100 posts!

When I started this blog I was skeptical about how long it would last. I tend to start things with a vengeance and then at some point I lose steam, and I eventually fizzle out and move on to the next thing that piques my interest.

I have been pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoy blogging, although I shouldn't be. In college I remember telling a friend that someday I thought it would be fun to write a book. He asked me what my book would be about.

"Oh, I don't know - miscellaneous stuff. Funny things that happen in life. Random thoughts that I have."

He looked at me like he wasn't quite sure about my idea.

Little did he know that I was simply ahead of my time, and that ten years into the future the internet would be chock full of miscellaneous, funny, random "books" called blogs.

So here I am, at home in a form of expression that I have come to love. I don't know how many people actually care about my forms of expression, but I'll continue to put it all out there just for the fun of it.

Many bloggers use their 100th post to write 100 random facts about themselves, and I've heard that it's much harder than it seems. Since I'm always up for a challenge, I decided to go ahead and try my hand at writing a 100 list. Here it is:

100 Random Facts About Erin
1. My family was convinced that I was going to be a boy.
2. My name was going to be Stephen Michael. (Or Steven Michael. I don't know if they were going to spell it with a "v" or a "ph".)
3. On the way to the hospital, my mom thought it might be a good idea to pick out a girl's name.
4. I have never colored my hair.
5. My senior year of high school, I got a "Rachel" haircut.
6. I have watched more episodes of Curious George in the past year than I care to admit.
7. I love the idea of being an avid reader.
8. However, I am not an avid reader.
9. At various times I will decide to go to the library and check out about 10 books, in an effort to become an avid reader.
10. The books then sit at my house and become overdue, and I end up with massive library fines.
11. I once held hands with Kirk Cameron.
12. Seriously. We were in a prayer circle together.
13. I have no clue what we prayed about because I was too worried about getting sweaty hands.
14. Being a good midwesterner, I love to play Euchre.
15. I pretty much love any card game.
16. I love games in general, and spend too much time playing them.
17. At least I am safe-guarding myself against Alzheimer's.
18. Right?
19. I once tried my hand at gardening.
20. I couldn't even get zucchinis to grow.
21. We went to Disney World for our honeymoon.
22. It was great and I would highly recommend it.
23. While we were there, we got some churros and this bird swooped down and took mine right out of my hand.
24. In college, I did a fun group presentation that was a parody of an infomercial.
25. We sold "fabu-flab" in our infomercial.
26. We had testimonials from people who had terrible, miserable, failed lives until they tried our product and gained 50 pounds. After using our product (and gaining the weight) they became popular and successful.
27. This group project was second only to another group project where we made a movie based on the "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" book from the "Chronicles of Narnia" series.
28. As part of the video, we put a lab rat in a toy boat and pushed him out to sea.
29. This was to represent a part of the book where one of the characters (a mouse) sails off to the edge of the world.
30. When I say that we pushed the rat "out to sea", I really mean that we pushed him about 10 inches into a lake.
31. After 10 inches the boat tipped over and we had a really wet rat.
32. Those were good times.
33. I am writing this post in segments, because I can't think of 100 random things all in one sitting.
34. During this segment, I am watching Monday Night Football and doing laundry.
35. I hate doing laundry.
36. I love watching football.
37. Fall is my favorite season.
38. I lived in Fresno, California for three months and I hated it because it was during fall, and there simply is no fall in Fresno.
39. Anytime I reference Fresno, Mike says, "Fresno? Nobody goes to Fresno anymore!" Apparently, it is a line from some movie.
40. In addition to #23, I have had other random encounters with animals in my life.
41. One time in college, a squirrel jumped out of a trash can just as I walked by.
42. It completely freaked me out.
43. Another time, I was walking out of the Student Union with a grilled cheese sandwich when someone asked if I could help them for a second - I think they were carrying something in or out and needed an extra hand. I put the sandwich down, stepped away for 10 seconds to help, and when I came back, there sat a squirrel, on my sandwich, looking very content while he ate part of it.
44. I let him have the rest of it.
45. I have also had 10+ encounters with bats, because they liked to get into our old house.
46. I found one tucked away and sleeping on the window sill one day.
