SOMETHING FOR THE INNER NERD IN ALL OF US

Saturday full moon.

FAT AND HAIRY

A little boy at work so kindly pointed out that I have a mustache. What a little sweetheart.

The cake didn't work. But I managed to make it into something useful. The cake tasted great but just came out of the pan in chunks so I made a different dessert for an informal potluck on Friday. I cut the chunks into small pieces, mixed chocolate pudding and cool whip together then added mini marshmallows. It tasted not too bad and I got a few compliments on it.

Anyway, I went to visit the refugee family on Thursday evening without a cake. I think it was okay, they seemed to appreciate the visit. They had several other refugee families that live in the same building all crowded into their apartment. It was wonderful, kids running around laughing and they were showing me a bunch of their stuff from home. One of the girls had hand woven some shirts and she gave one to me. The first one I tried on didn't even fit over my shoulders. There was no way it was going on. The second was a bit of a struggle and required assistance but I got it on. It was too short. Then she found one that fit me. This little fiasco turned into a conversation about how big I was. Everyone was making hand gestures indicating I was wide and fat. Everyone was having a good laugh too. Especially when one of the men, who is 21, tried on the first shirt and it fit. It was snug but he still got it on. Now I am not a big person by Canadian standards. I'm about 5'8 and 135 pounds. But to them I was large. I think they will be shocked by the size of people we consider to be big and tall.

It was good for me though because I had been recently talking to a friend about how small I am now compared to when I was playing volleyball a couple of years ago. I thought I looked like a pencil on toothpicks. I wish I was bigger but don't have time to cook and work out like I would like to. Now I don't feel so small.

One more thing, this was too cute. I was looking through the flyers with the family and telling them what a bunch of food was called. We got to the meat section and the 21 year old guy points to this thing.
"Hey, alligator. You eat alligator?"
I couldn't hold my laughter in.
"No we don't eat alligator. That's a ham, it's a pig cut up."
He thought the waffle-like skin on the processed hams was alligator skin. We all had a good laugh. They are so much fun to be with, not shy at all and can laugh at themselves and each other.

ANOTHER WONDERFUL DAY...

Tuesday I wanted to bake something for a refugee family that my church is sponsoring to make them feel more welcome. I didn't have much time so I decided on making some EatMore bar ripoffs. The most simplest recipe ever and I've done it a million times before successfully. But not this time. They turned more crumbly then chewy and I have no idea what went wrong.

Then I heard that they love chocolate and cake. Being the genius that I am I decided I would bake them a chocolate cake. As I was getting started I realized that I only had one round pan instead of the two that I thought I had. So I ran across the street to Zellers to buy another round cake pan. I got home only to find that they were not the same size. It was too late to go back to Zellers to find a smaller one. Oh well, I'll just cut a bit off of the edges so that they are the same size. So I put them in the oven, started a load of laundry then went back to the kitchen to clean up my mess.



I then took them out of the oven and allowed them to cool for a while. I took them out of the pans and this is what I got.



Fantastic!

Somewhat upset I decided to call my family and chat with them for a bit before going to bed. I hung up the phone and heard a huge thump. I look in the laundry room to find that while the machine was spinning, my Costco sized container of liquid detergent had fallen off the machine. Now it didn't break, thank goodness, but the lid did not remain in it's sealed position so I now have blue detergent splashed up the walls and all over the floor. Awesome!

I cleaned that mess up then got ready for bed. I still really wanted to bake a cake for the refugee family so I got back into my other clothes, went back into the kitchen and started again. I was a little short on milk so I added a bit of water to it. Hope it still works. I also greased and floured the pans like it was going out of style. That is where I am at right now. Waitingfor the moment of truth. Those cakes better come out of the pans smoothly or there will be heck to pay.

INTERESTING THINGS I'VE HEARD RECENTLY

I was watching an episode of "Saturday's with Mark and Tony" yesterday. It's a great little show online, it's a pastor and a Christian singer/comedian that discuss theology and various other things. In this particular episode they discussed women as preachers. They both were for it, and supported it with scripture. I was disturbed to hear that the NIV had changed a passage. In Romans 16:7 Paul is speaking highly of two church leaders, Adronicus and Junia, a man and a women. Tony says that the NIV changes the name Junia to Junias, a man's name to fit their theology that women should not preach. I haven't had time to check it out yet, but hopefully soon.

Another theology related thing I heard is that many biblical scholars believe that the book of Hebrews was written by a women.

At Walmart I was buying some hangers and was told by the cashier that she would not put them in bags because it was difficult to do so. Are you flippin' kidding me? So I walked with my arms full of hangers and got to the door and the man told me I had to show him my receipt, which I had put in purse. He did not offer to take some of the hangers while I struggled to find the receipt in my purse. When I accidentally dropped the receipt and it started blowing away I got quite a bit of joy watching him almost grab it only to have it blow away again.

A friend of mine also told me that a bill is likely to be passed making spanking against the law. I guess I'll be going to jail when I have kids.

Lastly, this not something that I heard but rather something someone heard me say. WARNING: If you are a male uncomfortable with female problems you may want to stop reading. I went over to my friends house to meet up with her before we headed out to play beach volleyball. She asked me how I was doing and I said,
" Other than the fact that it feels like world war three in my uterus I am doing fine."
We go into the living room a few steps away and she says,
"Hey Chantal, do you remember my friend Andrew?"
Awesome, I am sure he heard how well I am doing.

So I have had another great week. One of the kids at work bit me, so I know what it must feel like for you breastfeeding mothers. He was definitely old enough to know better, but all the kids have been acting strange. Maybe there's a full moon or something.

I got a flat tire. Turned out not to be so bad because I had a full size spare in my trunk and it happened to be close enough to work that I could borrow a jack from somebody else. Now I know that I should have my own jack, but there is a good reason why I didn't, but I am not going to go into that now. I was pretty ticked though that nobody offered to help. I was passed by a few males who just kept walking or offered stupid tips. My pride would have probably forced me to decline any assistance but that's besides the point. Where are the gentlemen? That's okay, I am completely capable of doing such things on my own.

I was baking a banana loaf the other day and discovered that my oven mitts had ants in them. A fair quantity had taken residence inside the cozy cotton. I might just buy some new ones because that was pretty gross, there is probably tons of bacteria and little ant feces inside. And I needed new ones any way because I accidentally put them in the dryer when I washed them so they were a little snug on my massive man hands.

Still sick, but a different kind of sick then last week. I think I might make a sticker chart of all the common illness that infect humans and see how many I get. So far I have had a cold of the upper respiratory system, laryngitis, cold of the lower respiratory tract, fever and chills, with intermittent episodes of diarrhea of unknown origin. Just in the last three weeks.
Oh life is good!