mouth over the sheer one-sidedness of the press coverage of the two candidates and their running mates. But in the last few days, even Democrats, who have been gloating over the pass -- no, make that shameless support -- they've gotten from the press, are starting to get uncomfortable as they realize that no one wins in the long run when we don't have a free and fair press.

I was one of the first people in the traditional media to call for the firing of Dan Rather -- not because of his phony story, but because he refused to admit his mistake -- but, bless him, even Gunga Dan thinks the media is one-sided in this election.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not one of those people who think the media has been too hard on, say, Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin, by rushing reportorial SWAT teams to her home state of Alaska to rifle through her garbage. This is the big leagues, and if she wants to suit up and take the field, then Gov. Palin better be ready to play.

The few instances where I think the press has gone too far -- such as the Times reporter talking to prospective first lady Cindy McCain's daughter's MySpace friends -- can easily be solved with a few newsroom smackdowns and temporary repostings to the Omaha bureau.

No, what I object to (and I think most other Americans do as well) is the lack of equivalent hardball coverage of the other side -- or worse, actively serving as attack dogs for the presidential ticket of Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Joe Biden, D-Del.

If the current polls are correct, we are about to elect as president of the United States a man who is essentially a cipher, who has left almost no paper trail, seems to have few friends (that at least will talk) and has entire years missing out of his biography.

That isn't Sen. Obama's fault: His job is to put his best face forward. No, it is the traditional media's fault, for it alone (unlike the alternative media) has had the resources to cover this story properly, and has systematically refused to do so.

Why, for example to quote the lawyer for Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., haven't we seen an interview with Sen. Obama's grad school drug dealer -- when we know all about Mrs. McCain's addiction? Are Bill Ayers and Tony Rezko that hard to interview? All those phony voter registrations that hard to scrutinize? And why are Sen. Biden's endless gaffes almost always covered up, or rationalized, by the traditional media?

Joe the Plumber

The absolute nadir (though I hate to commit to that, as we still have two weeks before the election) came with Joe the Plumber.

Middle America, even when they didn't agree with Joe, looked on in horror as the press took apart the private life of an average person who had the temerity to ask a tough question of a presidential candidate. So much for the standing up for the little man. So much for speaking truth to power. So much for comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable, and all of those other catchphrases we journalists used to believe we lived by.

I learned a long time ago that when people or institutions begin to behave in a matter that seems to be entirely against their own interests, it's because we don't understand what their motives really are. It would seem that by so exposing their biases and betting everything on one candidate over another, the traditional media is trying to commit suicide -- especially when, given our currently volatile world and economy, the chances of a successful Obama presidency, indeed any presidency, is probably less than 50/50.

Furthermore, I also happen to believe that most reporters, whatever their political bias, are human torpedoes & and, had they been unleashed, would have raced in and roughed up the Obama campaign as much as they did McCain's. That's what reporters do. I was proud to have been one, and I'm still drawn to a good story, any good story, like a shark to blood in the water.

So why weren't those legions of hungry reporters set loose on the Obama campaign? Who are the real villains in this story of mainstream media betrayal?
The editors. The men and women you don't see; the people who not only decide what goes in the paper, but what doesn't; the managers who give the reporters their assignments and lay out the editorial pages. They are the real culprits.
Bad Editors

Why? I think I know, because had my life taken a different path, I could have been one: Picture yourself in your 50s in a job where you've spent 30 years working your way to the top, to the cockpit of power & only to discover that you're presiding over a dying industry. The Internet and alternative media are stealing your readers, your advertisers and your top young talent. Many of your peers shrewdly took golden parachutes and disappeared. Your job doesn't have anywhere near the power and influence it did when your started your climb. The Newspaper Guild is too weak to protect you any more, and there is a very good chance you'll lose your job before you cross that finish line, 10 years hence, of retirement and a pension.
In other words, you are facing career catastrophe -- and desperate times call for desperate measures. Even if you have to risk everything on a single Hail Mary play. Even if you have to compromise the principles that got you here. After all, newspapers and network news are doomed anyway -- all that counts is keeping them on life support until you can retire.

And then the opportunity presents itself -- an attractive young candidate whose politics likely matches yours, but more important, he offers the prospect of a transformed Washington with the power to fix everything that has gone wrong in your career.

With luck, this monolithic, single-party government will crush the alternative media via a revived fairness doctrine, re-invigorate unions by getting rid of secret votes, and just maybe be beholden to people like you in the traditional media for getting it there.

And besides, you tell yourself, it's all for the good of the country &

This is the opinion of the columnist and in no way reflects the opinion of ABC News.

