Archives for April 2010

Documentary on St. Peter’s Classical School

April 30, 2010 1 Comment

I just had to post this video of my old school, St. Peter’s Classical. This 9 min. documentary was taken by a lady from the Antiochan cathedral in Wichita, where Bishop Basil resides. Bishop Basil is not only a good friend of my Uncle Joel’s (Fr. Peter Smith), but he even recognized Jesse when he came to visit St. Seraphim a few weeks ago– not because he and Jesse had met, but because Jesse looks so much like his uncle! He’s one of the sweetest men you’ll ever meet.

This video also features a couple of my close friends– Jeanie Pothoff, a wonderful lady at our church who is always available to give me advice and help me out. The day she found out I was pregnant (I told her long before we even told our church or my boss), she asked what I was craving and bought me a huge container of Chipotle guacamole 🙂 She even gave me a “Congrats, you’re done with the 1st Trimester!” present a few weeks ago. If you’ve ever seen Topher Unruh’s crib, it came as a hand-me-down gift from Jeanie.

And then, there’s her daughter, little Mary Pothoff, who’s also featured. If you’ve ever heard me talk about my piano students, I guarantee she’s come up. Teachers are not supposed to play favorites, but we always do. She is 8 going on 45. They didn’t even need to prompt her for these questions they ask her, because that’s how she talks. All the time. She has such a heart for the Lord and rarely ever gets in trouble (usually when she does, it’s because she’s trying to gain the approval of the other girls in her class and doesn’t realize it’s wrong). A few weeks ago, the autistic boy in her class was having a hard day. She came and asked me, “What should I do for him?” The other teacher and I responded, “How about you pray for him to have a better day and feel happy?” She nodded, obviously relieved that there was something she could do. And she did– I saw her with her eyes closed, mouth moving, for a good part of the lunch period.

Siobhan

April 30, 2010 Leave a Comment

The latest contestant to get kicked off American Idol was Siobhan Magnus. In searching for her final performance on Youtube (I don’t watch the show since I work both nights it’s on), I found this clip of her singing in a musical at the ripe old age of 16…it’s phenomenal. She’s never done anything close to this caliber on American Idol– no 16 year old should be able to hit these kinds of notes (wait for what she does after 4:15!) It does prove that the show isn’t looking for the best singer, just the most marketable one.

Soup Catastrophe

April 29, 2010 Leave a Comment

Jesse would actually prefer that I call this an “incident”. He believes that one must go through “disaster” before arriving at catastrophe. Incident-Disaster-Catastrophe. 3 Step Process. Mind you, however, that he said this before Event #3 unfolded.

I really like soup. Lots. But have you seen the high sodium in those things? The recommended daily allowance of sodium for an adult is 1200-1500 mg. For comparison, a Quarter Pounder at McDonalds has 1300 mg. And GET THIS: A cheeseburger at Chili’s has 4300 mg!!! Forget the calories and fat involved, this is why America is having so many heart attacks! Good grief!

When you compare soup with those things, it isn’t too bad– 850 mg. per serving. Since I eat the whole can, that’s around 1700 mg. In one meal. Not too fantastic.

Event #1 “The Incident”

So, I tried the “low sodium” version of the Chicken Noodle soup, just because I’d like to stay away from high blood pressure during this pregnancy (I didn’t say EVERY pregnancy…).

BIG MISTAKE.

THE GROSSEST THING I HAVE EVER TASTED.

Even the Dumposaurus Dumpsters regurgitated it. Ever try washing $1 down the drain? It’s sad. A whole dollar! That’s 2 Diet Cherry Limeades at Sonic!!! All gone, because someone decided that eating yarn floating in dishwater was supposed to taste like Chicken Noodle soup.

Event #2 “The Disaster”

After force-feeding the sink, I tried again. This time, I went for “Split Pea with Ham”– the normal sodium variety. If you’ve ever seen condensed soup, it’s not pretty. And it doesn’t come out of the can easily, even with a fork. Which is what I discovered when I accidently flung it in my face.

The snotty brain blob didn’t even make it to the floor before Claire had gobbled it up. She likes to follow me whenever I go into the kitchen. She is well aware of her odds. “Mommy’s a klutz. Mommy can’t cook. I am hungry. Feed me.”

Pretty sure I would see that missing soup once again, about 5 hours later, packaged (hopefully, packaged, not runny, please, dear God) into little green poop, I finally poured what was left into the pot, added the water and cooked it. Tasty, and well worth the wait. I packaged up the 2nd “850 mg. of sodium” and put it in the fridge.

Event #3 “The Catastrophe”

Later that night, as we were watching the 5th Star Trek movie (the old ones with William Shatner), I started craving that leftover Split Pea Soup. Jesse happened to be up and about, so I asked if he’d pop it in the microwave.

I didn’t ask him to spill it all over the carpet on his way out of the kitchen. Nope, he did that all on his own.

And there was Claire, who follows Jesse around because she worships the ground he walks on. If the first round of green didn’t give her bowel issues, this was sure to do it.

We scrubbed as much as we could, but I’m pretty sure there’s still a green hue. Good thing we own plenty of stain remover for our peeing wonder dog who will surely have the runs by tomorrow morning.

And that’s when I noticed Mirabelle lapping up what was left in the bowl that Jesse had set down.

Great. Just great.