November 27, 2007

wonder of wonders

two posts in one day? it's amazing, i know.

i can't believe i forgot the most important and exciting update on the slatens' life!! (no, i'm not pregnant...do you really think you would be finding out over my blog? well, you might if i never see you....i digress....) we got a REAL CHRISTMAS TREE!!!! oh man. i am SO in the Christmas season this year. and it's mr. slaten's fault. the day after thanksgiving, he was putting their tree up, and we helped them decorate it. ever since then, i've been dancing around singing Christmas songs and aching for the smell of pine. we have all of our Christmas cds out, playing constantly at home, and at work i have my pandora radio set to various Christmas stations!!! (try "carpenters (holiday)", and "burl ives (holiday)" stations - they're grand!) and thanks to nathan and chris, we have a real tree in our living room!! and it has COLORED lights on it! chris really wanted colored lights, and i thought i really preferred white lights. well, i decided he was right - that white lights are too formal, and colored lights are more fun! he was right! our little tree (we named him "yukon cornelius") is just beautiful!! we'll hopefully get some ornaments up tonight. and i even have a couple of presents i could wrap and put under there!! our stockings (they're actually mine and forrest's old ones) are hanging up, all of my nativities are out, a fluffy snowman is hanging on the door....oh joy! :)

but don't ever forget the reason for Christmas - JESUS! hooray for Jesus. he just rocks. i can't believe people want to take the Christ out of Christmas. what in the world is Christmas without Christ? "mas". whoa - that's spanish for more, isn't it? more, more and more. give me more stuff!!! WHOA! i just came up with that. that's deep.

i'm suddenly reminded and have the impulse to share a short story about STUFF! i can't remember where i heard this, but some missionaries went to another country to visit and do some work at an orphanage. they took a bunch of toys with them for the orphans to have. when they got there, the director of the orphanage said "oh, thank you for your generosity, but i'm sorry - we don't allow the orphans to play with toys." horrid! wretched people! those were my first thoughts, but when asked why, the director said "well, because toys make them unhappy. they fight over them, the toys wear out and break, and then they're left unhappy..." WOW. keep that in mind as you make your Christmas list of "needs". (i'm off to edit mine...)

SO --- DON'T take Christ out of Christmas. it makes you selfish and unhappy.

PS - (pictures of the tree preparation to come later. they're stuck on our camera...phoo.)

take time

my husband kindly told me that my blog was sadly inactive, so here i am. updating. man. i used to be ALL ABOUT my blog. updating it, informing the outside world of the happenings in my life, but i just a) don't have time at work this time of year, and b) don't have internet access at home, so it's hard to upload pictures. and pictures are the fun part of updating the blog! so here's some that were emailed to me.

but first, news from andrew peterson world! there's a new and awesome addition to add to your daily routine - The Rabbit Room! there are several artists (not just musicians) who are involved in frequent posts, and you can get TONS of good stuff in the store. shoot, there's so much there that i don't even know how to post it all! you'll just have to visit it and see for yourself. if the link doesn't work, go here - http://www.rabbitroom.com/. oh, and "the proprietor" is ap. just so you know. this is my favorite post. and not just because the "singer-songwriter" is my husband...:)

on to the pictures!!

young chris and lyndsay!! greg uploaded a bunch of these old pictures from high school to facebook and this one just makes me SMILE!! :) :) :) chris was a senior in high school. wow.










WE LOVE NANA!!! isn't she beautiful??? she was able to make it up to the mountain cabin a few weeks ago, and we had an absolute blast!! this is us loving on her right before we were leaving. can you believe she's 93, almost 94? amazing. i hope i can be as positive and fun to be around when i'm that old. (if i make it that far!)










thanksgiving this year was FUN! we feasted at lunch with the walkers then for dinner with the slatens. man. that's a lot of food. someone told me that the average person consumes about 5000 calories on thanksgiving. *sigh* we ate 2 thanksgiving meals. i don't want to think about it. i've gotta go exercise...sheesh!

so this is after lunch at the walker's. i don't have pictures from the slatens' yet...i'll work on that.

you'll notice who is going for the cheese ball. yep. thanks stacey, for catching me in the act. anyway, the girl in the pink is alex, forrest's girlfriend, whom i adore, and i think my dad likes her more than forrest does! we were playing apples to apples and dad partnered up with her. she wouldn't do anything without his input. it was absolutely adorable! anyway, the other girl next to dad is laura, my sister, and the head in the green shirt in dave, stacey's (my other sister) boyfriend! it was a year of new significant others!!


here's daddy playing the geetar. i LOVE his classical guitar. he broke a string though. isn't he cute?!


















and here's hobbes, the demon kitty. he'll zap you with his laser eyes!!! isn't it weird when cameras do that to cat's eyes?! he was absolutely going CRAZY the whole time we were there. the smell of turkey was just too much for him, and with every morsel someone slipped him under the table, the crazier he got and more he needed!!! he isn't usually like that. usually when company comes over, he curls up on the couch and ignores everyone. but he was all up in everyone's business, and i just loved it! man i miss living with that cat....

November 05, 2007

Kitchen Fire Safety

this is GOOD to watch. the video is only 30 seconds long, but it will change (and possibly save) your life.
http://www.ranaldofamily.com/SWF/KitchenOilFire.wmv

Please read this and watch the video. This is so important...as old as I am I
never heard of doing the wet towel thing... but I will remember it after seeing
this. Kitchen Fire Safety - Good reminder for everyone.....

This is a powerful message----watch the video and don't forget what you see. Tell your whole family about this video. Or better yet, send this to them.

This is a dramatic video (30-second, very short) about how to deal with a common kitchen fire ... oil in a frying pan. Please read the following introduction and then
watch the show .. It's a real eye-opener !! At the Fire Fighting Training school
they would demonstrate this with a deep fat fryer set on the fire field. An
instructor would don a fire suit and using an 8 oz cup at the end of a 10 foot
pole toss water onto the grease fire. The results got the attention of the
students. The water, being heavier than the oil, sinks to the bottom where it
instantly becomes superheated. The explosive force of the steam blows the
burning oil up and out. On the open field, it became a thirty foot high fireball
that resembled a nuclear blast. Inside the confines of a kitchen, the fire ball
hits the ceiling and fills the entire room. Also, do not throw sugar or flour on
a grease fire. One cup creates the explosive force of two sticks of dynamite.

Please view this video clip: http://www.ranaldofamily.com/SWF/KitchenOilFire.wmv