Ok, I don't know that it's officially French Onion, but it tastes like it.
Ingredients-
2 TBS Beef Base or Beef Bullion Cubes (I use Beef Base, so you'd have to play around with the bullion cubes)
1-2 tsp Dried Minced Onions
Water
Boneless Pork Chops
*** Please note that the measurements are not exact. If you add 6 pork chops, you will want enough water to cover it, which will require you to add more beef base and onions. My measurements are for 2-3 pork chops.
Directions:
In a crock pot, mix Beef Base and water until it is a dark brown (not black) color. You will want the water to be able to cover your pork chops. Add dried minced onions. Cook on high for 2-3 hours or until done. Once the pork chops are done, ladle the water into a small pot over medium heat. Add flour to thicken to make a gravy. Be sure to taste the gravy. If it's too strong/salty, add water. You may need to add more flour, but give it time to heat up. If it's not strong enough, add beef base and minced onion to taste. Serve over Mashed Potatoes!
This makes the best pork chops that are fall-apart good! My husband swears he has died and gone to heaven, with every bite he takes.
**When I make it again, I will post pictures!
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Just Showing Up
When I was about thirteen years old, I met this guy named Matt. Matt was an odd character (and still is). Our first real encounter was that we rode in the back of a car to go to Walmart together. He was painfully quiet and because of this quietness, I thought he was weird, or off, or so different that we would never connect. The first words he ever spoke to me were, "So did you get everything you wanted to buy?" I just looked at him and said, "Huh?" I was in shock that he spoke. This was after a 30 minute drive to Walmart, after shopping in Walmart, and standing in the checkout lanes waiting for my mom to buy what she needed. Matt was weird.
Somehow, though I'm not sure how it REALLY got started, we struck a friendship and really hit it off. I was only in Washington for 10 days total and met him a few days into it, but by the end of it we were best friends. Our friendship still exists today fourteen years later. He is now married to an amazing woman who is so beautiful, I constantly am wondering how he caught her. Not that he didn't deserve someone so special, but she is stunning. She's got this devious side that assures me that they get along GREAT! Whenever we talk, I am constantly plotting against Matt. It's what I do...
Anyways, when Matt walked into my life, I was dealing with depression and on a few occasions was considering taking my own life. Life seemed hopeless, I felt lost, I felt like I was wandering aimlessly through this life with no passion and no purpose. Matt was always there, maybe not in location, but if I sent him an email (because that was the cool thing back then), I would have a response within 24 hours. Above all else, I knew that Matt loved me, that he cared for me, and that he always had my best interests at heart.
About eight years ago, I was having a conversation with my Mom about how my grandma's church was looking for a youth pastor. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, because it seemed like the church went through youth pastors really quickly. I knew that I wanted to be a youth pastor, but dismissed this church. At the time I was working overnights at Walmart. I went to bed that day (my night) and could not sleep. For two days, whenever I'd try to sleep, I would just get so excited that I literally had a grand total of 2 hours of sleep in 48 hours. I wasn't even tired when I went to work. I was energized, excited, giddy, and full of passion and expectation. Eventually, I just emailed my grandparents telling them of my situation. I was young (just barely 19), had no credentials, and I was a single female. These don't really spell success. I figured that if I emailed them that the situation would no longer be in my hands and that maybe I'd get some sleep.
Long story short, I ended up moving to Washington (to the same exact area as where I met Matt). My senior pastor was a guy named George. When I talked to him on the phone, I thought he was a short, fat, balding dark headed man. He turned out to be this tall, skinny, red headed man (who was sort of balding, but had a lot more hair than I imagined). George is not your typical pastor (at least in my limited experience). He's fun, dorky, easy to talk to, and always willing to throw things (which he learned from his previous pastor) when he gets teased. In the almost five years I spent with him, he became my dad. When I was leaving Washington, my biggest fear was losing that relationship and he told me, "I will be in your life as long as you will have me." That's a direct quote, I'll never forget those words. Eight years later, he has held true to his promise. He was the minister who married my husband and I, he dedicated my son when he was a month old, and he even came to my son's first birthday (which we had only invited grandparents). He's an incredible person and I am blessed beyond words that he showed up in my life.
I tell you these two stories about these amazing men, to tell you that sometimes the most important thing you can do in someone's life is to just show up. A lot of times we enter into a relationship with someone to see what we can get out of the deal, but these men befriended me and loved me without expecting anything in return. They've never left me when things got hard, in fact, they're the ones I run to when life is discouraging, hard, or unbearable. They're perfect people to help carry the load, and they do it happily.
How has someone "just showing up" impacted your life?
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Let Hope Arise...
This past weekend has been a rough one. It's the continuation of the Roller Coaster affect known as Buying a House. Being this close to our closing date (which was yesterday), we couldn't help but get excited and expectant that we would be moving in. You know that saying, "No news is good news?" It's definitely how I live when it comes to buying a house. It's probably the wrong way to look at this situation, but no news has given me hope.
Monday rolls around and my hope is smashed into the ground and grounded up into small dust like pieces.
Friday the owner asked for an extension. He wanted to the 29th, which is the day we're supposed to be out of our apartment. I started to panic and even teared up a bit. In my mind, I'm thinking, "What do we do?!" We gave him to the "25th or sooner."
Sunday, I ran into my Realtor at the grocery store and he gave me a glimmer of hope that would allow us to close probably this week. I held onto that glimmer of hope and allowed it to lift me up.
Monday rolls around and my hope is smashed into the ground and grounded up into small dust like pieces.
This is where our house stands. Ground into dusty little pieces.
One minute we're on cloud nine, the next we're in a deep depression. One minute we have hope, the next, despair. I'm beginning to have serious doubts that we'll ever call this place home or ours. I hate feeling like I've wasted my time, energy, money, and hope on this house. Home buying seems like a club that's REALLY HARD to get into.
Sometimes when I get together with my younger brother, we joke around that we're creating a club and when the other person teases us, we say, "you're not allowed in my club." If you get invited into my brother's club, he tells you that your membership cards are in the mail. I feel like my membership card for home buying is lost in the mail.
