Finding Joy in the Journey

Ups, downs, and the grace of God in the midst of tragedy

2011-03-02T21:51:00.004-05:00

The past two weeks have given me one really big up, and one really big down.

The big up was that God moved in a big way on the campus of Bethel College, where I work. Many people are talking about revival - I don't know if we can officially classify it as that, but the Holy Spirit was definitely poured out in an extraordinary way and the students definitely responded. You can read more about this in a blog post I wrote for Bethel.

The big down was hearing that the seven-year-old daughter of a high school friend was shot and killed in a tragic accident. I went to the viewing last night, and the funeral was today.

I remember my friend Jay as being constantly upbeat. We didn't go to the same school but we spent many hours together with our church youth group and hanging out at friend's houses. I wouldn't say that he was a "class clown" type of guy - that's almost an accurate description but not quite right. I remember him as someone who loved to have fun, and was a big teddy bear underneath it all. I haven't seen Jay in more than ten years.

On Friday night I heard of the tragic death of a little girl, and on Saturday I learned that it was Jay's daughter, Karlee. You can read the details of the accident in this news article.

I know there are many people who question what happened. Why did Jay have a handgun in his pocket? Why didn't he secure it before playing with his daughters? How could this have happened?

Some people ask these questions honestly, wondering at the horrific series of events that would lead to this. And others ask these questions with anger and judgment - how could a parent let this happen?

I've been rolling all of this around in my head for several days, and I can't help but think of all the "what if" moments in my life and in the lives of other parents. You know, the one time you drive down the street without your seat belt on because you're only going a quarter-mile.

The one time you are preparing dinner and leave a sharp knife within reach of little hands while you run out to the garage to grab something out of the chest freezer.

The one time the kids are in the backyard and you run inside for just a second to grab the ringing telephone, not realizing that the gate to the pool is unlocked.

The one time you decide to send a quick one-word text while driving down the road.

The one time you forget to fasten the baby gate at the top of the stairs after you bring up the laundry from the basement.

I would venture to say that most responsible people act responsibly 99% of the time. But we all have our moments in the 1% when we aren't responsible. And in those 1% moments, most of the time there is grace.

We arrive safely to our destination and never need the aid of the seatbelt.

We walk back into the kitchen and catch our breath at the sight of the knife on the edge of the counter, saying a prayer of thanks that little hands didn't find it.

We look out the window just in time to see a toddler opening the unlocked pool gate and are able to rush to him before he makes his way to the water.

We look up from the quick text to see that we've veered into the other lane, and breathe a sigh of relief that there was no oncoming traffic.

We have a moment of panic when we hear the crash of something (or someone?) falling down the stairs, but laugh when we realize it's because the dog bumped into the baby gate and made it fall.

Most of the time, the worst case scenario doesn't manifest.

And sometimes, the worst case scenario lines up in such a way that it becomes a horrible tragedy.

My heart goes out to Jay and his wife, Kelly, and their oldest daughter, Brooklyn. I went to Karlee's visitation last night, and the thing that sticks in my mind is how tightly Jay hugged me. I'm so glad I went and was able to give him that hug. I know it won't fix anything, but I hope that it helped somehow.

I wasn't able to go to the funeral today but I did read an article about it in our local paper. I really appreciated this quote from Steve Chupp, pastor of the church where I grew up and where Jay and his family still attend: "You have to be careful, Jay, that this tragedy does not define you ... you're God's son, you're God's boy, and you're a loving father."

I pray that Jay will take these words to heart. I pray that he can move beyond the guilt of that 1% moment because, truth be told, we have all had at least one of those moments.

Why don't all of our 1% moments end in tragedy? I don't know. There are so many "whys" and "what ifs" that have rolled around in my head in the past week, and I know that I won't ever have an answer.

Part of me wonders if I want an answer so I can insulate myself from fear - if it's true that the 1% moments happen to all of us, and if it's true that sometimes they can result in tragedy, then I have to face the fact that I don't have 100% control, 100% of the time. Not that I will walk around in fear of what tragedy might be around every corner; I just have to learn again to trust in the sovereignty of God.

I'm still processing all of this so I'm not sure how much sense I'm making right now. I mostly want to express the need for us to show grace in this situation. If Jay was right here in front of me, I would want him to know that the grace and love of God are big enough for this circumstance. They are big enough to carry him and his family through the days ahead.

Please keep this family in your prayers.

In other news... I have my next vlog ready to go, but it's on my computer at work. I've actually had it ready for quite a while but I keep forgetting to upload it to Vimeo so I can post it here. The topic is appropriate because it is about ups and downs. I'll post it when I finally remember. :)

Also, here is another news story about Karlee's funeral. She was more of a light for Jesus in her seven years than many people who live a long life. I wish I had been able to know her here on earth, but look forward to the day when I'll get to meet her in heaven.

Addiction and the Gospel

2011-02-16T18:30:00.000-05:00

I've mentioned my friend Teresa in some of my previous posts, and now it's time to give her husband, Tal, a mention. They are part of a ministry called Route1520, which helps families and individuals who struggle with, or have been affected by, sexual addiction.

I love what they are doing. And I love that the things they talk about affect all of us - at the heart of sex addiction is the same thing that's at the heart of ANY addiction or brokenness that we experience.

Below is a video of Tal talking about the hurt that led to his addiction, and his encounter with the Gospel that began his journey out of addiction. I find it interesting that much of what he says in the second half relates to what I said about my own journey in this video. The specific sin and brokenness in our lives might look a lot different, but when you distill it down to the root, it all has the same cause and the same solution.

I'm probably not done mentioning Tal and Teresa. In fact, Teresa just published another blog post that hit home for me in several areas of my life. I see reflections of myself in much of what they say and anticipate sharing more of their videos and writing with you in the future.

Stay tuned later this week for my next vlog! This one will be about "riding the wave."

Here is Tal's video:

Giving Myself a Boost of Faith

2011-02-13T21:53:00.001-05:00

For about the past five years, I've tried various versions of starting my own business or doing some type of freelance work. Like, seven or more.

And each of them have either failed or fizzled out. Well, one of them was okay, but I came to realize it definitely wasn't for me.

These failures have haunted me. Haunted is a strong word, I suppose, so maybe that's not what I really mean to say. But they certainly bothered me. Why didn't they work out? Why did I fail? WHAT is wrong with me?

Over the past six months God has been bringing various pieces of the puzzle together for me, and then one day, Clinton from "What Not To Wear" suddenly brought the overall puzzle picture into clear view for me. (Yes, really.) He was giving advice to a woman who was constantly frustrated by not being able to find pants that fit her. She was quite depressed about it, and it was one reason why she had given up on any form of fashion for herself.

And Clinton told her, "YOU are not the problem. The CLOTHES are the problem."

For years she had only seen her body as imperfect and herself as a failure. The clothes were the standard, and she constantly didn't measure up.

But Clinton told her that she had a unique body, and designers make their clothes to fit the broadest spectrum of women possible. Which means that they don't make anything ready-to-wear for someone with her body type.

Then he and Stacy showed her how to make the clothes behave. They showed her the one or two places she had to make sure that pants fit, and then they showed her how a tailor could alter everything else. And suddenly, she had clothes that fit.

You could see the mental and emotional transformation taking place. By the end, she was having FUN shopping! She felt empowered because she now had knowledge of how to make the clothes fit her, not the other way around.

I've realized that in all of my business ventures, I've ignored something really important. I've ignored the things I'm NOT good at. Well, actually, I haven't ignored them - I've been apologizing for them; attempting to make up for them.

"I know I'm not good at X, but that's what my potential customers will want, so I need to make up for my deficiency in that area. I'll just try really, really hard. I'll be really disciplined, and it will all work out."

Only, it didn't.

I was trying to make myself fit the clothes.

As a result of various bits of revelation, I finally have a new perspective. I have a new confidence in myself, that the things I'm good at doing are GOOD ENOUGH. And that I can simply say no to the things I'm not good at. Why should I set myself up for failure? Why give anyone an expectation that will be a struggle for me to fulfill?

Now, I'm not saying that life will be perfect and I'll never have to do any work that I find difficult or tedious. But I have given myself permission to let go of unrealistic expectations for myself and focus mainly on my unique gifts and talents.

And you know what I've done? I started another venture. It's quite spontaneous and I'm just taking each day as it comes. But I'm excited about it.

What do I hope to do with it? First and foremost I want to help people build their passion through social media specifically, and through encouragement and ideas and creativity and innovation and strategy in general. I want to come alongside of them and give them a boost, help to give them a fresh perspective, and serve as someone who can help them do the things they can't do for themselves.

I would like for this to be a business, but most of all, I've come to the conclusion that I want this to be my ministry. Whether I get paid or not, I need to help people. This is my passion, and I'm finally giving myself a boost of faith to put it all out there.

I started to do a vlog about this but it just did not flow well. I was going to try the vlog again but then felt that I needed to type this out. I like having both options available to me!

In closing, here is my Facebook page. I'll be sharing general tips and advice on a building a social media presence, whether you are building a business, a non-profit, or a brand for yourself. Come "like" my page, and definitely email me at Erin.Kinzel@gmail.com if there is any way I can help you!

Boundaries, Part 2

2011-02-09T18:24:00.002-05:00

Thanks to those of you who commented on the blog and in person about my last post. Putting a video out there is definitely a whole new level of vulnerability, so the positive feedback is encouraging.

Here is the second part of "what I learned from the book 'Boundaries.'" (Here is part one.) Again, there is glare on my glasses but hopefully it's not too much of a distraction.

Vlog 3 - Boundaries, part 2 from Erin Kinzel on Vimeo.

Here is a link to a blog post from my friend Teresa that helped spark part of this discussion. It's called "My Mouth Said Yes, My Heart Said No."

Blogging, Take 2

2011-02-06T21:30:00.000-05:00

After almost a year without posting, I'm ready to jump back into blogging. I've learned a few things about myself and feel like I have a refreshed perspective on a lot of stuff. I'll probably still post about random things and Kaitlyn stories, but the focus will be on the things God has taught me over the past few years. (And what he continues to teach me.)

I'm also going to try doing a video format. I recorded my first three vlogs (short for "video blogs") and will post the first two here. I promised myself that I wasn't going to be a perfectionist about the videos - there are things I don't like about them, such as the sound quality and the glare on my glasses in the second one.

However... I'm trying to move past perfectionism. At some point I'll do a vlog about perfectionism as the enemy of progress. So many times I hesitate to take action because I see the imperfections, but the thing about that is... you never go anywhere. And I want to go somewhere.

I'm not sure how all of this will go, but another thing I'm trying to move past is the need to have all my ducks in a row and know exactly how something will turn out before I get started. You know how that's worked in the past? I get all my ducks in a row and the thing still doesn't turn out like I thought. At this point all my ducks are running around and it's all very unruly, and I'm not going to let it stop me.

So... without further ado, here are my first two videos:

Vlog Intro:

Vlog Intro from Erin Kinzel on Vimeo.

Boundaries, Part 1 (sorry for the glare on my glasses!):

Vlog 2 - Boundaries, part 1 from Erin Kinzel on Vimeo.

Here are the links I mentioned:

Boundaries Book

Article about boundaries by Teresa Prince

Graham Cooke video

Organizing Challenge

2010-03-01T18:00:00.002-05:00

I am so excited for today's post! For a month I've been working on a room in our basement so I could enter it in the OrgJunkie organizing challenge for the month of February.

This was perfect timing for me because after the activity of the holidays I started thinking that I finally wanted to tackle our basement office/craft space. Just as I was gearing up to take action, Laura posted the challenge. It has provided great motivation for me to keep plugging away at it and I'm so happy to say that the room is FINISHED.

(Ok, it's not 100% finished since I want to get some artwork on the walls, but for functional purposes, it is finished.)

Before I show the photos, I have to say that my wonderful husband was such a help throughout the process and put as much (or more) work into the room as I did. Thanks Honey!

Here is a quick look at the before photos - I have bigger photos below where they are put right up against the after photos. The room essentially has three corners (the fourth "corner" is just the door):

Two different angles of my craft corner:

Mike's corner and the window corner:

Oy. What a mess! When we moved in this was one of those catch-all rooms. It was a place to pile things that we didn't know what to do with, or didn't want to deal with at the moment. I'd think "we'll deal with that later," but "later" never came.

It's the classic organizing struggle - the longer I put off organizing everything, the more I dreaded the task and found reasons to avoid it. However, ignoring it doesn't make it go away. Things kept accumulating whether I liked it or not - more accumulation, more mess, more putting it off, more dreading it. What a vicious cycle!

My mantra for 2009 was to take termite bites - instead of getting overwhelmed by a large task, I focused on tackling it one tiny bite at a time. My mantra for 2010 is to keep moving forward. Just do it, so to speak. Both of these mantras came into play as we tackled this room.

Our goal here was to create three distinct spaces. One for me, with space to 1) do crafting, 2) work on my computer, and 3) pay bills. Mike needed desk space where he could work on his laptop, and we wanted a third space for Kaitlyn to sit and do her own thing while we work on our projects. I think we accomplished these goals quite nicely!

Here are the side by side before and after photos with my commentary, and then at the bottom are my required answers to the five questions for the challenge.

Mike's corner:

Even though this is a corner desk, one thing that kept Mike from sitting at the desk was having his back to everything else going on in the room. We turned it 45 degrees so it's out of the corner, and even though it takes up more space it's worth it because Mike is much happier with the arrangement and more likely use the desk.

Another view of Mike's desk:

The blue basket on top holds printer ink, tape, scissors and other various office supplies. The silver stacked organizer on top used to be crammed full of papers, but those have now gone to the recycling bin or the filing cabinet and this is now clear for "to-do" items. There is a smaller blue basket on the main desk for pens and pencils.

The window corner before and after:

We now have space for this purple table that we bought at a garage sale for $2. (It has a second chair, which is currently in Kaitlyn's bedroom.) This is a perfect spot for Kaitlyn to sit with some toys or craft supplies - she feels like she is a part of what we are doing but she is busy enough on her own that Mike and I can get our own things accomplished.

Here is a close up of our newly arranged filing cabinet and cubes:

These were already in the room (they are hiding behind Mike's chair in the before photo) but we moved them to a different wall and stacked the cubes so they take up less floor space. They used to have a variety of books stacked on them which made everything look cluttered. We cleared some things off a bookshelf upstairs and moved most of the books up there, with the rest of them going into the cubes with doors on the front. The metal basket on top of the filing cabinet is for papers that need to be filed.

The open cube is now designated for Kaitlyn:

There is scrap paper for her to draw on or to use with my punches (which she loves - you'll see those in a minute.) The white basket is empty, but leaves room for her to add new treasures. On the bottom shelf are her coloring books and crayons (yes, they are in a container that previously held parsley flakes); in the blue container are miscellaneous note pads and stickers, and in the yellow card file she has her Curious George stamps and stamp pad.

For the grand finale, here are my corner's before and after photos:

I love it! We spent about $100 in the course of our makeover - $50 on a chair for me, and $50 on the shelving, magnetic board, command hooks, and various doodads. Not too bad for having such a big transformation!

I used to sell Stampin' Up products, so I have an obscene amount of stamping and paper-crafting supplies.

Here you can see my paper and stamps:

The cart that now holds my stamps used to be incredibly underutilized - in the before photo you can see it sitting to the right of my colored drawers, holding a few stacks of books. It really wasn't a convenient place to put anything and the size/construction of it is a little odd, so I thought I'd have to get rid of it. But then I discovered that it was a perfect place for my stamp sets, which had previously been spread out over several different shelves. Now they are all in one place, and the cart is being put to good use!

Above my paper and stamps are some of the shelves we put up. I love the look of this and it was fairly easy (and inexpensive) to do:

On the top shelf you can see one of my obsessions - photo boxes. Every once in a while Michael's will have these on sale 3 for $5, and twice now I have stocked up on them. (I probably have 25 or 30 scattered throughout the house.) I love them because I can have them out in the open and they look neat and organized, and they are great containers for a wide variety of things.

One of these boxes is for Kaitlyn and her various keepsakes; one is for Mike, with a bunch of miscellaneous things that I have no idea what to do with, but he doesn't want to get rid of; one is for the child we sponsor through Compassion and contains all of her information and the letters she's sent us; and the other three have other photos, keepsakes, computer software, blank CDs and DVDs, etc. in the them.

On the bottom shelf is a cute (and cheap!) trifle dish I found and put decorative stones in. (At some point I'll add a candle.) The purple container has small pads of patterned paper.

Here is the second set of shelves we put up, above my desk:

On the top shelf there is one box with cards I've created, and the other three boxes are empty (for now.) The bottom shelf has a blue basket for envelopes, stacking trays with paper and stamping supplies, and three glass containers I got at the dollar store to hold my ribbon scraps.

One of my favorite things in the room is the space under the bottom shelf. A long time ago I bought some small white shelves and we hadn't used them for anything. They work perfectly here to hold some of my stamping supplies. There are two tiny metal buckets on one of the shelves - I bought three of these for a dollar at the dollar store and am using them for small supplies such as paper clips, binder clips and rubber bands.

I think Laura will also appreciate my command hooks on the wall, used to hold my scissors. On the right you can see my desk lamp and the caddy that holds all of my ink pads and re-inkers. This is the side of the desk where I normally stamp, and now I have more of my supplies right at my fingertips.

Here you can see another of my favorite things in the room - my new magnet board:

I found this idea here, but made my own adjustments. I bought a piece of metal at Lowe's, used Mod Podge and patterned paper to decorate it, punched two holes on top and threaded ribbon through, then hung it on a command hook. I bought some heavy duty magnets in the craft section at Wal-Mart, and had the intention of using them with these round metal containers I got at the dollar store.

However, sometimes there is a good reason why things are sold at the dollar store... I will soon be throwing the metal containers away because they aren't very durable! I bought some magnet clips to use on the board and will also buy some containers to replace my dollar store tins.

On the desk you can see a white basket that holds my hole punches and a few other tools, and on the turn-table are additional ink pads, pens and pencils, paint brushes, and other miscellaneous supplies.

Next up are all of my paper punches and my computer space:

The punches are on a CD holder. I came up with this genius idea when we first moved in and it is such a great way to organize my punches! They are easily accessible, and most importantly, it's so easy to put them back where they belong when I'm done using them.

Right below my computer is a small space where I now keep my bill file:

This desk has seen better days and this spot is where part of the keyboard tray used to be, but now it is the perfect spot for my little file holder where I file this year's bills and keep track of the bills that need to be paid. It is a convenient spot since I do all of our banking online - I have my computer right there and can easily pull out the bills, do my business, and then file everything away.

Lastly, here are more shelves and drawers:

I didn't change a whole lot with these, since they were pretty organized to begin with. Each drawer holds one specific type of supply - ribbon, adhesive, markers, file folders, scrap paper, embossing supplies, magazine pages with ideas I want to use, etc. The open shelves hold my stamping wheels and supplies, catalogs and magazine, and the green box has supplies related to my new Etsy store.

(Yes - you read that right... I just opened an Etsy store! It's still under construction, but feel free to stop by and take a look.)

To make my entry in the contest final, here are my answers to the required questions:

1. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and were you able to overcome it?

The hardest part was making my way through all the clutter. There was so much paper clutter, which doesn't take up a lot of space (compared to other types of clutter) but it can be so difficult to sort through it all and make decisions about what needs to be filed and what should be tossed.

I was able to overcome the challenge by taking it in small pieces - I focused on one attainable pile at a time, following my "termite bite" mantra that I mentioned above. When I first started the project I would go into the room and just stare at everything for several minutes, overwhelmed by not knowing where to start. I decided that I had to block out most of the room and focus only on one five-minute task. I picked one thing that seemed attainable and told myself that I could quit when I finished that one thing.

This attitude helped a lot! Since I was trying to fit this in at night after working a full day, cooking dinner, etc., it was really important for me to take it in small bites and for me to celebrate the accomplishment of finishing each small bite.

Mike was such a help in tackling some of the big piles I was dreading the most. Just when I would lose motivation, he would get a burst of energy and work on some areas, and then when he was losing motivation I would get re-energized by his progress and jump in again. We made a great team!

2. Tell us what kind of changes/habits you have put into place in order for your area/room to maintain its new order?

The major change is that there is now a place for everything, making it easier to put everything in it's place. This weekend I had been working at my desk and when I quit I was in a rush to get upstairs. I wasn't going to clean up but then I decided I could put just a few things away. I got on a roll and ended up putting EVERYTHING away, and it only took me a minute. It was easy because everything has a designated place!

Another thing that will help in maintaining this is that we accomplished our goal little bits at a time. In the past we've tended to have big bursts of motivation that lead to us jumping into a project, but we have very little staying power and some projects go unfinished or are not maintained. Since we tackled this 15 or 30 minutes at a time in the evenings, this has helped us to establish a habit of doing a little bit here and there, which is all we'll need to keep up with general maintenance.

