Exceedingly Mundane

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Archive for February, 2008

Feb
29
Posted by Stace

Leap Day & a QOTD

Question of the dayWell, it’s an “extra” day today. Only happens every four years. You think there’d be some kind of celebration or “National Holiday” or something to commemorate Leap Day, wouldn’t you?! Are you doing anything different or special today?

I mentioned it the other day to Tim, and he said, being the sweet, supportive husband that he is, “you ought to do something special on your blog.” When I asked what, he said to ask a special “Question of the Day“. So, when I asked, here’s what he said!

If you could do anything or go anywhere you wanted today, where would it be? Here’s the stipulations – money is no object, but time is. You only have 24 hours to accomplish this. You can leave the house at 12:01 AM but you have to be back by midnight. You can go anywhere you want, with anyone you want. But here’s the catch – you have to be willing to do this every four years on Leap Day. You have to go to the same place, do the same things, with the same people. Where would you go or what would you do and who with?

Leave me a comment and let us know… after all, this was Tim’s “Question of the Day”!!!

Have a great Leap Day πŸ˜€

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Feb
29
Posted by Stace

Friday Feast Meme

Friday Feast Meme

Appetizer
Who was the last person you hugged?
My darling husband, of course!

Soup
Share a beauty or grooming trick or tip with us.
Hah! Me, beauty tips?! You must have me confused with someone else! Ok, here’s one thing. I’ve heard for a while about the make up like Bare Essentials, the “mineral powder” and “powder veil” type makeups. Those kinds of things aren’t in my budget. But last week when my sister and I were at Walmart, we found that most of the brands there are coming out with these mineral based makeup. I think I saw them in Cover Girl, Maybelline, Revlon, L’Oreal, Almay, Neutrogena, etc. I bought some of the powder foundation and I really like it. It’s going to be great to wear in the summer, much lighter and doesn’t feel so cakey and heavy as liquid foundation.

Salad
What does the color yellow make you think of?
Happy things – daffodils, spring, Easter chickadees. My kitchen! A new color of Fiestaware dishes I am hoping to get. Two cute blouses I just bought (one is yellow and white and the other is black, yellow and white, cute cute cute!)

Main Course
If you were to make your living as a photographer, what subject would your pictures revolve around?
Natural things like flowers, birds. Red Barns. Old churches. Stained glass windows. Hmmm, having a hard time picking one!

Dessert
What was the longest book you ever read?
It feels like the last one I just read, the first book in the Bourne series by Robert Ludlum (paperback, tiny print, 535 pages). I don’t know, maybe Gone With the Wind was longer. I don’t like long books. I’ve found that not only am I a mood reader, but I have a fairly short attention span where books are concerned. πŸ˜€

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Feb
27
Posted by Stace

Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut…

Nutssometimes, you don’t!

I’ve been trying to get on the treadmill every day. We’ve had it a week and a half and I’ve only skipped 1 or 2 days so far. So far this week, I’ve done 3.5 miles (Monday) and 4.0 miles (Tuesday). Let me tell you, it’s kicking my behind. And, to make matters worse, I got on the scale this morning, expecting to have lost weight. Boy, was I disappointed!

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. While on the treadmill, I’ve been watching a bunch of cooking shows that I have saved on our DVR. I watched a baking show yesterday and they made several kinds of cookies and bar cookies. Most of the recipes had nuts and that made me think – does everyone like nuts? I know a lot of kids these days have allergies to certain kinds of nuts. How about you – do you like nuts in your cookies? If you’re going to bake chocolate chip cookies, do you add pecans or walnuts, or do you not want a nut to spoil your cookie? I don’t mind, but I don’t always add them. I think Tim prefers his chocolate chips cookies and other baked stuff to be plain, but he will gladly eat them either way πŸ™‚

That’s today’s “Question of the Day” – nuts in your cookies and baked goods, or not? Leave me a comment and let me know!

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Are you old enough to remember this old nursery rhyme? I think I remember my grandmother telling it to me…

Sing a song of sixpence a pocket full of rye,
Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened the birds began to sing,
Oh wasn’t that a dainty dish to set before the king?

