Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Go figure.....
As soon as I get into a blogging rhythm/schedule/whatever our computer dies and gets shipped off to mac depot! Can't win! As soon as it's back I'll post my weekly blogging plan for accountability's sake. I can't commit to anything without a computer at home though, since pictures are a pain from my phone.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Anyone else miss football?
I never thought I'd say it, but this afternoon, I actually found myself missing football. Mainly because, without football, my husband's channel surfing after church landed us on the Discovery Channel and some special about how the Bermuda Triangle came about and how it creates time space portals and makes planes fly at "lightspeed" and other garbage like that. Am I the only one who assumes that people who believe that garbage and are dead serious about being warped into other dimensions must be tripped out on some crazy drugs? I'm not sure how you'd say you were time warped into another dimension and then returned to your original portal and destination by a space force with a straight face without some crazy lsd type drugs in your system.
Anyways, I finally got him off the Discovery Channel and onto a James Bond marathon, thank goodness for that!
It's been a lazy weekend, hence the lack of a blog post. I was planning to write more Thursday, but my headcold filled husband kept me a bit occupied, you know how sick men are. :) Sad thing is, I enjoy him needing me so much. I'm pathetic, I enjoy fixing all of my husband's food and cleaning up all his mess and doing all of his laundry and everything else. I feel bad when I don't take care of him. Is that weird? I've been told he's an adult and it's not my job, I've been told it encourages him to be a man-child/weak leader, but I don't believe any of it. I believe it's my privilege as his wife to also be his helper, and I help in the ways I know how.
Anyways, the point of this blog is that without the structure of football, Sunday afternoons are actually quite boring, and I'm not a football girl at all. I couldn't tell you who was playing who, what was going on or what teams records were, I could barely name most of the quarterbacks. But, I miss the reliability of coming home from church to lunch and football.
Because it's freakishly cold for Houston (45) and gray as all get out, I have very little motivation to leave the house so I think I'll go back to just enjoying my husband's company on the couch and be thankful Pierce Brosnan is such a good looking Bond if I'm going to sit through them for the hundreth time.
Maybe lazy Sundays are so bad after all. :)
Anyways, I finally got him off the Discovery Channel and onto a James Bond marathon, thank goodness for that!
It's been a lazy weekend, hence the lack of a blog post. I was planning to write more Thursday, but my headcold filled husband kept me a bit occupied, you know how sick men are. :) Sad thing is, I enjoy him needing me so much. I'm pathetic, I enjoy fixing all of my husband's food and cleaning up all his mess and doing all of his laundry and everything else. I feel bad when I don't take care of him. Is that weird? I've been told he's an adult and it's not my job, I've been told it encourages him to be a man-child/weak leader, but I don't believe any of it. I believe it's my privilege as his wife to also be his helper, and I help in the ways I know how.
Anyways, the point of this blog is that without the structure of football, Sunday afternoons are actually quite boring, and I'm not a football girl at all. I couldn't tell you who was playing who, what was going on or what teams records were, I could barely name most of the quarterbacks. But, I miss the reliability of coming home from church to lunch and football.
Because it's freakishly cold for Houston (45) and gray as all get out, I have very little motivation to leave the house so I think I'll go back to just enjoying my husband's company on the couch and be thankful Pierce Brosnan is such a good looking Bond if I'm going to sit through them for the hundreth time.
Maybe lazy Sundays are so bad after all. :)
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Let's see if I remember how to do this!
So, it's been 10 weeks, anyone still following enough to even notice that I'm posting?
It's been a crazy 2 1/2 months, but I'm finally ready to start getting back on a routine.
October started with a move into our new apartment, buying furniture since we sold most of ours in NY, decorating (for real, not with mix-match hand me downs!) and setting everything up.
November started with a 6 1/2 day weekend visit from the in-laws.
Said visit brought on a cold/sinus thing that refused to go away for 6 weeks.
Thanksgiving brought a visit from my sister and her family and throwing my niece's first birthday party.
Black Friday became blacker than planned........(see last post)
December was a blur of Christmas rehearsals, Christmas productions, extra work, decorating, shopping, shipping and baking and then sleeping for about a week. Our church/my work puts on an AMAZING Christmas Production! Look up Champion Forest Baptist Church Miracle of Christmas 2012 for clips. We have a full broadway musical, that leads into the nativity story, complete with live donkeys, sheep, camels and an elephant walking across the stage. Yeah, insane.
December also brought another loss. A good friend from NY passed away after a 2 1/2 year battle with cancer. In the beginning of December I watched a close friend bury her baby, and then in the end of December sat 1800 miles away while dear sweet children I used to watch spent their Christmas break burying their mother. You can read her story HERE.
January was spent trying to get a routine back with my husband home a ton of the time because of slow season in the golf business. My sister and her family were in town most of January, so I was busy trying to keep up with work, home and see them as much as possible.
It's now the second week of February and I've officially meal planned, couponed and kept up the laundry and cleaning for 2 weeks straight. I'm planning social events and going to color my hair and I'm back in the gym at least a bit (seasonal allergies make breathing while running difficult!) so along with all of this other organization I'm getting back to blogging.
To kick it off, here's my menu for this week-
Sunday-
Superbowl Party
I made
Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Chips-
2 kiwis, peeled and diced
2 Golden Delicious or Honeycrisp apples - peeled, cored and diced
16 ounces raspberries/blackberries
2 (16 oz) cartons of strawberries, diced
1 tablespoon brown sugar (more or less to taste)
2 tablespoons fruit preserves, any flavor (I used strawberry)
10 (10 inch) flour tortillas
melted butter or butter flavored cooking spray
2 cups cinnamon sugar
1. In a large bowl, thoroughly mix kiwis, apples, raspberries, strawberries, white sugar, brown sugar and fruit preserves. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 15 minutes.
2.Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3.Coat one side of each flour tortilla with melted butter or butter flavored cooking spray. Sprinkle tortillas with desired amount of cinnamon sugar. Cut into wedges and arrange in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Spray again with cooking spray (not necessary if using melted butter).