BUT God. But God has a plan for my life, he has a plan for this process. I believe He has my best interests at heart. I know that if this house doesn't work out in the end, that He has something better in mind. Better does not necessarily mean bigger, or without the need for repairs, but it might mean motivated owners with a decent house. I pray that through this process that the relationship between my husband and I is strengthened as we face the hope and discouragement of this process.
I was listening to a song this morning. I think it's such an uplifting and encouraging song. One part says, "So let hope arise and darkness tremble in Your holy light! That every eye will see Jesus our God, great and mighty to be praised!" In the song, You feel hope arising inside of you, and the part where it says "Darkness tremble" sounds like a thunderstorm. I just pray that this is what happens in our situation, that hope rises and darkness trembles and dispels, never to return.
I pray that hope rises and darkness trembles and dispels in your situation too.
Seems we all need this.
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Disappointment
Have you ever noticed that in fairy tales that sometimes the main character has to go through some disappointment before he/she settles into the amazing life they've always wanted? Well, in the story about finally getting into a house we'll own, we have hit that place of disappointment. This isn't even our first time hitting that place, but we see our castle, we feel the good life changes on the horizon, and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
We really knew that the odds were that we weren't going to close on our house on March 18th, but a couple can dream, hope, pray, and expect it right? We did all those things. We dreamed big, we hoped, we prayed hard, we expected it and lived like it was going to happen. When it's all said and done, the owner of the house hasn't held up his end of the contract. He hasn't fixed the things he signed, saying he would. So we're two days away and yesterday he asked for an extension.
I've learned that when we choose to be lazy or procrastinate about something, we tend to use really lame excuses. Sometimes the excuses we give don't really excuse us from responsibility. The cyst on my ear hurts, I have a pimple, my shoulder is sore.... they're kind of lame excuses when you realize that the person has had 6+ weeks to complete this process. Everyone on our end (realtor, bank, ourselves) are all frustrated and extremely disappointed. I'm specifically frustrated with the fact that this guys' laziness has cost me extra money NEEDLESSLY.
So what do I learn from this situation? What's the moral of the story?
You know when Jesus was saying, Let your yes be yes and your no be no? He was talking about when you say yes to something, you do what you committed to. When you say no to something, you commit to that as well. Don't make yourself out to be a liar. It makes me really examine my own life and my own speech. I'd love to be at a place where when I say no to something, I stick with it until people realize that those two words have tremendous value, that they can count on it. I don't want someone to wear down my no until it became a yes. I also don't want to be someone who says yes constantly, but backs out all the time. That's called a flake. Being flaky is really frustrating to the people who are counting on you.
So the moral of the story, summed up, is commit to something and stick with it!
We really knew that the odds were that we weren't going to close on our house on March 18th, but a couple can dream, hope, pray, and expect it right? We did all those things. We dreamed big, we hoped, we prayed hard, we expected it and lived like it was going to happen. When it's all said and done, the owner of the house hasn't held up his end of the contract. He hasn't fixed the things he signed, saying he would. So we're two days away and yesterday he asked for an extension.
 |
| Little Mister's response to the Extension... |
I've learned that when we choose to be lazy or procrastinate about something, we tend to use really lame excuses. Sometimes the excuses we give don't really excuse us from responsibility. The cyst on my ear hurts, I have a pimple, my shoulder is sore.... they're kind of lame excuses when you realize that the person has had 6+ weeks to complete this process. Everyone on our end (realtor, bank, ourselves) are all frustrated and extremely disappointed. I'm specifically frustrated with the fact that this guys' laziness has cost me extra money NEEDLESSLY.
So what do I learn from this situation? What's the moral of the story?
You know when Jesus was saying, Let your yes be yes and your no be no? He was talking about when you say yes to something, you do what you committed to. When you say no to something, you commit to that as well. Don't make yourself out to be a liar. It makes me really examine my own life and my own speech. I'd love to be at a place where when I say no to something, I stick with it until people realize that those two words have tremendous value, that they can count on it. I don't want someone to wear down my no until it became a yes. I also don't want to be someone who says yes constantly, but backs out all the time. That's called a flake. Being flaky is really frustrating to the people who are counting on you.
So the moral of the story, summed up, is commit to something and stick with it!
Friday, March 15, 2013
Anticipation!
Three more days till our closing date on our house!! I am BEYOND excited. Every topic of conversation I have had with the Hubs has started with, "I'm so ready to be in our house..." I'm guessing he's getting a little tired of me, but I'M SO READY TO BE IN MY NEW HOUSE!!!! :)
Last week was a bit discouraging, but from the sounds of things this week, a March 18th closing date is actually seeming like it's going to happen. I'm starting to believe it's a done deal. We'll hopefully find out more today. I'm hoping to find out a time and place to sign the stinkin papers as well as a time to get my keys.
This week we've also had a bit of added excitement as one of our students will be moving in with us in June. She is moving in with the goal and intention of finding a local job and apartment to move into. After hearing her official answer on Wednesday and hearing her excitement, it's only fueled my desire to be in my new house. I told her that she could paint her room and decorate it whatever she wants. Though the painting restrictions were just no red or black walls. So we've been discussing colors and decorations. She's never lived in a place that had freedom to paint the walls. She's also mentioned that we'll get a free babysitter (SCORE!) and that she wants to do grocery shopping with me. I told her with all these things she's talking about, I may never want her to leave, and she replied, "I'm ok with that!" I think when she moves in, we'll have a little buddy for a while, maybe even until we kick her out. Seeing how I've been wanting someone to pal around with, I doubt we'll be kicking her out.
I was telling the Hubs that with being a youth pastor so long and genuinely thinking of these students as my kids, that I was excited to take one home! You know, like a cute puppy from the store. I understand that having a student in my house takes on an entirely new meaning to "full time ministry." 24/7 baby! It will give us a glimpse into the future of when our son is a teenager. What kind of people do we really want to be? How do we want to handle arguments? What do we want to teach our kid through how we handle arguments? There are so many questions, but it's exciting. This girl gets to see the real us, not just the us that stands up in front of teens on Wednesday Nights and talks, but she'll see us in our pajamas, when we're not too happy with our kid, she'll actually see public displays of affection! I look forward to this challenge! :)
I'm excited to be able to serve another person in my house. To bless this girl with not only a place to live but also some really amazing food! I'm definitely excited about getting back into my cooking/baking. With all this packing up and moving stuff, I haven't done much baking in recent times. So when I get into my new house (FINALLY), I will start posting recipes a lot more often!
