Archives for February 2010

American Idol Top 24 – Guys

February 24, 2010 by Amy 3 Comments

OK, now that I’ve heard all 24 I can say without a doubt this may be the worst Top 24 in quite some time. I don’t know if the sound is just so bad on our end or the nerves are really getting to these guys or the talent is just lacking but SOMEthing is up. This has got to get better soon or we’re in for a very painful season. Also, I’m not jiving with most of the judges. Simon and I agreed a few times but wow, I just felt like we were out of sync with what the judges were hearing.

Again, here are my Tweets with more extraneous commentary 🙂

Andrew, you are just amazing. You are a star already. He was a prime example of the judges vs. viewers opinions. They all gave him a really hard time and most of what I saw on Twitter really had his back. I loved the song and loved him singing it.

CASEYYYYY!!! I <3 YOU! The judges were out. of. control. I really felt bad for him at the first of the song trying to ignore Kara’s antics. But he really, really pulled through. Loved the song. It was perfect for what all the women who were already swooning wanted to hear. And the guys can’t say anything because he has the chops to back it up. I could easily see him as one of the finalists.

Alex – awkward performance. no thanks Apparently this guy has sung at like 3 coffee shops. He basically has no clue what to do on a huge stage with 30 million people watching. I mean, it’s nerve-wracking for anyone, but I think Alex might have taken it the worst.

Mike…you are ruining a great song I really, really like Maroon 5 and I think he completely ruined the vibe of the song. He kept bouncing his shoulders and was way too bubbly with it. Did he even listen to the lyrics? I mean, if you REALLY listen to them, it’s probably not even appropriate for the Idol stage.

John – didn’t enjoy it. almost muted it. I agreed with Simon here…his emotions for the song did not come across at all.

Lee! Wow, where’d he come from? Loved that. Great song choice for me. Another one where the judges and I didn’t agree. I enjoyed him. He seems like a really cool, down-to-earth guy that has a really good voice. Definitely like his vibe.

Tyler *clap**clap**clap**clap**clap**clap**clap**clap* not perfect, but the ladies are going to like that *ahem* Ok, thinking back his voice wasn’t great. But the guy is at least comfortable on stage. And they didn’t have a problem with Adam Lambert not being “real” and becoming a persona on stage…not that I’m comparing Tyler and Adam, just sayin’, same kind of principle.

Wow, I liked Joe much more than I thought. He seemed nervous to me, not comfortable. I like his smile! I liked his voice but nerves!

Tim – i’m even more mad that Golightly isn’t up there now. What was that?? It really was just horrendous. So out of his league.

Jermaine -I think I just witnessed a murder. Not sure if it was the song or my ears though. I really thought I was going to like Jermaine. Really disappointed. Especially with his “I’m not a diva-who’s Mike?” line.

Aaron – I think barring nerves that was a really good song choice for him. That song was written by @ChrisSligh – I love that song and I think it was a good fit for Aaron’s voice. Chris Sligh apparently thought he butchered it though. Hmmm.

Todrick – I agree with Ellen…chorus was weak. He’s comfortable on stage though! #idol I’m giving Todrick props for coming out of the gate with an upbeat, original song. The chorus was weak but overall kudos for trying. He’s obviously comfortable on stage and I think he needs to stick around for a while.

Wow, I feel like the mean old wicked witch of the west or something. Lots of negativity. But ya’ll. Wow. It was tough.

Best is easily Casey and Andrew

It’s hard to call who is in trouble just because it was so bad. I’m going to say Tim and Alex are in trouble.

Learning Figure Skating Jumps

February 24, 2010 by Amy Leave a Comment

Salchow, axel, lutz…it sounds like a list of Russion music composers to me. One of my fascinations with figure skating is just how the announcers figure out what jump the skater is doing. Besides the fact they have their program written down in front of them, of course.

I did a little digging and while I’m not proficient yet, in order of least to most difficult, here are the types of jumps:

Toe Loop
Salchow
Loop
Flip
Lutz
Axel

If you have about 10 minutes to spare, here is a video explanation on all the jumps. The good news is it has lots of explanations and footage. The bad news is it looks like it was created in 1991 and has awful music. If you can get past that, I think you can learn something.

Figure Skating Jumps
Uploaded by oxygala. – Check out more sports and extreme sports videos.

Axel is the hardest and easiest to spot because they go into it facing forward. That may have been the only thing that stuck in my brain but at least I know when I see it, to be impressed!

If you want a more detailed training series, Michael Weiss has a great set of video tutorials here. I’m gonna get this one day!