4.Bake in the preheated oven 8 to 10 minutes. Repeat with any remaining tortilla wedges. Allow to cool approximately 15 minutes. Serve with chilled fruit mixture. Best when made and eaten the same day otherwise the fruit gives off so too much juice and it gets runny.
and Homemade Oreos http://smittenkitchen.com/
Monday-
Breakfast for dinner - French Toast Casserole, Scrambled Eggs and Bacon
Tuesday-
Whole Chicken in the Crockpot with Rice and Broccoli
Wednesday-
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Thursday-
Chicken and Dressing
Friday-
Chicken Quesadillas or Chicken and Rice Stew (depends on weather)
Saturday-
Friends coming over for dinner, so need to change the plan
I'll be back on Thursday. For recipes, just comment and I'll add them as I go.
If you're still reading, just let me know, will you? I'm going to work on redesigning things Friday, so things may go down this weekend depending on how long it takes.
It's been a crazy 2 1/2 months, but I'm finally ready to start getting back on a routine.
October started with a move into our new apartment, buying furniture since we sold most of ours in NY, decorating (for real, not with mix-match hand me downs!) and setting everything up.
November started with a 6 1/2 day weekend visit from the in-laws.
Said visit brought on a cold/sinus thing that refused to go away for 6 weeks.
Thanksgiving brought a visit from my sister and her family and throwing my niece's first birthday party.
Black Friday became blacker than planned........(see last post)
December was a blur of Christmas rehearsals, Christmas productions, extra work, decorating, shopping, shipping and baking and then sleeping for about a week. Our church/my work puts on an AMAZING Christmas Production! Look up Champion Forest Baptist Church Miracle of Christmas 2012 for clips. We have a full broadway musical, that leads into the nativity story, complete with live donkeys, sheep, camels and an elephant walking across the stage. Yeah, insane.
December also brought another loss. A good friend from NY passed away after a 2 1/2 year battle with cancer. In the beginning of December I watched a close friend bury her baby, and then in the end of December sat 1800 miles away while dear sweet children I used to watch spent their Christmas break burying their mother. You can read her story HERE.
January was spent trying to get a routine back with my husband home a ton of the time because of slow season in the golf business. My sister and her family were in town most of January, so I was busy trying to keep up with work, home and see them as much as possible.
It's now the second week of February and I've officially meal planned, couponed and kept up the laundry and cleaning for 2 weeks straight. I'm planning social events and going to color my hair and I'm back in the gym at least a bit (seasonal allergies make breathing while running difficult!) so along with all of this other organization I'm getting back to blogging.
To kick it off, here's my menu for this week-
Sunday-
Superbowl Party
I made
Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Chips-
2 kiwis, peeled and diced
2 Golden Delicious or Honeycrisp apples - peeled, cored and diced
16 ounces raspberries/blackberries
2 (16 oz) cartons of strawberries, diced
1 tablespoon brown sugar (more or less to taste)
2 tablespoons fruit preserves, any flavor (I used strawberry)
10 (10 inch) flour tortillas
melted butter or butter flavored cooking spray
2 cups cinnamon sugar
1. In a large bowl, thoroughly mix kiwis, apples, raspberries, strawberries, white sugar, brown sugar and fruit preserves. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 15 minutes.
2.Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3.Coat one side of each flour tortilla with melted butter or butter flavored cooking spray. Sprinkle tortillas with desired amount of cinnamon sugar. Cut into wedges and arrange in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Spray again with cooking spray (not necessary if using melted butter).
4.Bake in the preheated oven 8 to 10 minutes. Repeat with any remaining tortilla wedges. Allow to cool approximately 15 minutes. Serve with chilled fruit mixture. Best when made and eaten the same day otherwise the fruit gives off so too much juice and it gets runny.
and Homemade Oreos http://smittenkitchen.com/
Monday-
Breakfast for dinner - French Toast Casserole, Scrambled Eggs and Bacon
Tuesday-
Whole Chicken in the Crockpot with Rice and Broccoli
Wednesday-
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Thursday-
Chicken and Dressing
Friday-
Chicken Quesadillas or Chicken and Rice Stew (depends on weather)
Saturday-
Friends coming over for dinner, so need to change the plan
I'll be back on Thursday. For recipes, just comment and I'll add them as I go.
If you're still reading, just let me know, will you? I'm going to work on redesigning things Friday, so things may go down this weekend depending on how long it takes.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Is anyone still out there?
Ladies I've been in a blog funk. Could you tell? It's been almost 3 months since my last post. I've been reading, I promise, but posting just hasn't happened.
We moved into our apartment in early October, dealt with some crazy work stuff, took 3 weeks to unpack all the way, and then hosting my in-laws (thank you those of you cringing) for a 6 1/2 day long weekend in the beginning of November. Since then, my sister's been in town twice, we've helped host Thanksgiving and my niece's first Birthday party. And those are just a few of the big things.
But the reason I come out of my funk tonight, will probably put me in a different funk, but I need to share it with you for the sake of prayer.
A very dear and close friend and her husband suffered a pain this weekend that words can't describe. They went in for their 39 week baby appointment, planning on scheduling an induction for this week, and were informed that their soon to be born son would be born stillborn that day. Sometime in the last 2-3 days he'd somehow passed away. At her 38 weeks appointment 7 days earlier, everything was perfect, right on schedule and measuring right on track, she'd been having braxton hicks for the last 2 weeks and watching his body move through her belly. Due to her size, and the baby's size her doctor had said if she wasn't dialated by 39 weeks, they'd schedule an induction on her due date, which was this coming Friday.
Instead, they induced her that night, and she delivered a 6 lb 8 ounce baby boy early Saturday morning. They held their precious little boy, and they said goodbye.