Anticipation-- I'm full of it!
Last week was a bit discouraging, but from the sounds of things this week, a March 18th closing date is actually seeming like it's going to happen. I'm starting to believe it's a done deal. We'll hopefully find out more today. I'm hoping to find out a time and place to sign the stinkin papers as well as a time to get my keys.
This week we've also had a bit of added excitement as one of our students will be moving in with us in June. She is moving in with the goal and intention of finding a local job and apartment to move into. After hearing her official answer on Wednesday and hearing her excitement, it's only fueled my desire to be in my new house. I told her that she could paint her room and decorate it whatever she wants. Though the painting restrictions were just no red or black walls. So we've been discussing colors and decorations. She's never lived in a place that had freedom to paint the walls. She's also mentioned that we'll get a free babysitter (SCORE!) and that she wants to do grocery shopping with me. I told her with all these things she's talking about, I may never want her to leave, and she replied, "I'm ok with that!" I think when she moves in, we'll have a little buddy for a while, maybe even until we kick her out. Seeing how I've been wanting someone to pal around with, I doubt we'll be kicking her out.
I was telling the Hubs that with being a youth pastor so long and genuinely thinking of these students as my kids, that I was excited to take one home! You know, like a cute puppy from the store. I understand that having a student in my house takes on an entirely new meaning to "full time ministry." 24/7 baby! It will give us a glimpse into the future of when our son is a teenager. What kind of people do we really want to be? How do we want to handle arguments? What do we want to teach our kid through how we handle arguments? There are so many questions, but it's exciting. This girl gets to see the real us, not just the us that stands up in front of teens on Wednesday Nights and talks, but she'll see us in our pajamas, when we're not too happy with our kid, she'll actually see public displays of affection! I look forward to this challenge! :)
I'm excited to be able to serve another person in my house. To bless this girl with not only a place to live but also some really amazing food! I'm definitely excited about getting back into my cooking/baking. With all this packing up and moving stuff, I haven't done much baking in recent times. So when I get into my new house (FINALLY), I will start posting recipes a lot more often!
Anticipation-- I'm full of it!
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Two Reasons Why You Should Never Leave Your Laptop Alone With Your Toddler
This past week we had a really amusing incident involving my husband's laptop and my son. Earlier in the day my husband and son were hanging out in my son's room. I'm pretty sure that the Little Mister was playing with his toys while my husband sat on his laptop. Anyways, we had dinner and the Hubs left his laptop in the Little Mister's room.
Later that night, we had the Little Mister play in his room while the rest of the household relaxed. He was happy, we were happy, everything was happy. Just then my husband looked down the hall, into my son's room and saw him playing on the laptop. He immediately jumped up yelling "NOOOOOOO." It was in slow motion in his mind I'm sure. I think when he got there he didn't think that the Little Mister had done much, he was wrong.
He brings the laptop back like it's a wounded animal that's on the verge of death. I asked him what the Little Mister did and he said, "I don't know, but it's in Russian." Then a few minutes later he said, "He changed the password and now I can't log on to my computer. (These are two reasons to never leave your laptop alone with a toddler). I, of course, was supportive which was evident by my hysterical laughter. Hubs kept saying, "it's not funny." And I would reply, "Actually, it's pretty funny."
I had visions of that Baby Geniuses movie and was wondering what password Little Mister could have put in. I'd like to say for the record, no one would ever be able to figure it out (not that I know what the password is). He likes to put full hands on the laptop and hit it and he also likes to do one letter over and over again. It's entirely likely that he just pushed the J a hundred times and that's the password. Or he could go crazy and it's some genius word from a baby who can't even have a conversation.
Then to top it off, setting the language to Russian... Maybe my son really is a genius! Maybe he doesn't speak English well but his Russian is FLUENT!
So many possibilities!
If you're wanting your laptop to stay as is, keep it away from the little people! :)
Later that night, we had the Little Mister play in his room while the rest of the household relaxed. He was happy, we were happy, everything was happy. Just then my husband looked down the hall, into my son's room and saw him playing on the laptop. He immediately jumped up yelling "NOOOOOOO." It was in slow motion in his mind I'm sure. I think when he got there he didn't think that the Little Mister had done much, he was wrong.
He brings the laptop back like it's a wounded animal that's on the verge of death. I asked him what the Little Mister did and he said, "I don't know, but it's in Russian." Then a few minutes later he said, "He changed the password and now I can't log on to my computer. (These are two reasons to never leave your laptop alone with a toddler). I, of course, was supportive which was evident by my hysterical laughter. Hubs kept saying, "it's not funny." And I would reply, "Actually, it's pretty funny."
I had visions of that Baby Geniuses movie and was wondering what password Little Mister could have put in. I'd like to say for the record, no one would ever be able to figure it out (not that I know what the password is). He likes to put full hands on the laptop and hit it and he also likes to do one letter over and over again. It's entirely likely that he just pushed the J a hundred times and that's the password. Or he could go crazy and it's some genius word from a baby who can't even have a conversation.
Then to top it off, setting the language to Russian... Maybe my son really is a genius! Maybe he doesn't speak English well but his Russian is FLUENT!
So many possibilities!
If you're wanting your laptop to stay as is, keep it away from the little people! :)
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Homemade Cheese Crackers
Look at these!! Don't they look tasty?! I am shocked at how well they turned out. Until today I had trouble finding a decent cracker recipe. I found the recipe at this site. It's actually a homemade version of Goldfish Crackers, which I think are delightful.
For my specific batch, I used cheddar cheese and pepper jack cheese. So the end result is cheesy with a slight kick. I look forward to having my son try these, but even if he doesn't like them... I will be chowing them down by the handful!