3. What did you do with the “stuff” you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?

We did a combination of giving things away, throwing things away, and putting things away. We had two or three bags of trash/recycling and two large boxes of papers that need to be shredded. There are some items (keepsakes, storage containers, decorations, etc.) that were moved to our storage area in our laundry room.

4. What creative storage solutions were you able to introduce in order to create additional space as well as establish some limits and boundaries?

This was my favorite part of the process! Adding the shelves has created so much storage for us, and the photo boxes are a great way to establish limits and boundaries. If a box gets too full, it's not overwhelming to thinking about purging and reorganizing that one box.

Other storage solutions include the magnet board, re-purposing the metal cart to hold my stamps, creating a space for Kaitlyn's craft supplies, and my new space for bills that need to be paid. Two of the storage solutions that I love the most (but are really small) are the hooks for my scissors and the glass containers for my ribbon scraps. I love them because in the past I wouldn't have considered them storage solutions, but now I see how I can create storage in a way that is fun and beautiful and maybe even a bit quirky.

5. Why do you think you should win this challenge?

When we started this project the room was a constant reminder to me that I was unorganized. I hated going into the basement and seeing it because it made me feel like a failure; it made me feel like I was maintaining a mess and would never be able to conquer the mess. I avoided the basement because of this and as a result, I also avoided other activities that I can do there, such as exercising or hanging out in the family room with Mike and Kaitlyn. I felt like a prisoner upstairs; I felt like I didn't have any options for my evening hours except to sit on the couch like a bum.

Now when I go into the basement, I am productive. I don't sit on the couch as much because I have a revitalized space where I enjoy spending my evenings and weekends. For a year and half my paper-crafting and stamping supplies sat idle because I didn't want to spend time in the room. Now I am finally stamping again (putting hundreds of dollars-worth of supplies to good use again!) and I've even followed through with my goal of starting an Etsy store, all because I have a space I want to use and a space that is organized enough for me to be productive.

In addition to this, I feel better about my upstairs space because I finally have a designated space for all of my paper clutter, which used to accumulate in various hot spots in the dining room and living room. I now have a basket where I put any papers that need to go to the office, and when I go downstairs I grab the basket and file the papers accordingly. It's amazing how such a (seemingly) small thing can make a huge difference, physically and mentally.

I think I should win the challenge because not only have I dramatically reorganized a room, I have seen how clutter has held me back from fulfilling my goals and the negative effect it had in many areas of my life. Now that I've conquered this space it has motivated me to tackle the two remaining problem areas in my house, and it's inspired me to find creative storage solutions throughout my house.

Laura, thanks so much for hosting the challenge! Having this "carrot" dangling out in front of me has certainly helped my motivation for finishing the project. I'm so happy with the space and can't wait to spend more time in it!!

Reflecting

2010-01-14T18:30:00.000-05:00

I once heard someone say that with parenting, the days are long but the years are short. How true is that? I wish I could remember where I heard it because it's a saying that often comes to mind when I'm having a long day. It encourages me to embrace the day, tired as I might be, because the years are going to fly by all too quickly.

I was reminded of this saying as I read this post from MckMama, a mother of four (soon-to-be five) kids ages five and under. She takes its message and expands on it in such a beautiful way, and it's a great reminder for me and for anyone who has small kids. I encourage you to take a few moments to read it, even if you don't have small kids.

On a related note (I promise it's related - I'll explain in a second), the college I work for is hosting the funeral for a police officer and his K-9 partner tomorrow. The viewing is today, and because of these two events our campus has been greatly disrupted. All week I've heard the constant roar, hum, and beeping of trucks and bulldozers from the city as they've come on campus to clear massive amounts of snow from the parking lots. Because they've closed off various parking lots at various times, it's been extremely confusing and inconvenient to find a parking space.

Today everyone has to park in a shopping center across the street, and a college bus is shuttling people over to campus. I've heard the bus drive by my window all day, along with numerous police and fire vehicles coming on campus for the viewing.

Tomorrow, we'll be somewhat locked onto campus as it will be difficult to enter or exit from about 10am until 1:30pm because of the funeral and procession.

Logistically, it's quite a pain.

However, I found myself being very contemplative this week. Every beep of a bulldozer, every blocked off parking lot, every police car that I see on campus, is a reminder of how short life is and how blessed I am. It's a somber reminder of those who serve our community and our country, knowing that they put their lives on the line every day.

I have much to be thankful for.

Now there is also news of the tragedy in Haiti to remind me of the blessings in my life. A warm bed, a hot shower, clean water, food. These are things that I do not want to take for granted.

Between MckMama's post, the funeral, and the earthquake in Haiti, God has been reminding me this week that I need to embrace every moment. Instead of annoyance because Kaitlyn wants to read Cinderella AGAIN (seriously, how many times in a row can a book be read??) I need to embrace my role as a mom and be thankful that she wants to spend time with me.

Instead of getting mad at the driver in front of me or the person who is holding up the line at the store, I need to pause and be thankful that I have a car, I have a job, and I have the ability to go to a store and purchase what I need, along with a few wants, too. How many people in the world can say that?

What do you have to be thankful for this week?

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Hello 2010!!

2010-01-04T18:30:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!

Can you believe it’s 2010? Wow.

We had a relatively great Christmas at our house, although it was mixed with some not-so-nice stuff. My grandpa passed away the week before Christmas – while it wasn’t expected, it wasn’t necessarily a surprise. Here and here are two posts that my sister wrote about him.

We also had three rounds of sickness – a nasty 24-hour flu. Mike got it first, a few days before Christmas, and we thought it was food poisoning. Then Kaitlyn got sick in the middle of the night while we were at Mike’s grandpa’s house. (There is nothing quite like having a child get sick in the middle of the night, while sleeping in the same bed as you, when you are in a strange house.)

Then I got sick on the 30^th and ended up ringing in the New Year on the couch in my jammies, snuggled up with a bottle of Gatorade and some saltine crackers.

(I declared that it was a sign of what I was leaving behind in 2009, not what I was taking with me into 2010.)

Aside from the negative, we had a good time with our families. My sister Andrea came in from California a few days earlier than planned to attend Grandpa’s funeral and it was really nice to have that extra time with her. In spite of Kaitlyn being sick, we also had a good time with Mike’s family, including his grandpa, mom, and aunt and uncle. The highlight of that time was going to see Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel in the movie theater. It was Kailtyn’s very first movie experience, and she did wonderfully! The only bad thing was trying to explain to her why we couldn’t watch it again.

I have much to say about resolutions and the new year – it’s all rolling around (quite thunderously) in my noggin. I may actually have too much to say… I doubt all of my thoughts will behave well enough to fit into one post. I’m working on putting them all out on paper in a format that will become a series of posts.

However.

I think we all know what happens when I say here that I intend to come back and post something later. It never quite seems to happen.

I would really like to wrestle all of my thoughts out and onto the screen because 1) I want to remember some of what I’ve gone through this year and 2) it might help someone else. And also because I did a great job of following through on my resolution from last year, and it is building towards another one for this year.

How’s that for some suspense? Keep your fingers crossed, say a little prayer that I’ll stay motivated, and this all might actually end up in a blog post someday. (How’s that for a promise???)

I hope you had a great Christmas, and may you have an abundantly blessed 2010!

Carven Der Pumpkin

2009-11-25T07:05:00.002-05:00

I found this yesterday, courtesy of one of my Facebook friends. I thought it was the perfect way to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving! (Hopefully yours is bazooka-free.)

I also found these hilarious videos of the old guys from the Muppets. Enjoy!

Oh deer

2009-11-24T15:54:00.005-05:00

This is a photo of Mike's car, which had the misfortune of colliding with an 8-point buck last Tuesday night.

We are thankful the deer did not come through the windshield and that Mike walked away with no injuries.

The car and the deer, however, are different stories. A hunter came along shortly after the accident and shot the deer to put it out of its misery. The hunter speculated that all four legs were broken, so there was no chance the poor thing was going to survive.

The car is totaled.

Which, in a way, is a blessing. We were hoping to replace the car in the next year or so. It had a bad oil leak and we hadn't put any major money into repairs for it, so it's a blessing that we are getting insurance money out of something that could have (very soon) been a liability for us.

On Saturday we got a new-to-us car. It cost more than what I wanted to spend on a car, but in looking at our options, it was the one that made the most sense and will be the best value for us in the long run.

The good news is that the week before, God blessed us and gave us the ability to completely pay off our minivan.

For a split-second after Mike's run-in with the deer I was a little frustrated - we finally had paid off both cars, but less than a week later we had to add a payment back. What kind of progress is that?

But then I realized that, while this isn't ideal, God had already provided. We hadn't yet reworked our monthly budget to account for not having a car payment (we had in our heads - but not on paper) so to take on another payment is effortless. What a blessing!

As we approach Thanksgiving day I am reminded of how much I have to be thankful for. The list is long.

I'm not sure what else to write here - there has been a long pause in my thinking, reflecting on all the reasons I have to give thanks. One of the verses from Psalm 16 comes to mind - it is the same Psalm the Holy Spirit brought to my mind when I went in for my biopsy last year. It seems quite appropriate as a Psalm of thanksgiving (and for what we've been through in the past week) as well.

Yes, surely I have a delightful inheritance!

Psalm 16
1 Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge. 2 I said to the Lord, "You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing." 3 As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight. 4 The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods. I will not pour out their libations of blood or take up their names on my lips. 5 Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. 6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. 7 I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. 8 I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, 10 because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. 11 You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

Everybody wants to be a cat

2009-11-10T09:02:00.002-05:00

I have watched The Aristocats approximately 40 times in the past 10 days.

As far as children's movies go, this one isn't bad. It's one that I liked as a kid and it is definitely a Disney classic.

But I've watched it so much that I now over-analyze the plot.

I mean, really, doesn't Edgar know that even though the cats will inherit the money first, he will still have to be around to take care of them? While continuing to live in the mansion? While enjoying all the money left behind?

Doesn't he also know that cats don't really have nine lives, and that the cats (in all likelihood) wouldn't really outlive him?

Also, if kidnapping the cats was news enough to make the front page of the paper, don't you think the police would get involved? And don't you think they would question Edgar? And don't you think they would find some evidence that would indicate him?

I think the movie would have been greatly improved if they had taken care of some of these pesky details and made it a little more realistic. Because, obviously, the whole taking/singing animals part is totally realistic.

Yeah, it's been a long week.

Also, I went to Wal-Mart on Sunday to do some shopping and found myself humming this for an hour and a half:

Miracles

2009-11-09T22:20:00.003-05:00

I was home again today with Kaitlyn. To make a long story short - she is recovering from pneumonia. It's been a long week.

The good thing about being home today is that I had a chance to participate in two miracles.

#1 - the Stuff Christians Like readers have raised almost $30,000 in the past 24 hours to build a school in Vietnam. It's been cool to refresh the donation page throughout the day and see the total grow. As of writing this, we only need $1,000 more to reach the goal!

UPDATE: The goal was met! So much for hoping to reach it by December 31 - how about 24 hours instead??

#2 - I've loosely been following Stellan's story over at MckMama's blog for the past year. He is a miracle baby who wasn't expected to live past delivery. He did survive (and thrive!) but then was diagnosed with some heart issues. He had surgery today in less-than-ideal conditions, and as of one point this morning his heart stopped.

However.

God worked a miracle and Stellan's surgery is a home run success!!!!!!

I have been praying for him all day long and have obsessively been refreshing MckMama's blog and her Twitter updates. As I sat here with my sick baby I couldn't help but think about how terrible it must be to see your baby hospitalized and going through surgery. I am so blessed that God cleared my schedule today so I could pray for little Stellan and be a witness to this miracle. God is good!

Happy Birthday, I think

2009-11-03T06:30:00.001-05:00

This picture represents the last 48 hours at our house. (Not pictured: the humidifier, cough drops, Candy Land, and DVR'd episodes of Top Chef.)

Early Sunday morning (2am-ish) Kaitlyn woke up with a fever, we gave her some Tylenol, and she promptly gave it back to us - including some in our bed and in her hair. Awesome. Those are always the moments when I think, "Yep - I'm a mom."

The poor girl has had a fever of 102.5-103 ever since, and we all have terrible coughs. (Or "the coughs" as Kaitlyn says.)

On Sunday Mike went to Walmart because we were out of children's Tylenol and Motrin, and lo and behold, they were also out of it.

Well, let me ammend that statement slightly by saying that according to Mike, who called me while at Walmart and was very confused about what he was looking for, they were out of it. He did come home with some chewable Tylenol.

Anyway, my point is that it seems we aren't the only ones dealing with this sort of thing right now.

So, happy birthday to me. I stayed home with Kaitlyn yesterday and will stay home again this morning.

And really, what could be better than hanging out in your PJs with your favorite kid? I really want all of us to get better, but I'm also trying to count my blessings.

I'd say I'm pretty blessed. :-)

My Christmas gift to you

2009-11-02T06:00:00.000-05:00

I recently received the ABC Distributing catalog in the mail, and it has inspired me. As my early Christmas gift to you, I will periodically share some wonderful gift ideas to aid you in your shopping this year.

Gift idea #1 - Knit Jean Lounge Pants

Who wouldn't love a pair of lounge pants that look like they stepped right out of the 80's? The perfect gift for your favorite brother-in-law! Click here to order.

Sick

2009-10-30T20:51:00.003-04:00

All three of us have been sick this week. Not anything that's kept us at home - just your basic cold, complete with congestion, coughing, and scratchy throats.

Kaitlyn has actually been sick for three or four weeks now, but we've been to the doctor three times (once for her regular check-up) and each time it's been announced that, aside from her cough, everything looks and sounds fine.

We are celebrating my birthday with my family tomorrow night (my actual birthday isn't until Tuesday) but other than that, we're hoping to lay low this weekend. We may even skip church on Sunday so we can sleep in and take it easy.

Now for some good news... My mom and my sister continue to have positive follow-up visits with their doctors. Here is my sister's latest blog entry about a recent doctor's visit. They also were in the paper last week with a nice story about their victory over cancer. Here is my sister's post about that, including a link to the article.

Considering what we were going through at this time last year, I guess a cold isn't all that bad. :-)

Reconsidering

2009-10-23T06:00:00.000-04:00

I've never thought about getting an iPhone. I've never even considered it. But this post from Ryan at This is Reverb, sharing what might be the best app ever (especially for parents of young children,) has made me pause to reconsider.

As seen at Walmart

2009-10-22T06:00:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday night I went to Walmart to fill a prescription for Kaitlyn. Of course the pharmacy was incredibly busy, and of course "the slow one" was on duty. (As told to another customer by the employee at the drop off counter, in regards to the pharmacist on duty.)

The good news is I had about 40 minutes of uninterrupted alone time to wander around and shop.

The bad news is I spent extra money.

The good news is I got some things for the house, and we have the extra money to spend.

Anyway, I saw a few interesting things.

1. They are starting to put out their Christmas decorations. I actually had fun browsing the aisle all by myself. I don't think I've ever looked at Christmas stuff without having to maneuver around lots of other people. The lesson here is if you want to look at Christmas decorations in peace and quiet, you have to do it in mid-October.

2. I found two of these 6.5 inch round bar boards on clearance. I've wanted to get some new cutting boards, but most of the time I just need a small surface for slicing an apple, cutting the ends off carrots, etc. I think these will do the trick, and you just can't beat clearance!

3. I've been looking for bins that I can use in Kaitlyn's room to help organize her toys, that can slide under her bed. Last week I bought some big under-the-bed containers which work, but weren't exactly what I want. As I was wandering through the kitchen section last night I found simple, white, plastic dishpans that are the perfect size. And, they were 1.88 each. Now that I think about it, they also would be perfect for our family room downstairs. We have white shelving where we keep toys and games, but I need a little something extra to organize that space. Looks like I might be headed back to Walmart for more dishpans.
4. In my new decorating quest I've been on the lookout for a comforter set for our bed and a new shower curtain for our master bath. I've found a few where I like the design, but not the colors, or vice versa. Last night I saw that Walmart has both shower curtains and comforter sets in solid colors, and in colors that I've been looking for. Maybe that's the route I need to go...

5. When I was done with my shopping I went back to the pharmacy, only to discover that my prescription wasn't done yet. (See previous comment about "the slow one.") While I sat on the bench and waited, a woman stepped up to the counter and had the biggest dose of attitude I have seen in a long time. Her conversation with the pharmacy employee could have been a Saturday Night Live sketch. The employee deserves a medal for the patience and tact he displayed while trying to help her.

6. Public Service Announcement: When you have PMS and have 40 minutes to kill in Walmart, it's really best to not go wandering through the bakery section. You might end up putting some peanut butter cookies in your cart.

And you may or may not bust them open in the car and eat one (or maybe two) on the way home.

You may also eat a few more (ahem - maybe even half the package) after arriving home.

Just what I needed

2009-10-14T22:06:00.003-04:00

Cake Wrecks

If you've never visited this site, you must stop by sometime soon. Tonight I went all the way back to the beginning posts and I laughed so hard I thought I might fall off the couch. For me, the funniest ones are the misspelled cakes, incorrectly punctuated cakes, and cakes where the the decorator took the instructions a bit too literally.

I hope you "enjoy" looking at the cake wrecks as much I do.

Speaking of decorating...

2009-10-10T16:29:00.002-04:00

In my last post I wrote that I was finally ready to decorate our house. I planned to start in the living room and/or the master bedroom.

And then this morning we noticed that our neighbors were having a garage sale. So we wandered down to take a look.

They had a complete girl's bedroom set for sale. For $40. When our neighbor saw us looking at it, she said we could have it for $25.

Sold.

I guess we're doing Kaitlyn's room first.

We're off to get some paint...

Let the decorating begin!

2009-10-09T06:00:00.000-04:00

If you've been reading my blog for the past year, you know it's been a doozy of a year for us. We moved into our house on August 4, 2008, in the midst of several other major events. (You can read about some of it here and here. And here. And here. Oh yeah, and here too. I'll just stop there.)

It seems like we'd get through one issue just to have something else come up. We've dealt with cancer (x2), a fire, an accident, job changes, a biopsy, and probably some other stuff I'm forgetting by the grace of God. We've had additional changes and stresses this year, mostly stemming from work issues that revealed some heart issues that affected how Mike and I communicate that we then had to work through which is oh so tiring in and of itself.

All year long I've looked at my house and thought, I need to decorate. I need to do something with this place.

Decorating involves oodles of decisions, and decisions have never been my thing. (Although I'm working on that - not every decision has to be the RIGHT decision so I'm trying to learn not to pressure myself into being a perfectionist. Also, if I get it wrong every once in a while, who the heck cares?) And decisions about decorating have definitely not been at the top of the priority list this year.

Therefore, my house is incredibly bare, uncoordinated, and random. Things landed where they landed because it was the easiest decision to make at the time and was the most functional. We also have all of the nails from the previous owner's pictures in the walls, and a prominent place on the living room wall that needs some repair and some paint.

I've kind of beaten myself up for this. I've thought, we've lived here for x months now, why can't I get my act together? And then I would sigh and realize that I didn't have the mental or emotional capacity to care. And I'd move on to something else that comes more naturally for me, such as collapsing on the couch and watching TV.

About two months ago I started to care, but I felt completely overwhelmed at the thought of trying to do something with the house.

About two weeks ago, I started getting excited about decorating. I started tearing pages out of magazines that had good ideas and inspiration. I started wandering through the home section at Kohl's, Target, and Walmart. I started looking at my house and furniture with new eyes, looking for potential.

I've been reflecting on all of this - it's been simmering on the back burner a few days. I've been trying to define and analyze why things have unfolded the way they have. Now that things have settled down I look back and realize just how hard this year has been. If I got a new job, I would expect it take, say, a month for me to get acclimated. A month for my routine to be upset and for other areas of life to be a little unsettled while I figured out the new job and how to coordinate it with our day-to-day routine.

I would expect the same thing for moving to a new house.

If I got sick and was down and out for a week, I would expect it to take another week or two to get back into a routine.

If a close family member had surgery and I wanted to be available to help, I would expect my daily activities to get disrupted or suspended for a week or two, or more depending on the circumstances.

When I look at all of the major events that have happened and think about how each of them would normally interrupt life for x days or weeks, and then when I consider that several of these events happened all in the same week/month for me, well, it's no wonder that it's taken some time to get back to "normal."

As these thoughts simmered on my brain, I had another thought. When I get sick, I go through three phases. Phase #1 is the dead-to-the-world part - I'm sick, don't bug me, I don't care what is happening with the house, just leave me alone and let me sleep.

