Oh look, it's Friday!

Not that that means it's the weekend, cause for me, it's not, but, it means I'm actually accomplishing something HUGE, a post on a Friday!!! This seriously almost never happens, like NEVER!

So, Fridays were originally supposed to be food posts, but seriously, how often have I stuck to that schedule? I have food stuff to throw in, but I'm in the mood to ramble. (this is what happens when I get 6 1/2 hours of consecutive sleep instead of 4, then 2.)  Also, the really big cup of coffee sitting next to me helps that mood, just a bit. :)

Anyways, yesterday was nice, like really nice get lots done feel good about yourself and even have a good skin (definitely not hair, that's what skipping the blow dryer does) day nice.  I was off, and home alone all day yesterday, and my time line went something like this-

5:45am, get up with husband, fix him breakfast, send him off to work
6:15am, get back in bed and pull up the comforter (we haven't turned the furnace on yet, but it's getting cold enough at night that the house is 62 when we wake up!) don't set an alarm :)
9:25am, wake up the second time, make a cup of coffee, get back in bed with lots of blogs, and celebrity gossip and online movie trailers picking our date night movie for next Monday.
10:45am, make myself get out of my bliss and take a shower and put on real clothes and run errands (which of course included more coffee at my Starbucks stop!) to the mall, ULTA (to use my coupon) the bank, my store, Grandma's and the grocery store.
2:00pm, get home from errands, clean the kitchen, sort the laundry, make Sugar Cookie Dough :)
2:30pm, husband gets home from work, feed him, enjoy peace and quiet some more while he naps away on the couch and I get a THIRD cup of coffee :)
6:30pm, make dinner, swallow down a little bit of the hockey kick of while waiting for Grey's (!!!!)
8:00pm, Grey's Mentalist and Cookies :)
10:00pm, clean kitchen again
10:45pm, climb in bed with Iron Man 2 and my husband.
11:35pm, fall asleep......

Not a bad day at all!  And, to wrap it up, a few pictures....

 

Dough ready to be cut into pretty leaves.

 I LOVE using real icing colors!

Waiting to be frosted!

Ta da!!  I do these every, single, year!

 One of my least favorite things about Texas is the quality of produce. Maybe it's a Houston thing being so close to the gulf, but the Apples stink, Bananas are always bright green then turn in two days, Broccoli is double what it was in NY and the texture is different, potatoes only keep for 4-5 days, corn season is like 2 weeks long and berry picking isn't really an option unless you drive at least an hour away from the city and get up at 4:00am because it's too hot out by 7:00am.

But, do you see what I found all the way down in Houston Texas yesterday?  

 Let me zoom it in for you.....

 Oh my freakin goodness I was excited!!! They're a bit soft from the shipment, so they'll be getting turned into sauce tomorrow night, but seriously, you have no idea how psyched I was to find these! Even if they were in the "import produce section" at $1.98 a pound.

 Oh, and these were the main course of our dinner. Nothing to write home about unfortunately. I'm still having a hard time buying meat down here. I'm thinking a Costco membership may be in the my near future because BJ's was always the best in NY, because it seems like you have to pay $17.99 a pound to get a good steak at Kroger, and HEB's meat is better, but just as expensive, so last night's $7.99 a pound sirloin just didn't cut it, or rather, didn't cut in some places.  Hmm....I'm thinking of texting around to see if anyone wants to let me go to Sam's or Costco this week with them to try one of each, because really, a membership required discount club might be my only shot at a good steak that costs less than a week's worth of groceries.

Anyways, off to the grocery store, again, forgot sugar yesterday and since I scraped the canister dry for the sugar cookies I'll be needing some more before I can make my banana bread.

Have a great weekend!

Inside My Mind

So, my mind is everywhere this week. I haven't had a chance to think of any kind of structured blog or any theme to write about, so instead I haven't been writing at all, but I think if you just bear with me for one little (or not so little post) I could probably get back to some form of normal mind set, or at least an organized mind.

Work's been a zoo lately, even though when most days our numbers are down and things are slow business wise, it seems like on all of my shifts something breaks, someone doesn't show or calls in, or a shipment comes in three times bigger than expected, or a computer dies, or what not, it's just always the unexpected on my shifts it seems.

My sister's getting closer to her due date so my mom's in even crazier baby mode, which is okay, and expected, but it's also kind of making me the oddball, because, as much as I'm excited for my sister, I'm so not into the whole baby thing. 

Which is another thing, my husband and I are on the "no babies ever track", which doesn't seem to be very well accepted or respected and no one really takes us seriously.  Just because we're young, got married young, and have been married for a few years, doesn't mean the only purpose of our marriage is babies and starting a family.  With all of my nannying, and students, and our youth ministry stuff, we have sooooo many "kids", we're totally content with that.  We have enough family issues with his family too, so bringing kids into that kind of terrifies me. 

