MPM - Week of 3/31

I'm a little late in getting this posted today, but better late than never, right?

One trend I've noticed is that I plan six meals for each week but we tend to only eat five of them. A couple times a week something usually comes up - a meeting, a bad day, a kitchen that simply refuses to clean itself up (kitchens are self-cleaning, right???) - and we resort to the "up for grabs" dinner. This could mean leftovers, or it could mean canned soup, a frozen dinner, sandwiches, cereal, etc. Or it could mean eating out. (This is my favorite, but alas, it is not usually the budget-concious thing to do.)

It used to be that I would account for this to happen once a week but it seems to happen at least twice a week. And why should I keep planning one more meal in a week than I will really cook? It just seems silly. And I am all about avoiding silliness. (Not really.) So I am here to debut my new and improved five-meal-a-week menu plan - ta da!

Oh, also, a couple weeks ago Meijer had a buy one get TWO free sale (gotta love those) on this:


Which is why Philly Sandwiches have been on the menu a lot. In case you were wondering.

Menu for 3/31 to 4/6
Monday: Up for Grabs
Tuesday: Teriyaki Chicken (carry-over from last week)
Wednesday: Spaghetti
Thursday: Philly Sandwiches
Friday: Up for Grabs
Saturday: Sticky Chicken (I've seen so many people rave about this!)
Sunday: Chicken Quesadillas, using leftover sticky chicken

Stop in at OrgJunkie.com for more menu ideas!

Semi's, little blue cars, and killer chunks of ice

Yesterday I had the pleasure of waking up with an "uh-oh" feeling in my stomach. Not a mental uh-oh, like a nagging feeling that I forgot something important, such as forgetting to turn the oven off the night before. No, this was a physical uh-oh. And I won't go into graphic detail of my activity between 6 and 6:30 a.m. because that would just be gross, and I don't think you want to be grossed out.

Once I got the gross stuff out of the way I thought I was on the road to recovery. I thought it probably was something I ate the night before. Plus, it was the day of a big event for work and I needed to get some reports delivered by 8:30. So I got ready and off I went. I dropped K off at the babysitter's, and that's when I realized that I was SICK. It wasn't just one little "oops-I-ate-something-that-didn't-agree-with-me." I made it to work, and once I got inside I had one of those moments of "Oh. my. word. I have to find a bathroom NOW!!" So I did, and then I delivered the reports, and then I got back on the road to head for home.

Now, I have to pause here and tell you about the weather. (There is a point to this - I'm not just rambling. I promise.) When I went outside yesterday it looked like a giant snow-cone (minus the flavoring) had exploded. There was this weird slush/ice/snow mix over everything.

Ok, so back to me leaving work. I was trying to drive as fast as possible while navigating the somewhat icy roads, while dealing with other people (*cough* wimpy drivers *cough*) who were driving way too slow also trying to navigate the icy roads. Do you know how annoying that is when you are just praying that you will make it the 20 minutes home before you explode??

I got behind this semi, and we all know that, for the most part, trucks are going to be a wee bit slower than cars. Especially driving on a busy street with lots of lights where you are constantly stopping and going. So obviously it's best to pass them if you are in a hurry and worried that you might not have any clean undergarments at home just in case you would have an accident.

I pulled into the other lane to attempt to pass, and just as I did this, the little blue car in front of me followed suit. I assumed the little blue car also wanted to pass the semi. But the little blue car apparently missed the memo detailing what you are supposed to do if you pull out from behind a semi and get into the passing lane. Yeah, that's right - you are supposed to PASS THE SEMI. I sat there yelling at the little blue car - "GO AROUND! PICK UP SOME SPEED!! HOW DID YOU GET A #$^&%$#%@ DRIVER'S LICENSE???"

It's amazing what you will yell under such stressful circumstances.

A little way up the road the little blue car turned off and I finally had my chance to pass the semi. As I started around, the semi started spitting that annoying spray of dirty water that semi's tend to spray in this type of weather. I couldn't see very well, so I did the logical thing and turned on my wipers. Except that my wipers were still covered in ice and they didn't wipe. They only smeared a bunch of dirty water across my line of vision.

That's when I realized the semi was moving along at a pretty good pace and I should probably get into the other lane because my lane was going to end in a few lights. I slowed down, moved behind the semi, and the gunk on my windshield cleared up just in time for me to look up and see the semi disappear under a light that had just turned RED.

To avoid running the red light I had to slam on my brakes, praying that the road wasn't icy and that I wouldn't go sliding through one of the busiest intersections on that part of town.

Let me pause here to explain a few things about the laws of physics. When I left my house in the morning, my car was covered in ice. The top of the car had a very thick layer of icy-slushy-snowy stuff that was frozen to the car. But I had now been driving around long enough for the sun to start doing its job, and this ice had loosened up and was just waiting for an opportunity to release itself from the top of my car. And my sudden stop was the opportunity it had been waiting for. (What's that law about every action has an equal and opposite reaction??)

As I slammed on my brakes I heard a horrible noise - it sounded like the entire roof of my car was being ripped off - and in a split second one big chunk of ice came exploding forth and landed on my windshield. The ENTIRE windshield was engulfed by the ice. This would surprise a person under any circumstances, but need I remind you of my situation? Yeah, surprise is a pretty mild word for it.

