Thursday, April 28, 2016
The Online Cookbook Update
So you may or may not know that in early 2016 I set up another blog for posting recipes, The Online Cookbook. Lately it's been very inactive, but just yesterday I started posting tons of new recipes. So if you want some good recipe ideas, why don't you go look at my other blog at theonlinecookbook479.blogspot.com?
Saturday, April 23, 2016
My April Timeline
Where has one-third of 2016 gone?! I can hardly believe it's been almost four months since the beginning of the year and three weeks since I've posted anything. Here's a bit of what's happened since you've last heard from me -
The day after my last post, I spent almost 3 evening hours in the emergency room. A family member fell victim to a moderate injury which required attention. For this person's sake I will give no other details and ask my friends who read this blog not to expose the information. We went in at about 9pm, 45 minutes after the incident and were on our way home only 15 minutes shy of midnight. I finally got to bed at 12:45am, waking at 8:30. The injured one had a doctor's appointment for one of the 2 injuries resulting from the last night's incident. The doctor, a friend of my mother's, was able to squeeze us in and although we had to wait awhile we were thankful that there was a bit of time available. That day was quite snowy, and all of the way I was thinking we were going to get slammed any minute - after the car in front of us on one road slowed down to go up a slippery hill and if that driver had slowed down any more he would've backed straight into us (sorry for the run-on sentence!). I had the option to stay home from the emergency room so I can't rightfully complain about that.
The next Monday, April 11, my sister and I had the pleasure of babysitting 2 young toddlers who cling to us like glue! One's mother had had a baby in mid-March so our gift to them was free-babysitting their now-21-month-old daughter. This family goes to our church and their daughter can pick us out in the crowd...which is why we offered this deal to them (apart from the parsonage, which is on a different property and not owned by the church, there are 2 houses on our church's property which are occupied by my family and the 21-month-old's family). The other toddler just turned 2 years old and is "obsessed" with trains, balls, moons, etc. - a typical little boy. We are great friends with his family and him, of course (despite me being 12 years older than him). And yes, I am calling them "the toddlers" because I will not give out any names (okay, I gave out my cousin's fiance's a few weeks ago but there are a lot of people named Dan in the world).
Last Saturday my friend turned 13! Although I am not the birthday person, I wish our two families another year (no, eternity) of friendship!
This past Monday, April 18, I roasted my second chicken. Seeing me holding a raw whole chicken is NOT a dull sight. I kind of freak out that I am basically holding the dead bird with its head and feathers missing (I could've sworn I saw my first chicken, which I roasted in February, breathe as I put it in the roasting pan!). And yes, you have to pick the bird up to prepare it for roasting so don't think I was just holding it for the fun of it. At the beginning of the process let me just say that the chicken dripped all over the kitchen floor. After that mess was cleaned up and I filled the bird with water to rinse it, it was roasted. It made a delicious meal! We also babysat the female toddler again!
This Tuesday, April 19, we babysat the other toddler. Watching him crash and knock his trains off of the tracks was comical and as usual I loved the time. He even crashed the ride-on cars at our church's playground and flipped them over.
Two days ago, on April 21, we went to the zoo with an honorary grandma, aunt and cousin. My mom is potentially homeschooling this "cousin" next year and we hadn't seen each other to speak of in a long time so we wanted to get "reacquainted."
Yesterday, April 22, my mom went to drop something off at our church and was welcomed by a bat! After it crashed into her, it flew laps around the lobby until my mom made a mad dash back out the door (she has to turn the alarm off first but didn't bother resetting it). Her heart was pounding for a while afterward from the scare and had to wait to leave the church because she was still shaking!
Today, April 23, we will potentially be starting to get the ground ready to plant our first garden! After using a neat technique to plant vegetables ahead of time and then transfer them into the ground, we're only a month away from getting these plants into the ground! Sadly some of our plants blew over in a recent windy night and are not showing signs of growth, so we think they may be damaged. However, some of our other plants are flourishing healthily, especially the lettuce. Not bad considering we're first-time gardeners. Today is also the 7-year anniversary of when my family moved into our current home. I have officially spent half of my lifetime at each of the 2 houses I've lived in. I confess memories of our old house are fading from my memory but I'm surprised that I've remembered those things for this long. I thank God for the home we have now because we did not just move out of the old house just because we were running out of room or wanted to live somewhere else.
