Archive for the ‘Life’ Category
Truthful Thursday – 2 Peter 3
Posted on: October 22, 2009
“But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent… And remember, the Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved.” 2 Peter 3:8-9;15a
For more information on how to participate in Truthful Thursday, click here.
Regift Christmas
Posted on: October 20, 2009
- In: Life
- 4 Comments
Yes, yes, I know Christmas isn’t for another 66 days. My Christmas lights aren’t up yet, promise*.
Every year, without fail, I never know what to get Jonathan. Last night I asked him what he wanted. He had no clue.
And that’s when it happened.
My genius of a husband came up with a spectacular idea.
Regift Christmas.
Here’s the idea:
We have to regift items the other person hasn’t used in the last year, or hasn’t used as it was originally intended.
Honestly, I’ve no clue what I’m going to regift Jonathan, but I’ve got a garage and closet full of things I’m certain he hasn’t used that will be pretty sweet to regift.
I’m really looking forward to Regift Christmas and what I re-get! 😉
*Last night, while discussing our regift idea, I told Jonathan I was planning to put up the Christmas tree on Sunday, November 15th. His response, “Why so late?”. And that, my dear friends, is why I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my husband.
For those curious minds, the tree is going up November 6th. Oh yeah.
- In: Life
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This last week I watched King Corn. It was very fascinating. It’s a genuine eye opener about what Americans ingest and how corn has taken over our diets. I highly recommend it.
Anyways, two things I learned from this movie kinda unnerved me:
– 70% of the antibiotics used in America are used on cattle.
– Americans, on average, only spend 16-17% of their monthly income on food. 50 years ago it was closer to 50+%.
My friend, Dana, recently posted her thoughts on eating more organic. She’s taking baby steps towards using organic meat in her meals once a week.
I like baby steps.
Well, not really.
Really, what I love to do (and Jonathan can attest) is start these really grand wonderful schemes.
And never follow through.
So, in all reality, Jonathan likes baby steps for me.
And so, I like baby steps.
Rather than banish the 40+ pounds of chicken I have frozen in our freezer, I decided to make a list of the products we consume on a regular basis that could easily be substituted.
Here is said list:
potato chips
graham crackers
snack packs (100 calorie packs)
chicken broth
eggs
I went to New Pi to do a little more price matching. I knew the amounts for the eggs (roughly $3.50 for free range organic) but needed a better idea on the other items. Wanna know what? Organic potato chips are $5.99. Organic chicken broth – $3.99. Ye-ow!
But, really, if I step back and think about it, I’m use to only spending approximately 16-17% of my income on food. So, I need to change my expectations… and start experimenting.
Which leads me to my newest adventure:
potato chips
I borrowed a mandolin from Ambre and sliced up 3 potatoes. I did them in different sizes (1/4″, 1/8″, 1/4″ ruffled) to get an idea of what might work best. I covered them with a tad amount of EVOO and salt and baked them. So far, the only ones that came out crispy like a chip were the 1/4″. The other two were just french fries in a chip form. I think it might be because I had a smaller amount of the 1/4″, so they were spread out and given a better chance of baking without getting soggy. They turned out really tasty and chip like. Julia and I ate them all. So, clearly, no complaints. 😉 I’m gonna practice a little more tomorrow and this weekend. I’m hoping to find the perfect potato chip so we can start substituting as soon as our current bag runs out.
My second adventure was making homemade chicken broth. I’ve done this once in the past, but it didn’t turn out nearly as good.
This time I used the bones from a chicken we purchased at New Pi. I followed a trusted recipe and got 80+ ounces. I refrigerated most of it, since I will be using it next week in two soups. But I also froze two ice cube trays full, in order to have it on hand when needed in the future.
I’m kinda proud of myself. I felt all pioneer-y and susie-home-baker.
Next week I plan on tackling the graham crackers.
Truthful Thursday – 1 Peter
Posted on: October 15, 2009
- In: Life
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“Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude. Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will bless you for it. For the Scriptures say, “If you want to enjoy life and see many happy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it. The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil.” 1 Peter 3:8-12
For more information on how to participate in Truthful Thursday, click here.
Getting to know you
Posted on: October 13, 2009
I’ve realized that I rarely write a post just about Hannah. Looking at my tags cloud, Julia Mabel is much larger than Hannah Michelle. So, I thought I’d take a post to tell you all things Hannah related.
As of today, Hannah weighs 14 pounds 3 oz (75% percentile) and is 25 1/2 inches long (90% percentile). Amazingly, she turns 4 months old on Thursday. That seems so crazy to me. It feels like time has literally flown by.
Hannah is a pretty chillaxed kiddo. Actually, in all reality, she might not be super chill, but compared to her big sister at this age, she’s way laid back. In fact, the other night I put her to bed when she wasn’t fully asleep. She started grunting and talking. I left her door open and figured for sure I’d need to go back in there. Nope! She just talked herself to sleep. Holy smokes! I’ve heard of kids doing that, but never, ever in my life have I experienced it. Totally amazing. 🙂
As far as sleep goes… well, I can’t really say. She takes some pretty good naps during the day. Overnight she sleeps 4-5 hours and then comes to our bed for the rest of the night. One thing is for sure, she is NOT an early riser. Which has worked majorly in my favor. I usually stay in bed till Hannah wakes up. If she’s asleep and it’s after 7, I go ahead and get up and let her keep sleeping. Rare is the day she’s up much more before 7. Now if we could only teach Julia to do the same….