Phase #2 is the part where I'm feeling better, and I begin to notice all that has gone downhill during phase #1. I see everything that needs to be done, I care about it getting done, but I just don't have enough energy to do anything about it.

It's in phase #3 that I both care about everything AND have sufficient energy to work on getting it done.

I realized that the past two months have been my phase #2 for this crazy year. Things finally slowed down, we were finally making progress on some big issues, God had worked to heal up a few things, but I wasn't fully recovered. It's like I wrote in this post about digging around on the ocean floor for treasure - the activity had stopped, but the dust hadn't yet settled.

I'll admit that in thinking all of this, I felt guilty. Guilty because I felt that my issues from this year weren't as bad as what my mom and my sister had been through, and look how great they are doing! But I have to stop that line of thinking. I am where I am, and too many times I disqualify my own emotions because I compare them to someone else and judge that I have no right to feel xyz because Joe over there appears to have had the same experience and he's doing just fine, thankyouverymuch.

One of the major lessons God has been teaching me is to not squash my emotions. I do that too much, and it doesn't make them go away. It only means that at some point down the road I either explode or implode.

Um, so where was I?

Oh yeah, putting my house together and decorating.

I'm really excited about it.

I doubt it will be perfect, or that it will happen overnight.

But that's ok.

I've found several blogs that are inspiring: Living with Lindsay, Nesting Place, and Gracious Southern Living. There are many others that I've bookmarked and look forward to reading.

It seems that I have a lot of friends who are going through transitional times right now. If you are going through a transition and are feeling guilty because you aren't focusing attention on [insert unrealistic Martha Stewart-ish expectation here], I give you permission to stop. Give yourself some grace.

If I can organize myself enough to take before and after photos of my progress, I will. Actually getting them posted will be another story.

(But I refuse to feel guilty if they don't get posted.)

The cow, part 2

2009-10-06T21:49:00.000-04:00

If you missed the first part of the story, you can read it here.

When Mike arrived home from work after my crazy cow conversation with Kaitlyn it was one of those moments where I said, "Here - take your daughter," as soon as he walked in the door. I really thought my head was going to explode from her incessant talking and questioning about the cow.

We finally moved on to other things that night, but little did I know that it would all start again the next morning while on the way to the sitter's house. I'll spare you the details - just imagine a conversation similar to the one I recounted in my first post.

After we went for a few rides on the conversation merry-go-round I said an exasperated prayer. Was this a spiritual issue? Had an irrational fear taken root in her mind? Or, was this the product of an over-dramatic imagination at work? Lord, give me wisdom!

I decided that prayer is always a good thing and told Kaitlyn that we were going to pray about it. And pray we did. If there were any evil spiritual forces at work in her mind, we prayed them right on out of that minivan.

After the prayer she sat in silence for a minute or two, then said, "Mom? Can we pray for the cow?"

Pray for the cow? Oy.

This reminded me of the last time my mom watched Kaitlyn during the day. Kaitlyn suddenly starting talking about a monster and attached herself to my mom with a death grip. She was tense and fearful, and clung to my mom until finally falling asleep.

When she woke up, she told my mom that Jesus had come and kicked that monster out. Then she wanted the monster to come sit with her at the table while she ate lunch. Seriously? First you are deathly afraid of the monster, and then you make friends and want to share your pudding with him? **sigh**

There has been more talk of monsters since these two incidents. I'm thinking this is simply a phase, but then again there is that thought of what if there are times when she is really afraid and I'm acting like it's no big deal?

This is the part of parenting that I didn't realize would be so hard. The fine line between what is harmless and should be ignored, versus what is harmful and needs to be dealt with. What if I think it is harmless and blow it off but it turns out to be a serious concern? What if I think it is harmful and I make a big deal out of it, when really it was harmless until I started meddling and trying to fix it and then it turns into something harmful?

Talk about a merry-go-round.

I was thinking about this tonight and realized that it's only the start of the parenting merry-go-round of what ifs and guilt trips. She's not even three - I have many years ahead of the "is this harmless or harmful?" debate. In the midst of the barrage of thoughts and possible future scenarios that flooded my mind I realized that I, using my own skill and logic, will never be able to handle this thing called parenting.

The next revelation that came to me was the importance of building my relationship with God. This is the only way I'll stay sane - knowing that the One who loves Kaitlyn more than I'll ever understand is leading me and guiding me. Knowing that I can't go everywhere she goes, but He will. Knowing that He will give me discernment, and that His power is made perfect in my weakness. Oh what peace there is in that!

For now I will take the monster issue one day at a time. I've heard other parents of preschoolers talk about their kids being obsessed with monsters so I'm not going to freak out about it. (We have enough drama in our house without me throwing more into the mix.)

Nevertheless, you can be sure that we will avoid taking Kaitlyn to Chick-Fil-A for a while.

Cat Massage

2009-09-30T18:00:00.000-04:00

A follow up to the cow story is still coming (along with Kaitlyn's third birthday) but I saw this today and could not resist posting it.

I'm not going to show it to Emmy because might get a bit jealous that we don't show her this much attention. On the hand, she might see it and think, "Praise the Lord I don't live with that lady!"

And remember, you can't fool drool.

Menu Plan - 9.28.09 (recipe added)

2009-09-28T06:00:00.003-04:00

Today is the first day that the weather really feels like fall. I want to put on a comfy sweatshirt, curl up under a blanket, sip some cider, and watch football. So, it works out perfectly that this week's plan includes chili and homemade bread. Mmmmm!

If you want more menu inspiration, visit orgjunkie.com.

Monday
Chili and homemade bread

Tuesday
Spaghetti and meatballs

Wednesday
Cheesy chicken and noodles*

Thursday
Breakfast for dinner

Friday
Leftovers

*The cheesy chicken and noodles casserole is one of our favorites, and is great for when you want to take a meal to someone. I just looked in my archives and I don't think I've ever posted the recipe, which I can't believe because it is such a favorite! I don't have it in front of me at the moment, but I'll return to post it later. It's a keeper!

***Here it is***

Cheesy Chicken & Noodles
16 oz noodles, cooked
4 cups chicken, cooked and cubed
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cups velveta cheese
2 cups milk

Mix all ingredients and pour into a baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, stirring a few times to incorporate the ingredients.

This makes a lot so I usually freeze half of this or plan to have it twice in a week. (It's yummy enough that we'll eat twice in one week!)

Chatty Cathy and the Cow

2009-09-22T21:32:00.000-04:00

About two months ago I took Kaitlyn to dinner at Chick-Fil-A. Mike was doing something work-related so I decided that she and I would go out to eat and then run to the grocery store after I picked her up from the sitter's house.

It was at the sitter's house that I found out it was "family night" at the particular Chick-Fil-A we were going to. Free food for Kaitlyn = awesome.

When we arrived at Chick-Fil-A, we both got the surprise of our lives. We walked through the door and were greeted by the Chick-Fil-A cow. As in, a huge, person-dressed-up-in-a-costume cow.

Kaitlyn FREAKED. OUT.

Before I could respond she had practically leaped up into my arms and was clawing and screaming. If a costumed cow could have facial expressions, I think this one would have looked just as terrified as Kaitlyn. He/she slowly backed away from the door, as if to say, "Um, yeah. Looks like my job here is done. Good luck with the screaming kid, lady."

I took her into the bathroom and got her calmed down. We ordered, then sat at a table FAAAAR away from the family night activities and the cow. By the time we left, Kaitlyn decided that maybe the cow wasn't that bad, and even waved good-bye to him/her.

The cow incident has been mentioned now and again over the past two months. Daddy heard all about it, Meagan (Kaitlyn's sitter) heard all about it, the grandparents heard all about it, and probably a few cashiers, servers, and random strangers have also been told about the cow.

So, one day last week Kaitlyn and I are on our way home after work. I had been to Chick-Fil-A that day and my cup was still in the cup holder. Would you believe that Kaitlyn recognized the cup and started talking about that darn cow? There was no hint of a cow picture on the cup. How did she know where it was from??

Here is a glimpse into the next five minutes of conversation:

K: Mommy, I don't like the cow.

Me: Ok.

K: That cow scared me.

Me: I know. But you're ok now, right?

K: Yeah.

Me: It was just a person dressed up like a cow.

K: It was just a person?

Me: Yes - remember, we talked about that. And remember how you liked the cow at the end? Remember how you waved to it?

K: Mommy, I don't want to see the cow again.

Me: Ok. You don't have to see the cow again. I know it scared you honey, but there's nothing to be scared of. If you get scared you can just ask Jesus to help you.

K: Mommy - I don't want to see the cow!

Me: Ok - we won't go see the cow.

K: But mom - MOM! I don't want to see the cow.

Me: O.k.

K: Mommy, I don't want to see the cow.

Me: Yes, I understand. We won't go see the cow.

K: I don't want that cow to get me.

Me: He won't get you. I promise.

K: [getting a little dramatic] Mommy - I don't want to see the cow!

Me: Ok.

K: Ok?

Me: Yes. Ok.

K: Um, mom?

Me: What honey?

K: [nonchalantly] I don't want to see that cow again.

Me: Ok.

K: But I don't want to see the cow.

Me: O. K.

K: But I don't want to see the cow.

Me: I said Ohhhhhhhh Kaaaaaaay. You don't have to see the cow. Trust me - we won't be going back there anytime soon.

K: [rambling, hard to understand mumbling about the cow, ending with a question mark, insinuating that I should provide an answer]

Me: What?

K: [big sigh] Where is the cow?

Me: I don't know.

K: You don't know? But where is the cow?

Me: Kaitlyn, seriously, I have no idea where the cow is.

K: Mom! I don't want that cow to get me!

Me: I know. Kaitlyn, listen: YOU. ARE NOT. GOING. TO SEE. THE COW. THE COW. IS NOT. GOING. TO GET. YOU.

K: But where is he?

Me: Honey, he's probably still at Chick-Fil-A.

K: Is he in the kitchen at Chick-Fil-A?

Me: Um, yes. Yes. He's definitely in the kitchen at Chick-Fil-A.

K: But why is he in the kitchen?

Me: [thinking, "really?? am I having this conversation?"] Because that's where he belongs. Far, far away from you.

K: Mom?

Me: WHAT.

K: Mom, I don't want to see the cow.

Me: [Silence. Thinking, "If I don't respond, maybe she'll end this ridiculous conversation.]

K: MOM.

Me: What.

K: I don't want to see that cow again.

Later this week: The cow, part 2; the next morning.

Menu Plan Monday - 9/21/09

2009-09-21T19:05:00.004-04:00

There's not anything extraordinary about my menu plan for the week, but I guess that's what makes it realistic. :-) As always, for more menu ideas visit orgjunkie.com.

Monday
Stir Fry

Tuesday
Roast w/ potatoes and carrots in the crock pot

Wednesday
Goulash (using leftover roast)

Thursday
Ham and bean soup

Friday
Left overs

Haircut - UPDATED

2009-09-16T06:00:00.001-04:00

Today, at 11:45am EST (or is it EDT?) I will get my hair cut. I am so happy about this because my hair is beginning to rebel in the mornings. It always flips up in one particular spot in the back, and with a three-year-old running circles around me, I barely have enough energy to make her behave let alone trying to make my hair behave.

I've had the same cut for a while now and I'm tired of it. For several months I've been on the hunt for something new, and on August 31 the Lord blessed me with the exact inspiration I needed.

I think I'm going to do this.

I love how the back is no fuss, but the front is still long enough that it looks similar to what I currently have. I only hope that my hair cooperates and will leave me with a cut that actually looks like the photos.

Also, God bless you, Pioneer Woman, for not only thinking to take these photos and post them for your readers, but also for having the foresight to post photos of every angle of the cut. If I could give you a hug, I would.

Depending on how things go tonight after work (and how I feel about my hair post-cut), I'll try to have Mike take some photos so you can see how it turned out.

**UPDATE**

I'm not posting a photo tonight. 1) Because the biggest, ugliest pimple known to man suddenly appeared on my face this afternoon. I suppose it's not that big of a deal, but still. Does that make me vain? 2) Because Kaitlyn felt the need to restyle my hair tonight after dinner. She "combed" and "styled" it for a good half hour so I can only imagine what it must look like right now.

The good news is that I love it. LOVE. IT. My stylist used a straightener on the front, but it would actually look just as cute if I did a little finger styling with some hair product and then let it air dry. It's a GREAT low maintenance cut for me!

Menu plan for 9/14/09

2009-09-13T21:02:00.002-04:00

There is something about fall that makes me extremely motivated to be in the kitchen. Case in point: this weekend I froze five pints of tomatoes from our garden, made four pints of homemade chicken stock, cooked and froze four cups of chicken, and cooked and froze four cups of ham. Wow! I haven't been that active in the kitchen all summer!

I'm also much better about planning out a weekly menu in the fall which is why I am making a return to Menu Plan Monday. It definitely helps me to keep focused during the week - when I don't do this we end up eating out a lot more and doing more convenience foods at home. Here is the menu for this week:

Monday
Pork fried rice

Tuesday
Spaghetti and meatballs

Wednesday
Chicken and stuffing

Thursday
Leftovers

Friday
Pizza

For more menu ideas visit orgjunkie.com.

Puddin'

2009-09-12T15:52:00.002-04:00

Today I finally figured out how to manage the videos I take on our Flip. Therefore, you might be seeing a lot more videos. Many of them are ones that I intended to post a loooong time ago, including this one of Kaitlyn on her second birthday. (Her celebration was the weekend after; this is the actual day of her birthday.)

So excited!

2009-09-10T20:15:00.002-04:00

This will be released just in time for someone to buy it for me for my birthday!

And when I say "someone" I think I mean me because I want it so much that I'll probably pre-order it.

(Also, how many times can I say "I" in one sentence?)

Treasure hunt

2009-09-08T17:30:00.000-04:00

According to Ecclesiastes 3:1, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven," including "a time to be silent and a time to speak." (Verse 7)

I suppose the past few months have been my time to be silent.

Have you ever had a season where it didn't seem like you were making much progress, but you just felt exhausted? I feel like I jumped into the deep end of the pool about three months ago and have been swimming around nonstop. There have been a lot of deep thoughts. Deep concepts. Deep thought patterns to consider and wrestle with. Deep questions.

Actually, it's more like I've been swimming in the ocean, and God keeps pushing me to find treasure at the bottom. He's been giving me clues and guidance, and I've had to dive down and rummage through the rubble on the ocean floor.

It's been quite messy at times. When you move things around on the ocean floor, and especially when you move things that have been there for a long time, you tend to stir things up and then it's hard to see.

But God is still there, saying, "I know it was hard to find those few gold coins, but don't stop there. Keep digging! There's a whole treasure chest I want you to find! It will be tiring, and you're going to have to wrestle with a bunch of junk, but in the end you'll have the treasure."

For several weeks I've been trying to figure out why I stopped blogging. I'm not sure if I have any clear cut answers on that, aside from life being busy and me being mentally and emotionally tired. However, I hope to pick it up again on a regular basis.

I really want to blog about some of my deep thoughts and the treasures I've found, but I'm not sure that I will. One thing I've discovered about myself is that I tend to make promises because it seems like I should, and then I feel obligated to do something that I didn't really want to do in the first place. So, I'm trying to be better about being honest on the front end. And, honestly, I hope that I'll be able to put words to some of the things I've learned but I'm not going to push it. Maybe it will simply come out in the midst of writing about life in general.

One thing I do want to get back to is doing Menu Plan Monday. I didn't realize how much it helped to keep me on track with having a meal plan for the week!

Also, I do need to write about Kaitlyn's third birthday and post some photos. I can't believe she turned THREE! Where does the time go?

Healing!

2009-08-15T16:41:00.001-04:00

My sister just posted this today. Praise the Lord!!!!

Blessed

2009-08-11T23:13:00.002-04:00

We brought home a great, new-to-us minivan last night. (A 2002 Honda Odyssey. Gold. Power sliding doors. LOVE IT.) Maybe later I'll get around to posting some photos of it.

God has truly blessed us. He has taken what could have been a terrible accident, and what has been a huge inconvenience, and he is in the process of working it all together for our good.

Did I mention we've been blessed?

I'm off to bed for now... I'll post more of an update tomorrow. Goodnight!

Could it possibly be more bizarre? It seems the answer is YES!

2009-08-05T08:04:00.003-04:00

When we got home last night there was a message from the officer who had responded to our accident. He wanted to know if he could come over and get statements from us.

When he arrived he said that the county prosecutor wants to go after the woman who hit us, which is why he needed to get statements. We gladly obliged.

Let me back up for a second... After the accident, there were two witnesses that were incredibly helpful and reassuring to us. One of them made sure we knew that the truck had pulled over in the parking lot, made sure we knew he had seen the whole thing and would stick around to be a witness, and he also came back more than an hour later (while we were still waiting for the tow truck) to make sure that no one was seriously injured. He was especially concerned about Kaitlyn.

So, fast forward to yesterday afternoon, when I downloaded the accident report. I noticed that the address listed for the two witnesses and for the driver was the same. I thought that this must surely be a mistake.

But in the course of talking with the officer, he said that it wasn't a mistake. The two witnesses actually LIVE with the driver.

In a way, this answers some questions rolling around in the back of my head. How did the cops know she had run into Wal-Mart? How did they know she hadn't left Wal-Mart by the time they arrived? How did they know who they were looking for? How would they possibly know if she came out?

And now I know. It's because these two guys were following her (probably to help move the furniture in the back of the truck?) and saw the whole thing, and were disgusted by what she did. Disgusted enough to make sure they helped the cops get her.

Crazy.

It also makes more sense as to why they stuck around for so long, and were so concerned about whether or not we were okay.

It leaves me wondering, did they know she had been drinking? Did they know she had open containers of alcohol in the truck? Do they feel a twinge of guilt for letting her drive?

I'll probably never know, but I am so very thankful that they did the right thing. If she had been by herself, if they hadn't been behind her, if they hadn't been able to ID her, would she have simply gotten away with it?

And that's not quite the end of the crazy.

I found out that I could go online and look her up on the sheriff's web site, so I did. I could not believe the loooooong list of prior arrests. She's been arrested seven times (eight including our accident), and several of the arrests include numerous charges.

Operating while intoxicated.

Possession of marijuana.

Possession of cocaine or narcotic drug.

Possession of controlled substance.

Driving while suspended.

Habitual traffic offender.

False informing.

Contempt of court.

Etc.

At one point she spent a year in jail, but for all the other arrests it looks like she spent only a few days or a few weeks in jail.

No wonder she ran. And no wonder the prosecutor and the officer are determined to throw the book at her. This woman needs to be locked up before she kills someone.

We continue to be thankful that none of us were seriously hurt. We are frustrated about the car and the inconvenience, and that we had just filled the car up with gas 30 minutes before the accident. And I'm frustrated because I had to cancel a hair appointment on Monday because of the whole sorry mess. Grrrrrr. But these are small things compared to what we could have been dealing with.

Hopefully we will hear from our insurance company tomorrow and will know 1) if the owner of the truck has insurance and 2) if our car is for sure totaled (we assume it is) and their assessment of how much it's worth. Lord, give us favor!!

Yep - I'm pretty sure she got a time out

2009-08-03T16:16:00.004-04:00

For several weeks there have been little things here and there that I've thought about writing about, but I just haven't gotten around to it.

And then, last night, something happened that absolutely MUST be blogged about.

It's my accident #4 story. I wrote about my first car accident here. I wrote about my second one here. I intended to write about my third one, which is also a must tell story, but for now I'll have to skip it and tell you about my fourth accident.

It was a doozy.

Yesterday afternoon, while we were trying (unsuccessfully) to get Kaitlyn to take a nap, our power went out. This is the second Sunday in a row that our neighborhood suddenly lost power - last Sunday I think an animal (may it RIP) was the cause, and I have no idea what happened yesterday.

We hung around the house for a while before deciding to take a drive. We needed gas, it was dinner time, and somewhere along the way we could stop at Wal-Mart to look at swing sets and pick up some butter. (Random, I know, but we were out of butter and we've been thinking about getting Kaitlyn a swing set. Wal-Mart just happens to sell both of those things.)

We did our driving around, got gas, and went to Wal-Mart, where we looked at swing sets, got our butter, and picked up a sandwich to eat at home for dinner.

We were sitting at a stoplight, waiting to exit the Wal-Mart parking lot and turn left onto the road that would take us home.

Our light turned green. As Mike started into the intersection, we both saw a red truck speeding towards us, running the light that had just turned red for her. She was headed straight for our car.

Mike's instincts kicked in and he sped up, trying to make it to the other side of the intersection before she hit us. He was hoping she would swerve the other way and attempt to miss us, but she didn't - I don't think she even hit her brakes.

She slammed into the back driver's side door area, which was the only spot in the car where no one was sitting.