Thankfully, I did not have any accidents as a result of the killer ice chunk attack. But boy did I ever want to get home!!!

I finally did get home, where I spent the rest of the day in a coma on the couch (minus a few panic-induced trips to the bathroom.) Seriously, whatever I had KNOCKED ME OUT for the entire day. When I went to bed I was worried that I wouldn't be able to sleep because I had slept so much during the day, but I had no problems at all and slept through the entire night. When I woke up today I felt so much better.

And there was no slushy stuff on the ground this morning.

And the sun was shining.

And I didn't have any run-ins with little blue cars or semi's or killer chunks of ice.

Is it spring yet?????

Conversations with an 18-month-old, Part 2

From last night, around 7:30p.m.:

Me: I love you!

K: I lllllllllllb oooo. [her version of "I love you."]

Mike: I love you!

K: Nope. [shakes head and walks away]

I would love to know what is going on in her little head when she does things like this! Of course, in about a year (or maybe less?) I'll probably be wishing she would keep some of her thoughts inside her head instead of talking so much. :-D

Expelled.

You may have noticed the banner I put up for Ben Stein's movie, "Expelled." I put it up because I am very intrigued by the trailer. My hope is that it will be a well thought-out documentary which will make people stop and think, and dialogue in a good way.

My fear is that it will be just as biased as some of the left-wing documentaries that have been produced.

Yeah, and now that I've said that, I realized that my previous comment about "left-wing documentaries" is biased because I'm commenting on something I haven't seen. I've just seen a lot *about* them.

Any thoughts?

Household pests, Texas style

At our house we have to deal with bats. (Not the baseball kind. The living, flying, scratching-and-squeaking-in-the-walls kind.) Apparently, if we lived in Texas, near my friend Sandrine, we would have to deal with salamanders. If you need a smile for today, check out Sandrine's (and Helen's) adventure.

WFMW - Washing Dishes

I currently have three problems when it comes to washing dishes:

1. I don't have an automatic dishwasher.
2. My kitchen is small. The counter next to my sink is soooo small that any amount of dishes stacked there makes dish washing look like a HUGE task, which is a psychological road block for me. It's an open invitation to procrastinate. (And I accept the invitation more than I'd like to admit.)
   
3. I don't particularly enjoy washing dishes. (And neither does Mike, although he does his fair share.)

The solution? Before I begin dinner I put away any dishes that are in the drainer, and I fill the sink with warm, soapy water. I wash any dishes that are already sitting on the counter. Then, as I make dinner, I wash the prep dishes right away. I find it incredibly easy to wash a few measuring cups or stirring spoons or platstic containers, or the food chopper, or whatever, in between recipe steps. (Plus, it keeps me from sampling too much of dinner while I make it.)

The next great thing about this is when we sit down to eat, I can throw any prep pans into the sink to soak. This accomplishes two things: it encourages me to use serving dishes at the table, which makes for a much nicer dinner than having pots and pans on the table; and it makes clean up much easier because the food doesn't have time to get dried on and crusty. Oh, I guess it really accomplishes three things, because our habit in the past was to say "I'll soak this and wash it later, so it will be easier to clean." The problem is that "later" usually became much, much later. As in a day or two or seven. But with this system the dishes are washed right away, which makes for a much happier kitchen.

The last great thing about filling the sink with soapy water before I start dinner, is when we are done eating we can wash the dishes as we clear the table. No more excuses or intentions to wash them later - just plop 'em in and git 'er done.

This all sounds quite simple, and it is, but it has seriously revolutionized my kitchen. My kitchen is a much happier place and I am a much happier woman, and I have to give credit to FlyLady for being the one to introduce this to me. (Along with lots of other great ideas. I don't follow her system exactly, but would certainly recommend her site for anyone who feels "housework-challenged.")

Stop over to Rocks in My Dryer for more WFMW tips and ideas!

Conversations with an 18-month-old

K: Juice. JUICE!

Me: Do you want some juice?

K: Noooooo.

Me: Are you thirsty?

K: Sirsty.

Me: Do you want some milk?

K: Juice.

Me: Ok, you want juice.

K: No.

Me: [exasperated] What do you want? Milk or juice?

K: George.

Me: No. We are not watching George. (Curious George)

K: GEEEEEEEEORGE!!!

Me: No. No George. Are you thirsty?

K: Sirsty.

Me: Ok - I'm going to get you some juice.

K: Bob? Bob?

Me: No. We are not watching Bob. (VeggieTales)

K: BOB!!!

Me: No. I'm getting you some juice.

K: Hunney? (Hundley, the dog from Curious George)

Me: No. Hundley and George and Bob are all taking a nap.

K: Johnny? (from Johnny and the Sprites)

Me: No. Here's some juice.

K: Milk.

Me: ::sigh:: You want milk instead?

K: Nope.

Me: Do you EVER say "yes"???

