True and Better

Sometimes, playing the comparison game is a good idea. Here's just such a time.

True & Better from Peter Artemenko on Vimeo.

Foodie Fridays - One Day Late!

The contest is nearing to a close. This is the penultimate week for entering videos, and for this round of entree week I've made a Beef Stroganoff. I heart this stuff. Next week, the final week, is dessert week. I'm a lame dessert maker, so I may opt to not submit a video next week. That means that this may very well be your last chance to hear me say my cheesy closing lines of "I hope you try it. I hope you love it. Happy Cooking."

Oy. I needed a creative assistant to tell me to stop saying that! ;-)

Here we are: Enjoy! (it truly is DELICIOUS!! and dead simple)

An Open Letter to a Jogger

Dear Jogger Guy:

I need to start by apologizing. My sincerest apologies for looking like a terrified deer-in-headlights when you jogged towards me the other night. I don't believe that an apology that blames the other person is a true apology, but in this case, I'm going to totally blame you and hope that it still counts as an apology of sorts.

Here's the deal: I'm not a total scaredy-cat. Really I'm not. But I do have an overactive imagination fueled by horrible novel selections by high school English teachers (who really should have known better) and poorly chosen television viewing habits in my university days. I am not a conspiracy theorist, but I do sort of expect that there could very well be danger lurking under every bush.

And you weren't under a bush: you were running straight down the sidewalk towards me: menacingly, with an air of malevolence and guilt. Or potential guilt. Maybe you hadn't committed a crime yet, but you sure could have.

You see, if clothes make the man, your clothes made you a bank robber. No word of a lie. You ought to consider things like that when you get dressed for a run. In May. On a warm night.

Why were you wearing a black skull cap covering all your hair? Why were you wearing a black shirt and black shorts and black socks? Why were you wearing a black balaclava?

Well, okay: that was my first mistake. Or maybe not my first, but certainly my biggest. It wasn't a balaclava, but it sure looked like one from a distance. Turns out that what I thought was a black, menacing ski mask was actually,...

*ahem*

...an inordinate amount of facial hair.

Seriously. Dude. What's with the pitch black, thick rimmed glasses, and bushy black eyebrows, and FULL.BLACK.BEARD that covers, essentially, everything but your nose and eyelids? From a distance, all I could see was the whites of your eyes, the tip of your nose and a sliver of your mouth: which wasn't smiling, and that would have helped, just so you know.

So as I walked off the sidewalk and onto the bike path to get out of the way of impeding mugging, please forgive me. I should have expected better of you. And as I, likely audibly, sighed with relief as you passed me, please forgive my prejudice.

But really, give a girl a helping hand and at least wear a t-shirt with a big, yellow smiley face. Or leave the black hat at home. Or trim your beard. Or carry a sign that says, "I am not a crook". Any of those small changes would be considered an act of community-mindedness, and would likely decrease the chances of you experiencing a false arrest sometime in your life.

On a positive note, you have a great stride. And if you had committed a crime, I bet you could have outrun your pursuers. Nicely done.

Wow-ful Women Wednesday

*sigh*

Jenny & Tyler. So good.

Heard at My House

Setting: 3 year old son setting the table for breakfast. Grabs a handful of spoons. Puts them on the table. Comes back for a second handful.

"Momma. We need more spoons. We have LOTS of kids!!"

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

Foodie Fridays - Two Days Late

The latest Real Women of Philadelphia contest entry. Please laugh at my lame joke in the opening segment. Please? ;-)

And you really, really, really should make these. So.stinkin'.delicious. There were 24 little pieces which was supposed to be 12 servings. We fought over the last couple!!

YUM!!

I've been holding out on you...

So about this Philadelphia Cream Cheese Contest: I'm still playing along, although much more reluctantly of late. It is a good thing I have a type-A daughter to push me along on these things, because I am way too phlegmatic to keep up with something like this for a full.eight.weeks.

Actually, that sounds much more cranky than I mean it to sound. I love cooking. I love good food. I love hanging out with my daughter (and her siblings who do the lighting for her) in the kitchen. I do not love having my video taken, but I'm growing up about even that.

So here are the latest two videos we've done, with one more coming this week. We have done 6 out of 8 weeks of submitting videos. Each week they pick 2 videos to be the finalists who will go to Toronto in July. I've clearly not been picked yet ;-) I fully do not expect that I ever will be picked. This is the tricky part for the kids. They think I hung the moon and so it is astounding to them that any other woman could be selected over me! (oy. They need a bit more of a realistic opinion of me, I'm afraid! Ha!) I'm trying to explain to the girls that the kind of "Real Woman of Philadelphia" that I am demands that life be easy. Simple prep; simple ingredients; Simply delicious.
Some of these other women are geniuses and they are cooking with lobster and truffles and fiddleheads. Ya. I can not compete with that! Thoroughly inspiring, nevertheless. And clearly well-earning their spots as finalists.

