This evening Karianne and I experimented with making our own version of a frappuccino! The Starbucks bottles in this picture are filled with "Kurfee" (yes, that's Kurth + coffee. The marketing campaign practically writes itself! "Gimme anuther gal-dang Kurfee, Lorna Gene! I gotta stay up tonight and catch them possums!").
First, here's how we did it: 1. Sterilize some bottles. We boiled 5 Starbucks bottles (and their caps) for about 10 minutes. 2. Brew 12 oz. of vanilla flavored coffee. 3. In a pot, mix coffee with 6 cups of whole milk, 1 cup of sugar, and a little less than 1 tsp of powdered cocoa mix (might work fine with Hershey syrup, but we used Nestle's Carlos V mix). 4. Stir it up and ladle it into the bottles. Done in less than 20 minutes!
This completely filled 5 bottles and would have mostly filled a 6th if we'd had that many. It tastes really good! Not exactly like a frap, but it's our first batch, and it's got its own personality.
Now, the cost: A regular 4-pack of fraps at the grocery store costs $5, or $1.25/bottle. A single bottle at a gas station is around $1.79.
Our total cost for all 5 bottles was $1.85. That's $0.37/bottle. Unbelievable. It tastes even better when you know that!
As I was mixing it, I was amazed at how much milk there was. When you buy a frappuccino, you're basically buying a bottle of milk with tiny amounts of other flavorings in it.
The next time we try this, we'll cut back on the sugar a little (maybe 3/4 cup) and make the coffee a little stronger. Now that we know how easy, fun, and cheap it is, I'm sure we'll make more batches of Kurfee in the future, dadgummit.
This is from Book Business, a trade magazine I get at work. The quote is from Dominique Raccah, CEO of Sourcebooks. A great observation.
Books change lives. I'm in this business because books change lives. They create a space in which you think about your life...in different ways. They create a silence for that, too, just because of the amount of time that they take and the emotional energy that they take. I don't believe that reading text on the Net is going to have the same effect. A book is a book; it's a complete object."
As I check in on my baby girl sleeping so sweetly in her crib, I am amazed at how my heart swells with love for her. Even through the births of all my nephews (and a very recent niece), I've never experienced a feeling quite like this before becomming a mommy myself. And it's totally different from being in love, although that involves a lot of heart-swelling too, paradoxically. All I can say is that there's just nothing quite like "Mommy-love". I could try to put it to words all day long but you'll never truly understand unless you're a mommy too. (I suppose "Daddy-love" comes pretty close, though I'm not quite qualified to make that claim.)
A lot of reflection comes with this Mommy-love, along with many new sensations. One day Kaeta and I were sitting on the couch, playing, cooing, and laughing together, as we often do. I was once again overcome with the heart-swelling love, as I often am, and I gave in to the urge to plant big wet kisses all over her little smiling face. I tell her things like, "Kaeta, you are so sweet! Yes you are! You are the sweetest baby in the whole world!" (And anyone can clearly see that she is ;) "You are so sweet I could just eat you up!" I exclaim as I nibble on her fingers a tiny bit. She seems to think this is a funny game, because she grins ear to ear as she voluntarily puts her fingers in my mouth.
Have you ever said to a baby, or ever heard anyone say to/about a baby, "I could just eat you up"? I don't think I ever said it, but I certainly heard other mommies say it before I became a mommy and found myself saying it too. I remember thinking how ridiculous it sounded. How could anyone get the urge to eat their own baby? Doesn't that just strike you as inherently wrong? But now I totally understand! It's not that you actually want to eat the baby, but maybe just nibble on her a bit. It's totally innocuous, as repulsive as it may sound.
I can't help but believe this must be a common mommy-love feeling. It suddenly struck me how harshly I have judged hamster-mommies in the past for eating their own babies. As gruesome and horrifying as this little fact is (and infinitely more so to see the evidence of it *shudder*), I now feel like I can relate with these poor brainless creatures on some obscure, disturbing level. I can't help but wonder if maybe these little rodent mommies are just misunderstood. I can just imagine the mommy hamster and the baby hamster sitting there playing and cooing at each other, when the heart-swelling mommy-love overcomes the mommy hamster and she says to her baby, "You're so sweet I could just eat you all up!" But then the sad truth is that she just doesn't have the mental capacity, the moral judgement, or the self-discipline to refrain. There is no little hamster-angel in white robes and a harp on her shoulder to say to her, "Now, now, Mommy Hamster, you know it would be wrong to eat Baby Hamster...."