Enjoy!
Like a Child
It makes me think of when Jesus told people to not worry. In my own "paraphrased" version, he's pretty much saying, "Don't worry... I've got this." There's a part that says, "So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today." (Matthew 6:34) Today's trouble is enough for today. If I keep worrying about what will happen tomorrow and the next day and the next day, on top of the things I worry about today, obviously I'm going to be feeling exactly how I am right now. Overwhelmed, stressed, worried, unable to enjoy the present.
So right now, I choose to live in the TODAY and the RIGHT NOW! If I do this, then my son gets the best of me.
So as I listen to my son making fart noises in the other room, the thought strikes me that just as I rely on God to take care of our situation, to take care of the unknown and the scary things, my son is relying on me to take care of him. He has absolute trust that everything will be alright because Mom and Dad "got this." Because of that absolute trust, he's not worrying about anything. He doesn't worry about eating or what he'll wear, or where he'll live, or how he'll get to the grocery store. He's thinking about how fun those noises are to make and about how fun those toys are to play with.
I want to be like him when I grow up!
Monday, March 11, 2013
The Uncomfortable
We are embarking on some new territory. It's uncomfortable, but then again, sometimes the uncomfortable is the most rewarding. Ever think about that? I'm not the best when it comes to stepping out of my comfort zones. I'm cautious, probably too cautious. I'm not a huge fan of change, unless I'm the one who is heading the change up. Change means that I'm uncomfortable and out of my comfort zones. Routine is nice... I love routine!
So, if you didn't know, I'm a youth pastor. I've been youth pastoring for 8-ish years. I've pastored at 3 different churches in that time. I love it. I love teenagers. I love teaching them and learning from them. I feel like they don't really get enough credit in this world. If you listen long enough, they'll say the most profound, thought provoking things. They challenge me in my own life and even dare me to change to become a better version of myself. I love my kids, every one of them!
Anyways, my current youth group runs about 3-5 students on an average Wednesday Night. Yet our dreams are big. My dreams are big. We've been in conversation with another church in our town about the idea of combining youth groups to form a community wide youth group. The crazy thing is that our two churches are not in the same denomination. I love this! I love that we can come together in unity to reach a community with the message of God's big love.
Yesterday we started the conversation with another church, or maybe we were continuing it. It was the first time that I had met the senior pastor (who also acts as the youth pastor) of the other church and I also met one of the youth leaders. We sat there discussing if we wanted to make the move of combining and also how it would look. We walked away with a positive feeling and outlook on this. So we're taking another step or two this coming Sunday in our conversation.
The thing that excites me the most is the Unity between the two churches. We're unified with the same goal to reach the same community. I even told them that God honors unity and he can do so much through our unity. What can God do if our hearts, minds, and passion are the same? ANYTHING! He says he can do more than we can ask or imagine. If we're in complete unity, combined with God's ability, I feel that this is a crazy, unstoppable combination. This is exactly what gets me excited and pumped!
I look forward to working with these other leaders and we embark on something new that isn't commonly done.
Look out world! Here we come!
So, if you didn't know, I'm a youth pastor. I've been youth pastoring for 8-ish years. I've pastored at 3 different churches in that time. I love it. I love teenagers. I love teaching them and learning from them. I feel like they don't really get enough credit in this world. If you listen long enough, they'll say the most profound, thought provoking things. They challenge me in my own life and even dare me to change to become a better version of myself. I love my kids, every one of them!
Anyways, my current youth group runs about 3-5 students on an average Wednesday Night. Yet our dreams are big. My dreams are big. We've been in conversation with another church in our town about the idea of combining youth groups to form a community wide youth group. The crazy thing is that our two churches are not in the same denomination. I love this! I love that we can come together in unity to reach a community with the message of God's big love.
Yesterday we started the conversation with another church, or maybe we were continuing it. It was the first time that I had met the senior pastor (who also acts as the youth pastor) of the other church and I also met one of the youth leaders. We sat there discussing if we wanted to make the move of combining and also how it would look. We walked away with a positive feeling and outlook on this. So we're taking another step or two this coming Sunday in our conversation.
The thing that excites me the most is the Unity between the two churches. We're unified with the same goal to reach the same community. I even told them that God honors unity and he can do so much through our unity. What can God do if our hearts, minds, and passion are the same? ANYTHING! He says he can do more than we can ask or imagine. If we're in complete unity, combined with God's ability, I feel that this is a crazy, unstoppable combination. This is exactly what gets me excited and pumped!
I look forward to working with these other leaders and we embark on something new that isn't commonly done.
Look out world! Here we come!
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Fun with Friends
So my best friend, Matt, married this really great gal, Mary, about 10 years ago. My best friend is a really lucky man because his wife is AMAZING and FUNNY and just plain fun to be around.
I remember the first time that I actually met her. I had decided to spend my vacation (also Christmas) with Matt and Mary and I was SOOO nervous! My first thought was that if Mary and I didn't hit it off, it was going to be a LONG vacation! Thankfully, we did hit it off. We even managed to pull a pretty amazing prank for Christmas too :). Seriously, what was Matt thinking when he introduced Mary and I?
I have to tell you the prank we pulled though. So Matt had been begging Mary to open his Christmas presents before Christmas. The second I walked into their apartment for the first time, he said, "Erin's here, can we open presents now?" The answer was no. Soon after I got there, Matt had to go to work so Mary and I were on our own (Bad Idea!!). We went to Target and found this mesh panty and bra set. We thought they were pretty hideous looking because they were also this horrid bright blue color (and I like blue). We then went in search for decorations. We found jingle bells, tassels feathers, and garland. We decorated them as fast as we could because he was on his way home. We wrapped them and everything. That night, I shared with Mary that in my family, we open one Christmas present on Christmas Eve (Which happened to be the day I was telling her about this). Matt got really excited and begged Mary to follow my tradition. This was obviously staged by Mary and myself.
We handed Matt he bra and underwear set and he didn't even take it out of the wrapping paper. He got so red. Mary said, "Matt, we worked really hard on those!" So he ended up pulling it out and slipping the underwear over his pants (as far as he could) and "modeled" them for us. We didn't think that part through. I was begging him to not model them for us!
