Attention Attention!
Matthew and I are pleased to announce the official launch of our NEW blog!

http://wecreasmans.blogspot.com/

I will no longer be adding to this blog, however I will still keep it up for anyone that wants to read older post. From now on all the new post will be at the Creasman site!

Another week passes in Bachelorette world and Cara Jo Duren records another
perfect score. Several folks in our group picked four out of the remaining
six bachelors correctly, but only Cara guessed right on all six. If her
prognostications hold true for another week, Lucas should get his bags
packed and ready. Cara’s overall lead now stands at a mind-boggling 123
points. Kelly Whitehorn, Katy Barber, Leslie Benson and Casey Burke round
out our top five. Call me crazy, but no one is catching Cara Jo at this
point. Game. Set. Match.

If you’ll remember back to last week, (and all the weeks since Bentley
left), Ashley spent nearly the entire time wondering “what if?” about a
certain Salt Lake City entrepreneur. This culminated in a sit-down
discussion where Chris Harrison looked on in abject disgust as Ashley
pleaded for Bentley closure. Last night’s show began with a knock on
Ashley’s hotel door and a “surprise” visit from Chris Harrison where he
revealed that…Bentley…was in Hong Kong…in the very same hotel! Ashley
spent the next five minutes trying to remember the name of the term for
three consecutive dots occurring at the end of a sentence (an ellipsis).
She was unsuccessful. Next, we were treated to a anticlimactic reunion
where Bentley half-heartedly tried to convince Ashley he was in Hong Kong to
discuss their future, not just because ABC gave him a free vacation. Ashley
then stomped out of the room dropping multiple swears while doing her best
impression of a girl in a romantic comedy who finally “gets it” after she’s
been mistreated her entire life by scumbags. I didn’t buy it.

After this stupidness, Ashley went on a one-on-one date with Anti-Ames
(Lucas). His best lines from their date:
* Asked if he was enjoying the trip to Hong Kong: “I’m not well-traveled. I
enjoy fishing with buddies.”
* Asked what was the hardest thing he’s ever experienced:
“Uh…uh…uh…uh…family members dying…and…divorce.”
* As he and Ashley were snuggled up on the pirate ship: “Hey, can I have my
first kiss?”

On the group date, we got to hear Blake whine more about how he dislikes
Ryan P. He even proved it by asking if anyone wanted to shoot pool, and
then telling Ryan P the invitation did not extend to him (Oooooohhhhh!!!!!
In your faccccceee!!!). Ryan P had the last laugh, though, as his
ultra-smooth “Sorry, I just felt that” hand kiss immediately led to a rose
reward. JP (now easily the other front-runner with Ryan P) next took Ashley
on a makeup one-on-one date where she came full circle and confessed her
once undying affection for Bentley, but now claimed she no longer had any
feelings for him. Although confused, JP assured her none of this mattered,
and in a gross act of symbolism said “we’re on the right track” as he and
Ashley boarded a mountain train.

At the cocktail party, Ashley told everyone else about Bentley. Constantine
tried to act enraged. Lucas started dropping F-bombs. Blake did his
patented angry-bobble-head fidgeting. Mickey asked the simple-but-astute
question everyone else was thinking, “What if there WASN’T closure?!”
Ashley pouted and did her silent routine. Ryan P played the kiss-up. JP
looked like he might cry. And then the Gentleman, playing the role of
sleeping giant all episode long, made his move. In a powerful reminder he
has advanced degrees from two Ivy League schools and another
highly-prestigious institution in England, Ames said:

“I suppose that…we would all prefer our fairy tales…to be simple.
But…they¹re not. Life is not as simple…as we hoped…and in
fact…that¹s why…it¹s beautiful.”

I’ll say it again. If the Gentleman doesn’t make it to the hometown dates,
I’m going to be devastated.

