Monday, June 28, 2010

Meet me on Monday, week three

Joining Java at Never Growing Old again this week. Did you know that she became a model after she turned 40?! Good for you, Java!

Here are her questions for today.

Questions:

1. Are you a collector of anything?

Not really, but I do have a lot of recipe books and crafting/sewing magazines. I also have a collection of handbags and purses. I love bags so much, my sister calls me a bag lady (but in the nicest way:)



This is a bag I made a while ago and had as a prize in a blog-giveaway.

2. Do you have any tattoos or piercings?

I had my ears pierced when I was 4 and a second hole pierced as a teenager. But my secret dream (to my sisters: don't tell Mom and Dad) is to get a tattoo when I turn 40:).



3. What is your favorite salad dressing?

It's a tie between Thousand Islands and Ranch. But I really have to have bacon bits on top!



4. What was the last thing that you ate?

Half of a chocolate chip cookie (Half a cookie = half the calories, right?)



5. What was the last movie that you saw?

Couples Retreat. I loved it:)



Thursday, June 24, 2010

Thursday Thunks, the second





I'm joining the bloghop over here on Thursday Thunks to answer some Very Important Questions! Join the fun!

1. It became officially summer on Monday. What's your favorite part of winter?

Sitting in front of the fireplace, drinking maté with my hubby and watching a comedy movie!

2. What was your worst summer vacation ever?


2 1/2 years ago I had surgery on 2 herniated discs in my lower back. The whole summer I was in great pain and at the end of summer I had surgery, so I guess that would be one of the worst summers for me.

3. Kimber's husband just got the dream job that he's hoped for. So a big shout out to her and Anthony! Tell us about the best job that you ever had.

I was a secretary/receptionist at the Vetrinary/Agriculture Office for 4 years before I got married and moved to the farm. That was the best job ever!!

4. Who is probably talking a load of crap about you right now?

I don't know, and to be honest I rather not know who is!

5. An alien appears and offers you the opportunity to repeat one year of your life. You will still know everything that you know now. He explains that no matter what you do differently, when you are returned to the present nothing will have changed. What year would you pick and why?

No comment:)

6. Name three things you have on you at all times. Explain why.

My cellphone, chapstick and handcream. When I leave the house, I need my phone to let my husband know if I'm having car problems. Or he sometimes calls me when I'm in town, to pick up some part for the tractor, etc.
Chapstick and handcream: I hate having dry, chapped lips and hands. But if you ask any of my sisters or friends, you know that I never go anywhere without my purse/tote bag (whatever bag it is at the moment) I have bandaids, tissues, nail clippers, hand sanitizer, a small toy (to keep my nephews happy), wallet, comb, headache medication, and usually a lot more inside my bag.

7. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it?

I can't even remember.

8. If you could have everyone in the blogosphere read just one of your posts, which post would you pick and why?

It would probably be my Mother's Day post this year:
I really, REALLY love my Mom!

9. I recently read that the music industry continues to decline at an alarming rate. In the last year it said the sales of Michael Jackson's and The Beatles' music are the only artists who sales continue to climb. The article stated that the two are holding up the industry. Have you bought a CD or mp3 of either artist recently?

Not recently or ever.

10. What radio ad right now do you find so annoying that you'd rather have a tooth drilled than hear it again?


The one with air conditioning. (It's winter here, duh!)

11. Berleen walks into a bar on a hot Minnesota day. At the bar sits a priest, a rabbi and a minister. A ten foot duck walks into the bar right after Berleen. What drink do you think Berleen orders?

He orders beers for everyone and says: put it on the duck's bill.

12. There is a knock on your door. It can be anyone in the world. Who would you want it to be?

My sister Dani!

13. What would be the worst entertainment or sporting that you could be forced to watch?

GOLF! (Sorry, Fred!)



Monday, June 21, 2010

Meet me on Monday, week two

Hello everyone, did you all have a good weekend? I spent some time in front of our TV yesterday, watching soccer games. My country, Paraguay, scored two goals against Slovakia yesterday morning (our time, and right before church started) and in the afternoon, Brasil played a much critisised game of 3-1 against the Ivory Coast.

Did you know I was a closet soccer fan?
You didn't?

There's more you might not know about me. Thats why I go to
Java's on Monday's. So you can all meet me and more bloggers on Monday:)

Questions:

1. How many brother and sisters do you have?

I have 3 sisters. My parents named us alphabetically, but in reverse. They say it was so that they wouldn't be tempted to have more than 4 kids. (I guess that makes sense:) My oldest sister's name is Daniela, then Caroline, I'm the B (renda) and my youngest sis is Andrea. You can also see my birthday post last year here.



