Friday, December 31, 2010

A Follow-Up

As you may recall, we found a new church that we really liked. That said, we were on the fence about returning because the lead pastor had made a comment that we felt was derogatory towards another religion.

Since we were supposed to meet some new friends for dinner after the next service, we decided to go through with one more visit.

Lo and behold, during the opening commentary, the pastor's wife made the same, stoopid joke.

Mr. Case elbowed me and whispered, "Enough is enough. We're done here."

Truth be told, we did attend a third time. On Christmas Eve we went and brought my family simply because we really wanted to go to church and it was the only place we knew of and were certain of the special service times.

Needless to say, we won't be returning. If our friends ask, we will likely explain why we don't feel comfortable attending. And in the meantime, I am definitely going to email the pastor and let him know that the joke shared between him and his wife is tasteless at best.

I know it is not my place to judge the pastor and his wife, certainly as a Christian I should know better. But at the end of the day I feel the joke itself is un-Christian-like and I can't buy into someone's sermon if I disagree with them on an issue such as this.

The good news is, you can throw a pebble and hit ten churches so it shouldn't be too hard to find someplace new. Frankly, we're excited to start looking!

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Apple Pie, Barf

I don't like apple pie.

No exceptions.

My family really likes apple pie. My mom's boss was going out of town and left a full fridge, including a bag of apples. I offered to bake a pie for my dad to cheer him up.

Long story short, I didn't use a recipe, I just winged it. I bake on the regular so it was no big deal.

Apparently, it was the best apple pie ever baked. I didn't even bother to eat a piece, that's how much I don't like apple pie.

For Christmas my family quite literally begged me to make another apple pie. Being a good sport, I did. After listening to them sing the praises of the last pie for over two weeks, I decided I would try a slice this time.

It was awful.

The entire pie was gone within an hour of being sliced. Once again the pie was lavished with praise.

I will say, my pie didn't taste like what I know "typical pie" to taste like. But I still thought it was gross.

All this to say, I need a polite way to decline baking another one. If it is someone's birthday I will do it, but otherwise it will not be a family staple. Apple pie takes a lot of work and I just can't see committing to something that turns my stomach. Is this rude of me? If you guys think it is mean, I will continue baking them. Let me know!



***Mr. Case would like the record to state that I don't really care for any pie.

Uh...

I got Mr. Case a remote controlled helicopter for Christmas. Dustin also got one but we didn't have batteries till this afternoon. Mr. Case called me into the game room to watch him fly his copter. He proceeds to crash it.

Me: Aw, you're gonna break it if you're not careful landing it!

Dustin: Psh! Do you know how many times I crashed mine?

Me: Uh, you broke yours!

Dustin: Oh, well, it still flies. Mostly.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Documentary Overload

There was nothing on TV today so I hit up The History Channel. I love all things historical and often wish I had majored in it in college (I didn't because I figured the only thing that degree would be good for is writing books nobody but college kids would read.)

Anyway, I got sucked into several documentaries. The first was an expose' on the Ku Klux Klan. I'm sure it goes without saying but they are a terrible group. I think it is really important to learn about this kind of stuff as a means of preventing history from repeating itself.

The next documentary was on cults. A family member of mine started a cult and is serving consecutive prison terms for his actions. My dad watched some of this program with me and he shared with me some stories of this awful person and the things he did. Even when things are hard to hear, I feel it is important to know your family history. (Incidentally, Mr. Case's grandfather was in a concentration camp as a youth and we have been privileged to hear some of his stories.)

The last show was about snipers. I always learn something new. Apparently, during the Vietnam war, the Viet Cong would employ many female snipers. One notoriously brutalized and of the people she captured by slashing them.

My dad says I need to learn to enjoy watching lighter stuff on TV. Sorry if this post is odd or uninteresting. I can simply never pass up a documentary! I suppose everyone will be glad when regularly scheduled programming returns.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Bold!

My parents were at the mall when they happened upon a brand new Lexus. You know the drill-some automaker will park a new model in the middle of a mall and get you to fill out a postcard with all of your personal info so they can spam the crap out of you. Anyway...

