When Faith Meets Hockey

One of our little morning rituals with Poet is to sing "Rise and Shine" to get her out of bed. It's something we've done for years, and both kids have picked up on the words. Sort of. Poet's version sounds like somthing a hockey fan might say:

Rise and shine, and give God your goalie, goalie...

We've never had the heart to correct her :)

My New Favorite Food Trick

Got a microwave, a potato and a mandolin (or v-slicer)? Congrats, you've got potato chips! I really, really like this idea because a) it's very cheap, b) it's very quick c) there's no grease/oil so they gotta be healthier, amirite? and d) you can control what goes on your chips. For instance, my mom is trying to avoid salt, so she can make hers with little or no salt. I happen to like vinegar on my chips, but I don't keep salt & vinegar chips in the house since Amy doesn't care for them, but now I can make them on demand. A few notes before you try:

• Don't get greedy and try to make too many all at once by crowding the tray. Leave some space between the potato slices.
• You don't have to use russets. I used a waxy-ish red and my chips came out fine. Others who commented on the article used sweet potatoes.
• I salted my chips before I nuked them, I think that worked out pretty well
• Don't slice the chips too thin. They'll shrink a fair amount during cooking.
• Yes, you really do need to use parchment paper. I tried other surfaces, and I had problems with sticking. The nice thing is that you can reuse the parchment paper for a couple of batches.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go make another batch or two.

... or ten.

A First for BMT

In all the years I've been going to baseball games, I'd never before gotten hold of a game ball. Several years ago, Amy managed to snag a ball used in batting practice before an Indians game, but that's as close as I'd gotten until last night. My friends, Carl and Sally, had been comped a game in a loge at an Akron Aeros game, and they invited me to join them. Late in the game, a foul ball was lined back our way, and I got my hand on it. No, I didn't catch it outright, it was going about 90MPH at the time, and the bugger stung! Fortunately for me, a nice person in the loge next to me flipped the ball back to me. So, yay! I'm in a possession of a game ball!

What's the Bald Man Up To?

Yeah, I kinda went dark there again, didn't I? Well, I've been busy with my work for Brand Thunder, working on something very, very exciting that I couldn't talk about. I think I can now, so have a look at what we've been working on. I am super, super excited about this! Not only did I get a chance to work on a set of themes for something I love dearly, this is a HUGE opportunity for Brand Thunder. Good times!

Oh, and if that set of themes isn't to your liking, check out some of our other themes, and if you still don't see anything you like, create one for yourself!