My dad has also decided he's now a blog reader and frequently (this should be boldface, underlined, italicized and capitalized) reads my blog, my sister's and my friends'. Not that I really mind. This has been going on since before my last post but I just thought I'd share it with you just because - because when I feel like sharing something, I share it.
Now that I've unloaded the last three weeks' timeline on you and assured you that this blog has not been abandoned, I wish my friends and blog readers a good weekend and hope to post again soon!
The day after my last post, I spent almost 3 evening hours in the emergency room. A family member fell victim to a moderate injury which required attention. For this person's sake I will give no other details and ask my friends who read this blog not to expose the information. We went in at about 9pm, 45 minutes after the incident and were on our way home only 15 minutes shy of midnight. I finally got to bed at 12:45am, waking at 8:30. The injured one had a doctor's appointment for one of the 2 injuries resulting from the last night's incident. The doctor, a friend of my mother's, was able to squeeze us in and although we had to wait awhile we were thankful that there was a bit of time available. That day was quite snowy, and all of the way I was thinking we were going to get slammed any minute - after the car in front of us on one road slowed down to go up a slippery hill and if that driver had slowed down any more he would've backed straight into us (sorry for the run-on sentence!). I had the option to stay home from the emergency room so I can't rightfully complain about that.
The next Monday, April 11, my sister and I had the pleasure of babysitting 2 young toddlers who cling to us like glue! One's mother had had a baby in mid-March so our gift to them was free-babysitting their now-21-month-old daughter. This family goes to our church and their daughter can pick us out in the crowd...which is why we offered this deal to them (apart from the parsonage, which is on a different property and not owned by the church, there are 2 houses on our church's property which are occupied by my family and the 21-month-old's family). The other toddler just turned 2 years old and is "obsessed" with trains, balls, moons, etc. - a typical little boy. We are great friends with his family and him, of course (despite me being 12 years older than him). And yes, I am calling them "the toddlers" because I will not give out any names (okay, I gave out my cousin's fiance's a few weeks ago but there are a lot of people named Dan in the world).
Last Saturday my friend turned 13! Although I am not the birthday person, I wish our two families another year (no, eternity) of friendship!
This past Monday, April 18, I roasted my second chicken. Seeing me holding a raw whole chicken is NOT a dull sight. I kind of freak out that I am basically holding the dead bird with its head and feathers missing (I could've sworn I saw my first chicken, which I roasted in February, breathe as I put it in the roasting pan!). And yes, you have to pick the bird up to prepare it for roasting so don't think I was just holding it for the fun of it. At the beginning of the process let me just say that the chicken dripped all over the kitchen floor. After that mess was cleaned up and I filled the bird with water to rinse it, it was roasted. It made a delicious meal! We also babysat the female toddler again!
This Tuesday, April 19, we babysat the other toddler. Watching him crash and knock his trains off of the tracks was comical and as usual I loved the time. He even crashed the ride-on cars at our church's playground and flipped them over.
Two days ago, on April 21, we went to the zoo with an honorary grandma, aunt and cousin. My mom is potentially homeschooling this "cousin" next year and we hadn't seen each other to speak of in a long time so we wanted to get "reacquainted."
Yesterday, April 22, my mom went to drop something off at our church and was welcomed by a bat! After it crashed into her, it flew laps around the lobby until my mom made a mad dash back out the door (she has to turn the alarm off first but didn't bother resetting it). Her heart was pounding for a while afterward from the scare and had to wait to leave the church because she was still shaking!
Today, April 23, we will potentially be starting to get the ground ready to plant our first garden! After using a neat technique to plant vegetables ahead of time and then transfer them into the ground, we're only a month away from getting these plants into the ground! Sadly some of our plants blew over in a recent windy night and are not showing signs of growth, so we think they may be damaged. However, some of our other plants are flourishing healthily, especially the lettuce. Not bad considering we're first-time gardeners. Today is also the 7-year anniversary of when my family moved into our current home. I have officially spent half of my lifetime at each of the 2 houses I've lived in. I confess memories of our old house are fading from my memory but I'm surprised that I've remembered those things for this long. I thank God for the home we have now because we did not just move out of the old house just because we were running out of room or wanted to live somewhere else.
