I confess, I’m not very good when it comes to making potato salad. I either overcook the potatoes, thereby creating a mashed potato gloopy mess, or I undercook them and end up with a potato salad where the potatoes are crunchier than the celery.

Neither option is particularly appetizing.

In the 18 years since I moved out of my parents’ house, I’ve tried many potato salad recipes trying to find “the one”. Most of the ones I’ve tried lead Matt to the reaction of, “You don’t have to make this one again.” Which in husband-speak is the equivalent of “Yuk. I sure hope I’m not stuck eating all the leftovers of THIS experiment.”

But this one received rave reviews from my husband. And, amazingly enough, I have made it more than once, which if you know anything about my cooking habits means it’s a favorite. What I love most about this recipe is it uses new potatoes, which I can manage to cook correctly - and thus keep the crunch in the celery and not in my potatoes.

New Potato Salad

Prep time: 30 minutes

Yields: 6-8 servings

6-8 new potatoes (enough to yield 6 C when cooked and cubed)

1 C celery slices

1/2 C chopped onion (white works best, but you can also use red)

1/3 C chopped sweet pickle

1 C mayonnaise

2 eggs

salt, pepper, and paprika

Cut potatoes into cubes and place in a large pot of boiling, salted water. Boil, covered, for 20-25 minutes, or until potatoes are soft enough to prick with a fork. Drain and rinse with cold water. Allow to cool slightly.

While potatoes are boiling, place eggs in a saucepan and cover with 1″ of water. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat and let stand 15 minutes. Immediately run under cold water. Remove shell and use egg slicer to chop into small pieces.  While the eggs and potatoes are cooking, prepare the celery, onion & pickle.

Combine vegetables, pickle, egg, and mayonnaise; mix lightly. Season to taste. Chill.

In 1974, a neighbor friend from our church in Miami held a “5-Day Bible Club” in her home.  At the time, I was 5 years old and looking forward to starting school.  My big brother Dan would walk with me as we crossed busy 82nd Avenue to get there and back home again.  I must confess not remembering much about the lessons she taught…but I do remember a special little book she used to tell us a wonderful story.  This book had no words, only colors, and as she flipped through the pages something resonated deep within me.  On the final day of the club, I met with one of the adult volunteers in her Florida room and prayed to accept God’s gift of salvation.

Now, 34 years later, God gave me the opportunity to do the same for another child.

This week was the week for Back Yard Bible Clubs at McKinney Fellowship.  I knew from the moment we first heard about them that we would be hosting one at our home.  Sure enough, we did.  The church provided the curriculum, crafts materials, volunteers, and even a few children.  The rest was up to us.

What a week!  Each day, we had around 15 children show up at our front door.  I was blessed to have 3 wonderful adult volunteers plus a youth helper (all but one from our neighborhood) assisting me each day, and I truly couldn’t have done it without them.  We learned about four parables of Jesus and had a wonderful time singing, dancing, doing crafts, playing games, and eating popsicles in our back yard.  Culvert loved the extra attention and spent quality time getting to know each of the children who came.

The most exciting part for me was seeing those children react to the Bible stories and hearing the way that God was moving and working in their hearts.  I may not have had the opportunity to lead a child to Christ this week, but I know that seeds have been planted.  Several of the children have already made professions of faith, so it was exciting to help equip them to now go out and be missionaries to their friends and others in our neighborhood.  Who knows what will happen over the next several weeks…months…years in our little community in Fairview?  All I know is I am grateful to God for putting us here and allowing me to have a small part in His great plan.

Last night’s Home Run Derby is one that is sure to be talked about for years to come.  And the name I am sure will be mentioned most often in those discussions will be Josh Hamilton.

He’s no stranger to the handful of us who faithfully follow the Rangers.  His on-field achievements in this first half have been nothing short of amazing, and his continuing humility and outspoken faith have made him one of the true “good guys” in sports.

Even though he eventually lost the home run derby to Justin Morneau - who, incidentally, is also having a standout year - the real hero of the night will always be Josh Hamilton.  For that matter, any Texas Ranger who can get the crowd at Yankee Stadium to cheer FOR him and go wild when he hits one over the wall deserves to be remembered.