Despite being a gorgeous new Lexus, this car was filthy. I imagine with the holiday crowds, it saw a lot of "touching." People were writing random messages in the dirt. (Side note, never do this on your own car, as it can scratch the paint permanently, and sometimes even the glass. PSA brought to you by both my dad and Mr. Case.)

Some guy stood there writing:

I WISH MY GIRLFRIEND WAS THIS DIRTY!

No word on whether the girlfriend was present. Bold, buddy, bold!

Monday, December 27, 2010

Tra-la-la-la-la!

The holidays are over and I'm glad. Not to sound Scrooge-y but December is a hectic month for our family outside of the obvious. My birthday is the 17th and my mom's is the 26th so it often feels like we have 5 big holidays in 2 weeks. Blah.

Christmas Eve had a bit-o-drama but Christmas was fine. I got a video camera and a new camera. Hooray: 2 practical but still drool-worthy gifts!

Mr. Case has a friend who lives about 3 hours away and he has invited us over to his home for New Year's Eve. I don't know if I am feeling up to committing to driving 3 hours to spend a holiday with strangers but we will see. Nevertheless if feels great to receive an invite!

I hope that everyone had a great holiday, and if you didn't, well, I hope you at least survived.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Jesus Is The Reason For The Season

At least, that's what I believe in my heart.

So, why is it that I get so preoccupied with purchasing gifts?

Not to mention, I always go over budget. Always.

$10 extra here, one more stocking stuffer there...you get the point!

I will admit it is fun to receive gifts but I have told my entire family that (especially) because times are so tough financially, that I really don't want them spending beyond their means on my behalf.

This is also the first year that I have not made homemade gifts for my friends. I miss it but my pocketbook is thankful I haven't made new friends yet. Ha!

I've still only managed to buy one gift so tomorrow is going to be a major day of shopping for me. I think next year I will withdraw cash in the amount of my budget and hope it forces me to be more stringent.

Care to share any money saving tips with me? I could use them.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

You Need to Eat This, Now!

I saw on another blog a recipe from Paula Deen called "Not Yo Mama's Banana Pudding."

Initially I was skeptical because banana pudding can be pretty awful. My mom's custom recipe is delicious but I wanted to try something new for Mr. Case because he loves banana pudding.

I didn't take a picture of my pudding because it wasn't particularly attractive. I need to work on my food presentation. If my trifle bowl weren't in storage it probably would've looked more appetizing.

Here is a link for the recipe. This took less than 10 minutes to make, which made it all the more lovely.

If you try it let me know. It was extremely decadent and I only made it through a small serving, which is saying a lot considering my sweet tooth!


*** Yes, this is a Paula Deen recipe but there is NO butter involved! :)

Friday, December 17, 2010

Rubbed the Wrong Way

Mr. Case and I were adamant that we would find a new church. Readers of my prior blog know how important it is for us to have a church home.

A new business acquaintance of Mr. Case's invited us to church with him. He was undecided if he'd be attending because of a prior arrangement so we decided to go one time beforehand since we had the service times and it was conveniently located to our house.

The service was great! We liked the message, the music was tolerable and they even had a cute Christmas skit performed by some of the members. I could definitely see myself attending here in the future, until....

At the very end of the service, the lead pastor was inviting everyone who was new to fill out a little card so they could get to know you. The church is growing in size and so they were offering a "VIP" parking ticket and a cookie from a local bakery. (The VIP thing seems arrogant but I was all in favor of the cookie!) Here I am rambling so let me get to the point: in his closing remark he made a rude reference to another religion.

The religion he mocked is one that gets a lot of heat. It just so happens I have quite a few friends congregants of this faith. They don't need me to take up their cause but I bristled at the remark.

Most people probably wouldn't have even noticed, or maybe even understood the slight, but let's call a spade a spade: he was getting a dig in! The insult was mild/tame but it didn't sit well with Mr. Case and I.

