Help- Opinion Wanted

Am I nuts?

I want this couch.

Look- it would match a chair we already have perfectly-

(it's behind that weird girl on the left)

EARTHQUAKE!!!!

I am not quite back into blogging yet but this was worthy enough to take a break from school and blog about. I stayed up until 230 am working on this big project that is due on Tuesday. I went to bed and eventually fell asleep, but not more than two hours later Jonathan and I jump out of bed from being startled awake by a loud noise and the house shaking. We were both confused and didn't know what happened so we looked out the window. I asked Jonathan "was that an earthquake?" but he just rolled over and went to sleep. My initial reaction was that it was an earthquake, but I didn't think that earthquakes made loud noise. So I sat there, heart racing from being woken up so suddenly, trying to figure out what just happened. I thought maybe a bomb went off somewhere or our upstairs neighbor was jumping up and down really hard. As soon as I woke up a few hours later, I asked Jonathan what it was and to check the Internet and see what happened. I told him I thought for sure it was an earthquake but he didn't believe me. He said he didn't even know that our whole house was shaking! Our Internet was down so I turned on the news- and there it was -5.2 earthquake in Illinois. (you can read more about it here)
"Hah! I told you so! I knew it was an earthquake!," I screamed at Jonathan.

Okay I know that most people figured it out right away (it doesn't take a genius to figure out that when your whole house is shaking, something is going down; to my credit though I was asleep) but I am just a small-town Idaho girl. We don't have tornadoes or floods or ginormous thunderstorms or earthquakes or any of the rest of the crazy stuff that goes on here in the Midwest.
So there you go. My first earthquake. Thankfully it didn't cause much damage or hurt anyone (so far as I know)
p.s. I was talking to my friends at school about it- they all thought it was Jesus coming back and were listening for the trumpet :)
p.s. I am sorry that I got your hopes up last post about Jonathan coming back as a guest writer. I don't know what happened to that guy. I may have to kick him off as punishment.

Don't Give up on Me Yet

I am still here. I am doing lots and lots of school work. I have two very big projects due and lots more due in April. The good news is-
1. I only have four weeks of school left!
2. My brother and sister got their tickets and they are coming to visit me in May!
3. Jonathan hinted towards returning as a guest writer to take my place, so stay tuned....

Although it may seem like I have given up on this poor sad little blog, I haven't really totally given up on it (yet). To be honest writing a blog post has been the absolute last thing I have felt like doing lately. Don't get me wrong though, I still like to read everybody else's wonderfully entertainable enjoyable blogs, because reading is a heck of a lot easier than trying to think of something coherent to write. But, I feel bad. It isn't very fair of me to read Alicia's, and Mandy's and Kelly's blog everyday when they never get to read anything new on mine. So this is my attempt to write something wonderful and entertaining and enjoyable. NOT. I am just going to write and not worry about making it entertaining. Okay NOT again. I might actually make it a little bit enjoyable or a tiny bit funny... but only because it might just happen on accident since I am naturally that kind of writer. Okay now I am just making myself laugh. I am moving on...
Instead of boring you with all the reasons why writing blogs has been the last thing on my mind I will tell you some things that I never told you because I forgot and I haven't been putting much of an effort into this thing.

First of all, when we got back from Christmas vacation I got a promotion at work. They offered me a summer-time supervisor position which of course I took. Basically, since summer time is the "on" busy season they need another supervisor so they have one just for Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend. So I won't be a supervisor until then and I'll go back to my regular position once summer is over. However, I'll be working a lot more and I'll get a raise which means a lot more money! Yay! A lot more money to pay off all the bills we are accumulating Yay! I am a teeny bit nervous about the position since most of the summer-time workers are in high school and college and they have been working there 10 times longer than I have. It's always a bit awkward when you get promoted over someone who has been there longer than you have (and knows more than you do about the job). However, I have gone through it before, back when I worked at Nadoz. And it sucked. Because a particular employee there was not happy about it when I had been there three months and I got a supervisor position after she had been there almost two years. It was pretty much awful. Thankfully (for me, not for her) she eventually got fired and my life got a lot easier.
But this workplace is a heck of a lot more stable and reasonable and sane so I think my promotion will go considerably more smooth than at that crazy place I jused to work at.

Second of all, did you know I learned to crochet several months ago? Well here is the story. I have this wonderful afghan that my grandma and aunt Linda gave me when I was a kid. When I got married Jonathan grew fond of this afghan. So much so that he continually claimed that it was his afghan and that his grandmother made it for him. I would not let this stand though because it is the best blanket we have for keeping me warm at night during the winter time, so I refused to let Jonathan steal my afghan, even though he deeply longed for it to be his. Well, I started my new job and one of my co worker's is Betsy. Betsy crochets everyday at lunch. When I happened to take my lunch at the same time as she I noticed this and realized she was working on an afghan. The idea came to me that maybe, just maybe, I could learn to crochet and make Jonathan an afgahn for Christmas and it would be just about the best darn Christmas present ever. So I hounded Betsy to teach me to crochet too, (just kidding I didn't have to hound her, she was more than happy to show me), bought a crochet hook and some yarn and after a couple weeks finally got the hang of it. Remember how I wanted to make an entire afghan by Christmas (I started in November)? Ha ha in your dreams, Sage. It took me over a month to get it to be one foot wide. I was going to secretly crochet it for Jonathan so it would be a big surprise but it was too hard to find time to do it when he was not around (Really he is always home! He rarely leaves this house). So I just crocheted away and wouldn't tell him what I was making. At Christmas time I told him what his future Christmas present was. Of course it wasn't as good completely surprising him with a wonderful afghan made especially by his wife who he didn't even know could crochet, but it was the best I could do. Well now it's March 14, the weather is getting warm and pretty soon it will be 80 degrees with 1000% humidity, and guess what? I am still crocheting away on that darned afghan! By the time I get the thing done Jonathan will be wearing shorts and begging me to let him turn the air conditioner on. Seriously though, I am very close to being done and am pleased with my recent progress on it, I am just annoyed with my horrible timing. I will definitely put up a picture of it when it is finished so you can see my beautiful handiwork. Well... beautiful in Jonathan's eyes anyhow.