My heart breaks for her and her husband and their families. This was the most loved little boy I'd seen. They tried for 7 years, through many fertility specialists and treatments and prayer to get pregnant. After one earlier term miscarriage, this looked like it was going to happen for them.
They did everything the doctor's said, found out his gender, named him, and were given 6 showers. This boy would have been provided for until kindergarten with all of the things people gave out of love for this so desired baby. Everything was set to go, room ready, carseat in the car, house reorganized, bag packed, the works.
Please be in prayer for my friends. For the kind of peace, strength, and healing only God can provide. Pray for their friends and families, new/would be grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins as they grieve with and support them, and their church family, (it's a big affectionate and often nosy church) to support them in the ways that are best for them to help them heal.
My heart breaks for them, I can not imagine their pain. We don't know why it happened, and they don't want to know. Nothing will bring their son back, so knowing why isn't helpful for them.
Pray people respect their wishes and give them the space and time to heal. Pray for recovery and restoration, and that they will cling to their faith. God is still God, even when we don't understand.
We moved into our apartment in early October, dealt with some crazy work stuff, took 3 weeks to unpack all the way, and then hosting my in-laws (thank you those of you cringing) for a 6 1/2 day long weekend in the beginning of November. Since then, my sister's been in town twice, we've helped host Thanksgiving and my niece's first Birthday party. And those are just a few of the big things.
But the reason I come out of my funk tonight, will probably put me in a different funk, but I need to share it with you for the sake of prayer.
A very dear and close friend and her husband suffered a pain this weekend that words can't describe. They went in for their 39 week baby appointment, planning on scheduling an induction for this week, and were informed that their soon to be born son would be born stillborn that day. Sometime in the last 2-3 days he'd somehow passed away. At her 38 weeks appointment 7 days earlier, everything was perfect, right on schedule and measuring right on track, she'd been having braxton hicks for the last 2 weeks and watching his body move through her belly. Due to her size, and the baby's size her doctor had said if she wasn't dialated by 39 weeks, they'd schedule an induction on her due date, which was this coming Friday.
Instead, they induced her that night, and she delivered a 6 lb 8 ounce baby boy early Saturday morning. They held their precious little boy, and they said goodbye.
My heart breaks for her and her husband and their families. This was the most loved little boy I'd seen. They tried for 7 years, through many fertility specialists and treatments and prayer to get pregnant. After one earlier term miscarriage, this looked like it was going to happen for them.
They did everything the doctor's said, found out his gender, named him, and were given 6 showers. This boy would have been provided for until kindergarten with all of the things people gave out of love for this so desired baby. Everything was set to go, room ready, carseat in the car, house reorganized, bag packed, the works.
Please be in prayer for my friends. For the kind of peace, strength, and healing only God can provide. Pray for their friends and families, new/would be grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins as they grieve with and support them, and their church family, (it's a big affectionate and often nosy church) to support them in the ways that are best for them to help them heal.
My heart breaks for them, I can not imagine their pain. We don't know why it happened, and they don't want to know. Nothing will bring their son back, so knowing why isn't helpful for them.
Pray people respect their wishes and give them the space and time to heal. Pray for recovery and restoration, and that they will cling to their faith. God is still God, even when we don't understand.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
A Real Post is Coming, I Promise!!
In the last 2 weeks, we've....
Relaunched the Photography Business here in Houston, website, business cards and all.
Started another home business - See HERE
I've started more students
It's still been OVER 100 regularly
And we've signed a lease to move into a new apartment in like 3 weeks
.....So, basically, I'm losing my mind.
More to come when I can construct sentences again.
Relaunched the Photography Business here in Houston, website, business cards and all.
Started another home business - See HERE
I've started more students
It's still been OVER 100 regularly
And we've signed a lease to move into a new apartment in like 3 weeks
.....So, basically, I'm losing my mind.
More to come when I can construct sentences again.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Just a little bit of bragging...
Today has been a very productive day!
I got up at 6:20, made Adam breakfast, walked the dog, cleaned our bedroom, ran some errands, processed part of a photo shoot, cleaned and packed Adam's office area, and most importantly, redesigned and relaunched our Adanie Photography Website!
We had a fully functioning, but unfortunately maintained by my brother in law, website for the business for years. But, between the relocation and needing a year off, and his anger management issues and sabotaging of it, we needed a complete overhaul. So, it's up and running. It'll probably get tweaked again in a few weeks, but for now, this is it! I'm so relieved, and excited and just a bit proud of myself, so go check it out! And, refer any Houston friends you may have please. :)
I got up at 6:20, made Adam breakfast, walked the dog, cleaned our bedroom, ran some errands, processed part of a photo shoot, cleaned and packed Adam's office area, and most importantly, redesigned and relaunched our Adanie Photography Website!
We had a fully functioning, but unfortunately maintained by my brother in law, website for the business for years. But, between the relocation and needing a year off, and his anger management issues and sabotaging of it, we needed a complete overhaul. So, it's up and running. It'll probably get tweaked again in a few weeks, but for now, this is it! I'm so relieved, and excited and just a bit proud of myself, so go check it out! And, refer any Houston friends you may have please. :)
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Lifegroup Ladies Study
From now on I'm going to be posting a weekly recap from our Lifegroup Ladies Bible study. It also serves as a great devotional for a day if you want something quick to read to break up your normal reading. You can find it here-
I should be posting it by Thursday or Friday every week if you're looking for something to change things up on the weekends. We're doing a study from Women of Faith about finding balance for women.
Just thought I'd throw it out there in case anyone was searching for a quick and easy Bible study.
I should be posting it by Thursday or Friday every week if you're looking for something to change things up on the weekends. We're doing a study from Women of Faith about finding balance for women.
Just thought I'd throw it out there in case anyone was searching for a quick and easy Bible study.