We swirled around the intersection - thankfully there was no oncoming traffic for us to run into. As soon as the car stopped we both got out and rushed around to Kaitlyn, who was hysterical.

I looked up to see the red truck limping off down the road. I thought they were attempting to move out of the way, but tried to get a good look at the license plate in case they were actually running away. But my brain just could not process what I was looking at, let alone help me to find a pen and paper to write down the number. Instead, I saw that Mike was attending to Kaitlyn so I quickly found my phone and dialed 911.

As I was telling the dispatcher what happened, I kept looking around for the truck and kept telling the dispatcher that I had no idea where it was. I was panicked. By that time several witnesses had come over to us and reassured me that the driver, a woman, had pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot. They pointed to where her truck was parked.

I finished my conversation with the dispatcher, then turned my attention to Kaitlyn. She seemed to be ok, aside from the drama of having experienced her first car accident. But we didn't want to pull her out of her booster seat until the paramedics arrived, just in case.

Then I realized that Mike was hurting - I'm pretty sure he whacked his head against the window during the impact. After talking with him, we decided that he should go to the hospital to get checked out. I also called my parents to see if they could come and help out.

By this time we were wondering where in the world the police/paramedics were. It seemed like it was taking them FOREVER to come! Mike and I noted that there were two people sitting on the ground next to the red truck, who we assumed were the driver and a passenger. We were more than a little annoyed that they didn't come over to see if we were ok.

Then the firemen/paramedics arrived, and it was a circus of trying to get Kaitlyn to make friends with the fireman who was checking her out, answering questions from the county officer who responded, and dealing with Mike getting strapped to a stretcher and put into the ambulance. As I type this and think back to the situation, I'm amazed at how calm I was which is definitely a testimony of how God was at work.

I only spoke with the officer for a few seconds, and as soon as I pointed out the red truck that hit us, he left to go talk with them.

I turned my attention back to Mike and Kaitlyn, and it was about this time that my parents showed up. Mike went off in the ambulance, Kaitlyn was now talking the fireman's ear off (telling him how she had blonde hair, and had just gotten a new table and chairs that were purple, and whatever else happened to pop into her little head), and I was working with my dad to clean out our car.

I think that's when I first overheard the firemen talking and became aware of what was happening with the driver.

She wasn't sitting on the curb next to her truck.

She had disappeared into Wal-Mart.

Seriously? (I know I use this word a lot, but seriously, if ever there was a time to use it, it's RIGHT HERE.)

At this point we didn't know why she had gone in there. Was she making a phone call? Maybe, like me, she really needed some butter?

After waiting for what seemed like an eternity the officer finally came back to get my information.

That's when it was confirmed to me that she was evading the police. In Wal-Mart.

Originally, Mike was worried that maybe he hadn't really had a green light - maybe he was at fault? Even though I had already assured him that he DID have the green light, I'm pretty sure that no one is going to contest whose fault it is when the other driver feels the need to take refuge in the world's largest retailer.

It sort of reminds me of Where the Heart Is, only the renegade hit-and-run version.

After the tow truck came and we finally got everything taken care of at the scene of the accident, we drove over to the red truck to take a look at it and to get some photos. (What did we do before cell phone cameras?)

That's when it really hit me - she absolutely intended to run away. She plowed through a red light, smashed our car, could have killed my husband, and she tried to run away. What a punk.

Her front fender punctured her tire, making it impossible for her to go anywhere. Well, impossible to drive anywhere.

Her truck was also filled to the brim - in the back she had mattresses and furniture, and in the passenger seat she had several garbage bags stuffed full of who-knows-what.

We drove past the front of the store, where there were two or three county sheriff's cars, and all of the fire vehicles that had been at the scene of the accident were now parked out front. I'm not sure where she thought she was going to go.

We went to the hospital to get Mike, and after waiting there for 45 minutes or so (or at least it felt like it was that long) he was discharged and we headed home, with a stop at the Taco Bell drive thru so we could finally eat dinner.

Kaitlyn didn't get to bed until after 10pm, and about 30 minutes later the county officer called to tell us that the woman had turned herself in. He suspects that she was drunk at the time of our accident, but she evaded the police long enough for the alcohol to work its way out of her system, at least to the point where they wouldn't be able to prove anything.

However, on the radio this morning Mike heard a local station reporting on our accident and they said that open containers had been found in the car. (I'm not sure how true that is because they also reported that a two-year-old had been taken to the hospital.)

We also got the incident report, which stated that the other driver had been arrested on two misdimeanor charges. (She got a time out and went to jail.)

Oh, and she's uninsured.

But the truck she was driving is registered to someone else. We hope he/she has insurance.

We're pretty sure our car is totaled.

We're not sure how all of this will play out.

However.

We are sure of who's hands we're in. (And it's not All State.)

And we are sure that he works all things together for our GOOD.

We're putting one foot in front of the other, taking one step at a time, and when we get discouraged we stop and remember what happened one year ago tomorrow, when we closed on our house. Our house that is above and beyond what we could have asked or imagined.

I also look at what happened and realize we are so blessed to have walked away from this without serious injury. If Mike had not sped up to get through the intersection, the other driver would have smashed directly into Mike's door. I don't want to think about what would have happened to him.

Speaking of Mike... he just got home, so I will wrap this up for now. I'll be sure to post updates later this week.

Fun in the sun

2009-06-17T16:12:00.002-04:00

I am having a blast here in LA with my sister! So far, I have:

Been to the beach
Eaten fish tacos
Missed Mike and Kaitlyn
Spent more than enough time in traffic on the freeway
Seen the "Hollywood" sign
Cruised the streets of downtown LA
Seen the entrance to Paramount Studios
Been to Mann's Chinese Theatre
Gotten a photo with my hand in Cary Grant's hand print (my very favorite old time actor)
Missed Mike and Kaitlyn
Been to the Kodak Theatre
Seen my fair share of strange characters
Had a lot of fun with the Biola admissions staff
Told my infamous toenail story to a room full of people, and given a bag of Chex Mix to Andrea's boss, who loves the toenail story
Missed Mike and Kaitlyn
Eaten at some fun little restaurants, and had the BEST bacon, lettuce, tomato and avocado sandwich EVER
Sat outside at Biola's coffee shop for an entire morning, sipping coffee, enjoying the cool California breeze, and checking email
Enjoyed my time catching up with Andrea
Did I mention missing Mike and Kaitlyn?

My conference officially starts in a few hours and I'm looking forward to networking with other PR/marketing/communications professionals from Christian colleges. I know I will learn a lot - I seriously hope my head doesn't explode because of all the information - and pray that I'll be able to take one or two really great ideas and implement them when I return to the office.

I know the next two days will be great and I don't want to wish them away, but seriously, I can't wait for Saturday when I get to fly home and see Mike and Kaitlyn!

Freebies from Chipotle

2009-06-17T06:00:00.000-04:00

I wanted to give an update on the guacamole incident I had at Chipotle and give them props for their great customer service.

I emailed them to recount my conversation, and the next day I received an email response which had been copied to about ten more people who work at Chipotle. The woman who responded did a great job of acknowledging the situation and apologizing for my strange experience, and offered to send me a coupon for a free entree.

The next day I got a call from the manager of the Chipotle store, also apologizing for my experience and offering me a free burrito the next time I stopped in. I went in on Friday to take her up on her offer, and not only did she give me a free burrito (with guacamole, of course) she also gave me free chips and a drink.

Woohoo! It definitely pays to (nicely) give feedback!

Wax on, wax off

2009-06-15T07:00:00.000-04:00

By the time this post is up, I will be on a plane to California to attend a conference. This is pretty amazing, considering the budget cuts that have been made and the fact that most of the departments at my college had their conference/travel budgets slashed to zero.

The other amazing part is it is being held at Biola University (located outside of Los Angeles), which just happens to be where my sister Andrea works. Woohoo! I get to stay with her for the week and am going out a day early to hang out with her.

Last week it hit me that I really am going. To a professional conference. In Los Angeles.

As this reality sank in, I suddenly felt very Mid-Western. And a little frumpy. And more than a little mom-ish.

For three years things like painting my toenails and having perfectly groomed eyebrows have not been at the top of my priority list, and I felt a pannicked need to move them back to the top. How could I have let these kinds of things go? When did I fall into that mommy slump?

I've spent the rest of the week reevaluating my clothing and shoes and jewelry and purse and sunglasses and what ever else I could possibly find to be insecure about.

(It doesn't help that Aunt Flo was visiting and brought along more than enough hormones to skew my ability to rationally evaluate the situation.)

Yesterday I pulled out the nail polish and proceeded to paint my toenails. Kaitlyn, of course, walked in and wanted to know what I was doing. She proceeded to get in the way, and I suddenly remembered why painting my nails had gone to the bottom of the priority list.

Today I opened up the new waxing kit I picked up at the drug store earlier this week. My eyebrows and upper lip were in need of some attention.

Unfortunately, Kaitlyn was more than willing to provide me with plenty of attention as I tried to read the directions for melting the wax in the microwave. And melting the wax turned out to be much messier and more complicated than what the directions indicated.

After spilling wax on the kitchen floor and spending several minutes stirring/melting the sticky, gloppy mess, I proceeded to the bathroom for the next step.

I managed to do my upper lip and had started to get the wax spread around my eyebrows when Kaitlyn found me. She was being a little high maintenance, so there I was, trying to concentrate on finishing the job and keeping an almost-three-year-old from spilling the wax or grabbing the tweezers or getting into anything else destructive.

(In case you were wondering, this is not the ideal situation for practicing your multi-tasking abilities.)

I thought I had succeeded and was about to rip away one of the wax strips when I heard her say "uh-oh" and looked down to find a suction cup in the toilet. She seemed facinated by this, and I caught her arm just before she threw a second suction cup in. (The suction cups are ones that keep falling off our shower organizer.)

I took the suction cup away and turned around just in time to see her begin to reach her hand towards to the toilet.

"Oh no. No no no. NO. You do NOT need to get that out of there."

After convincing her that the suction cup would be okay (until I retrieved it later), and a discussion about how you never throw things in the toilet, and you never reach in the toilet, I finally was able to finish the waxing job.

I also realized why, like the nail polish, waxing is something that hasn't been at the top of the priority list.

Then I went out into the kitchen and had to have a discussion with Kaitlyn about why we don't reach into the trash and take things out.

I'll miss her, but I am looking forward to not having to deal with this kind of stuff for a whole week!

Some things just don't make sense

2009-06-11T18:00:00.000-04:00

I have lots to blog about.

Charcoal.

Free burritos.

California.

But they all pale in importance to what I did today. I attended the viewing for a 23-year-old who died very suddenly on Saturday, while playing a video game.

I walked into the room and saw Kyle's precious wife, sitting on a stool by his casket, surrounded by her family, sobbing. No woman should ever become a widow at such a young age.

Not that there is ever a right age for someone to become a widow, but it seemed so out of context, so jolting, to see this beautiful woman who just a year and a half ago was a blushing bride and now is burying her husband.

I work with Kyle's mom, Mona. She took our family photos two years ago. She worked with my sister for many years. She is such a woman of God, a mother who I admire, and a huge prayer warrior. I don't talk to her very often, but when I do have the privilege of talking with her I always walk away feeling blessed.

I'm having a hard time with the fact that she has to bury her son.

Some things just don't make sense.

I guess that's why we have a big God.

In the midst of great sorrow over Kyle being so suddenly taken away, there has also been great joy. One of his friends started a Facebook group in his memory, and I've loved reading the stories and seeing the photos people have posted. Kyle was a great guy who embraced everyone, loved to have fun, and loved Jesus with all of his heart. That is evident in every story and photo shared.

I met Kyle one time, when he came into my office on campus. I remember thinking, Yep - he's definitely Mona's son. What a genuinely nice guy.

After reading all the stories about him, I find myself wishing I'd had the privilege of knowing him better.

I guess that's one more thing to look forward to about heaven.

If you think about it, please say a prayer for Kyle's wife, Chelsea; his parents, Joel and Mona; his siblings, Alyssa and Austin; and the rest of his extended family and friends.

Who's on first, trying to buy a burrito

2009-06-03T18:00:00.001-04:00

On Monday I stopped at Chipotle to grab some lunch. It was only the third or fourth time I've eaten there and each time it's felt a little Soup Nazi-ish to me. As in, "I don't have time to act nice or explain the different salsa choices, or even tell you that I'm asking you about salsa, I'm just going to mumble off the four choices and expect that you will shout your answer to me as quickly and efficiently as possible and if you don't know exactly what you want by the time I'm done mumbling then please don't even bother to order and move out of the way for those customers who know the drill and are willing to follow it to a T."

Or maybe I just happen to go there during PMS weeks and am super sensitive this?

Anyway, I have to share Monday's conversation with the Chipotle worker because it felt like a strange, guacamole-themed version of "Who's on First." I had ordered a "Burrito! Vegetarian!" from the first guy, who then passed it off to the girl with whom I was about to have a very confusing encounter.

She mumbled the salsa options exactly as I described above, then looked at me annoyingly while I paused to comprehend what she had just asked me before I said, "Oh, uh, fresh tomato."

Chipotle Worker: Sour cream?

Me: Yes.

CW: Cheese?

Me: Yes.

CW: Anything else?

Me: Um, no.

CW: [proceeding to roll up my burrito]

Me: [realizing that I didn't see her put guacamole on it] Oh, wait. Does it come with guacamole?

CW: Yes. [pauses the rolling, gives me a blank stare]

Me: Oh - did you already put it on?

CW: No. [stare that is 50% blank, 25% annoyed, 25% teen attitude]

Me: Um, ok, [thinking maybe it comes on the side?] does it come on the side, or do you put it inside?

CW: It goes inside. [looking at me like I have three heads]

Me: But you didn't put any in it?

CW: No. Most people don't want it.

Me: Ok, well, I want the guacamole. [Thinking: am I really having this conversation?]

CW: [acting like I'm a real problem customer] I don't put it on unless people ask because most people don't want it.

Me: Doesn't it come automatically? I mean, the sign says -

CW: [looking at me like I've now sprouted orange parking cones on top of my three heads, and huffing like I am the most demanding customer she has ever had the displeasure of dealing with] Yeah, but most people don't want it so that's why I didn't put any on.

Me: Well, I didn't ask for it because the sign says it comes on the vegetarian burrito.

CW: Yes, but most people don't want it. So I leave it off unless you ask for it.

Me: [Thinking: It seems that you're the one asking for it. Also thinking: NO GUAC FOR YOU!]

Am I missing something? Am I stupid for assuming that, since the sign said it would come with guacamole, I wouldn't have to ask specifically for it?

The burrito was very good, and I relished every bite of my hard-earned guacamole. I guess all's well that ends well. (And next time I'll know to ask.)

Linking Up

2009-06-01T18:00:00.002-04:00

Here are some miscellaneous (and interesting, at least to me) links that I've found in the past week...

What do onions have to do with the Kingdom of God? Here is a great devotional by Pastor Ryan @ This is Reverb.

Making movies and memories - a fun (and funny) summertime post by Melanie @ Big Mama.

Newsweek article, Mothering As A Spectator Sport, written by Lenore Skenazy from Free-Range Kids, a new-to-me blog. Interesting food for thought.

A wedding is not a marriage, by Carrien at She Laughs at the Days. I found the marriage article at Blissfully Domestic, and just visited Carrien's blog today for the first time. If you think about it, please pray for her as she had a miscarriage this week. I look forward to visiting her blog in the future - she is a great writer.

New post up...

2009-05-21T23:18:00.002-04:00

...over at my new blog. It's testimony time!

Also, I just noticed that it's been a loooong time since I posted any photos. (This is yet another reason why Sara needs to move in next door and be my personal photographer.)

I'll get some new pictures posted as soon as I have a chance to figure out how to upload from our new camera.

Not good

2009-05-21T18:00:00.002-04:00

It's not good when, at 2pm, you rediscover the sippy cup of milk (the cup without a spill-proof valve) that you carefully sat on your purse at 7:45am and then forgot.

The one that you grabbed on your way out the door in an effort to calm your toddler who was screaming for something to drink while you were rushing to get out of the house on time.

The one that this same toddler would thrust at you in the car, 20 minutes later, while whining and complaining because she was "all done" and didn't want to hold the cup anymore.

Yeah, that cup. The one that you sat down on your purse and thought, "I'll take care of that after I drop her off."

Note for next time: you won't remember to take care of it after you drop her off.

EDITED TO ADD: I forgot to actually write the important part, that yes, I grabbed my purse and carried it into my office without realizing the the cup was still there, and yes, it did spill all over the inside of my purse. Thankfully, I had just cleaned it out last night so there wasn't much damage to the contents - I just need to try and wash the purse so I don't end up carrying around a spoiled-milk-scented purse. Ick.

Lazy blogger

2009-05-20T18:00:00.001-04:00

I have so much running around in my head that I can't decide on what to write about.

So I'm stealing another blogger's post.

These photos and the accompanying story are priceless, and make me think of the "sisters" song from White Christmas.

And now I have to share that, too. It will beef up my non-post and show that I at least put *some* effort into this.

Things you never thought you'd have a reason to say out loud

2009-05-12T18:00:00.000-04:00

"No, you don't need to hide your chicken under the couch cushion... if you're done, just tell me."

(Taken from a friend's facebook status.)

What a Monday

2009-05-11T16:32:00.002-04:00

1. Kaitlyn had a potty accident just as we were walking out the door. Had to quickly change her and try to get on our way ASAP.

2. Kaitlyn got upset because I picked her up and put her in the car instead of letting her get in by herself. (She is slower than molasses when she does it herself!!)

3. Kaitlyn got upset because I wouldn't pull back into the garage, go in the house, and get her some juice.

4. Kaitlyn got MAJORLY upset because she wanted her blanket, and I wouldn't give it to her because it was a victim of her previous accident. Told her that we'd have to ask nicely and see if Meagan could throw it in the wash for us. This did not help her attitude.

5. Kaitlyn incessantly asked for (and threw fits over) her blanket.

6. Mom suddenly has a mini-nervous breakdown in the car. Where in the world did this come from??

7. Arrive at work with streaked make up, puffy eyes and a major headache.

8. Have a mini counseling/venting (and prayer) session with my boss.

9. Muddle through a half day of work, go to lunch, return with a worse headache.

10. Come home.

11. Find relief by making dinner, cleaning the bathroom, and cleaning the bedroom.

12. Now I'm off to pick up Kaitlyn.

Weird. If anyone told me that this is how my Monday would end up, I would not have believed them.

The good news - I feel much better. And, I have lots of wonderful people in my life - thanks Meagan for washing the blanket, and thanks Jaimee for being such a great boss! :-)

New blog, plus a bonus product review

2009-05-07T21:16:00.003-04:00

FYI... I started a second blog today.

Also, I would like to report that a week ago I bought a Magic Bullet blender. After I bought it I wondered if I had made a monumental mistake. However, it turns out that I really like it.

I've used it once or twice a day since getting it, and have used it to mix up smoothies, guacamole, mousse, iced coffee, and an omelet.

The thing I like the best is there are six containers to mix things in and the blades are easy to rinse, so I can use it more than once a day without having to wash everything. And, it's much easier to wash than a bulky blender.

Here and here are parts 1 and 2 of the Magic Bullet infomercial. I wanted to watch it and see the actual demo of the product, so I did a search online. When the search results came up I thought they were only bringing up parodies of the original because the description says, "Here is your invitation to join Mick and Mimi as they use the Magic Bullet blender to entertain their hung-over friends."

Then I watched it, and I realized this is an accurate description of the actual infomercial.

Also, for your fact of the day, please go here. Thank you.

The wonders of vinegar

2009-05-01T18:00:00.000-04:00

I've always heard that vinegar is a great natural cleaner, and recently I've had the chance to witness its wonders first-hand.

Since moving into our house nine months ago, I've realized just how hard our water is. About six months ago our coffee maker died and I'm now convinced it was because of hard water deposits. I have to stay on top of a cleaning regiment for our new coffee maker, otherwise it starts to get clogged, and I really don't want it to die like its predecessor.

The coffee maker manual says to use their special made-for-coffee-makers cleaner, but a friend told me to use plain vinegar. I pour a cup or two of white vinegar into the reservoir and run it through the coffee maker, then run two cycles of water through to get rid of the vinegar. (Letting it cool between each run.) It really gets the job done!

Several months ago our dishwasher started to act wonky. We'd turn it on, and I swear it sounded like it was going to explode at any moment. The noise was horrible. One night I even got online and looked at how much a new dishwasher would cost because I was certain this one was on its death bed.

However.

I began to think about the coffee maker. I also thought about something I had read online, that using a rinse (such as Jet Dry) was supposed to be the best thing you could do for your dishwasher.