K: Es. Binky. [goes off to find her binky]

Menu Plan Monday - week of 3/24/08

This week's menu plan is rather optimistic because I'm planning to grill out. I don't know if we will actually be able to grill "out" - it might become grilling "in" on the Foreman grill, but a girl can dream, can't she? I definitely have spring fever and can't wait to start incorporating more grilling into my menu!! Oh, and a few of the days this week were planned in an effort to use up the Easter eggs. :-)

Here is the plan for the week:

Monday: Mexican lasagna (see below for recipe)

Tuesday: Chef salad (using some Easter eggs)

Wednesday: Left over Mexican lasagna

Thursday: Tuna melts (using some Easter eggs), low-fat chips, veggies

Friday: Teriyaki chicken (made in the Crock Pot), rice, green beans

Saturday: Up for grabs

Sunday: Grilled chicken, french fries, salad

Thanks to Laura at OrgJunkie.com for hosting MPM, and also for sharing the teriyaki chicken recipe!

Mexican Lasagna

1 lb gound beef, browned

1 can fat-free refried beans

2 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. ground cumin

3/4 tsp. garlic powder

12 uncooked lasagna noodles

2 1/2 cups water

2 1/2 cups salsa

2 cups sour cream

3/4 cup green onions, chopped

1 can black olives, chopped

4 oz shredded cheese

Combine beef, beans, oregano, cumin and garlic powder. Place four of the lasagna noodles in the bottom of a 13x9x2 baking pan. Spread half of the beef mixture over the noodles. Top with 4 more noodles and then the remaining beef mixture. Cover with the remaining 4 noodles. Combine water and salsa; pour over all. Cover tightly with foil and bake at 350 for 1 1/2 hours or until noodles are tender. Combine sour cream, onions and olives - spoon over casserole and top with cheese. Bake, uncovered, 5 more minutes or until cheese is melted.

This makes enough for us to eat for 3 or 4 meals and makes GREAT left overs!! I actually made this on Saturday and now it's sitting in my fridge waiting for dinner tonight. When I make it ahead I wait until I'm ready to serve it and do the last step with the sour cream and cheese while I'm warming it up in the oven. Or, I cut the cooked lasagna into individual portions, put it in containers in the fridge or freezer, and then put the sour cream, cheese, etc. on it and heat it up in the microwave.

He is Risen!!

Happy Easter! Despite the fact that there are still remnants of snow on the ground, today is a day to celebrate!! Can you imagine being one of the women who went to Jesus' grave and was told, "He is not here. He has risen?" What joy!

May you and your family have a blessed Easter!!!

A truly Good Friday (and a good Saturday, too)

Friday and Saturday turned out to be extremely productive, and yet relaxing the same time. What a great weekend!

On Friday I cleaned out my stamp area. In a couple of weeks I'll be having a "going out of business" open house to officially close out my time as a demonstrator for Stampin' Up, so I needed to sort out my things and decide what to sell. It was so freeing to be able to get rid of so much!! There are so many magazines and idea books and cards and projects that I've been hanging on to because I might need them one day, and guess what?? I never needed them. Oh, and guess what else? A digital camera works GREAT to take pictures of cards so I can store them digitally and then get rid of the actual cards. Who would have thought?? I'm hanging on to a handful of cards so I can actually use them (oh, are you supposed to make these things and then SEND them to people?? what a concept!!) but the other 100 cards are being sold, along with several stamp sets and miscellaneous tools I've never used.

Another thing I accomplished on Friday was to finish up this set of cards, which will be given to a friend as a thank you gift. I've only been meaning to get this project for about three months. (insert rolling eyes)

Friday was also a good day to get some miscellaneous things done around the house. Have I ever mentioned how wonderful my husband is?? He cleaned up the kitchen, which was a huge task because sickness has prevented us from keeping up with it and it had become Mt. Dishmore, and he also straightened up the house while I was busing sorting through my stamp stuff. It was nice for both of us to have the day off to stay home, get things accomplished, relax a little, and take time to celebrate what Jesus did for us on the cross.

Saturday was even more productive than Friday. We lounged around a little bit in the morning while I got my meal plan and grocery list together, then we hit the road. We did grocery shopping, part 1, at Aldi's and then stopped at Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch. Yummm. Then we did grocery shopping, part 2, at Meijer's. After grocery shopping I put the groceries away, hard boiled a dozen eggs, made a cheesecake from scratch, made Mexican lasagna (see tomorrow's post for the recipe) for dinner later this week, made dinner, made cinnamon rolls (NOT from scratch) for Easter breakfast at church, cleaned up the kitchen, and did a few loads of laundry in between.

Oh, and dyed Easter eggs. I would say that Katie-bug helped, but I didn't dare let her get near the dye. We're taking them to Grandma and Pop-Pop's house today where her cousins can help her put stickers on them. Maybe next year she can actually help with the dyeing process. :-)

Whew! What a day. The best part about it is that my kitchen is clean, even after all that cooking and baking and activity.

Well, really that's not the best part. The best part is that I get to have homemade cheesecake for dessert today. Mmmmm.

Hey - who stole my mojo?

Do you know how many drafts of half-finished posts I have sitting here, behind the scenes of my blog? About one million and three. Okay, not that many, but it sure seems that way. In the past week I've had all these thoughts that seem like they would make a great post, so I sit down to write. As soon as I get the first paragraph done I realize that I don't have anything else to say about the subject. Or, I'll get three rambling paragraphs done, re-read them and decide that I hate them.

