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Games, Holidays

Gaming Out the Old Year

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Now that our cumulative 14″ of snow has completely melted, and the presents are (mostly) opened, we have a moment of respite from our hectic Christmas schedule. We drove out to the Duckabush to spend Christmas evening with my folks, and stayed for a couple of days. It is never long enough, when we go out, and we slighted a few friends, for which I am sorry. :(

Sledding at the Duckabush
Happily, since the time of this photo, Daniel has acquired manly black snow pants.

The snow was still heavy on the ground, and had begun to melt by the time we were ready to leave. There was about 6″ of slush on the road, and I was very much afraid we would get stuck or slide off the road as we left the valley. I worked myself up into a fearful tizzy, and was quite short-tempered with Kathy — I just wanted to get the van down the two hills and get it over with, so I wouldn’t be afraid anymore.

I don’t think I’ve been that scared, since my Army days as a paratrooper. Funny how the mind can play tricks — we drove down both hills safely, and made it home with no trouble.

As soon as there was some quiet, Kathy rushed to fill the void: “How ’bout we have a New Years’ Eve party?”

I reluctantly agreed. As an introvert and a parent of five children, I treasure my hard-won peace and tranquility. “Couldn’t we just have a quiet evening at home?” I begged, querulously.

Kathy was relentless. “Let’s see, I’ll make Mesa Manna rolls, and Spiced Cider Tea … we’ll invite some of our friends, and it will be great!” One of the things I love best about my Kathy is her enthusiasm for life.

Killer Bunny Girls
Rachel’s good friends, Sarah and Jenny, came over before the party

We decided to host a game party, and phoned ’round to gather some friends. As is often the case, we forgot a few people (for which we apologize) but we still ended up with a houseful — 13 adults and 24 kids. We permitted guests to stand around and talk a little, but pretty soon we got the game tables going. We played many games:

King Don presides
A friendly game of Scum

The party divided into various groups: people who wanted to run around wildly, a few who wanted to hide from the wild people, social folk who wanted to play loud party games, and the intelligentsia, who wanted to do some serious bean growing.

A quiet book nook
There’s one in every party — a person who just wants to curl up with a good book.

“Stop running around wildly,” Kathy scolded me. So I spent the evening growing beans with a few like-minded deep-thinkers.

I’m sure they had fun at the “loud party game” table, but I lost interest in that table when I was relegated to Scum (the lowest-ranked player). Nobody says I have to be a graceful loser. :)

Bean Farming Bohnanza is a fun and addictive game in which you try to plant various bean crops, and are compensated according to the number and rarity of your beans. Some players tried to build bean empires on the rarest of beans, cashing in on Cocoa, Garden and Red Beans. I developed an occasionally-winning strategy with the mid-class beans, including Soy, Green and Chili Beans (although I dabbled in Garden Beans when the opportunity presented itself).

Bean Farmer's Anonymous
The Bean Futures Exchange

Our friend Steve lost a couple of rounds, so he decided to invest in the cheapest and most common beans, including Coffee, Wax and Blue Beans. Building an empire on bean donations, he managed to eke out a victory a little after midnight, much to the relief of his family. “We’re not leaving until I win,” he growled after the third round.

An assortment of cookies
Showing heroic diligence, I was careful to sample each of the cookie varieties.

I had a lot of fun, and there were many delicious things to eat. Julee brought a delicious Prime Rib soup and Cheesy Sausage dip, and cookies abounded. Don and Jennifer brought meatballs, and even set some aside that were ‘clean’ (no sugar added) for Kathy. There were brownies and Grape Fanta for the kids. Michelle brought some Chex mix and a white chocolate pretzel mix, and a chicken lasagna in a crock pot. There was a huge veggie tray and frosted pumpkin bars. Someone brought several bags of chips, and I broke out the last of my hoard of Banana Punch.

The next morning, we talked about the fun we had, and how many food items we forgot to offer to our guests. “We should have another party,” I enthused, momentarily abandoning my introverted ways. “Why don’t we do Game Night every Friday”? I asked, conveniently forgetting the all-day cleaning frenzy that had preceded this party.

Kathy smiled at me patiently.

“Or maybe we could just invite people for whom we don’t need to clean … ? ” I suggested tentatively.

