It is Better to Marry Than to Burn

1 Corinthians 7:9 .... it is better to marry than to burn with passion. ;) Happy Valentine's Day!!!

We have had a very nice Valentine's Day!! I woke up this morning and Dave surprised me with flowers - Tulips - which happen to be my favorite. :) They remind me of Spring - they are such happy flowers. He had hid them in the garage last night, and I had no idea they were even there. Since I am on the road all day, there is no way to "send me flowers".

We have been dating or married for four Valentine's now. It is our tradition to stay in, rather than go out to dinner. My gift is making dinner for Dave. (This is truly a gift because we do not have fancy dinners most nights!! We work hard - if you don't believe me, call and listen to our answering machine!)

For our first Valentine's Day we had only been dating approximately a month. I invited Dave over for dinner (I was living at the Becker house at the time). I made chicken parmesan, and for dessert I decided to make him a special treat. He had told me once that his favorite dessert from his childhood was Brownie Baked Alaska that his mom made for special occasions. So - I went online, found a recipe - and decided that I was being so thoughtful! Unfortunately, this is how it turned out:

I can still remember Dave's first words, "What is that?" hahahahah. It isn't supposed to look like this at all. It is supposed to have a merengue out layer that protects the ice cream, and ever so slightly browns as it cooks. I also found out later that Dave's mom had always made it round, and it kind of looked like an igloo. So, sometime between now and then I have gotten the original recipe from his mom for the Brownie Baked Alaska (BBA).

Fast Forward to our second Valentine's day, and we were living 12hours apart - so I did receive my flowers - but no dinner that year. Fast Forward to our third Valentine's day - married and in PA - a HUGE snowstorm hit and Dave was lucky to make it home that day from Buffalo, NY. (But, that is another story.) We did have a nice dinner that I made that night, and a pretty cake - but no brownie baked alaska.

So, tonight - I decided it was time to surprise Dave with a yummy dinner and the BBA for dessert. Welllllllllllllll - it came pretty close. The merengue is my enemy. I was actually an egg white short, but I didn't think it'd make much of a difference. I'm guessing that is where it all went wrong. The merengue didn't peak, and therefore it dripped right off my Alaska. Dave still enjoyed it - citing that "the brownie and ice cream is his favorite part anyway. Here is what tonight's version looked like:

Oh Well!!! Maybe, the third time will be a charm. I'm sure I just need to master the merengue portion of the recipe.

And, in case you're wondering what a real finished product might look like, here is one from Martha Stewart:

Happy Valentine's To All!!

To Shovel or Not to Shovel?

It snows almost every day here in Southern Michigan. Dave is currently in Chicago for work, and I just got in from shoveling the driveway. We have probably already gotten about 10inches today, and it is still snowing. I believe it is going to snow through the night.

Dave and I both have the same philosophy on shoveling snow --- we have SUV's, therefore it doesn't need to be done. IT will melt when it melts.

The only problem is that guilt puts a damper on our "philosophy" on shoveling. All of our neighbors either shovel or snowblow their driveways....... sometimes they even come over and do ours for us. Great right?? It is very kind.... but now we feel that we must shovel our driveway before someone else feels the need to come and do ours. Should we just share our no-shovel philosophy with them? Probably not.

I went to the Y tonight to the most difficult 60min aerobic class that I have ever been to in my life. I ran into one of our neighbors at the Y and she said she was going to send her husband down tonight or in the morning to snowblow our driveway. SO, when I got home I decided to go out and do it on my own.

So - I feel like I could probably eat anything I wanted at this point....shoveling is hard work. Don't get me wrong - we sincerely appreciate the generosity of our neighbors, and we aren't lazy - we just don't have a legitimate reason TO shovel.

I googled some stats on shoveling, and here is what I have found: The good news is that 15 minutes of snow shoveling counts as moderate physical activity according to the 1996 Surgeon General's Report on Physical Activity and Health. We all should aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity of some kind on most days of the week. Brisk walking or social dancing are other ways to fit in moderate physical activity during cold winter months.

The bad news is that researchers have reported an increase in the number of fatal heart attacks among snow shovelers after heavy snowfalls. This rise may be due to the sudden demand that shoveling places on an individual's heart. Snow shoveling may cause a quick increase in heart rate and blood pressure.

One study determined that after only two minutes of shoveling, sedentary mens' heart rates rose to levels higher than those normally recommended during aerobic exercise. Shoveling may be vigorous activity even for healthy college-aged students. A study performed by researchers at North Dakota State University determined that, based on heart rate, shoveling was a moderately intense activity for college-aged subjects most of the time but was vigorous activity during about one-third of their shoveling time of 14 minutes.

Fruity Pebbles & Kleptomania

Soooo - we live in Cereal City..... on any given day you can smell the sweet smell of some of your favorite cereals. Although Fruity Pebbles is a Post cereal, and I'm no longer allowed to eat it (only kidding).... I was pleasantly surprised as I walked into the Y tonight to smell nothing other than Fruity Pebbles all throughout the air. It was awesome. Fruity Pebbles was definitely my favorite childhood cereal. I could eat half a box for breakfast.... let's remember, they are small boxes. hahahaha. I can remember being excited to get out of bed to get up and open a fresh box of Fruity Pebbles. If my brothers were reading this blog, they would tell you that I also slurped my cereal. I think I eventually grew out of this (I did), but I can remember them telling my mom that they couldn't eat breakfast at the same table if I didn't stop slurping. hahahaha. I'm thinking now that it was my innocent way of getting back at them for the beatings, the pillow suffocating, and other gross things that only older brothers do to their younger siblings.

Kleptomania (Greek: κλέπτειν, kleptein, "to steal", μανία, "mania") is an inability or great difficulty in resisting impulses of stealing.

Our dog, Snickers - a kleptomaniac. We still haven't gotten the invisible fence transmitter - we were hoping we could do without it. We will be getting one, very soon, though. It is very cold and snowy here almost every day, so we have been letting Snickers out on his own fairly often. Our neighbors next door like to leave their garage door open fairly often, as well. Snickers has discovered this wonderful treasure. They have 2 younger kids, so there all kinds of treasures inside the garage that he thinks he HAS to have for himself. He has stolen a ball, mittens, stocking cap, socks...and probably other things that we do not know about it. The reason I believe he is a klepto is because of the sheer joy that spreads across his face as he races from their garage back to our yard, as fast as he can, with his new treasure in tow. Unfortunately when he arrives I have to take it from his mouth and ruin his joy, and return the items to their rightful owners. He's going to be so mad when he can't leave the yard anymore!!! It will be nice not to have to worry about our neighbors hating us, though.

Well - that is all for today!

6 Minutes of your Day, 99 Balloons They will Never Forget

What a touching testament to the value of every life....even if it is only 99 balloons worth. Every day is a gift!! I was reading in a magazine recently that if you see a child/person with Down's Syndrome, give them a hug...... because 78% of babies with down syndrome are aborted before they even have a chance at life.