slacker

So, the Hubbs was in the garage last night and came back in, looked at me and said:

"I'm glad that sewing machine is being put to good use!"

Well, excuuuuuuuuseee me!

It's not my fault that I don't want to go spend $50 on fabric that is just to play around with!

It's not my fault that any extra $$ I have right now goes to my new habit {#13 - it's not necessarily always cheap}.

It's not my fault that #1 is going to cost me $100 just to enter the race, not to mention these little races here and there that are $20/pop or the new pump-up music, I need to get from iTunes {thanks for helping me out with that, Joanna!}.

And it's certainly not my fault that there are too many sewing projects around my house {and in my head} that I don't even know where to begin.

Okay, so maybe it is my fault.

Maybe the Hubbs is right. **I can't believe I said that**

I need to get motivated. No, scratch that, I want to get motivated.

I need a good project to start. Any ideas?

Any ideas on where to get cute, cheap fabric?

Help. Please.

crazy love.

has anyone else read this book?

amazing. inspiring. challenging. convicting. encouraging. uplifting.

all of these words come to mind when i think about my time with the Lord this morning - led out of the pages of this book.

i will take the liberty to summarize the brilliance of francis chan in the first part of chapter 2:

***DISCLAIMER: This is not meant to be preachy, as it is more of a confession of a struggle I didn't know I had, and a struggle that I feel many busy, stressed out women can find that they have too. It kind of sneaks up on you - without you realizing it! Okay - move on, now!***

"'Rejoice in the Lord always. I will sa it again: Rejoice!' {phil 4:4} You'll notice that it doesn't end with '...unless you're doing something extremely important.' No, it's a command for all of us, and it follows with the charge, 'do not be anxious about anything' {vs. 6}. .... When I am consumed by my problems - stressed out about my life, my family, and my job - I actually convey the belief that I think the circumstances are more important than God's command to always rejoice. "

hmmmmm..... if that doesn't bring you to your knees before Him, let me keep going.

"Worry implies that we don't quite trust that God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what's happening in our lives. Stress says that the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace toward others, or our tight grip of control. .... Both worry and stress reek of arrogance. .... I am still dumb enough to forget that life is all about God and not about me at all."

Can I get an amen? Does anyone else feel like you just got slapped in the face? Who am I to stress out about making it to a play date on time, or making sure all of the laundry is done or getting all of my errands run for the day? Shouldn't I rather be looking for ways to glorify our Sweet Savior throughout my day - doing the laundry, running errands, meeting friends to play? Shouldn't I rather count it a privelage to have a roof over my head, food on my table, water to drink, and a family to love and serve?

He wraps this section up like this:

"The point of your life is to point to Him. Whatever you're doing, God wants to be glorified, because the whole thing is His. It's His movie. His world. His Gift."

I don't know about you, but I knelt before the Lord this morning and asked Him to show me how to start making my life one big, fat, arrow toward Heaven. It's not about me, and all too often I forget that.

It's simple really.

It's all about Him, and doesn't He deserve it?

If you find that you're walk has become dull, boring or dry. Pick up this book, to help jump-start that spark in your love-relationship with the Lord again.

just another 'step'

This morning we woke up bright and early to participate in the "Resolution Run". It was supposed to be a 'fun and challenging' course for all. A 10K. {6.2 miles for those of you not versed in the metric system}.

Let's talk about this 'fun and challenging' course. Have you ever been to McKinney? Joanna labeled it the "rocky mountains" of north Texas, and I would have to agree. Although - the hills looked much more intimidating when we were driving to the YMCA and not when we were actually running them.

With all that said, we DID run it. Run it all. At an 11:22 pace {which is great for us}. AND we went to church afterward. Yup. 2 months ago, I couldn't run 10 minutes to save my life and today, with the help of my running buddies, I ran an hour and 10 minutes - and it didn't even kill me.

I have to say that my favorite part of the race was when we were running up a short, steep, hill and I started yelling 'attack, attack, attack' outloud. I burst out laughing as I realized I was doing it, and it honestly relieved some tension for me! At least we could laugh at ourselves, right?

Here we are coming down our last hill... all in a row.

rI love Joanna's face in this picture. I think she was probably talking, but it looks like she was concentrating really hard!

oB. wouldn't let me put him down for this pic. :)

My precious boys made me a sign last night.
{Aren't they so cute in their Sunday Best?}

play date with mommy & daddy

long week.

this week has been a long one.
no reason, it just has.
can i get an 'amen'?

i got behind on tuesday morning when j. didn't have to leave until 7:30 {he usually leaves at 6:30}. i slept 'in' with him instead of getting up. it's amazing how that 30 extra minutes seemed to throw the rest of my week off! i just couldn't catch up from then on out.

let's just say i'm glad it's friday... and i wish i was gazing at this in my backyard.

my weekend.

after getting up bright and early and running a cool 5 miles with my sweet girlfriends, i headed out of town to mt. vernon with some other sweet girlfriends from high school.