And speaking of his family.....I'm kind of freaked out about having to go back to NY in March for his brother's wedding.  I haven't actually spoken to any of his family since February, and that whole prolonged waiting period is just making that reunion scarier.  And, it doesn't help any that as far as I know I'm still being ostracized by my brother in law, and that hanging in limbo scares me.

Anyways, I'm late, for choir and ladies night at Starbucks, which are some of the only things I am sure about these days, so it's good, but I have to run. I'll try to prep for something more readable tomorrow when I'm off work.

Hello there

So, I missed a few days, this week has been crazy, and hectic, and draining, both mentally and physically, work related and personal.  It's just been a bit nuts for me this week.

Sunday Adam worked, I had church on my own and then deep cleaned my mom's house with her and cooked all day for her Lifegroup Social from church. We literally took apart all of her light fixtures and washed them, dusted the ceiling fans, scrubbed the baseboards and tile floors by hand, washed the kitchen cupboards, steam cleaned the carpeting, the works.  I was a bit wiped.

Monday I was originally scheduled at work 11:30-4, nice short Monday, ended up getting called in to cover at 9:00 and stayed until 4:30.  We'd been prepping for a review by the NYC visual team, so it was a lot of physical labor rearranging and cleaning the store, plus, I was the solo sales person for 2 hours while everyone else dealt with the 24 cases of new merchandise that came in that day.  Monday night was also when I taught my first guitar lesson in Houston. The preparation was definitely mentally draining after a 7 month break from teaching, but it was so worth it.

Tuesday I opened at work again, and stayed almost an hour late, as usual.  Adam had football Tuesday night as well, which went really well for him, they won, he got one touchdown, but let through the only touchdown by the other team.

Wednesday was normal work, I left on time, ran a bunch of errands went back to work to meet the NYC review people who were crazy late and I couldn't wait for, went to kids choir, led my kids in singing in service, ran normal choir had my last kid get picked up 35 minutes late, and went to Ladies Fellowship at Starbucks and got home at 10:30.

Today was more work, and cleaning, and tomorrow I need to deep clean our bedroom and bathroom and then work the close shift at work.

It's been a long week.

Also, it's been a weird week emotionally.  My husband is back on total speaking terms with his brother after our whole blow up disaster of name calling, swearing at, telling off and everything else this winter. Part of me is happy for him having his brother wanting to be back in his life, and the other part of me kind of hates that they're so friendly after all his brother did to me.  I really feel like to an extent, my husband not getting an apology of some form out of his brother is like he's saying what he did doesn't matter anymore. Or, it's coming across to his brother like he didn't care that he threatened and called me every name in the book and then some and disowned my husband and told him he was dead to him until he got away from me permanently. Part of me is happy that they've reconciled because I can't imagine that kind of anger from my sister and I know how that would hurt. But, part of me wants an apology. I can forgive him, but I can't trust him not to just do it all again. This was the third similar episode, the third without any admittance on his side that he was ever out of line, and really, I just get sick of being bashed by my brother in law and then reamed out by my mother in law for not begging his forgiveness and promising to stay out of he and my husband's lives. I get sick of being afraid of what this does to our marriage and I just really feel safer when he's not speaking to us. I know my husband's on my side, he's told his parents so, he's told them and his brother that they're out of line and treating me horribly and shouldn't even think that their words and actions could be appropriate, yet he forgives them and forgets. I'm getting good at forgiving, but the forgetting part is hard. 

On top of that my husband's had jerky members this week and horrible tips and has been moody about that, so I've just kind of been internalizing all week and am getting tired of it.  Sorry for the vent, especially on a "Thankful Thursday" but really, I don't know what else to say today.

This is me....

Children and music are officially back in my life! These are two of the things that make me happiest.

I started my first official, long term Houston student tonight and I couldn't stop raving about it to my mom the whole way home.  I've missed teaching so much!  I've missed their silly answers when they don't know the real answer, their trying to distract me from a song they haven't practiced, their cute little messy notes and buzzy strings and crazy goofy made up songs, and most importantly, their joy when you tell them how well they did.  I miss my musical kids in NY, but hopefully soon, my student roster will grow and I can start making new memories with kids here. No one will replace most of my NY students, but I need these emotions and feelings in my life on a regular basis.

Since September 2002 I've continually had students.  What started as one family, transitioned to 3 within 3 months, which grew to 7 withing 6 months, 10 within a year, and eventually 51 students. Over the course of my 7 years in NY I've had the opportunity to influence 73 children with one on one lessons, and I feel like after not teaching for 7 months that I've been missing a piece of me that's finally back.