47. I had one attack me one night while I was in the basement putting in a load of laundry.
48. Maybe this is why I hate laundry.
49. Ok, so the word "attack" in #47 might be a little inaccurate. But it did come from nowhere and start flying around the basement, which felt like an attack.
50. I'm so very happy to now be in a house that does not have bats.
51. My first date with Mike was on New Year's Eve, 2002.
52. We got engaged on the 4th of July, 2003.
53. We almost decided to get married on Valentine's Day, 2004, but decided that having our anniversary on that day would make it hard to go out and celebrate. We opted for the 28th instead.
54. We found out that we were pregnant with Kaitlyn on Christmas Eve, 2005.
55. Kaitlyn was born the day before Labor Day, 2006.
56. Do you see a theme?
57. Oh, my birthday (November 3) sometimes falls on Election Day. It's not exactly a holiday, but it sort of fits the theme so I thought I'd include it. Mostly this means that my birthday is full to the brim with either political ads or political coverage, or both. This year is no exception.
58. My grandma taught me how to crochet.
59. I've made one full size afghan.
60. And one baby afghan.
61. And lots of doilies.
62. I haven't crocheted in a long time.
63. I also used to be a demonstrator for Stampin' Up.
64. I really enjoy stamping, and it was nice to earn stuff for free, but the business part of being a demonstrator sucked the fun out of the hobby.
65. I guess I'm technically still a demonstrator - as of October 1 I was on probation, and I would have to sell $400 of product before tomorrow to stay active.
66. Contact me ASAP if you suddenly feel the urge to buy $400 worth of stamping and paper crafting supplies.
67. I used to sleepwalk a lot, and every once in a while I will do something really strange in my sleep.
68. A few years ago, I got up in the middle of the night and asked Mike if wanted some cat chow.
69. He said, "No. Get back in bed. Go to sleep." And I did.
70. I think Kaitlyn has inherited this from me, because she frequently talks in her sleep.
71. I once chewed three of my husband's toenails. If you haven't read the story, here it is.
72. I used to work for this guy.
73. And this guy. I had the honor of meeting him once, during the Crusade in Dallas/Ft. Worth.
74. Mike and I dated long-distance, while I lived in Oklahoma City.
75. When we got engaged, we had spent the equivalent of only two weeks together, if you count just the times when were physically together.
76. We spent the equivalent of about a million hours on the phone.
77. Okay, not a *million*, but you get the picture.
78. When I'm in the car I frequently think of other things to add to this list, and then when I sit down to add them, I can't remember what they are.
79. As soon as I type number 100, I will immediately remember the 20 things I thought about in the car and never added to the list.
80. I cleaned off my desk at work yesterday - it was a disaster because of a huge project I've been working on - and I found at least 10 pens scattered about.
81. My desk is usually in some state of disaster.
82. So is my purse. I cleaned it out last week and found no less than twelve old grocery lists.
83. I think I need a maid, or a personal assistant.
84. When I was little, I promised my mom that I would live with her forever and be her maid.
85. I have not lived up to that promise.
86. I don't think I would do a good job, even if I tried to live up to that promise. (See #'s 80, 81 and 82 for evidence of this.)
87. I took piano lessons for 13 years, starting when I was in kindergarten and going until the end of my senior year in high school.
88. I haven't played the piano in a while.
89. As soon as we are able to arrange for it to be moved, I will inherit my parents' piano. (The one I grew up playing.) Woohoo!
90. Someday, I would love to help women start their own businesses. I love seeing people use their gifts and passions to the fullest, and I especially love it when they can make it their career.
91. I'm not sure how that will happen, but I'll just sit back and trust God on this.
92. Speaking of seeing women use their gifts and turning it into a business, here is a shameless plug for my friend Sara's design work. She did our Christmas card last year, and it was incredible! Check out her Etsy store. She does baby announcements, party invitations, save the date cards, engagement announcements... The options are endless!
93. I'm really excited to be at #93 and finally wrapping this thing up.
94. I've spent weeks (literally) writing this post. I'm glad I got an early start.
95. I'm having an extremely hard time finishing this up, mostly because I'm a perfectionist. What if I left something really important out? Should I end this with something monumentally important?
96. Jesus, for example. He's pretty important, being my Lord and Savior and all.
97. But I haven't mentioned him yet.
98. So I guess he would be a great way to end.
99. After all, he is the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end.
100. The end. Amen.

I'm done!!

Oh yeah... I have a blog!

