Swimming in the Rain...

(Ok sprinkles for a couple of minutes but with Dollie bearing down on us, I didn't want to take the chance of misreading the weather AGAIN.

Vacuuming the Pool - great job, Son!

©2008 D.R.G.

COOKIES

I have been wrestling with Toll House Cookies since going crunchy...I think I've got it this time. ::snort::

We wanted to make a plate of cookies for Cy and for Martha, a friend who is recuperating. Truthfully, *I* thought that was the plan. My young chefs seemed to want to gorge themselves on bowls of cookie dough!

Do you like MONSTER cookies or normal cookies best?

We'll take Josiah MONSTER cookies.

I took Martha and family a combo plate.

Yes, it IS a Chrismas platter. Wanna make something of it? I still have my snowmen plates out too. ::snort:: I spent too much time figuring out how many points a small cookie would be.

©2008 D.R.G.

Which Do You Like Best? (I'm obsessive)

I've been working diligently the past two weeks to master the "to do" list. Tomorrow night our PWOC group is meeting to make farewell gifts for the upcoming year. Click here to get an idea of what we are doing. The board decided to use a photo of the Water Lilies from the International Water Lily Collection. I am to make the cover. This would have been EASY. I was going to pop it into word, add text and be done...but NOW....I'm a digiscrapper...and I spent 3 hours playing around with photos and am still not sure which I like.

This is to be the cover of a cookbook - recipes submitted by members. What do you think? Remember we are in W TX....and we are intergenerational....

Some with JUST Lilies as I was asked to do....

Some with lilies and other scenes from the past year....



This is hopeless. I had thought I'd go to Sam's and get them printed and ready to go before tomorrow night, but I think I'll take copies to the event tomorrow and let folks vote on which they like. I could set it up on the GAFB blog with a poll.....or I could finish blogging today's events and go to bed. LOL I'm no good when Mike isn't home....I'm a hopeless night owl and look like a hag by the time he returns. ::snort::
©2008 D.R.G.

Leadership Weekend

PWOC Leadership Weekend is held annually in each region. I have heard this called "President's Weekend" and only Presidents attended. In Central Region the executive board from each installation is invited. Our region rocks. The cost of lodging and meals are covered. The idea is for this to be training for new boards about to take office for a year of ministry.

Here are a few glimpses:

Thursday night, as the regional board arrived, we went to Carol's home for dinner. While there we helped her assemble gifts to pass out at LW. To the left is Diane (our VP), Kristen (Keynote speaker), Judy (Titus 2).

Carol, our fearless leader

Deb (Titus 2) speaking about team building

PWOC Moment - that moment when you see an old friend across the room
Hmmm...I know I'm animated when teaching Bible Studies, when speaking at retreats - but REALLY, WHAT COULD CAUSE ONE TO BE SO ANIMATED when talking about the INTERNET??? ::snort::


The above photos convinced me it was time to lose weight and cut my hair. I suppose when you stalk around taking photos someone is sure to grab the photo and snap some of you....these are compliments of Deb.

Kristen - our special guest

Board doing an impromptu "skit" about the International Conference

Ft. Leavenworth has the most wonderful stain glass windows all around the sanctuary and foyer. The tops show scenes from the life of Christ and the bottoms show military scenes. Here's a sample.


It was a great weekend and I learned much. Not only from our "speakers" but from simply interacting with other godly leaders; from both the local and regional levels.

©2008 D.R.G.

Our Big Adventure or WHAT do you do when the thing starts SCREAMING?

Have you ever noticed that strange things happen around here when Mike is gone? ::snort:: Mike left at 0630 yesterday - this happened at 1300.

The carbon monoxide alarm went off and wouldn't STOP. I was getting my hair done....right in the middle and couldn't run home. I told the kids to open the windows and get out of the house. I fretted through the rest of the appointment trying to remember what you are supposed to do when those things go off.

I came home. All seemed fine. I plugged the thing back in and it didn't go off. We don't HAVE any gas appliances etc in the kitchen. We do have a new gas water heater. It seems to me that if we had a concentration of Carbon Monoxide it would be near the water heater. I moved the alarm to the bathroom - nearest plug I could find. THEN the AC quit working. I replaced the batteries in the thermostat and things seem fine.

Today, I find out that the kids ran out of the house without shoes. I suppose they were really alarmed with the piercing noise. Jared took the little ones to the park. Keep in mind that it is HOT down here. They walked to the park - one in on line skates, one on a bike but barefoot and one in snow boots...carried the baby and the other one hopped barefoot. They wondered why everyone was staring at them? ::snort::

©2008 D.R.G.

HELP ME.....

Mike is gone this week and will be home Monday. He's at an Assembly of God Chaplain conference. No, we aren't Assembly of God, but they graciously invited chaplains from smaller denominations to attend their conference. It's all geared to the unique needs of chaplains. I'm praying he runs into old friends, makes new friends, and most of all is spiritually and physically refreshed and renewed during this time away.

The thing is: I'm home alone. I have plenty of things to do on "the list". I am focused.....but I'm also seeing how well this points tracking spreadsheet is working for me....and I'm thinking maybe, just maybe I should look into weight watchers...but flex or core? Who knows....and really I'm LOSING weight last week and this week without attending a meeting...but I like groups of people. ::snort:: AND I just discovered there are over 1395 WW items on auction at ebay....lots of the starter kits with the books and such that everyone loves.....so I'm very tempted to order the starter kit and continue on my own way....with points tracking, produce eating, Christian Weight Loss Support Yahoo group, gym and possibly the base meetings if I can ever break away at lunch....that's just it....they are Friday at 11:30 and it won't work for me. But it certainly is the key that I'm missing....local support....weekly hearing NEW or old but fresh info about nutrition, health, exercise.....and I think WW may add that....but I don't have the $ for WW....as long as I'm working the program without joining and losing, I guess I should keep that up....and I can buy the cool logo totes on ebay. ::snort::

The spreadsheet is cool - though I messed up the formulas....really I like that better than a paper food journal anyway..... but those books with food counts already figured, the motivational DVDs.....but then again most of the counts listed will not be food I eat....

©2008 D.R.G.

Terrrrrrrific Tuesday

I enjoyed my morning Tryst.

Jared was my gym buddy this a.m.

We cleaned the house.

I bought an External Hard Drive - a 1 TB. I won't get it installed until Mike returns from MO but surely I won't crash anything more in the near future. Isn't that the way it works? I just had my computer mishap for the quarter::snort::

I filled the new car with gas - 30 mpg...It was certainly less painful to put 9 gal in than it is to put 30.

PLAY DATE! Deja and crew invited us over to visit with HER new bunny. ::snort:: Truthfully, we love going to Deja's house. Not only is she the "lushie lady" (slushie lady) ::snort:: but they have a pool, sandbox, swing, rope swing, play house and trampoline. A veritable kid's paradise. Miss Ellie (who is feeling better thanks so much for the prayers) plays great with Stacia...and Zander loves Everson....Eric and Emma are natural fits with Nolan and Arielle....that means we get MOMMY TALK too! ::snort::

I made Honey Baked Chicken, cheese rolls, salad et al for dinner. Most ate it. That's good. I'll make it again. Sheri, thanks for the recipe.

I'm busy formatting recipes for a PWOC project night on Friday. We're going to make these for this year's farewell gifts. (Hmmm...can't get to the PWOC website tonight, guess I'll post the link later).

Jared discovered this video....humor with a message.

©2008 D.R.G.