NOTE: ABC said “Coming up on the Bachelorette” at the end of the show last
night, which makes me think there will be no show next Monday (July 4th).
We¹ll see. Whatever the case, as always, good to all.

mdC

How did it start?  Well years ago, Grandmommie (mom’s mom) was the ump-teenth Christmas Dinner we had been at and everyone was in a bad mood and out of the Christmas spirit.  So.  She decided that from that point on we would celebrate it in June.  So my mom’s side of the family all goes to Grandmommie’s house on Saturday for June Christmas.  From there the evening is full of ridiculous yard games ( we call them reindeer games), food, fireworks, and putting presents around the Christmas tree.  Then we all spend the night, wake up in the morning and open presents.  After that, it’s all picked up and tables/chairs are put out for Christmas dinner.  Turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes… you name it.  After we are done gorging on Christmas food, it’s back out to the back yard for the pinata.  I mean…it’s not Christmas unless you beat the snot out of a paper mache animal hanging from a tree right?  By the time all that is over, everyone is exausted and then loads there loot into their cars and goes home.  It’s 24 hours of madness and it’s a blast.   I love my family and I love our traditions.

So what about Christmas in December?  THat is reserved for my dad’s side and Matthew’s family.  We may go say hi to Grandmommie, but most years we are so busy.  I LOVE enjoying the moments with my family and it is perfect because it just doesn’t feel rushed

Here’s some pics from the weekend.  By the way…my husband is a trooper.  All weekend he set up, tore down, packed, unpacked, and kept me full of Dr. Pepper.  He should get a prize or something…

Dinner Saturday night:  Fried Chicken, Sliders, Potato Salad, Coleslaw, Cheese Dip, Salsa, Fruit Pizza…you know…typical Christmas Eve food.

dad and his mello yellows….

Lauren & Seth are having a baby GIRL!!!  SURPRISE!

then it’s time for the water balloon fight…notice my grandmommie is double fisted…

grandmommie decides to drop a balloon on Nila’s head…

but it didn’t work….mom’s brain is so big these days from all the school it just bounced right off

you got smoked brother…

then it’s time for Bocce Ball!

Matthew is carefully plotting his next shot…

then it’s time for kickball!!

I’d like to take this oppertunity to point out my kickball form….fingers together…foot pointed…pretty much professional.

Christmas Morning!!!

told ya…

matthew got a nutcracker…. shortly after grandmommie walks over and goes “I hope you like your Nutcracker I bought you…but if you don’t, that’s okay…you can just burn it in your fireplace…it’s wood….it’ll burn.” [thanks grandmommie]

grandmommie got her a new TV!

and the Christmas donkey pinata.  Ole!

my sweet family…. love them mucho.

snowman game – basically you dress up in the snowman gear and try to open the present…that is wrapped several times in tape, bows, more tape,  and everyone rolls dice to get a turn…first one to go to the middle of the present keeps the prize.  Lauren won this year!

This is also good for the nook, kindle etc, but OH the possibilities!!  I haven’t ordered one yet…but it’s sure been fun playing with it!

Can’t decide what book to read?  Try What Should I Read Next? simply enter a book you like, and it will suggest other books for you to read

feeling crafty?  check out P.S. I made this

Also.  This weekend is June Christmas.  Matthew and I will soon be headed out to Grandmommies to embark on a weekend filled with games, presents, Christmas ham, and Christmas carols.  Here is my contribution for the weekend.  Fruit Pizza!

Week four RECAP

“I’m dumbfounded by how awesome she is.”– AmesBefore we begin talking about how Ames obliterated the unintentional comedy scale in last night’s episode, how about a standings update?  Cara continues her death grip on first place.  She now has a 64-point lead over Kelly, who overtook Leslie for second place last night.  Myself and Casey round out the top five.  At this point in last season’s Bachelor contest, Cara started tanking, (after dominating the Bachelor for the first few weeks, her steady decline to an 11th-place finish began in the fourth episode).  Its not looking like she’s set to repeat that performance in this season of the Bachelorette, though.  We all need to start rooting hard for Lucas, Mickey and Constantine to be sent home if any of us hope to catch her.  Seriously.  Send those dorks home, Ashley.