we sat by the fire on the porch on saturday while it rained. under blankets and blankets and blankets.


we ate {snacked} all day long.

we hung out in their great room until 12:30 a.m. {i was the first one to crash. allison hung in there for an hour longer and then the rest of the girls made it until 4:30!!!}


of course, since i was the first one in bed, i was the first one to wake up. but i didn't mind. i got my cup of coffee and hung out here, in 'my' room, and gazed at the lake and enjoyed the peace and quiet. ahhhhh... peace and quiet.


then a few of us went on a walk as the sun came out from behind the clouds. and while the cowboys were losing, we hung out on the deck. with this serenity in front of us.


ahhhhhh. i feel like a different person this morning. thanks allison for having us out... and to leslie, courtney, jaran and jennifer... i love you girls! i had such fun catching up.



{oh - and just for fun - here's a picture of allison's room. no, it's not a picture from the anthro website, but it looks like it, doesn't it?}

milestone

outside.

yesterday it was finally warm enough to play outside! yaya!!!!

mimi and papa ron got b. this little tykes playhouse for christmas {his daddy and i had the same kind when we were little} and we've barely been able to play in it because it's been so cold.

yesterday was another story, though! we had our snack in it, we read books in it and we threw the football in and out of the windows.

{oh, and the bug apparently thought it needed to be vacuumed, along with the rest of the yard.}

cold - part II.

remember how cold i said it was here?

yeah... it's cold. and to prove it, look at this ginormous icicle basking in the bright afternoon sun, not even dripping, as if it were thinking of melting!

oh yeah, i measured it. a whopping 28 inches!

and what did the bug think of our little icicle?

he thought it was a nice afternoon snack.

{btw - can you believe that frisco isd was closed today? i mean, i live in frisco and i took brady to school just fine. delayed - maybe... but closed? really?}

for my hubby.

{I seem to be doing good on goal #13, huh? We'll see what it looks like in a month!}

Okay, so for dinner last night, I made some breaded chicken, bruschetta and then these.

Yes, another Pioneer Woman recipe {I seem to be using her cookbook as a bible lately}.

Burgundy Mushrooms.



Let's just say, I think that the Hubbs dreamed about these last night. The thing is, it makes a lot of mushrooms. As in, 2 pounds {and I halved the recipe}. That's one pound per person. Oh, but I forgot to tell you, I don't eat mushrooms. In fact, I loathe them. If it were up to me, they would be banned from cooking all together.

I have a little bit of a problem though - because the Hubbs loves them. They are his very very favorite side dish... and the really good ones, the ones I made last night, could be his favorite main dish.

So, when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it.

{How does that saying go? 'The way to a man's heart is through his stomach'?}

These puppies cooked for nine hours. You heard me, nine.

They smelled so good though, I had to try one. I have to admit, they tasted really good. But it's not the flavor I don't like, it's the spongy, rubbery texture. eeeeeewww!!!!!

Anyway - if you have a mushroom lovin' hubby like I do - try this dish. Especially when you need to ask for something. I think I could have asked J. for a trip to Italy last night and he would have given it to me. I'm not kidding.

cold.

is anyone else ready for it to get just a tad warmer? i'm not asking for a lot... just a few degrees in the a.m. brrrrrr........

DAY ONE

So, yesterday was my first OFFICIAL day of training for my half marathon. I've been working for a while to consistently run 3 miles throughout the week so that this week wouldn't be as brutal. Well, yesterday was rough {as much as I prepared for it and everything}!

I made a mistake in running only outside for the past two weeks... and I got spoiled. Soooo spoiled. So yesterday, when I got on the boring treadmill at the gym, I was out of my mind, crazy uninspired. I even had an awesome playlist prepared... but I forgot that I can't turn it up that high in case I get paged from the 'fun club'. Which I did. For a dirty diaper. With .4 miles left. I kept going until they paged me for a second time. I was at 2.8 and I couldn't bring myself to go all the way back upstairs and put b. back in the nursery to run .2 miles.

Oh well. I'm moving forward. Tomorrow I shall run 3.2 to make up for it in my weekly mileage. I'm planning on going bright and early before the Hubbs leaves for work so that I can blast my iPod so loud that my ears are ringing when I'm done. We shall see.