At the beginning of September I started working with a kids choir again. In September 1999 I started accompanying my first kids choir, in 2002 I was assistant directing/accompanying, 2004 co-directing, 2007 choreographing special services for church with kids, and before all of that, I grew up participating in kids choir since I was 5.  Also, a huge part of me that's been missing.  It doesn't matter how bad my kids are, and how many times I have to do the "music teacher clap" I love my choir nights.

Kids and Music, this is me.

Friday Fail!

So basically, I should just plan on messing up at this point, seriously, I stink at Friday posts.

This week was filled with new TV show nights!

Monday we checked out "Hawaii 5-0", which was really pretty good. We were big fans of "Las Vegas" on NBC a few years back and Scott Caan is alot like his dad, who made "Vegas", so I enjoyed it quite a bit.  Plus, I grew up on re-runs of the original so that made it even better because it wasn't nearly as corny.

Tuesday we had both NCIS and NCIS:Los Angeles which are ALWAYS PHENOMENAL!!!!

Wednesday we were show less, though I may try to find something online to check out the pilot or season opener for to start watching next week, any suggestions??

Thursday I had my ever wonderful "Grey's Anatomy" and "Private Practice". I've been with them both since the beginning, and as pathetic as it may be, it's as if I know them.  Thursday was also "The Mentalist", which, if you've never seen the original "Thin Man" movies, I highly recommend finding them in a library somewhere, classic William Powell and Myrna Loy from the late 30's.  "The Mentalist reminds me of them somewhat.

Friday we're also showless, but that's okay for right now.  I meant to check out "Blue Bloods", did anyone else watch it to give me a review?

Still waiting for Sunday for "Brothers and Sisters" though I'm a bit worried that it will lose me this year with all the good couples killed off or destroyed and only the scary gay couple left.  Besides being massively Biblically wrong, I'm just not a fan of men making out with each other on my TV and I usually fast forward their scenes on Tivo.

So, I've raved about my shows, what are your shows?

Thankful Thursday

This week has been pretty decent

I've had Starbucks 4 times this week....major happiness!!!!

It's been cool enough for jeans every day this week (by cool, I mean below 90):)

My husband and I had 2 half days, and one whole day off together this week!!

My husband successfully replaced the fuel filter in our car for $45 instead of $125 by doing it himself!  It took 3 1/2 hours instead of the half our the instructions said because they stopped making the exact part and he had to make new fittings to make the new filter fit, but he did it and I'm very proud of him for him industriousness!

Grey's is back! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And my husband even watched it with me tonight.

I'm a happy girl!

Wordless Wednesday

 

 My morning, until the rain and black clouds came.......

 

I hate it when the weather man is actually right, especially when he's only right about a few minutes worth of weather that are just enough to mess up your plans.

I am a happy girl!

I worked this morning and got off on time for once!

I had lunch from here.....

Went shopping here.....

And got a "Duke Blue" Sweater, yes, it is a color to me!

I got to spend the afternoon running errands with my husband.

Make homemade Macaroni & Cheese for dinner.

Buy one of these.....

And go watch my husband, play, win and not get hurt at flag football with church while only getting three mosquito bites!

And now I'm going to shower the bug spray off of me and eat one of these.....

For dessert. :)

Oh, and NCIS and NCIS:LA  are waiting on my Tivo!!

Next week....

is going to look something like this......

 

 

 

 

It's going to be a good week!!

And yes, I realize I missed my Friday post again, I'm just not good at Fridays!

Thankful Thursday

Today was a really great day!!!

Last night was an awesome night with my kids choir, they make me laugh, even when they make me crazy!  And, they know their hymn so well! Nothing like 28 kids singing "What a Friend We Have in Jesus".  Next week we start "All Hail the Power of Jesus Name" and I'll be teaching them the sign language for it, I can't wait!!!

Last night was also a wonderful coffee night with my ladies from church. We spent our evening praising our husbands, talking about ways to help them be better spiritual leaders, and praying for them.  It was phenomenal!

Last night I also got to sleep through the night for the first time in 3 months!!!  My side of our Select Comfort Adjustable Mattress (NEVER BUY ONE!!!!!) is no longer a sink hole!!!!!  The hose on my side was leaking and we finally had time to go to the big mall on the other side of town to get caps, now it's pumped up and staying pumped!! Yay for sleep!!!

Today we were both off and able to take care of our car insurance, registration, and driver's licenses and we still have money left over and time to spend together this evening!

Wordy Wednesday

Crazy Quotes from my Choir Kids!

Oh how I wish all those words started with the same letter because they all make the hard "C" sound! Yes, I'm that much of a nerd and have that much obsession with alliteration!

Anyways, on to some funny quotes from some very funny kids!