Have I lost my blogging mojo? After just a few weeks? I hope not. Here, for your reading pleasure, is a list of possible reasons for my lack of mojo.

1. Winter. It's drained every possible creative fiber from my being, and it really is not ever going to end. Starting tomorrow morning we will be under a winter storm watch and could get 6+ inches of snow.
2. Sickness. I'm still extremely snotty. (Physically, not attitudinally.) (Yes, I just made up a word.) I'm still coughing a bit. Just now I tried to blow my nose and some strange snorting sound came forth from my throat. How can I possibly have any blogging mojo when my body is still in this funk?
3. My house. My mojo could be lost somewhere in the piles that have invaded my house, due to the week of sickness and not having enough energy to keep up.
   
4. Teething. I think Kaitlyn is teething because for the past few nights she has woken up several times and it takes her a while to go back to sleep. And this morning she woke up at 5;30 and wanted no part in going back to sleep. This cannot possibly help my creativity.
   

Side note: I hope the word "mojo" doesn't have some strange meaning that I am not aware of... Off to Wikipedia... Oh. Hmmm. It seems that it does have a voodoo past. Read here if you are curious. Oh, excuse me, the word is "hoodoo" and not "voodoo".

See, this is where my post would normally come to a halt. I would think, "I don't want a whole post centered around a term that might have a meaning that I don't really want it to mean." Then I would spend about 10 minutes trying to think of a different word. Then I would give up, or I would get sidetracked by something silly, like feeding my family dinner.

Is this perfectionism? Neurosis? A reason to enter professional counseling? Or can this be cured by chocolate? ('Cuz I could really go for that right now.) Or maybe the cure is simply to hit "publish post" and be done with it.

Yep, that just might be it. (I'm sure a little chocolate is also necessary.)

Menu Plan Monday - week of 3/17/08

We all got bronchitis last week so my menu didn't go as planned, but the good thing is I didn't have to think about what to make for several days this week. :-D

Monday: Chicken Helper, Broccoli
Tuesday: Pork Tenderloin, Cheesy Potatoes, Green Beans
Wednesday: Beef Stir Fry, Rice
Thursday: Chicken Tacos, Corn
Friday: Up for Grabs
Saturday: Ravioli, Mixed Veggies
Sunday: Easter Dinner at Mom & Dad's - I'm bringing cheesecake. Yummmmm.

Head over to OrgJunkie.com to peruse more meal ideas!

I dare you to not laugh at this

If you need a pick-me-up for your Friday, you've found it. This is HILARIOUS!

Ellen with her Hawaii Chair

Kitty Wigs

All I can say is, wow.

Kitty Wigs

Oh, and here is the tag line from this site:

"If you have any creature in the house with a head bigger than a walnut
(including boyfriends), you need a Kitty Wig™."

Wow.

Works for Me Wednesday - Awesome Fruit Dip!

This is my first week to participate in the Works for Me Wednesday carnival hosted by Rocks in my Dryer. I've received some pretty cool tips from checking out what other people have posted and decided that I should join in the fun.

This weekend I had my family over for dinner, since my sister who lives in California was home for a visit. (And by the way, I think she should move back. I mean, who wouldn't choose the never-ending winters of the midwest over the sunny beaches of SoCal?) For dessert I made an incredibly easy fruit dip. Here is the recipe:

Fruit Dip

Prepare one box of sugar-free butterscotch pudding.

Mix in fat-free Cool Whip, until you get a the consistency and taste that you like.
The end.

I told you is was easy! I also made a version where I mixed the pudding with whipped cream cheese. Mmmmmm. Everyone LOVED it. It's especially good with apples because the butterscotch gives it a caramel-like flavor. My sister brought chocolate chip cookies and everyone loved putting the fruit dip on the cookies, too. And it's good on graham crackers. And it's good all by itself. Mmmmmmm. And the Cool Whip version is FAT FREE. Woohoo! (Well, it's not fat free if you put it on cookies...)

Head on over to Rocks in my Dryer to see more WFMW tips!

Sick. (Alternate title: Why I should own stock in Kleenex.)

We are sick. All of us. Sick with coughing, runny noses, sore throats, stuffed ears, achy bodies, etc. Mike and I went to work on Monday and Tuesday because we weren't feeling that bad, but today I woke up and blew my nose and the contents of the Kleenex were no longer clear. And since I had been exposed to strep throat this weekend, I figured I should stay home and go to the doctor.

Then Mike woke up and said that he felt awful. So we figured that he should probably go to the doctor, too. And as long as we are both going to doctor and will have to bring Katie-bug with us, we might as well have her checked out because she's had a cough for over a week. I'm not very excited to pay for it all, but I would be less excited if we got down the road and discovered that one of us had strep, or an ear infection, or whatever.

The up side is that it's 8:37 am and I am sitting on the couch in my pj's, with my daughter, watching Clifford and blogging. And drinking coffee. Mmmmmm.

Note to self: stop by the store on the way back from the doctor to pick up more Kleenex.

Question: how much snot can possibly come from ONE person? Haven't I reached the limit YET??

