...when it comes to our small group at church and it's slow growth, we get new people, but only a few at a time, giving us a chance to get to know one couple before 8 more show up and baby step our way into a larger group.
...when it comes to my job, seriously, a year ago I couldn't dream of what I'd be doing now, looking back on that, I love my job more!
...when it comes to my Bible study ladies on Tuesday nights and our conversations, deep or pathetic and hilarious. I love our bond of say anything in front of each other, whether it's just our core group or the bounce in and out stragglers.
...when it comes to my students, who pretty much all practice their hearts out and are ready to learn at every lesson. Also, Thursday's I teach at home and it's my husband's day off so I never have to worry about getting the apartment ready, he makes sure it's spotless by 3:00 when I get home from work, and I love that! Start the weekend off with a clean house and I don't even have to do it!
...when it comes to our home and organization and downtime. I love coming home at night and cooking for my husband. I love throwing on my sweats and crashing on the couch next to him in front of something completely mindless on the TV and just being there. Not having to have a plan, or schedule, or think about anything. Just being in the room together, lazy and relaxed and us. Yes, I called myself lazy, when I'm with my husband, I can turn off my OCD, Type A brain and be lazy for him, he's so worth it.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Monday, March 5, 2012
Menu Monday
Tuesday- Tangy Beef, Rice and Steamed Broccoli
(Stew beef in Italian Dressing and slow cooked in the dutch oven or crockpot.)
Wednesday- Turkey Club Paninis
Thursday- Crockpot Baked Potato Soup thanks to THIS recipe found on Pinterest.
Friday- Grilled Chicken with leftover soup
Saturday- Takeout of some form (every other Saturday)
Sunday- Whole Chicken in the crockpot (yes, I do this every other week or so because it gives me 3 days of already cooked chicken to use for quick dinners!)
There you go!
ENJOY!
Thursday, March 1, 2012
I would work out.....
- if I could only breathe through my nose.
- if I could sleep through the night without waking up 3 times to blow my nose.
- If my ears would stop being plugged from blowing my nose so much.
- If I wasn't afraid of face planting on the treadmill while running and sneezing at the same time.
I've been living on over the counter generic claritin, plus a sudafed/ibprofen combo (essentially advil cold and sinus, but cheaper) in the morning to kick start it out of my face, and then again at night so I have a 50/50 chance of sleeping. I've done more Afrin nose spray than is suggested and quit that for fear of rebounding worse, but every once in a while I get desperate in the morning when I'm completely plugged and use it once.
My question is, since nose sprays seem to do the most good, does anyone know of one that you can use longer term than 3-7 days? At the rate I'm going, I'll be a mess until April, and seriously, this runner needs to run! It's just really hard to do when you can't breathe or you're trying not to sneeze yourself into a faceplanted position, or freak out the people at the gym with my sniffling sneezing.
Any ideas?
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Currently, my reality is.....
Due to everyday chaos, life stress, and brain deadness on a Wednesday night, I'm stealing this concept from a blog friend at "Us Just Playing House"
My reality is....
My reality is....
- Husband's slow season, lots of projects around the apartment.
- Husband's slow season, lots of cheap dates at home or out for free, dinners in, and DIY projects.
- Spring/Summer weather hitting and destroying my sinuses.
- NEEDING most lightweight pants, skirts, cool things that aren't dressy after the job change!
- Cooking and Baking experiments.
- "Pinning" 1000's (literally!) of pins that I will get to eventually!
- Spending lots of nights in cuddling and watching movies and TV shows together.
- LOVING my Coffee/Bible Study nights with my girls!
- Getting excited about our two couple friends weddings and two couple friend's babies coming in the next few months! I love showers!
- Spending roughly 45 hours a week at church between work and church and volunteer time and loving every second of it! I love the worship department and helping kids praise God! (Even when they're so goofy I can't really praise through the distractions!)
- Secretly (or not so much now) dreading my husband's busy season returning in 2-3 weeks even if it means more money because it means less time with him :(
Monday, February 27, 2012
Menu Monday has returned!
"Menu Monday" was a part of my weekly routine for about a year and a half on both this blog and my old one, and I have to say, I've missed it! The button is a bit simple for now, but feel free to grab it and link back if you're doing a menu on your blog as well!