Back to Ames.  He delivered a tour de force of hyperbole and shiny white teeth last night.  I could not have been more pleased by his performance.  Before his one-on-one kayaking adventure with Ashley, we had to endure a painfully boring one-on-one date with Constantine (how is he still here?) and a group date where everyone pretended to be humanitarians as Ashley pranced around in booty shorts and a twisty-tied shirt.  I’m not a smart man, but I’m smart enough to recognize its a bad sign when eight of the nine guys on the group date paid more attention to their wall-painting efforts than Ashley’s overt flirtations.  Ah oh.  The group date did provide us with a few gems.  We discovered Ben F definitely does not have a job as a mural painter should his winery fail.  Also, JP’s indignation over people besides him having kissed Ashley makes me think he’s the dark-horse candidate to pull the most overblown jealous tirade this season.  I’m hopeful.  In addition, we learned Blake hates happy people and Ryan P can be bossy.

Ames!  When he finally got his chance to shine he delivered.  In a big way.  As the date began, he revealed he was a world traveler who had been to Thailand “several times” before.  Then he unleashed a series of brilliant quotes delivered in the following order (yes, I admit I paused the show in order to transcribe them…you’re welcome):

• “Last minute is the best minute.”
• “Love is always unchartered territory…and so it is with Ashley.”
• “Navigating these beautiful caves is exactly like navigating a relationship.  Around every corner, you really don’t know what to expect, but often there’s something beautiful.”
• “I’ve been to 70 countries, and this may be the most dramatic thing I’ve ever seen.”
• “She looks beautiful in all circumstances.  Rain or shine.  Day or night.  At sea or on land.”
• “Because when you know, you know.  You can act quickly.  But I don’t know.  Some things are beyond our control.”
• “Indeed.”
• “Ashley and I did not kiss tonight.  But we did something much more intimate than kiss.  We talked about very serious things.”
  

Obviously, we need more Ames in all our lives.  We’ll all be crushed when he finally gets sent home.  Its true and you know it.As always, good luck to all next week…

And here is the update from this week, Week 5

For me, week 5 of the 2011 Bachelorette season was a total calamity.  My chance at a championship (and probably several of yours) took a fiery nose-dive into a ravine.  I managed to lose my 1st- (Ben C), 2nd- (William) and 4th-ranked (Nick) picks in one non-rosy fell swoop.  On the end of the spectrum furthest away from my ineptitude, however, was Cara Jo Duren.  I’m too lazy to go check and see if this has happened before, but this week, Cara managed a PERFECT score.  She correctly picked the top-8 bachelors.  172 points.  Codi Bennett bagged the second-highest total of the week with a 142, picking five of the top eight correctly.  Cara increased her overall lead to 95 points this week.  Yowza.  Kelly Whitehorn, Leslie Benson, Katy Barber and Casey Burke now round out our top five.Last night’s episode was a classic ABC bait-and-switch where we expected to witness Bentley’s return, only we were given more of Ashley pouting that she has to travel to exotic places all over the world on the back of an elephant without him.  She ended up saying his name between five and 2,106 times (all numbers approximate) last night.  It was kind of pathetic.  But we, the viewers, held in there because we knew we’d be rewarded with a superbly awkward reunion at the show’s end.  And then the rose ceremony happened, the show ended and ABC showed us the same scene they gave us last week where Ashley walks dramatically down a hallway to Bentley’s hotel room.  Tricked again.  The lesson as always: there’s a difference between the phrases “coming up on the Bachelorette” and “next week on the Bachelorette.”  We will be fooled by ABC’s treachery no more.