My second graders who will all remain nameless-

2 weeks ago craft assignment - draw a picture of something you're praying for this week
Picture drawn by "little boy 1" - stick figure with a big circle on it's head and lots of red on the page
Me- ______ can I ask what you're praying for?
Little Boy 1- "A really big rock to splat my brother"  (me turning around so he can't see me laughing!)
When mom comes I show her the picture, her reaction- "Great! Wonder what fight I tuned out today!"

Tonight craft assignment- Make a paper bag puppet of your best friend (most of the boys best friends carried large swords or guns in their hands-lovely!)
Two boys chasing each other around the room with their "puppets" all over each other.
Me- "Do I need to take your puppets away since you can't keep them to yourselves?"
Boy 1-"NO!!!! Mine's winning!"
Boy 2-"Only cause yours has a machine gun and mine has a sword!"
(Again, me turning around to hide laughter!)

Little girl 1- (almost all night!)  "teacher, Teach, TEACHER!!!!!" comes running face planting into my stomach to hug me, goes back to seat (literally, 5 times in 75 minutes!)

Little girl 2-"It's okay if my mom's late cause she's talking, it's not like I ever go to sleep when she puts me to bed anyways, I always wait till I see 11:11 on my clock"

Mr Energy(yes he answers to that for me now!)- "If he's REALLLLLLY late, how much sugar do I get?"
After I bribed him to not run laps around the room while waiting for his perpetually late father.

Little Boy 2- "I promise I won't touch ANYTHING!!!!! Just don't let any girls near me, they're SCARY!!!!!!"  (After I'd made him move to a mostly girl table when he wouldn't keep his hands to himself, found out later he has two middle school sisters)




Yeah, I love my choir!

Thoughtful Tuesday

So, I was going for "thankful", but I have a moody, just lost his first football game pouting husband to deal with tonight, that kind of kills my thankful spirit, so, "thoughtful" will have to do.

High points this week-

Class on Sunday got me thinking about this song-



















I honestly haven't watched the video, I'm just in love with the song.  I was a huge Amy Grant fan growing up, and something about her voice on this one is just captivating, if the lyrics don't get you thinking, sorry, they get me thinking.

Work is going well. I'm definitely on my managers good side, and getting lots of extra jobs and responsibilities because of it.  I'm loving it though. I've been training our new hires that have taken over my spot as a normal sales associate before my promotion. It's been really fun to be the crazy over enthusiastic person getting them excited about their work.

One in particular has sort of become my mission field.  She and her husband have been through 3 job changes in the year and a half they've been married and he's currently un-employed completely. She grew up in church and was saved as a child but strayed and is working her way back.  He grew up with a strict Catholic mom and wanted nothing to do with the church ever. They've been to our class twice and she's seen a lot of improvement in his attitude, so we're hoping and praying together that the right things will be said and he'll come around.  They had been having some marital issues he was denying, but now he's actually admitting them and taking responsibility and she's really excited.  It's fun, and keeps me praying.

Another one of my big prayer focuses, is one of my youth group kids from NY. She's in a rough family situation, but I'm seeing God working in her so much in each of our conversations and her facebook statuses.  I love this girl and I can't wait to see how God's going to use all the strength he's given her as she grows up.

Movie night with my husband, so I'm going to go find him some dessert, get the movie going, and offer a backrub to make him un-grumpy from his game. :)

We rented this-

Hopefully it's good, though the cast kind of has me doubtful. Maybe I'll sneak a review in tomorrow if I have time after work.

Goodnight all!

Monday Musings

Technically on Tuesday morning....oops!

Quick thought from church yesterday-

If you had 1000 people put their current trial in a hat with yours, what chance do you think that you'd want your own back? Everyone's struggling with something, yours is probably not the worst!

Mourning my Husband

So, I realized this weekend that my 9 months of single living is back.....

Football season started this weekend

Tennis US Open still finishing

Baseball is still going, and I never thought I'd say it, but I'm rejoicing in the fact that our RedSox stink this year

Fantasy Hockey draft is next weekend

FedEx Cup and Ryder Cup are still coming for PGA

Hockey season officially kicks off October 7th

By the time Baseball ends, Hockey and NCAA Basketball will be going full swing

By the time Football ends, baseball will be back

By the time Hockey ends, golf and tennis will be back

I can't win......

So I stink at Friday posts!

I really just can't get organized enough at the end of the week to remember to post on Fridays!

Maybe it has something to do that I'm working a more weekend based schedule and by Friday I'm fairly tired and just trying to get trough.

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I don't truly have my own kitchen and feel kind of weird posing food for a picture.

Probably the latter. :)

So, I don't have any pictures from the food this week, other than archived pictures from older, and my previous blog.... 

Earlier this week I made one of these....