Unfortunately, the clip doesn’t show his first 24 home runs in the first round, but I believe these last 4 will be the ones most talked-about.

A couple weeks ago, we all piled in the car and drove down to our nearby movie theater for some good, cold, family fun. Matt and I have been fans of Pixar movies since Toy Story, even going to the theater to see their movies BEFORE we had children. So, after last year’s “meh” performance with Ratatouille, we were anxious to see if Pixar had returned to excellence with Wall-E.

Our impression? Not really. A definite two-thumbs-sideways. Way sideways.

The computer graphics were amazing. Definitely leaps and bounds beyond anything we’ve seen since Monsters, Inc. and Cars. I was stunned by the scenes on earth and the varying “camera tricks” used to capture Wall-E’s lonely and pre-programmed existence. The character development was terrific as well, and by the end of the movie you couldn’t help but feel the love between E.V.A. and Wall-E, even if they didn’t speak more than three words to each other (”Wall-E”/”E.V.A.”, “directive”, and “classified”). We enjoyed the humorous references to “The Love Boat”, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Titanic. I appreciated the evolutionary development of the art from cave drawings to Van Gogh (and watching the generations slim down) during the credits. We even found ourselves drawn to those quirky little malfunctioning robots who needed repair, each of us finding one to call our own. Is it any surprise that I was drawn to M.O.? Though he didn’t malfunction, that little Oriental-inspired robot who was obsessed with clean floors stole my heart. I’m trying to figure out if there’s a way for me to formally adopt him into my home. He would certainly be welcome here!

But it was the actual storyline - and the ensuing subplots and thematic undercurrents - that left us with a bitter taste in our mouths. You see, according to the story, we humans are brainless beings who are obsessed with overconsumption and corporate conglomerations. We are easily swayed by slick marketing campaigns and are merely lemmings at best. Our only interests lie in self-gratification and relaxation. I also sensed a dire warning to preserve our planet lest we become victims to our own consumption.

From a Christian perspective, I can’t help but remember God’s instructions to us in Genesis: to be a good steward of this world He’s given us. To cultivate the land. To tend to it, and care for it, and work it. Does shopping at Costco or Sam’s Club or even - gasp! - Wal-Mart mean I am being a poor steward? Not necessarily. And the Bible also teaches that God has given us the ability to think, to discern, to reason…and therefore imagine and project the impact our consumption has on the planet. Sure, I know I need to be mindful to do my part. I recycle. I have minimized my family’s trash output. I use ecologically-friendly canvas bags when I shop. I live in an energy-star rated home with many energy-efficient features and appliances. We use CFC bulbs. Heck, I just planted six trees in my yard over the past few weeks.

I realize I could do more. I know there are ways I am not being a good steward. And I know that there are areas of my life where overconsumption is a real problem for me. But God is working in me to reveal those areas and - in His power - claim victory over them. I realize that Wall-E is geared for children, who may not realize the impact they have on the environment, and who need to be taught at an early age to care for this world - and their bodies - to ensure a long, happy, and fulfilled life.

There are good lessons in this movie, to be sure. But the message is a bit heavy handed. And frankly, when I need a good sermon, I go to my church. Not the movie theater.

Yes, I have fallen off the blogging bandwagon, so to speak.  My goal of blogging four days a week has been a challenge to reach, it seems, in recent weeks.  It’s not that I’ve been particularly busy, because that’s not entirely true.  It’s not that I don’t have anything to write about, because I can ALWAYS find something to say.

No, it’s because of this:

My flair speaks truth:  “I had a life, but Facebook ate it.”

This has been the story of the Rangers this year.  They started the season abysmally and fell into a pit which had many fans, including myself, counting the Rangers out before the end of April.But slowly and methodically, the Rangers have been turning this season around.  First, they climbed out of the cellar of the AL West to take sole possession of third place.  Then they managed to reach the .500 mark.  Then, for the first time since Ron Washington took over as manager, the Rangers’ record was over .500.  After a month of bouncing back and forth between one game above and one game below the .500 mark, the Rangers reached two games above .500…and then 3…and now, with last night’s dramatic win, FOUR games above .500 and closing in on second place in the AL West.