Even without Bentley, week 5 had some sweet highlights.  It began with a ridiculous “mental kiss” between Ben F and Ashley in front of an elephant temple.  Apparently, kissing for real in front of the rock elephants would cause them to come alive and maul you to death with their tusks.  Rock elephants hate nothing more than public displays of affection.  Ben F then proceeded to put on his white pirate shirt and lie to Ashley about how he’d forever dedicate his life to making her wine and spoiling her silly if she chose to give him the final rose.  His over-promising worked.  William should’ve borrowed Ben F’s strategy.  Instead, he made the patented mistake of being the token tattletale of the group, sealing both his and Ben C’s departure.

The group date was again the highlight of this week’s show.  Muay-Thai boxing.  While several of the guys claimed prowess based on previous fighting histories, poor Ames (I will call him Gentleman Ames from here on out) knew he was headed for imminent danger.  As the other guys worked on Muay-Thai techniques, Gentleman Ames worked on learning his trainer’s life story.  He then delivered this trio of memorable quotes:

• “I’m generally a little more reserved, so I might have to come out of my shell and kick some #$%!”
• “If it makes Ashley remember me, so much the better.”
• “I’ve never been in a fight in my entire life.  My take on physical violence is that there’s pretty much always another way.”
  

After the Gentleman was mowed down by Ryan P and sent to the hospital, I feared we’d seen the last of him.  He then triumphantly reappeared Willis Reed-style at the group-date-cocktail party sporting a crisp pair of khakis and a spiffy blue blazer.  He then uttered my favorite Bachelorette quote to date.  When Ashley asked him what the doctor’s diagnosis was, he said, “I was told that I’m totally in love…and that I have a mild concussion.”Stay tuned for more Gentleman Ames next week…and the return of Bentley.mdC

Something happened.  I got married and put on my domestication hat.  I say that because I am now obsessed with my flower beds and I have figured out how to work my magic in the kitchen.

Last weekend, Matthew and I tackeld the flower beds.   They were pitiful.

see what i mean?  They are almost begging for flowers….So I gave them some love.

lots of love.

they pretty much started thanking me the second I starting planting… then… came my worst enemy….

mulch.  12 bags of mulch.  in the arkansas heat.  i hate mulch.  It’s messy and it smells like hamster.

TA DA!!!  Happy Flower Beds!

and for the cooking bit… i hope you have all eaten…if not you may want to grab a snack…

molten chocolate lava cakes for Davari’s Birthday Party

banana pudding for Amber’s Birthday

Honey Glazed Chicken + Vegetable Kabobs For Amber’s Birthday

chocolate + carmel brownies

 
flag cake, appropriate for Memorial Day or Forth of July

Bacon Wrapped Barbecue Sliders with Green Beans

hungry yet??

I’ve also been busy taking pictures of some PRECIOUS BABIES!  Here’s one I took last week of Miss Norah, and below is Mr. Nathan… so stinkin cute.

While I was taking pictures of Norah, I asked Liv to smile… this is what I got.

she wasn’t havin’ it.  and I can’t blame her…

Needless to say I’ve been a busy woman  Life is great, marriage is great, and I’m GLAD it’s summer.  Bring on the barbeques and the pool noodles!

[click her for audio]

[click here for text]

So belief is more than intellectual assent. Belief is more than, “Here are the facts.” Belief is, “I’ve been transformed by this reality.” So I need you to hear me say this. If you have no transformation, it should bring about you questioning your salvation. I’m not saying you get up at 4:30 in the morning by the waking of the Holy Spirit and read Jonathan Edwards for three hours before you memorize the book of Galatians. That’s not what I’m saying. But I’ll ask some legitimate questions.

Is there a yearning in you to know God, to serve God, to walk with Him, to submit to Him and to make much of Him? Now we stumble about as we do this. But is that yearning there? Is that longing there? Is that desire there?

Because I’m just going to lovingly tell you that if it’s not there, then something is broken. And maybe that’s a hardness of heart that occurred long ago when God said, “Go left,” and you went, “You know what? I’m not going left. I’m going right.” Maybe you were wounded deeply by someone who bore the name of Christ. Maybe you were part of a church that was unbelievably unhealthy. There are other reasons where that flame of yearning for you could have gone down to just a little spark, but Hebrews clearly says, “Let us worry if we have not entered into His rest.”

