what a week

we paid off the altima this week! that was planned.

i was promoted and got a nice raise! that was not planned, or at least not planned on for this week.

since the war began, we have lost 609 u.s. soldiers in afghanistan. somewhere over nine hundred coalition forces. i don't know how many civilian deaths, but i'm sure a whole lot.

during that same exact amount of time, there have been approximately 1322 murders in just my city, fabulous las vegas.

a life is a life and all should be counted, no matter the location or nationality. but that isn't what you hear in the news. what you hear, is that there have been too many u.s. deaths and we need to bring the troops home.

i bring this up because andrew's national guard unit received the official deployment orders to go to afghanistan next year. it is too soon to say more, and there are a whole lot of different ways that it might all play out. but 609 versus 1322. i think he may be safer there than i am here.

rummage sale

our church had a rummage sale/bake sale this past weekend. andrew and i slaved away all friday night making baked goodies (we didn't have anything interesting to donate to the rummage sale part). i made an apple pie. andrew made chocolate cookies with white chips. and i made my favorite cupcakes (which are actually brownie bottoms, cookie tops, and icing to layer them).

as much as i love making cupcakes, i really adore making little flags for them to wear. these, since they were going to the church sale, say: UMC (united methodist church), desert spring (name of the specific church), wesley rocks (wesley founded the methodist church), open hearts, open doors, open minds (our moto), and other methodisty sorts of things. i didn't stick around to the end to see all my cupcakes go to good homes, but i'm sure they did.

my nine names

a coworker sent this to me and we sat around comparing names and sharing a few laughs instead of otherwise being very hard at work...


1. YOUR REAL NAME:

christen

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of real name plus izzle.)

chrizzle


3. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color and favorite animal)

gray cat

4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME:( your middle name and street you live on/or neighborhood if it's a number)

martin charleston

5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name)

garch

6. YOUR SUPERHERO/CRIMINAL NAME: (Your 2nd favorite color, and favorite drink).

pink soda

7. YOUR IRAQI NAME: (2nd letter of your first name, 2nd letter of your moms maiden name, 3rd letter of your last name, 1st letter of your last name, 3rd letter of your dads name, 1st letter of a siblings first Name, and last letter of your moms middle name)

hargace

8. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (parents middle names).

rae david

9. YOUR GOTH NAME: (black, and the name of one of your pets).

black zoe


i've also seen equations for my stripper name (street you grew up on and your first pet? or maybe the other way around). what i'd really like to know is my pirate name.

mini hot browns

From Wiki:

A Hot Brown is a hot sandwich originally created at the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. It was one of two signature sandwiches created by chefs at the Brown Hotel shortly after its founding in 1923. It was created to serve as an alternative to late-night suppers offered elsewhere. The Hot Brown is an open-faced sandwich of turkey and bacon, covered in Mornay sauce and baked or broiled until the bread is crisp and the sauce begins to brown. Many Hot Browns also include ham with the turkey, and either pimentos or tomatoes over the sauce. After its debut, it quickly became the choice of ninety-five percent of the customers to the Brown Hotel's restaurant. The "cold brown" was baked chicken or turkey, hard-boiled egg, lettuce and tomato open-faced on rye bread, and covered with Thousand Island dressing. It is rarely served anymore.

so basically a hot brown is bread, turkey, bacon, all covered with a cheesy sauce and then maybe a tomato on top of that. it's bad for you. and a cold brown is a sandwich that no one really ever liked and most people have now never heard of or knew existed. we wanted to serve hot browns at the derby party in may but it is not really a dish that lends itself to finger fooding. what is it, necessity is the mother of all invention?

our cute mini hot browns:

ingredients:

french bread, sliced

deli turkey

already cooked bacon

jar of alfredo

roma tomatos, sliced

on a cookie sheet, layer your bread slices. pile on turkey and tomato taste. dribble on some sauce. place a bacon piece on top. broil until toasty. these were a hit because they are simple, tasty, and cute. enjoy!