Last night, Matt was at work and Mary was bored. My husband was also away, so this left Mary and I ALONE! Leaving us alone is yet another bad idea. We talked for a few hours. I think my favorite thing was that we were talking about death and the husbands kicking the bucket. Mary and I have this standing vacation if Matt kicks the bucket. Then we talked about if her and I were to go first. The husbands don't get much of anything. So then I told Mary that if she does go first, my vote is that she comes back as her dog's voice. That way #1 Matt will be pretty freaked out by the dog speaking, and #2 it having his dead wife's voice would be priceless. We both decided that we wanted to be there for that moment just to see his face. I also said that God does have a sense of humor and I'm willing to bet that we could get God to help us with a prank on Matt. I think God would be an excellent prankster! I told her that it would be funny if Matt sees her in heaven and talks to her, it would be funny if she responded in her dog's voice.
I may have a bit of a twisted sense of humor. At least it's shared right?
It's just so great to have really good friends even after all these years. I can count on them in the hard times and they can count on me. I have people in my life who desire me to have friends in the same state/city as me, but because I have these two REAL friends (plus my husband), I don't feel the need to seek out new best friend relationship material people. I'm satisfied with my life, excited about my life, because I have truly amazing people who love me no matter the mistakes I make. Isn't this the kind of relationships people are looking for? This is not to say that if I meet someone, we hit it off, that I wouldn't be unwilling to friend or even best friend them. Relationships like these don't come by everyday, when they do, we should hold on as tight as we can.
We have to have roommates when we end up in those old folk homes right? I'm glad I'll have Matt and Mary and my husband to cause a bit of chaos with.
Look out future nursing staff everywhere, we're coming!
I remember the first time that I actually met her. I had decided to spend my vacation (also Christmas) with Matt and Mary and I was SOOO nervous! My first thought was that if Mary and I didn't hit it off, it was going to be a LONG vacation! Thankfully, we did hit it off. We even managed to pull a pretty amazing prank for Christmas too :). Seriously, what was Matt thinking when he introduced Mary and I?
I have to tell you the prank we pulled though. So Matt had been begging Mary to open his Christmas presents before Christmas. The second I walked into their apartment for the first time, he said, "Erin's here, can we open presents now?" The answer was no. Soon after I got there, Matt had to go to work so Mary and I were on our own (Bad Idea!!). We went to Target and found this mesh panty and bra set. We thought they were pretty hideous looking because they were also this horrid bright blue color (and I like blue). We then went in search for decorations. We found jingle bells, tassels feathers, and garland. We decorated them as fast as we could because he was on his way home. We wrapped them and everything. That night, I shared with Mary that in my family, we open one Christmas present on Christmas Eve (Which happened to be the day I was telling her about this). Matt got really excited and begged Mary to follow my tradition. This was obviously staged by Mary and myself.
We handed Matt he bra and underwear set and he didn't even take it out of the wrapping paper. He got so red. Mary said, "Matt, we worked really hard on those!" So he ended up pulling it out and slipping the underwear over his pants (as far as he could) and "modeled" them for us. We didn't think that part through. I was begging him to not model them for us!
Last night, Matt was at work and Mary was bored. My husband was also away, so this left Mary and I ALONE! Leaving us alone is yet another bad idea. We talked for a few hours. I think my favorite thing was that we were talking about death and the husbands kicking the bucket. Mary and I have this standing vacation if Matt kicks the bucket. Then we talked about if her and I were to go first. The husbands don't get much of anything. So then I told Mary that if she does go first, my vote is that she comes back as her dog's voice. That way #1 Matt will be pretty freaked out by the dog speaking, and #2 it having his dead wife's voice would be priceless. We both decided that we wanted to be there for that moment just to see his face. I also said that God does have a sense of humor and I'm willing to bet that we could get God to help us with a prank on Matt. I think God would be an excellent prankster! I told her that it would be funny if Matt sees her in heaven and talks to her, it would be funny if she responded in her dog's voice.
I may have a bit of a twisted sense of humor. At least it's shared right?
It's just so great to have really good friends even after all these years. I can count on them in the hard times and they can count on me. I have people in my life who desire me to have friends in the same state/city as me, but because I have these two REAL friends (plus my husband), I don't feel the need to seek out new best friend relationship material people. I'm satisfied with my life, excited about my life, because I have truly amazing people who love me no matter the mistakes I make. Isn't this the kind of relationships people are looking for? This is not to say that if I meet someone, we hit it off, that I wouldn't be unwilling to friend or even best friend them. Relationships like these don't come by everyday, when they do, we should hold on as tight as we can.
We have to have roommates when we end up in those old folk homes right? I'm glad I'll have Matt and Mary and my husband to cause a bit of chaos with.
Look out future nursing staff everywhere, we're coming!
Friday, March 8, 2013
Teaching the Cutest Little Minions
I'm pretty excited. A month ago I started a Children's Church class for 4-7 year olds. We call it "Adventure Club."I know we're only a month into it and we still only have one kid, but I am HAVING A BLAST! My leadership team is still trying to figure ourselves out and still getting into our grooves, they've been such a blessing to me.
The first Sunday there was only me and another mom who were teaching these kids. We had no prospects for additional help, and neither did we have prospects for additional kids. I bring my son in with me when it's my day to do Adventure Club, but he's 14 months old which is a HUGE difference from a four year old. He's very much a baby compared to a four year old. Anyways, this mom and I were talking after our first Sunday wondering if we should bring this need for a third person before our congregation. We wanted a third person in case, life happened and we were sick or our kids were sick or whatever... life happens! I told this mom that we shouldn't bring it before the congregation, but we can think on it and pray about it and maybe approach someone about helping us.
My reasoning behind not wanting to bring this need before the church was that we wanted the RIGHT people in with those kids. We wanted a person who loved these kids, who WANTED to be in the room teaching them, and because of that WANT they would be more PATIENT with the kids when the kids might not do what the teacher says. In the end, I didn't want someone who felt guilted into helping, but someone who couldn't wait to be in there on a Sunday Morning.