So do you love Him? Do you want to worship Him? Do you want to follow Him? Do you want so serve Him? As strongly as I can put it to you, if you don’t, I would question and doubt your salvation for the good of your eternal soul. I think some of you are exhausted trying to earn what was freely given to you.

And some of you have given up on something you’ve never tried. You’re like my kid with vegetables. “I don’t like it.” “You’ve never even tried it.” “I still don’t like it.” You already have it in your mind that it doesn’t work. It does work. And do you know what I’ve got on my side? Thousands of years of history. The question is not, “Does it work?” or “Is it real?” The question is, “Will you submit to the Holy God of the universe and allow Him to be your motivation and allow the Spirit of God to be the fuel that gets the movement of the gospel to work in your heart and life. Now I can only answer that for me, which is why it’s always frustrating a bit being a preacher.

Let’s pray, “Father, I thank You for these men and women You have drawn to this place. My hope is that You would open up our eyes and hearts to Your goodness and grace. Even those of us who have walked in here tonight in a tough spot, maybe religiously exhausted, maybe having a hard time believing that You could love us, care for us, pursue us, I pray that You would melt all those lies away in the light of Your cross and the light of the fact that You knew every hair on our head before one was there, You knew all the days of our lives before one would be lived out and still Jesus went to the cross. You do not regret the salvation You have extended to us. So I pray that, by the dozens if not by the hundreds in this place, You might draw men and women to Yourself. I pray that there might be a keen understanding of the gospel, maybe for the first time. I pray that we would be able to trust that You love us and that we have free reign to pursue You, not because we’re clean or unclean but because You declare us clean in Christ. As we turn our attention to worshiping You in song, may You stir up our affections for You. Help us. It’s for Your beautiful name we pray. Amen.”

i must learn to make it….

Hydranga Cake by I am Baker

and when I say sweet…. i mean sweet

isn’t he sweet?

Matthew and I are so proud.

Then Saturday Matthew woke up wanting to do something adventurous… oh boy.

I think the conversation went something like this::

Matthew:  Have you ever wanted to ride the trolleys all the way around????

Cec:  (not amused)  What?  Like around Little Rock?

Matthew:  Yea!  Get on them and ride the full circle…have you ever thought of it?!

Cec:  Um…well… no… can you even do that?

Matthew:  Yes.  Yes you can.  We should do it.

And it was decided.  Yes friends it is true.  For 2 whoppin dollars (per person) you can ride those joker till your ears fall off.  And that’s what we did.

BUT FIRST>>>> what did we do??

two words.

JOINT. CHECKING.

oh yea… now I have all access the Creasman bank account…bwwahahahaha

okay.

anyways.

ya’ll don’t care about that…

ya’ll care about….

THE TROLLEY!!!

here’s Matthew checkin things out…making sure we were en route… or whatever you call it.

and here we are…just a waitin for our trolley.

And I’m smiling because one thing is on my mind…

zZZzzzZZZzzzZzZzZz

I decided to make brownies under the new lights.  Matthew’s mom got a new

brownie pan

for her birthday that I secretly coveted.  I’ve ALWAYS been a SUCKER for informercials and the “as seen on TV” brownie pan is something that I’ve always wondered about.

So.  I borrowed it.  And hands down, if you are wanting to make perfect looking brownies, maybe for a shower or a party, this pan will be your friend.  It’s REALLY easy to use and makes brownies that are perfect squares!  I put little candy bars in mine  However, if you like SOFT brownies…this pan is NOT for you.  Because of the metal divider, it makes the brownies hard on all four sides.  It was like we had a whole plate of “corner pieces”.  So.  I’ll give it a 2 out of 5.  I’m not a “corner piece” fan so once the brownies were cool, I couldn’t stand the crunch.  :)  Call me high maintenance.