I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted. Here is a list of excuses reasons why I have not had the energy to blog:

1. Our furnace went out and we lived for a few days with space heaters before we had a chance to get it fixed.
2. I got sick for a few nights with the worst (worst, I tell you!) indigestion in the history of the world. A little melodramatic, yes, but it was AWFUL. (I'm doing much better now, thank you very much, and am much more diligent about things that are just a teensy bit important when it comes to digestive health, like water and vegetables.)
3. Mike has been super busy at work, and Kaitlyn and I have ventured out on a few occasions to help him organize his office and run around to pick up things he needs.
4. Our coffee maker bit the dust, which was only slightly less of an emergency than our furnace going out. We had to set aside all other activities to immediately go and purchase a new one.
5. Laundry.
6. Cooking.
7. Taking the "Financial Peace University" class at our church. (I highly recommend it.)
8. Three all-day workshops at work that sapped my energy. (One was an all-campus staff meeting, one was a grammar and proofreading workshop, and one was on marketing the arts. Exciting stuff.)
9. A general need to take a break and focus on family stuff.
10. Last, but not least, my new obsession with couponing.

I'll have to come back later and write a bit more about some of these things individually.

Honestly, it's been a really rough week for me this week. But things are looking up! Today I feel refreshed and ready to go again.

Plus, my birthday is on Monday and we are celebrating with my family this weekend. My mom and my sister Monica will be making me a yummy dinner, and I'll get to spend some quality time with my favorite people in the whole world!

That's all for now... I hope to return soon to write about a few things that have been rattling around in my head for quite some time. The topics include coupons, trains, being a working mom, and sand paper, among other things.

(Oh, and my 100th post. I've been working on it for quite some time, and I can't believe it's time to unveil it!)

Menu Plan Monday - Week of 10.13.08

Last week at our house didn't turn out how I thought. (Thankfully, there were no fires.)

We arrived home from church last Wednesday night and were about to put Kaitlyn to bed, when she got a wierd look on her face.

A face that made us say, "Uh Oh."

Yeah, she threw up.

Five or six times.

She was sick on Thursday, did fairly well on Friday, but then got sick again on Saturday. Sheesh!

Yesterday was a good day, so she went back to the sitter's house today.

So, that's why I haven't posted in a week. But, I'm back to post my menu plan. (I'm sure your appreciative that I've combined the subjects of menu planning and throwing up in the same post.)

I normally only post my weekday menu but this weekend we might be having friends over, so I will post the menu for that as well.

Monday
Pork roast and potatoes in the crock pot, with herb soup seasoning (mixed with water) on top

Tuesday
Erin's made up chicken casserole - this will be a cross between chicken pot pie (chicken and veggies mixed with cream of chicken soup and chicken broth) and shepherd's pie (w/ mashed potatoes on top)

Wednesday
Pork chops and scalloped potatoes

Thursday
Chicken stir fry with brown rice

Friday
Up for grabs

Weekend Entertaining
Sloppy joes - I made this yesterday and have it in the freezer for the weekend
Mac and cheese - I'm not sure if the kiddos will be too excited about sloppy joes, so I'm making this as an option for them. It's a new recipe for me, but it appealed to me because 1) I can make it in the crock pot and 2) it's Paula Deen - yum!
Veggies and dip
Chips
A modified version of these fruit bars - I pack a little of the mixture in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish, top with sliced apples, then sprinkle the rest of the mixture* on top and bake as recommended. It makes a yummy apple crisp!

*When I say "the rest of the mixture" I really mean whatever is left over after I have "sampled" and "taste tested" it. I wonder how many Weight Watcher points are in this...

There you have it! Stop by orgjunkie.com for more menu ideas.

A menu plan by the incredible shrinking woman who also gave herself an early birthday present

This post is a combination of three posts that have been running through my brain in the past two days.

Hence, the never-ending title.

I hope the post won't be never-ending.

Subject #1: My menu plan, in no particular order...

Chicken noodle soup and homemade (!!!) rolls
Pork chops and stuffing (carried over from last week)
Chicken and noodle casserole
Shredded pork enchiladas
Chicken left overs
Enchilada left overs

I was Susie Homemaker this weekend! I bought some bone in chicken breasts and used them (along with carrots, celery, and onion) to make my own chicken stock.

I took the chicken off the bone and divided it in half - one half to be used for soup and one half to be used in the casserole. I also set aside a couple pints of the chicken stock - one for the casserole, and one for future use.

Then, I made my chicken noodle soup and included homemade noodles (using my mom's recipe). Mmmmm.

In addition to the homemade noodles, I used this recipe to make dinner rolls from scratch. Mmmmmmm.