Happy New Year!

Tim

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Recipes/Food

A Hardboiled Egg

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Today I received an egg in my lunch.

This is a somewhat unusual occurrence. Kathy graciously prepares a lunch for me, whenever I work in the city; she takes very good care of me. Today there was lettuce, but (since I am counting every calorie) there were no croutons. There were also no tomatoes, since we’re counting grocery dollars, and we can’t quite get back to the idea of paying $3/pound for tomatoes when we used to harvest them for free from the backyard. Ours were better, too.

I don’t really like salad, which is why my eyes lit up when I saw the egg.

“I’ll crumble up that hard-boiled egg, and put it on my salad,” I assured myself. “They will help to absorb the watery salad spritzer dressing, and redeem this salad,” I promised myself in a hearty tone.

One should always be wary of people who speak in hearty tones.

I cracked the egg, and realized, belatedly, that the egg was not, in fact, hardboiled. Pandemonium, on a very small scale, ensued.

My co-workers glibly assured me that Kathy did not do this to me on purpose, but I am plagued by doubt. Perhaps it is time to step up the pace of my Christmas shopping for my beloved bride.

An egg
Not my actual egg.

Now that I have been dieting for five (or is it six?) weeks, I’ve become accustomed to disappointment in food, or at least, disappointment in portion sizes. The amazement (“No way. You mean that is a cup of mashed potatoes? It would hardly take three bites to eat it!”) has given way to a numb acceptance of how little, in fact, I need to eat to sustain myself.

Yesterday was a hard day. It started out on the wrong foot, as I recklessly squandered 400 calories on a bagel at Panera’s (with two pats of butter). I became over-hungry before lunch, and the feeling of deprivation wouldn’t seem to pass. I decided I wanted to devour the world, or at least as much of it as I could comfortably stuff into my mouth. My daily 8:30 pm appointment with the ice cream freezer seemed eons away.

I hate days like that.

Calories burned
Calories consumed versus calories burned, on average

Late in the afternoon, I remembered my panacea for calorie-poor, appetite-rich days: get some exercise. While I require myself to eat 500 calories less, each day, than I burn, there’s no rule that says I can’t burn extra calories. Our whole family rushed off to the YMCA, and I ‘earned’ an extra 600 calories for the evening. While this diet rages, I may find myself much more willing to visit the local Y. Yesterday was a good day for that: I increased my annual visit average by at least 50%.

I can’t complain, all evidence to the contrary. I lost another pound this week, bringing me to a total loss of 9 pounds, at least 5 of them legitimate. That puts me on track for my goal of 28 pounds lost by May 20. Some days I feel that I am getting the hang of it, but on others, May 20 seems a long way away. And then there’s the question of what I will do in May? Even if I lose the targeted 28 pounds, I’ll still be 30 pounds overweight, according to the fiendish weight/height calculator gnomes.

Goal graph
My weight-loss plan.

One six-month-horrific-diet-plan at a time, I guess.

Some ten of you have promised to pray for me, at least 4 times a week; please know that I have been keeping up my end of the bargain, praying for each of you by name, six days a week. I credit the relative ease of this diet and the success I am enjoying, to the work of the Holy Spirit in my life, and I commend you for your continued prayer-work on my behalf.

Maybe if you really pray for me, next time I’m in the city, I’ll even get a hard-boiled egg. :)

Tim

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Musings

Freedom from Religion

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Today I happened to be reading a local newspaper, and I came across an article about seasonal displays at the capitol building in Olympia, Washington.

Apparently in 2006 a Jewish group put up a menorah display, and a Christian realtor responded by asking permission to put up a Nativity scene. When refused, he sued, and won; the Nativity scene is placed this year in the capitol building.

Not to be out-done, the local chapter of the “Freedom from Religion Foundation” put up their own placard, claiming they wanted ‘to have a place at the table’ in presenting their viewpoint.

Odd that they would pick Christmas time to make their statement — I didn’t know that this time of the year had any significance to atheists. What do they do, have an annual manger-burning ceremony, or perhaps exchange bags of garbage with their closest friends? Surely there is some famous atheist with a birthday that they could celebrate, that wouldn’t happen to be on or around the 25th of December?