Cooking with The Pioneer Woman – Weekly Update

February 24, 2010 by Amy Leave a Comment

I’ve been spreading my wings a little bit in the cooking department (read: kitchen). As I have leftovers and try recipes, I’ve been using pieces of recipes and creating my own dinners. It’s nothing fancy, it’s not like I’m throwing spices around at will but I am making things work for me. I did have a few full, original P-Dub recipes I tried this week.

Pioneer Woman’s Sweet Potatoes aka “Soul Sweet Taters”

I have to admit I used canned sweet potatoes in a pinch here but it still worked. Overall, liked these. Definitely satisfies any sweet tooth!

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Pineapple Upside Down Cake

This one COULD have been outstanding save my incompetence. When I was dissolving the brown sugar in the butter, I had the heat up too much and it burned a large section of the sugar. I was too ignorant/naive to know it was really burning, not just getting brown and I should just to turn the burner down. Also, I’ve never been a fan of this cake and didn’t know how important the cherries were. Why I made this and don’t even eat it? I don’t know. It appears I’m a little addicted to cooking and I had gotten a few cans of pineapple for free. What can I say?

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Blue Cheese Sauce – except not

I posted on this before but I changed it up a little and thought it was worthy of note. I used some gorgonzola cheese instead of blue cheese and poured it over Tilapia instead of Steak. Yum. Yum, yum, yum. Even Emma asked for more.

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We also had some repeats this week…chicken pot pie, lasagna and homemade pizza and calzones (different stuffing than Cowboy Calzones) and then used leftover pizza dough to make dessert pizza. Good stuff!

American Idol Top 24 – Girls

February 24, 2010 by Amy 2 Comments

OK, for those that follow me on Twitter, this might be boring but no need to reinvent the wheel! Here are my thoughts from last night. I will say in general, it was a very disappointing night. One main issue was the sound was terrible. You could hardly hear the band. Also, it seems nerves got the most of several of the girls. Because I’m lazy, I copied and pasted from Twitter and it goes in opposite performance order:

Katie – still not one of my favorites. not a good song choice. I just don’t see star power in her. Yes, she has a voice, but I think she needs to put a few years and experience on.

Love MamaSox! Love her honesty, her voice and song choice. She’s got it!

Siobhan – She definitely has a voice on her but I think she might belong on Broadway or something. I really felt like Siobhan had heard all the murmurings that she’s weird and was really not herself last night. If you’re weird, be weird, people. It’s better than being fake.

<3 Didi. She also reminds me a lot of Brooke White in looks and personality. Love, love, love her. She’s so easy to get behind. She has a great story, is down-to-earth, nice, talented, etc, etc. I think she could have done better but she stood out among the group tonight.

Michelle – I just have to turn on Alicia to hear that. Give me something different. This girl is gorgeous and her voice is great. To say that she’s a copy cat of Alicia Keys is a huge compliment. But like I said, there’s already one of her. I felt a little more like she was in a beauty pageant than American Idol.

I agree with the judges, Lacey is better than what she did but I liked it better than they did Man, I really wanted Lacey to do well. I think she has a unique voice and I love, love, love her look. She was just all over the place with that song.

Haeley – wasn’t perfect but it was unique and fun Haeley teeters on the annoying line for me. Sometimes she’s cute and unique and fun and sometimes she’s vain and it’s too affected.

Haven’t been a fan of Katelyn so far but I really liked her voice there. She came out of nowhere for me but I enjoyed it.

Yay for Lilly. Not her strongest, but I really like her! I want Lilly to do well. I think she’s down to earth, a hard worker and really, really talented. Once again, I think this was a bad song choice.

Janell – poor thing, I can see she’s nervous but the song was way too big for her. Yikes. Just yikes.

Ashley – felt like she was holding back a bit. some really pretty moments though. Ashley is gorgeous and comfortable on stage. I think she needed to let go a little.

Sorry, Paige, nothing stood out for me. Also, what’s wrong with the sound ?! I feel like Paige got the shaft a little. The sound was the worst at the beginning of the show and she may have sounded better if everything was working properly. That said, I felt it was a little boring anyway.

Favorites were Didi and Mamsox.

I think Paige and Janell are in trouble.

So Says the Pop Culture Junkie

February 23, 2010 by Amy 3 Comments

This will probably be the most non-serious post about the 2010 Olympics. But while I was watching ice dancing last night, I couldn’t help but think that these two

(Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski of Russia)

Looked like these two…

(Russell Brand and girlfriend Katy Perry)

…had found a pair of skates and gone to the Olympics!

Am I right or am I right?

In other news, the Canadians totally deserved gold. It was beautiful!