My dad has also decided he's now a blog reader and frequently (this should be boldface, underlined, italicized and capitalized) reads my blog, my sister's and my friends'. Not that I really mind. This has been going on since before my last post but I just thought I'd share it with you just because - because when I feel like sharing something, I share it.
Now that I've unloaded the last three weeks' timeline on you and assured you that this blog has not been abandoned, I wish my friends and blog readers a good weekend and hope to post again soon!
Saturday, April 2, 2016
April 2, The Day of "Interestingness"
Yes, "interestingness." I know it's not a real word so I guess I've added a word to my version of the English language! Anyway, I use this word because it adequately describes today - interesting and eventful.
The day was started by helping a friend who lives in an apartment rearrange her storage unit in the building. That went quickly and easily, and after that we went to the Gregg's restaurant for lunch. Both this friend and my mom had a few things to get at Walmart, so we headed down the road to there after we had gotten through with our lunch. Going to a grocery store on a weekend is a mistake - very few parking spaces available, lots of people...and those ride-on things at stores they give the handicapped, yeah, I almost got hit by one of those because the driver wasn't paying attention - but that's okay.
After we had finished our shopping, our friend was done checking out first so I went out to the car with her, helped her load up her groceries, and we waited in the car for my mom and sister. I kept my door open just because I wanted to get out and help my mom and sister unload when they got out of the store. Just after I had gotten into the car, when it was just the friend and me out there, the owner of the car next to ours starts it up - it took 2 tries, and then when it started up successfully, the shrillest shriek you could ever imagine comes from this car. My door was open, so I shut it which blocked most of the noise. The car lingered in its spot for a minute and then finally drove away.
As we were making our way out of the plaza, suddenly our right windshield wiper breaks, so we stop (in case you aren't in New England it was raining yesterday and more today). All four of us emerged from the car and put the wiper inside, and I briefly looked for the clip that held it down around the car. Found it under the hood. Our friend did a makeshift "repair job" by using a plastic bag and an elastic band. We made it home all right, but thankfully that happened in the plaza and not in the middle of the road.
We had Indian food for dinner tonight (yeah, we went out to eat last night, this afternoon and we had takeout this evening, so 3 meals from 3 different restaurants in less than 24 hours). Now we're watching the movie Chicken Run, which is hilarious. Tomorrow morning we have church, and after that who knows what the day will bring us? Maybe a day like today? Psalm 118:24 says, "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."
The day was started by helping a friend who lives in an apartment rearrange her storage unit in the building. That went quickly and easily, and after that we went to the Gregg's restaurant for lunch. Both this friend and my mom had a few things to get at Walmart, so we headed down the road to there after we had gotten through with our lunch. Going to a grocery store on a weekend is a mistake - very few parking spaces available, lots of people...and those ride-on things at stores they give the handicapped, yeah, I almost got hit by one of those because the driver wasn't paying attention - but that's okay.
After we had finished our shopping, our friend was done checking out first so I went out to the car with her, helped her load up her groceries, and we waited in the car for my mom and sister. I kept my door open just because I wanted to get out and help my mom and sister unload when they got out of the store. Just after I had gotten into the car, when it was just the friend and me out there, the owner of the car next to ours starts it up - it took 2 tries, and then when it started up successfully, the shrillest shriek you could ever imagine comes from this car. My door was open, so I shut it which blocked most of the noise. The car lingered in its spot for a minute and then finally drove away.
As we were making our way out of the plaza, suddenly our right windshield wiper breaks, so we stop (in case you aren't in New England it was raining yesterday and more today). All four of us emerged from the car and put the wiper inside, and I briefly looked for the clip that held it down around the car. Found it under the hood. Our friend did a makeshift "repair job" by using a plastic bag and an elastic band. We made it home all right, but thankfully that happened in the plaza and not in the middle of the road.
