Fruit Dip #1

Happy Spring!

Ahhh, I love the beautiful weather we're having here. Last week was a little warmer than I prefer for early spring, but this week is off to a perfect start. All this beautiful weather has me in the mood for fruit. I've decided to experiment with some different fruit dips, salsas, and salads throughout the season. Mostly, I'll be sharing them with my House Group.

Tonight, I decided to make the basic dip so that I can adjust to the different ingredients offered here. I used cream cheese and a variation of sour cream. There are several different versions of sour cream that I can choose from. They all have basically the same affect, but slightly different textures and tastes. This makes it a little tricky. The one I chose, was a good choice though a bit too sour. I added about 3 tablespoons of sugar. My plan WAS to add some vanilla extract, but I found out much too late that we don't have any at home and thus, I used some "vanilla sugar." The extra sugar helped take off some of that sour edge and the vanilla was the perfect amount of flavoring. I'll take my basic concoction to House Group on Thursday and see how it fares.

I'd appreciate any creative fruit salads, salsas, and dips you can toss my way throughout this season.

Excuses...

While searching for CNN's online update of the Italian earthquake status, I came across an article discussing the latest "most outrageous excuses" for being late. I've posted the list of excuses below, you can find the complete article on CNN.com


Use your imagination

If you've decided honesty is not the best policy for you, don't try using any of the following excuses as the reason why you're late -- they've been heard before.

Here are 12 of the most outrageous excuses employees have heard for being late to work:

1. My heat was shut off so I had to stay home to keep my snake warm.

2. My husband thinks it's funny to hide my car keys before he goes to work.

3. I walked into a spider web on the way out the door and couldn't find the spider, so I had to go inside and shower again.

4. I got locked in my trunk by my son.

5. My left turn signal was out so I had to make all right turns to get to work.

6. A gurney fell out of an ambulance and delayed traffic.

7. I was attacked by a raccoon and had to stop by the hospital to make sure it wasn't rabid.

8. I feel like I'm in everyone's way if I show up on time.

9. My father didn't wake me up.

10. A groundhog bit my bike tire and made it flat.

11. My driveway washed away in the rain last night.

12. I had to go to bingo.

Just Sayin'

I absolute have to get this one off my chest.

After class, most days, I walk from our building into the downtown area to catch my tram home. It's usually a nice walk with a classmate or two. Today, I arrived at what's called Jakominioplatz (Jakomini Square) which is the main hub for all the city buses and trams. While waiting for my bus, I hear a little boy yelling. I find him, about 2.5 years old, holding his mother's hand while loudly screaming "no" and other such little kid tantrum phrases. He stops yelling and out of NO where turns and kicks his big brother. The big brother is then yelled at. The little guy then turns and KICKS his big sister! I kid you not, the mother's response was, "Did he just kick you?" The daughter confirmed and then NOTHING happened next. Okay, so maybe she doesn't believe in disciplining her child in public (whether she speaks, spanks, or uses time outs, waiting till she arrived home would be absolutely unproductive in disciplining this child. He was WAY too young to remember for so long that he did something inappropriate, much less WHAT he did.). Alright, so that tram comes... at this point, I've been standing about a yard away, just watching and praying, "Lord, what do YOU see with this family?" He shows me his heart and his love for them. The tram arrives and on I go... this woman sits the youngest boy in the seat in front of me and stands at his side. The boy is staring out the window most of the way, but still yelling quite a bit. The mother gave the boy candy to keep him quiet for the bulk of the ride. So he finishes his candy and then, what does he do? HE SUCKS ON THE TRAM WINDOW FRAME! Seriously? I gag... a few times... and begin to contemplate getting off the tram 5 stops early and waiting for the next one, just then he stopped said sucking. THEN what do you think happened? HE LICKED THE WINDOW! I don't just mean one swipe, licked. I'm talking, his tongue licking the window and leaving shapes with his spit, sort of LICKING THE WINDOW! And the mother? Said nothing. Did nothing. And me? Gagging again. Seriously.

I'm not judging the mother. I refuse to do that. I'm not going to call him a "bad kid" because I don't believe in such a thing and I especially don't believe in saying such a thing. ALL I'm saying is... I'm just sayin'.

wow, I'm busy

My new semester means a lot less time/energy for blogging.

On Mondays and Tuesdays, I'm leaving the house around 5:30am and I get home at 5:30pm the earliest. I try not to plan anything especially for Monday afternoons, but sometimes that simply isn't possible. Then Wednesdays I "only" have class now, which is great and makes for a lighter day. Thursdays I leave at 9:45am and get home at 9:45pm. It's not such a tough, long day though...since I end it with House Group. Friday's are from 9:00am until 2:30ish, and then of course whatever's goin on Friday night. Which, lately, has consisted of watching a movie that requires no real thinking. I don't say this in a query for pity, I say it as an excuse for the lack of updating. So, here's a run down (in brief) of what was and is to come...

Beginning of March- Advanced School topic- Leadership. AMAZING (as you read).
Mid-march- Julia had a concert and the following weekend, her mom took us to Appassionata. Also AMAZING. It's a horse show that is simply mind blowing if you have any sort of appreciation for horses and the arts. If I remember by the time I'm done writing, I'll upload a video or pic.
End of March- Steve Espamer is back in Austria and he brought a handful of people with him. He actually came at the beginning of the month, but the highlights I have are form the end. They joined our house group last week- it was simply fun. and AMAZING. Well, it was alright. :-) Steve talked about The Lion King-which i do NOT have the mental stamina tonight to help you understand what he really shared. Friday night I watched Open Season 2 with Julia. I have watched this movie SO many times since it arrived. I guess I'll get it out of my system a bit before I switch my computer back to playing the European DVD format. AND, Sunday was a Parschlug service. Parschlug, in case you forgot, is a small village in upper Styria where Julia's family lives. It's about an hours from Graz. They have a great (and large) house group up there and every so often, we have a Sunday service there. It's always somehow a special time. I love Parschlug and I love Parschlugers and I love Parschlug services (Hi Steve!).

And now for the things to come:
April 1: my German class is going to Wien for the day! hoooray for field trips! and double hooray for getting to have lunch with Hannes!
April 2: Teresa's birthday!
April 3-6: Worship rehearsal in Zagreb!
April 6-9: some time during that week I will go back down to Wolfsberg with Steve and his team!
April 10-11: I am staying in Parschlug (because I love Parschlugers!).
April 11: Tent of David worship service
April 12: Easter! Rather- Passah Feast! yum yum yum and lots of great spiritual food to go with it!
April 17: Trip to Wolfsberg again! Woohooo! This time, probably with some of the House Group!
April 29-May 4: Travel to Zagreb, conference in Sarajevo, then traveling back from Zagreb.
May 5: My birthday and DORIS COMES BACK FROM DEUTSCHLAND!
May 14: CLE ARRIVES!