(pictures courtesy of vancouver2010.com)

Homemade Play-Doh

February 22, 2010 by Amy Leave a Comment

With all this cooking I’ve been doing lately, it popped in my mind last week that I probably had all the ingredients for homemade play-doh and it was quite possible I wouldn’t mess it up! I was missing only one ingredient: "cream of tartar sauce”, as Emma called it. I had no clue what it was and even had to call Mom in the store to find out where to look.

But soon we were home and Lexi got all the ingredients together for us.

We went by this recipe and it was super easy to make. If you can boil water, you can make this!

“It looks like a giant baby threw up.” That’s what Emma said when we were mixing the play-doh although it came out really good (well?) and we had a HUGE blob. The play-doh consistency is very close to Play-Doh’s. It was great fun making a light green by mixing the green and yellow. After we were done I wanted to make several more batches and make all kinds of colors! Emma said we should make play-doh and sell it…little entrepreneur there?

We won’t be selling any but we definitely will be making this often. Did I mention I love play-doh?

Sunday Highlights: Love, Sex, God: Courtship

February 21, 2010 by Amy 1 Comment

Today’s sermon centered around courtship. What it should like, how many times it doesn’t look like that and what to do about it. I took so many notes, it’s kind of ridiculous. I’ll try to keep this brief.

It started out with the description of a child finding a cocoon. When he starts seeing the butterfly trying to come out, he tries to help it along not realizing that hurrying the process hurts the butterfly and turns it into what Chris called a “buttercrawl”.

So often we approach attraction/dating/marriage like this. We try to hurry the process along and it breaks everything.

Song of Songs Ch.2

v1 – She’s asking if she’s beautiful (men, you better have the right answer ready!)
v2 – He says, yes, very
v3 – She feels protected and secure but also nourished as a person.
v4 – He professes his love publicly and commits to her
v5 – She loves the attention
v6 – He catches her as she swoons
v7 – She realizes what’s happening and tells her friends not to awaken love before the appointed time
v14 – She’s protecting herself. He’s saying I don’t want you just for your body, I want to see and get to know you
Ch3 She begins to think about what this will look like..she’s daydreaming. Again in v5 she says not to awaken love before the appointed time. Even though she wants to take it to the next level, she’s waiting.

One thing – “Love has a proper pace.”

We want to skip the process but here is what it should be:

Love Jesus and pursue Him
Only look for mates that also pursue Jesus. No Plan B! Dad’s date your daughters. Invest in them and give them a standard. If not, they will be willing to try to find it elsewhere.
Only date someone you will marry. It should be the only reason to date someone.
Marriage & intimacy – Two people become one verbally and physically.

Can not rush this process. If you do, you become warped, messed up buttercrawls.

If you are single and they are not interested in pursuing you personally (nourishing you) then they won’t care later. Lose them! If you are married, don’t stop dating your spouse. Still pursue your wife as a person, not just their body.

If you’re a buttercrawl and you are a Christian, you need a Gospel-centered confession. You have been choosing sex over Jesus. We’re not animals, we can honor Him with our choices. There is hope, Jesus makes you new. Put yourself in a community with accountability.

1 – You may say it is not possible. Romans 7:24-8:2 It IS possible. Not for you, but through Him.
2 – You may say it’s too painful. You have to do what it takes to honor Him. (He also had a great joke about cutting it off if it causes you to sin HA)
3 – You must be diligent. Romans 13:13-14 Work hard, have accountability. Make sacrifices, it’s important. Your future family matters, not the moment. We are allowing culture to dictate our morality. It comes down to Who do you worship?

Take aways

If you are married, are you courting your wife? Plan a date for this week!
If you are single, go on group dates, don’t be alone, set boundaries. End the relationship if need be or start the relationship over, even if it’s with the same person.

Such great, great stuff for single people especially. Then again, I’m excited about getting a date night!

You can listen to the full sermon here. Please do, he talked about more than I even have here.

On another note about the church this week, the local paper had a great article about the church’s expansion today and Heather and I made it into one of the pictures. We remembered the guy taking our picture that morning but had no clue what is was for.

Raising My Hand and Bowing My Head

February 20, 2010 by Amy 9 Comments

This is one of those Scott would call one of my “deep theological posts”. He really just means it’s too long to read. Sorry. It was a lot to think about.