Hmmm. What if I used vinegar as a rinse?

So I did. I poured some into the rinse dispenser, just like I would for a regular rinse. Can I tell you what a difference this has made?? I feel like I have a brand new dishwasher.

I also cleaned out the dispenser area - I hadn't used it before, and when I opened it I realized it was completely clogged with gunk. I had to do quite a scraping job to get it clean, but now it stays clean because of the vinegar.

After using vinegar for several weeks, my dishwasher is much quieter when it runs. It has a consistent sound, where before it was getting to the point that it made different horrible noises for different lengths of time every time it ran. I am so thankful I don't have to worry about getting a new one any time soon!

I know there are lots of other great ways to clean with vinegar, and even came across this post by Pioneer Woman about using it on your hair. (Her post is what prompted me to write about this.) I did a quick google search and came across this site. I'm curious to see what else I can do with vinegar!

Don't try this at home, parts II, III, IV, etc.

2009-04-30T06:00:00.000-04:00

I seem to be doing a lot of klutzy and/or ditsy things lately. Here are the events that have followed my throwing the coffee down the stairs performance:

*I managed to dump an entire grease tray full of hamburger drippings on the kitchen floor (thankfully it wasn't hot)

*I dropped a raw egg on my kitchen rug

*I melted a plastic spoon because I used it to stir some onion strings I was frying (duh!)

*I melted one of our chairs in the office, because I set my plugged in crock pot on a chair with a plastic cover (another duh!)

It seems like there is something else that should go on this list, but I can't remember it.

I think these are all signs that I need to stop cooking. What do you think?

Riding in alligators, among other things

2009-04-28T18:00:00.001-04:00

Last week I used my new-to-me bread machine for the first time. I bought it at a garage sale for $10, from a lady who said she bought it several years ago and only used it a few times. I asked if it was in OK condition, and she said, "Oh yes - it works fine. I stopped using it because we gave up carbs soon after I bought it."

(How many people have invested in expensive specialty appliances only to have them end up in the appliance graveyard in the back of the cupboard or the garage or the basement?)

I've been wondering if I might like having (and would actually USE) a bread machine, and $10 is an affordable risk, so I bought it.

On Thursday I finally used it and as I pulled the freshly baked honey wheat bread out I thought about my grandma. At her memorial service my aunt and uncle read through some memories she had written down several years ago. It was so interesting to hear about her life growing up and during the early years of her marriage.

She was born in 1918, and married my grandpa in 1938. (I think... maybe it was 1937? Or 1939?) They didn't have electricity for quite a while (that came in the late '40's or early '50's, I think?) and they didn't get indoor plumbing until the late '50's.

She had to go out to the pump in the yard, get her water, then haul it into the house. (And then take the dirty water back out.) She used a wood stove to cook on, and I think she had a hole dug into the ground to keep things cool.

As I sliced through my home baked bread, I thought about the effort it would have taken for grandma to make that same loaf, versus the effort it had taken me. What a difference.

It also made me think, "what am I doing with my extra time?" We have so many devices and appliances and conveniences that cut down on the time and effort required for every day living. Where am I putting that extra time and energy?

I'll be chewing on that question for a while.

Also, here is what my sister Monica read at grandma's service. It was a very nice service, one that truly honored my grandma's life and her dedication to serving the Lord.

Kaitlyn behaved beautifully for the two-day trip. We rode out with my mom, and of course, the portable DVD player. And Princess Gigi, who I have a love/hate relationship with, but I'll save that discussion for another day.

The only bad points for Kaitlyn were sleep (she went to bed late and woke up at 4:45am) and the fact that the one time she decided to have an attitude was as we walked into the actual memorial service. Nice timing, kiddo. Thankfully, her lack of sleep caught up to her midway through the service and she took a nap.

She amazed me by staying dry for the entire two days - even overnight and during the few small naps she had. Wow.

One cute story... When we got to the hotel, my niece Alyssa met us in the lobby and helped us get Kaitlyn and all the luggage upstairs to our room. We mentioned to Kaitlyn that we were going to ride in the elevator. "Have you ever ridden in an elevator?" my mom asked her. She just looked at my mom like she wasn't sure what to think about the situation.

We stepped into the elevator and she immediately wanted to be picked up. Again, she didn't look too sure about the whole thing.

We got off and were on our way down the hall when Kaitlyn said something about the alligator. "Alligator? What alligator?" we wondered.

And then it dawned on us.

I never thought about how similar the words "elevator" and "alligator" sound.

I wonder if he'll get any replies

2009-04-27T19:48:00.000-04:00

From yesterday's personal ads in the newspaper:

Senior Gentleman would like to meet Senior Lady for companion. Live-in and light housework. Please call xxx-xxxx.

Don't try this at home

2009-04-20T18:00:00.002-04:00

Yesterday morning I threw a cup of coffee down the stairs.

I had the cup in my hand, 3/4 full, and the sleeve of my bathrobe caught on the half-wall by our stairs as I walked by. Because of the way it all happened, my coffee cup went flying out of my hand, slammed against one wall, and bounced back and forth between the stair walls as it bumped down to the basement.

In a split second, there was coffee splattered on three walls, the kitchen floor, the hallway carpet, and the carpet on five or six stairs.

I couldn't do that again if I tried.

I just stood there for a second in disbelief and then tried to figure out where to start the clean up. I got everything mostly cleaned up when I looked up and realized that Kaitlyn had peed on the floor.

This is the scene my poor husband happened upon when he got out of the shower. This was also the moment when I gave up on the idea of getting to church on time.

We eventually got everything cleaned up, although there are still light stains on the carpet. Today I found myself wondering - if I had only used a tad bit more creamer, would it have matched?

Switching gears... I must share a conversation that occurred between Mike and Kaitlyn last night at Wal-Mart. For several months Mike has been talking about getting a flat screen TV. My standard response is, "Ok. You take a look at our bank account, and if you feel that's a wise way to spend our money, then go right ahead and buy it."

(Evil, yes, but it's quite effective.)

Last night Mike ran to the store to pick up something for work and he took Kaitlyn with him. While they were there he couldn't resist taking a stroll through the electronics section.

K: Daddy, what are those? [looking at all the display TVs]

M: Those are TVs honey.

K: Wow! Those are TVs? [she's in this mode of repeating everything]

M: Yes they are. Do you think we should get one?

K: But we have TVs at home that we can watch!

EXACTLY. Out of the mouths of babes...

She's probably teaching Moses how to crochet

2009-04-19T08:17:00.003-04:00

My grandma went home to be with Jesus early this morning. She's been in declining health for several years now, so this is not a surprise.

I wouldn't say that I was extremely close to grandma, but I have lots of great memories of going out to the farm in Illinois to visit her and grandpa. She is the one who taught me to crochet, and I suspect that I got at least part of my craft gene from her. She was always creating something, and loved to take ordinary items and repurpose them into something crafty.

I'll be heading to Illinois sometime this week to celebrate her life with the rest of my family.

Wanted: a new mop

2009-04-18T18:49:00.003-04:00

I need a new mop.

Right now I have a basic Swiffer thingy that I bought before Mike and I were married. It is more than six years old, and today I noticed a big chunk missing from the bottom. I also noticed that I've almost used up the massive amount of Swiffer wet cloths that I bought in bulk at Sam's Club, which would make this the perfect time to reevaluate my mopping tools and consider buying something new.

I don't want to invest a ton of money, but I do want something that will do a good job and be mostly hassle-free. (Maybe I should be looking for a maid??)

So, any thoughts? Any reccomendations? Or strong non-reccomendations?

Conversation from Wednesday morning

2009-04-16T06:00:00.000-04:00

Me: Hey - you put your shoes on all by yourself! Good job!

K: No, I didn't.

Me: [puzzled, since she is clearly wearing shoes, and I clearly did not help her put them on] You didn't?

K: No. [insert attitude here, along with what was possibly a roll of the eyes] These are not shoes. They're sandals.

Oh, well, excuse me. I guess this is practice for when she hits the pre-teen stage?

Important Discovery

2009-04-10T08:45:00.003-04:00

Kaitlyn can lock/unlock the door.

Thankfully, this was discovered while I was in the room with her. She said, "Mommy, I locked the door!" I checked, and sure enough, she had locked it. Then I told her to unlock it, just to make sure she knew how to do that. She does, which is good news. Hopefully this means we won't have lock-herself-in-a-room-and-can't-get-out drama.

However.

The bad news is, she knows how to lock the door. And she's smart enough (and two enough) to think it would be funny to lock the garage door while Mommy steps out to the freezer for a second. Or to go into the bathroom, lock the door, and get into who-knows-what.

There are some milestones that leave you feeling extremely proud of your child. And then there are those that take your prayer life to a new level.

We interrupt this silence to bring you a blog post

2009-04-08T21:22:00.003-04:00

Hi.

I'm still here.

I had one blog post in March. I don't quite know what's derailed me, but I'm hoping to get back on track.

Why is it that the longer I go without a post, the harder it is to compose a new one?

My goal tonight is to simply post something. I believe I've achieved my goal.

Oh - I do have one piece of GREAT news! (This post really will end up with some substance!)

My mom had her post-chemo tests a few weeks ago, and when they did the CT scan there was a spot of concern in her colon. They couldn't tell if it was a tumor, or if it was scar tissue from her surgery. They did a biopsy, and her doctor called her on Sunday to tell her the results came back and the spot is benign! WOOOOOOOOOOHOO! Isn't God good??

Tweeted out

2009-03-18T18:00:00.001-04:00

So, it's been a while, huh?

I didn't intend to take such a long blogging break, but I guess I needed one.

One reason for the break is that I've been investigating a lot of online/social media type of stuff at work (such as twitter, facebook, and zinch) so I think I've been reaching my limit on the whole internet thing during the day, then I have no interest in getting on the computer at night. I am really enjoying my job, but it's funny how, when your work starts to actually become one of the main things you enjoy, then you stop wanting to do that thing in your leisure time.

Anyway, here I am, and hopefully I'll be back to blogging on a more regular basis.

I have many Kaitlyn stories that have happened during my little break - I'll share more of them later on, but wanted to leave you with at least one for today.

After our trip to the ER we had a fairly normal week, until we got to Thursday morning. We noticed that Kaitlyn felt a little warm, and sure enough, she had a fever. I stayed home with her and decided to take her to the doctor to make sure everything was ok.

The doctor's verdict was that she had the start of an ear infection, so he gave me a prescription for her. Kaitlyn and I then went to the pharmacy and then went in search of some lunch. The whole ordeal was taking longer than I wanted, and I was so hungry, and I was very distracted as I drove around trying to figure out what to do about lunch.

So, I'm driving along, and Kaitlyn is jabbering away in the back seat, and I'm pretty much ignoring her. That's when I realized she was talking about Barack Obama. And the castle that he lives in, and something about a garden. And a bunch of other opinions that I couldn't understand.

????

Where does she get this stuff? We don't spend a lot of time discussing politics around her, so it's a mystery to me. Maybe she secretly watches CNN after we go to bed?

I'm looking forward to hearing her thoughts on AIG.

In sickness and in health

2009-02-28T11:00:00.001-05:00

Today is our fifth anniversary. I intended to have some sort of lovey-dovey post, complete with wedding photos and a description of Mike's sweet gift.

However, our week has not gone as planned.

On Tuesday Mike and I started getting sick, and on Wednesday I stayed home from work. It was a run-of-the-mill cold, complete with clogged sinuses, a stuffy/runny nose, and body aches. I felt better on Thursday and went to work, but then yesterday I realized something funky was going on with my eye.

So, I took the afternoon off, went to the doctor, and confirmed that I have pink eye. Wonderful.

In the meantime, Mike and Kaitlyn both had varying levels of sinus congestion, but nothing that we were overly concerned about.

Until last night, around 9:45, when Kaitlyn woke up with a horrific cough. It was a barking, rasping cough that immediately sent me to the "What to Expect in the Toddler Years" book to look up the symptoms. According to the book, it was croup, and the recommendation was to call the doctor if this was our first encounter with it.

Since the only thing I associate with croup is the scene from "Anne of Green Gables" where Anne saves Diana's little sister from dying from croup by giving her ipecac, which immediately puts Anne back in Diana's mother's good graces and redeems her from the time she got Diana drunk on raspberry cordial, I thought that, yes, we did qualify for the "first encounter" recommendation of calling the doctor.

Ironically, the doctor on call was the same doctor who had seen me earlier in the day for my pink eye.

He gave me some general instructions and said the croup might last for one or two or three nights, but it wasn't anything to be super concerned about. "Oh, but, if she starts running a fever then you'll want to take her somewhere and have her looked at right away." Um, ok.

In an effort to cut the story short, I'll just say that from 10pm until 2am Mike and I caught a catnap or two in between trying to keep Kaitlyn comfortable and asleep. At 2am she woke up - she was WIDE awake - and we took her temp. 100.7*. Heeding the doctor's advice, we loaded up and went to the emergency room.

Because nothing says, "Happy Anniversary!" like a 2am trip to the ER. (A phrase soon to appear on a Hallmark card, I'm sure.)

My poor baby had to have her temp taken rectally, and she had a shot, and she had an eight-minute-long breathing treatment that was not favorably received and ended with us wrapping her in an impromptu straight-jacket made from a blanket.

In the midst of all this activity, the police walked by our room with someone in handcuffs and put him in the room next to us. So our lovely experience was mixed with sounds of shouting as the police and hospital staff tried to get basic medical history from a drunk guy. Celebrating your anniversary is all about the ambiance, right?

We arrived home at 3:45am, thinking Kaitlyn was so worn out that she would go right to sleep.

However, it hasn't really worked out that way. As I type, it is 10:45am and she has yet to go to sleep. She's as wide awake and as opinionated as ever. About 15 minutes ago she was running around without any pants, syrup stains on her shirt, a hair tie trying to hang on to the last remnant of a pony tail, she had one black, sparkly shoe on the wrong foot, and was on a serious mission to find the other sparkly shoe.

Then she wandered off down the hallway and turned on the lights in all the bedrooms.

Then she reenacted a scene from today's episode of "Handy Manny," in which she dropped things off the side of the couch, then hung over the edge to pick them up.

Now she has her play food out and is feeding her baby lunch. Baby is having a banana, a tangerine, spaghetti, tuna, ketchup, soup, green beans, and a croissant.

Needless to say, our plans for going out to dinner tonight to celebrate our anniversary have been postponed. I wish that our day had not included pink eye and a trip to the ER; I wish it HAD included sleep.

However, as Mike and I dealt with a sick little girl last night, I couldn't help but think that this is what marriage is all about. A strong marriage isn't built in the fluff moments when everything is going perfectly - it's built in the trenches, in middle-of-the-night crisis moments where your capacity for patience and kindness is put to the test. It's built in the moments when you snap at your husband out of fear and frustration, and he loves you anyway.

Five years ago I was incredibly excited to spend a week at Disney World with my new husband.

Today I'll be incredibly excited if I get to spend quality time with my bed.

And I wouldn't change a thing.

Happy anniversary, honey!

She's not quite as spiritual as I thought

2009-02-19T23:19:00.004-05:00

Tonight after work Kaitlyn and I went to Mike's office to see some new products his company is making, and then we went out for dinner. On the way home, Kaitlyn asked one of her new favorite questions for when we are in the car: "Where we going next?" (With a special emphasis on "next," as only a two-year-old can do.)

This often leads to her asking the same question ten times in a row, even though she gets the same answer every time. Eventually I stop answering and I say, "I don't know. Where are we going?" in an effort to redirect her.

We went through this little charade tonight and her answer shocked me. When I asked her where we were going, she said, "To talk with Jesus."

Wow, I thought. For a moment I pondered this deeply - sort of like in the Bible where is says that Mary kept "all these things and treasured them in her heart." (Or something like that.) I thought maybe she had a better understanding of Jesus than what I had given her credit for.

This is when Kaitlyn repeated herself, and I realized she was saying "To Chuck E. Cheese's."

For future reference

2009-02-18T18:00:00.000-05:00

Kaitlyn woke up this morning in a bad mood. And let me tell you, she was G-R-U-M-P-Y. Everything I said was responded to with an emphatic "NO!", complete with a pouty look and flailing hands.

I finally decided that her grumpiness wasn't going to ruin my morning, and had a little fun with it. Here is our conversation:

Me: Are you going to eat your cereal?

K: NO!

Me: You said you wanted cereal for breakfast. Why don't you eat some of it?

K: NO!

Me: Are you going to eat anything for breakfast?

K: NO!

Me: Are you going to date before you're 18?

K: NO!

Me: Are you going to smoke?

K: NO!

Me: Are you going to drink?

K: NO!

Me: Are you going to do drugs?

K: NO!

Me: Are you going to have sex before you're married?

K: NO!

Mike and I were cracking up!

It would have been great to get this on video, but at least I can blog about it. This was a great way to turn a potentially bad morning into a highly amusing one!

Productive weekend in the kitchen

2009-02-15T20:23:00.003-05:00

Before I get into my actual post, I must first say that my house is a mess. My bathrooms didn't get cleaned this weekend; the laundry is not done; I'm not sure when my kitchen floor was last mopped. I just don't want you to have any Martha Stewart illusions when you read this next part.

(As PW would say, "I'm just keepin' it real.")

Having said all of that, I did have a very productive weekend in the kitchen. We bought a chest freezer and I have officially run out of my current freezer stockpile, so it was definitely time to do some make-ahead-and-freeze meals.

Hamburger, chicken breasts, and pork loin were on sale this week, so I picked up about five pounds of each and made the following recipes this weekend:

Cajun Curry Chicken
Jerk Chicken
Chicken Sate
Sesame Chicken Bites
Porcupine Meatballs
Meatloaf
Sloppy Joes
Hamburger Patties

(This week I will also cook part of the pork loin in the crock pot and then shred it for BBQ sandwiches or pork tacos, and will cut the rest into pork chops and freeze them.)

This combination of chicken recipes seemed to work well because several ingredients overlapped. My kitchen smelled heavenly from the freshly grated ginger and lime zest, although this made me realize that I might want to invest in an actual zester instead of using the stand-up grater.

Most of these recipes made enough for two meals for us, so I currently have about 15 meals in the freezer. Woohoo!

In other news, the potty training has taken a step backwards. I'm not surprised, and won't let this discourage me. At least Kaitlyn understands all of the concepts - now it's just a matter of Mike and I being consistent and reinforcing the behavior.

The good news is that she has no problem going #1 or #2 on the potty, and she prefers to go on the big potty instead of her little one. That works for me - I prefer to not have to clean up the mess from the little one!

More good news: my mom is officially done with her chemo!!! Yay! She'll go on March 9 (which is also my niece's 13th birthday) for a CT scan. Please agree with us in prayer that they won't find any trace of cancer.

Another prayer request: my sister will have chemo treatment #3 on Tuesday. We are very thankful that her second treatment was oh so much better than her first one, and pray that this next one will also go well.

That's all for now... Have a great week!

Maybe it will be the next Olympic sport

2009-02-11T21:52:00.006-05:00

We went out to eat tonight, and of course we had to make a trip to the potty while at the restaurant.

So, Kaitlyn and I are in the stall, and she does her business, and I get her off the potty to help her wipe. I'm not sure why, but she finds the wiping part to be hilarious. She laughs - every time.

Tonight she was giggling, and it was that contagious type of giggle. There we were in the stall, both of us cracking up, but me trying to maintain my composure because I am, after all, the mom. Isn't potty training supposed to be serious business?

Meanwhile, in the midst of our giggling, more people have come into the bathroom. I wonder what they must have thought of us.

Me: Kaitlyn - stop it. [giggle] I have to wipe you.

K: [laughing hysterically]

Me: Kaitlyn! I mean it! [laughing] I have wipe you, and we have to change your pull-up.

K: [more hysterical laughter]

At this point she was doubled over in laughter.

You have to picture this - I'm squatting and trying to maintain my balance, while also fumbling with a diaper (I accidentally grabbed a diaper instead of a pull-up) and trying to put it on Kaitlyn. She is bent over, with her little bare butt in the air, giggling and squirming around.

What a sight!

That's when a tragedy occurred - she bumped her head on the floor, and then, of course, the dramatic laughter turned to dramatic crying.

The only thing more difficult than trying to put a diaper on a doubled-over, laughing two-year-old is trying to put a diaper on a standing up, clingy, crying two-year-old.

Do they give out gold medals for this type of thing? If so, I could possibly be the Michael Phelps of potty training. (Minus the tabloid photos and drug drama.)

I finally got the diaper on her when we moved to the next phase of the competition: hand washing. I somehow managed to balance her on my leg while washing both of our hands and trying desperately to avoid splashing water all over the lady at the sink beside me.