Hannah is way smiley and very ticklish. It’s a lot of fun to tick her and just watch her laugh and squirm around. Especially with her way awesome baby fat rolls.
Speaking of fat rolls… this girl has some great legs! I love big chunky baby legs. And she’s got ’em! In fact, she’s already wearing 6-9 month clothes. Even without cloth diapers. With her cloth, she needs to wear up to 12 months, but can fit, tightly, into 6-9. Craziness. But I love it!
And least we forget – poop. Hannah poops like it’s her job, which technically, for a baby it kinda is. But my goodness! This girl knows how to dirty a diaper. Frankly, I’m totally okay with that, because man the more she poops the happier she gets!
I must be crazy
Posted on: October 12, 2009
- In: Life
- 5 Comments
On the 3rd of this month I ran a 5K with a group of girlfriends. It wasn’t a “real” 5K race, just a route we came up with on our own. We set out in August to train and run so we could each be more active. Guess how many times I trained?
Six.
Yep. Six times I went running. And I honestly thought I’d run a 5K.
I must be crazy.
Well, October came.
And I ran.
I must be crazy.
But, ya know what? It was actually not as awful as I expected. I figured I’d run 100 yards and walk the rest (no joke). But with a little inspiration from Leah I made it through without stopping – save for a red light when we crossed the street. Jonathan said it’s because I’ve been doing spin and Body Attack every week. Whatever the case may be, I went running the next day. I know, I know…
I must be crazy.
Then, because I can never just let enough be enough, I decided to run a 10K on the 24th.
I must be crazy.
So, for the last week plus, I’ve been running every couple of days. This last Saturday I ran another 5K and followed the next day by a 2-mile hill run. The goal for this week is another 5k then a 5 mile run on Saturday.
I must be crazy.
The funniest part of it all is my new motivating factor. Jonathan said I could download new songs on my iTouch the day I do my 5 miles. Talk about a goofy reason to run 5 miles.
Did I mention it was 5 miles?! Geesh, I really, really must be
CRAZY!
- In: Life
- 4 Comments
“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies…. That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” 2 Corinthians 4:8-10;16-18
For more information on how to participate in Truthful Thursday, click here.
Once you start, you can’t stop
Posted on: October 6, 2009
- In: Life
- 3 Comments
Julia has started talking.
A lot.
She’s been talking, but her vocabulary seems to have grown by leaps and bounds just in the last month. It seems like she’s adding a new word every day or two. In fact, this past Sunday she added, Sister/Sissy to the list. She’s never gotten down “Hannah”. She always says “Nah” or signs “Hannah”. I’ve been working with her on “HAN-nah”, but she seems to get more frustrated than anything else.
Sunday Julia was sitting next to Hannah and kept saying “sss”. I asked her “Are you saying “sister”? Is that your sissy?” She nodded yes and from there has started calling Hannah “sissy”. I gotta admit, I LOVE it! I was (still am) called “sissy/sis” by my family growing up and really wanted Julia to go by “sissy”. But it seems that Hannah will be “sissy”.
Speaking of Sissy…
Hannah is so close to rolling over! She keeps rolling onto her side, but can’t quite manage to get all the way over without help. I’ve been practicing with her; she’ll get on her side and I will start rocking her back and forth, then roll her over on her tummy. She thinks its a pretty funny game and gets quite a kick out of it. We’ve also had her sitting in her Bumbo seat. She loves it! We put her on the table while we eat dinner and she just laughs and spits up. It’s pretty cute, if I do say so myself. 🙂
Oh glorious day!
Posted on: October 5, 2009
- In: Life
- 4 Comments
Yippie!
Woot-woot!
Hallelujah!
I am back down to my pre-baby(s) weight!
This day might live in even more infamy than the last one.
- In: Life
- 2 Comments
*This is a week late, because I forgot to schedule it. Oops.
Jonathan went out of town two Sundays ago for a work conference. He got home around midnight Thursday morning, went back to work at 8am and was gone until 10pm for class. That means, in essence, I’ve been a “single” mom for 5 nights and 4 days. In that seemingly short amount of time I have learned:
– a one-year old can be a bed hog
– a 3-month old can be an even bigger bed hog
– a king size bed can feel small when squished between two small children
– a knee to the back is not how I like waking up
– 4:40 am is really, really, REALLY early – especially when Julia acts like it’s not
– coffee is essential to the well being of my life
– when my children are teenagers, I’m never letting them sleep in – it’ll be my revenge for their younger years
– laughter is key to long life and less stress
– in order to not go crazy, always join in activities, activities, and more activities
– the sound of Jack playing with his tennis ball at 1:30 in the morning sounds an awful lot like a) Julia playing or b) a burglar when a) has been ruled out
– my already high respect for single moms has tripled
– I am so glad the long distance phase of our relationship is over, I disliked it in college and I really dislike it now
– Jonathan is the best husband this girl could ask for
– Julia and Hannah love, love, LOVE their daddy
– I love, love, LOVE their daddy
A Wife Loved Like The Church 
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