UPDATE: We all have a touch of bronchitis, but no infections, no strep. Whew! The doctor gave us all an antibiotic to hopefully kick this in the butt. :-)

Wacky Uses for Household Items

Yesterday I was on snopes.com checking out some "facts" about Coke. (The drink, not the drug, in case you were wondering.) In the article (found here) it referenced another website that sounded interesting so I hopped on over for a visit, and I'm glad I did. The site, wackyuses.com has all kinds of interesting information on other uses for common household products.

For instance, did you know that if you run out of shaving cream, you can use Reddi-wip or Cool Whip instead? Or that Cheerios can be used to relieve dry, chapped hands? Or that mustard can prevent your hens from eating their own eggs? (I know you are especially excited about this one.)

Other useful tips:

• Clean a toilet bowl. Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl. Let the real thing sit for one hour, then brush and flush clean. The phosphoric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous china, according to household-hints columnist Heloise.
• Unclog a drain. Clear the sink drain by dropping three Alka-Seltzer tablets down the drain followed by a cup of Heinz White Vinegar. Wait a few minutes, then run the hot water.
• Remove grease. Rub Crayola Chalk on a grease spot on clothing or table linens, let it absorb the oil, then brush off. Launder as usual.
• Eliminate static shock on carpets. Mix one capful of Downy Fabric Softener into a spray bottle filled with water, and spray the carpets.

These are just the tip of the iceberg - take a peek at wackyuses.com for more helpful tips and ideas!

Menu Plan Monday

Ok, so I already know that this plan is going to be modified tonight. We are all under the weather and I forgot to get the chicken breasts out to marinate/thaw this morning before I left for work. :-( At least I can move it on over to next week's plan and know that I have one less day to think about!

I've been peeking in on several others' menu plans for a few weeks now and am excited to finally participate in Menu Plan Monday. Yay! Hop on over to OrgJunkie to see what others have on their menus for the week.

Monday: grilled chicken (on the foreman grill) marinated in italian dressing, tator tots, green beans
Tuesday: chicken tacos (see recipe below)
Wednesday: philly sandwiches, fries, salad
Thursday: roast with potatoes and carrots
Friday: left overs
Saturday: frozen pizza for Mike (I have a Stampin Up party)
Sunday: beef stir fry with rice

Mexican Chicken in the Crock Pot
1 pound chicken breasts (boneless or bone in)
1 can diced tomatoes w/green chiles
1 package taco seasoning

Mix taco seasoning and diced tomatoes. Put chicken in crock pot and pour tomato mixture on top. Cook on low 7-8 hours. Cut up chicken and use in tacos, or serve over Mexican rice. I've also used this recipe with a roast, and have added onions and peppers for "fajitas."

Why are there toenails in my chex mix???? (A true story.)

Here's a little comic relief for your day.

Once upon a time, I finished off a bag of Chex Mix that had my husband's toenails in it. Really. I'm serious.

I know you think I'm lying because, honestly, how in the world could that ever happen to a person??? It's sort of like those stories you hear of women who suddenly have babies and they swear they never knew they were pregnant. I hear those things and I think, "HOW COULD YOU NOT KNOW?" If that's what you are thinking right now, stay tuned. And please put down the Diet Dr. Pepper because I would hate for you to snort it through your nose or spit it on your keyboard. Liquids and keyboards don't mix - I know all about that, too, but I won't get into all of that right now because this is a story about toenails. And Chex Mix.

I love Chex Mix. I've always loved salty snacks, and Chex Mix just plain hits the spot for me. The bagged stuff is ok, but homemade CM is the absolute best! In fact, if I ever make homemade CM I always make extra because I know that I'll eat half of it in the process. And I always secretly hope that there will be a lot leftover after the party or get-together or whatever I'm making it for, so I can pop the lid off and dig in on the way home. The wheat Chex and the Cheerios are the best parts, especially the ones that soak in a lot of the seasoning. Oh my - I want some just thinking about it!!

Anyhoo... Mike and I had been married all of five months when our church had a campout. We packed our newly purchased tent and other camping essentials into our car, along with some camping snacks. Because obviously you have to have snacks while camping. We spent one (or maybe two?) nights at the camp ground, and we really didn't sleep all that well. (The sleeping part isn't essential to the story, but maybe it was a contributing factor to the circumstances that led to this. At least that's what I'd like to think.)

We returned home in the early afternoon and spent the rest of the day lounging around the house. I ended up in our extra bedroom, which housed our computer and a second TV. I'm sure I was on the computer playing Zuma, a highly addictive game that is even more addicting when you are obsessed with beating someone else's score. (Mike and I are slightly competitive. That is whole other series of posts. Someday I will share the infamous Chinese Checkers episode. And the Pente slaughter of '03. And the time I threw the X-box controller at Mike while playing the "Simpson's Road Rage" game.)

Mike wandered into the room with the half bag of CM leftover from camping and sat down to watch some TV. We passed the bag of CM back and forth (yes, I am at least capable of sharing the CM with others) and when there wasn't much left in the bag I handed it back to him and told him he could have the rest. My back was to him, so of course I didn't realize that after he ate most of what was left in the bag, he decided that three of his toenails needed to be cut. (I have no idea why he only cut three, but I'm thankful it wasn't more.) And he decided that putting these toenails in the CM bag was more convenient for him than getting up to put them in the trash. He fully intended to put the bag in the trash on his way out of the room.