Raspberry French Vanilla Coffee Cake
So I posted this picture on facebook straight out of my phone last night and immediately had a recipe request. So, I'm posting it again (sorry, camera batteries were charging from afternoon baby shoot, and cake doesn't get left un-eaten that long!), with the recipe, and with a warning, that I created this recipe off the top of my head about 3 years ago using whatever I had handy and it's been tweaked a ton, so feel free to keep tweaking. Also, if you care about fat content, stop reading now! Definitely not a diet friendly cake!
Ingredients-
1 Box Yellow Cake Mix
1 Stick (1/2 Cup) Softened Butter
1 Cup Milk
1/3 Cup French Vanilla Coffee Creamer
3 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Nutmeg
1 small container Raspberries
Directions-
Grease a bundt, 9x13" or molded pan. Preheat oven to 325.
Mix together first 6 ingredients, beat 2-3 minutes until smooth. Add Brown Sugar, Cinnamon and Nutmeg, fold into batter to keep batter fluffy and light, and from turning orange from the spices. Wash your raspberries, blot dry on a paper towel.
Poor into cake pan. Drop raspberries into batter, "cut into" batter with knife to help them sink through the batter, leaving only a few sitting on the top of the batter.
Bake 35-45 minutes (depending on pan size/shape) or until it passes the toothpick test.
Remove from pan and let cool 15-20 minutes. Drizzle with Confectioner Sugar/Vanilla Creamer made glaze. I don't measure anything for glaze, just until I have roughly 1/3-1/2 cup at finished glaze at the consistency I like.
This cake is a huge hit with friends and family and always disappears when I take it to an event. It looks way more involved than it is, so take advantage of it's simplicity and ENJOY!
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Brag About Your Husband Day
So its 11:41pm and its hardly today anymore, but I'm taking advantage of the "occasion" anyways! It's always a good idea to brag about your husband no matter what day it is!
This past week my husband's been unable to work because no one is golfing. Instead of moping around being miserable, he's been sorting through all of our stuff and getting it ready to move, even *gasp* throwing things away! If you knew my MIL you'd understand he was not raised that way at all!
The past 2 months we've had maybe 2 days below 100 degrees. Add in the heat index and its felt like 110. My husband has still been working every day possible, even in the hottest parts of the day, multiple days in a row, and worked several 11-12 hour days! He works so hard, purpose, running in this crazy heat, to provide! He is amazing! And hopefully it can cool down before he dies of heat stroke!
I love my husband!
Copy tomorrow if you have an amazing husband too, and let me know you did in the comments.
This past week my husband's been unable to work because no one is golfing. Instead of moping around being miserable, he's been sorting through all of our stuff and getting it ready to move, even *gasp* throwing things away! If you knew my MIL you'd understand he was not raised that way at all!
The past 2 months we've had maybe 2 days below 100 degrees. Add in the heat index and its felt like 110. My husband has still been working every day possible, even in the hottest parts of the day, multiple days in a row, and worked several 11-12 hour days! He works so hard, purpose, running in this crazy heat, to provide! He is amazing! And hopefully it can cool down before he dies of heat stroke!
I love my husband!
Copy tomorrow if you have an amazing husband too, and let me know you did in the comments.
Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Easy Chicken Pot Pie
So this is far from a healthy version, but its super easy and tastes fantastic! The perfect rainy night dinner, and we finally almost had one of those tonight.
Ingredients-
2 large chicken breasts
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cans mixed veggies
1 cup milk
2 cans Pillsbury crescent rolls (or the one piece sheets)
1 Tbsp Chicken Bullion seasoning
Salt and pepper
Cut chicken into 1 inch chunks, grill in an large ungreased frying pan.
Drain cans of veggies, mix with soup, milk and seasoning in a medium sauce pan. Heat on medium til it barely boils, stirring frequently.
Add chicken.
Preheat oven to 375.
Grease bottom of a 9x13 baking pan. Line bottom with 1 can unrolled crescent rolls. Add soup/chicken mixture. Cover with second can unrolled crescent rolls. Bake 12 minutes or until top crust is browned slightly.
Enjoy!
Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4
Friday, August 12, 2011
Easiest Dinner Ever!!
Hawaiian Chicken in the crockpot!
4 chicken breasts
1 12oz can crushed pineapple
1/2 regular bottle honey bbq sauce.
Put them all together in the crockpot and cook on low for 8 hours.
Serve over rice with a tossed salad.
So easy and so good!
Enjoy!
Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4
Sometimes I just don't get it....
....and those are the times I need to do the most praying! Either that or I'll start reeming people out or smacking them upside the head! If you can't listen to me vent, or plan on being critical of my attitude, leave now, or at least don't bother commenting.
My inlaws have hit a new low of abuse towards my husband, if that was even possible. They can have all the issues with me they want, but to treat their own son this way is just plain wrong.
We've been living in TX for 1 1/2 years now. During that time we've only seen my inlaws once, (not such a bad thing) when we went back to NY for my BIL's wedding. Twice, we've invited them down here, arranged a free place for them to stay with family (since we don't have space) and suggested all sorts of great things we could take them to do and see, twice, but they've never come. We were supposed to go back to NY back in July for my cousin's wedding and some time with his family, but they had some small trips planned and alot going on, and we were a bit short on money, so we decided not to go. Part of our trip also was to pick up all of our Christmas stuff that was being stored in NY as well, so my inlaws are supposedly shipping it all. (someday, probably in March!)
Well, two or three weeks ago my husband was online and asked if I knew anything about his parents going to Alabama to visit his brother. (who just got married and moved there 6 months ago) Of course I was shocked, because their excuse for not visiting us was always, it's too far, it's too hot, we're not good at traveling, it's too expensive, etc.... Just an FYI, but his brother lives 20 hours from his parents, we live 26 hours, and typically it's all of 3 degrees cooler there. Anyways, apparently his mom and brother were both raving about how they were so excited to get all this family time together in Alabama on their facebook statuses, not that anyone had bothered to tell us they were coming. My husband was upset at this point, but decided not to mention anything his parents, expecting them to tell him about it when he talked to them in a few days.