Atheist display

Apparently the Nativity scene and atheist placard are side by side in the capitol building, with only a bust of our nation’s first president separating them. Sadly, the metal plaque they ordered had some sort of ‘shipping problem’, and they had to make do with a posterboard copy. Maybe they had a misspelling or something. As the scripture says in Psalm 14:1:

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”

Or again in Romans 1:

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

Nativity

Don’t get me wrong: I recognize that the relative freedom of speech that I enjoy depends on others being allowed to express their opinion. It makes me sad, though, and serves as a symbol in my mind of how far we’ve moved, as a nation, from being “One Nation, Under God”. I find it hard to believe that a 1950′s version of the Freedom from Religion Foundation would have acted so boldly in the face of public reverence for God — but the world has turned.

Not unusually, today’s Bible reading spoke to this, in the words of the prophet Daniel, as he contemplated his own nation’s fall from grace:

I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed:

“O Lord, you are a great and awesome God! You always fulfill your covenant and keep your promises of unfailing love to those who love you and obey your commands. But we have sinned and done wrong. We have rebelled against you and scorned your commands and regulations. We have refused to listen to your servants the prophets, who spoke on your authority to our kings and princes and ancestors and to all the people of the land.

“Lord, you are in the right; but as you see, our faces are covered with shame. This is true of all of us, including the people of Judah and Jerusalem and all Israel, scattered near and far, wherever you have driven us because of our disloyalty to you. O Lord, we and our kings, princes, and ancestors are covered with shame because we have sinned against you. But the Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him. We have not obeyed the Lord our God, for we have not followed the instructions he gave us through his servants the prophets. All Israel has disobeyed your instruction and turned away, refusing to listen to your voice.

I think we are in the place we are today, because those who should have been “salt and light” in their communities, have failed to keep themselves pure, and full of savor. They haven’t passed the word of God on to their children or to their neighbors. Instead, as it says in Proverbs 28:28 (also in today’s reading): “When the wicked take charge, people go into hiding.”

I don’t think Christians can afford to go into hiding anymore. It is time we speak out, like Stephen in Acts 7, and, if necessary, accept the consequences, seeking not our own comfort or safety, but rather desiring the glory of our Lord to be revealed to a dying world!

I’ll be cowering in my house, if you need me.

Tim

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“I Don’t Need To Be Encouraged — I’m Quitting!”

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Today I weighed, to see what progress I’ve made on my new calorie-counting (and supposedly weight-loss) plan.

In the past, we’ve owned bathroom scales that were a bit mercurial — you could experience significant weight loss (or gain) in the matter of minutes, as the scale readings varied wildly. In fact, several years ago Kathy and I were dieting, and the scale told us both we gained. Being mature, financially responsible adults, we tossed that scale in the garbage and rushed out to find a more ‘reliable’ device.

This morning, after at least four attempts, I could only squeeze a 0.2 pound loss out of that cursed scale! Maybe there’s something wrong with the batteries?

tomato trash

It could be worse, they could be throwing me in the trash like these tomato plants.

I was pretty disappointed, since I’ve been counting my calories like a miser, these past two weeks. I estimate I’m eating at least a thousand calories a day less than I was eating before, and so I hoped for a 2-pound loss. No such luck.

I came downstairs and loudly bemoaned my lot to anyone who would listen. Kathy was walking out the door, but tried to console me:

“I’ve got to go to my meeting, but when I come back, I’ll encourage you,” she promised, sweetly.

Petulantly, I whined, “I don’t need to be encouraged, I’m quitting!”

There was much giggling among my children, especially Joshua. I guess they know that I’m more bark than bite — sometimes a fella just likes to complain. They used to say this when I was in the Army: “If soldiers aren’t complaining, they’re not happy.” Joshua rushed off to add that quote to his Tome of Ridiculous Sayings, in which I figure prominently.

let's see daddy

“Let me just write that down, Daddy.”

It seems that, before I started this plan, my metabolism was going all-out, like a roaring furnace. I picture sweaty, soot-begrimed workmen in a gloomy factory, shouting over the sound of the flames and conveyor belts:

“Hey, Joe! I just got word from Corporate that there’s another load of high-calorie junk food coming down! Doesn’t this guy ever stop eating?”

“I dunno, Frank — he must think he’s an Olympic Athlete or something. Maybe the boys down in Waste Products could pick up the slack?”