 Raspberry Bundt Cake Recipe-
1 Box Yellow Cake Mix
1 Stick Softened Butter
3 Eggs
1/2 Cup Vanilla Coffee Creamer
1/2 Cup Milk
1/3 Brown Sugar
Dash of Cinnamon
Dash of Nutmeg
2 Containers (little plastic, half pints?) Raspberries.

Preheat Oven to 350. Generously grease and flour Bundt cake pan.
Beat first five ingredients.  Fold in Sugar and Spices.  Fold in half of the raspberries.  Pour into greased pan.  Cover batter with remaining raspberries and push into batter with spatula.  Bake 40-45 minutes, or until it passed the "toothpick test".  Let cool 10 minutes, flip out of pan and let cool on plate or wire rack for an hour to drizzle with frosting, or sprinkle with powdered sugar immediately.

And some of these....

(only two left)

And bought blueberries to make some of this....(which never got made, had to buy more blueberries and will try again tomorrow!)

One of the husband's favorite foods!

I'm pretty traditional, basically, it's the batter for scratch blueberry muffins, Betty Crocker Style, slightly doctored up.

Whisk together-
1 Egg
1/4 C Oil
3/4 C Milk
1 ts Vanilla Extract
1 Tbs French Vanilla Coffee Creamer

Stir in-
2 C Flour
1/2 C Sugar
2 Tbs Baking Powder
1/2 ts Salt

Fold in-
1 Cup fresh or frozen blueberries (rinse frozen ones in room temperature water first)

Pour into greased Bundt Cake pan, bake 20-22 minutes at 400 degrees.
You can also do it in a loaf pan, but I like the way it comes out better (consistency wise) in the Bundt cake pan, but to do a loaf pan, bake 28-30 minutes at 375 degrees.

Serve warm and buttered! And preferably with fresh coffee!

And for tonight I'm making these.....

Brownie Batter-
Ingredients-
4oz. Unsweetened Chocolate
2/3 C Butter
4 Eggs
2 C Sugar
2 Ts Vanilla
1 1/3 C Flour
1 Ts Baking Powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9x13" pan.

Melt Chocolate for one minute in microwaveable dish, add Butter, melt one more minute, stir, set aside.

In medium mixing bowl, beat Eggs and Sugar.
Add Chocolate Mixture and Vanilla.
Stir in Flour and Baking Powder.

Bake 25 minutes.

Frosting-
1/3 C Softened Butter  *(leave out remaining 1/3 Cup to soften when making batter)*
Roughly 2 C Confectioners Sugar
2 TBS Milk Chocolate Instant Jello Mix
1 Ts Vanilla
Enough Milk to make it spreadable.

Beat all ingredients together, gradually adding milk until it reaches the desired consistency.

Spread on cooled brownies.

And tomorrow afternoon I'm making two of these....

Pie Filling-

4 Large Apples any variety
my favorite combination is 2 Granny Smith, 1 Cortland, 1 Yellow Delicious, I like a slightly tart, non-mushy pie.

Peel, core and thinly slice into large bowl.

Cover in-
1/4 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
Cinnamon, Cloves and Nutmeg to "smell"

Let sit and get juicy while you do crust.

Crust-

Sugar cookie dough! You can use store bought (like the Pillsbury in a tube kind), half a batch of your standard dough, or this-

Mix together-
1 stick softened butter
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Egg
1 tsp Vanilla

Add-
1 Cup Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder

Press into the bottom and sides of a greased, deep pie dish.

Bake at 375 for 15 minutes (it will settle into the bottom and corners of the pan).

French Crumb Topping-

Mix together until crumbly-
1 stick softened butter
2/3 Cup Flour
1/3 Cup Sugar
1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon

Fill crust while still hot, cover with French Crumb Topping, cover with foil.

Bake at 375 for 35 minutes, then remove foil and bake an additional 10-15 minutes or until top of crust starts to brown. (TOTAL of 45-50 minutes)

Let sit 45-60 minutes before cutting.

I think that's all in the food department, I'll post more about the weekend in general tomorrow, maybe, if I think of it, or anything interesting to say. :)

Thankful Thursday

This week has been good to us....

Thanks to the nice little tropical storm, we had three days off together this week

My wonderful husband got a bunch of work done on his car, and a bunch of cleaning for me

My husband bought me a new blow dryer-yay straight hair again!!

We were able to get some great deals at our Christian Book Store

Our health insurance plan got approved and started

Our car passed the Texas inspection system

We hit the 40% mark in paying off all of our debt, a project started only 6 months ago!

The storm finally broke and let us go walk around Old Town Spring today and enjoy an afternoon outside

We were hired to cat sit again for a neighbor for 3 weeks, they pay $10 a day, bonus $200 for petting a car 30 minutes a day

We have awesome friends who invited us over for dinner Saturday, double date night!

