Thursday, July 31, 2008
Polenta
Today my sister, her daughter, my son and I took a rainy trip to the local Walmart in search of ingredients for dinner tonight. I was going to make Polenta with a tomato sauce, a bit of a culinary adventure for our family. I fell in love with Polenta while in Ethiopia and have been desiring to bring this dish to our family table. Before living in Ethiopia I had a knowledge of what Polenta was. It is basically a dish made from boiled cornmeal and then cooked in a variety of ways....fried...baked...mushed..etc.
I searched the isles of our local Wal-Mart marking each item off my list. The Polenta was no where in sight. Here is the conversation that followed between me (friendly yet frazzled customer) and the THREE (I repeat THREE) paid Wal-Mart employees.
Friendly/Frazzled: Hi, Can you help me?
THREE employees: (blank stares) uh-huh.
Friendly/Frazzled: I am looking for polenta. Do you know where I can find this?
THREE employees: (blank stares) Polenta? I have never heard of that. Have you ever heard of that? P-o-l-e-n-t-a....are you sure its called Polenta?
Friendly/Frazzled: Yes I am. It is usually in the isle with rice, cornmeal, or it may be refridgerated.
THREE employees: (one of them said) Well, we have never heard of that so........ (the other one said): that sounds gross.
Never did they offer to see if anyone else knew where it was or to call a manager. Never did they offer to help me find it. Never did they do anything even remotely helpful except stand there and question if Polenta was even real.
Then, while checking out I gave a bag of already overpriced oranges to the lady at the cash register. She scanned them and they came up as six dollars! I told her that this price was wrong. Rather than correcting the problem or finding someone that could she just put them behind her as if I did not want them. Then, she said: I do not know why anyone shops here.
"Me neither", I thought in my head. So I left Walmart with no polenta and no oranges. But~ I am proud to say that I found a nice selection of Polenta at Miejer so our adventure in foods will continue!
I wanted to share a few photos of the past month. They include our trip to Indian Lake, Pennsylvania, the Moose's birthday, and more!
My blog hiatus is officially over! I am excited to be back in the blog world. I am going to be doing some writing in the coming weeks on adoption as this has really been on my heart. We are getting very excited about our adoption of Baby "G". I know that the Lord has great plans for our family and we are eager to get our paper-work finished, submitted, and be united with our daughter. I actually had a vision of Samuel playing with his sister. It brought me great joy and great sense of anticipation.
Music of the moment: Sarah Groves, The Pogues, IZ.
Can't get enough of these as we paint, unpack and play around our new home. Good tunes. Goodnight.
I searched the isles of our local Wal-Mart marking each item off my list. The Polenta was no where in sight. Here is the conversation that followed between me (friendly yet frazzled customer) and the THREE (I repeat THREE) paid Wal-Mart employees.
Friendly/Frazzled: Hi, Can you help me?
THREE employees: (blank stares) uh-huh.
Friendly/Frazzled: I am looking for polenta. Do you know where I can find this?
THREE employees: (blank stares) Polenta? I have never heard of that. Have you ever heard of that? P-o-l-e-n-t-a....are you sure its called Polenta?
Friendly/Frazzled: Yes I am. It is usually in the isle with rice, cornmeal, or it may be refridgerated.
THREE employees: (one of them said) Well, we have never heard of that so........ (the other one said): that sounds gross.
Never did they offer to see if anyone else knew where it was or to call a manager. Never did they offer to help me find it. Never did they do anything even remotely helpful except stand there and question if Polenta was even real.
Then, while checking out I gave a bag of already overpriced oranges to the lady at the cash register. She scanned them and they came up as six dollars! I told her that this price was wrong. Rather than correcting the problem or finding someone that could she just put them behind her as if I did not want them. Then, she said: I do not know why anyone shops here.
"Me neither", I thought in my head. So I left Walmart with no polenta and no oranges. But~ I am proud to say that I found a nice selection of Polenta at Miejer so our adventure in foods will continue!
I wanted to share a few photos of the past month. They include our trip to Indian Lake, Pennsylvania, the Moose's birthday, and more!
