A Year Ago

The last couple days have brought back fond memories of my trip to Africa last year.  Last year at this time I was embarking on a trip of a lifetime not knowing how much this trip would impact my life.

I was going through some of my pictures last night thinking about the adventure I had, tears welling in my eyes.  Remembering all the beautiful people I met and the friends I made.  It was an ahhhmazing experience, soul cleansing, eye opening, heart wrenching...but one I would do again in a heartbeat given the opportunity.

You want to stroll down memory lane with me?

Here are links to the posts I wrote while I was there (and a few after) on behalf of the people and the villages we visited, on behalf of Global Hope Network International.


February 22, 2012 Leaving Eden
February 23, 2012 Cruising at 35,000 Feet
February 24, 2012 African Village
February 25, 2012 Faces Of The Village
February 26, 2012 A Warm Smile
February 27, 2012 An Orphanage
February 28, 2012 Harar Coffee & Chat
February 29, 2012 By The Numbers & Shhh Listen
March 2, 2012 View From Here
March 4, 2012 Ciao & Goedenmorgen
March 7, 2012 Overstimulated & Jet Lag

What were you doing last year at this time?  Do you remember?


Off to Lincoln City for Tyler's Oregon Prep Basketball Tournament.  Far cry from Africa, but it will have to do.  LOL.

Have a great weekend!



Photo Credit: a_gonzalvo's flickr

Whistling A Different Tune

We all have them.  
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Memories. 
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Memories of course that we cherish and maybe a few that we would like to forget.


Might it be a smell, a song, a picture, a meal, a place, that takes you back to the day...yesterday, last week, last year, 10 years ago.
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Growing up my family was not very well off so something that triggers memories for me as an adult are certain foods that we or other family members ate on a regular basis...and when I mean regular I mean, sometimes it was several times a week even, because that is all that there was.




Braunschweiger. I *heart* my grandpa but man have you ever smelled that stuff?  Disgusting.  But yet I can see him clearly sitting at the kitchen table spreading the liver concoction on a cracker, devouring it quickly.  He ate that and bologna ALL.THE.TIME.  I remember he would go to the local market down the street and he would buy the bologna from the deli, thin slices with the red plastic still attached to the outside, that we would peel off with our teeth as we were slapping it on a slice of bread with a spread of mayo or mustard.   I can not stomach the smell of either and refuse to eat it now as an adult.  Even if it was the last thing, the only thing in the refridgerator, I don't know if I could do it.  I know that might sound really selfish since there are so many people that would love to have that for a meal....but not me.  Not now.  Not sure if ever.

Sh*t on a Shingle.  Do you know that recipe?  Hamburger, rice, cream of mushroom soup, poured over bread or biscuits.  My step mom/dad used to make that all the time for us kids when times were lean, which was often.  I am certain my dad and grandpa picked this up from their military days.   I guess it is better than going hungry, right...but again, not happening anytime soon in my kitchen.

And we can't forget TOP RAMEN.  OhhEmmGee!  Top Ramen a staple in many starving college students apartments or heck many regular households now, I am sure, because of the unemployment rates and economy.  But not in this one....until now.  I have actually purchased it before since the kids like it but have not eaten it myself up until just recent when I improvised and added it to my vegetable stir fry.  I usually put the stir fry over rice but ran out of rice so I used the ramen noodles without the seasoning instead.  And it was good!   I was a bit surprised.

I didn't realize how many Top Ramen recipes there are until I started writing this post and checked some out.


Budget101 has 137 recipes listed and that is just the tip of the iceberg.  Here are some odd ones I found.

# 37 Chocolate Peanut Butter Ramen
#60 Fried Ice Cream Ramen (Really?)
#101 Ramen Spam Doodles
#106 Sloppy Joe Ramen
#131 Trail Mix Ramen

I might need to take it pretty slow while I get reacclimated to ramen so I don't think I will be making any of these recipes anytime soon.

Do you have any food aversions as an adult because of your childhood eating habits?  Or do you have any Top Ramen recipes you want to share?

Shake, Rattle & Roll

As I was driving to work yesterday morning I had the fright of my life.  Let me tell you my heart was pounding so fast I thought it was going to jump right out of my mouth.  Yes, that bad!

I work really early in the morning and I drive a very dark highway parallel to the Columbia River in Portland Oregon.  When I am going to work there are barely any cars on the road, mostly truckers heading to the industrial part of town.  The road has street lights but few and far between.  As I was driving I kept seeing a shadow in the back of my mini van and also kept hearing some rattling going on.  Just a faint rattling.  I kept looking in my rear view mirror and would see this shadow cast on the back seat.  I literally thought someone was hunkered down in the far back seat.  It was possible because I did notice one of my doors had been unlocked when I got into the van that morning.  I continued driving all the while hearing the faint tat-tat-tat-tat-tat and seeing the shadow lurking; my hands getting sweatier by each tire rotation.

After a seven minute drive that felt like forever I turned onto the main drag near my work where there are tons of street lights and luckily the shadow disappeared!  I still heard the tat-tat-tat-tat but at least nobody was in my back seat ready to pounce on me!  When I pulled into work I investigated what the rattling was and I found that there was a paper bag lodged under the stroller in the cargo area that was rattling every time I drove over a bump, hump, pothole, etc...



As I sat there in the parking lot of my work and thought about this, I started laughing and remembering a similar story of when I was younger.  My aunt Linda, cousin Carey and I went to a drive in movie (yes, a drive in; if that doesn't take some of you back) in Lake Elsinore, CA. 

I remember it was Eddie & The Cruisers that we were seeing. 

There we sat Aunt Linda, Carey and I in the front seat of the car, the speaker hanging off our window.  Carey and I eagerly peering through the front window glued to the movie.  I however was kinda short at the time (still am).  I think I was all of 8 so I was having a hard time getting comfortable looking over the dashboard so my aunt decided she was going to move the seat forward but failed to mention that to us.  She slowly reached her hand down the side of the seat to push the button in order to move the seat and all of a sudden we heard a loud tat-tat-tat-tat-tat (rattling sound). 

Both Carey and I looked at each other frantically and pulled our feet up onto the bench seat.  "What the heck is that?" we both squealed. 

Aunt Linda, of course, knowing darn good and well what was making the sound continued to play it up saying she didn't know.  We calmed down for a bit, only for it to happen again a few minutes later, tat-tat-tat-tat-tat. 

She apparently was getting a kick out of us squealing and huddling on the front seat.  I think by the end of the episode she was laughing so hard she was almost crying.  And after a few more times she finally told us that she was trying to move the seat forward but there was a paper bag stuck under the seat that was rattling every time she tried to move the seat.  

We really thought there was a rattlesnake in the car, under the seat and it was going to strike us at any moment.  Our poor little hearts!   They were probably beating just as fast as mine was yesterday.  She was always a jokester though so we should have known something was up.


Image Courtesy of az-wallpaper.com


Needless to say we (I) didn't watch much of the movie then but years later when I watched it again, this memory came flooding back as it did yesterday. 

R.I.P Aunt Linda "KC" Sue born July 6, 1949-died February 16, 1999. Gone in body but not forgotten.

Image Courtesy of yellowfiringrange.com