So, I thought I’d steal that nursery rhyme for the title, as my sister Gail does at her blog, More Than a Song. We’ve been having tons of blackbirds here lately (a lot more than 24, more like 124 at a time!) I must admit – I love birds. I have several birds feeders and a suet feeder and I love to watch the birds in my backyard. We have a lot of cardinals, wrens, mockingbirds, sparrows, finches, chickadees, woodpeckers and other backyard birds. I saw a robin on the way to church last Sunday, but I haven’t seen any in my yard yet. Hopefully, soon! Lately, we’ve had tons of blackbirds. One day a week or so ago, I was inside the house, with the TV on, and I could hear them outside. I got my camera and got a couple of photos as some of them were moving over. It’s funny how they move in such a swarm:

Blackbirds

Blackbirds

Believe me, the photos don’t do them justice! They were everywhere. I think they are my least favorite bird.

So, how about a Question of the Day: Do you have a bird feeder in your yard? Do you enjoy feeding the birds and watching them? And, are you nerdy like me and like to take photos of birds?! πŸ™‚

Have a great day!

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Feb
24
Posted by Stace

Sunday Afternoon

Good day today so far. Our church is doing a series on “Desperate Households”, about families and couples and parents being “desperate” for God. It’s been such a great series and we have thoroughly enjoyed it. I almost hate that it’s going to end in a couple of weeks, right before Easter. It’s made us want to get up and get to early church as soon as we can every week. πŸ™‚ We had a quick lunch, and then after watching some golf on TV, Tim decided to go head to the driving range to hit some balls. Beau and I are hanging out at home. I’m doing laundry and catching up on reading newspapers and going through piles of mail. It’s a beautiful day here, all sunshiney and just a little cool (58º right now). It’s supposed to hit 70 degrees tomorrow before it starts raining again.

I obviously just transferred a bunch of photos and decided to play catch-up on here. Here’s a couple from today:

Beau taking a nap – look at the two toys curled up in his feet, so cute!

Napping Beau

And yeah, the doorbell just rang and guess what finally came!

Girl Scout Cookies!

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Feb
24
Posted by Stace

New Books

I’ve been really good so far in 2008. I haven’t bought any new books, and I’ve been working on my TBR pile. I have over 50 books in my “to be read” pile. I have only gotten 3 books, a trilogy by Tracie Peterson, from the library, way back around New Years. Everything else I’ve read has been from my own bookcases, so I’ve been working on whittling down my huge pile of books. Plus, I have not bought a book for myself this calendar year. I felt like I deserved a reward!

So, this past week, I made up for it! πŸ™‚ My sister Gail came for several days to visit, and we went shopping. Had a blast, as always, and Gail was sweet enough to indulge me and go browse to my heart’s content at Lifeway Christian bookstore. We spent a while checking out the “bargain book” shelves, and I scored the second and third books in the Mindy Starns Clark “Smart Chicks” mystery series. I haven’t read any of her books, but have been wanting to. So when I found each book for under 5.00 each, I snatched them up. Now, I have to order the first one from Amazon, and then I can get started.

New books

We stayed up really late Friday night playing Text Twist (technically, it was Saturday morning, and if you knew me in real life, you’d know that was a feat in and of itself), so I really wanted to sleep late Saturday morning. But no, my local library was having its thrice yearly “Friends of the Library” sale. Believe me, that’s about the only thing that would get me out of bed early. πŸ™‚ The bottom 4 books in the stack were all I found at that sale. I saw a lot of books that I wanted to read, but opted to wait and check them out of the library rather than purchasing them and adding even more books to my TBR pile. πŸ™‚ In case you can’t see them in the photo, they are “Maggie Sweet” by Judith Minthorn Stacy, “Sea Glass” by Anita Shreve, “Booked to Die” by John Dunning and “Twelve Ordinary Men” by John MacArthur. Yeah, more books!

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Feb
24
Posted by Stace

Friday Night Excitement

I’ve been lax lately about transferring and posting photos. Time for a little catch-up!