I try to buy only what I need each week as far as fresh foods go. I keep meats in the freezer at all times, as well most basic non-perishables, so once a month a restock one category, (dry goods, canned/bottled things, baking products, frozen, meat, etc....) and just buy fresh produce and dairy every 3-4 days. It majorly cuts back on weekly spending, usually I only spend about $40 a week on food, and then once every month about $80 on a stock up trip that lasts a few months. I'm also a stacking coupon on sales fan, though I'm not extreme to any extent!
I'm a simple, totally informally trained, cook on instinct (color, texture, smell) without a formal recipe cook. I love looking at recipes, but I'm not a measuerer, so I basically look to see what flavors and ingredients they're suggesting and then wing it. Plus, I'm cheap and don't buy ingredients if they only go in one dish, so I ad-lib alot of things. I'll try to provide as many "recipes" as I can, just realize that all measurements are only approximate. :)
So, here goes!
Monday- Homemade Pizza
Which my husband will then be able to have as leftovers for lunch for the next two days.
Tuesday- Whole Chicken in the Crockpot, served with Brown Rice and Broccoli
Literally just as it sounds. Clean the yucky stuff out of the inside of a whole chicken. Sprinkle generously with equal amounts salt, pepper and paprika, cover with one can sodium free chicken broth, cook on high 4-6 hours, or low for 8.
Wednesday- Chicken and Rice Stew Served with Yeast Rolls
Made with the dark meat and some white meat from the leftover chicken, chicken stock, corn, carrots, onion, black pepper and the leftover rice from the night before. Combine everything but the rice in the crockpot 5-6 hours before serving. Cook on low. Add 1 Cup Cooked Rice and 1 Cup Water, cook on high for 30-45 minutes.
Thursday- Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo
Chop up all remained white meat from Tuesdays chicken, saute in butter, garlic salt and parmesan cheese, set aside.
Cook 1/2 Pound Fettuccine, drain and set aside.
Alfredo Sauce-
1/2 Stick Butter
1/4 Cup Milk
1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese
Garlic Salt to taste/smell
Melt Butter in small sauce pan, bring to low boil add garlic salt. Whisk in milk, simmer on low until it reaches boil. Remove from heat, beat in cheese with wire whisk.
Combine all ingredients in bowl greased lightly with olive oil. Serve with fresh bread and a side salad or steamed green veggie.
Friday- Meatloaf, Potatoes and Broccoli
Saturday- Chili (using leftover meatloaf as ground beef)
I'll add the recipes for the meatloaf and chili later this week as I'm running out of time tonight.
ENJOY!
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Recipe Expirimenting
So I'd seen a few Strawberry Muffin recipes on Pinterest that looked interesting, but they all involved alot of fat. Sour Cream, Shortening, Cream Cheese, (most of which I don't even keep on hand) etc....so I decided to make up my own recipe. I combined another muffin recipe I had with my own general knowledge of cooking and baking and I have to say, they turned out really well! So well in fact, that I got 18 muffins from the batter at 9:30 last night, I've only had 2, and there are only 8 left! Guess my husband is a fan!
So, I thought I'd share my lucky little creation!
1/4 Cup Butter, melted
1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
1/2 Cup Milk
1 Egg
1 Ts Vanilla Extract
2 Cups Flour
1/2 Cup Sugar
2 Ts Baking Powder
1 Cup Chopped Strawberries
2 Tbsp Confectioners Sugar
Preheat Oven to 400 degrees.
Line 18 muffin cups with liners or spray thoroughly with non-stick cooking spray.
Chop strawberries, set aside in small bowl.
Mix Butter, Cream and Milk, Add Egg and Vanilla, beat thoroughly.
Add dry ingredients, combine until everything is wet, do not over mix.
Dust strawberries with confectioners sugar, fold into matter.
Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake 17-20 minutes or until tops are golden.
Next time I think I may pull them out 5 minutes early and sprinkle the tops with raw sugar to make them a little fancier, but they don't really need any extra sweetness. They're more of a scone flavor than a rich buttery muffin flavor, so you could serve them warm and buttered too, but I'm kind of a purest with my bread products and prefer them as is. Just a couple of suggestions in case you like options.