My blog hiatus is officially over! I am excited to be back in the blog world. I am going to be doing some writing in the coming weeks on adoption as this has really been on my heart. We are getting very excited about our adoption of Baby "G". I know that the Lord has great plans for our family and we are eager to get our paper-work finished, submitted, and be united with our daughter. I actually had a vision of Samuel playing with his sister. It brought me great joy and great sense of anticipation.
Music of the moment: Sarah Groves, The Pogues, IZ.
Can't get enough of these as we paint, unpack and play around our new home. Good tunes. Goodnight.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Blog Hiatus
I am taking a break from blogging until I complete two tasks, the first being unpacking and the second being painting. I have three rooms to paint still in our new house. Tonight I am tackling the upstairs guest room. This room is going to be painted a lavender purple color. It is my girlie girl room. Plus, baby "G" can transition into this room when she is home and it will be nice and girlie for her. I am mostly taking a break because our camera cord that I use to upload photos for my website/blog is lost somewhere in a box. My reward for unpacking will be in finding this cord and continuing my usually evening blog. My hope is to start blogging again in two weeks. For then this will be my last blog until this Hiatus is over.
We went to a church here in town last Sunday and all it did was made me miss my old church terribly. Our church in Bloomington, Journey, really helped me to understand some fundamental things that I believe about church itself. I am too tired to get into all the details, but will simply say that for now I miss what we had in Bloomington with out church body.
On the other hand my concerns about not knowing anyone here in town have been relieved. I have met so many moms (mostly at the park in the mall) and have already had several get togethers here at my house.
We lived in our old house for over four years and never held a real conversation with our next door neighbor. We did have few nice interactions with our backdoor nieghbors, but for the most part did not experience that sense of community that we longed for. Today, my new nieghbor brought a family friend of hers (a three year old boy) over to our house so that he could use our pool and play with Samuel. We chatted and laughed together. When she see's either Jason or I she says, "Howdy Nieghbor".
I like that. We are really enjoying our new house and neighborhood. One of the best little hidden joys of our neighborhood is that if you walk two blocks down the street there are cornfields and bean fields. We have a bit of the country in walking distance from us. If you walk two blocks the other directions you hit the lake. We are not in the country and we are not on the lake but we are sure happy to be close to both!
Well, I have no real or interesting things to say tonight. My brain is in Mommy mode and telling me to take advantage of a sleeping baby in order to paint the room. I am getting more and more exited about bringing "Baby G" home as we imagine decorating her room and preparing for her. She has been on my heart today strongly. I hope she likes purple.
At six in the morning Samuel and I are heading to Valpo, Indiana with my friends Sarah and her daughter. We are going to visit our "sister" Alisha and her family. It should be a nice and refreshing girls time together. Ah, girl time. So needed. I thank God for dear friends and for coffee which makes six o'clock a tolerable hour.
Katie B.
We went to a church here in town last Sunday and all it did was made me miss my old church terribly. Our church in Bloomington, Journey, really helped me to understand some fundamental things that I believe about church itself. I am too tired to get into all the details, but will simply say that for now I miss what we had in Bloomington with out church body.
On the other hand my concerns about not knowing anyone here in town have been relieved. I have met so many moms (mostly at the park in the mall) and have already had several get togethers here at my house.
We lived in our old house for over four years and never held a real conversation with our next door neighbor. We did have few nice interactions with our backdoor nieghbors, but for the most part did not experience that sense of community that we longed for. Today, my new nieghbor brought a family friend of hers (a three year old boy) over to our house so that he could use our pool and play with Samuel. We chatted and laughed together. When she see's either Jason or I she says, "Howdy Nieghbor".
I like that. We are really enjoying our new house and neighborhood. One of the best little hidden joys of our neighborhood is that if you walk two blocks down the street there are cornfields and bean fields. We have a bit of the country in walking distance from us. If you walk two blocks the other directions you hit the lake. We are not in the country and we are not on the lake but we are sure happy to be close to both!
Well, I have no real or interesting things to say tonight. My brain is in Mommy mode and telling me to take advantage of a sleeping baby in order to paint the room. I am getting more and more exited about bringing "Baby G" home as we imagine decorating her room and preparing for her. She has been on my heart today strongly. I hope she likes purple.