What’s a boring, old married couple do for Friday night excitement? Why go out on a date to eat at a yummy restaurant, or to a movie, when you can stay home and watch TV shows like Bones, Monk or Psych? Then, instead of actually watching the whole show word for word, you crank up the computer and play Text Twist? We’ve been playing Text Twist online at Yahoo since right before Thanksgiving. Our previous high score (together) was in the 130’s. After several (read: more like 5 or 6) hours of playing, we broke our old record and attained a new record. Unfortunately, I had used Firefox to open Yahoo with and Text Twist won’t save our score. So I had to take a photo for proof. New high score:

Text Twist

202, 040 — in case you can’t read it. Isn’t that awesome?!!!! And who on earth knows the word “fakirs” as the “long word” solution? No wonder we were stumped and couldn’t keep playing! πŸ˜€

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Feb
22
Posted by Stace

Friday Feast Meme

Friday Feast Meme

Appetizer
Have you ever played a practical joke on anyone? If so, what did you do and who was your victim?
No, I’m not a jokester. I’ve had them played on me, back when I worked with all men (engineers and analysts). They loved to do things like unplug my keyboard, put tape over the speaker in my phone, etc. They got a kick out of seeing me get worked up. I never felt the need to do things like that to other people πŸ™‚

Soup
What do your salt and pepper shakers look like?
I have 2 sets – one sits on my kitchen table, and matches my dishes (Mikasa French Countryside), so they are white. I have a tool caddy/spice rack next to my stove that Tim bought me for Christmas several years ago. In addition to glass jars for all kinds of spices, it has a stainless salt and pepper shaker included. I use that when I’m cooking πŸ˜€

Salad
Where is the next place you plan to visit (on vacation or business)?
We haven’t figured out where we’re going this year on vacation, yet. Suggestions?!!!! :mrgreen:

Main Course
What kind of lotion or cream do you use to keep your hands from getting too dry?
I don’t use hand cream regularly, but I do use it more this time of year than the summer. I’m currently using some from Bath and Body Works.

Dessert
Make up a dessert, tell us its ingredients, and give it a name.
Aww, come on now, I can’t come up with a new dessert! Mine would have chocolate in it, of course, and maybe some cherry. How about some kind of chocolate-cherry bar?

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Feb
21
Posted by Stace

Booking Through Thursday Meme

Booking Through Thursday Meme

This week’s topic: Format

All other things (like price and storage space) being equal, given a choice in a perfect world, would you rather have paperbacks in your library? Or hardcovers? And why?

Gosh, wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing, if price and storage space were really not an issue?! I’m envisioning a huge room in my spacious new home, just for a library. With big leather chairs and big snugly chairs by a fireplace, with ottomans and chenille throws tossed on them. Wall to wall bookcases overflowing with books that I love and want to read. Even one of those nifty movable ladder things to move around to find all of my books πŸ™‚ However, I don’t think that’s ever gonna happen for me. But – if money weren’t an issue, I’d probably really get mostly hardbacks. I really like the bigger trade size paperback, so I don’t have a problem having those. I would really rather not have the small paperback. As I’m getting older, I’m finding that the type size on most of those is getting really small, plus sometimes they are just harder to hold for me. Give me a large paperback or a hardback most every time.

Great question! Happy Reading!

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Feb
20
Posted by Stace

QOTD – Food Processor

Food ProcessorDo you have a food processor? If so, what kind and how often do you use it? I have an older one that my mom gave me years and years ago. It’s an Oster (Sunbeam) brand, and it has a small food processor cup with just one blade, and then a blender attachment. I like it because it gives me both, but I’ve often wanted more functionality out of it. It doesn’t have a tube for adding things, nor does it have any blades but the one simple cutting blade. It’s also really small, probably either a 3 cup or 5 cup capacity. I really like it, it’s worked well over the years, but sometimes I get the urge for a new one πŸ˜€

I’ve batted around for years, the whole dilemma of finding room in my overflowing kitchen cabinets to upgrade and get a larger and nicer food processor. I’ve gone back and forth on the whole Kitchenaid vs Cuisinart thing. I watch so many cooking shows, and I see them both used, often and fairly equally. {Oh, and since we’ve gotten our DVR, I record and watch a ton more cooking shows. Heavens to Betsy!} πŸ˜€

I can’t decide. My main concern is cleaning out enough cabinet space to store the thing! I still haven’t spent any of my Blingo winnings, so I have money for a new appliance. I just can’t decide what to get!