And tragedy strikes.
I am now convinced that the mommy hamsters are not evil, they are just misguided. Aren't we all in this fallen world? So the lesson we can all learn from the pea-brained hamsters is that you can't have your baby and eat it too.
4/17 - Learn something new day. It doesn't matter how big or small but the day must involve learning a new skill. it could be a magic trick, or how to make lasagna. Ask people you know to teach you something they like to do.
and
12/9 - Low technology day. Pick a year from the past and only use technologies that existed in or before that year (1950 would mean B&W TV, but no cable, no internet, no cell phones).
Things like this can be really fun. Maybe we can make up some holidays.
Or, on a different tack, maybe we can better celebrate the holidays we already have. Today is St. Patrick's Day, but that means nothing to me except that Karianne pinched me this morning until I put on a green shirt. Today Gene Veith writes briefly about the true meaning of St. Patrick's Day. "St. Patrick's Day should remind us that even white people first came to Christianity through missionaries." Right on.
Some years for Lent I try to give up two things -- one to benefit my physical health and one to benefit my spiritual health (refer to my post from 3/3/06, Giving Stuff Up, if you missed it). This year I've decided to give up junky snacks and complaining. So far I haven't done a great job remembering that I've given up complaining (a little too "conveniently" I'm afraid), but I'm working on it. But it does bring to mind the last time I gave up complaining for Lent in 1999 (so hard to believe that was 7 years ago!).
I was a wide-eyed freshman at UT, fairly involved at the Catholic Center there. My friend Becky told me her friend Jason thought I was cute, and promised that he would be perfect for me. He called me on Mardi Gras Tuesday and asked me out for that Friday. I thought he was cute too, so I accepted.
Being two Catholics going out on Friday in Lent, we went to Joe's Crab Shack (where else?). We had a great time talking and getting to know each other as we sat out on the front steps for an hour or so (because all the other Catholic couples were there too). Eventually we were seated, and our conversation drifted to Lent, and of course what we gave up. Well it wasn't a secret, so I told him what I had decided to give up -- french fries and complaining. (I hope you're not wondering what he gave up because unfortunately I don't remember. But don't worry, it doesn't affect the story at all.)
A little more time passed, we ordered, and eventually our food arrived. And in that moment my heart sank. What I had neglected to pay attention to when ordering was the fact that my popcorn shrimp platter came with a side of hot, crispy french fries. Talk about temptation staring me in the face. So I took a deep breath, smiled at my plate of french fries (which I swear were calling out to me in loud, seasoned voices) and said, "What a lovely plate of french fries." Instead of: "Geez, I can't believe I forgot to substitute the french fries! I'm such an idiot! Man these fries look so good. Why did I have to give up fries anyway?" which is of course, what I was thinking. But unfortunately, I had just told this guy I gave up fries for Lent, and what was worse -- I couldn't complain about it! It was a first date afterall, and I was trying to impress this guy... so neither french fry nor word of complaint crossed my lips.
And it was the best plate of french fries I've never had.
(Obvious update -- turns out Jason was not perfect for me, I realized a few months later. Then about a year and a half later I found the guy who is. :)
This morning I got up pretty late. Now, I almost never do this, really, but I didn't take a shower. I just got dressed and put on a little extra cologne. Which I almost never do. Honestly. Naturally, my hair looked ridiculous, so I put a hat on.
I went to work for a while, then left for Discount Tire, where I got a good deal on some tires. I decided to stop by the Taco Shack for a breakfast taco on my way back to work. So, there I am, sitting at a red light at Braker and Metric, waiting to turn left, listening to a Dave Ramsey CD, when CRUNCH.
I looked in my rearview mirror and saw a guy in a white truck cursing himself. He had just rammed my car from behind.
My reaction to things like that is kind of weird. I just wanted it to have not happened. As the light turned green and I started to turn, I had to say to myself (in my head, not out loud -- I'm not crazy! ;-), "No, that guy just hit you, you have to pull over." My instinct was to just keep driving like it hadn't happened. Is that weird?