I sat on the left side of the classroom pulled up close to black top tables that served a dual purpose of note-taking and dissecting. Thankfully, note-taking at the moment. With squinty eyes I watched a middle-aged woman with light brown shoulder length hair while she drew pictures and labeled them with A’s G’s C’s and T’s on an overhead projector. I understood clearly the concept of base pairing she was teaching but I had not a clue how it related to chromosomes which was the topic we had been covering. I wanted to ask how these little letters possibly determined the fact that I was a female. I just knew I had missed something and I was the only one in the class that was not getting the big picture. I mean, it wouldn’t have been the first time a little common sense hadn’t kicked in. My heart beat sped up and I could feel my face flush and I just knew I was going to ask. Before I knew it my hand had shot up, she called on me and I said, “This might be a stupid question but how does this relate to chromosomes?”

A huge smile broke across her face. “That is not a stupid question at all. In fact, it’s a great question! That’s exactly where I was going with this.” She went on to explain how millions of these pairs were strung together and made a chromosome. (Please trust WIKI for a better understanding) Trust me when I say a light bulb came on and I was a little closer to understanding DNA as well as one can in Biology 101.

So I sit here eight years later and I find I have that same feeling. There’s just something I don’t understand and I’m afraid to raise my hand to ask. Surely everyone else just gets it and I’m missing something. But as countless teachers said, there’s no such thing as a stupid question. And as Biology 101 proved to me, sometimes asking pays off. Not just for you, but for others. So I guess this post is me raising my hand. Not necessarily for anyone to answer, but maybe just for the benefit of some reading so they know they’re not the only one that doesn’t get it.

That was a long winded way to say I’m having a hard time understanding prayer. And a lot of people might find that surprising, especially after reading this post. Ever since I can remember I’ve always prayed. All day, in little spurts, I talk to God. And the Sunday School answer for what prayer is is talking to God. That’s easy. I get that. I do that. I understand the purpose of talking to him. And more importantly I understand how important it is to listen to him. I get that part of prayer.

The problem I’ve been having with prayer is when it comes to asking for something. Does God decide to give or do things based on if, when, how much I ask or even how many of us ask? In other words, does prayer work? It’s really hard to raise your hand and ask that question. It seems like Christianity 101. Surely everyone in the classroom gets the concept. You ask God for something, he decides whether it should happen and he answers. The problem I have is we all know that sometimes he doesn’t answer the way we’d like. I’m told this happens because it’s not best for us or it doesn’t fit in His will. Fine, I’m good with that. I will take His will over mine any day. But then my question is why ask? If He’s going to do what He wants, or what He has planned anyway and then I’m just left with a pile of prayers that were heard but ultimately didn’t change anything, what is the point of laying our requests before Him?

I have to be honest, I got to a point where I told God, “God, I don’t know whether this is going to change anything but I’d really like x, y and z to happen.” And I honestly didn’t know whether my asking would change anything. Because the real question here is much larger. Really it’s about predestination and whether things are already laid out and we’re just living them out or our prayers, free will and desires are creating the present and future. It’s a hard question and that question I know has many people raising their hands.

Sodom and Gomorrah is a good place to start to try to understand this. God told Abraham he would destroy the cities and Abraham basically bargained with God about whether to spare the cities based on how many righteous people were there. He ends up sparing Abraham’s nephew Lot and his family. If taken at face value, you would assume that had Abraham not asked, Lot and his family would not have been spared. But my question is would they have not? Would God have seen Lot’s righteousness and spared them anyway? Was God basically “playing” with Abraham and he was planning to spare them anyway? Or, was God’s plans really changed and Lot and his family were spared? I want to say God changed his mind! Prayer works!

But if God changes His plans, what does that mean for everything else? Does the future of everyone change with each decision we make or He makes? Does God really know everyone’s future?

I have to believe that some things are “set in stone”. If I just think back to all the prophecies, things were told beforehand what were to happen and they came true. Even Christ said that he was there to carry out what was set before him. God says many times He has plans for us. Revelation is an entire book dedicated to things that are to come. At some level, the future is known.

So that’s where I am. Where do my prayers fit in? As I sit here, I believe God hears my prayers and I’m pretty sure prayer changes things. I mean, I’ve seen and been a part of miraculous things that have happened that were prayed for. It’s like the A’s, T’s, G’s and C’s in class. I feel confident in that part.

But I’m having a hard time seeing where it fits in with the rest of God. Maybe it’s a stupid question. Maybe I’m failing Christianity 101. But it doesn’t mean I don’t believe in prayer or God’s omniscience or my salvation or whatever else. I believed in base pairing and chromosomes and DNA. Just because I couldn’t put the pieces of the puzzle together didn’t mean I didn’t believe in any of the pieces or that the puzzle did fit together. I’m not questioning my faith here.

But I do have questions. I have some puzzle pieces in my hands and I’m trying to fit them together. I’m turning them around and around trying to see which sides will fall into place to make sense of the bigger pictures.

So I’m raising my hand and bowing my head.