My hair is freshly colored and nails freshly painted-I love the little things!

Wordless Wednesday

A morning off....
 

Recipe

Thankful Tuesday

It's raining and finally below 95 degrees!!!! I'm in jeans today and it's only 77!! I'm loving it!

I'm definitely fully acclimated because I was complaining last night that I was freezing and it was 69, I've turned into a southern wimp! :)

My husband is off for 2-3 days because of tropical storm/hurricane "Hermoine" and I'm off for the next two days! Lots of time together!

I baked cookies last night!

My new friend Amber from work and her husband checked out our lifegroup on Sunday and he's asking about salvation and Jesus! (Praise/Prayer for understanding)

We're getting our car registered in Texas finally! Which means, Texas Driver's Licenses and no more explaining why my addresses don't match up.

We finally have health insurance again! Yay raise that lets us afford it!

Monday Musings

So we started a new series in our Lifegroup at church yesterday.  It's fantastic.  It's perfect for basically anyone.  And, amazingly enough, I kind of feel like we're on the better off end of it.

Check it out if you get a chance. There is a clip from the first lesson is on youtube-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiDLv24Xd64 

Also, if someone wants to tell me how to upload a video instead of a link, I'd appreciate it. Thanks :)

So.....

2 days into it and I already missed a post! Not a good sign!

I do have a decent excuse though, my husband got asked to work a double, so I had to drive my mom to work to be able to use her car to get to work later, then I got called into work 2 1/2 hours early, so, basically I had an hour free in the afternoon on the computer and didn't get to posting after paying the bills.

Our food was not very interesting this week anyways.

This coming week I'm only closing once, so hopefully I can get a few good meals out.  I'm looking forward to some baking today, maybe, after my mom leaves for work. My dad has company coming tonight, so she'll freak if I even start to use the kitchen, but I'm really in the mood, so I'll just have to deep clean again when I'm done.  These-

were on sale this week, which means cookies need to be made!

And these-

looked good and fresh, which means bread for tomorrow morning.

Unfortunately all of my pictures are stored on my computer, (and hard drive, don't worry!) and my computer decided to die, so I'm going to have to take some new pictures since all of my archives of food pictures are a bit of a pain to access at the moment.

This afternoon Adam should be getting home earlier from work and I'm hoping to get out to the outlet mall for some Labor Day weekend specials.  He needs cleats and some more dri-fit/heat gear type shirts, and new sneakers, because his are getting destroyed at work. I just want to shop! I let myself buy two things at work yesterday, I have at least one more I really want, but, I'd just as soon get some good deals on shoes at the outlets.  I'm discovering that all of my boot type shoes are a bit impractical for down here and peeptoes and sandals are the way to go.

I'm drooling over these-

at the moment.  At $130, I'll be looking for some lookalikes at about 80% off :)

Have a great weekend, off to clean so my mom stops freaking out at me. You'd think I'd never been responsible before sometimes. :)

Thankful Thursday

The Blessings from the last 3-4 days!

I have a wonderful husband who was off work today while I was at work and took it upon himself to fix our noisy ceiling fan and sort through his paper pile and put away his laundry!

I have a job that I love 99% of the time, and a new hire who is currently my mission field.

I have a manger that is so supportive of my time off requests for church events, and excited with me when I share answered prayers!

I have a Lifegroup at church, and Ladies Fellowship group that holds me accountable and prays with me through everything.

My kids choir is growing and so are my helpers! My kids already know their hymn of the month after only 2 weeks and are so enthusiastic to learn more (though silly band prizes are good incentive!)

Our car finally has working air conditioning again.

It's getting cooler! It's amazing the difference it makes when you drop from 105 to 95!

The police arrested the armed robbers who've been preying on my work plaza! BIG YAY!!!!!

It's cool enough to wear jeans today!

My husband is back on speaking terms with his brother.

Not deliberately hiding away

So, it's been 5 weeks since I've blogged.  I'm not really sure what's kept me from posting, other than that I feel like I don't have anything interesting to say.  My life in Texas is very very VERY different than my life in New York. My life in NY was non-stop, always busy, filled with people, stories, events, crazy schedules and someone interesting seemed to happen almost daily.  Here in TX, things run quite a bit slower. I'm working 25 hours a week instead of 50. I'm only working in 1 ministry instead of 4. I'm not keeping my own house since we're living with my parents, so less cooking, decorating and housework. I'm paying off debt left and right, so less shopping and deal finding.  I'm much more relaxed without the in-laws around, so less venting. Things are just different.  In NY I could always find something interesting to write about, here, it's basically just my rambling mind.

But, this blog was originally started for me, so my rambling is going to become public once again.

I need to blog.

I need to express myself with words.

I need a sounding board.