In the early evening we had to go to some meeting at church, so Mike announced that he was going to get ready and I told him I was going to finish my Zuma game and then change my clothes. I finished the game, and on my way out of the room I saw the CM bag on the floor.

I picked it up to throw it away, but first I looked inside and saw just a handful of crumbs left. I certainly couldn't let those crumbs go to waste, now could I? Sometimes the crumbs are the best part!

I reached inside, scooped out the contents, put them in my mouth, and threw away the bag. I started chewing. And I thought, "Something is not right."

Just as I had this thought I walked into the bedroom, still chewing. Mike looked at me, realized I was chewing something, noticed the strange look on my face, and said,

"YOU DIDN'T EAT WHAT WAS IN THE BAG, DID YOU?"

At the moment he finished uttering those words, he collapsed on the bed in a fit of laughter. And just as he hit the bed and was laughing hysterically, I reached into my mouth, and to my absolute and utter horror...

...I pulled three toenails out of my mouth.

I don't remember what happened after that. Maybe I passed out. Maybe I ran to the bathroom to quickly douse my mouth with Lysterine. I'm not really sure, because I was so shocked and horrified to have chewed my husband's toenails.

To this day he will argue that there wasn't anything left in the bag, and I will firmly point out that there most certainly were crumbs in the bag. Enough crumbs to engulf three toenails so that anyone who looked in the bag would not be able to see said toenails.

And since I am the one with a blog and I am the one telling the story, that's the final word. Amen.

So, dear children, that is how it all went down. That is how a person can unknowingly chew (but not eat - thankfully, I did not swallow) her husband's toenails. I'm not sure what the moral of the story is but I will tell you that toenails are not good and I would suggest that you keep them out of your mouth.

Now doesn't your day seem a little better?

P.S. The "amen" was inspired by Pioneer Woman. If you want more laughs, take a gander around this blog and this blog.

Rebel without a Clean House

I grew up as the youngest of three sisters - my oldest sister is eight years older than me, and my other sister is seven years older. That's quite a difference, and according to Kevin Leman, author of the 'birth order' books, it's enough of a difference for me to have traits of being an oldest child. Let me pause here to say that reading one of Dr. Leman's books is what got me really thinking about how my birth order has affected me. And I think he has a lot of good things to say. But I'm not convinced that just because someone is an oldest child she has to say, "I'm the oldest, so I guess I'm stuck with traits A, B, and C for the rest of my life." A book or a personality test can give me insight into why I am the way I am, but I don't need to let it dictate who I am.


Anyway... Growing up as the youngest by so much meant that I had four adults in my life. Four people weighing in on what I did, when I did it, and how I did it. Four people having an opinion about me. In addition to this environment, I am a naturally compliant person - a peacemaker, a people pleaser, or whatever you want to call it. One compliant girl + four adults telling her what to do = someone who comes to believe that she doesn't really have control over the situation. And someone who craves rules and boundaries, because when I know what the rules are I can figure out the right way to do it and no one can question the result. No one can scold me or insinuate that I did it wrong. There are so many other things to delve into here, but I won't because this post is going to be long enough already.


As I have come to realize these things and how they affect me as an adult, I've made some very surprising discoveries. One discovery is a quiet rebellion that has occured under the surface (and I mean waaaaaay under the surface) over and over and over again.


Scenario:
I'm in the bathroom and I notice that the trash can is 3/4 full. I think, "I should empty the trash."


Previous waaaaay-under-the-surface thought process:

1. There is a certain standard for my house, and I need to strive to keep it at that standard. If I don't, I'm not following the rules, acheiving the goal, etc.
2. Emptying the trash is something I need to do if I'm going to live up to that standard.
3. But I don't want to empty out the trash!! I don't feel like emptying the trash!! I'm an adult and NO ONE CAN MAKE ME EMPTY OUT THIS TRASH CAN. I'm the boss of my time now, and I say that I don't want to do this. Besides, it's not all the way full so I can put off doing this. And no one can say boo about it because it's MY house.

Holy cow! How bizarre is that? And the sad thing is, this was the start of a very destructive cycle. I would rebel against the voice in my head telling me to take out the trash, but I would still feel the pressure of achieving and living up to the proper standard, so I would put the task on this huge to-do list in my head which was insanely long. Every time I put off doing something it would go onto this list and when I thought about the list I felt a host of negative feelings. Guilt, because I wasn't keeping up with the standard. Frustration, because I felt overwhelmed by the amount of things I had to do. Shame, because I thought it meant I was lazy. I would think, "Why can't I do this simple thing? If I would learn to do the simple things they wouldn't build up and become insanely complicated things." I felt that it was all my fault, and every time I looked at my house all I could see were the things I needed to do, and they reminded me that I was failing. And that really makes you excited to do housework, doesn't it???


Does this make me sound like a nut case? (Do these jeans make my butt look fat?) LOL


The good news is that the simple act of realizing this negative thought process and understanding where it comes from, and having some conversations with God and asking him to reveal his truth and help me break free of this thought process, has had a HUGE impact on me.


