A Christmas Meme

I received this from a friend by email and thought it would be fun to post and read all of your responses. So if you play along, let me know so I can read your answers.

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends and family. Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, and try not to be a SCROOGE!!! Just copy (not forward) this entire email and paste into a new e-mail that you can send. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person that sent it to you......Tis the Season to be NICE! HO HO HO

Some of you are very rushed this time of year so if you do not respond I certainly understand, but thought some might think it was fun...>

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping Paper (Mr. Geek does all the wrapping, my corners are not nearly razor sharp enough. haha)

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial

3. When do you put up the tree? Friday After Thanksgiving -- Although it is KILLING the Middle Geek to wait (that is what he said, "I can't take it anymore!!!")

4. When do you take the tree down? New Years Day

5. Do you like eggnog? OMG, it is the best, I just wish it did not have so many calories

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Stuffed Animals

7. Hardest person to buy for? My Mom

8. Easiest person to buy for? Middle Geek, he has already made a list

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, but I don't think it has many pieces left unbroken. I know Joseph is gone. I think the Baby Jesus is still unbroken.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail sometimes

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Ugly Clothes

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? A Christmas Story - I can quote so many lines from this movie, I probably don't have to ever really watch it again -- But I will.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? After Thanksgiving

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Only for a large group gift exchange.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Prime Rib

16.Lights on the tree? Yes, lots of lights, they must be all different colors and not blinking.

17. Favorite Christmas song? After all the years I have sang in choirs, I love love LOVE Christmas carols. Some that pop in my head are, Carol of the Bells, Still, The Holly and the Ivy, Do You Hear What I Hear, The Little Drummer Boy, wow I could go on and on...

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Of course, can't everyone.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas Morning -- Bright and Early

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Crabby people who complain about buying gifts. I say if you don't like buying all those presents, then stop. Except for Mr. Geek, you do have to buy me a present, no matter what.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Homemade by one of my kids

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Prime Rib, didn't I already answer this, oh well it is so good it bears repeating.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Peace on Earth, or at least in my house

Happy Birthday Linda!!

Today is my second big Sister's Birthday!!!

(This is probably the time that my family is wondering about the wisdom of letting me take all of our Grandma's pictures to my house.

It is good to be the baby of the family.)

This is my sister in grade school. The thing that everyone remembers about her at this age (honestly, even people who have not seen her for years and years) is how fast of a runner she was. I remember at my Mom (or Dad)'s work picnic that she would blow past the entire field and ALWAYS won a ribbon. (As a matter of fact, no, I never won any ribbon, even though I tried so very hard to jump in that sack, but it's okay I am over that now, thanks for asking.)

This is my sister is high school. Do you see that beautiful shiny straight hair? It took hours to achieve and she slept with metal orange juice cans in her hair for years - If you roll wavy hair around big enough rollers it will straighten the waves out, or so I have been told, you would never see me trying to sleep with my hair rolled up in orange juice cans (yes I realize you can tell that by looking at pictures of me during that time -- leave me alone already.)

Happy Birthday Linda!! We always have alot of fun together! (Don't worry I still have more embarrassing stories for your next birthday. heh heh heh)

AbFab on Top Chef

After the Amazing Race, my next favorite show is Top Chef which just started it's new season last night - WooHoo. Maybe you enjoyed Mr. Geek and I on our Amazing Race Adventure. Well (in my head) I also believe I might do okay on Top Chef (at least in the early rounds). Join me if you will on another journey, this time to the Top Chef Kitchen.


Padma: Welcome to today's Quickfire Challenge. Chefs, today's Quickfire challenge will test your skills of substitution. Food allergies are becoming more and more prevalent in our society. Chef are often requested to prepare dishes or complete meals without certain ingredients. For this challenge you must prepare a traditional side dish without gluten (this includes wheat, rye, barley and for this challenge oats) or dairy (including cheese yogurt and butter) or eggs. You will draw knives to decide the order you will choose the side dish to prepare.

On the table before we have place a number of speciality items that you may use to prepare your dish.

Chef AbFab you have chosen Knife number 1, which side dish will you prepare?

Chef AbFab: Potatoes Au Gratin

AbFab (in interview): When I heard the challenge, I thought, yes this is MY challenge! I looked at all of the side dishes and picked one that I thought would be the most challenging.