I need interaction with people, even if it is just through the internet.

And I'm learning and studying things I feel like I should be sharing and spiritually I feel like I'm in the closest relationship with God I've ever had.

So, my new system.....

Monday Musings-ramblings from the weekend
Thankful Tuesdays-no complaining allowed!
Wordless Wednesday-my excuse to take a few pictures
Thankful Thursday-because I need to be positive!
Food Fridays-I can't meal plan, but I can meal recap!

Weekends will be whatever pops into my head. And yes I know I have a thing for alliteration.

Feel free to link up and join me on any of these.  I'd love to see a whole group of thankful people during my week. We're all so blessed in ways we don't see, and acknowledging that can make a huge impact on our attitudes towards the little things that bother us.

I'll be back tomorrow with my first official post.  Today is not a good picture day, gym clothes, laundry piles and cooking chickens are not nice things to show off to the world, and I didn't plan ahead by taking any earlier this week. :)

A Day Off

Spent here-

 Laying under this-

 Then enjoying some lemonade and a sandwich from here-

 

Playing with her-

But now it needs to get a bit less pleasant while I put away all this-

Before going here-

With a bunch of ladies from church tonight.

Oh, and I did get promoted, but more on that later, I'm not thinking about work today!

Back again

So, it was a bit of a weird week.

Found out on Tuesday I'm not completely out of the running to move up at work.  I had a phone interview with our now former District Manager (her last day was yesterday) about possibly overriding the test you're supposed to pass to be considered. I guess my observation part of the interview (that I never knew even happened on her last visit to our store) was so good, and my test was so close, that I'm still in consideration. I probably would have known yesterday had my manager not been off. Now I get to wait until Sunday to find out if I'm getting promoted or not.  It's kind of driving me nuts, but kind of not. I'm really not that worried about it, but we could use the 6-12 extra hours worth of pay, and the extra $2 an hour.  I think I have a decent chance as I was one of 4 finalists, and I'm the only one the DM made a followup call about to my manager, so that's a good sign, but I'm not going to be crushed if I don't get it. My husband on the other hand will be, he's determined I deserve it and no one else should get it. Flattering, but probably a bit exaggerated. :)

The husband on the other hand, had a rough work week.  The latter half of July til early August is slow season for him.  Meaning, as a contract worker, he may only get work 2-3 days a week instead of his usual 5-6, which is pretty depressing to him.  I'm just praying he can still see his worth even if he's contributing a bit less financially for a few weeks and can get through it still enjoying his job. He loves the job, when it's busy, so hopefully this slow spell doesn't ruin it for him.

We did actually get a day and a half off together this week though, and it was wonderful!!  We didn't do anything major, just slept, caught up on our Tivo and run a few errands together, but it made a huge difference in my outlook for the week.  We're just a bit more insync now.

I'm kind of thinking the other reason things are going better between us is this book-



I can not recommend it enough. I've read through it twice, prayed through it both times (never in the month suggested, always takes me 2 or 3) and this time I'm journaling my way through it as well. 

A few favorite quote from the first 4 chapters-

"It's a gentle tool of restoration appropriated through the prayers of a wife who longs to DO right more than BE right." (speaking of the power of prayer)

"That's because prayer is the ultimate love language"
"Talking to God about your husband is an act of love"

"If He asks us to prayer for our enemies, how much more should we be praying for the person with whom we have become one and are supposed to love?"

"Telling your husband everything that is wrong with him is not only ill-advised, it probably doesn't reveal the complete truth"

"Our goal must not be to get our husbands to do what WE want, but rather release him to God so He can get them to do what HE wants"

"Allow your husband to be the head so you can be the heart"

"When disappointing things happen it's best to remind myself of my husband's good qualities"

"Loss of respect seems to precede loss of love and is more hurtful to a man than we realize"

And those are just from the first chapter.  It's a great tool to strengthen the spiritual bond between you and your husband. 

It's my day off, so I'm off to do laundry, and put away last week's laundry and go grocery shopping and to the bank and all those other fun things we do on days off.

Have a great weekend!

Still playing catch up

So, after 2 months off, be ready for lots of double blog days!  If you haven't read the prior post yet, please do, it has all the big stuff in it, this one is just all my little daily thoughts type stuff.

I've been keeping up with the working out. Haven't lost a single pound, but I've dropped almost an inch off my butt and waist, and a half an inch on my thighs, (butt and thighs are definitely my problem areas!) and have done some arm toning, without actually measuring, the backs of my arms basically just don't jiggle so much. :)  My standard routine is
15 minutes Elliptical (typically 1.35ish miles)
15 reps on the leg machine that does the outside of your thighs
15 reps on the leg machine that does the inside of your thights
15 of those things where you hold your body up by your arms on handle things and pull your legs up to 90 degrees
15 reps on the machine where you press your arms in against the weights
15 reps on the machine where you pull the bar down against the weights
and 75 crunches.