Without my delaying the inevitable any further, here is a dessert and my second appetizer. Enjoy!

Wow-ful Women Wednesday

I'm feeling a little schmaltzy today. A little nostalgic. So brace yourself for some mushy-gushy, lovey-dovey. ;-)

Martina McBride


Miranda Lambert

Heard at My House -- Insect Edition

3 year old: "Momma! There a bug in the downstairs!"

Me: "Cool. Who wants to kill it?"

7 year old boy: "Not me. It's totally creepy. It's like a mosquito crossed with a spider."

9 year old girl: "More like a spider crossed with a scorpion."

3 year old: "Momma! There a bug in the downstairs!"

Me: "Yes, well, I'm busy. I bet one of you could kill it."

7 year old boy: "Hey, A, spray it with the dusting stuff."

9 year old A: "Okay. Look, it just fell off the baseboard into a ball on the floor. Now you can pick it up."

7 year old boy: "No way! It's creepy."

9 year old A: "Ya. Well, I killed it. And anyway, I'm not all that lovey-dovey about picking up dead bugs."

3 year old boy: "MOMMA! I said there a really big 'pider down in the basement and it weally, weally fweaky! It's a big, giant 'pider like this." (insert adorable 3 year old hand motions)

Mental note to self: the chances of any of my children going to Africa to be missionaries is really, really slim.

Wow-ful Women Wednesday

Ah, yes. Here it is: a link to the blog I wish I wrote. I know I usually post a song on a day like today, but this post is so absolutely where I'm at these days. And I believe it will ring true with all my church family and our MATEO dreams. For those of you who don't know what that means, please ask me. I'd love to tell you. In the meantime, read this post by Ann Voskamp, a mom, just like me, who has kids to teach, and words to speak and write,...and seeds to sow.

Read her gorgeous post here.

Heard at My House

Setting: Dear, sweet, lovely little 3 year old man, being tucked in for his nap.


With big, brown, trusting, compassionate eyes, he looks up at his dear mother and says:

"Momma. If the bad guy stabbed me *right here* (pointing to his chest) I would be died, but then I'd be in heaven, right?"

Me: "um. yes."

Wee Boy: "Okay. That's good."

Me: "Sweet dreams?"

Mental note: have a little glance over the Sunday School materials when they come home tomorrow to find out what examples they are using in the nursery....:-)

Foodie Fridays

Sorry, my friends. No video today. (sigh of relief over here!)

But at long last, here is the muffin recipe that I promised my in real life friends:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Walnut Muffins (come on, now. How good does that sound?)

2 eggs
1 cup sugar (brown or white)
1/2 of a 796mL can of pure pumpkin
1 270g bag of milk chocolate chips
1 100g bag of chopped walnuts (optional, if you have allergies)
4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup rolled oats
2 tbsp baking powder


Preheat oven to 375F.

Beat combine eggs, sugar and pumpkin. Add remaining ingredients and stir just until mixed. Some flours absorb more liquid than others, so you may need to add a splash or two of apple juice or milk to keep it moist.

Scoop into greased muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes.

This will make 24 muffins. I have doubled this recipe and it works very well. Good to have some extra muffins on hand in the freezer. (Okay, I know some of you are thinking "24 muffins WOULD give me some extra muffins for the freezer, crazy woman!" True enough. Double it and you'll have extra extras!) ;-)

Enjoy!

Happy 5th of May!

My prayer this month...

Wow-ful Women Wednesday

A man singing a song about a woman with May in the title. That counts for a WWW May edition, in my books. I always imagined I would name a daughter Emily on account of this song.

The Impossiblity of it All

It is no mistake that you are a mom. And it is no surprise to hear that Motherhood is a hard job. And yes, there will be days where the task seems more daunting than you bargained.

But here’s the thing: the perfect place from which to parent is that place where you are at your lowest, crying out to the Lord, saying, “I can’t do this today. Will you be my strength and do it for me? I don’t know how to do this. Will you be my wisdom?”

His answer will be yes. And his solution will be immeasurably better than your attempt.

Don’t be ashamed to admit weakness in your parenting. There is a huge upside to being weak.


Continue reading my latest post for Heart of the Matter Online here.

Happy Second of May!

Bwahaha.

Okay, so I had a thought of posting a new "May" song every day this month. We'll see how long that lasts ;-)

This is lovely, though. I know May won't really stay forever, but there will be at least 29 more days, I'm guessing.

Happy First of May!