So I walked out of the conversation with the mom and walked right into a second conversation with a woman who was asking if we needed help because she really wanted to be available to us! Um... YES! A month later, I'm still amazed and in awe at how God not only knew our needs but filled them before we had much of a chance to think about it. He's sooo amazing and I love how he has the best in mind for those kids! Three of us is what is best for the kids who will walk through our class!
I've been writing the lessons for our class and really have been enjoying it. They're pretty easy and simple to put together, but I love that I can use these same lessons to teach my son about the Bible. We're currently on a water theme because I thought it would be really fun to decorate a classroom with our water themed crafts. I think I was pretty right at how fun and awesome these crafts look in our room. Every time I walk in, I think, "Now this is a classroom!"
If you're interested in seeing the lessons, you can check it out HERE! I will be updating it weekly.
Happy Teaching!
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Bumps in the Road
As you may know from previous posts, my husband and I are in the process of buying our first house. We are SUPER excited and equally as nervous and anxious. Today we are 12 days away from our closing date. 12 days away and we've hit a bit of a bump in the road.
It turns out that the banking part of things kind of dropped the ball. The lady we were in conversation with at the beginning either got fired, let go, quit, or whatever and no one knew that we were stuck in a file somewhere. So today, as soon as the bank was made aware of the issue, we went in and signed our life away. They're hoping to get everything done by our closing date, but it could be a few days late. So I'm crossing my fingers hoping for better news than we received today. It's nice to know that the bank is working as fast as they can to help us out and not looking at us saying, "Too bad." or "Sucks to be you."
It seems like we're back on track. My biggest worry was the appraisal. Then my biggest worry was everything getting done. The owner has a few things to fix, thanks to the inspection, but it's taken him longer than we anticipated for him to do it. Then today we found out about the appraisal and the bank issues. I'm pretty nervous about this house and this process. We don't have too much time between the Closing Date and the day we have to be out of our apartment. There's no room for mistakes or delays!
On top of things, my son has another cold and I'm pretty sure that I have the flu. It's not too much fun to go and sign 30+ signatures when you're too busy worrying about keeping yesterday's dinner down!
Looks like an early night tonight. Hopefully my sickness is one that will go away with some rest!
It turns out that the banking part of things kind of dropped the ball. The lady we were in conversation with at the beginning either got fired, let go, quit, or whatever and no one knew that we were stuck in a file somewhere. So today, as soon as the bank was made aware of the issue, we went in and signed our life away. They're hoping to get everything done by our closing date, but it could be a few days late. So I'm crossing my fingers hoping for better news than we received today. It's nice to know that the bank is working as fast as they can to help us out and not looking at us saying, "Too bad." or "Sucks to be you."
It seems like we're back on track. My biggest worry was the appraisal. Then my biggest worry was everything getting done. The owner has a few things to fix, thanks to the inspection, but it's taken him longer than we anticipated for him to do it. Then today we found out about the appraisal and the bank issues. I'm pretty nervous about this house and this process. We don't have too much time between the Closing Date and the day we have to be out of our apartment. There's no room for mistakes or delays!
On top of things, my son has another cold and I'm pretty sure that I have the flu. It's not too much fun to go and sign 30+ signatures when you're too busy worrying about keeping yesterday's dinner down!
Looks like an early night tonight. Hopefully my sickness is one that will go away with some rest!
Rejoicing and Mourning at the Same Time
Yesterday I posted about how my brother's dogs got into some sort of a poison. One of the dogs, Ziva, was not doing well at all. They weren't really expecting her to live through the night. The other one, Chuck, was in bad shape but they were pretty hopeful about him. Well, this morning Chuck went home, looking at 100% recovery. Ziva, lived through the night but ended up having a seizure this morning that she didn't recover from, she went to doggy heaven. Sad news to start the day with, don't you think?
 |
| Ziva |
I'm so excited that Chuck is doing so well though. I'm even more happy that even though last night it looked like my brother would lose two of his three dogs, at least one of them was able to recover. I am hating the fact that my brother lost one of his dogs, mostly because I absolutely hate my brother being in pain. I wish I could make everything better, but I have no magic powers to do so.
So as you read this post, be praying for my brother. Pray that God will comfort him and shower him with love at this time.
Thank You!
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Sometimes Life Sucks
Ever notice how sometimes life just sucks? There is no other way to put it... it stinks, it sucks, or as my mom says, "Sucks swamp water." Today is one of those days.
My son and I have had a pretty good day... worlds better than yesterday. Yesterday he was whiny and constantly throwing fits, pretty much making me want to pull out my hair. Today, I saw a glimmer of the little angel that I love and adore. We started off the morning with me trying to make him a smoothie. I'm trying to come up with ways to sneak vegetables into his meals, specifically the veggies he DOESN'T like. The kicker is that I seem to be having some sort of brain malfunction because I can't figure out how to make a simple smoothie.
Anyways, after my little fiasco called a smoothie, though I don't think it will be going in any recipe book at any point, I googled as much as I could to find something that was easily adaptable. I found it... My life is saved. So tomorrow I'll be cooking ingredients to hopefully make him a smoothie sometime tomorrow.
So we've had a pretty good day. This morning, while my son was napping, I decided to call my mom to "check in." She lives about 3,000 miles away, I'm 27 years old, and I still feel the need to check in and make sure they're doing alright. I know... sounds a little weird. Turns out she didn't have such fantastic news. My grandma is in the hospital with a burst appendix. They think it burst on Friday and she waited till yesterday afternoon to go into the doctor. She's 84 years old and has expressed the desire to die. Last I heard, it seems that she is doing better than anyone expected. They're thinking positively about her recovery. I was especially encouraged by the fact that she talked on the phone to my dad. A few years ago my husband suffered the same plight, and I don't think he could have carried on a conversation like she did.