"Oh, that's too bad. The splashing will cost some points with the judges - that's an automatic deduction of .5. She does have good form though. Look at her stance with the leg! Now if she can just stick it out and execute the paper towel flawlessly, she might have a chance at a medal."

Pardon my little Olympic fantasy... anyway, where was I? Oh yes, the hand washing. We finished with the hand washing, and I was trying to get myself all put back together while dealing with a dramatic toddler at my feet, clinging to me and screaming, "UP! UP!" as if the other women in the restroom (or maybe the automatic flushing toilet) were going to assault her at any moment.

I picked her up and was halfway out the door when I remembered the full pull-up that I set on the toilet paper dispenser in the stall. Figuring that the next person might not appreciate the perils of an absent-minded mother who was distracted by a giggling (and then crying) toddler who was not wanting to cooperate with the potty training, I thought the nice thing to do would be to return to the stall, retrieve the pull-up, and throw it away.

By the time we made it out of the bathroom and found our way back to the table, I realized I was out of breath.

Out of breath, because of a trip to the bathroom.

Either I clearly need more exercise, or this mothering/potty training thing is harder than it looks.

(Or both.)

I've never been so excited about body functions

2009-02-08T18:38:00.003-05:00

We have officially begun potty training. So far, it's going REALLY well.

Kaitlyn isn't the only one on a learning curve. Here are some things that Mommy is trying to learn:

How to develop an internal homing device for tracking down store employees, so they can tell me where the bathroom is
The ability to hoof it from one side of the store to the other in record time (because the bathroom is sure to be on the opposite end of the building from where we are at the time)
To observe if the toilet is an automatic flush type, so I can prepare both of us for the possible shock of the flush as soon as Kaitlyn gets off the potty
How to juggle Kaitlyn and my purse while trying to get both of our hands washed
Remembering to ask Kaitlyn before leave the house/store/restaurant/etc. if she needs to go

It's amazing how new phases bring so many new things to learn! Another change is the immediacy of the need - before, when she needed her diaper changed, I could put it off for a few minutes if I needed to. Those days are long gone.

I have to say that I'm glad we put this off for a few months. Kaitlyn showed signs of being ready six months ago, but with us moving and all the other issues in our life, we didn't want to add something else. Plus, I read this post by Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer, and decided it was better to err on the side of waiting too long instead of starting too soon.

And, by the way, if you are a mom and are anywhere near the potty-training process, I highly encourage you to read Shannon's post. She has so many good tips, and she's potty trained four kids, so I think I can trust that she's learned a thing or two.

In other news... the President is coming to town tomorrow. His first trip as president, and he's coming to my hometown! Who would have thought?

The bad news is, he's coming because our county has the worst unemployment in the U.S. The RV industry has taken quite a hit, and there are so many businesses here related to RVs. But, this is delving into a whole other topic that I just don't have the energy to comment on at the moment.

So. Anyway, things around here will be all aflutter tomorrow. And, I'll be at home with Kaitlyn. Our sitter needed to take the day off to take care of a few things, which gave me a wonderful excuse to not have to go into work.

For your convenience, here is a quick recap of the topics covered in today's post:

1. Kaitlyn is doing wonderful on the potty.
2. Obama is coming to town tomorrow.
3. The RV industry needs a boost.
4. I have the day off tomorrow.

Can I get any more random?

At home

2009-02-03T09:00:00.004-05:00

Today is the second day that I've been at home with a sick little girl. She doesn't seem to have anything major - up until this morning it was just a fever. At 5 a.m. she woke up, demanding some juice, so Mike gave her a little bit.

At 5:30 a.m., she promptly lost all of it.

I had been laying with her on the couch, but thankfully at 5:29 she declared that she wanted to lay by herself, so I got up. I was all too happy to avoid being thrown up on.

At this point she seems to be doing ok. All she wants to drink is milk, which I hate because that's not the best thing to drink when your tummy is on the fritz, but in the past our doctor has said to follow her lead and give her what she wants. I've been giving her little bits at a time, and she's kept it all down. She also has a normal temp again. Praise the Lord!

I did have a scare a few minutes ago, though. She declared that her tummy hurt and sort-of got "the look" - you know, the look that often precedes the mess. I grabbed the bucket that is now doomed to forever be "that" bucket and moved her blankies (yeah, she has TWO of them) out of the way. I asked her if she thought she was going to throw up. She got this look on her face (you know, the other look that says she's about to be a stinker) and fake sneezed into the bucket about five times.

I'm sure this orneryness (sp?) comes from her dad.

The good news about all of this is that I had a chance to get our taxes done yesterday, and pick up around the house, and make some really yummy soup for dinner. Today I want to get the rest of the house picked up, and put together a plan for this weekend, when I hope to make some meals ahead to freeze. (Thanks to our tax return, I think we are going to get a chest freezer. Woohoo!)

And, also thanks to our tax return, in about a week I will have the joy of paying off my student loan. BIG WOOHOOOOOOOOOO!

I'll sign off for now so I can watch The Jungle Book with my baby. She's laughing at it just like I did when I went to see it in the movie theatre with my mom, 25-or-so years ago. What a classic.

Oh - wait - I lied. If you think about it, please pray for my sister as she has her second chemo treatment today. She had a terrible time with her first one, so we are praying that this one will be much better. Also, my mom was supposed to have her last treament one week ago, but it got postponed because her blood count was too low. She was thankful to have more time to get her energy back, and in the past couple days has felt better than she has in seven months!! She'll have her last treatment one week from today - yay!!

Where does she come up with this stuff?

2009-01-22T18:00:00.000-05:00

This morning I was going through the normal routine of getting ready for work, and was in the bathroom drying my hair. I had just finished and turned off the hairdryer, when I looked down and noticed Kaitlyn standing in the doorway. Here is our conversation:

Me: Hi! What's goin' on?

K: I love you mommy.

Me: Awwww... I love you too honey!

Me: Can I have a kiss?

K: [in a pitifully sad voice] No.

[turns her back to me]

Me: Honey, what's the matter? Are you ok?

K: No. I'm sad. [still in the pitiful voice]

Me: [thinking something might really be wrong] What happened? Why are you sad?

K: [mumbles something I can't understand]

Me: What did you say? Why are you sad? [starting to worry about whatever has happened to made her sad]

K: [the pitiful voice is still in effect here] Because I lost my mommy.

Me: What? Because you lost your mommy???

K: Yes.

This is when I busted up laughing! She turned around and gave me a sly little look, like she was enjoying her little joke. She started laughing, and it turned it a really silly moment. Where does she come up with this? Especially since Mike and I, and our collective families, aren't silly at all. Not one bit.

Ahem.

Also, I'm sure the Oscar people will be calling me at any moment to say that her performance this morning has earned her an unprecedented last-minute nomination. (Look out Angelina and Meryl!)

Today's conversations with Kaitlyn

2009-01-19T20:18:00.003-05:00

Conversation #1
(On the way home tonight)

Kaitlyn: Mommy, it's my birfday!

Me: It's your birthday??

Kaitlyn: Yeah! It's my birfday! I have to blow out can-dulls.

Me: Oh honey, it's not your birthday today. You won't have a birthday for, well, [pausing to think about Kaitlyn's concept of time, or lack thereof] well, it won't be your birthday for a long time.

Kaitlyn: Puh-leeze, mommy? Pweeze my birfday? Blow out can-dulls!

Me: Is that what you want? You want to blow out candles?

Kaitlyn: Yeah!

Me: Ok. Maybe you can blow out some candles tonight.

(We both forgot about the candles, so I never had to follow through with the fake birthday.)

Conversation #2
(I had just finished telling Mike that Kaitlyn sat on the potty today at the sitter's house.)

Me (to Kaitlyn): Do you think you might be ready to be potty trained?

Kaitlyn: Um, yeah. Oh - no - I want to brush my teeth first!

PRAISE REPORT!

2009-01-19T09:08:00.002-05:00

I'm sure you can guess by the title that I heard from my doctor's office this morning, and it was a great report. The spot is nothing to worry about.

Praise the Lord!!

I knew the odds were in my favor, but there was still a nagging "what if" recording playing in the background of my thoughts. It was so nice to get the call and breath a big sigh of relief.

It is also a blessing that I heard back so quickly. I thought it might be possible that I would hear something today, but was preparing myself to not know until tomorrow afternoon. My doctor's nurse, Holly, goes to church with us and has really been looking out for us through this whole process. When she saw the results come in this morning, she made it her personal mission to put aside everything else, find the doctor to confirm everything, and then call to tell me. What a blessing!

Thanks to everyone who was praying for me!!

Surely I have a delightful inheritance

2009-01-15T13:54:00.005-05:00

Today has been a good day. I ended up taking the whole day off work because the roads are so bad, and I didn't want to stress about running here, there and everywhere. It gave me an opportunity to not rush around this morning, and to take my time getting ready for the day.

I took Kaitlyn to the sitter's house around 10 a.m., ran an errand, then got home with plenty of time to get dinner in the crock pot for tonight and make some lunch.

Mike took some time off work so he could run me to the hospital, and we arrived there a few minutes early. I got checked in and the receptionist took me back to the changing room. As I was changing into the hospital gown I was also talking to God, and this verse popped into my head:

"Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance." Psalm 16:5-6

Now, I have to pause here and say just how powerful the Word of God is. This is a verse that I never worked to memorize; I simply wrote it, along with a bunch of other verses, on some spiral-bound note cards that I've kept at home or work over the past 5+ years. When I need encouragement, I read through some of the cards. The fact that it popped into my head and I was able to recite it word for word is a testament to John 14:26, where Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit will "remind you of everything I have said to you."

So, as an encouragement, even passive, quick, "I-just-need-a-boost-of-the-Word" reading of the Bible is powerful and effective!

Anyway, I wondered why the Holy Spirit would choose to give me this particular verse. I meditated on this as I sat in the waiting room, and kept rolling the verse around in my head.

Then, it struck me that I have a delightful inheritance. This is the third time this week that the word "inheritance" has been significant. I mentioned in this post that I have an incredible inheritance of faith. My dad called last night and said that I should read Psalm 61, which also mentions an "inheritance of those who fear [the Lord's] name."

I began to think about the concept of an inheritance, and why was the Holy Spirit highlighting this?

That's when it hit me. The reason I went for a biopsy today was because of my family history. Because there is a question of what I may have inherited, genetically speaking.

Doctors tell you the facts; but God tells you the truth. And the truth he was communicating to me today is that I have a delightful inheritance. Not an inheritance of sickness and death.

Right after I had this revelation was when the nurse appeared and called my name. Sure, I was nervous about the procedure, not knowing exactly what it would feel like and whether or not it would be painful, but I also went into it with complete peace.

The doctor and the two nurses who did the procedure were awesome. We spent the entire time chatting, which made the whole thing go by quickly. And, really and truly, it wasn't all that bad. They all commented that I had a great attitude about everything, which I know is about 90% of the battle. I also know that my good attitude had a lot to do with all of the prayers being lifted up for me - I am so grateful to everyone for your prayers!

Mike and I walked out of the hospital at 1:00, so the entire thing only took about 30 minutes. I am at home now, enjoying a rare afternoon all by myself! I am starting to feel some pain, but still, it's not bad.

When I got online to write this post, I looked up Psalm 16. I was amazed to read the rest of the verses, and am once again encouraged.

1 Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge. 2 I said to the Lord, "You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing." 3 As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight. 4 The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods. I will not pour out their libations of blood or take up their names on my lips. 5 Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. 6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. 7 I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, 10 because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. 11 You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

Isn't God good? Another awesome thing is that prior to Christmas, I asked Sara to put a Bible verse onto a picture of Kaitlyn. When I looked at this particular picture it reminded me of carefree, unbridled joy, so I wanted a verse about joy. You know what verse I picked? Psalm 16:11. Amazing.

I should know the results of the biopsy by Tuesday, and believe me, I'll keep you posted!

God is good, all the time

2009-01-13T20:49:00.003-05:00

So. I went for a second mammogram today.

I was told this was fairly normal. I knew that the first mammogram may pose some questions, because it is the baseline for the future. If I have cysts or dense tissue that have always been there, this is the first time the doctors are actually seeing them, and they need to do their best to determine if they are cause for concern.

And, considering my family history, I knew that I would be scrutinized more than most.

I was hoping to be told that everything looked ok after all, thanks for coming, see you next year, yada yada.

However.

They wanted to take the next step and do an ultra-sound.

And then, the doctor came in to take a look. He showed me the specific spot that was causing concern, and said that he wants me to come back for a biopsy.

Not what I wanted to hear.

However.

The next words out of his mouth were, "I really don't think this is anything to be concerned about, and if you were anyone else, I would say that we should keep an eye on this and be sure to check it at your next mammogram. But considering your family history, I would rather do a biopsy and be 100% sure."

Mike had come along to the appointment with me, and I hated having to go back into the waiting room and tell him that I had to schedule a biopsy. As we walked out of the hospital, I think we were both in shock. We talked briefly about it, but we had driven separately and it was freezing cold today so we didn't stand there and talk for long before jumping into our cars and heading home.

By the time we arrived home, we had made our respective phone calls to all of the important people in our lives, giving them an update. And we had both had a little time to process everything.

And, when the dust settled, the bottom line is that we are both at peace with this. Based on the doctor's comment, it seems that there are two outcomes. #1 - this is nothing. #2 - it is something, but it is at such an early stage that if I was any other woman, he wouldn't consider it serious enough to do a biopsy.

My appointment for the biopsy is set for this Thursday at 12:30 (eastern time). We will know the results next Monday or Tuesday.

In the meantime, I am resting in the peace that passes understanding. I am casting my cares onto Jesus. I am not worrying about tomorrow, because that won't do me any good.

How amazing is it that today, two bloggers I follow regularly had encouraging posts, reminding me that God is control. (Thank you Queen B and Sara.)

God is good, all the time. He is always faithful.

And, I haven't been able to get this song out of my head since church on Sunday. Isn't it amazing?

Update

2009-01-10T07:22:00.004-05:00

This is an update on two very important things.

First, my mammogram went well. My tech was incredibly nice, and while the whole process was a little uncomfortable (what with all the squishing and pulling), it wasn't the worst thing that's ever happened to me.

Second, I don't like the new Wiggles. I know you have all been waiting on pins and needles to find out what I think about their new format, and finally I am ready to share my opinion with you.

It's not so much that I don't like Sam (the new Wiggle), I just don't like the new format. It's just a bunch of songs that they sing while standing in front a green screen, and they change costumes and the background to fit the song. Can't we go back to the boat, and the car, and the beach, and the "Little Wiggles", and the Wiggle house, and the live concert shots?

I cannot believe I have so much of an opinion about this. I never thought I would spend so much time and energy comparing two versions of a children's show.

That's all. Off to finish the rest of my morning coffee... Have a happy weekend!

Tomorrow is the big day

2009-01-08T23:08:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow (or today, if you are reading this on Friday) is the day I go for my first mammogram. Some people (um, ok, I should say "women" here because I haven't really discussed this with any men) look at me strange when I mention that I'm having a mammogram.

Then I remember - you aren't supposed to have mammograms when you're 31.

I don't know exactly when I first learned that my mom had been diagnosed with cancer, and more importantly, had beat it. I think I was 10 months old when she was diagnosed, and I was probably somewhere in elementary school before I had any comprehension of what this meant.

I do, however, vividly remember high school health class when we talked about breast cancer and testicular cancer. They passed around fake breasts and testicles and we were supposed to find the lumps in them.

[I can't believe I just typed that last sentence. Moving on...]

I suppose it was at that time that I was educated about preventative measures, including mammograms. I also suppose this is when I learned that since my mom was diagnosed at age 30/31, I needed to start having mammograms at a much earlier age than what is typically recommended.

So, to me, it's nothing unusual that tomorrow is my first one. But the reaction of other women is a reminder that my family is a little unusual.

As I was pondering this tonight, I realized how blessed I am.

From the moment I was old enough to know what cancer is, I was also clearly aware that it is something you can beat. My mom is living proof.

I never feared cancer. Even when my mom was diagnosed a second time, when I was in college, I don't think I ever really worried about the outcome. Ingrained in the core of my being was the belief that cancer is something to be survived.

Sure, I knew plenty of cases where that wasn't the outcome. But I still did not fear it.

Most of this I credit to my mom and dad's incredible faith. I never heard them speak of any fear that cancer might show up again. They have learned how to rest in Jesus, and it shows. They have learned how to rest in the peace that passes understanding, and because of this, I have an incredible inheritance of faith.

With the events of this past year, I can't say that I've never worried. Plenty of "what if" thoughts have clouded my mind, from time to time. But I am so blessed to be part of a community of faith, which starts with my family and extends to my church family, my friends, and my co-workers. I am so blessed.

I'm not necessarily looking forward to tomorrow. (Who would?) But I love that it has spurred these thoughts, and has become a reminder that I am blessed.

To the amazing women in my life - Mom, Monica, and Andrea - I am so privileged to be your daughter/sister. Thanks for being faithful examples to me for 31+ years. I love you!!

My online organization system

2009-01-07T06:00:00.002-05:00

(I am double-dipping with this, since it is both my Works for Me Wednesday post and my Keeping Creative Kitchens post.)

When I became aware of the wonderful world of blogging, I was quickly overwhelmed by the amount of tips, advice, and information I received. I would start at one blog, where someone would share some bit of incredible information, then they would have a link that led me to another bit of incredible information. Before I knew it, I was visiting so many different places and picking up so many bits and pieces of things that I wanted to remember.

Can you say "information overload"??

Another frequent habit was reading something and thinking that I would remember it down the road, or that I would at least remember that so-and-so was the blogger who had the really great recipe that I wanted to try the next time I had company.

This "remembering" system really didn't work out for me.

At some point towards the beginning of my web-hopping journey, I stumbled upon a blogger who had created a separate blog, just for storing information. I thought it was a neat idea, but I was still under the impression that I could remember the things I really wanted to remember, so I never thought about implementing the idea for myself.

Then, one Wednesday, while browsing all the many great ideas shared through WFMW, I suddenly remembered this ingenious idea. I created a new blog for myself, with the purpose of using it only to store information for my own personal use. It was one of the best things I did in 2008!

I set it up through my blogger account, and created it to be a private blog. I am the only invited viewer/author. I did this for two reasons. First, I want to be able to jot down information in my own short-handed way, and not have to worry about it being understandable to other people. Second, I use it to keep track of things that I don't necessarily want others to view, such as what I got everyone for Christmas (and where it was hidden).

Now, anytime I see something online that I want to remember for future reference, I create a new post on my information blog, write a little blurb about why I am storing the info, create a link to it, label it appropriately, and publish the post.

For instance, about six weeks ago I came across a blog that had tips for creating freezer meals. After reading those tips, I remembered storing some links to recipes that I wanted to try, and thought they might be good candidates for freezer meals.

So, I went to my information blog and clicked on my "recipes" label, which brought up all of my posts related to recipes. I browsed through and found the links, plus a few others I had forgotten about. I added a new label to those posts called "freezer meals", and also created a new post so I could store the blog with the freezer meal tips, along with some other links I picked up along the way. Someday, after I finally clean up all the Christmas decorations and have motivation to cook again, I will return to those posts and hopefully plan a time to create some wonderful meals and put them in the freezer.

I have labels for kitchen, laundry, cleaning, organization, parenting ideas, entertaining, couponing, etc. (I have more than 30 labels, and continue to add new ones as needed.) I also used this to keep track of my Christmas planning for the year - anything related to the Holidays got a "Christmas" tag. This allowed me to keep track of what cookies I wanted to make, the links for those recipes I had found online, what ingredients I needed to have for each of them, what I needed to shop for, etc.

This has become such a useful tool for me, and I am no longer overwhelmed by trying to track all of the great ideas and recipes I find online. I'm sure there are other systems out there that are designed to help people keep track of these things, but this is what works for me.

Head over to Rocks in My Dryer for more WFMW ideas and to Meant to Be for ideas on Keeping Creative Kitchens.

P.S. I would like to give credit to the blogger who originally had this idea. However, since I read about it many months prior to implementing it, I didn't save the link and now have NO IDEA who that person is. **sigh**

Termites vs. tornadoes

2009-01-05T21:50:00.001-05:00

I once heard someone say that every year, termites do more damage to homes than tornadoes. (Just now I did a little web research and found this site, which says that termites actually do more damage than fires, floods, earthquakes, and tornadoes combined.)

This is what popped into my head as I was thinking about New Year's Resolutions. Hang with me here as I try to explain...

I don't have an official list of resolutions, but I do have a general sense that I want to do a few things better this year than I did last year. I don't think I'm alone in having resolutions, and I also don't think I'm alone in starting them with a bang, only to slowly (or not-so-slowly) watch them fizzle into nothingness.