Scenario (revisited):
I'm in the bathroom and I notice that the trash can is 3/4 full. I think, "I should empty the trash."


New process:

1. Empty the trash. And while I'm at it, take the bag into the bedrooms and empty that trash too.
2. Tie up trash bag and put it on the porch to be taken out at the next opportunity.
3. Think about how different life is now that I don't have a bunch of pent up rebellion. Ponder this while putting potatoes in the oven to bake and while straightening the kitchen.
4. Sit down to blog about it.

Amazing! Isn't God good?


I want to close by saying that in addition to some crazy negative effects, my experience growing up as the youngest gave me some incredibly positive traits and experiences. I have been (and still am) blessed to have such a wonderful family and I don't want anything that I write here to be misconstrued as an acusation of "Look what you did to me people!!" ;-) No matter what kind of family a person grows up in, I think the enemy will always find a way to twist things, and as adults it's natural that we have to come to terms with some of this stuff.

Now I need to go take the baked potatoes out of the oven...

PearBudget - check it out!

I stumbled upon this today. After spending THREE (or more) hours this weekend trying to get our family budget set up on QuickBooks, I was so happy to find this incredible budgeting/tracking tool! It literally took me minutes to enter my initial information, and when I came back tonight to enter some more info I found the program to be very intuitive and user-friendly.

They are beta testing it right now so it is FREE to sign up, but even after they launch it "for real" the price will only be $3 per month. How affordable is that?? I spend more than $3 a month on Diet Cokes from the vending machine at work!! I'll try to come and post more thoughts on this after I use it for a few weeks, and I certainly foresee myself using it. A lot. Did I mention how awesome I think it is?


P.S. Dear Mr. Person-in-charge-of-the-vending-machine at Erin's job: Can we please consider adding Diet Dr. Pepper to the drink options? Pretty please with a cherry on top???

Stuck on Step 4

In my previous post I mentioned that God has been doing some cool things for me lately, as far as helping me deal with some emotional clutter. I'm sure I'll allude to this a lot in the next couple of months because it such a big part of my thinking right now. I'm not sure how to summarize it all... The bottom line is that there were a few key areas of my life where Satan had taken various memories and experiences and relationships and he twisted them, and I was operating under a distorted view of reality. Which I think he does in everyone's life... He shoots some lies our way and we believe the lies. And then there are experiences that reinforce those lies, and eventually, brick by brick, they become strongholds that imprison us.

The first step in breaking free is the ability to see the prison. It reminds me of my communication classes with Prof Ross - how does a fish know what water is? It doesn't, until you take him out of it. You can't break free of a prison if you don't realize that you are in prison. Praise God for revealing all of this and for bringing it to my attention! There you have it - the first step.

The second step was to process this information. To soak it all in. I am a very introspective person, who also happens to spend an hour a day in the car by herself driving to and from work, so most of this drive time was consumed in thinking and processing and analyzing. Sort of like my own private therapy session. I came to realize just how many areas of my life had been affected by this tainted view of reality. Suddenly I had a whole new view of myself, and a new attitude towards a lot of things.

The third step was applying this new attitude to my actions. This was a lot like someone who has had terrible vision for years and now finally has glasses with the right prescription - they put the glasses on and think, "Ok, now I need to go back and take a new look at things and see what I've been missing." And maybe they would discover that for all these years they hadn't been reading the labels right on the spice jars, and no wonder those cookies never tasted good because they had put CUMIN in them instead of CINNAMON. Can you imagine how good those cookies would taste, now that they had all the information and could actually follow the recipe?

Alright, this is a rather silly analogy, but really, it's a good picture of what has happened in my house. Except that the thing I had hanging over my head wasn't a cookie recipe - it was my house, and my ability (or my perceived in-ability) to keep it picked up and clean and organized. Seeing things in a new light has given me the ability to find solutions that I never saw before, and suddenly what used to be terribly complicated is rather simple. And I can find joy in my house, where before I only found guilt.

So now, on to the fourth step. I have a new attitude, a new way of thinking, a new way of acting. And somehow I have to apply all of this newness to my relationships. Relationships that are years old and have settled into a pattern that everyone is used to following. A pattern that I am used to following. I feel like my Katie-bug, when she was learning to walk. For most of her life she was used to crawling - it was her pattern, her way of getting around. When she started taking steps she had to figure it out, which meant that she spent a lot of time falling on her tushie.

I hate falling on my tushie. Which, by the way, I literally fell on my tushie last week. Slipped on the ice on our steps. And now I have a lovely reddish/purplish bruise the size a baseball on said body part, which is outline in a nice yellowish/greenish glow. (I know you feel enlightened by that knowledge. I'm so happy I could share it with you!)

I write about all of this because I've been confronted with this fourth step several times this week. I find myself reacting differently to people, and having a host of conflicting feelings about various situations. If I fall into the same pattern and react the same as I always did, then what good was it for me to change internally? On the other hand, I don't want to lash out and go to the other extreme.

Or, in other words, I don't want to mess up. I don't want to fall on my tushie. I don't want to admit that maybe, just possibly, I am NOT perfect. (Sorry to burst your bubble.) I just want God to magically transport me into a new dimension where everyone has gotten to know the new Erin so I don't have to go through the work of figuring this out on my own.