“Those weenies? They’ll start whining about bowel obstruction or something — they don’t care about us, here, and they don’t care about the Company. I guess we better run three shifts again — do you think Sam can take the night shift?”

“I dunno Joe, those guys on the third shift are pretty rough. Hey, Bob, fire up furnace 14, will ya, and tell the lads everyone works an extra two hours, unpaid overtime!”

Now that I’m moderating my caloric consumption, the metabolic workers have apparently unionized, laid off a third of the work force, or taken some of the furnaces off-line for long-needed maintenance. I’m eating so many less calories, but not losing weight — it is enough to make a guy discouraged.

In the face of this lack of weight loss, I decided to revisit the calorie calculations. Sure enough, it seems the calories that a man of my size and lifestyle would burn is quite a bit below the 3000 I had originally estimated. I tweaked a few formulas and ended up with a more conservative ‘maintenance’ calorie allotment of around 2550, not 3000. This suggests that I need to eat no more than 2050 calories a day to lose a pound a week.

Average Calorie Burn
No wonder I haven’t seen any weight loss!

Ooof. Goodbye ice cream, goodbye cheese sticks, goodbye to that extra tortilla. Hello, hunger.

Happily, Kathy has developed several foods that enjoy a high calorie-to-satisfaction return on investment:

  • The fruity-oat bran pancake — 618 calories
    Yes, that’s a lot of calories, but this hearty 1.2 pound cake with complex grains keeps me going from 6 am ’til noon, with nary a hunger pang.
  • Tomato-barley stew with sausage — 476 calories
    Two cups of stew, with tasty sausage morsels — sweet and filling (and made with home-grown tomatoes!)
  • The hunger-panic vegetable pancake — 200 calories
    Never before has pureed cauliflower or broccoli tasted so good. Held together with an egg and some fresh Parmesan cheese, and broiled on Kathy’s cool grill, this pancake has enough substance to take the edge off any hunger.
  • The metabolic — 165 calories of frozen blueberry goodness

David Buddy

David is fond of nearly all those recipes.

Maybe I’ll post the recipes for these if I get a chance. I find all four to be very satisfying, and if I stick to these, they take care of breakfast and lunch entirely and leave a lot of room for other foods for supper, totaling 1459 calories.

I am reminded that at least 10 people promised to pray for me, many on the assurance that I would pray for them. Well, I have been — I’ve prayed every day for each of you (except, as advertised, for one ‘off’ day a week). Please pray that I would have the courage to reduce my calorie consumption further, and that I would see some success in weight loss.

If the metabolic foremen lay off another round of workers, I’m going to have to take drastic action.

Tim

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Budget & Money

A Quick Budget Update

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As our budgeting efforts rage on, we’ve become less excited about our monthly progress — I guess we’re easily bored, or something. But there’s nothing particularly boring about reducing our debt, so I provide this brief update.

Thanks to God’s continuing provision for us, we’ve been able to reduce our debt to 35% of its April 1, 2008 level.

November progress
Debt reduction, as of 1 November 2008, after 7 months budgeting.

Mostly, we’ve continued earlier efforts to record and limit expenditures. I must, however, admit that some use of credit has crept back in. We allowed ourselves to continue to use our Amazon Visa card for purchases on Amazon, and we have been using our Costco credit line to fund purchases at that store. Originally, I was in the habit of firing off a payment from our checking account each time we used either of those cards, but lately I have become lazy about that.

About a week ago I received a bill in the mail from the Costco credit card people for more than $600 — I had no idea I had let that account grow so large, so quickly! If it weren’t for a quarterly bonus from my employer, I’d be in the sorry situation of reporting an increase in debt.

Obviously, we need to either (a) be exceedingly diligent in paying those bills immediately, on the same day of purchase, or (b) to really cut out the credit card usage entirely, as proper Ramsey groupies should.

Savings
Savings = the excess of income over consumption expenditures —often used in plural

One happy thing happened recently: we’ve started to use the money we actually saved for Christmas to snap up bargains and gifts of opportunity. We’ve been putting money aside ever since we started our budget, so we wouldn’t be surprised when Christmas came. (What? It’s in December, again?) It has been such fun to buy presents that we can afford!

Tim

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