Black Box

Jen had this on her blog, and I thought it rather interesting. Make choices that are in the Black Box, and you can have the chance to visit a mystery blog of someone who has made the same choices as you.

Kind of fun! Give it a whirl. :) If you found my blog because of the Black Box, please leave me a comment and tell me what choices made me your mystery person. If you can remember. :)

(P.S. If you came via the Black Box, you have landed just on my Black Box post. Poke around my blog a bit, if you'd like. Links to recent posts are under "Leftover Jello" to your right and down a bit.)



FOLLOWUP: I have decided that the black box is picking websites randomly. People's choices to come here do not necessarily match my own. So chaos is in control, people! :)

FOLLOWUP TO THE FOLLOWUP: After receiving further light and knowledge, the Black Box is attempting to match people up to me. Things are starting to be more than just random picks. I guess that's what I get for spending WAY too many hours playing with a certain little widget...

Mom-In-Law

Ron received a call last night from Lana. She and Nate apparently got married on August 26th! I'm so happy for them, and glad they decided to elope. Weddings are a huge pain in the butt. **grin**

Wow. I'm a mom-in-law now.

I feel like I've entered a new "stage" in life (but haven't left the last one yet). And the weirdest part is realizing that the "grandchildren stage" is just around the corner.

It's almost surreal.

Rain

I love the smell after a rainstorm. I love the fresh, clean fragrance of trees and flowers; the sweetness of the air; how crisp everything looks all washed off. I love sitting out in thunderstorms, watching the lightning dance frantically in the skies above me. I love the wind whipping droplets into my face, hair, hands...

Ron and I went walking/jogging this morning at 5:15am (please don't ask me what I'm doing up at that ungodly hour... I can scarcely believe it myself), after it had been raining for most of the night. It was still even sprinkling a bit here and there...

It was a small piece of heaven on earth.

For the Christians Out There

M Light wrote today in her blog about faith posts.

It made me realize that I've been studiously avoiding mentioning church, or faith issues, or religion on my blog. I think it has a lot to do with growing up Mormon in an area that was pretty anti-Mormon. (I even remember getting "Bible Bashed" during speech/debate class in 10th grade! Me against just about everybody else in class...) I think many of those experiences growing up have made me very quiet about talking about my faith, or sharing it (unless I feel safe).

So, thanks to reading that post today, I decided I wanted to share this with you. My friend sent it to me yesterday, and I was touched. May it also uplift you and reconnect you with our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Reflections Of Christ

Dangit!

Second flat tire this week. Had to replace the last one (hole in sidewall).

Why do you always have these kind of things happen when you really don't have the money to get 'em fixed? (But then you have no choice but to get them fixed, and you eat a lot of mac & cheese for the next month...)

What's Your Bias-- Followup

Lu and I spoke in front of the school board last night.

I made copies of the "What's Your Bias?" paper Lu had received in class, and started passing them out to the board members. I told them, "Let's pretend for a moment that I'm your employer. I am telling you that you must fill this test out, or risk having a written disciplinary action that could affect your job." As I got to the end of the line of people who wanted a copy, the school principal said, "WHERE did you get this?!"

I responded that many of the middle-schoolers were given this survey, and told if they did not fill it out, they would fail the class for the day and be given a zero. Even though many of the children were clearly uncomfortable with the survey, they were still forced to complete it. I can't remember everything I said, but I do remember saying, "Our children had no choice but to make a prejudiced decision."

When I was finished with my allotted 2 minutes, Lu stood up. She started out with, "I was one of the students who had to take this test." She told them how she felt; how her best friend felt like she was labeled (she is Native American), and how upset/mad she was that she was forced to make a choice based on the color of someone's skin.

I was very, very proud of her. It's scary standing up and speaking in front of a lot of strange adults at age 13. But she wanted to come and tell them exactly what she thought about that test.

Not sure what will happen with this, but I am hopeful that action will be taken at this point. The board members were horrified with the survey, just as much as I was.

Day of Caring

Today was the United Way Day of Caring. My department participates in this every year, and it's a good experience for everyone.

This year, our assignment was for an elderly lady who needed yard work done... BADLY.

It took over 100 people 4+ hours to mow, trim, prune, haul, and paint. We filled up 5 community-size dumpsters to overflowing. Her house looked GREAT when we were all done with it. She cried with happiness at how beautiful her home looked.

The sad part? I noticed that all the neighbors in her circle had beautiful yards-- carefully manicured lawns, flowers, landscaping, the whole nine yards.

Why would neighbors allow an elderly lady to accumulate 30+ years of growth on her property, and not help her out? Her lawn was over a foot tall, for crying out loud. Not even a simple lawn mowing, folks?

What's Your Bias?

Lu received this as an in-class assignment. She was told she must fill it in, or receive a "zero" for the day. What are your thoughts?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What’s Your Bias?

Directions: what would be your reactions to the following situations? In each case, number your choices in order of preference.

1. You are the captain of a sport team. You are to pick your team members from the following players:
___ an African American
___ an Hispanic
___ a Swede
___ a Chinese
___ a German
___ a Native American

2. Several families want to buy the house next to yours. Which would be your choice as new neighbors?
___ an Oriental family whose parents are both doctors
___ a large family from the rural South
___ a divorced working mother with two children
___ a family whose parents are of two different races
___ a family who has recently emigrated from Puerto Rico
___ a single professional man

3. You read a highly technical, intelligent article on a thought-provoking subject. The essay is unsigned. Who do you think is the author?
___ Elizabeth Adams
___ Lamar Johnson
___ Eli Steinberg
­___ Jose Martinez
___ Wilson Stuart III
___ Michael O’Connor
___ Cookie Norris

4. You get on a bus with several empty seats. Who do you choose to sit next to?
___ an overweight middle-aged woman
___ a tall muscular African American
___ a leather jacketed teenager
___ a shabbily dressed elderly man
___ a person in a business suit

Sloppy Joes

Since I know people will want the recipe after reading yesterday's post, here it is! My kids have said they are now spoiled for life for ever eating anyone else's Sloppy Joes... and you know they must be pretty good if teens gush to their friends about their mom's recipe. :)

Sloppy Joes

1 lb. ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup ketchup
1 Tbsp. white vinegar
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. dijon mustard
1 tsp. paprika
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 clove minced garlic (optional)

Brown meat and onions until no longer pink, and drain off any excess fat. Be sure to break up the meat. Add the rest of the ingredients to the meat in the pan. Cook, uncovered, for 30-60 minutes or more on low heat until thick. Serve on buns.

The longer you let it simmer, the better it tastes. And this tastes even better the second day, so I always double the recipe.

Labor Day

My brother Dusty and his family came over to spend Labor Day with us. The cousins had a grand time together, and the adults got in some good visiting time. (Why is it that when you're a kid, adults are SO boring 'cause all they want to do is TALK when they get together, and then you end up doing just that when you grow up?)

Ron and Ana (sis-in-law) talked music-- she really wants his Beatles' collection-- and Dusty fixed a master dimmer switch for me. It's nice having an electrician brother. I'm sure he thinks the same about me, being a sister computer geek and all... :)

We had a yummy dinner of fairly standard summertime food: my to-die-for sloppy joes, chips, red and green grapes, watermelon, and fresh corn-on-the-cob. We all ate too much!

After dinner, we popped in our Heroes DVDs. My brother and sis-in-law hadn't seen them yet... They had to leave after the third episode, and by then they were hooked. :) They took Season 1 home with them.

I really want to get Season 2, but money is too tight right now. Still waiting on Washington to return a "verdict" on the whole child support issue. I hope they hurry... they're killing us right now.