making it up as i go along
from: Paula Kafer
Ingredients
1 cup applesauce
¼ cup milk
1 tsp lemon juice
½ cup oil
2 tbsp molasses
¼ cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup flour
1 tbsp baking soda
1 apple, chopped
1 cup bran cereal
Directions
Preheat oven to 400. Combine ingredients and fill muffin cups 2/3 of the way full. Bake for about 25 minutes.
Did y'all see men's gymnastics last night??? It was incredible!! After Paul Hamm fell butt-first into the judges stand after his vault, I almost turned it off I was so dissapointed for him. But man did he rally!! Of course the other gymnasts' flubs helped a bit too.
You had to feel pretty sorry for those Korean gymnasts though. They didn't make any big mistakes and they still didn't get the gold. But they did what the Romanians did Tuesday night and just delivered consistant, kinda boring routines. Awesome awesome awesome!
Lately I've had a series of dealings with RULES that just don't make any sense and a bunch of little people who either can't think for themselves or are too afraid to step out from behind their rulebook and do what makes sense!!!
Case #1: Idiots at Matt's Office
When Matt was hired, he was given $3K for moving expenses. It was a “forgivable loan” meaning that he had to pay it back if he didn't stay a certain length of time (all if he didn't last one year, h alf if he lasted 1 year, but not 2). So we're getting ready to do this moving/quitting thing and our lease is up on 31 Aug. Well Matt actually started work on 2 Sept so he and the idiots he works for/with had a three week battle about whether he could leave on the 31st and get to drive to Denver with me and my family (instead of by himself) and still get the loan forgiven. We heard tons of “It's our policy ..” and “We can't bend the rules …” It made us very annoyed because they have SO gotten their money's worth out of him. Calls that lasted 'til 2 AM, weekends spent at the office, and plenty of 80 and 90 hour weeks. Finally, though, they saw it our way. Matt will be able to leave with us. Continue reading “Rules”
Well, we've been married two whole years. They've been great!! And I know we're both looking forward to the big changes coming up … it's nice that big changes don't seem quite so scary when you've got someone so great to share them with.
Our anniversary will be celebrated in true style: plum wine, take-out chinese, and women's gymnastics.
Happy anniversary, sweetie! It's so nice to wake up next to you every morning … 
The end pictures were taken outside of Trader Joes, where we stopped after visiting CB2. They had orange sorbet in oranges (and lemon sorbet in lemons) … and we picked some up for a quick snack and Andrew and Matt were being v. goofy with the tops to the oranges. The other pictures is while we were waiting for our ride on the Wisconsin Ducks (DUKW amphibious vehicles) in the Dells to start.
I'm going to recover from the weekend by doing a little work around the house and watching the Olympics!
from: Paula Kafer
Ingredients
6-8 medium potatoes, boiled
¼ cup sour cream
8 oz cream cheese
Directions
Whip potatoes and add sour cream and cream cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spread in a greased casserole dish. Pat with butter and sprinkle with paprika. You can freeze or refrigerate. Bake uncovered at 350 for 30 minutes.
A proverb for your b'day:
May your weather be fine,
May your fish be plentiful,
May the stars shine brightly,
May the fountain of beer never run dry,
May the Republicans win the election.
I love you very much!
I distinctly remember making a post yesterday, and yet when I came out to the computer this morning, it's not here. Am I going crazy? I think it was about JS2 and Sims2. Where the heck is it? I've emailed my host to ask them if they had a server failure that might have led to a loss of data. Otherwise, I'm afraid that it's to the loony bin for me.
Ah ha! The support dude has emailed me back (good work too, as it's 7 AM in Cali right now). There were server problems this morning. So I'm not going crazy(er). 
Oh well! Guess that's a post lost for the ages. Continue reading “Am I losing my mind???”
I got a couple of questions about digital scrapbooks, so I thought I'd write about 'em a little.
The idea behind digital scrap books is that instead of using the tangible 3D objects (papers, embellishments, pens, scissors, etc.) you would normally use to make a neat-looking scrapbook page, you instead use your computer. You take photos, and textures, and lettering, and clipart and combine them using a graphics editing program (photoshop, or paint shop pro) to make a simliar layout. Once your done with the layout, you can either print it or just save it digitally to view on a web page or to burn to a DVD or something like that.
Obviously, this scenario has it advantages. For one, if you're a digital photographer (like me), it makes lots of sense to simply import your images into a program and play around with them. For another, it's hugely excellent have your best friend, ctrl-z with you at all times. The “oops” factor is big with digital cropping. Another thing you've got to love is the cost … around $1/page if you print them yourself. Which is a huge savings in comparison to traditional scrapbooks. Another thing I really love is that I get to use my favorite fonts … and other digital elements that would be a super-pain to use with traditional scrapbooks. Another reason for me is that it's yet another way to keep my skills sharp. Continue reading “Digital Scrapbooks”
We had a very nice weekend. We did quite a bit of shopping on Sunday. We raided the summer sale racks at the normal places and got a few new items for the closet for not much $$. And we got another piece of my b'day present, a new car stereo that has an auxillary port so I can plug in my MP3 player. It even glows amber (though it has a green option, too), just like all of the lights in my little Honda's dashboard. It's so very cool. We also ran some much more mundane errands, worked out, and spent most of the evening at home watching DVDs. Continue reading “Busy Weekend”