But about last night’s win…it was probably the most dramatic win the Rangers have had all season.  Down by two with two outs in the ninth, facing one of the most formidable closers in baseball (Kelvin Rodriguez, aka “K-Rod”), the Rangers scored three runs to win the game.  And boy, what a finish it was:

I guess those kids in Arlington have some spunk left in them after all.

Last night was the annual Stueve-Speer Kaboomtown Food Fest and Fireworks Extravaganza.  Yes, you read that right.  We watched the fireworks on July 3.  Go figure.

Matt and I have attended Kaboom-town nearly every year for the past umpteen.  Before we had children we would go with my parents and celebrate my mom’s birthday with a picnic supper.  Matt and my dad loved watching the vintage aircraft do their flyovers.  Now we go with kids, friends and anyone else we can sucker in to joining us.

There’s always lots of food, lots of activity and lots of good times.

And then there’s fireworks.

We always bring our radio so we can listen to the simulcast as we watch the fireworks explode over the runway of the Addison airport.  There’s always a mix of traditional patriotic marches, a tribute to the military, and current pop songs to enhance the fireworks experience.  This year, the “William Tell Overture” was included and it reminded me of this little bit from Anita Renfro that should appeal to anyone who’s ever been a mother…or had a mother…or knows a mother.

Yesterday we made our annual pilgrimage to Sadler, TX, home of Bailey’s Berry Patch.  We have been doing this each year since Crisana was just a toddler, and even though it’s a bit of a hike, the crop of ripe juicy blueberries is always worth the drive.

This year we were joined by my dear friend Christin and her two little ones.  We had a great time and picked for nearly two hours.  Actually, most of us picked, and Berkeley just ate all her blueberries.  She loved her little pail, though, and would listen to the sound as she plunked one, two, three blueberries inside before she ate them all up.  It was so cute hearing her repeat, “Mya all gone!” as she showed her empty bucket to everyone.

We got out there at around 11:30 and the place was PACKED!  I have never seen so many cars there before!  But thankfully, there were still plenty of blueberries to go around.  Trey was extremely focused, working hard to find all the shiny dark blue berries to fill his bucket.

Crisana contributed her share of berries to our cause, but mostly she just chatted and socialized…all with definite hollywood style.

Christin, Brooks, Berkeley and Crisana braved the blackberry patch and each found a blackberry to sample, but not enough to pick.  Besides, we hadn’t brought extra buckets with us and you can’t mix the berries.  Before we knew it, however, 2 hours had passed and our buckets were filling up.  We realized how hot, hungry, and tired we were and decided we’d had enough.  We headed over to the picnic area for lunch, with the kids all bundled up in the wagon.

We cooled off by the fan as we ate, and then watched the workers sort, clean, and bag our blueberries.  We shopped for yummy preserves and homemade butters at the country store and enjoyed some ice cream together before it was time to pack up and head home.  We left hot, sweaty, and tired, but full of good memories and blueberries.  Sure, we were feeling blue…but in a good way!

yummy blueberry recipe below the fold

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I hated word problems in school.  I always got them wrong.  Take this, for example:

 On Saturday, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim played the Los Angeles Dodgers.  The Angels had 5 hits.  The Dodgers had none.  Who won the game?

After spending hours upon  hours mulling this one over, no doubt I would have picked the Angels.  I mean, how can a team win with no hits, right?

Wrong.

The correct answer: the Dodgers.  Final score: 1-0.  The Dodgers managed to win a game without a hit.

Oh, and one other quirky little factoid: because it was a home game for the Dodgers, they didn’t bat in the bottom of the ninth, therefore this does not qualify as a no-hitter.

Gotta love baseball.

It’s amazing what a little housecleaning can do for my psyche.  Somehow the cleansing of my bathroom toilets promotes a cleansing of my soul.  The washing of the dirty dishes washes away the tiredness and the funk from my emotional “sink.” It’s sad, really, almost a sickness.

But it’s worth it, because now, my mind has cleared enough for me to realize that yesterday I DID have something to write about!  Something of substance!  A cause worthy of celebration, and sharing, and shouting from the blogtops!

You see, at Twilight Camp on Tuesday night, my boy shot a bullseye in archery!

Never mind that none of his other nine arrows hit the target.   This was definitely an event worthy of celebration…and a few pictures.