10 days later, he's texting with his brother, and out of no where his brother stops responding, he didn't think much of it, till he got a text saying "mom and dad just pulled in and brought all the rest of our stuff from NY and I'll be a little busy with them for the next 10 days, bye". At this point, my husband is flat out ticked! His parents HATE HATE HATE road trips, they used to complain about traveling an hour and a half to see him when he had his internships in college, yet they can drive 20 hours to his brother's house to bring his stuff from NY when they've been supposed to ship ours for awhile now? It's not even the stuff that makes him so mad, it's the fact that no one bothered to inform him of these travel plans and give him the chance to arrange for us to come out to Alabama (a 10 hours trip for us) and meet them there, or meet somewhere in between on a gulf coast beach, or anything, plus the fact that his brother's only been gone 6 months and he's been gone 18 months. At this point, he's just hurt that clearly his brother massively outranks him (no duh, if you read my older blog!) and his parents don't seem to care anything about him.
Then, yesterday, the topper of everything- his mom calls him, wakes him up on his day off, to go on and on about what a wonderful time they're having with his brother and how beautiful a certain beach (only 6 hours from us!) and could he look something up for her while he was on the phone. Then, she has the gaul to get on facebook and brag about how wonderful their "family time" with my BIL and their DIL (oh, by the way, I'm the wife, she's their daughter) and how it's so good to be all together.
Yeah, my inlaws are JERKS!!!! Nicest word I can find. I was at work when all this was going on yesterday morning, and biting my tongue working in the office at church was a bit difficult. Oh the verbal lashing I wanted to give those people. In the words of a certain childhood TV show- HOW RUDE?! Are you 4 year olds bragging about a toy to tease another kid, I mean, seriously, GROW UP!! You treat your own child that way? I don't care how grown up and independant he is, it's just mean, hurtful, and rude! I thought parental love was supposed to be unconditional? They complain that he's too focused on me and not enough on his "real family" yet they treat him like this and expect him to come running home to them? They're lucky he talks to them at all according to me.
See if we come see you next time we're in NY.
I've had to repeatedly forgive my inlaws for various things in our marriage, nearly daily when we lived in NY, and I have forgiven them, I don't hold on to old things, I'm not still angry, but I completely 100% do not trust them not to hurt us again. There's a big difference between bitterness and protecting yourself. And it's okay to guard yourself against further hurt after you've forgiven someone. Turning the other cheek doesn't mean you can't also remove yourself from a bad situation. I think we're at the point where we have to do that, but my husband is too hurt and upset to react at this point. He's at the "numb" stage of disbelief that his parents are that bad. He's hurting, I'm hurting for him, but I also want to beat the crap out of the people who hurt him so we can move on. Too bad it doesn't work that way......
My inlaws have hit a new low of abuse towards my husband, if that was even possible. They can have all the issues with me they want, but to treat their own son this way is just plain wrong.
We've been living in TX for 1 1/2 years now. During that time we've only seen my inlaws once, (not such a bad thing) when we went back to NY for my BIL's wedding. Twice, we've invited them down here, arranged a free place for them to stay with family (since we don't have space) and suggested all sorts of great things we could take them to do and see, twice, but they've never come. We were supposed to go back to NY back in July for my cousin's wedding and some time with his family, but they had some small trips planned and alot going on, and we were a bit short on money, so we decided not to go. Part of our trip also was to pick up all of our Christmas stuff that was being stored in NY as well, so my inlaws are supposedly shipping it all. (someday, probably in March!)
Well, two or three weeks ago my husband was online and asked if I knew anything about his parents going to Alabama to visit his brother. (who just got married and moved there 6 months ago) Of course I was shocked, because their excuse for not visiting us was always, it's too far, it's too hot, we're not good at traveling, it's too expensive, etc.... Just an FYI, but his brother lives 20 hours from his parents, we live 26 hours, and typically it's all of 3 degrees cooler there. Anyways, apparently his mom and brother were both raving about how they were so excited to get all this family time together in Alabama on their facebook statuses, not that anyone had bothered to tell us they were coming. My husband was upset at this point, but decided not to mention anything his parents, expecting them to tell him about it when he talked to them in a few days.
10 days later, he's texting with his brother, and out of no where his brother stops responding, he didn't think much of it, till he got a text saying "mom and dad just pulled in and brought all the rest of our stuff from NY and I'll be a little busy with them for the next 10 days, bye". At this point, my husband is flat out ticked! His parents HATE HATE HATE road trips, they used to complain about traveling an hour and a half to see him when he had his internships in college, yet they can drive 20 hours to his brother's house to bring his stuff from NY when they've been supposed to ship ours for awhile now? It's not even the stuff that makes him so mad, it's the fact that no one bothered to inform him of these travel plans and give him the chance to arrange for us to come out to Alabama (a 10 hours trip for us) and meet them there, or meet somewhere in between on a gulf coast beach, or anything, plus the fact that his brother's only been gone 6 months and he's been gone 18 months. At this point, he's just hurt that clearly his brother massively outranks him (no duh, if you read my older blog!) and his parents don't seem to care anything about him.
Then, yesterday, the topper of everything- his mom calls him, wakes him up on his day off, to go on and on about what a wonderful time they're having with his brother and how beautiful a certain beach (only 6 hours from us!) and could he look something up for her while he was on the phone. Then, she has the gaul to get on facebook and brag about how wonderful their "family time" with my BIL and their DIL (oh, by the way, I'm the wife, she's their daughter) and how it's so good to be all together.
Yeah, my inlaws are JERKS!!!! Nicest word I can find. I was at work when all this was going on yesterday morning, and biting my tongue working in the office at church was a bit difficult. Oh the verbal lashing I wanted to give those people. In the words of a certain childhood TV show- HOW RUDE?! Are you 4 year olds bragging about a toy to tease another kid, I mean, seriously, GROW UP!! You treat your own child that way? I don't care how grown up and independant he is, it's just mean, hurtful, and rude! I thought parental love was supposed to be unconditional? They complain that he's too focused on me and not enough on his "real family" yet they treat him like this and expect him to come running home to them? They're lucky he talks to them at all according to me.