2. What is your favorite thing to do?

Sew, crochet/knit/ watch movies, cook, and blog/surf the internet.



3. What countries have you visited?

I was born in Canada, have been to the U.S., Brazil and Paraguay, and stayed there.



4. Are you a morning or a night person?

Morning!



5. What's your favorite cereal?

It used to be anything with marshmallows in it, but now I really love some granola (Müsli) with yoghurt or milk.



I hoped you enjoyed my post today, you're welcome to meet me on any other day of the week as well. Have a great one:)

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

About snakes and peccarys

I'm joining Thursday Thunks with their weekly questionaire. Check them out after you read my answers. Come join us and link back to them, if you want.


1. Have you ever wondered why snakes can't slither backwards?
Never wondered about that. I just try to keep away from them, we have a lot of
poisonous snakes here.

2. Is divorce contagious?
Not really, but if you keep company with divorced people, i think you get used to the idea, that if a marrige doesn't work, you can split.

3. Do you enjoy hiking?
Never hiked. The Chaco is as flat as a pancake, and see #1 (snakes in the bushes)

4. Is there a color of a shirt a man should just never wear?
Mauve :P



5. Have you read a news story this week that just made your blood boil?
Not this week, but a few weeks ago, about the 2 year old smoker!

6. Do you keep old business cards or name tags from companies you have worked for?
No

7. If you could save an endangered species, which one would it be?
Chacoan Peccary

Isn't he cute?

Image from: http://www.ultimateungulate.com/

8. When is it warm enough outside for you to start wearing shorts?
Anything over 28 C = 82 F

9. Have you ever broken a window?
No

10. Do dogs in your neighborhood howl when they hear sirens from police cars or fire trucks?
No, I've never heard a siren from either through our village.

11. Have you tried doing something as an adult that you used to be able to do as a kid? Just last year I tried the jumprope and a hulahoop, BIG mistake.:)Ouch!


Have a great day today and twist a little! Or maybe I can find a hula hoop and pratice behind close doors, before I humiliate myself in front of my in-laws again:)

Book Review: Book of Grub



This is my review for the book Rick & Bubba’s Big Honkin’ Book of Grub.

This book was the most fun to read, but hard to review. At first I thought it was a recipe book, but there are only about 20 recipes included. (Too bad the onion rings from the cover picture weren’t in the book.)

I’m not familiar with Rick & Bubba (are they radio personalities?), but I loved their humorous approach to all things edible.

The 10 weight loss tips made me laugh, but I won’t get any thinner by laughing or following these tips. (#10 is great: “Limit your intake of white flout. Wait until it’s in a loaf of bread. It tastes better.”)

They also discuss various kinds of meat: turkey, pork/bacon, sausage, spam (?!) and the admirable hot dog. There are 3 chapters dedicated to the places we eat at: church potlucks, restaurants, concession stands and food fairs. I’d like to send a copy of “The Rick & Bubba Restaurant Rating System” to all of the restaurants in my town. They have some very good rules listed there.

The chapter about pet peeves was hilarious. I share their opinion 100% when they say that eating contests are nasty!

In Rick & Bubbas secret recipe file you’ll find delicious recipes for:

- Rick’s Cheap Solution for the Guy Who has a TV, a Bed on the Floor, and an Old Couch (a.k.a. Sloppy Joes)
- Sherri’s Famous Chocolate Sauce
- Bubba’s World Famous Homemade Macaroni and Cheese
- Rick’s Momma’s Famous Fudge, which I want to try out soon.
- and more...

I think this book could be a great gift for any foodie that loves to laugh, or a comedian that loves to eat!



Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Monday, June 14, 2010

Meet Me On Monday!


Hi!
I'm joining "Java" here for a fun way to get to know fellow bloggers! I hope to meet new friends this way and also let people get to know me better, one Monday at a time:)


Here's how Java explains it:

"Blogging is a funny thing...we tell our most intimate thoughts for all to read and yet most of the time I find myself sitting and wondering, "who is this person!?" I know them...but yet I don't know them! I want to know who the person is behind all those words so I thought of a great way for all of us to "meet" each other!"

Every Monday she will post five get to know you questions that you can copy and paste into your own Monday post and we can all learn a little more about each and every one of us!