We had Indian food for dinner tonight (yeah, we went out to eat last night, this afternoon and we had takeout this evening, so 3 meals from 3 different restaurants in less than 24 hours). Now we're watching the movie Chicken Run, which is hilarious. Tomorrow morning we have church, and after that who knows what the day will bring us? Maybe a day like today? Psalm 118:24 says, "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."
Saturday, March 26, 2016
HGTV Fixer Upper
This post is about one of my favorite shows of all time - HGTV Fixer Upper. The owners of the show are the Christian couple Chip & Joanna Gaines, of Waco, Texas. They are realtors but mainly what their show is about is the renovations of their clients' homes. Whenever they get a client, a single or a couple, they have the clients come up with a budget - the budget includes the purchasing of the house as well as the renovation costs. And as the clients are driving to the first home Chip & Joanna show, they exchange their ideas of what they want in the home - lots of land, big kitchen, etc. Chip & Joanna show them three houses, and then the clients select the one they most wish for. Sometimes the clients must try to get their chosen house for less than the asking price in order to still have room left in the budget for the renovations. After the house has been purchased, Chip & Joanna begin renovations - both on the interior and exterior. Some of the houses need just a few things done, while others need to be almost completely re-done. A good portion of the renovations include things that the clients want, not necessarily things that absolutely need to be done - for example, Joanna likes to open up walls between living rooms and kitchens to make it feel more open; she also likes to install French doors in many places so that more natural light will flow into the house. On this show, it seems that Joanna is the stylist and Chip is the "worker" - combining these two talents together make a great team. As Joanna mentions a few times, she likes to do a little "side project" on each home. She will recommend to the clients three options for this project, and they will choose the one they like the best. Especially at this step in each episode, you will notice Joanna's Texas-talk, "y'all." After everything is done, Chip & Joanna drive the clients to the home, forcing them not to look, to close their eyes. Then they lead them out of their Suburban, and let them open their eyes to see two huge boards with a picture of the house before the renovations on those boards. After Chip talks about what the house was before and what it is after, Joanna says the clients' first names, followed by, "Are you ready to see your fixer upper?" The clients love Chip & Joanna's work. After showing them the entire renovated place, Chip compares the value of the house before the renovation to the value after. Each episode is closed with "Welcome home!"
If you are able to access Netflix through a Roku box, you can watch it without going onto cable or satellite. Just search "Fixer Upper" and you should come up with it. They show only 13 episodes on Netflix but you'll find more on HGTV - I believe they appear on TV every Tuesday night. If you do decide to give this show a try if you haven't already, I hope you really enjoy it just like me!
If you are able to access Netflix through a Roku box, you can watch it without going onto cable or satellite. Just search "Fixer Upper" and you should come up with it. They show only 13 episodes on Netflix but you'll find more on HGTV - I believe they appear on TV every Tuesday night. If you do decide to give this show a try if you haven't already, I hope you really enjoy it just like me!
Saturday, March 12, 2016
The Mortification of March 11
So my mom and I went out to dinner at Applebee's last night. My family tries to do this almost every month where my dad and my sister will go out somewhere and then the same night my mom and I will go out to a different place, but sometimes my dad and I go out somewhere and my mom and my sister go out somewhere. When my dad and I go out and my mom and my sister go out we call that Guys' Night Girls' Night (I don't prefer that name!), and when my mom and I go out and my dad and my sister go out we call that Date Night (Goodness, we really could think up another name!). Anyway, after that confusing ramble I'll just tell you that last night was Date Night. It was a Friday night, of course and my mom and I were going to Gregg's at first - yeah we pulled right back out onto the road when the restaurant was packed to the doors! So we went to Applebee's instead, and we had to wait about five minutes for a seat - which wasn't that bad. As we were waiting this person walks into the kitchen and I say to my mom, "Mom, that person in the kitchen really looks like Dan!" And she looked and said, "Because it is him, he does work here." It just turns out that Dan is my cousin's fiance. Very unfortunately he wasn't our waiter but he did have a spare moment so he stopped at our table to say hi.