Michael S. Malone is one of the nation's best-known technology writers. He has covered Silicon Valley and high-tech for more than 25 years, beginning with the San Jose Mercury News as the nation's first daily high-tech reporter. His articles and editorials have appeared in such publications as The Wall Street Journal, the Economist and Fortune, and for two years he was a columnist for The New York Times. He was editor of Forbes ASAP, the world's largest-circulation business-tech magazine, at the height of the dot-com boom. Malone is the author or co-author of a dozen books, notably the best-selling "Virtual Corporation." Malone has also hosted three public television interview series, and most recently co-produced the celebrated PBS miniseries on social entrepreneurs, "The New Heroes." He has been the ABCNews.com

"Silicon Insider" columnist since 2000.

2008-11-04T09:43:00.002-06:00

we did. did you?

the closest spot

2008-10-16T13:51:00.003-05:00

I ran to Kroger today on my lunchbreak to pick up a cliff bar for lunch [thank you Katie]. The clouds were threatening rain and I was in a hurry. I spied an open spot near the door and of course, I did what I always do: rejoiced in my good fortune and parked without a second thought. I finished my shopping and headed for the car. It wasn't raining hard yet so I was relieved - Until I realized something. Walking in front of me, struggling to lug her two sacks of groceries and hold her hood up at the same time, was this precious little woman. She wasn't that old, but was sort of feeble - maybe she's been sick or experienced some other type of misfortune in life. I started to feel really bad when I realized as I walked to my car in the second closest space, that she was walking to the end of the lot. The store was pretty busy for a Thursday at noon, and the lot was quite full. And I was just selfish enough to think that because I was in a hurry and not wanting to get wet, I had a right to park in that close spot.

Humbling.

Now I know what you may be thinking, if I hadn't taken that spot, someone else just like me might have. We live in a society that teaches us to circle the mall lot for hours (figuratively), looking for the perfect spot. But the thing is, I have the fortune of being in relatively good health. It doesn't cause me pain to walk an extra 100 yards, and you know - it doesn't inconvenience me that much to do so. I feel awful inside that it might have been because of me that that poor woman had to walk so much farther in the cold windy mist...and I was just a hop skip and a jump from the door.

Think about it. I know I have been.

You don't know me starbucks! (by Trevor)

2008-10-13T16:13:00.005-05:00

It is officially my favorite time of the year. If there is weather in heaven it will be Autumn all the time. The leaves will always be a multitude of colors, there will always be football games or highlights on the tube and you will always have the option of the "shorts and a sweatshirt" combo. One more thing that makes this season the best is coffee tastes so much better when it's cold.

Enter Starbucks.

Starbucks has become tradition on a Lubiens' Sunday morning. It also typically makes us late to choir and orchestra run-through, but at least we have our priorities in line. In the last couple months I have started to notice that Starbucks has made a change in their protocol. It was a minor irritant at first but has grown into and proven to always be a very awkward experience.

Starbucks is teaching their employees to be mind readers. And not doing a very good job I might add. Lately when you pull into the drive-thru the barista working the headset will say something along the lines of, "Welcome to Starbucks, this is Kim and Christina. How are you doing today?" First of all, are you Kim or Christina? And secondly, do you want to know who all is in the car with me and how all of us are doing? Of course I will say I'm fine and then ask how they are today. Then comes the crystal ball time.

With the addition of the shakes and energy drinks and taking into account double and triple shots, short, tall, grande, venti, sugar, raw sugar, sweetener, all the flavored syrups, all the sugar free syrups, decaf, skim milk, whole milk, half n' half, iced drinks and all the other additives and subtractitives, the ammount of options could be in the hundreds of thousands. Still, without failure, Kim or Christina will take a hack at guessing my drink of the day.

"How about I make you a grande caramel frappe?"

Seriously?!? You haven't even seen me! I promise you I do not look like a caramel frappe guy. Now that I'm thinking about it, I don't know what kind of a coffee guy I look like. If I had to guess, and if I worked at Starbucks I would have to, I would say I am a venti mocha guy. I'm not, but that is what I think I look like. After seeing some people you could make a good guess as to what kind of drink they like but not by simply hearing their muffled drive-thru voice!

This Sunday was a little different. Jamie stayed home for first service to get ready to sing in a concert later that night. So I made a solo coffee run without my wife. I pulled into the drive-thru and sure enough the guessing game started with me trying to figure out if the man wearing the headset was Daniel or Stephanie. He, who I can safely assume was Daniel, asked if my morning was going well and I told him that it was so far. And then, Daniel took a stab at my drink.

"Can I get you a pumpkin spice latte today?"

Without my wife who is my socially acceptable filter I replied,

"Nope! Guess again!"

Daniel did not want to guess again. Apparently there is one guess per customer limit.

Starbucks, I love you. Without you I would be forced to drive many miles and drink gamble coffee until I found something that tastes close to what you have. You have fallen away from the artistry that is specialty coffee but you are so consistently great. Just one simple question, what's wrong with the good old fashioned "Welcome to Starbucks. What can I get for you?" Please oh please stop pushing your seasonal drinks in a guessing format and just let me order what I want.

tea time

2008-10-03T13:25:00.003-05:00

it's fall in a cup and a bright spot in my otherwise -eh- afternoon.