Enjoy!
Full menu for this week coming tomorrow.
So, I thought I'd share my lucky little creation!
1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
1/2 Cup Milk
1 Egg
1 Ts Vanilla Extract
2 Cups Flour
1/2 Cup Sugar
2 Ts Baking Powder
1 Cup Chopped Strawberries
2 Tbsp Confectioners Sugar
Preheat Oven to 400 degrees.
Line 18 muffin cups with liners or spray thoroughly with non-stick cooking spray.
Chop strawberries, set aside in small bowl.
Mix Butter, Cream and Milk, Add Egg and Vanilla, beat thoroughly.
Add dry ingredients, combine until everything is wet, do not over mix.
Dust strawberries with confectioners sugar, fold into matter.
Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake 17-20 minutes or until tops are golden.
Next time I think I may pull them out 5 minutes early and sprinkle the tops with raw sugar to make them a little fancier, but they don't really need any extra sweetness. They're more of a scone flavor than a rich buttery muffin flavor, so you could serve them warm and buttered too, but I'm kind of a purest with my bread products and prefer them as is. Just a couple of suggestions in case you like options.
Enjoy!
Full menu for this week coming tomorrow.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
New Layout
I'm doing a little playing with my blog, let me know what you think, it may keep changing, but for right now, I think I like it. I think, but you never know. :)
Cream Puffs
Last night we had a couple of friends over for dinner. I love having people over for dinner because it gives me a good excuse to make foods that are hard for two people to eat before they go bad. Case in point, Double Chocolate Cream Puffs!
Cream Puff -
1 C Water
1/2 C Butter
1 Cup Flour
4 Eggs
Preheat oven to 400.
Bring water and butter to a rolling boil in a medium sauce pan. Add flour. Remove from heat, beat in eggs, all at once. You can use a handheld electric mixer or a whisk, the dishwashing-hating me chooses the whisk every time!
Drop 1/4 cup fulls 2-3 inches a part on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake 30-35 minutes or until they're puffy and golden.
Chocolate Mousse Filling-
1 Large Box Chocolate Pudding
2 C Milk
1/2 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream.
Beat Milk and Pudding Mix until blended and thickening. Add Cream, beat one more minute. Refrigerate 5-10 minutes.
**Use half chocolate milk for extra rich mousse!
White Chocolate Sauce Drizzle-
1 Cup White Chocolate Chips
1/4 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
Melt chips in a microwavable bowl. Start with 30 seconds, remove, stir, and then add another 15-20 seconds if needed. Don't heat until completely smooth or chocolate will burn to bottom of bowl. Add cream and beat with a spoon until mixture is smooth. Use immediately, or refrigerate and reheat (15-20 seconds) to use within 2 weeks.
To serve-
Split the cream puff, fill with mousse, drizzle with white chocolate, though I'm pretty sure that's pretty self explanatory!
ENJOY!
Cream Puff -
1 C Water
1/2 C Butter
1 Cup Flour
4 Eggs
Preheat oven to 400.
Bring water and butter to a rolling boil in a medium sauce pan. Add flour. Remove from heat, beat in eggs, all at once. You can use a handheld electric mixer or a whisk, the dishwashing-hating me chooses the whisk every time!
Drop 1/4 cup fulls 2-3 inches a part on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake 30-35 minutes or until they're puffy and golden.
Chocolate Mousse Filling-
1 Large Box Chocolate Pudding
2 C Milk
1/2 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream.
Beat Milk and Pudding Mix until blended and thickening. Add Cream, beat one more minute. Refrigerate 5-10 minutes.
**Use half chocolate milk for extra rich mousse!
White Chocolate Sauce Drizzle-
1 Cup White Chocolate Chips
1/4 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
Melt chips in a microwavable bowl. Start with 30 seconds, remove, stir, and then add another 15-20 seconds if needed. Don't heat until completely smooth or chocolate will burn to bottom of bowl. Add cream and beat with a spoon until mixture is smooth. Use immediately, or refrigerate and reheat (15-20 seconds) to use within 2 weeks.
To serve-
Split the cream puff, fill with mousse, drizzle with white chocolate, though I'm pretty sure that's pretty self explanatory!
ENJOY!
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!
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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......
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