Then I cooked some noodles (not homemade) for my casserole, and put them, the chicken, two cups of chicken stock, a can of 98% fat-free cream of chicken soup, and some seasonings in a casserole dish. I put in the fridge and heated it up for dinner tonight. Simple, but good, and we have lots of leftovers.

Today I also cooked a four-pound pork loin in the crock pot. When I got home I divided it into four sections, shredded it all, put three sections in the freezer for later use, then mixed the fourth section with some taco seasoning and put it in the fridge for Thursday night, when I plan to make enchiladas.

Whew! I promise you that I'm not always this productive. In fact, I don't know what's gotten into me lately. All I know is that I want to get as much stuff in the freezer while I have this crazy energy!

Subject #2: The incredible shrinking woman

I joined Weight Watchers (again) last week. I had success with WW before I got married, and since Kaitlyn was born I've tried several times to get back on track. But lately I've had renewed motivation to lose the 75 extra pounds I'm carrying.

75 POUNDS.

That's crazy!

Anyway, this renewed motivation happened to coincide with a recent revival in my prayer life. Coincidence? I think not.

It also happened to coincide with the start of a "Weight Watchers at Work" program through my employer.

So.

I weighed in today and in the first week, I lost 5.2 pounds! WOO! HOO!

(People usually lose a lot of weight during the first week because of all the water weight, and then it's supposed to level off to 0-2 pounds per week.)

I have lots of other thoughts related to the weight issue, but I'll save those for another day.

Subject #3: My early birthday present

For a while now, I've wanted to get a FoodSaver vacuum sealer. Kohl's has them on sale this week - their normal price is $199 and I got it on sale for $79.99. Happy birthday to me!

I got it yesterday and I've already used it to seal up leftovers from last night, the three pounds of shredded pork I mentioned above, and a bag of baby carrots that was soon to go bad.

I think Mike is skeptical that I'll use it on a regular basis, but I have high hopes. I gave it a place of honor on my kitchen counter, which I've read is one of the keys to actually USING it, versus storing it in a cupboard and intending to pull it out when needed.

If anyone has a vacuum sealer, feel free to share any tips or suggestions!

Subject #4: My mom

Ok, so I cheated and threw this one in at the last minute. (Get over it.)

My mom started her chemo today. I talked to her tonight and she was in good spirits. If you think of it, please pray that the rest of her week (especially once the medicine really kicks in) will go smoothly.

Subject #5: Mike and the fire

Yeah, I cheated again and threw another one in. (Hey, it is my blog, after all.)

The majority owner of the company has found a building to lease for the short-term, and is thinking about rebuilding on the site of the building that got BBQ'd. They will hopefully be able to begin portions of production tomorrow.

In the meantime, they are getting orders like crazy! This is a big answer to prayer! For 3+ years we've been waiting for things to take off, and we seem to finally be getting to that place. Ironic, because they manufacture RV's (fold-out campers, to be exact), and while so many RV companies have been laying people off and closing down factories, we are GROWING.

Praise the Lord!

(I'm done now.)

The Joseph Anointing, and the crazy God that I serve

Last week a co-worker forwarded an email to me. It was a spiritual perspective on the current state of the economy, and there were several prayer points it mentioned. One of them was to pray for a "Joseph Anointing" to be on business leaders and owners within the church.

If you don't know the story of Joseph, it can be found starting in Genesis 37. (The musical "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" is based on this Bible story, if that helps you get a frame of reference.)

Praying for a Joseph Anointing simply means praying for God to bless someone with the same characteristics and attributes that he gave to Joseph - wisdom, supernatural insight, administration, leadership, the ability to navigate an entire region (or business) through tough times, etc.

Ever since I got that email, I had been praying this over my husband, his boss, and their entire company.

It's been a really rough couple of weeks for them, so when I say that I've been praying, I mean that I've been praying BIG TIME! Mostly in the car, on my way to and from work. (Kaitlyn joins in sometimes.)

I often wonder if people think I'm crazy.

Maybe they think I'm arguing, or preaching, to someone on a cell phone.

Anyway.

When Mike called yesterday to tell me about the extent of the fire, you better believe that I started praying. As I prayed, God brought to my mind, once again, the story of Joseph.

One thing that has always made an impression on me is that from the time Joseph was 17 (Genesis 37:2) until he was 30 (Genesis 41:46) bad things kept happening to him. Just when he thought he had recovered from the last bad thing and life was starting to look up for him, a new (and worse) disaster would happen.