Let me know if you have one, how big it is, what brand, how often you use it, what you use it for, and so on and so forth! Inquiring minds want to know πŸ™‚

Have a great day!

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Feb
19
Posted by Stace

An Early Present & QOTD

Tim and I have been tossing around several big ticket items to get for the house. New flooring, a new stove/range, and several other things are on the agenda. I also have been looking for a Wii to get for Tim, but haven’t been able to find one in stock anywhere. Another thing we talked about getting was a treadmill. I was really resisting that, because I didn’t want a “crutch” to keep us from taking Beau out on a walk. We haven’t walked much lately, between Tim hurting his knee, his work schedule, the weather, etc. The list is long, but basically, none of us were getting much exercise.

Tim woke up Saturday morning and decided we should go get a treadmill we had seen at Sam’s. So we did! It’s an early anniversary present, as our wedding anniversary is coming up in a couple of weeks. πŸ™‚

The thing is a LOT bigger than I thought it was going to be. We really don’t have room for it in our tiny house. I had wanted to put it in our spare bedroom that serves as our office. But a) we don’t have room without a major cleaning and overhaul and b) Tim didn’t want me to be on it while he was working. He works from home almost every day, and he didn’t want me in there distracting him while he was trying to work. That left the den and the garage. We’re trying it out in the den for a while, but boy – it does NOT go with my idea of home furnishing and home decor πŸ™‚ It’s basically an eyesore, but we are enjoying it so far. I like having it in front of the TV, so I can catch up on stuff I’ve recorded or watch something on TV. The treadmill does have a plug for the iPod, so I can listen to music while I walk, instead of watching TV. Right now, I’m enjoying TV πŸ™‚

We’ve only had it 3 days, but so far we’ve both used it every day. Tim is jogging some, and I’m just walking. Tim is convinced that we will keep up with it, but I’m worried that the newness will wear off sooner or later. Tim says if we start not using it as much, or it REALLY bothers me being in the middle of the den, that we can move it out to the garage. But, I keep telling him – I won’t use it in the garage in the summer. When it’s 100 degrees outside, I don’t plan to be in the garage, which is basically a sauna, on the treadmill.

Anyway, it’s a great new toy and so far we are really enjoying it! Tim has even gotten Beau on it twice! We watch a lot more of “The Dog Whisperer” since we got Beau, and we’ve seen Cesar putting dogs on the treadmill. After Beau’s first attempt, we decided that those dogs get in a lot of time on the treadmill before they put them on TV! Beau is going to take a few more times before he’s really comfortable on it πŸ™‚

So, I’ll post a couple of “Questions of the Day” and a photo on the inside page. Click for more!
Read the rest of this entry »

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Feb
18
Posted by Stace

Menu Plan Monday

Menu Planning Monday

Gosh, seems like it was just a day or so ago that I was planning the menu and posting it. Sigh, it’s been a whole week! Be sure to head on over to Laura’s blog, OrgJunkie, for lots more menu ideas and even recipes. Thanks to Laura for hosting this every week!

Here’s what I’m looking at… as always, this is subject to change during the course of the week πŸ™„

Sunday – we had General Tso’ chicken (from the freezer), brown rice, and potstickers (from the freezer)

Monday – Imitation Crab Cakes, smashed potatoes, green beans or other veggie

Tuesday – Tacos, fat free refried beans

Wednesday – Egg McMuffins, turkey bacon

Thursday – Jambalaya with turkey sausage

Friday – Date Night or pizza

Sat/Sun – TBD

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Light on Snow by Anita ShreveI finished my third book in Annie’s “What’s In a Name Challenge” a couple of days ago. This is a book that I picked up on a bargain table at Barnes and Noble quite a while back, so it was good to finally get it off my TBR shelf and actually read!