I equate it to politicians who try to get votes based on blasting the shortcomings of their opponents rather than their own strengths. I have no respect for people bashing other people's faiths. If you want me to believe what you believe, than convince me by teaching me your faith.

So here is the thing: we are supposed to attend tomorrow night with Mr. Case's friend and his wife. I'm feeling really, really torn about this because on the one hand, we loved the church. On the other, if the pastor does something inappropriate should I, as a Christian, forgive him and give him a second chance, or is something like a rude comment a sign of something bigger that can't be overlooked? I'm tempted to email him to let him know that as a first-time visitor, I took offense to his comment because it was ignorant.

You can throw a pebble and hit five churches here so it is not like we're desperate. But it would be nice to meet people and this is our only invitation thus far.

What would YOU do?

29

Today is my 29th birthday.

I'm not too keen on birthdays, generally, but this year I have so much to be thankful for that I would be remiss in not giving thanks for reaching 29.

Next year is the BIG 3-0 and I'm reallllly scared so I'm going to soak up every single last minute of being 29.

To start, I'm going to have a red velvet cupcake.

In bed.

Then I'm going to buy some Christmas presents. I haven't purchased a single thing except for Mr. Case's family gifts, which needed to be mailed weeks ago. For my 29th year I think my resolution should be to stop procrastinating. I'm usually done shopping by December 1st so I'm not sure what happened during my 28th year!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Wind!

The wind here is like something out of a Hollywood movie. 

For realz. 

I couldn't figure out why so many homes here had a brick facade but now I realize it is to ensure nobody takes flight to Oz. 

Although, sometimes the noise is so scary I think Oz might be a better alternative. 

If you live in Southern California, let me just reiterate for you that in terms of weather, you are extremely sheltered. 

Growing up people would always ask me if I was afraid of earthquakes. To someone not living on a fault line it seems like the most terrifying potential natural disaster. 

Um, no. 

Never in my life has an earthquake been severe enough for me to stop whatever I was doing. 

In my little mind, the only thing that could be worse would be something water-related such as flooding or epic snow (Hi, Midwest, love you!)

The wind howls with a vengeance. 

If you've made it this far I applaud you for surviving the world's most boring blog post. I promise to come back with something bigger and better...patience grasshoppers.

I don't make promises I can't keep. *Wink*

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Texas Tidbits

Let's do bullet points, shall we?

  • We made it in one piece. But not before realizing I lost my wallet somewhere, which meant Mr. Case had to make the entire drive. 
  • I learned it snows quite a bit in both Arizona and New Mexico. 
  • I'm pretttty sure my new bedroom is haunted.
  • We had our first tornado warning but Mr. Case being, well, Mr. Case, he persisted on working under his truck the entire time. 
  • It felt very good to reunite with my dog. She has gotten fat thanks to my mom feeding her table food. 
  • As is to be expected, lots of stuff is misplaced and everything is in total disarray. 
  • I miss my people terribly but I suppose that will never go away. Hopefully the pain will dull with frequent visits and after we make some new friends to occupy our time. 
  • There needs to be a Yucatan Taco Stand in California. Seriously, somebody write them a letter and beg
  • I've been reading your blogs but haven't had much time to comment. That will change, promise. 

Tough Break

When my dad was a toddler he of 4, he was playing baseball with some older kids. His last memory of the game is of the bat coming at his head. He next remembers waking up several hours later when it was dark, in his living room.

His parents were poor and couldn't afford to seek medical treatment.

As a result of that accident, he sustained permanent brain damage that he didn't learn about till decades later.

Long story short, he has never had a sense of smell. He doesn't remember any smells from before his accident, either.

No stopping to smell the roses, inhaling the scent of his freshly bathed babies, etc. Somehow, he is an amazing amateur chef.

Where am I going with this?

Earlier this week, for the first and likely last time, my dad smelled something.

We don't know how it happened or why, but all information suggests it was a random fluke.

Are you curious as to what he smelled?


...


Poop!

If you ask me, that's the worst scent experience ever. I'd have rather never smelled anything.