Padma: Ima, you have chosen number two, which side dish will you prepare?

Ima DaBest: Mashed Potatoes

Ima DaBest (in interview): I am very familiar with gluten free cooking and the chefs at the Hoity Toity Restaurant where I have worked for several years often are requested to prepare food gluten free. Not being able to use eggs or dairy was new, so I thought, I had better pick something safe. I saw the Rice Milk on the table and thought, this will be easy.

Padma: Uda, you have next choice.

Uda Woman (in interview): I have heard of gluten, I mean it is a good thing when you are making bread, right? So making food without it just seemed weird. I was trying not to panic, when I saw some Elbow Macaroni made with who know what on the table and some soy cheese.

Uda Woman: I will take Macaroni and Cheese.

(The rest of the contestants finish choosing.)

Uda Woman (in interview): I started the water boiling to cook the noodles, while I prepared the items for the sauce. When I came back to test the noodles, the texture was not right at all, they were way too mushy and overcooked.

One hour passes with a flurry of knives.

Count down: Three two one -- Hands Down!

Judges: Ima, what was your side dish?

Chef Ima: I chose Mashed Potatoes.

The judges look at the potatoes, clearly unimpressed.

Judges: These potatoes are not very creamy, in fact they seem really watery.

Chef Ima: I used the rice milk that was provided and I struggled to get the texture as creamy as I would have liked.

Judges: Hmmm. Uda, what to you make?

Chef Uda (laughing self consciously): Well it was supposed to be Macaroni and Cheese.

Judges: I am glad you told us, it does not look very appetizing.

Chef Uda: Uh yeah, well I could not figure out the best way to cook the noodles, they kept coming out under or overcooked.

Judges: Hmmm.

Judges: AbFab, what did you make today?

Chef AbFab: I chose to make Au Gratin Potatoes. I wanted to challenge myself to make something that was as creamy and satisfying as the original.

Judges: Hmm, it looks good.


Chef AbFab: I started with White sauce made with margarine, Rice Starch and Rice Milk. I then added several (secret) ingredients to punch up the flavor. I pour the sauce over some thinly sliced red potatoes and baked it until the potatoes were done and the sauce was thickened.


Judges: Wow, I am not sure I would have even guessed that this was gluten, dairy and egg free unless I had been told. I wish I could have seconds.

(Shut UP! It is my story.)

Goodbye Fall!

Here is a picture of my favorite tree.

Remember what it looked like in the Spring?

Now it is completely bare!

Hello Winter!

Tagged by Mean Mom

Mean Mom tagged me (and gave me a cool award to sucker me into it.) What can I say, she must know me very well.

7 Things I plan to do before I die:

Write a bucket list of thing to do before I die
Sing in a Gospel Choir (just once, I know I would be embarrassing)
Give a sermon (not to my children, a real sermon)
Stay in a hostel
Write a book
Take a culinary course
Be referred to as an expert by the local news

7 Things I do now:

(chronologically today)
Laundry
Empty Dishwasher
Fix lunches
Get children ready for school
Take youngest to school for Intramurals
Drink coffee
Check email

7 Things I can't do:

See without my contacts
Turn on my laptop
Get my children to hang up their towel after a shower
Program in C++ (Shout Out to the College Geek)
The Yoga pose - Tree
Speak French
Make coffee in the office (I really can't, trust me)

7 things that attract me in the opposite sex:

Sense of humor
Eyes full of laughter
Really strong calves (lower legs, not baby cows)
Good hair - nice haircut and must look like it does not smell
A good smell - Not too much cologne
Intelligence
A good job

7 things I say most often:

Can't I have anything nice?
When I speak, can you hear me?
Do not throw the ball in the house.
Do not kick the ball in the house.
Do not play with the ball in the house.
Do not touch the ball in the house.
Just give me the ball.