Which brings me right back to the title of my blog. ::sigh:: It's not about the destination, it's about what I learn on the journey. Embrace each step. Even the steps where I slip and fall.

Bless you if you've made it this far! I'm not sure if it all makes sense, but I do know that writing it out has helped me to gain a new perspective. I think I'm going to like this blogging thing. :-)

Joy in the Journey

I chose this title for my blog because life can get so crazy sometimes, and in those times I find myself thinking "It will be so much easier when..." As in, when Katie-bug gets to the next stage. Or when we move to a bigger house. Or when Mike's job goes to the next level (and the next pay raise). Or when spring comes. Or whatever. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, right? And very often God has to remind me that it's not about the next thing - it's about where I am RIGHT NOW. What is he trying to teach me right now, as I am taking this step? And how do I embrace that?

Embracing the current step, however, isn't quite as easy as it sounds. Sometimes it means that I need an attitude adjustment. (I hate those!) Other times it means that God is trying to stretch me in a new way. And there are times when embracing the current step simply means that I need to stop and enjoy where I am and what I'm doing.

One current example of this is my house. A couple years before Mike and I met, he decided to purchase a house so he could stop being a renter and start building equity in something. He bought a nice little starter house which was perfect for him as a bachelor - two stories with an unfinished basement, two bedrooms, one bath, etc. But what was a great bachelor pad, and even a great place for us as newlyweds, is now cramped with a toddler running around.

One of the major problems with the house is that it doesn't have a lot of designated space for things. For example, our "linen closet" amounts to a tiny cupboard above the toilet that has enough room to store about three bath towels and a few washcloths, provided you fold them up just so and squish them in perfectly. (Brings back memories of playing Tetris.) On the other hand, we have three HUGE closets and a basement, which have become a vortex of stuff.

...pausing to look up vortex and make sure I used it correctly... yes, I did, I think...

Since I didn't have space in the "linen closet" for all of my towels, sheets, etc., the extras got thrown into one of the three HUGE closets. And the same thing happened for stuff all over the house - if I couldn't decide what to do with it, it got dumped in with everything else. And a big pile of "everything else" isn't easy to live with, or deal with.

The bottom line is that I have been frustrated with my house and it's lack of "space." (There are several other factors at work here, but they are topics for another time.) What I have come to realize in the past few weeks is that I need to embrace where I am at for right now. Sure, we have our house on the market and are hoping to move this spring, but I am sorely mistaken if I think that moving to a new house will suddenly make my clutter issues go away. Instead, I need to embrace where I am and learn to live in the house God has blessed me with.

And you know what? God has given me a whole different perspective on my house. And he has opened my eyes to help me deal with the clutter in a better way, and he's released me from some of my own emotional clutter that was tied to the physical clutter. I feel so different about where I am and I've even come to enjoy my little house.

Except for the bats.

But even the bats have provided for some interesting (and very humorous) memories. So I guess, to a point, I can even embrace the bats. Not literally, because that would be gross, and a bat is sort of hard to trap in one place long enough to kill embrace.

By the way, a racquetball racket comes in handy should you ever want to "embrace" a bat.

And if you ever move into a house where the former owner has left a racquetball racket sitting neatly by the front door with a bow tied around it, you might want to be suspicious of what other guests are inhabiting your house.

Not that we'd EVER think of doing something like that.

Taking the Plunge

So I finally decided to do it - start a blog. There were several factors that made me hesitant to become a blogger, but in the end I decided it was the thing to do. One thing that pushed me over the edge is that I've recently become a regular reader of several other blogs, both of people that I know and people I've never met personally. I've received so much from reading these - laughter, points to ponder, helpful tips and suggestions, etc. - that I thought I should return the favor.

Well, not that each of these people will read my little old blog. But I at least feel that I'm doing my service to the blogging world. Or something like that.

I also think it will be a great outlet for me. A place to post my ramblings (instead of always leaving crazy, rambling messages on my sister's voicemail at work) and a way to help myself process through the million things that are on my brain.

Here are ten random things about me:

1. I used to DESPISE onions - the site of them, the smell of them, the taste of them, the thought of them. And suddenly, about two months ago, they became tolerable. It was like someone flipped a switch in me and now I'm eating them. Weird.

2. I love old movies. Especially ones with Cary Grant.

3. I'm writing this while watching a recorded episode of Back to You. It's hilarious!

4. I'm having trouble concentrating on this list because of the aforementioned episode of Back to You.

5. I have about six books that I got from library two and a half weeks ago sitting on my shelf. I haven't read any of them, and I highly doubt I will finish them off in the next three days.

6. Diet Dr. Pepper is my drink of choice. Well, that and coffee. Coffee with french vanilla creamer. Or white chocolate mochas from Starbucks. Mmmmmmmm.

7. For about three years my job was to help plan Billy Graham Crusades. I lived in eight different cities, and it was the most awesome job ever! I left it because this guy named Mike asked me to marry him. :-D

8. I love watching football. (Go Cowboys!)

9. I am mom to an adorable 18-month-old little girl.

10. This week I celebrated four years of marriage to my wonderful hubby, who is taking me on a date tonight.