Third of all, second week of May right after I am through with school for the summer...
My brother and sister are coming to visit me!
And I am 78% positive this time!!!
Isn't that the best thing you've ever read on this sorry little blog! I really can't wait. I wish I could just sit around and day-dream about the fun and the wonderfully fantastic time we are going to have (if you remember right, I did that last summer when I wrote up an entire itinerary for us to do when I thought my sister was coming to visit) but unfortunately I have to go study for a test and do a million other things. And that is also why I must end this post for now. Have I written enough to redeem myself yet?

p.s. if you made it this far, congratulations!
p.s.s check out Alicia's post about a recent object lesson she experienced. it's a great post with a great message and a good reminder. (and some beautiful pictures). click here to read it. And you you better read it or I'll tell to sick her five hundred dogs on you (or maybe it's just three... I can't remember).

Another Snow Day

I know everyone says that the weather wherever they live is weird. But I tell you, St. Louis weather is weird! I guess weather is just weird in general. Sunday it got up to 78 degrees. A lovely, lovely day. Jonathan and I took the opportunity to get out and feel the sunshine and went to hike along the Meramec river in Castlewood state park.

Today (Tuesday) it looks like this from my front step outside-

This is the fourth (I think) snow day we have had in the past couple months. I like snow and all but this is starting to get a little old, especially when everything shuts down and I can't go anywhere and everything is cancelled. Wait a second, am I complaining about getting to stay home, drink coffee, and watch the snow come down? Never mind. Forget I said anything.

On another note, this was the second week in the row we got out of the house (and the city) if you can believe it. Last Sunday we went to see eagles over in Illinois along the Mississippi. Apparently they nest there in the spring or something. We saw tons of eagles but not up close because we didn't have any binoculars. We also saw pelicans. A lot of pelicans. I had no idea pelicans lived around the Mississippi. I thought pelicans only lived along the ocean. You learn something new every day. I liked watching the pelicans swim on the water. See for yourself-

That video took forever to load. I am off to drink that coffee...

And the Winner Is.......

Kelly!!!!!

claim your prize by e-mailing me your mailing address @

freshparsley@yahoo.com

Congratulations on winning the

100th Post/1 Year Blogiversary Celebration contest!!

and to the losers: sorry, you'll just have to try again next year

A Double Celebration

Happy 1- year Blogiversary/100th Post!!!!!!

To celebrate I am giving you all a recipe and a chance to win a fabulous prize.

Sometimes I think there is nothing better than a chocolate chip cookie fresh out of the oven with a big glass of cold milk. That's why I wanted to share my best ever chocolate chip cookie recipe with you. Because truly they are the best ever. I have tried many a recipe trying to find the perfect choc-chip cookie. Then I married Jonathan. He won't settle for anything less than a soft, chewy cookie, and that's all that was made in his family. It took awhile for him to convince me, but I finally caught on- his family's recipe is the only way to go. So here it is- go make these and your family and friends will be begging for more.

Nelson's Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies.

1/2 cup margarine (has to be margarine, not butter)

1/2 cup shortening (once again, no substitutes here people)

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

12 oz chocolate chips

I think you know the drill from here, but just to make sure- mix the dry ingredients together. blend the fats and sugars together in a separate bowl. Add the eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture with the fat mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips. Scoop onto cookie sheets and bake at 375 degrees for 8-9 minutes or until they are light brown around the edges. (don't overbake or you'll be sorry!) Word to the wise: you can beat the heck out of the fats and sugars, but for pete's sake after that, take it easy! Don't over-mix after you add the eggs and flour mixture. Just mix it until everything has been blended in.

Don't worry about all my naggy little instructions, I think you will be pleased no matter what.

Now for the fabulous prize. The prize is this brand new cookie scoop-

The reason it is fabulous is because it makes your cookie making experience so much more enjoyable. First of all it allows you to get perfectly shaped, rounded cookies that are all the same size easily and effortlessly. Secondly, if you want fresh out of the oven chocolate chip cookies every day just bake however many cookies you can eat or want, and then simply use your handy scoop to scoop the rest of the cookie dough into a tupperware. Separate the layers of balls of dough with wax paper so they doesn't stick together. Stick the tupperware in the freezer, and viola- A couple nights from now when the craving hits just pull out a couple of dough balls, stick them on a cookie sheet, and by the time the oven heats up your dough will be ready to bake. Isn't that great?

Thirdly, the scoop is handy for getting other sticky things out easily. Like sourcream, refried beans, muffin/cupcake batter, peanut butter, the list goes on and on people!

So either go buy a cookie scoop- or.... try your hand at winning this one. Simply leave a comment on this post by 8 o'clock central Tuesday night. Then I'll put every commenter's name in a hat and draw the winner. Good Luck!