Hitting the Movies

I'm quite sure our favorite pastime is going to the movies as a family. However, keeping to our frugal (cheap) ideals, we go downtown and take advantage of the before noon $5.00 seats at AMC. It is an awesome deal, plus usually the theaters are not very full so you have your choice of prime seats without someone tall sitting in front of you. Today we saw 'Inkheart' and enjoyed it. Afterwards Audrey got her Bison Burger fix at Sawtooth Grill and I got my kitchen store fix at Williams Sonoma. Fun day with the family!

Jinx!

When I was young, I remembered you could call "Jinx" when you said something at the same time someone else said it. I think we had to stop talking, but cannot remember what allowed us to start talking again. Maybe my sister will remind me...

Then when I got married, I heard a new twist on the game. John would say "Jinx, you owe me a bottle of pop!" Again, you had to stop talking but I cannot remember how we got out of it. I know there was no actual pop involved!

The other day we learned something fabulous on The Office. Such an educational program!! We were watching an older episode (the 2006 Drug Testing episode) and Pam jinxed Jim and demanded a Coke. This is when we learned that he could NOT talk until he gave her a Coke. The pop machine was sold out so Jim remained silent for much of the day, even when asked to speak at a group meeting. He had to use facial cues and even resorted to fake crying during the episode. It was hilarious!

So now that we learned the true, unflinchingly rigid rules of Jinx, we got about to playing the correct way. A few weeks back I jinxed John. I went downstairs for something awhile later and then could not find him. He had gone to the store and returned shortly with the pop : )

Today was the best though. We were driving on Sprague, headed to a drive-thru. I was driving. John jinxed me, so of course I could not speak. I started to gesture to the window to explain that I would not be able to order nor even tell anyone what "I" wanted! While we were stopped at a red light, someone ran it. I started making crazy gestures - pointing up to the red light, pointing to the cop that was nearby but did not pursue and John had a jolly time re-interpreting what I was saying (and getting it totally wrong)!

This was war!

So I bypassed the drive-thru and headed straight to Safeway. Once John realized what I was doing, he started laughing because he thought I would not be able to walk inside the store without saying hi to anyone. So I silently went to the pop area, decided that the 2-liter was a better deal than the single serve size and immediately headed to the check stand. The checker knew me and started to chat. I smiled and said nothing. As soon as I finished paying for the item, I started talking and quickly explained to her why I had not spoken.

Tickle

I was tagged a whole bunch of times with a "25 Random things about me". I have not taken the time to list these, but did come up with one that is kind of strange.

My husband can tickle himself and I laugh.

Think about it.

We had the Home Teachers over tonight and we were sitting on the couch. Not sure why John started tickling himself, but I started laughing so hard that I was crying. Audrey had to run and get me a tissue. I could not stop laughing.

I just think this is odd...

YW Activity: Chinese New Year's

We had a fun activity this week with the Beehives - Chinese New Year's. Patty had decorated the room with paper lanterns, umbrellas and various books. It looked very festive. She started the evening by telling the girls a little history about Chinese New Year's and that it is the year of the Ox. Then we heard what year it was when we were born (Horse for me). Tying in the hard working characteristic of the ox (dependable, calm, patient, hardworking, ambitious, logical), she had me give them a short lesson on what characteristics they should have when they are in the work force. Then I started the craft portion. We had 11 girls show up (yeah) and they seemed to have a really good time during the whole evening.

DECORATE CHOPSTICKS: I used a wood burning tool. Had to borrow Audrey's and she gave me a lesson on how to use it. I think it turned out pretty good. I got a package of #100 chopsticks for under $2.00 at Cash N Carry. To decorate, you need to keep with simple lines and dots, unless you are a wood burning expert like my daughter! This was a hit with the girls until we had a little technical issue and had to stop before everyone got a chance to finish. Good thing the second craft kept them more than busy!!
MAKE PAPER FORTUNE COOKIES: I bought a package of take out boxes (#25 for about $2 also at Cash N Carry) and then some patterned paper. Cut circles out of scrapbook paper, 3"-4" works well. Fold the circle in half (lightly, do not crease) with just a little overlap. Then you bring the two sides together by holding your fingers on either edge and kind of push in the center so it folds. Again, do not crease at all. They look more realistic if you do not fold them exactly in half, but a bit off center. Then use a small piece of double-stick tape to seal it into the fortune cookie shape. I also had prepared some fortunes for the girls to put inside. You can put them in before you start folding, or push in afterwards. After the crafting session, we enjoyed some egg rolls & rice in traditional Chinese bowls (some girls even ate with their chopsticks) and of course, real fortune cookies for dessert!

Heard in the Carter Home

A: Can I turn the heat up?
M: What is it at now?
A: 58 degrees
M: You may turn it up, 2 degrees
A: Sweet!

John told me that they featured this family on the NATIONAL news this week. They had made a decision to turn down their heat in their home to 68 degrees. And they were featured on the news? C'mon! Where is your adventure?? We keep our house at 60 degrees and have for pretty much our entire marriage (20 years). Reminds me of the fireside chats when President Carter was in the White House and we were in the midst of the energy crisis. He'd sit in a chair in front of the fire place urging Americans to wear a sweater and turn down the heat. I have to plan on wearing short sleeve shirts when I go visit some folks' house so I don't just melt from the heat. I don't keep my heat at 60 degrees to necessarily save energy (though that is a by-product), it's always been about cutting costs and living within our means.

Stroganoff

We love stroganoff in our house so made this when we got home from church. Sunday was rather chilly, so my first picture did not turn out so well with the steam coming so quickly off the meal. So I took another picture after I packed my lunch, not sure the cold noodle picture looks any better? Oh well, tastes yummy no matter what!
BEEF STROGANOFF
1 lb. hamburger
2 Tbsp flour
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 garlic clove
1/2 c. minced onion
1/4 lb butter
1/4 c. water
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 c. sour cream
Cooked egg noodles

Cook hamburger in a pan, drain off excess grease and season as desired, we use worcheshire sauce). Return to pan and add flour, salt, pepper, and garlic; saute in butter. Add water and onions and simmer; add soup and sour cream. Cook until bubbly. Combine sauce with cooked egg noodles and serve immediately.

In Memory - My Dad

David Eugene Gramlow

June 25, 1936 to January 24, 2008