(Does this sound familiar?)

The last "disaster" occurred when Joseph was falsely accused of sexually harassing his boss's wife and he was thrown in jail. Even in jail, Joseph made a name for himself because of the administrative and leadership qualities he possessed, and most importantly, because of the blessing God had placed on him, as Genesis 39 mentions:

20 Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. 22 So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. 23 The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

Joseph sat in jail for several years and he probably spent much of that time wondering if he would ever get out. He had started out with such big dreams - was this really the destiny God had for him? To sit in jail?

This is where we get to the good part. What looked like a disaster was actually God positioning Joseph for the really big thing.

Joseph would have never made the proper connections had he not been in that prison cell. (Genesis 40 and 41 will give you all the details.) He went on to become the second in command under Pharaoh, and he saved an entire region from the effects of a huge famine.

Isn't it just like God to do something like this? To arrange things so that, just when you think everything is coming crashing down and it must be the end, it's really the beginning?

These are all of the thoughts that came flashing through my mind yesterday, as I prayed for Mike's company. I had a surge of excitement - what if this fire is God's way of bringing something BIGGER and BETTER?

Is it really crazy of me to be excited that a fire destroyed the building?

I'm thinking it is crazy.

But it's just like God to do something crazy and unexpected.

I don't know what His plan is, or how it will all play out, but I really and truly believe that He has something up his sleeve. No matter what happens, I rest assured that He is faithful and will continue to provide all we need.

I will close here with my favorite Bible verse, found in Isaiah 42:16:

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.

Because our lives were finally getting back to normal...

I may have mentioned that the company Mike works for was getting ready to move into a new building.

Well, it's not a newly built building, but it's newly purchased. If that even makes sense. Anyway. Moving on...

Today they had moved most, if not all of the equipment in. They had also just received several shipments of inventory in anticipation of starting production soon.

And then, the building caught on fire.

Mike called me soon after 5pm to let me know. He wasn't sure how serious it was and thought maybe it wasn't that bad because the production manager (whom he had just spoken with) was rather low key about it.

Yeah, well, it turned out to be pretty serious.

Four fire departments were called to respond.

Our half of the building is a total loss. The other half of the building housed another company, and I'm not sure if it's possible to save their half.

Here is some video I took:


There are many things to be thankful for:

1. No one was hurt.
2. Mike had not yet moved his office over, so all of the company files and his computer are safe.
3. The company has insurance. :-)
   
4. There was enough time to get out several important pieces of equipment.
5. Mike's boss (the owner) is optimistic that he will have secured a new building by sometime next week.
   

I have more to blog regarding this, but for now I will just say that I believe good will come out of this. God is good, ALL the time!

As Kaitlyn and I were on our way to the scene of the fire I was praying about the situation. Just as I was expressing to God that I was sure he would work all things for our good, I looked out my window and saw this:


I praise God for his faithfulness!

WFMW - Toddlers in the kitchen

Today is an "in the kitchen" theme for Works for Me Wednesday, which is highly convenient because I was already planning to write something about the kitchen. I love it when things work out that way!

When we moved into this house a few months ago, I knew I would have to do things differently because Kaitlyn would go from having ZERO access to the kitchen to having FULL access.

I read on someone's blog that she created a special cupboard in the kitchen for her kids, where they could easily access a few specific things, and decided to do a version of that in my kitchen.

(I wish I could remember where I saw this so I could give proper credit.)

I designated the bottom drawer as Kaitlyn's. In it are her cups and bowls. (All of her sippy cups were in the dishwasher or dirty when I took this picture - it isn't usually this empty.)


I also have a small island, and in its cupboard I keep all of my plastic containers:

The most convenient thing about this setup is that whenever Kaitlyn is curious about things in the kitchen and wants to get into cupboards or drawers at her level, I can direct her attention to these places.

She has learned that she has full access to this drawer and cupboard without mom getting upset. I let her pull things out to her heart's content - it's a harmless way to keep her occupied while I make dinner or clean up.

At some point I plan to reorganize some of my other cupboards and will more fully utilize the empty space in my island cupboard, but anything I put in there will be Kaitlyn-friendly - plastic measuring cups, bowls, etc.

Also, as she gets older, I will start to include snacks or other food items, like cereal, so she access them by herself.

Visit Rocks in My Dryer for more in-the-kitchen tips and ideas!