bad blogging skills

I have been absolutely horrible about keeping up my blog in the past several months. Truth is, I don’t really know what to say. I guess this is the writer’s block you hear so much about. I guess this will be another bullet post.

• Our lease is finishing up at the end of March. We are in the process of trying to figure out if we want to move and what our options are. It’s been a little stressful, only b/c I get stressed out making “grown-up” decisions.
• Really wanting to learn the whole coupon thing. I try to figure it  (through websites and blogs) but usually I end up spending a lot more than I should. I would love to have someone show me what to do. And I would love to learn how to do it before we have kids.
• Speaking of kids, do you know that I know like 15 or 20 women who are pregnant or just had a baby. Talk about making a girl want a kid!
• I love to eat. I mean, I really do. It is part habit, part I love great tastes. However, a lot of my pants are a little too tight now. Looks like I am going to have to quit my love relationship with food and substitute a little exercise.
• Work is really busy right now. I am so blessed to have this job. I mean really.
• I have been watching a ton of Gilmore Girls lately. My mom sent me the entire series. I think I have watched at least two episodes every day for the past two weeks. (Don’t judge me). I have fallen way behind on my house hold stuff too, b/c of this. I am in the process of getting caught back up on my laundry though, thank goodness!

Even now, I don’t know what else to say. Just wanted to say hi.

Haiti on my mind & heart…

I haven’t posted on here in several days because I have been hesitant. Some dear friends recently helped me to realize how much (or little) thought/prayer I put into my words. So, I have felt a resistance to say anything to you for awhile. And I think it is a good thing.

Even though I have felt that resistance, I have also been very eager to say something about Haiti on here. Honestly, I have nothing new to tell you. Nothing you can’t find on FoxNews or CNN (whichever you prefer). So, I won’t say more on what is going on there.

I will tell you that my heart is heavy. I feel overwhelmed with grief for Haiti. And my only real connection is one little girl. I cannot imagine how those who are adopting from Haiti feel with their child still living amongst the suffering, death, tragedy, looting, hunger and so much more.

Please pray. First off, please pray for God to be glorified. I know you may wonder “how He can be glorified through all of this”. I really believe that part of His glory comes from the body of Christ rising up and extravagantly loving the country of Haiti, by HIS power, and not our own.

Pray for the Haitians. Pray for strength, hope, patience, safety, food & water, rescue… Pray for the orphaned. Pray for those who lost everyone and everything. Pray for the volunteers. Pray for the missionaries. Pray for the adoptive families….who knows, you may become one of them soon. Before the earthquake, there were 1.2 Million orphans in Haiti (Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere). I am weary to hear what that number will amount to in the aftermath.

The Livesays write via Facebook, “You are asking what you can do … we are going to need Diesel, Water, Food … things you cannot really easily do.  SO – give money.  Money is the number one need (and ability to purchase the supplies) and MEDICAL PERSONNEL. Coming down if you are not willing to risk and get in and clean out horrific wounds would just tax an already taxed place. Medical professionals should contact organizations with the ability to coordinate efforts and try to get here. It won’t help to have more non-medical people to feed and house.”

I can tell you that Compassion International is a great way to give. They have  a disaster relief fund where you can give $35 to help feed a family for a week.

You can purchase a Help Haiti T HERE. 100% of your money goes to Real Hope for Haiti, the Livesay Family & Heartline ministries that are all three on the ground (and have been for years) in Haiti.

What is on your heart and mind right now?

trying to be realistic

I don’t really like New Year Resolutions. I don’t think they really ever work out. Or do they and I am just totally wrong? Well, maybe they just don’t work out for me. Having my memory, and fickleness (yes, that is a word, or it is now), these lists are just a waste of time usually. So, there are two things I want to work on this year. Okay, four. Hopefully they will work out better than the other lists.

1) Do better with sending cards for special occasions. I used to be decent with this. But this year I have failed.

2) Journal more (I doubt this one will happen. I tend to romanticize journaling, and then when it comes to actually doing it, I think to myself, “I don’t really care about what I am doing”, and then I stop. Must be less shallow and actually think things thru…)

3) Take more pictures (since I have received two cameras as presents this year, I really hope to fulfill this one)

4) Run a FULL marathon (oh, for the love! Everything in me says I won’t do this one, and so does my husband, but I hope to at least. I hope to become the type of person who does this kind of stuff. But then there are those people who say people don’t change)

5) FINISH a Bible study. I am famous (well, probably no one knew this before now, except my mom) for starting Bible studies and not finishing them. I seriously think the last Bible study I finished was when I was 16. Hopefully I can do this.

6) Make a new friend.

7) Serve those who are at or below poverty level.

Love people more (I am a pretty cynical person, and sometimes it is just easier/more comfortable to stand back from the crowd rather than be vulnerable and actually get to know someone)

9) Be less self-centered (just being honest here)

10) Be a better wife.