See if we come see you next time we're in NY.
I've had to repeatedly forgive my inlaws for various things in our marriage, nearly daily when we lived in NY, and I have forgiven them, I don't hold on to old things, I'm not still angry, but I completely 100% do not trust them not to hurt us again. There's a big difference between bitterness and protecting yourself. And it's okay to guard yourself against further hurt after you've forgiven someone. Turning the other cheek doesn't mean you can't also remove yourself from a bad situation. I think we're at the point where we have to do that, but my husband is too hurt and upset to react at this point. He's at the "numb" stage of disbelief that his parents are that bad. He's hurting, I'm hurting for him, but I also want to beat the crap out of the people who hurt him so we can move on. Too bad it doesn't work that way......
Friday, August 5, 2011
Philly Cheesesteaks
Ingredients-
4 Sandwich rolls
2 TBs butter
3/4 pound thick sliced deli roast beef torn into bite sized pieces.
1/2 medium vidalia (or any sweet) onion - chopped
1/2 large green pepper - chopped
6 slices provolone cheese
Montreal Steak Seasoning to taste
Turn oven to 300. Slice open rolls and place directly on rack, cut side down. Bake 5 minutes if until slightly dried out.
In a large skillet, melt 1 TB butter over medium heat.
Add roast beef and seasoning, stir fry til edges are brown.
Top with cheese, turn off heat and set aside.
In a smaller skillet, melt 1 TB butter over medium high heat. Add chopped veggies to hot skillet, move them around constantly for 5-7 minutes til edges are charred.
Fill rolls with meat/cheese and then top with grilled veggies.
I just use unseasoned skin on French fries and season them myself, baked according to the bag directions.
Enjoy!
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Thursday, August 4, 2011
New Layout.
Please bear with me as I tweak the layout this week. I'm bored with the old one, but still deciding what I like, so its a work in process.
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Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Lots to catch up, some links and giveaways!
So, again, it's been over a week, I'm really bad at remembering that real computers with real keyboards exist at home, since I live on one all day at work, and all my essential communications can be done on my cell phone wherever.
In the last week and a half I've-
Worked both jobs, taught lessons, gained 3 new students for the coming school year. The new job is going GREAT!! We're getting a full team going and it's so much fun to be involved in so much of what's going on at the church. Some of the new people on the team are even younger than me, which is also great, even if one won't stop calling me "ma'am"! :)
Taken my mom shopping all over the place and to see the Winnie the Pooh movie for her birthday. GREAT first movie for a small child! Cute music, cute story, funny and sentimental without being a sob story for adults! Also, only 69 minutes long! Easy to sit through! Most the voices were good, Tigger was the same as the one in the 60's-90's cartoons, and that guy did Pooh too, and did a great job. Not sure how I feel about Craig Ferguson doing Owl's voice, I mean he's not exactly kid friendly, not that kids know who he is, but it's still weird.
I've been starting to collect things for our new place, which I haven't definitively found yet. We've picked the complex, but we need to go meet management and see actual units available in two different styles and fill out paperwork.
We got a free couch from someone I work with, and it's in perfect condition, and comes with a coffee table! Fantastic! I'm totally covering it with a slip cover, but it was free, and it's a sleeper and will serve as a guest bed! Double fantastic!
Also, I'm getting hooked on Etsy again, also another little online shop or two. I'm debating between several pieces from Splendor Shop Great jewelry, great prices, and she has a great blog too! I also just figured out today that my sister knew her sister when she lived in Houston! Small world!
I also entered in a GIVEAWAY over on 5k's and Chardonnay again! She's been hosting a ton of fantastic giveaways lately, you should totally follow!
I'm off to make dinner, homemade mac and cheese, and maybe some cupcakes to follow, I need chocolate this week!
In the last week and a half I've-
Worked both jobs, taught lessons, gained 3 new students for the coming school year. The new job is going GREAT!! We're getting a full team going and it's so much fun to be involved in so much of what's going on at the church. Some of the new people on the team are even younger than me, which is also great, even if one won't stop calling me "ma'am"! :)
Taken my mom shopping all over the place and to see the Winnie the Pooh movie for her birthday. GREAT first movie for a small child! Cute music, cute story, funny and sentimental without being a sob story for adults! Also, only 69 minutes long! Easy to sit through! Most the voices were good, Tigger was the same as the one in the 60's-90's cartoons, and that guy did Pooh too, and did a great job. Not sure how I feel about Craig Ferguson doing Owl's voice, I mean he's not exactly kid friendly, not that kids know who he is, but it's still weird.
I've been starting to collect things for our new place, which I haven't definitively found yet. We've picked the complex, but we need to go meet management and see actual units available in two different styles and fill out paperwork.
We got a free couch from someone I work with, and it's in perfect condition, and comes with a coffee table! Fantastic! I'm totally covering it with a slip cover, but it was free, and it's a sleeper and will serve as a guest bed! Double fantastic!
Also, I'm getting hooked on Etsy again, also another little online shop or two. I'm debating between several pieces from Splendor Shop Great jewelry, great prices, and she has a great blog too! I also just figured out today that my sister knew her sister when she lived in Houston! Small world!
I also entered in a GIVEAWAY over on 5k's and Chardonnay again! She's been hosting a ton of fantastic giveaways lately, you should totally follow!
I'm off to make dinner, homemade mac and cheese, and maybe some cupcakes to follow, I need chocolate this week!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
11 days is much better than a month!
So, at least this time I should have less to catch you up on, but I don't!
I started my new job yesterday! I got it! It's amazing!