Questions:

1. What kind of computer do you blog on?

TOSHIBA Satellite L505, laptop that is the replacement for the Gateway that got struck by lightning. I LOVE IT!




2. Do you wear perfume? If so, what kind?

Right now, Halloween.


3. What do you do for a living?

SAHM (stay-at-home-mom), with a little seamstressing on the side.





4. Do you have any pets? If so, what are they?

Two male cats, Eskimo and Grayson, German Shepherd named Max, parrot called Nico, that calls himself Lori, and various chickens and cattle:)



5. Are you going anywhere for Summer vacation? If so, where?

It's winter here now, but we might be going to the capital in a month or so.


Thanks for peeking in to my life, I'm looking forward to answering some more of Java's questions next Monday.




Saturday, June 12, 2010

Thanksgiving preparations

This is the church before we started decorating it.





We were VERY busy the last few weeks and especially today getting everything ready for the "Thanksgiving"- Service at out church tomorrow. Our village (12 families) had to prepare all the food and decorate the church with fruits, vegetables, crafts and more.







This is the centerpiece on the table below the pulpit. We put a clay jar with sesame spilling out of it, the bible in the middle and a loaf of homemade bread on the other side. Anyone recognize the bread? :)



If you follow me on Facebook, you knew that we canned 48 kg of cucumbers into dill pickles. There were two other groups of ladies baking cookies and rolls (Zwieback) this week.

Today 3 other ladies, 3 men and I all went to the church in the morning to decorate it. The other men that stayed home started cooking the meat in 6 great big pots at our barn. They had to cook two batches for 3 1/2 - 4 hours each. Two other ladies cooked "guiso" (pasta stew) for lunch for the whole village and the men also baked some "asado" (barbeque) for the people that don't like stew. (ME!!!)

When we were done at the church we came home, drank a bit of tereré and then ate lunch. It was so much fun! All of the kids were there too, and they had fun as well.


After cleaning up, I went to take a siesta, and Marvin woke me up at 3:45 pm! I never sleep that long:) Amy, Cindy and I squeezed limes later to add to the juice tomorrow.


Tomorrow we'll be going to be at the church at 7:30 am, to cut the meat in slices, put the food on the serving plates, make coffee and juice, etc. I'll try to take pictures tomorrow of the food, if I can.


This is how the men cooked the meat. There were 6 of these huge pots filled with water, spices and meat.


This is what it looked like after cooking.




I think someone was feeding my kitten too much meat scraps today, he couldn't even sleep on his stomach for siesta!:)

Have a great Sunday, everyone and for the Fernheimer: Frohes Erntedankfest!!!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

The Happiness Project, part 2

Leigh over at Leigh vs. Laundry asks that we put in a picture that makes us wildly happy.
(http://leighvslaundry.blogspot.com/2010/06/happiness-project-week-15.html)

Photobucket

This makes me wildly happy: Sewing with my mom's Pfaff with Grayson watching me from outside the window. ... sigh ...

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Random stuff about me

I found a list of sentence beginnings in a blog somewhere in bloglandia. If anyone else wants to try it, give me your link in a comment! I'd love to read yours! Just copy and paste from the bottom of this post and fill it in with your own words. :)





I am.... tired


I think.... of witty things to write


I should...be doing the dishes


I dream.... about visiting my sister in Canda


I want.... a new digital camera


I know... a secret


I don't like.... liver


I smell... mandarine peel on my hands


I hear.... my daughter rummaging in my sewing room


I fear.... financial troubles


I usually... wash my dishes before blogging


I search... for crafts on the internet


I miss.... my sister


I always... crave chocolate


I regret.... not teaching my daughters english


I wonder.... when I'll become wiser


I crave.... Reese's Pieces


I remember... snow falling on my nose


I need..... a hug


I forget.... what I worried about a week ago


I feel.... my cold feet


I can.... sew almost anything


I can't.... cross stich


I am happy.... when I'm sewing


I lose..... my keys alot


I sing.... off key


I listen... to podcasts, audiobooks or music while walking, sewing or working


I shop..... in the same supermarket for years


I eat.... chocolate in bed


I love..... my family




I am....
I think....
I should...
I dream....
I want....
I know...
I don't like....
I smell...
I hear....
I fear....
I usually...
I search...
I miss....
I always...
I regret....
I wonder....
I crave....
I remember...
I need.....
I forget....
I feel....
I can....
I can't....
I am happy....
I lose.....
I sing....
I listen...
I shop.....
I eat....
I love.....