For now - here's my playlist:

In Love With a Girl - Gavin DeGraw
Since U Been Gone - Kelly Clarkson
Real World - Matchbox Twenty
Forever & Always - Taylor Swift
Black Horse & the Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall
My Life Would Suck Without You - Kelly Clarkson
You, Me and the Bourgeoisie - The Submarines
Single Ladies - Beyonce'
Mr. Brightside - The Killers
Mercy - Duffy
Love Song - Sara Bareilles

puzzles.

the bug got a few puzzles for christmas and really enjoys them. today, after breakfast, i tried to get him to sit down and focus for 15 minutes or so on the puzzles with me. {we're working really hard on 'extending' our 'attention span', whether it's crafts, colors, throwing a ball or whatever... just focusing on one thing as opposed to jumping from one to another}.





he's really good at the lock one... surprisingly so, actually. it says 'ages 3+' on the back, but he's already figured most of the locks out.

nana got him the 'door' puzzle. after only 1 week, i can ask him where the cookies are and he'll open the cookie jar door and show me the cookies. smartie. {i wonder where he gets that from?}

fried chicken.

you read the title right... i made fried chicken last night!

and not only did i make it, i served it to guests, AND it tasted yummy... really yummy... we were actually trying to figure out if we could just make 'fried chicken breasts' instead of getting the whole chicken... just for a treat every once in a while. it was a lot of work to get the meat off the bone - i'm not much of a fan of bone-in meats to eat.

it wasn't as hard to make as i thought it was going to be - after i got my oil to the right temperature. it just made a mess. a big mess.



this is what my kitchen looked like, after the first load of dishes were already in the dishwasher!!! {in other words, these are all the dishes that had to wait for the second load!}

oh - and p.s. i did attempt homemade biscuits and they were not as much of a success, although we all ate them. i had the hubbs taste one as soon as it came out of the oven and he said, 'well, they're not great, but they're edible!' ha. we all covered them in honey and butter though!

{my brother thinks i over-worked the dough, because i followed the recipe to a 't'. i will be trying them again - not anytime soon though... too much work for something pillsbury makes - can i get an 'amen'?}

a twist.

this year i decided to do my new year's resolutions with a little bit of a twist. i've been working on my list for a while now, and i've finally got it up and running. they're more 'goals' than resolutions. some are silly, some are serious and some are just plain things on i want to try. if you're interested, you can check it out below:

welcome to my journey to the big 3-0!

about a month ago, i realized {thanks to my mom} that this coming may, i will have been out of high school for 10 years. really. that sounds super long... a lot longer than i thought it was. i keep thinking 'a few years ago, in high school' but really, it's not a few years ago anymore, is it? it's ten.

so..... with much thought... i came up with a list. a list of 30 things to do before i turn 30. then... i came upon this cute idea to chronicle my journey. {i copied one of her goals - my #2 - but i think it's a great goal for all married couples! especially the ones with kiddos!}

so, here's a picture of the cover of my book.

and here's my list. {click on it if you're interested in reading the list.}

i invision the book taking on a mind of it's own. i love to scrapbook, but sometimes i get stuck on having certain pictures fit on specific pages, etc. etc. and that stifles my creativity! sooo.... in this book, that is simply all mine - not for anyone else, all of my thoughts, notes, ideas and souveniers, i'm not going to have any rules. the idea is that it doesn't have to look pretty, so long as the fun stuff is in there. {for example, i kept my runner's bib and registration from my first 5K on my way to my 1/2 marathon - goal #1. that's all been hole-punched and stuck in there behind its own tab!}

when that fateful day comes in 27 months and 16 days, i will be ready. i will be ready with this book that i can look through and remember all of the wonderful times that i had on my journey to thirty!

reconnecting

#9 on my list is "reconnect with old friends". immediately after i shared my list with the hubbs before NYE, i received an invite {via facebook... the ultimate re-connector} to have dinner with some of my friends from our youth group that i haven't seen in years. well... it was on my list, so of course i had to go, right?

we went to fireside pies downtown and talked forever. it was so nice to get together with them and i hope we do it again. {thanks, elizabeth, for setting this up!}

here's my trinket from last night - remember, no fancy layouts here {unless, of course, i feel inspired.} just notes and souveniers...

happy new year, ya'll!

last night, the hubbs and i had a simple, nice, night in and i got to cooking....
remember how i said i got the pw cookbook? yeah, well, it's been keeping me really busy.
{it's also part of my resolutions that i'll post more on tomorrow}

for new year's eve, i cooked these enchiladas.
just ask jeff if they were yummy. (we're eating the leftovers for lunch as we speak.....)



the night before NYE, i made my first-ever chicken fried steak. {do fried dishes scare you as much as they scared me???} we took lots of pictures because i don't normally cook anything but casseroles and easy pasta dishes. i actually thought this was going to be really hard, but it turned out the enchiladas were a lot harder to prepare. (not harder, they just took longer - like an hour longer). BOTH of these dishes were fabulous and we ate every last drop. {i can't find her chicken fried steak recipe on-line... it must only be in the cookbook}.

i don't even like chicken fried steak and i ate all of my piece it was so yummy. i didn't make the gravy because we were hurrying to get to a last-minute movie, but we will be making it again with the gravy soon. {j. says gravy MAKES the c.f.s., but i'm in doubt that it could taste any better!}

the assembly line... just like PW would do it!

oops... here comes the mess!

ready to be fried.... yummmmmy.

all fried up, next to my homemade mashed potatoes!