I'm an administrative assistant in the worship ministries department at our church, 30 hours a week, Monday through Friday, 9:00am-3:00pm. My job is to take the service orders, created by the pastor and worship pastor, pull the music, create the teleprompts, leaders sheets, media team sheets, and power points for the three English services we have every week. My office is amazing! I'm sharing the front worship department office with a fantastic lady I know from kids choir, my kids choir coordinator is one of the full time staff, as well as the worship secretary and our new worship pastor. We have an amazing office, with a full kitchen and a Kuerig! I have my own giant desk and shelves and can't wait to decorate them! I need to get a print order into the lab ASAP!
But, the best part is, I get to be home in time to teach lessons and still be a house wife again!!! I'm totally loving having time to grab groceries on the way home and make my husband dinner at night, I can run errands, keep clean laundry, and be home at night, instead of closing the store. I'm still working a few shifts while they try to get a couple people promoted through HR, but only like 2 a week for another 2-3 weeks.
Of course, the two jobs for a few weeks means extra pay checks, which is fantastic for saving for our new place.
Hopefully I'll have news on that in a couple of weeks.
So, with a regular schedule, I can also get back to regular blogging. Any ideas for what I should blog about? I've got a bunch of sermon notes from our pastors latest series I'm dying to blog about. Should be a good discussion starter as the series is of the political nature, and a few recipes I'm planning to try and hopefully share. Anything else?
Back to finishing up dinner. Oh it's good to be home evenings again!
I started my new job yesterday! I got it! It's amazing!
I'm an administrative assistant in the worship ministries department at our church, 30 hours a week, Monday through Friday, 9:00am-3:00pm. My job is to take the service orders, created by the pastor and worship pastor, pull the music, create the teleprompts, leaders sheets, media team sheets, and power points for the three English services we have every week. My office is amazing! I'm sharing the front worship department office with a fantastic lady I know from kids choir, my kids choir coordinator is one of the full time staff, as well as the worship secretary and our new worship pastor. We have an amazing office, with a full kitchen and a Kuerig! I have my own giant desk and shelves and can't wait to decorate them! I need to get a print order into the lab ASAP!
But, the best part is, I get to be home in time to teach lessons and still be a house wife again!!! I'm totally loving having time to grab groceries on the way home and make my husband dinner at night, I can run errands, keep clean laundry, and be home at night, instead of closing the store. I'm still working a few shifts while they try to get a couple people promoted through HR, but only like 2 a week for another 2-3 weeks.
Of course, the two jobs for a few weeks means extra pay checks, which is fantastic for saving for our new place.
Hopefully I'll have news on that in a couple of weeks.
So, with a regular schedule, I can also get back to regular blogging. Any ideas for what I should blog about? I've got a bunch of sermon notes from our pastors latest series I'm dying to blog about. Should be a good discussion starter as the series is of the political nature, and a few recipes I'm planning to try and hopefully share. Anything else?
Back to finishing up dinner. Oh it's good to be home evenings again!
Friday, July 8, 2011
I'm still here.....
sort of, most of the time!
Things have been a little hectic lately.
Instead of my normal 18-24 hours at work, I've been working 35-40, plus lessons still, and a few photoshoots, so I'm a bit behind on basically everything else.
Work has become torturous, my co-manager is out to get me, I'm serious. I know that sounds juvenile, and petty middle-school-ish, but, basically, she dumps everything on me, doesn't do the parts of her job that she doesn't like, blames me when things aren't done and then takes my hours, gives them to girls who are only available for like 2 specific shifts a week and then gives me the crummy hours. Everytime I come in after her the store is a mess, whatever task of the day is only half done when it should be finished and she's giving me attitude to do her work and complaining how she has to do everything, when all she's doing is kissing up to the big clients and ignoring everything else. She thinks she's buddy buddy with the district manager, calling her and texting her about pointless stuff and treating anyone who doesn't look like they're going to spend at least $500 bucks like garbage, making me get complaints from clients and having to wait on 12 people at a time, instead of 1 like her.
So, basically, I'm done with work.
I applied and interviewed for a admin position at church last week. I'm still in the running because they've been checking my references this week, but I haven't heard anything. It's been 8 days, so I'm kind of going crazy waiting. I really want to be done with my store now, but I'm sticking it out, just in case. The new job would be a huge answer to prayer, it would allow me the freedom to teach, to volunteer with kids programs at church, and to be home to cook and take care of things at home when we move out in 2-3 months. So, be praying things resolve quickly, so I know if I need to keep looking, or can kindly leave the position I'm at.
My husband's trying very hard not to die in the heat down here. His job is outdoors, on a golf course, running, literally, 18 holes of golf every day. For those of you not familiar with Houston summers, temperatures start in the triple digits by 11am, and stay there til 6pm, and that's before you add another 10 degrees for humidity and heat index. For those of you not familiar with golf, 18 holes is roughly 6.5-7 miles, up and down hill, and takes about 4 hours to play, the most popular tee times are right after lunch. So, yeah, he's trying not to die daily. We go through alot of propel and gatorade, and a chick-fil-a milkshake is a daily after work snack for him, just trying to cool down.
We're still at my parents, with the plan to move out in September. Debts, besides my husband's school loans and our recently acquired car payment, are all paid off. Now it's just saving for furniture and start up costs. I've been stalking the Macys home sales this summer picking up a few things at a time, and I think we finally have enough towels to have a completely new set and get rid of our wedding gift ones. 5 years later, and I think it's time! Same with sheets, I've been picking up sets and pieces whenever they're on sale. Basically the only things I kept from our place in NY were the pots and pans and dishes, so everything else needs replacing, it's so much fun getting to decorate all over again! I can't wait to get our place and post tours in a few months.
Photoshoot recaps and recipes coming this weekend, or today, depending on how today goes.
Things have been a little hectic lately.
Instead of my normal 18-24 hours at work, I've been working 35-40, plus lessons still, and a few photoshoots, so I'm a bit behind on basically everything else.