Ha, who knew. I did actually have a list. Well, I hope to look back on it in December and see that I have checked off some of these, and that I continually work on others. I’ll keep you posted

I love my dogs :)

mixing the brew

Here are just a couple of pictures from mixing the Master Cleanse drink the other night. Pictures are always fun And, I got to take them with my new camera, so that is even more fun.

What I have to drink in one day. And that is just the minimum!

The book we are reading suggests drinking an herbal laxative tea. (Have I started sharing too much yet?

Me, trying to get excited about the laxative tea.

Tim, showing how excited he was for the laxative tea.

Here we go!

I didn't like the taste. And, btw, we had to take this picture a couple of times because I thought my reaction made my face a little too ugly. lol

Okay, so I am a major drama queen. This was not even the drink that is the detox. They just suggest pairing this to make the process “easier”. Okay, no more details on that, I promise. I mean, it doesn’t bother me, but I realize I might lose some of you if I do share

Also, be expecting more photos on here now that I have this camera. I am excited!

Detox Day 1 – Not so much

Today was to be my first day of the whole Master Cleanse detox diet. Well, I had my mix and even my first cup (well, have of a cup at least) and it did not go over so well. The cayenne pepper burns my lips, mouth and throat. Then, after awhile, it started to make me sick at my stomach. That, paired with the cold I have, is not so great. Not only do I have this strange fluid going into my empty stomach, I also have snot draining into my stomach. I got sick with the first glass. So, it is being put off another week. I will try again when I don’t have this cold.

I promise, I am going to do it. Really, I do. I think it is really important and good for my body. I just can’t do it now.

I have also been told about cayenne pepper capsules. I am going to take two of those in the mornings and leave it out of the drink. Hopefully that way I will still get all of the benefits, but won’t burn myself. I hardly ever eat spicy food, so the cayenne was just too much.

Tomorrow I will try to post pictures of Tim and I starting the detox process.

Hope your day was great!

Do I really want to do this?

Over the past couple of years I have started noticing certain effects of food that I have not dealt with before. The unwanted weight gain, feeling horrible after eating loads of junk food and a severe lack of energy. Am I finally hitting the point in life where I actually have to pay attention to what I eat? Does it finally really matter what I eat? Do I need to start eating healthily and not just eat whatever I want in order to stop the hunger pangs? The answer to all of these is regrettably: yes.

I grew up a skinny girl. I have been asked several times if I really eat. Odd question, especially if that same person spends any amount of time around me. I LOVE to eat. Really, I do. So much so that it has become just a habit for me to eat while I am bored, or to eat something that I am sure I will love the taste, or to eat any time I start to feel the teeniest bit hungry. I am fortunate that I have this ability, and yet cursed at the same time. Don’t get me wrong, the curse is NOT that I have food to eat. The curse is that there is really no limit/boundary put in place as to how much I can eat. Seriously. There are snack canisters in my office. There is even a freaking jar of chocolate on my desk. Why wouldn’t I eat to my heart’s (or shall I say stomach’s) desire?! But, as I have gotten older, my body has began begging for me to stop. “Stop eating all of that crap you keep shoveling in your pie whole while we have to deal with it!”, shout all of the parts of my body (and my really tight jeans). Just tonight we went to the movies and I ate just a small amount of popcorn, now I feel really sick to my stomach. That is just no fun.

So, I have decided to listen. However much I WILL regret it later, I am infusing discipline into my diet.

Several months ago I read that Jamie and Aaron had decided to do the Master Cleanse. I was intrigued. I have wanted to do some sort of cleansing diet for a couple of years now, but was forewarned by my husband that it would make me have to “poop” a lot. That seemed to be enough to keep me away for the time being. Well, I am now moving forward, taking on the less favorable side effects as well as the good.

A couple of weeks ago I decided I would start the year off with the diet. I put off purchasing anything for it until tonight. I am such a procrastinator. I should have been better prepared. I had hoped to begin tomorrow, but am now deciding to put it off for another day, due to a lack of supplies needed.

I am actually excited about the whole diet. I have decided to let you all in on it. I promise not to reveal any gross details, for your sake and mine.

Also, after reading over the book I bought at Earth Fare, I am actually starting to be interested in becoming a vegetarian. We shall see how that turns out though. I love me some meat!

Tim has said that he is going to do at least a portion of the diet with me. He hopes to sheds some pounds with it (you aren’t eating for days and you are going to the bathroom multiple times a day, of course you are going to lose weight!) and start eating healthily. Both of us are grumps when hungry, so we will see how that turns out!

Let me know if any of you have done anything like this before. I am interested to hear how it turned out for you.

I’ll keep you posted

Christmas @ home

Merry Christmas everyone!! I hope your week has been glorious. And before we get started, I have a confession. I just watched the movie Julie & Julia and, while I am not too sure how much I liked the movie (the ending at least) I am feeling rather inspired to blog this evening.