7 Celebrities that I admire (How about substitute- would like to meet for lunch)

From Bravo TV
Tim Gunn

My favorite British chefs:
Robert Irvine
Jaime Oliver
Gordon Ramsay

Some funny guys:
Stephen Colbert
Steve Martin

My Personal hero:
Sallie Ride

7 Favorite Foods (I Americanized the spelling)

(This is so hard because I get tired of foods after I eat them a few times)
Carmel Apples - The good ones, rolled in pecans not peanuts
Vanilla Latte - nonfat, extra hot -- coffee is a food right?
Lasagna
Gooey Butter Cake
Blueberry Cobbler with ice cream
Homemade Cinnamon Rolls -- made by my wonderful sister Chris- hint hint
Ice Cream Sundaes made by Mr. Geek

7 Bloggers who need to do this:

Okay, I am thinking of a number.

Did you guess seven? Woohoo! I tag you!

Let me know when you fill this out so I don't miss it!

Voting

Some comments I have after voting today.

Vote! Just go vote, there is still time.

Why is the line for those with last name starting with S-Z the longest. always?

Since the line for those with last name starting with S-Z is ALWAYS the longest, why don't we change the way the line is broken down?

Shouldn't their be a frequent voter program for those of us that vote in every election, not just the president? I am thinking a proper reward would be a Fast Pass that allows you to go to the front of the line - even if your last name begins with the letter S-Z.

And last but not least..

To the person who left the graffiti written inside my voting booth (from the hand writing I am guessing a middle aged male -- just a guess), what did you hope to accomplish? Way to take an adult responsibility and reduce it to high school immaturity! Dude, go away!

What was your experience today? (or the last time you voted for those of you not in the US--Hi Mean Mom!)

Happy Halloween!!

What do you think of my pumpkins??

The African Children's Choir

We were all so excited to see the African Children's Choir in concert. This is the best picture I was able to take of the concert. Trust me the children have so much energy and joy and they are so much fun to watch. The church was packed with people enjoying the performance.

We were lucky also that we were able to be a host family for some of the members. I assumed that I would be host to boys (because that is all that I have at my house), but I was pleasantly surprised to have two young girls and their chaperon- also a young woman -- join us. That might be the only time in my house where the girls out number the boys.

After the concert we did not have much time to visit before bedtime. The girls were age 7 and 10 and were from Uganda. Their volunteer chaperon was just out of college and from Canada. We had a quick snack and everyone turned in.

Because our visitors were only staying until 9:30 the next day, I let the boys go to school late that day to have some time to visit.

Our music room was a big hit!

The Littlest Geek was ready to join the choir is they would have him.

The boys were excited to get a big breakfast on a weekday!

The kids were able to play outside for a bit that morning.

The girls were so busy playing that they did not get a chance to teach me some dance steps until we were in the parking lot at the bus. They were very polite and encouraging, my boys that were watching -- not so much.

The African Children's Choir

I am so excited. Guess who is coming to our church? We are also lucky to be a host family for a couple of the children and sponsers. I am sure the Middle Geek will take lots of pictures like he did when we hosted Candlefuse. When my laptop get fixed I will show the pictures.

Until then enjoy the following.

Where is AbFab Geek?

This time it is not a fun game of travel. Instead of being somewhere fun, I am at home but I am having trouble getting to the internet (oh the horror!) My laptop is not broken, BUT it refuses to connect to the internet. The home desktop is still down due to an unfortunate boxing accident. (If a computer can't learn how to fight back it won't last in this house, after all it started the fight!!) I would have made an entry while I was at work (don't tell the boss) but the Middle Geek was off of school. I took him with me to work and I was luck to be able to get the minimum of real work completed before he was bouncing off the walls.

I am composing this on the College Geek's computer. Where is the College Geek? He is home for the weekend, yeah! He and his brothers and Mr. Geek are having a boys day out at Six Flags. At the last minute his ride home from college fell through. The plans for this weekend have been in place for LONG time so Mr. Geek drove down school to get him (4 hour round trip) It is good to have him home (and good to have his computer haha).

I am at home alone more than a little giddy at how quiet the house. I have cleaned out several rooms and now I am blogging on his computer and chatting with people on the College Geek's instant message board (Seriously you would think he would have turned that off.)

Hopefully College Geek will be able to fix my laptop. (I mean he is a Computer Geek also.)

So don't forget about me!! I will be back soon!

The Park

On our recent staycation, we spent one beautiful day at a local park. The Middle Geek works in the Church nursery every Sunday and has made no secret about who is his favorite kid there. He was so happy that we were able to meet up with him and his mom, Elizabeth.