Work has become torturous, my co-manager is out to get me, I'm serious. I know that sounds juvenile, and petty middle-school-ish, but, basically, she dumps everything on me, doesn't do the parts of her job that she doesn't like, blames me when things aren't done and then takes my hours, gives them to girls who are only available for like 2 specific shifts a week and then gives me the crummy hours. Everytime I come in after her the store is a mess, whatever task of the day is only half done when it should be finished and she's giving me attitude to do her work and complaining how she has to do everything, when all she's doing is kissing up to the big clients and ignoring everything else. She thinks she's buddy buddy with the district manager, calling her and texting her about pointless stuff and treating anyone who doesn't look like they're going to spend at least $500 bucks like garbage, making me get complaints from clients and having to wait on 12 people at a time, instead of 1 like her.
So, basically, I'm done with work.
I applied and interviewed for a admin position at church last week. I'm still in the running because they've been checking my references this week, but I haven't heard anything. It's been 8 days, so I'm kind of going crazy waiting. I really want to be done with my store now, but I'm sticking it out, just in case. The new job would be a huge answer to prayer, it would allow me the freedom to teach, to volunteer with kids programs at church, and to be home to cook and take care of things at home when we move out in 2-3 months. So, be praying things resolve quickly, so I know if I need to keep looking, or can kindly leave the position I'm at.
My husband's trying very hard not to die in the heat down here. His job is outdoors, on a golf course, running, literally, 18 holes of golf every day. For those of you not familiar with Houston summers, temperatures start in the triple digits by 11am, and stay there til 6pm, and that's before you add another 10 degrees for humidity and heat index. For those of you not familiar with golf, 18 holes is roughly 6.5-7 miles, up and down hill, and takes about 4 hours to play, the most popular tee times are right after lunch. So, yeah, he's trying not to die daily. We go through alot of propel and gatorade, and a chick-fil-a milkshake is a daily after work snack for him, just trying to cool down.
We're still at my parents, with the plan to move out in September. Debts, besides my husband's school loans and our recently acquired car payment, are all paid off. Now it's just saving for furniture and start up costs. I've been stalking the Macys home sales this summer picking up a few things at a time, and I think we finally have enough towels to have a completely new set and get rid of our wedding gift ones. 5 years later, and I think it's time! Same with sheets, I've been picking up sets and pieces whenever they're on sale. Basically the only things I kept from our place in NY were the pots and pans and dishes, so everything else needs replacing, it's so much fun getting to decorate all over again! I can't wait to get our place and post tours in a few months.
Photoshoot recaps and recipes coming this weekend, or today, depending on how today goes.
Monday, June 6, 2011
I'm a Grown-up Again!
Considering the fact that I bought my first car within days of getting my license, I've been feeling like I was 12 again.
I'm an independent woman once again!
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Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Random Ramblings
Today's been a productive day, productivity leads to creativity, which leads to rambling. But, since I'm off work, car-less and housebound, that means you get to deal with my rambling! Ha! Sorry, stop reading now if you're not in the mood for my perky energy thing going on today! And I've only had 3 shots of espresso!
I headed to the gym this morning ran a mile in under 10 to get in my cardio, did 100 reps on both leg machines, skipped the arm reps because the old men kept budging me, went to the grocery store, came home, did 100 crunches and scrubbed the kitchen floor to finish off the workout. Then I did 2 loads of laundry, cleaned our living room and straightened the bathroom. Did I mention this was all before 12:30? I'd consider that a pretty productive morning.
Speaking of workouts, I'm looking for opinions-Pilates or Zumba to tone? I'm putting on too much bulk just running and doing reps so I need something else to rotate in, what are pros and cons of each? I've never done an exercise class before, so I'm trying to get all the info I can before I show up naive and stupid at one!
I'm totally dying to throw at least 3 parties. My Pinterest boards are FULL of foods that would be perfect for brunches, dessert parties, decorating ideas, presentation ideas, everything for hostessing! Someone give me an excuse!! Please!!
I'm loving summer clothes suddenly. My conservative northeast side is telling me all this white that's so in is crazy and ridiculous and impractical, but my new southern girl lifestyle is telling me I need to expand my horizons. White shorts maybe? White skirt? Would definitely make my legs look even more tan than they already get simply living down here.
Buying all these summer clothes is making me realize I have far too many sweaters and jeans and wintery dresses and boots. I'm wondering if anyone else has any success with blog sales, how do you set your prices, what does shipping cost and have you even had any success? Tips anyone?
I think that's it for now, the sunshine is calling my getting paler by the busy day skin. :)
Comments, advice and responses would be awesome to alot of these topics!
I headed to the gym this morning ran a mile in under 10 to get in my cardio, did 100 reps on both leg machines, skipped the arm reps because the old men kept budging me, went to the grocery store, came home, did 100 crunches and scrubbed the kitchen floor to finish off the workout. Then I did 2 loads of laundry, cleaned our living room and straightened the bathroom. Did I mention this was all before 12:30? I'd consider that a pretty productive morning.
Speaking of workouts, I'm looking for opinions-Pilates or Zumba to tone? I'm putting on too much bulk just running and doing reps so I need something else to rotate in, what are pros and cons of each? I've never done an exercise class before, so I'm trying to get all the info I can before I show up naive and stupid at one!
I'm totally dying to throw at least 3 parties. My Pinterest boards are FULL of foods that would be perfect for brunches, dessert parties, decorating ideas, presentation ideas, everything for hostessing! Someone give me an excuse!! Please!!
I'm loving summer clothes suddenly. My conservative northeast side is telling me all this white that's so in is crazy and ridiculous and impractical, but my new southern girl lifestyle is telling me I need to expand my horizons. White shorts maybe? White skirt? Would definitely make my legs look even more tan than they already get simply living down here.
Buying all these summer clothes is making me realize I have far too many sweaters and jeans and wintery dresses and boots. I'm wondering if anyone else has any success with blog sales, how do you set your prices, what does shipping cost and have you even had any success? Tips anyone?
I think that's it for now, the sunshine is calling my getting paler by the busy day skin. :)
Comments, advice and responses would be awesome to alot of these topics!
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