Can you tell I've never belonged to a gym before and don't really know anything about the machines except for what the little instruction posters on them tell me?  If anyone wants to correct my names for things, feel free.

I go 3-4 times a week, just basically trying to stay toned without really changing my body any.  I'm loving it and the days I work out, I notice I don't feel like I need quite as much coffee.  I've always been a coffee girl, started stealing my dad's at 12, spending my babysitting money on Starbucks with my girlfriends in highschool, and a complete, a pot a day addict by age 19. After getting married I started cutting back to two cups (or one 20oz travel mug) in the morning and then one either in the afternoon or evening.  I'm basically down to one necessary (16oz) cup a day and then a social coffee drink once or twice a week.

We've gotten really involved in a Nearly and Newlyweds class at our church and I'm loving everything we do with it.  I'm the social coordinator, we've had one social at our house and are planning an Astros game to go to as a group later in the month.

Alot of the women in our group have decided to read through the Bible together. They're doing it rather slowly, and having read through it in highschool and again as an adult, I decided to opt out. 

I'm re-reading "The Power of the Praying Wife", which I highly recommend!  It came as a suggestion from an absolutely amazing Pastor's wife I knew back in NY, who was a bit of a mentor for me. She recommended re-reading it every few years, so I'm on re-read number two.  I'm noticing it's just like she said, every stage of your marriage you get something different out of it, or a new part becomes relevant, and it's definitely something new for me each read.  If you want to join me in reading, let me know, I just restarted it this week.  If not, I'll try to give you some of my notes on it.

We're also, as a couple, reading the book "The 5 Love Languages" for the first time.  I know it's kind of a classic in Christian marriage related literature, but we'd done a short study on it without ever reading the book and decided to go back and read the whole thing. Definitely worth it so far.  I'll try to do a few posts on it as I get further into it.

I think that's it for tonight, I'm sure to have a few event specific posts, or food posts in the next few days, still trying to get caught up.

Is this thing still working??

I know, seriously? 2 months without a post? Some of you must be wondering if I'm still alive, other than the fact that most of my loyal readers are also friends with me on facebook. :)  Anyone else, introduce yourselves so I know who's reading!

Anyways, I owe about a dozen posts that are topic specific, but instead, I'm going to just give you a brief run down of what's been on my mind and keeping me from posting.

First off, I found out in early May that I was going to be an Aunt by early December!!!  Congratulations to my sister and her husband on the arrival of their BABY GIRL in 20 weeks!! I was sworn to secrecy until this weekend, so I haven't been talking to alot of people for fear of slipping. 

 This picture is a year old, but it doesn't make any difference, I'm still going to have one very beautiful niece in a few short months! Too bad she'll be living way up in Minnesota with her parents. :)

In late May I was asked be our Nearlywed & Newlywed's Group at church's social coordinator, so every other week I remind the ladies that it's Starbucks night (Good group, huh? This was established before I got there!) and once a month set up a social gathering of some form for the couples. We hosted the first one here in the end of May.

Same weekend I also helped my friend Amber (middle) host a Baby Shower for her sister Kailey. Kailey's 17, and doesn't have a very stable faith, so I know Amber would appreciate your prayers for her.

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The first week of June we headed over to Disney World with my parents so they could work a couple of shifts and keep their seasonal cast member status up.

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In mid June we were able to attend our first wedding down here.  Our friends from class Jim & Maryanne got married.  They are an amazing couple, so perfect for each other, so strong in their faiths and ready for marriage, it was a great wedding, just wishing I'd actually brought my zoom since I wasn't the official photographer and had to take my pictures from farther away.

In mid June I took a test through work to find out if I was eligible for a promotion/raise to "Sales Lead", of course it's a messed up trick question test (according to my manager even) and I missed by 3 points, so I'll be retaking it sometime in September/October.

The first week of July we found out my brother in law finally proposed to his girlfriend after 5 years.  So, there will be a wedding in NY sometime in the next year. Whether we'll be invited or not is still up in the air, but there will be a wedding, and I'll finally have another girl on my husband's side. Hopefully things get worked out eventually between them. At the moment we're unfriended on facebook, blocked from contacting them on facebook, and not getting responses to emails or texts, so we'll see. We're leaving the door open on our end and reminding him especially that it's still open on our end, so we just have to wait for him to come around at this point.

This is quite literally a 3 year old picture of them, but it's the best I have without stealing one of their profile pics, and I'd rather not cause a problem.

So, basically that's been all the big events.

I'll try to get a more personal blog going later this weekend. I'm back, I'm not planning on stopping blogging again anytime soon either, so keep reading!