I missed the picture of the two of them blowing the seeds off of a dandylion, but of all the pictures I snapped, I really like this one. I think it's because they are standing almost the exact same way, they really are in sync that way.

I like this picture so much, I have been searching for a quote or verse to put with it so I can print it out for the Middle Geek's bedroom. This is where I need you help! I put some quotes I have found but none seem exactly right.

I need Sugggestions!

Here are some I have found:

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter won't mind.
Dr. Seuss

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. Buddha

Trick or Treating for Can Goods

It is our Youth Group's tradition that before Halloween, we go Trick or Treating. We aren't collecting candy, like on Halloween night, but we collect can goods for the food pantry. It is always alot of fun and for a good cause.

Middle Geek decided revisit his Nerd costume from last year. (A geek is different than a nerd, surely you know that. We freely acknowledge our geekiness, but WE ARE NOT NERDS.) However it was interesting that we were able to pull his costume together from things that we just happened to have around the house.

Even some of the adults get involved.

I think I had an out fit like that in the 70's, but mine was more colorful!

It is tough to look like a nerd when you are just this cool.





















The result of all of our hard work.

The Last Triathlon of the Season - The Story

First I have to give a big SHOUT OUT to Mr. Geek for his last Triathlon of the season. Although he doesn't get his own blog posting (or even any pictures, the shame), congratulations to Mr. Geek for finishing the Fall Triathlon consisting of a 500 meter swim, a 21 mile bike ride and a 5 mile run in well under 2 hours (1 hour 51 minutes), scoring a Personal Best and finishing 7th in his age group. Let's hear a big WOOHOOO!!!!

Now on to the Littlest Geek's Triathlon. (Sorry Mr. Geek, but LG is just a bit cuter.)

The swim was a short 50 m. No big deal for this seasoned Triathlete.

Transitioning to the bike in the month of October is just a little different than in the summer. It was a chilly morning.

The transition was very smooth.

Look at Team Geek Go!

I was worried a bit about the bike, because it was on the streets. The lane was marked by big orange cones, but a mother worries.

The biking was for 1.5 miles - Piece of Cake!

Now it was time for the run. This has been the hardest part for the Littlest Geek (and Mr. Geek too). I can't blame him, running a mile after swimming and biking.

Look how he took off out of the transition area. Can he keep up this amazing pace?

Here he is starting the street course - still looking strong!

And here is the Finish Line!!!

He ran the entire way!!!

WOW! The Littlest Geek came a long, long way from his first triathlon!

Just wait til next year!

13 Things about St. Louis

After our recent Staycation , I have been filled with renewed appreciation for my hometown. In appreciation, I have compiled a list of some of my favorite things about St. Louis including some of the quirks of the people who live here (those quirks are some of my favorite things too.)

Food

1. Toasted Ravioli – You take ravioli, roll it in bread crumbs and deep fry it. Dip it in Marinara sauce, yum what’s not to like. Some restaurants get fancy and also serve toasted Cannelloni, it’s all good.

2. Gooey Better Cake – Think of a cross between the best yellow cake you have ever had and cheesecake combined with sticks of butter and wait I need a minute. At one of the Littlest Geek’s Triathlons, there was a bakery with gooey butter cake samples. I literally stopped in my tracks. I don’t like to chow down on Gluten filled goodies in front on the boys, BUT, I quick looked at LG with his back to me, and snarfed up two pieces. I hope you don’t think less of me.

3. St. Louis Style Pizza – People love it or hate it but you won’t mistake it for anything else. First the crust must be very thin. (Not too thin and crumbly like some restaurants). The cheese must be Provel. Provel cheese itself is traditionally from St. Louis and is a mixture of several cheeses including Provolone. St. Louisians refer to this cheese as “the gooey cheese” as opposed to mozzarella which is called “the stringy cheese”. (They are simple that way.) St. Louis Style Pizza must also be cut into squares, not wedges. It just does, do not argue with us.

Roads that do not exist on any street sign or map

4. Wharf Street – This is the street between the Arch and the river. It has some long official name, but you will never hear a local call it anything but Wharf Street.

5. The Interbelt – Officially known as Highway I-170. Not to be confused with Highway I-70. St. Louisians get I and 1 confused a lot, and just so you know, in St. Louisian time, the Interbelt is a new highway (built in the 80’s).