I must admit, I was a bit worried about reading this book. The only other book I’ve read by Shreve (that I can remember) is “The Pilot’s Wife”. A couple of tidbits of trivia about this – it’s one of only a couple of Oprah’s book club books that I’ve read. The most notable bit of trivia is that, as best I can remember, “A Pilot’s Wife” is the very first book I ever ordered from Amazon.com. If I remember, it was back in 1999 and I had been thinking about ordering from Amazon and finally did and ordered this book. :mrgreen:

Ok, back to the current book. I didn’t just love the other book I read by Anita Shreve, but the blurb on the back of Light on Snow looked promising. I won’t type it all up here, but you can read the blurb or reviews here at Amazon. I worried for nothing, though, because I really enjoyed this book. It hooked me right at the very beginning and it was one of those “hard to put down” kind of books for me. I read it very quickly and was very happy with it! I enjoyed the writing, the beauty of what she was describing, the characters and how she developed them, and the overall plot. Very engaging book πŸ™‚

Have you read any of her books? If so, do you have one to recommend? As I said, I wasn’t thrilled with “The Pilot’s Wife” and so I stayed away from her books for a long time. I know I’ve read some reviews and blurbs on other blogs about books of her that are good, and not so good. If you have read one by Anita Shreve that you liked, leave me a comment and let me know. I imagine my local library has most all, if not all, of her books. Thanks!

So, for the record, I’ve completed 3 of the 6 books I picked for the “What’s In a Name” challenge. As far as this year goes, I’ve read 11 books, for a total of 3,571 pages. Up next is “Playing for Pizza” by John Grisham. I’ve read a lot of girlie books lately, so it’s time to switch it up a bit. πŸ™‚

Happy Reading!

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Feb
15
Posted by Stace

Friday Feast Meme

Friday Feast Meme

Appetizer
Name one thing that is unique about you.
Well, I couldn’t come up with anything, except my odd “Monk-like” habit of always putting things in their place. You know, like when Tim comes in and drops his keys on the kitchen countertop. I go move them and put them “where they are supposed to be”. Things like that πŸ™‚ I asked Tim and he said immediately “your eyes”. Which surprised me. And when he told me why he thinks my eyes are unique, he took my breath away and nearly made me cry. So there, a dual answer πŸ˜€

Soup
Fill in the blank: My favorite _________ is __________ but I like _________ too.
My favorite food is Chinese, but I like {love} Italian and seafood too!

Salad
What type of wood do you have for your homeÒ€ℒs furnishings?
Darker woods, cherry and mahogany type woods mostly.

Main Course
Who do you talk to most often on the phone?
Ugh. I’m so not a phone girl! Either my sister or my dad, I’d imagine. I talk to Tim when he’s driving places without me, because he likes to talk to help pass the time.

Dessert
What level of responsibility do you have in your job?
Well, I’m the queen of all I survey around here! My last job, I was a peon, but Tim lets me decide most everything in my new, favorite job of “keeper of the household”. I plan meals, do all the shopping and purchasing, etc. It’s a great job if you can get it πŸ™‚

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Feb
14
Posted by Stace

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day!Happy Valentines Day to everyone! It will be a very low-key day here at the Exceedingly Mundane house. Tim has been working so much lately. They’ve been doing a lot of work at night, and he’s been up until 3, 4 and even 5 AM several nights a week for the last few weeks. Last night was no exception. Irregardless, Valentines is not a huge thing in our house. I always love the “excuse” to get extra stuff, candy, a card, but it’s just not a big deal to Tim. Slowly, over the years, I’ve come to understand and agree with him. He told me when we first got married, that he didn’t need or want someone, a card company or whatever, to tell him when he needed to buy me something, surprise me with chocolates or flowers, or tell me that he loved me. He wanted to do it any day of the year, every day of the year, in whatever way he wanted. And he has, and he does. I’ve come to know what he meant – that means so much more to me than something on Valentines Day. When he and the rest of the known world went out to buy a card or flowers or candy. πŸ™‚ OH! And yesterday was a hoot. I ran to Walmart for some things, and you should have seen the people flocked to the Valentines areas. They were putting out tons of flowers and balloons in the aisles up front, and the people were swarming around them like bees to honey. It was actually kind of funny to watch! So anyway, we will celebrate today with some chocolate cookies I got us yesterday at a local bakery, and some steaks on the grill tonight. We’ll watch Survivor and Lost and it won’t be a big deal. No more going out on Valentines for us. One year we waited two hours for a table at a favorite restaurant, and then had very sub-par food and bad service. Never again!

Hope you all have a great day!

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