My husband came home. He did not come home in the best of moods. In some ways he sounds frustrated and others, depressed. He barely spent any time with our son, and when he would touch him or talk to him, it was always to punish our son or tell him "no" to something. It doesn't even seem like he even wanted to spend time with me. After spending the entire evening feeling ignored, I did the childish thing and decided to "ignore him back." It made him mad enough that I'm pretty sure he went to bed. I think it was a good thing for our relationship... you know, he can get some sleep and we'll try again tomorrow.
My brother has three dogs and also works nights. So while he was sleeping after a night of working, he got a phone call from the animal control people. They had found two of his dogs. One of his dogs,Chuck, is an escape artist. The other one, Ziva, is his pal. They had decided to have go on a date (I guess), out on the town. Apparently they had gotten into something poisonous and Ziva is not doing good. My brother isn't expecting her to live. Chuck didn't seem to be in as bad of shape, so my brother is really hoping he'll pull through. It was just so sad to listen to my brother crying. From what he said, Chuck knew something was wrong with Ziva. People noticed that something was wrong and called animal control. When the guy was putting her in the truck, Chuck went home. My brother said that Chuck just looked at him with that look of, "It's really bad, Dad." Tonight, both Chuck and Ziva are fighting for their lives. So sad.
Sometimes life just sucks.
It hurts. It's painful. It's hard. This is a perfect day for a do-over. How different could all these outcomes be if we could just do things over, knowing what we do now?
What if we could turn back to the beginning of the story and write in some happy endings?
My son and I have had a pretty good day... worlds better than yesterday. Yesterday he was whiny and constantly throwing fits, pretty much making me want to pull out my hair. Today, I saw a glimmer of the little angel that I love and adore. We started off the morning with me trying to make him a smoothie. I'm trying to come up with ways to sneak vegetables into his meals, specifically the veggies he DOESN'T like. The kicker is that I seem to be having some sort of brain malfunction because I can't figure out how to make a simple smoothie.
Anyways, after my little fiasco called a smoothie, though I don't think it will be going in any recipe book at any point, I googled as much as I could to find something that was easily adaptable. I found it... My life is saved. So tomorrow I'll be cooking ingredients to hopefully make him a smoothie sometime tomorrow.
So we've had a pretty good day. This morning, while my son was napping, I decided to call my mom to "check in." She lives about 3,000 miles away, I'm 27 years old, and I still feel the need to check in and make sure they're doing alright. I know... sounds a little weird. Turns out she didn't have such fantastic news. My grandma is in the hospital with a burst appendix. They think it burst on Friday and she waited till yesterday afternoon to go into the doctor. She's 84 years old and has expressed the desire to die. Last I heard, it seems that she is doing better than anyone expected. They're thinking positively about her recovery. I was especially encouraged by the fact that she talked on the phone to my dad. A few years ago my husband suffered the same plight, and I don't think he could have carried on a conversation like she did.
My husband came home. He did not come home in the best of moods. In some ways he sounds frustrated and others, depressed. He barely spent any time with our son, and when he would touch him or talk to him, it was always to punish our son or tell him "no" to something. It doesn't even seem like he even wanted to spend time with me. After spending the entire evening feeling ignored, I did the childish thing and decided to "ignore him back." It made him mad enough that I'm pretty sure he went to bed. I think it was a good thing for our relationship... you know, he can get some sleep and we'll try again tomorrow.
My brother has three dogs and also works nights. So while he was sleeping after a night of working, he got a phone call from the animal control people. They had found two of his dogs. One of his dogs,Chuck, is an escape artist. The other one, Ziva, is his pal. They had decided to have go on a date (I guess), out on the town. Apparently they had gotten into something poisonous and Ziva is not doing good. My brother isn't expecting her to live. Chuck didn't seem to be in as bad of shape, so my brother is really hoping he'll pull through. It was just so sad to listen to my brother crying. From what he said, Chuck knew something was wrong with Ziva. People noticed that something was wrong and called animal control. When the guy was putting her in the truck, Chuck went home. My brother said that Chuck just looked at him with that look of, "It's really bad, Dad." Tonight, both Chuck and Ziva are fighting for their lives. So sad.
Sometimes life just sucks.
What if we could turn back to the beginning of the story and write in some happy endings?
Monday, March 4, 2013
Plywood Flooring
So we're in the process of buying a house... 2 weeks from today is our Closing Date!!! My husband and I are SUPER excited and equally as nervous!
Anyways, the house is currently owned by someone who smokes. My husband and I don't smoke, so we noticed the smell right away. The plan is to rip up the carpet as soon as we get the keys because it seems to be the number on thing that holds in the smell. This decision has caused me to go in search of some cheap flooring ideas.
I stumbled onto this site and my life was changed! This site tells how they made their plywood flooring look like this:
Look at those pictures!!
I showed them to my in laws yesterday and they didn't believe me that those floors are plywood. It seemed to get my father in law really excited, my mother in law asked him, "Are we going to do these to our floors now?"
So now the plan is to:
Anyways, the house is currently owned by someone who smokes. My husband and I don't smoke, so we noticed the smell right away. The plan is to rip up the carpet as soon as we get the keys because it seems to be the number on thing that holds in the smell. This decision has caused me to go in search of some cheap flooring ideas.
I stumbled onto this site and my life was changed! This site tells how they made their plywood flooring look like this:
Look at those pictures!!
I showed them to my in laws yesterday and they didn't believe me that those floors are plywood. It seemed to get my father in law really excited, my mother in law asked him, "Are we going to do these to our floors now?"
So now the plan is to:
- Rip up the carpet
- Put down plywood floors in the living room, dining room, kitchen, and small hallway between bedrooms. Possibly the bathroom as well, but I'm not too sold on that one.
- Re-Carpet the bedrooms
- Somewhere in all of that, possibly before and possibly after, we're going to paint.
- Enjoy!
I'm pretty excited! I look forward to getting started. Well mostly, I look forward to the finished product! Now... to pick out the stain that I want!
Toddler Foods
My son LOVES omelets. Whenever he sees me walking over to the table with a plate filled with a delicious omelet, he starts hyperventilating Well, at least that's what it sounds like, it's translated to... "Oooooh I'm really, really, really excited!!"
