Certain uncertainty...

At least, I suspected. Anyway, I did get hit with some extra screening. The very nice TSA gentleman swabbed my bag inside and out, put the little disc into his supersecret contraband residue detector, and asked we what my cat's name is. No, not really. But i can bet that's what his supersecret-contraband-residue-detector came up with. I can see it now: Explosive residue: Negative Feline follicles: 10X normal levels. Result: Not a terrorist, just some poor childless woman who thinks her cat is a person. *sigh* It was almost anitclimactic. I mean, I allowed and entire extra hour, thinking that I would have all sorts of hassles. But Jon dropped me off at 1:45, and I had my computer plugged in and turned on by 2:08. For anyone unfamiliar with McCarran on a thursday, this is little short of amazing. I will forever sing the praises of our airport's customer service, gimme an "M"... gimme a "C"... oh, you know the rest.

Most of the time, we do our mornings in shifts. I leave for work around 6 or 6:30, and J doesn't get up until later. For me, breakfast is often cereal or a smoothie. These muffins are great because the batter stays in the refrigerator until I need it. I just scoop out however many muffins I want to bake that morning and-- voila! Freshly-baked, homemade muffins. Refrigerator Muffins 1 (15 oz) package of raisin bran 2 c sugar 1 c oil 4 eggs 5 c flour 5 t soda 2 t salt 1 qt buttlermilk Combine all ingredients; store batter in refrigerator. Bake muffins 15 minutes at 400. If not baking full pan of muffins, add water to the empty tins. Note: Step up the fiber content even more by substituting flaxseed poweder for some of the oil. So there you have it, a busy morning treat and two bonus tips. Works for me! Now go see Shannon and her treasure trove of tips.

If you need a little reminder that the world is not going to hell in a handbasket, then take a few mintutes to read this . And this . And even this . Heck, go here and see the entire list . Now relax and smile. God is in control.

I have been emboldened by my recent Amazon purchases to experiement with some of my recipes and make them vegan. We are reluctant omnivores, but have friends with varying dietary needs. I am trying to have more than three vegan recipes in my repertoire, especially something appropriate for dinner parties, yanno? It isn't difficult for me to put together a vegetarian menu, as long as we are talking ovo-lacto, or lacto. Vegan is a bit more of a challenge to me, as many vegan food substitutes are highly processed (something to which I have an aversion, quite frankly). I splashed out last week and picked up some non-dairy cheese, my thought process being that cheese is already pretty highly processed, right? So tonight, I made vegan pesto (yum). Served on TJ's protein packed organic sprouted wheat pasta (double, triple yum), it was huge hit with the Rock Star, who doesn't even know it was vegan. The pasta is really nutty, and it stood up nicely to the pesto, with its bri...

Good morning, sunshine! It is hard for old Aunt Kelly to get her mind around the idea of you as a kindergartener. I remember heading down to the hospital the evening after you were born. Uncle Jon was a little scared for you, you know that? He didn't see how someone so small could make it in such a mean world. Your dad told him you would be just fine though. And how could you not be? Your mom and dad love you and your brother so much-- taking care of you two is their best, most favorite thing to do. Your smile and hugs and crazy antics have brought us too many smile to count. When you were younger, Uncle Jon used to drive us all crazy, you know-- he was constanty prompting you to "say Uncle Jon!" I guess that is why you guys are such good buddies. I don't know if his name was the first one you said, but you sure said it a lot-- your mom called us one morning and told us that you must be our child, since you woke up saying "Jon. Jon! Jon!" (Uncle Jon...

Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig of Fox News are safe in Israel tonight. I am sure their families are relieved beyond measure. During their captivity, these men were forced, at gunpoint, to convert to Islam. I am not sure what to make of this. I mean, does it count? Can they take it back? I don't know if these men are Christ followers, but something such as this is humbling. I wonder about having enough faith in God's promises to withstand such strain. Shoot-- even now, I falter daily, and I have it super easy! It was very popular, in the days following the Colimbine HS shootings to make martyrs-- especially of young Rachel Scott . Her ability to stand firm in her declaration of Christ showed remarkable strength of character. I am wondering what the response will be now. I can't find it in me to even begin to condemn them, and I pray that these men will be treated with grace. I also pray that neither I nor any of you ever have to make such a decision.

I am the eldest of three, though I was an only child for almost five years. The thing is, there were always a lot of people around. At one time, my aunt and cousin lived with us, and at another time my Unlce Jim lived with us. A lot of people. Today, it is just Tele and I. J is giving a workshop up in Overton, and I stayed behind to do some laundry and packing (5 more days- say yay!) for my trip home. Initially, I was super excited. I wanted to do Kelly things. You know, the stuff that it really isn't good for hubby to see-- like eyebrow waxing. I hate coming home with red skin, because part of me wants to preserve that illusion that my borws are naturally perfect. You know, like how my legs are naturally smooth? Anyway, J being out of town gave me the perfect opportunity to my waxed, plucked, and shaped with plenty of time for the redness to go away. Good times. Yeah, so that was done by 10, and the grocery shopping was done by 11, and the laundry by 12, and I have 9 mo...

The Cuddle Puddle of Stuyvesant High School -- New York Magazine Or did I lead a completely sheltered life in high school? The article is long, but VERY interesting. Thoughts? Comments? Snide remarks?

Ok, I said I wasn't going to do this, but it's my blog and I changed my mind. If you are someone who is maybe planning on coming out to see little old us in the near future (before 7 January 2007, you may want to check out SouthWest . I found tickets home for Christmas for $200-- round trip ! Apparently, they are featuring Annapolis as one of their vacation destinations. Not going to Annapolis, but I will surely ride on their coattails. Feeling the Luv! Ok, we now return you to your regularly scheduled blogging.

(With apologies to the Python crew) Jeana over at Days to Come has been burning up keyboards all over the place with these four posts ( Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 , Part 4 ) I encourage you to read it, really. (Thank you, Shannon and BooMama ) It is pretty interesting how we hear things, isn't it? Especially with respect to very personal decisions. I love the grace exhibited by these ladies in their discussion. They are all very passionate about their feelings and opinions, but they are mindful that God's calling in their lives is just that-- in their lives. I have no children, so I have not had to defend our choices for raising our family. I have, however, felt as though I had to defend our childless status. Two things strike me when it comes to this: For one thing, it will never cease to amaze me how completely insensitive perfect strangers and casual acquaintances can be with their questions and comments. Yes, we have been married almost four years. No we do not...

A couple weeks ago, Mel Gibson's vile meltdown made national, and probably international headlines. The national news programmes led with his story for almost and entire week. Christopher Hitchens weighed in with some pretty poisonous comments, and we all watched in morbid fascination as a man's career went down into a whiskey bottle. Andrew Young has resigned from Working Familes for Walmart after some dubious comments . What's that? What's that you say? You mean Today, GMA, and The Easry Show didn't lead with this story? Oh my! Could it be that they and we are much more excited to see Mel Gibson tank? And why is that, my friends?

My extended family is spread out all over this continent. In fact, when it comes to the Jones-McLellan clan (Mudder's side), the buld of the family is west coast, and we were the lone Easterners (this made for lots of fun at family reunions, when my cousins would ask me to say certain words, just to hear my southern accent) . This meant that summer vacations were always road trips to see family. My mom would pack us up and take off the week after post-planning (oxymoronis) wrapped, and we would make our way from Tallahassee to Blaine. One summer we hit as many national parks as our time and budget would allow. Hot Springs, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Redwoods, Badlands, I have seen almost all of the National Parks system. We have rolls of bison photos and a twenty minutes of beaver dam video footage to share, if anyone is interested! In our first year of marriage, Rock Star and I moved 2500 miles from our immediate families. Since then, every trip we have taken has been to see ...

