Big Night in the McCulloch House

Yes, dear friends and family, blogging has come to this...

Katie went poopoo in the potty for the first time tonight!

It was really unexpected. As she was getting ready to take a bath tonight, she looked me in the eye and announced, "I poopoo" and proceeded to walk over to her potty chair and actually do what she said she was going to do! Adam and I went crazy with wild praise, of course. Our little girl is growing up.

And for my single and/or childless friends who think I'm nuts for writing a post about this....just you wait. You'll get it one day. :)

Lindsay's Mexican Cheese Ball

Two weeks ago a good friend of mine came over and showed me how to make her famous Mexican Cheese Ball. It is always a hit wherever she takes it. (I got the picture below off Google...I wouldn't recommend serving this cheese ball with carrots and celery....go for party crackers.)

Lindsay's Mexican Cheese Ball

2/3 cup chopped pecans

1 T butter

1/8 t salt

16 oz. cream cheese

4 stalks green onions, chopped

1/2 cup cheddar cheese

1 packet taco seasoning

1/4 cup picante sauce

Heat butter and pecans in skillet over medium heat until roasted. Sprinkle salt on and stir. Set aside.

In medium bowl combine cream cheese, onions, cheddar cheese, taco seasoning, and picante sauce. Put entire bowl of mixture in freezer for 5 minutes or until firm.

Form cheese mixture into ball and coat with pecans. Keep in fridge until ready to serve.

Cousins

Adam, Katie, and I travelled to Maryland this past weekend to visit family. Here are the results of our attempts to get a nice picture of all the cousins:

Classic.

I'm it.

I've been "tagged" by my friend Jamie. Below are the requested 7 funny/crazy/strange things about myself. And now I'm tagging Cari and Laurel.

1. When I was in 9th grade, some friends and I were almost arrested for playing tag at an elementary school. The funny part was what the cop said when he was questioning us: “Are you carrying any guns, knives or…….CHINESE STARS?” (looking dramatically at my friend Sandy who was Asian)

2. I watched Baywatch religiously when I was in 7th and 8th grade because I had a major crush on Hobie.

3. I'm obsessive about clean fingernails. That may be why I'm a compulsive nail-biter (if they're short, they can't be dirty!) And I'm pretty sure that by constantly cleaning Katie's nails, I'm contributing to some sort of neurosis that will manifest itself when she reaches adulthood.

4. In China I was nearly attacked in a restroom stall (more appropriately, a squatty potty stall) by a horde of Chinese elementary school students who wanted to see how the foreign teacher used the bathroom.

5. For a period of about 3 years, the hum of my brain (what I heard in my head when I wasn’t thinking anything in particular) was "MMMBop.”

6. I also love to brush my teeth. There’s nothing worse than feeling like you have socks on your teeth. Plus, I’m paranoid about bad breath.

7. I've seen the movie Waiting for Guffman around 100 times. My love for this movie almost prevented Adam from marrying me.

Cheaper than Southwest????

Yes, folks, it's true.

In one recent case, a flight booked on the McCullochs' very own travel website everycitytravel.com was even cheaper than Southwest!

In light of the upcoming holidays, I just wanted to put out a friendly reminder that the next time you need to book a flight (or hotel, cruise, rental car, etc), please stop by our travel website as you do price comparisons.

If you need help booking travel, don't hesitate to contact us at adam@everycitytravel.com.

Also, definitely get in touch with us if you ever need to travel overseas. Adam can typically find rates a hundred dollars cheaper by using one of our consolidators (don't ask me what a consolidator is, I just know it works).

(And if you're interested in finding out how we actually make money off this, go here or here.)

McCulloch Quote of the Week

"I finally see the difference between you and me. A guy would never think, 'Oh, I can't wait to buy some small gourds to put in a bowl in order to decorate my bookcase.'"

-said by Adam in response to Mary's excitement over her recent purchase of said "small gourds" (6 for $2!)

Huber Farm: Take One

Now that fall has finally arrived in Louisville, Adam, Katie, and I decided to travel to Starlight, Indiana this morning to take our second pilgrimage to Joe Huber's Orchard & Winery. It's a pretty popular local attraction about 30 minutes north of Louisville. You can pick your own produce or shop at their farm market (that also sells amazing breads, cookies, jellies, etc). Our stated objectives were to get a pumpkin and buy some Christmas gifts. My secret aim, however, was to take advantage of the great photo opps. We managed to accomplish our main objectives, but our photos had some pretty sad results:

Thankfully, Katie and I are going back to Huber's this Thursday with some friends from our church. Hopefully we'll have better luck with photos then. My still life photos today fared a bit better than the others:

Fall is here, and I am happy. I think I'll go eat some of the pumpkin bread I made this week and drink some cider. And maybe eat some of the apple butter we bought today. Hooray for fall!

Birthdays and Barbecues

Jesus the Tree-hugger?

Just wanted to pass along an interesting blogpost written by Dr. Albert Mohler, the president of Southern Seminary where Adam is a student.

The post is entitled When Ecology Replaces Theology. In it Mohler discusses the recent observations of a British sociologist who "suggests that some religious institutions are 'busy reinventing themselves by promoting ecological virtues and preaching against the eco-sins of polluters.'"

Thoughts, anyone?

Are you rich?

Several months ago Adam and I visited another church in Louisville (no, we're not thinking about transferring). It was a great church and, although I had to leave early because Katie freaked out in the nursery, I was really impacted by the twenty minutes I spent in their Sunday School class on Ministries of Mercy. The pastor was teaching on 1 Timothy 6:17-19 (Paul's command to the rich). Before he began explaining the text, however, he set out to show us that, while we may be far from making Forbes' Richest list, we are incredibly wealthy. I think all middle class Americans have a vague understanding that we're well-off, but this pastor reminded us of some incredible statistics that made me aware of exactly how wealthy I actually am.

I am actually the 429,712,644th richest person in the world. That means I am richer than almost 93% of the world.

Thus, I have no excuse not to take seriously Paul's words in 1 Timothy, for I am most definitely one of those who is rich in this present world:

"Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life."

Want to know how rich you really are? http://globalrichlist.com/

Download a free song and provide clean water!

Hey everyone! Go to this website and get a free download of Matthew Smith's song "All I Owe." (Matthew Smith is an Indelible Grace guy.)

For every person who downloads the song, Matthew will make a donation to Blood:Water Mission, providing clean water for one person in Africa for one week. The more people who download the song, the more money gets donated! Spread the word!

60 Years of Marriage!

This past weekend Adam, Katie, and I travelled to Harrisville, WV to join my other 27 family members in celebrating my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary. It was a blast.

The Lovebirds

All the grandchildren plus one great-grandchild!

4 generations

More photos of the weekend can be found here.

And of course, some videos.....