Flower Girl

Kira is making preparations for her Flower Girl responsibility at a recent wedding. Her mother's friend, Monica, may not have realized what she was starting when she asked for a 2 1/2 year old to act as flower girl in her recent wedding ceremony.

How do you keep a 2 1/2 year old flower girl busy during the wedding ceremony?

Recipe Wednesday #17

This week I am taking another recipe from Creative Cooking. Follow this link for the whole story concerning this Recipe Booklet:

First Recipe Wednesday for Wednesday, April 30, 2008

You may also find this page by going into the Blog Archives for 2008. Look for the Wednesday, April 30th Blog post.

Now for this weeks recipe:

Guacamole

Bobbie Horst

2 medium very ripe avocados
2 medium ripe tomatoes
1 small onion, finely grated
2 small Serrano or any hot chiles, chopped, or 2 Tbsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. lime juice
2 tsp. lemon juice
Dash paprika
2 tsp. salt (more or less)
Pepper to taste
1/2 tsp. coriander

Mash avocados with fork. Add the other ingredients and stir into paste that is not too smooth. Note: This dish is best if made immediately before serving, but if made ahead of time put avocado seed in the spread and cover tightly to prevent darkening.

This recipe was submitted to the recipe book by my mother, Bobbie Horst. Please see the Archive post for Wednesday April 30, 2008 for the story behind the cook book.

Cleaning Up!

Kari used my computer last night. Look what I found on my computer desktop this morning as I was looking over it to clean up. Just look at all this stuff she left on my desktop:


This dragon appears to be hatching from a pumpkin in a Pumpkin Carving contest!




















Wait, who is that young lady and what is she looking at?

I think that is Witch Kira at Haloween last year and she may be watching over the Pumpkin Patch. This truly must be the Great Pumpkin to be hatching that dragon.

ISP - Internet Service Provider (or Problem?)

Ah, this technical age. Ain't it Wonderful? We have all been led down this merry path about how wonderful this New Technological Age is today. Why with cell phones, computers, the internet; what else could you want or need? All these new gadgets are supposed to bring us closer together, save us time, and expand our opportunities to learn from and interact with each other. Hey, all this is fine and good, as long as it is all working. Last week I was having a variety of problems with my computer and the internet. The computer kept "crashing" by shutting down and rebooting with that little message that I could restart in "safe mode" and find and fix this problem. Easier said than done. No I don't have an IT or programming degree. I must muddle through the process the best I can with the Help screens provided along with the computer and the software and most of them are now internet based. They want to go off onto the internet for connection to some server where all that information is conveniontly stored for instant access. Yeh right, as long as your internet connection is working properly! That is when I began to notice that the internet didn't seem to be working properly. Now I am not only trying to figure out the problem with the computer, but I have to check my wireless router and the cable modem as well. I know what happens when you call the Internet Service Provider, they go through this whole set of questions about whether you have rebooted your computer, if you have reset your wireless router, and if you have checked your power supply to your modem. Heaven forbid that I insinuate the problem may be at their end. Well I go through the "safe mode" scenario and restore a previous setting for the computer and all seems well. Next I unplug the wireless router, and then the modem. I wait a few mintes and plug them back in according to previous instructions given when I went through this process in the past. Still no go! I repeat this process again and while I have everything unplugged I go back and check my computer. I also turned on another computer which I sometimes use which has a direct wired connection to the router. After reconnecting all the cables and power supplies I get the computer connection to the wireless router established and all seems well. Whoa, not too fast. There is still no internet connection. Now it's time to call the ISP. Well you probably now how this works. You listen to one of those recorded messages, you make your selections and after a number of overlapping menus you finally get told "your call will be answered by the service technicians in the order in which it is received". I always get ideas of banks of telephone switchboards with a number of operators sitting and waiting to switch your call to the proper technician to handle your own particular problem. When I was a kid my mother worked as a telephone operator for Bell Telephone and later for a large retail store, Montgomery Wards, and after that she worked for a large insurance and service provider in Texas. I remember seeing pictures of her sitting at one of those switchboards with a half dozen or so other operators answering and switching calls to their proper destination. I know it doesn't work that way any more, but I still get that picture in my mind when I call a large company with some problem, a complaint, or even to just get some information about their products or services. Well anyway I finally spoke with someone who seemed knowledgable, pleasant and most helpful. I explained my problem and the steps I had taken to solve it. He politely explained that a number of other people in my area have been having similar problems because of a recent series of thunderstoms we had been having. Before returning the modem for replacement he suggested that I do as I had done previously except that I wait approximately 30 mintes before replugging power supplies to each part of my system. I thought 'sure, like the modem and the router can tell the difference between 2 or 3 minutes and 30 minutes'. I am skeptical but I try it as he has suggested. Success! The internet is restored and the computer seems to be working for now. Now I can finally do that Blog which I wanted to get posted for this weekend. Now, what was I going to write about? I can't remember! One of the principals I have worked with called this "Old Timers Disease" but that is another topic for another day. I find that sometimes I have to get away from something for a while and then I will remember what I was doing before I started working on that other ISProblem.