Just wanted to let you know what all is going on here these past couple of days. Did you know my car has been broken down? Well, it is. I has been for over a month now. The alternator has been dead. My husband has been diligently working on getting it fixed…himself. I love my husband. I’ll just say that. He has been great, and patient (whereas I have not been). We had plans to go be with my family in Nashville for Christmas, as long as my car was working. You see, he has a truck that is (I kid you not) 23 years old, AND the muffler FELL OFF Monday. Can I just tell you how much joy fills my heart driving a really old truck that has no muffler all the while praying that one of the 9 million cops I pass will  not pull me over for the horribly loud noise and the pollutant that will most certainly poison each jay walker I pass (NONE). I do not like it one bit. But Tim, he loves it, so much so that he is sure to rev his engine when he starts it up. He is so proud.

Anyway, some of our friends (we love the Walkers!) came over to help us out on Christmas Eve. Ernie and another very nice man named Jamie came to work on my car with Tim and did for about 4 hours. Thank You God for amazing people in this world! I stayed inside the whole time cleaning and hanging out. Finally I saw them leave and Tim came in. He told me that they were going to come back but could not until after the first of the year. I was disheartened but tried to not show it so I could be supportive to Tim. Then, after seeing my reaction, he told me it was really fixed. YAY!! My car runs now I was so excited that I ran out to my car just to move it to another parking spot. Seriously, I was that excited.

Even though the car was fixed, we thought it would be a better idea to not drive 300 miles after just getting the car working after it has been dead for over a month. So we just took it easy. At the last minute a dear friend of mine asked if I could fill in for her by doing a reading in the church Christmas Eve service. I loved getting to be a part of the service. I love getting to fellowship with all of the people at church. Don’t you love community? Anyway, after sitting beside three incredibly adorable little girls and not wishing at all that I had some of my own (yeah right), Tim and I came home to just chill (I am so gangsta). We went to bed early. I noticed how easily I am able to go to sleep on the eve of Christmas now that I am all grown up. Totally under-rated.

This morning I got up around 8 AM after having some bad dreams (I’ll share more on that later). I got up to Skype with my family. Josh (my brother) showed my mom and dad the pictures we had made for them for Christmas. My mom, who hates the fact that we did not open ANY presents on Christmas day (not exaggerating there, Tim and I don’t really buy presents for each other) opened a couple of presents of mine and showed them to me over the webcam. She is so funny. There was also a funny moment when she was trying to talk to me about Tim’s present she had gotten him. She asked me to cover his ears, then started to do sign language for me. I said, “Mom, you told me to cover his ears then started to sign”. We both started laughing. Tim said that he could totally see how I was her daughter. Apparently we react the same way when we do something that embarrasses us but is also funny (we put our hands to our eyes). Mom and I both laughed as Tim walked away shaking his head.

After chatting with the fam, I cooked a big breakfast, Tim and I read about baby Jesus coming to this world to rescue us all, then laid low for awhile. I took a nap on the couch. Then we got up and walked the dogs. It was 54 degrees here today and sunny, loved it!

We got to the park, and immediately the stupid car died again. (You have got to be kidding me!) Tim got it running again. We walked the dogs and then started heading to Blockbuster so I could rent Gilmore Girls (which, by the way, anyone want to let me borrow their copy, Blockbuster does not carry it anymore). Tim remembered he didn’t bring his money. So we headed back home, to where we could not get the car started again. So, we hopped into the truck (great) and headed to the movie store.

We are back home now. Tim just got done cooking a glorious meal. Tomorrow, we will lay low again and I will cook a couple of recipes from The Pioneer Woman’s Cookbook. I am pretty excited about that I’ll keep you up to date on the status of the car.

How was your Christmas?

lookey what I got!!

Pioneer Woman Cooks Cookbook!!!

Eat your heart out folks (ha, no pun intended)! I got the Pioneer Woman Cooks Cookbook for Christmas. My wonderfully amazing friend Mary gave this to me last night. I screamed! Seriously! I am SO excited about this! Just wanted to share.

What has been your favorite Christmas gift?

I like this one

I usually don’t like forwards. I never like the, “If you really are a Christian, you will forward this to at least 10 people” that inevitably follows the message of the forward. I did think this one was clever though. Just thought I would share:

“A Holy man was having a conversation with the Lord one day and said, ’Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.’

The Lord led the holy man to two doors.

He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in.

In the middle of the room was a large round table.

In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew, which smelled delicious and made the holy man’s mouth water.

The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly.

They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful.

But because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.

The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering.

The Lord said, ‘You have seen Hell. They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one.

There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man’s mouth water.

The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.

The holy man said, ‘I don’t understand.

‘It is simple,’ said the Lord. ‘It requires but one skill.

You see, they have learned to feed each other.

The greedy think only of themselves.’

When Jesus died on the cross, he was thinking of you.”

I don’t expect you to forward this or anything. But I do want to encourage you to love one another and serve one another as Christ has loved and served each of us.