I generally have a great vision in my head - I see the many possibilities and the incredible benefits I will achieve. I get excited and start to develop plans, and do research, and set goals, and then I try to align my current self with my future ideal self. This is where I usually get derailed.

I think it's a case of not being able to "see the forest for the trees." (Or maybe it's a backwards version of this? Hmmm....) I see the entire forest and I want to conquer it, so I run as fast as I can towards it. I run with excitement - "look what I'm going to conquer!" But as I approach it, I see the trees. Oh, how many trees there are! I see them individually and think, "Oh man - I have to conquer that one, and that one, and that one..." The task suddenly seems daunting and impossible, and I feel horribly inadequate.

Then I fall asleep in the shade of a tree, and give up on conquering it, or any other tree, let alone the entire forest.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

As I was thinking about all of this I realized that I want change to come like a tornado, or a hurricane, or an earthquake. I want it to come fast and furious; I want to see results!

This is when I thought about termites.

There is nothing spectacular about termites. They don't make the news. One little termite, all by himself, is not an immediate threat.

However, a lot of little termites, all taking one little bite at a time, can make a big difference.

I realized that I need to think like a termite. I can't "despise the day of small things," a quote taken from Zechariah 4:10. I need to go back and read more of Zechariah to refresh my understanding of the context of this verse, but after browsing the chapter it appears that God is presenting the vision of a huge task, and reminding the Israelites that great things have small beginnings.

(I was interested to see that this is also the chapter that says "'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord." Interesting.)

I'm chewing this over right now, and trying to understand how to apply it to my life - specifically to my goals for the year. Heh - I just realized that I said "I'm chewing it over." Just like a termite. Maybe I'm making progress after all?

Slow and steady wins the race, right??

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T08:56:00.002-05:00

Just popping in to say a quick "Merry Christmas!!" to all of you. May your day be merry and bright!

Random

2008-12-24T08:10:00.003-05:00

1. It's funny how I thought I would be posting less this week. I've probably had more posts in the last few days than I've had in the previous few weeks. Weird.

2. Also weird - my daughter. After she ate breakfast, she threw an absolute fit, which included more whining than I could handle. I told her she needed an attitude adjustment, and asked if she wanted to go to her room to settle down. Not only did she willingly go back to her room, she also wanted to go back to bed. She laid there for a good 20 minutes, giving me a nice, quiet opportunity to do important morning things, like checking email and facebook. (She is now in a much better mood.)

3. Why is it that I can never remember how to spell weird? Why doesn't it follow the whole "i before e except after c" rule? Thank goodness for spell check.

4. I had a fun morning yesterday with my nephew and niece. They played with Kaitlyn (which she LOVED), we made cookies, we watched Elf and ate sloppy joes, and generally had a good time. My favorite part of the morning? When Josiah showed me his collection of Taco Bell sauce packets. He has quite a list of foods that supposedly are enhanced by this sauce - I wish I could remember them. (And I must say that I'm not entirely convinced.)

5. My sister made it through her surgery, which lasted a lot longer than expected. Visit her blog for the updates. I hope to make a trip to the hospital to see her today.

6. As mentioned in #4, we made cookies yesterday. I've never thought much about molasses cookies, but decided to try this Pioneer Woman recipe. Can I just say "YUM!"? They were delicious, and were fun to make. I'll definitely be making these again.

7. My mom got stuck in her driveway yesterday. I thought this was ironic, considering my last post.

I guess that's the end of my list. Mostly because I don't have anything else to say, but also because I'm pretty sure that Kaitlyn is filling her diaper right now. And she hasn't had a good poop in a few days. And I gave her some prunes this morning.

(Aren't you envious?)

The new game at our house:

2008-12-22T21:19:00.003-05:00

Seeing if we can make it up the driveway and into the garage.

Friday night I lost, and had to wait for Mike to come home and scrape off part of the ice. But I didn't go down without a fight - I wonder what the neighbors thought of me reversing the car and then gunning it at different angles in an attempt to find a spot with traction.

I thought I might lose again today because I hit a "speed bump" about halfway up that had been created by the combination of ice and blowing snow. I had to do some creative maneuvering, which for a split-second seemed as if it might result in me running the car through the side of the garage, or proppeling us backwards into the yard.

Yeah, I could totally do one of those car chases in an action film. Just call me 007. (Or 911, depending on how things go.)

When is spring?

Unconventional Christmas

2008-12-20T13:48:00.004-05:00

My sister has been scheduled for surgery on Tuesday, and will probably be in the hospital until Christmas Day.

She is actually relieved about this - she wanted to have the surgery before the end of the year, for a variety of reasons. (See her blog post about it here.)

Thankfully, this will not alter our plans for Christmas. It is our year to be with Mike's family on Christmas, so my family had already planned to delay our celebration until New Year's Day.

This all seems a little surreal... While we join the world around us in the hustle and bustle of last-minute Christmas preparations, we are also preparing for a surgery. My week will include wrapping presents, packing to go out of town, and visitng my sister in the hospital. Honestly, that just feels a little wierd.

One good thing about this week is that I only have to work on Monday. Woohoo! The college's offices are shut down from Christmas Eve through New Year's Day, and because of the surgery I am also taking Tuesday off so my nephew and niece can come to my house for the morning. So, I officially have one day left before Christmas break, and then I will have almost two full weeks off. Nice.

It will be great to have a break from work, but more importantly, it will be great to have time to spend with my family. My other sister, Andrea, is flying in on Tuesday evening from California. What a blessing that we will all be together, and that God arranged for us to be available to help as needed.

And, as awful as it is to have to go through this, I have two friends who are dealing with things that are just as (or more) awful. Despite my family's circumstances, we feel very blessed.

This Christmas will be incredibly bittersweet - looking back to last Christmas, we never would have guessed all of the struggles this year would bring. But we've also been reminded of what's truly important and have drawn closer as a family.

I intend to have a few more posts up this week, but I'm not sure if that will happen. If not, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

My new favorite kitchen tools

2008-12-18T21:15:00.009-05:00

I am finally participating in Alaina's Keeping Creative Kitchens! I've meant to have a post up for this for many, many weeks, and I'm so excited that my planned topic just happens to fit this week's theme perfectly. The theme is cookies and candy, which, of course, is extremely appropriate considering that Christmas is a week away.

One week! Where did the time time go??

Anyway, I want to share with you something that I bought for my birthday in November. I invested in two baking sheets that are basically the full size of my oven. I got the idea here, and here is where I found the right size cookie sheet.

FYI, I discovered that there are two (or three?) standard sizes for baking sheets - full, half, and I think I also saw a quarter-size. The full size is made to fit in a professional oven, and is just wee bit too big for a conventional home oven. This site has a size that is specific for conventional ovens, and is called the "home" size, which is what I ended up getting.

One of the things that I LOVE about having these is that I can maximize my time. On the day after Thanksgiving, I made shortbread cookies with Kaitlyn, and was able to make almost all of a double batch of cookies in one shot!

I also used parchment paper for the first time, and I fell in love with that, too. Easy clean up!

Here are both sheets of cookies in the oven:

After taking them out of the oven, I slid the whole sheet of parchment paper onto cooling racks. (Which is a lot easier to type than it is to do. For about 1.2 seconds I thought all of my cookies were going to slide right onto the floor. Hopefully I will get better at this technique.)

One of the things I've always hated about making cookies is the time it takes to bake them all. Put them on the cookie sheet, set the timer, wait 5-10 minutes, take them out, let them cool, take them off the cookie sheet, put new ones on the cookie sheet, repeat. It always seems to take FOREVER! But making them this way was so quick and easy. If you do a lot of baking, I would highly recommend investing in these sheets!

Of course, I can't end this post without showing some pictures of Kaitlyn. She had a blast "helping" me with the cookies. I gave her some dough and some little cookie cutters and let her do her own thing. She loved it!

Here are her cookies:

A happy girl! (With some crazy hair!)

I also want to share one of my favorite holiday cookie recipes, which comes from my mom. If we don't have these cookies, it just doesn't seem like Christmas!

Mom's Christmas Pastel Cookies

2 cups soft butter
2 cups sifted confectioner's sugar
4 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Mix butter, sugar and salt thoroughly. Add flour and blend into dough.

2. Divide dough into thirds, placing each third in a different bowl. Add a different food coloring and flavoring to each third. (1/2 to 1 teaspoon flavoring per third.) We traditionally use green/mint; red/cherry; and yellow/lemon. Use your hands to work the coloring and the flavoring throughout the dough, until it is a consistent color. (Use as much or as little coloring as you want, and expect to walk away with a lot of color on your hands!)

3. Mold each third into long, smooth rolls, about 2 inches in diameter. Roll in colored sugar or nuts. Wrap each roll in waxed paper or plastic wrap, and chill until stiff - several hours or overnight. (Can also be frozen.)

4. When you are ready to bake, slice cookies 1/8-inch thick, place on ungreased cookie sheets and bake at 375* for 7 to 9 minutes. Do not brown.

Yum!

Head over to Meant to Be for more creative kitchen ideas!

A new trend in Christmas decor?

2008-12-11T09:48:00.005-05:00

I have so many things that I've intended to post over the past few days. Serious things, funny things, Kaitlyn stories, Christmas preparation ideas, etc.

So what is it that actually brings me out of my blogging slump?

Toilet paper.

When I drove onto campus this morning, I saw that some college-age elves had been hard at work last night. Maybe this is a new way to decorate for Christmas?

Good news (and chocolate)

2008-11-25T06:00:00.001-05:00

Good News:
Monica and her husband have received some wonderful news regarding their finances. I'm not sure if I'm at liberty to talk specifics yet, so I'll just leave it at that. God is good!

Chocolate:
On Sunday, I made more of the Christmas treats I mentioned last week and wanted to finally share the recipe with you. I modified this from a recipe for "Crockpot Candy", but since I didn't use the Crockpot, I'm at a loss for how to title this. I guess I'll keep it simple...

Erin's Christmas Candy
1 lb. white chocolate (the stuff I used was called "candy coating")
8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate (either chocolate chips or baking chocolate squares)
1 oz. unsweetened chocolate
12 oz. salted peanuts
2 - 2 1/2 cups crushed cinnamon graham crackers*
2 - 2 1/2 cups mini marshmallows

Put all of the chocolate into a double-boiler to melt, or melt it in the microwave. (Or throw it in your crockpot on low, go do something else productive for a few hours, then come back and proceed.) After it is melted and smooth, add the peanuts and graham crackers, and stir well to make sure they are completely coated with chocolate. Then add the marshmallows, and again, stir well to make sure they are coated with chocolate.

Spread the mixture out on cookie sheets lined with foil, and allow to cool. (I put mine in the garage, since it cools more quickly out there.) When the candy has hardened, break it into pieces.
That's it!

*With the graham crackers, I don't crush them as fine as I would for a graham cracker crust - I try to leave them in fairly big chunks.

Other notes about this recipe...

Last year I tried this with crushed pretzels and caramel. It turned out ok, but the caramel got really hard and it was a workout to eat it. :-) I might get ambitious and try it again this year, using only the pretzels.
If you want the marshmallows to be more melty (I'm sure this is an official baking term, right?), just throw them into the chocolate before the peanuts and graham crackers. This will give them more time to heat up and get ooey and gooey in the chocolate.
I used 12 oz of peanuts the first time, and it seemed like too many, so I used less on the second try. Adjust all of this to your own preferences and tastes.
If you can think of any other variation for this, please let me know. This is so easy to throw together and it got rave reviews last year, so I would love to have lots of different ways to make it.

Mmmmmm. I also made candied popcorn using this recipe, and plan on trying this recipe for caramel corn. I don't know if I'll ever get around to making cookies this year, but even if I don't, I think I'll have plenty of yummy holiday treats!

Another unexpected bump in the road

2008-11-23T19:26:00.005-05:00

My sister was diagnosed with breast cancer on Friday.

I was shocked when she called me at work to give me the news. I knew she had a biopsy earlier in the week, and I knew she would get the results on Friday. I felt sure it would be a good report. Surely the doctor just wanted to be extra cautious because of our mom's history; surely it would turn out benign.

But it wasn't.

The news hit me hard. When my mom was diagnosed this summer, I had so much other stuff going on. My mind was full with the details of a new job, moving, and increased busyness for Mike at his job. I didn't have time to stop and let it sink in.

All of those pent up emotions, along with the emotion of the new diagnosis, came rushing out on Friday after I talked to Monica.

I'm so blessed to work in a Christian environment. Jaimee (my boss) took time to listen to me blabber on for a while, then prayed with me. I emailed two of my dear friends on campus (I work at a college) to tell them, and they surprised me by making the trek all the way down to my office to give me a hug and pray for me.

I had a little meltdown when I picked Kaitlyn up at the sitter's house. She was being so very, terribly two (Kaitlyn, not the sitter, in case you were confused) and I was at a complete loss for how to respond. She was pushing limits she's never pushed while at Meagan's house (at least while I'm there) and I just stood there thinking, I know I should do something, but I just don't have a clue how to wear the mom hat right now.

So, I burst into tears.

But then things got a little better. By the time we got home, Kaitlyn was asleep. I sat on the couch and held her, and it gave me a much needed quiet moment for myself. Mike stopped and picked up Chinese take-out for dinner. Yum!

I also got to talk with Monica and get the details of her late afternoon doctor's appointment. Her treatment options sound very good. She caught it early, and the doctor expects that she will beat this and have a long life ahead of her.

The doctors handling her treatment are the same doctors who have handled my mom's treatment, which is a blessing. They are wonderful doctors and Monica has already talked with them several times regarding my mom, so she already knows them, is comfortable with them, and knows that she is in good hands.

She will have surgery before Christmas to have the tumor removed, and then she will have chemo and possibly radiation.

She has a very positive outlook about the whole thing - in fact, she is going to blog about her journey. You can read her thoughts here.

Please keep us all in your prayers. I have a lot more in my heart that I want to share, but right now I feel at loss for how to share it.

I'll close with a song that we sang today at church - it hit me in a whole new way.

I can do anything in fifteen minutes...

2008-11-20T07:00:00.000-05:00

...including writing a post for my sadly neglected blog.

(Thank you FlyLady for the fifteen minute mantra!)

Life hasn't been overly crazy lately, but it has been a lot of life. Does that make any sense? I look back over the past two weeks and I can only think of one major, out-of-the-ordinary event, but I feel like I have been so busy.

Maybe it's the fact that the holidays are approaching? Who knows.

Anyway, the one major, out-of-the-ordinary event was Mike getting hives. Last Thursday he came home, ate some canned soup for dinner (my menu plan was non-existent last week), and ten minutes later he was itching like crazy.

He pulled his shirt up, and his whole stomach was red. I freaked out; he said, "Oh, it's probably just because that's where I've been scratching." I dropped the issue for about two minutes, and then I freaked out some more and practically forced him out the door to the urgent care center.

I suspected it was hives, and neither of us have ever had hives. I figured since it was the first time, it would be good to get everything checked out and, you know, get actual medical advice.

(As opposed to reading a bunch of stuff on WebMD. Not that I ever do that.)

By the time Mike got home from the urgent care center and CVS, he had HUGE, dinner-plate-size welts on his stomach and legs, and welts on his arms and feet.

(I will pause here to mention that, in the end, he was thankful I made him go to the doctor. Ahem. Thank you very much.)

He had one miserable night, and then everything pretty much cleared up. I don't know what caused the hives, so we are praying that it was a freak thing. And, he's never eating chicken and sausage gumbo from a can again.

In other news, Kaitlyn has hit a whole new stage of terrible two-ness. Everything in our house has become SO! DRAMATIC!

Her favorite thing is to melt to the floor, most of the time collapsing to her knees and putting her face to the floor, all while whining and carrying on. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Wow - my fifteen minutes is up. I guess that's all the news for now! I did make some yummy Christmas treats last weekend, so I'll have to return later and post the recipe.

Compassion trip to the Dominican Republic

2008-11-06T18:00:00.000-05:00

Last February, Compassion took a group of bloggers to Uganda. Each of the bloggers wrote about their trip and about the work that Compassion does.

It was because of these bloggers that I became a sponsor for little Susana, who lives in Nicaragua and just turned five two weeks ago.

Right now, another trip is taking place in the Dominican Republic. Once again, I have been moved to tears by what the participants have posted on their blogs. I have been mostly following Melanie, from the Big Mama blog, and "Marlboro Man," from the Pioneer Woman blog.

There are two things I encourage you to do:

1. Visit these blogs and read about their experiences. It will make you feel a little squirmy, and a little sad, but it will also inspire you and give you great hope and joy. I promise. If you only have time to visit one, I would tell you to visit Pioneer Woman. Marlboro Man and their two daughters have written some beautiful posts.

2a. Sponsor a child. You won't regret it.

2b. If you already sponsor a child, read this post about why it's so important to build a relationship with your child through writing letters.

Democracy was at work. The signs, however, were a completely different story.

2008-11-04T20:00:00.000-05:00

So I got up at 5:30 this morning so I could make it to the polls and still get to work on time.

Have I ever mentioned that I'm not a morning person? But I was absolutely dedicated to making my vote count, and if this is what I had to do to make sure I voted, then I would do it.

Part of the reason I got up so early is because I didn't know what to expect at our new polling location. At our old location it wasn't a problem to get in and out quickly, but I wanted to give myself plenty of time just in case.

As I approached the location (a fire station) I realized that it was a good thing I arrived early.

The line was already around the building, and there was no place to park. People were parking on the grass, in the street - anywhere there was space.

I had to circle the building before returning to my starting point and parking in the grass. I got in line and realized that, out of all the people in line at that moment, I happened to have gotten in line behind a co-worker. What are the odds?

Jeanne and I began chatting and I found out that this is the first year voting has taken place at the fire station. Until now it's been at the high school. This, along with a very interesting election and huge voter turnout, only compounded a bigger problem: a complete lack of signage.

After standing in line for a few minutes, someone mentioned that there were TWO lines. One for precinct (or district or whatever) 73 and one for 74.

Which one was I? I had no clue.

I also had no clue which line I was standing in. Was I in 73? Or 74? Surely there should be some signs... or someone to give us some information...

Or not.

The good news is that I had grabbed my voter registration confirmation thing-a-ma-jig on my way out the door. (It was on the fridge, next to the coffee pot. If it was anywhere else, I'm sure I would have not thought to bring it.)

I looked at it and saw that I was 74. First problem solved.

Then I heard someone say we were in the line for 73. Of course.

I left my line and walked around the building, where I inadvertently walked through a flower bed and I think I stepped on a plant of some sort. I got to the end of the flower bed, was met with a small brick wall, and had to squeeze past some people waiting in line in order to avoid an awkward step/jump over the wall.

(Jackie, I thought of you.)

The people that I squeezed past looked a little annoyed. I tried to ignore them.

Immediately after I got past the annoyed people, I saw the signs on the door and realized that I had, in fact, been in the 74 line to begin with. Of course.

So, back I went. The annoyed people were still annoyed, and I still had to cut through the flower bed, and I think I stepped on the plant for a second time, despite my care to NOT step on it.

(Hey - it was 6:20 a.m., it was dark, and I hadn't had a full cup of coffee yet.)

I once again joined Jeanne and passed the word on that we were in the 74 line. She became concerned that she might be in the wrong line. We discussed this with the people around us, and no one seemed to know if they were 73 or 74.

I mean, really, who remembers this stuff from year to year? I had a hard enough time trying to research who all was running for office in my area and figuring out who I needed to read up on in order to make an informed vote.

I also have a hard enough time remembering all of my pin numbers, computer passwords, id numbers, and even my address and phone number, for Pete's sake.

Anyway, everyone decided to stay in the 74 line, despite their uncertainty. We figured that everyone else probably had questions about this and it would get sorted out once we got inside.

Or maybe there would be some sort of map as we got closer to the door that would help everyone know if they were a 73 or a 74.

Or, maybe that would make too much sense, and instead, maybe there only would be a few small "73" and "74" signs hidden in the grass, and no other signs whatsoever.

Once we got inside the doors and had our ID's checked, we proceeded to the next table where the volunteers had the incredibly big book of names. This was the moment of truth for Jeanne. Would her name appear in the book?

The suspense. You could have cut it with a knife.

(Well, not really. But I thought I'd throw a little drama into the mix.)

Jeanne's name was not in the book. It wasn't terribly tragic, because she just had to walk to the other side of the room and check in at the 73 table. Crisis averted.

However, when we had arrived inside, one of the volunteers at the table with the giant book of names said, "WHY are there so many people in the WRONG LINE?"

Several people commented that it was due to the non-existent signs.

While I sat at the table, filling out my ballot, this same volunteer carried on a conversation with herself. Apparently, she is hard of hearing because she had to talk very LOUDLY.