I'm a fan of omelets too, but I'm not too much of a fan of how long it seems to take to cook. Not to mention the prep or slicing the meat and grating the cheese. This morning, I just don't have the energy to make omelets. I ended up looking online to see what other people feed their around 15 month olds. Turns out, there are a load of things I'd like to feed him, BUT I have to go grocery shopping to do it. I ended up making him a scrambled egg, half a slice of ham, and some American cheese and put them all on two pieces of toast. It's like an omelet-ish sandwich, without the hassle of the grating (seriously, it's the worst part)!
I think my next endeavor is to get some fresh fruits and veggies, and make him some smoothies. He seems to eat everything except for peas and green beans. He won't eat peas to save his life and he'll eat green beans if they're hidden in mashed potatoes and gravy. I'm debating on going back to the pureeing I used to do before we went on these bite-sized solid foods. I just hate feeding him peanut butter sandwiches all the time because they're quick and easy.
I'm also planning on making muffins again. He LOVES blueberry muffins. I'm thinking of sneaking in some peas into his blueberry muffins. My goal is more fruits and veggies.
My husband and I are talking about having another kid, so we've also decided to live like I'm pregnant again. Which means better foods, he's doing the litter box (he actually volunteered) and we also want to be a more active family... so more walks/hikes/ and such. I'm hoping that if we live like we're pregnant, that we'll lose some weight since we'll be eating a little better and being a bit more active.
Spring is just around the corner (YAY), it's time for us to go outside and play :)
Friday, March 1, 2013
Mommy and Son Date!
I was hungry for a hamburger. The nearest hamburger place is Red Robin. So I did what any mom would do? I carried him all the way to Red Robin because I was SUPER hungry!
We had a pretty fun time. We colored and ate french fries. He had Koolaid and I had Dr. Pepper. It was a perfect lunch. We learned that he likes onions (Gross)! I gave him the onions off my yummy hamburger and he ate it up like nobody's business. I didn't see any issues with this until I started walking home. He was breathing in my face and I was about to pass out from the horrid stench! Moral of the story, onions are ok, as long as they're not being blown in your face :)
We had a pretty fun time. We colored and ate french fries. He had Koolaid and I had Dr. Pepper. It was a perfect lunch. We learned that he likes onions (Gross)! I gave him the onions off my yummy hamburger and he ate it up like nobody's business. I didn't see any issues with this until I started walking home. He was breathing in my face and I was about to pass out from the horrid stench! Moral of the story, onions are ok, as long as they're not being blown in your face :)
Brownie Recipe
I'm not so sure as to where I found this recipe, but what I can tell you is that it's AMAZING! I am NOT at all a brownie person, but I can't keep my hands off of this particular brownie. Homemade is definitely better, this recipe will convince you of that!
Brownies
Brownies
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose
flour
1/3 cup unsweetened
cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking
powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped
walnuts (optional)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350
degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x9 inch baking pan. (I use a pie pan)
In a medium bowl,
mix together the oil, sugar, and vanilla. Beat in eggs. Combine flour, cocoa,
baking powder, and salt; gradually stir into the egg mixture until well
blended. Stir in walnuts, if desired. Spread the batter evenly into the
prepared pan.
Bake for 20 to 25
minutes, or until the brownie begins to pull away from edges of pan. Let cool
on a wire rack before cutting into squares.
Loud Noises... BEWARE!
This morning, I find myself to be extremely tired. My neck and back are all tensed up from sleeping and my weird dreams that I had all night long. So, when it came time to wake up and take care of my son... I wasn't so enthusiastic. It's been over an hour and I'm still longing for my bed and my eyes are longing to close... I mean, inspect the inside of my eye lids for a long period of time. I'm exhausted!
Anyways, Little Mister woke up at about 7:30am. I'm pretty much ok with this time of waking up, though if he'd wait a half hour, I'm pretty sure it would make all the difference for me. I can't complain... he slept for 12 1/2 hours straight (without waking up at all) last night. I'm pretty proud of that. Anyways, he woke up that early and I was still in bed. I listened to him whine and play on his monitor and I just laid there yawning, wondering if there was any hope of him falling back to sleep. Honestly, with such a full diaper, it's not good for him to fall back to sleep... it means more laundry for me.
So after about a half hour, I finally got up, got his breakfast together and went to get him up. I walked in there, looking down at him, noticing that his butt was completely bare. Panic came over me as I thought about our Tug Boat fiasco and thinking about how much MORE nauseating it would be to have the same issue in his bed! Thankfully, no poop to be found... HALLELUJAH! There's some question as to whether or not he peed in his bed, or if the wetness I found was tears. To be safe, I'm still doing laundry.
Even now the memory of him playing with his diaper haunts me!
So the moral of this story is... You hear parents everywhere talk about all the issues their kids get into when they're QUIET. You never hear about when they're talking, whining, or just plain being loud.
So yes... beware of the quiet noises, but don't forget those loud ones too!
Anyways, Little Mister woke up at about 7:30am. I'm pretty much ok with this time of waking up, though if he'd wait a half hour, I'm pretty sure it would make all the difference for me. I can't complain... he slept for 12 1/2 hours straight (without waking up at all) last night. I'm pretty proud of that. Anyways, he woke up that early and I was still in bed. I listened to him whine and play on his monitor and I just laid there yawning, wondering if there was any hope of him falling back to sleep. Honestly, with such a full diaper, it's not good for him to fall back to sleep... it means more laundry for me.
So after about a half hour, I finally got up, got his breakfast together and went to get him up. I walked in there, looking down at him, noticing that his butt was completely bare. Panic came over me as I thought about our Tug Boat fiasco and thinking about how much MORE nauseating it would be to have the same issue in his bed! Thankfully, no poop to be found... HALLELUJAH! There's some question as to whether or not he peed in his bed, or if the wetness I found was tears. To be safe, I'm still doing laundry.
Even now the memory of him playing with his diaper haunts me!
So the moral of this story is... You hear parents everywhere talk about all the issues their kids get into when they're QUIET. You never hear about when they're talking, whining, or just plain being loud.
So yes... beware of the quiet noises, but don't forget those loud ones too!
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