6. The Page Extension – Official name: I-364. This highway and bridge over the Missouri River is so new that I am sure it will never be called anything but the Page Extension within my lifetime. Luckily for visitors to the area it does indeed connect with Page Avenue on one end, which should help them find it on a map.

And soon to join this category

7. Highway 40 – A major renovation within the St. Louis area (hint: if you visit stay far away from this construction.) As the highway is brought up to interstate standards , MoDOT is optimistically renaming it I-64. Yeah right, it will never be anything other than Highway 40 here. And by the way the pronunciation in Highway Farrrty, very heavy on the R sound.

Which leads me to:

Letters that are pronounced in words but don’t exist in the spelling

8. The letter R – St. Louisians love the letter R. They love it so much that there is always a big emphasis on it when it exists in a words, such ar Farrty, sharrts (shorts) and Quarrrter. In fact they love it so much they include it into words where it was not originally, the favorite being warsh (wash), everyone knows that if you take the R out of Wash things will not get clean. (You can quote me, I know these things.)

9. The letter D – This is more confusing because most St. Louisians don’t even know that they do this. I discovered it when a poor lost traveler asked me for help. He had a St. Louis map and directions from a local. “Help me,” he begged, “I can’t find Baldwin, and it is supposed to be right here on the map.” “Oh,” I said easily, “it’s right there.” And I pointed to Ballwin. “There’s no D in it,” He cried (really almost cried, he had been staring at the map for a really long time.) So here is my public service message: There is no D in Ballwin. Now is I could just convince Mr. Geek that there is no D in Winfield. (Unless you are using the word in conversation, in which you must add the D, I hope this is clear.)

Other Pronunciations that just do not make sense.

To understand some of this you have to look to the history of St. Louis. There is a strong French influence in St. Louis’s history most obviously starting with the name St. Louis named after King Louis IX of France. However there is a very strong German influence. If you study the two languages at all, you will find that there is little in common with the way letters and words are pronounced.

10. Sometimes St. Louisians just pronounce the word as if it was English.

Bellefountaine is pronounced Bell-fountain.
St Francoisis pronounce St. Francis
Creve Coeur is pronounced Creeve Core.

11. Pronunciations no one understands Sometimes it appears that there has been an attempt to change the pronunciation, an attempt that has gone horribly wrong, and at this point the spelling and the pronunciation don’t have anything in common and you end up with

Courtois River pronounced at Court-a-Way River
And
Castlio School is pronounced Causely School.

Other St. Louis Quirks

12. How do you pronounce Missouri? You would think that at least the people that live in a state would agree on how to pronounce said state. Wouldn't you? Of course not. In St. Louis, the pronunciation is Mizzoureee with an i like spaghetti. This is actually the only correct pronunciation and I personally will fight this til my death.

13. The Question: Everyone who lives or visits St. Louis knows the question. “Where did you go to high school?” Yes we ask everyone we meet this, we just do, accept it and get over it.

I will try to explain our fascination with this question for those of you who visit or moved to St. Louis after high school and feel left out during this part of the conversation. 1. It is not a moment of snobbery. (Some people of course can use it as such, but that is not its intent.) 2. It is a efficient way to ask lots of questions in one compact questions. (St. Louisians are very thrifty and efficient, that is why they produce such awesome engineers.) Most St. Louisians live here our whole life, I myself am the fourth generation of St. Louisians (Laugh about me if you want, real St. Louisians know that you are laughing and still don’t care.) By asking this one simple, non offensive question, I can find out the following:

How old you are. (Many high schools go in and out of existence)
What your religion is (or a close guess).
How much money your parents made.
I can narrow down, the probability if you went to college and maybe even guess which college.
But most importantly I can find out:
Do we know any of the same people. (Because St. Louis is really just one big small town.)

So there is some important information on my hometown. I hope this is helpful for you if you ever get to the middle of the United States. When you get here, give me a holler!

The Winning Photo

After days of voting, the score seems to be just about even for the following pictures. It is interesting that those from the St. Louis area seem to favor the first photo below, and the out of town (and country) crowd prefer the second photo below.

Feel free to continue voting in the comments.

A Bend in the Sky

picture by Middle Geek

From a Distance

picture by the Littlest Geek