At six in the morning Samuel and I are heading to Valpo, Indiana with my friends Sarah and her daughter. We are going to visit our "sister" Alisha and her family. It should be a nice and refreshing girls time together. Ah, girl time. So needed. I thank God for dear friends and for coffee which makes six o'clock a tolerable hour.
Katie B.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Thoughts on moving.....
We have just moved into a house in a community that is foriegn to us. This has brought excitement but also a dose of temperary frustration. I have jotted down my thoughts, questions, and rambling about moving. I have not blogged in weeks, but hopefully will get back in the swing of things as this month draws to a close.
Here are the "thoughts Katie had on moving":
1. Where is the penny horse in Miejer that my son loves to ride, for that matter were the heck is Meijer?
2. How did I ever live without a dishwasher for the past five years of marriage to the world's thirstiest husband?
3. When will I not need the GPS just to go to the gas station down the road?
4. How long will Jason's love of our new washing machine and dryer continue to translate into him doing the laundry?
5. Finding a grocery store is an adventure in and of itself. I do mind mean locating one, I mean actually finding the store where I want to shop. I am a committment shopper. I find certians store and then I am loyal to them for their various goods. I feel lost land with no grocery store and no idea which isle has the wheat germ.
6. Moving is like going to a busy restraunt that you have never been to and feeling pressured to order even though you are not familiar with the menu.
7. How in the world are you supposed to clean the house with boxes all over the place?
8. I LOVE having a backyard. We live in our backyard. Yard work is fun, because it is my yard!!!!!!
9. I miss TBS. No more King of Queens, My name is Earl, The Office, and movies over the weekend. Goodbye my re-run friends.
10. I wish neighbors still brought new people banana bread or pie.
11. What will harvest gold paint look like in our living room? Is lemonaid a color?
I am sure there will be more later. I have got to get blogging again, but for now I am trying to get unpacked, settled, and yes- find that grocery store! Jason will be home all weekend and he has a mile long honey-do list. We are really enjoying our new home and bit by bit will figure out this community. I have some pictures to post soon too whenever I can find the cord I need for my camera to download them. I want to share some pictures of the Mooses birthday party, our trip to Pennslyvania, our trip to the Lake, and of us in our new house.
Well, Samuel's nap is over and we have a backyard to play in now so off I go!
Katie B.
Here are the "thoughts Katie had on moving":
1. Where is the penny horse in Miejer that my son loves to ride, for that matter were the heck is Meijer?
2. How did I ever live without a dishwasher for the past five years of marriage to the world's thirstiest husband?
3. When will I not need the GPS just to go to the gas station down the road?
4. How long will Jason's love of our new washing machine and dryer continue to translate into him doing the laundry?
5. Finding a grocery store is an adventure in and of itself. I do mind mean locating one, I mean actually finding the store where I want to shop. I am a committment shopper. I find certians store and then I am loyal to them for their various goods. I feel lost land with no grocery store and no idea which isle has the wheat germ.
6. Moving is like going to a busy restraunt that you have never been to and feeling pressured to order even though you are not familiar with the menu.
7. How in the world are you supposed to clean the house with boxes all over the place?
8. I LOVE having a backyard. We live in our backyard. Yard work is fun, because it is my yard!!!!!!
9. I miss TBS. No more King of Queens, My name is Earl, The Office, and movies over the weekend. Goodbye my re-run friends.
10. I wish neighbors still brought new people banana bread or pie.
11. What will harvest gold paint look like in our living room? Is lemonaid a color?
I am sure there will be more later. I have got to get blogging again, but for now I am trying to get unpacked, settled, and yes- find that grocery store! Jason will be home all weekend and he has a mile long honey-do list. We are really enjoying our new home and bit by bit will figure out this community. I have some pictures to post soon too whenever I can find the cord I need for my camera to download them. I want to share some pictures of the Mooses birthday party, our trip to Pennslyvania, our trip to the Lake, and of us in our new house.
Well, Samuel's nap is over and we have a backyard to play in now so off I go!
Katie B.
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