.

. .

P. S. I can't find that picture of my mother at the switchboard. If I can find it I will post it for all to see. Perhaps my brother has that picture in his photo album. He regularly posts old family photos. See his Blog, Horst Household Happeninmgs.

Oops! You can't do that.

One of my own items on the Summer "To Do List" for this summer is to organize and clean up some of the photos and videos on my computer. I was looking through some of the earliest videos taken and I found some interesting mistakes which have been made. Here I'll share one of those earlier problems which I didn't give much thought to at the time. A couple of years ago I gave one of those small digital video cameras to Pam for Christmas. You know how Christmas goes. You open the package and want to start using it immediately. No one has time to read instructions or look at the sugggestions for use. We really never did that as I remember and we have been using that camera occasionally to get short, quick videos at various special family events. What follows is one of those early videos we took at the Birthday Party for Quianna at her second birthday. She is the daughter of my niece, Meridith, and her husband, Victor. Take a look at this video:

Did you notice the problem with this video? I'm sure you noticed it needs to be rotated for the image to be upright. I knew that rotation of photo images was possible in several of the photo programs I currently use. Oops! It never occured to me that I would not be able to rotate video images, or at least if it is possible, I have not yet found the program which will do this. I would appreciate any comment which might help me with this problem.

Grandparents - 2, or Two Grandparents

Pam and I are doing that Grandparents thing again (see my previous Blog from March 9, 2008). We have the granddaughter, Kira, for the day since mom and dad are both at work. Although it is work tending to a young child (I'm not sure we can say she is a baby now - she is growing up so fast) it is one of those things you don't mind and one might say it is even enjoyable. This is the 'Second' Blog entry for this topic - thus the title 'Grandparents - 2' but, Pam and I usually do this together as 'Two Grandparents'. I never really thought much about what these kinds of days might be like before I actally became a Grandparent. Yes, there have been some trying and even painful times going through through that 'Parenting' process. Yet, it has all been memorable and the Grandparenting thing seems to be making it all worthwhile. My brother recently entered his Blog on "Re-Looking at Re-Cycling" and it occured to me that Grandparenting is 'kind'a like' Re-Cycling Parenting.

I will occasionally Re-visit this topic of Grandparenting to share some of my thoughts and experiences on the topic.

Now for the real reason for this particular blog post - an opportunity to share with you the joy of Grandparenting:

Nap Time, No Not Yet!

Recipe Sunday! Or is it Mothers Day Sunday?

Recipe Sunday? Wait a minute, I think I have something wrong here. Recipe day in this Blog is supposed to be Wednesday. Well this will be a variation on that weekly Blog Post to commemorate my sister, Michal, and Mothers Day Sunday. As previously mentioned Michal passed away after a brief battle with cancer. This was also after she gave birth to her first and only child, Meredith. As I explained earlier I am getting some of my recipes from the cookbook, "Creative Cooking" published for a young women's group from her church, West University Baptist Church. Instead of a recipe I have chosen to take an excerpt from a page entitled

"FOOD FOR THOUGHT"

"(Some of Michal's favorite scriptures)"

"You are the world's seasoning, to make it tolerable. If you lose your flavor, what will happen to the world? And you yourselves will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. You are the world's light - a city set on a hill, glowing in the night for all to see. Don't hide your light! Let it shine for all; let your good deeds glow for all to see, so that they will praise your heavenly Father."

Matthew 5:13-16

Please note the obvious reference to flavoring or seasoning - that is the recipe connection. What I noted was the positive message and thoughts of praise. That was my sister, Michal. Positive and thoughtful for all of those around her, even in her most trying of times.

You may see a picture of my sister, Michal, on my Second Recipe Wednesday.

Here is a picture of my daughters, Janna and Kari, with Michal's daughter, Meredith.

Here we have my wife, Pam, and my daughters, Kari and Janna.

Happy Mothers Day! (Pam, Kari, Meredith, and Michal)

and also to Britt, Thomas' mother (Kari's mother-in-law)