"Who is sorting these people outside???"

"This is the 15th person in a row that has come to the WRONG TABLE!"

"Who is supposed to be sorting these people??"

"Whoever is sorting these people is not doing a very good job."

"WHO IS SUPPOSED TO BE SORTING EVERYONE BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT DOING THEIR JOB."

Oh my word. It took everything in my power to not turn around and say, "Lady, considering the fact that YOU are the one with the giant book of names, it seems that YOU are the designated sorter. So get over it!!"

Sheesh!

Despite the disgruntled-with-the-sorting lady, I fulfilled my civic duty.

And despite my whining about it, the whole ordeal wasn't as bad as what it could have been.

(At least the right information was printed on my card.)

Now I'm just sitting back, waiting for the results...

Prayer request

2008-11-04T08:59:00.002-05:00

I just read this post by Whitney at Baby Tunnel Exodus.

I am in shock, and am heartbroken. Please keep her (and this situation) in your prayers.

Efficiency cooking

2008-11-02T21:51:00.004-05:00

I have been busy, busy, busy in the kitchen tonight.

Well, I'm not sure if my activity qualifies for three "busy" labels, but it does qualify for at least two. (It does. I checked the rules and guidelines on using the word "busy" and according to the powers-that-be, I am completely justified.)

(I just made that last part up.)

(Like you didn't already know that.)

Yeah, so anyway, back to tonight's "efficiency cooking." I'm calling it this because I cooked several things tonight that will make my meal preparation for the week a breeze. I also have some surplus that will go in the freezer for future meals. Yay!

So, first, here is my menu plan for the week:

Monday
Pork chops in the crock pot, stuffing, cooked carrots

Tuesday
Goulash, salad

Wednesday
Rush off to church night - leftovers, or whatever we can find

Thursday
Chicken stir fry, rice

Friday
Sloppy Joe's, fries, and some form of vegetable

And now, the efficiency part...

In the past couple months I've made an effort to stockpile things in my freezer. This means that I try to make extras of what I'm making already, or I am intentional about prepping foods ahead of time so they are easier to use down the road.

There are three things that I did weeks ago that will help me immensely this week. First, I bought a big beef roast on sale, made it in the crock pot, then sliced it and froze it.

Second, I made a triple batch of sloppy joe's when we had company two weeks ago, and froze the extra.

Third, when I make pasta or noodles, I try to make double what I need so I can freeze the rest. I figure if I'm going to have to wash my big ole pasta pot, I might as well make enough for several meals!

Now on to what I did today. Kroger had chicken breasts on sale this week so I picked up several packages, and I threw all of the chicken in the crock pot when we got home from church today. I cubed all of it tonight, and what I don't use for my chicken stir fry will go in the freezer for use at a later date.

Next, I pulled out some bell peppers, carrots, and mushrooms and chopped them up. I stir fried all of the carrots, and half of the peppers and mushrooms. I tried to leave them a little undercooked so that when I reheat them on Thursday (adding some of the cubed chicken that I cooked in the crock pot), they'll be just right.

In the same pan that I used for the stir fry, I cooked the rest of the peppers and mushrooms, along with some chopped tomatoes. Then I diced my pre-cooked roast, threw that into the mix, and eventually added my pre-cooked macaroni, a can of tomato soup, and some tomato sauce to finish off my goulash. This is now in the fridge, ready to be reheated and eaten on Tuesday.

Since I am using the crock pot tomorrow to cook my pork chops, and since my sloppy joes are pre-made and waiting for me in the freezer, all of this cooking tonight means that I won't have to do much cooking for the rest of the week. Woohoo!

Oh, and tomorrow I am making more pork chops than we can possibly eat (like the chicken, I bought extra because they were on sale this week), so guess where those will end up? In the freezer! For a future meal!

(I seriously need to get a stand-alone freezer.)

Another thing I accomplished tonight was making all of our lunches ahead for the week. I made enough sandwiches for the whole week and bagged up a bunch of chips, then set all of the other elements (cans of pop, fruit cups, 100-calorie cookie packs, pudding) together on a shelf where I can easily grab them in the morning.

Yeah, AND I set the coffee for tomorrow morning.

This was more than I wanted to do on a Sunday night, but knowing that I'm pretty much set for the week makes it all worth it.

Here are three more things to be excited about this week:
1. My birthday!
2. As of Wednesday, no more political ads.
3. My first bloggy award! (Thanks Whitney!) I'll be back to post about this tomorrow.

Head over to orgjunkie.com for more great meal plans!

100 posts!

2008-10-31T18:00:00.001-04:00

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!

2008-10-30T12:00:00.002-04:00

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

2008-10-13T20:49:00.004-04:00

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

2008-10-07T21:45:00.003-04:00

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

2008-10-03T06:00:00.007-04:00

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...

2008-10-01T22:51:00.007-04:00

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:

No one was hurt.
Mike had not yet moved his office over, so all of the company files and his computer are safe.
The company has insurance. :-)
There was enough time to get out several important pieces of equipment.
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

2008-10-01T06:00:00.001-04:00

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!

Menu Plan Monday - Week of 9.29.08

2008-09-29T06:00:00.002-04:00

Mike will be super busy this week, so I'm not sure if we'll follow through on all these meals. It could be me, Kaitlyn, and a couple of PB&J's or mac and cheese on one or more of these nights. If it is, at least I'll have some meals planned for next week!

Here's the menu for this week:

Monday
Pork BBQ (in the crock pot) for sandwiches, french fries and veggies

Tuesday
Spaghetti, green beans, and salad

Wednesday
Tuna melts, chips and veggies

Thursday
Pork chops, stuffing, and cooked carrots

Friday
Pizza, using left-over spaghetti sauce (which will include lean ground turkey, bell peppers, and mushrooms). Since my first attempt at making bread turned out well, I'm going to try this pizza crust recipe from Alaina at Meant to Be.

If you want more great meal ideas, visit orgjunkie.com and see what other bloggers have on their menu for the week!

Lessons learned from a frog

2008-09-26T12:00:00.000-04:00

Yesterday morning we walked into the garage, like we always do when we get ready to go, and Mike took Kaitlyn around to her side of the car to strap her in her car seat.

I was getting into the car when I heard him say, "Oh! Look at that! There's a frog over here!" The frog was several feet away.

As Mike and Kaitlyn were looking at it, the frog hopped to the side a little and Kaitlyn let out a blood-curdling SCREAM.

She absolutely FREAKED! OUT!

We tried to reassure her that, 1) the frog wasn't going to hurt her; and 2) if the frog came anywhere close to her, she was in Daddy's arms and he would take care of her.

Our reassurances didn't do much to calm her, and she continued to freak out until we drove out of the garage. She talked about the frog the whole way (30 minutes) to Meagan's house.

As we drove, it struck me that Kaitlyn was only looking at the frog in relation to herself. She didn't see the frog in relation to her Daddy, or in relation to the fact that she was being held (and protected) by her Daddy.

And then it struck me that I often do the same thing when faced with "frogs" in my own life. I look at the circumstance in relation to ME, instead of seeing it from the perspective of my Heavenly Father.

When I look at various situations, all I can see is an icky, slimy frog who might pounce on me at any moment. The only thing I think about is what will *I* do if it jumps at me? What if it lands on my foot? What would I do? What if it knocks me over and starts hopping all over me??? What if it gets slime on me and I can't wash it off and then I'll be late for work and then I might get fired and then we might lose our house and then what would we do?

OH MY WORD THIS IS A HORRIBLE SITUATION AND WHAT AM I GOING TO DO????

[said in the whiniest and most panicked voice ever]

Yeah, so that's a little silly, but don't we sometimes get outrageous in our "what if" questions, when we let fear take over? I know I do.

These are the times when God (who is holding me in his arms) says, "Um, Erin, it's a frog. I'm bigger than it. Remember?"

The whole frog scenario was a great reminder to me, that I need to keep my eyes on Jesus. We have a few frogs in our garage (metaphorically speaking) at the moment, but I won't worry about them because God is so much bigger.

Ok, my flesh might take over now and then and I'll worry just a teensy bit.

But the Holy Spirit will gently remind me to put things in perspective. Instead of magnifying the problem (which leads to worry) I need to magnify the Lord (which leads to faith).

"O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together." Psalm 34:3

Just call me Betty

2008-09-25T12:00:00.000-04:00

As in, Crocker.

Or, you might just call me crazy.

On Sunday I decided to make my own bread.

There were several motivating factors:

1) I now have a kitchen with enough space to do something like this
2) I now have a dishwasher
3) I enjoy making stuff from scratch
4) I wanted to see if this might be an occasional way to make something healthier and cheaper than what I buy at the store

I used this recipe for "Kid-Friendly Wheat Bread", but since I don't have a bread machine, or a mixer with a dough hook (or whatever it's called), I found these instructions to help me with the mixing/kneading part.

And yes, you read that right. I did everything by hand. It made me feel a little bit like a genuine pioneer woman.

Except that I have central air.

And a dishwasher.

And I wasn't wearing any form of a petticoat.

Isn't "petticoat" a funny word?

Ok, let's focus and get back on topic here. Where was I? Oh yes, the bread.

I was very pleased with the results. When it was warm out of the oven it was oh so very yummy! It wasn't quite as melt-in-your-mouth-yummy the next day, but it was still good.

I'm not sure if I'll be making my own bread on a regular basis, but at least I am no longer intimidated to try my hand at other yeast breads. The whole process was actually much easier than I thought it would be.

Here is a picture of the half-eaten results:

This success has spurred me on to try other recipes and to do more baking this year. Maybe I'll finally get around to making these. I've never tasted them, but they look absolutely delicious in Sara's picture and she has assured me that they taste as good (or better) than they look!

Works for me Wednesday - Pandora

2008-09-24T06:00:00.000-04:00

A few months ago, I was introduced to the wonder of Pandora. Here's how it works:

1. You type in the name of a specific artist, or a song, or a style of music.

2. Pandora will find music similar to the artist, or song, or style of music that you entered, and will play it for you. For example, if you enter "James Taylor", it will create a playlist based on his style of music that will include some songs from him, and lots of songs by other artists like him.

3. If you create an account, Pandora will give you the opportunity to provide feedback on the songs you like or don't like. If it plays a song that you really like, you can give it a thumbs up. If it plays a song that you hate, you can give it a thumbs down. This helps the site to refine exactly the type of music you want to hear.

The great thing is that you can create lots of "radio stations", and every time you log in you can choose one you have already created, or you can start a new one.

And, the thing I REALLY love about it is the "QuickMix".

The QuickMix allows you to combine several of your stations into one big playlist. I love this because my musical tastes are all over the place, and Pandora allows me to bring them all together in one big group hug.

Here are the "stations" in my current QuickMix:
Salvador
James Taylor
Bon Jovi
Disco
The Righteous Brothers
Hillsong

See what I mean about my tastes being all over the place?

Another great thing (how many times have I said that now?) is it has introduced me to new artists. (Or old artists that I've heard of, but never paid attention to.) When I hear a song that I like but don't recognize, I'll click over to Pandora and it will give me all the info about the song/artist/album.

AND... it's all FREE. No commercials.

That totally works for me! Take a peek at Rocks in my Dryer for more great Works for Me Wednesday ideas.

Menu Plan Monday - week of 9.22.08

2008-09-23T12:00:00.001-04:00

So this has now turned into "Menu Plan Tuesday". Oh well. Here is what is on the menu for this week:

Monday
Omelets

Tuesday
Pork roast and potatoes in the crock pot

Wednesday
Tacos

Thursday
Chili

Friday
Up for grabs

It's a pretty simple menu, but this week will be fairly busy between Mike's work load and family activities.

Next week Mike's company will be moving to a new factory, and to say that he's a little stressed about the details would be an understatement.

Regarding the family activities, we are celebrating my parents' 40th wedding anniversary this weekend. Their anniversary is at the end of October, but we originally decided to celebrate early as a family so they could take the time around their actual anniversary date to celebrate as a couple.

Unfortunately, my mom's chemo treatments will probably prevent them from doing anything too flashy for this year, but I'm sure they'll make up for it later.

Speaking of chemo, she is set to start this on October 7 so if you think of it, please pray that things will go as smoothly as possible.

On another note, I must tattle on her just a little. Last week she got a teensy bit carried away while rocking in her glider, and she tipped it over backwards.

I think she just wanted a little excitement and decided to create some.

She's always been a rebel like that.

(Next thing you know, she'll be trying to roller skate in the driveway.)

Ok, anyway, back to the topic of menu planning. If you want to see more menus, head over to orgjunkie.com. This week Laura is doing a themed Menu Plan Monday and has asked everyone to post a family favorite recipe, so you should be able to find lots of great recipes to try out.

As you may have noticed, I have not posted a family favorite recipe. In light of this, and in light of the fact that I am posting my Menu Plan Monday on a Tuesday, I will not link to my blog from Laura's MPM post.

I would hate for people to come in search of a family favorite and all they would find is a story about how my mom is off her rocker. (They would also probably think that I inherited the rebel gene from my mom, which I probably did.)

My sweet baby girl

2008-09-18T12:00:00.001-04:00

Ok, so my sweet baby girl is not so much a baby anymore. But I still call her my baby, which I think is something most mothers do for quite some time.

(Which means I'm normal. At least on this count.)

Two weeks ago she turned two, and I am finally getting around to posting my official "I can't believe my baby turned two" post.

***************

Kaitlyn, when I was pregnant with you, I, like any mother-to-be, had visions of what my labor and delivery would be like. (And, by the way, those visions are usually NOT the way things go.)

One of the things I envisioned was the moment they would put my sweet baby girl in my arms, and I would kiss your head full of dark brown hair. Imagine my surprise when they showed me my towheaded baby!

I was shocked. If I hadn't been the only pregnant woman laying on the operating table in the room (you arrived via C-section), I seriously would have doubted that you were mine.

Where, in heaven's name, did that bleach blond hair come from??

I have since learned that both of your grandpas had blond hair when they were little, which explains where the recessive gene came from. The one thing I know is that it sure showed up on your little head with a vengeance!

While we were in the hospital you were the talk of the maternity ward. All the nurses would come in and say, "Oh, is this the blond baby we've heard so much about?" There were nurses who would stop in, even though we weren't assigned to them, just to see you and your hair.

The thing that made your hair remarkable is that you had so much of it. It was actually long.

When Daddy first called your Grandma in California to tell her about you, he said, "She has long blond hair." And Grandma said, "Oh, she does not! Babies don't have long hair."

When she finally saw a picture of you, she said, "Oh my goodness! She does have long hair!"

Your Dad and I were clueless and freaked out when we brought you home. We knew that we would be good parents - it's just that we weren't quite used to our new job description yet.

On our first night at home you would not stop crying. We didn't know what to do. Did your tummy hurt? Were you uncomfortable? Were you hungry? Were we doing something wrong? Did we need to call the doctor?

We made a frantic call to Aunt Monica.

"What do we do??????"

(Poor Aunt Monica.)

We eventually learned that you liked to cry. You didn't cry all the time, but you made your fair share of noise.

You also liked to be held in one particular way - you wanted to be on your stomach, but propped up so you could see what was going on. This was highly inconvenient. (But, just so you know, most of parenting is.)

You were always a social little person, and you still are. You enjoy people and want to be a part of whatever is going on. You are very aware of your surroundings.

The other week when I picked you up from Meagan's house, and as we got to the car I could faintly hear Meagan's phone start to ring. You looked at me and said, "Meagan's phone - ring." How did you notice that? How do you pick up on these things?

You also quickly pick up on songs and things on TV. When you started to sing along with the "Friends" theme song, I knew it was time to officially enforce a ban on any show that had questionable themes or language. (At least while you are awake.)

Your favorite TV show has always been Curious George. You love the episode where George has to take care of the animals on a farm, and you giggle like crazy at the end when he is driving around on the tractor, causing chaos.

It reminds me SO MUCH of how I used to laugh while watching "The Little Rascals". Someday I'll have to introduce you to Spanky, Alfalfa, and the rest of the gang and we can laugh our heads off together.

You take after me in a lot of other ways, too, and I underestimated how freaky that would be. For example, you are highly independent, but are easily frustrated when it can't be done the way you want it done, when you want it done.

I wonder if you will also be competitive.

(This, you would get from your Dad.)

(And maybe just a *teensy* bit from me.)

(Ok, maybe a little more than that.)

I'm a little biased, but I do think you are a smart little girl. You like to figure things out. I can already see that you are a good problem solver.

And you love books. Just last weekend I read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" several times in a row, and then you turned around and "read" it to me. Of course you didn't read the words, but you retold the story and I was surprised at how many of the concepts and phrases you got right.

You have quite a sense of humor, little girl. You enjoy laughing - you laugh at TV shows, like I mentioned above, but you also love to be silly and to laugh at or with other people.

I'll never forget the first time you had a true belly laugh - it was when you were four months old, and we were at your great-grandpa's house for Christmas. You thought your cousin, Ethan, was hilarious. You had us all in stitches with your contagious laughter.

I don't quite know how to end this because I could go on and on about you. Since you were born you have been a constant source of joy for your Daddy and me, even in the midst of the frustrations. We are so happy that God has entrusted you to us, and we can't wait to see the plans He has for your life.

One thing I suspect is that God has created a passion in your little heart for prayer. You've always been very tuned in to prayer, and you love to pray. You once prayed for Daddy's hip when it was out of place, and the next morning he was 100% better.

One morning, while we were driving to Meagan's, you insisted that we pray for Aunt Monica and your two cousins. I later remembered that it was their first day of school, and found out from Aunt Monica that one of them had had a rough morning and had certainly needed some prayer.

Yes, I think God has given you a gift of prayer.

My prayer for you is that you will never lose your faith in the power of prayer, and that you will always have a tender heart that knows you can talk to your Heavenly Father about anything, at any time. I pray that your Daddy and I will have wisdom in raising you, and that we will be godly examples for you.

I love you sweetie pie! Happy (belated) second birthday!

Poor Man's Steak, and how I almost poisoned my entire family

2008-09-17T12:00:00.002-04:00

As promised, below is the recipe for Poor Man's Steak that I mentioned earlier this week. It is from the Fix It and Forget It Cookbook, which is full of wonderful recipes for the slow cooker.

This particular recipe only needs to cook for 2-3 hours on low, so it is perfect to throw in the crock pot on a Sunday morning before church.

It's also perfect for Saturday night guests, like we'll be having this weekend. I can mix it up a couple of days before, put it in the crock pot on Saturday afternoon, and know that I don't have to worry about my main course.

(Worrying about the bathrooms being clean and whether or not I've removed the layer of dust on my furniture, well, that's a different story.)

I do have three words of caution about the recipe.

First, it needs to be refrigerated for at least eight hours, so you need to plan ahead.

Second, don't accidentally mix the cream of mushroom soup and water in with the meat mixture. Yeah, I did this once (thankfully it wasn't for company) and I ended up with this mushy concoction that I had to finish baking in the oven. I baked it for 2+ extra hours because it was so mushy that I couldn't tell if it was done.

Third, use caution if you make this with lean ground turkey. The problem with this is that mixing lean ground turkey with the other ingredients and then dousing it in cream of mushroom soup makes it difficult to tell if it's completely done.

Plus, the time I made it with turkey, I must have done something extra to mess it up although I'm not sure what that was. All I know is that I pulled it out and thought it was done.

But it wasn't.

Unfortunately, I served this to my family.

It was quite comical. Eight of us were crammed into our small dining room - I think whoever sat at the end of the table was actually in the living room. After everyone got their serving, I noticed that they were looking intently at the meat and were sort of pushing it around on their plates.

I realized, with horror, that the meat was not completely cooked. I had almost inadvertently poisoned my entire family.

We didn't have a lot of room in our kitchen, so our microwave cart was out in the dining room. For the next ten or fifteen minutes the whole family passed their plates, one by one, around to me so I could pop them in the microwave and finish cooking the turkey.

I can just imagine, years from now, sitting around the Christmas tree with my family and recalling those treasured family memories.

"Do you remember the time Aunt Erin tried to poison us?"

"Yeah."

"Those were good times."

It makes me feel a little like Aunt Abby and Aunt Martha from Arsenic and Old Lace.

Anyway, here is the recipe. Please don't use it to poison anyone.

Poor Man's Steak
1.5 lbs ground beef
1 cup milk
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. salt
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 cup cracker crumbs
1 tsp. brown sugar
10 3/4 oz. can cream of mushroom soup
1 soup can water

1. Mix together all ingredients except soup and water. Shape into narrow loaf. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours.

2. Slice and fry until brown in skillet.

3. Mix soup and water together until smooth. Spread diluted soup on each piece. Place slices into cooker. Pour any remaining soup over slice in cooker.

4. Cover. Cook on low 2-3 hours.