Anyway, we pulled into the Walgreens parking lot, and my car looked fine. I got his insurance info and went on to Taco Shack.
Later in the day, I was in the car with Barry (no, my work day is not all driving around). My neck had been hurting since the accident, and I was rubbing it as Barry explained to me who Oliver Cromwell was. In the middle of his explanation, I realized something:
"Hey, I'm not wearing my hat!"
"Okay," said Barry (who is always very patient when I interrupt him). "I haven't seen you wearing a hat all day."
"Dang it! Did I take it off at the tire store? Wha?..." I was truly perplexed. But then I felt bad for interrupting. "Sorry, man, okay. Continue about Cromwell."
Barry was barely halfway through his next sentence when it hit me. My hair had looked ridiculous that morning, so there is no way I would have taken off my hat. When could it have come off?
I spun around and looked behind the driver's seat, and there it was on the floor. Apparently, when that guy hit me, my head whiplashed hard enough to knock my hat off! So dazed was I from my mild concussion that I didn't even notice until hours later.
The moral here is, if you see someone walking around and their hair is ridiculously messy, don't judge them too harshly. They may have suffered a minor head injury that deprived them of their hat.
"Are you giving up anything for lent?" she asked with a laugh and a roll of her eyes, as if suggesting that such an idea was silly. I wasn't offended by her attitude, because I know this is a common viewpoint among some Christians. Maybe they see it as a legalistic "Catholic" sort of thing to do. But I am a little saddened by the bad rap celebrating lent (does it make sense to say "celebrating" here?) has gotten, especially among some Christians. Lent originated as a time for reflection and repentance for Christians preparing to be baptized at Easter. Now it is a time for us to remember our own baptism, reflecting on the cross Jesus bore for our sins, so that we could repent and be forgiven. "Giving up stuff" (stuff that would be an actual sacrifice to give up, not like giving up pulling weeds) could be a great faith-strengthening opportunity. To deny yourself something is to feel a pang of sacrifice, which reminds us of the tremendous sacrifice made on our behalf. It's the same idea behind Lenten fasting.
It is true, though, that there is a fine line between becomming legalistic about it and just going through the motions because you "have to", and getting too pious and self-righteous about it, as though it somehow makes you "better" before God. That's why there must be some devotional meaning attached to it, otherwise it becomes as useful as trying to climb a ladder to heaven.
I try and think about that everytime I get a craving for that little fun-size snickers I know I could find in the little candy basket in the office down the hall, or the yummy red-hots I became addicted to by Valentine's Day (can you guess -- I'm trying to give up junky sweets). Of course it's silly to think that denying myself a candy bar compares at all to the sufferings of Jesus, but it makes me mindful of them in any case.
Either that or I just whine inwardly, "WHY did I have to give up that?" And hopefully this reminds me of my sinful nature and my need for forgiveness, which in turn makes me mindful of the sufferings of Jesus (or it should anyway).... and it all points back to the cross.
Bible Explorer is totally free Bible software that's stuffed with features and has a growing library of electronic books (currently around 150 free, plus over 1400 additional books for sale. Click here for a list of the free books). I highly recommend giving it a try! I work for WORDsearch, the company that makes it.
Instaverse is a free progam that makes Scripture references pop up when you mouse over them in a web browser. This is nice if you read online commentaries, devotionals, etc. that refer to verses without quoting them. If you have the Bible memorized, please disregard.
(If you don't know about RSS feeds, I recommend spending 5 minutes at bloglines.com. I'm hooked on it -- it's a great way to check multiple sites for updates in one fell swoop, and you can keep up with news, your friends' blogs, and anything else with an RSS feed very easily.)
If I put our names here, maybe googling for them will someday lead people to this page, so here they are: Derek Kurth, Karianne Kurth (formerly Karianne Leikam, aka Kari Leikam), and Kaeta Kurth.
Since we started counting on January 24, 2006, this site has been visited times.
Books change lives. I'm in this business because books change lives. They create a space in which you think about your life...in different ways. They create a silence for that, too, just because of the amount of time that they take and the emotional energy that they take. I don't believe that reading text on the Net is going to have the same effect. A book is a book; it's a complete object."