... My parents read to me. A lot. For my mom, the choices were usually the classics remembered from her childhood. The Little Princess, The Secret Garden, Heidi. Even when I was old enough to read for myself, we continued this ritual. Ostensibly, it was for A and R, being so much younger than I. But I know now that it was just as much for me. I loved that time, sitting there in my nightgown, fresh from a bath. (Snuggled up on the couch was always the best, because then I could smell that Mom smell and rest my head on her shoulder.) When Dad read to me, it was a whole different ballgame. If anyone here knows my dad, you should know this about him: he is a storyteller. (And if you haven't heard him tell a story, you are missing something.) He drops his voice a little, and his inflection draws the listener in. I love to watch the kids at our home church when Dad gives the children's chat. He seldom uses more than one prop, but every child there is listening, enthra...

Much discussion has ensued over at Locusts and Honey, and as is often the case, the comments- while intriguing-- no longer bear any resemblance to the original essay. I want to look at activism as a whole, and why we, any of us, should bother. So, if any are out there reading, please share. Have you ever been an activist for a cause? What did you do? Do you feel you were effective? Why did you do it?

Yesterday, John got me thinking about activism with his very well put essay on Christian rehtoric. J and I were discussing some things last night as far as our own perceptions/ experiences with activism. My brother-in-law commented in the ensuing discussion the we could perhaps extend this reasoning to WTO protesters and Americans who complain about illegal immigration. I see his train of thought, but I think there are a couple ways the issues differ... No matter how frustrating Illegal immigration may be, it is not directly a life and death issue. War is just that. The people who die of exposure in the deserts of Arizona and other border states are ultimately there by their own choice*, whereas many victims of war are not. Chrisitan pacifists are claiming higher moral ground for their beliefs, and they may well be right. I'll wager that, come judgement day, God will have a laundry list for each of us, and whether we voted for hawks will be the LEAST of my transgressions. ...

New cookbooks! Yay! Happy happy joy joy! The UPS man brought two more today to add to last week's haul. I have four new cookbooks with which I can wow my husband and friends. Yum. Double yum. Tonight from The Inspired Vegetarian , it is baked courgettes with goat cheese, mint, and kosher salt. I am also toying with the eggs flamenco-- hopefully halving the recipe, as I cannot imagine it being much good leftover. Smashing success! J ate TWO of the zucchini! I am aiming for four new recipes each week. Trisha would be so proud.

(With sincere apologies to the Borg ) MEMRI has once again brought goodness to my inbox . Woohoo! This time, it is one of the increasingly fewer moderate voices- Dr. Muhammad 'Abd Al-Muttalib Al-Huni. He tackles the misuse by Hizbollah and others of the word "resistance" to describe their actions. MEMRI rocks! And if you toss a few shekels their way, they will be glad of the help.

Because he has mastered subtlety . I am still giggling. (There are a couple not nice words, the links are PG-13)

Comes this post . John over at Locusts and Honey has once again managed to very eloquently say pretty much what I would, were I capable. Not only that, but every week he publishes the Methodist Blogs Weekly Roundup , which is choc full of yummy goodness. I constantly struggle with the areas in which I fall far short of the the mark set in scripture. Every single day. I wonder at some of our nation's actions and the response. As Christians, we are under extra scrutiny-- there are many people out there who want nothig more than to see us stumble, either as individuals, or collectively. As a nation, the USA faces much the same. Many times, we are between the proverbial rock and a hard place. Does this mean that I think we are correct all the time? No, but it does mean that I believe we are striving. This point in particular strikes a chord: Dave never answered. His pacifism prevented him from proposing a military solution, and therefore prevented him from proposing any solutio...

Upon learning that lipstick will once again be allowed as a carry-on item for domestic air travel. We may arrive smelling bad, but dammit, our lips will look pouty!!!!