So anyway, when we were finished with our meal and I had put my leftovers in a container that the waitress brought me (without me asking, by the way and she did the same thing with another glass of lemonade), I went to wash my hands before we left since I had been touching my shrimp which seemed to be a bit greasy. So my mom said, "Do you know where the bathroom is? If you look at where Dan's standing it's right behind him." So I said, "Okay" and walked off. So, after I had rounded the corner I thought I had walked far enough and that Dan had just moved or something. No, because as soon as I went through that doorway I was smack-dab in the kitchen! Thankfully someone was walking out at the time so I didn't more than a bit of a step inside. This person says to me, "Oh hi, are you looking for the bathroom? Well it's right up there to your right, just walk right up there." Then I looked up there and Dan is still standing there, and he said, "Yeah, it's over here behind me." I was a bit mortified, my future cousin directing me to the bathroom which a snail or a turtle could've found sooner than I did! So I said, "Oh okay, thank you!" but was really feeling a bit silly.
That almost tops the other day when I was watching a show (I Love Lucy) and there was a quiz show on it and the song, My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean, Lucy sang there. After the episode was over I saw the only song of that episode come up on the screen, so I exclaimed, "It's 'My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean?' I always thought it was 'My Body Lies Over The Ocean!'" So my mom and my sister, who were home at the time, got a good kick out of that and now my mom has given it this alias, 'The Song of the Ghost.' Do you get it?
Anyway, I know if Dan is with the family for Easter in just over two weeks he'll tease me about it, "Oh hey, do you know where the bathroom is?" Who knows? He's also a magician, by the way - I don't know why I just said that now but whatever. Anyway, that was 'The Mortification of March 11' and next time we go to Applebee's I'll be sure to watch more closely!
So anyway, when we were finished with our meal and I had put my leftovers in a container that the waitress brought me (without me asking, by the way and she did the same thing with another glass of lemonade), I went to wash my hands before we left since I had been touching my shrimp which seemed to be a bit greasy. So my mom said, "Do you know where the bathroom is? If you look at where Dan's standing it's right behind him." So I said, "Okay" and walked off. So, after I had rounded the corner I thought I had walked far enough and that Dan had just moved or something. No, because as soon as I went through that doorway I was smack-dab in the kitchen! Thankfully someone was walking out at the time so I didn't more than a bit of a step inside. This person says to me, "Oh hi, are you looking for the bathroom? Well it's right up there to your right, just walk right up there." Then I looked up there and Dan is still standing there, and he said, "Yeah, it's over here behind me." I was a bit mortified, my future cousin directing me to the bathroom which a snail or a turtle could've found sooner than I did! So I said, "Oh okay, thank you!" but was really feeling a bit silly.
That almost tops the other day when I was watching a show (I Love Lucy) and there was a quiz show on it and the song, My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean, Lucy sang there. After the episode was over I saw the only song of that episode come up on the screen, so I exclaimed, "It's 'My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean?' I always thought it was 'My Body Lies Over The Ocean!'" So my mom and my sister, who were home at the time, got a good kick out of that and now my mom has given it this alias, 'The Song of the Ghost.' Do you get it?
Anyway, I know if Dan is with the family for Easter in just over two weeks he'll tease me about it, "Oh hey, do you know where the bathroom is?" Who knows? He's also a magician, by the way - I don't know why I just said that now but whatever. Anyway, that was 'The Mortification of March 11' and next time we go to Applebee's I'll be sure to watch more closely!
Saturday, March 5, 2016
I've Moved!
I've officially changed this blog's web address! At 10:36am, six minutes after I was planning to move, I moved from everythingimaginable62.blogspot.com to the new location, chandlersmithblogger.blogspot.com (by saying I moved this blog I mean I merely changed the web address). And with this new web address comes a different blogging routine - you will have something new to read at least twice a week, I'm anticipating, and things will be more interesting. If you have any suggestions of what I could share with the rest of the readers, please leave a comment and I will be glad to consider whatever you have to say. Have a great weekend! - Chandler Smith, Blogger
Thursday, March 3, 2016
2 Days Until I Move!
Hi everyone! This is one of the last reminders of my scheduled moving on Saturday! This Saturday, March 5, I will be moving this blog at 10:30am. Presuming it's still available, its new address will be chandlersmithblogger.blogspot.com. If it's not still available I will think of another address and schedule another moving date. Please keep all of this in mind as we move toward Saturday morning. Thank you, and have a great day!
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