Dear _____,

Dear Heat Wave,

Please wave good-bye soon. I miss sleeping upstairs in our bed. And cooking. And being outside without wanting to collapse on the ground from exhaustion.

Dear Water,

I know I have taken you for granted and I’m sorry. I have never appreciated you so much in my life. You’re pretty cool.

Dear Alex Trebek,

How old are you? You look the same age as you did 20 years ago when my grandma watched Jeopardy.

P.S. Please don’t write such long clues. They confuse me.

Dear Tyler,

Thank you for all of the time you’ve been spending with Rylie. I love coming home to see her playing with you and giving you that perky, expectant look like you’re the greatest thing since American cheese. Which is pretty darn great in her book. She loves you — though not half as much as I love you.

Dear Ben and Jerry,

I miss you. Please go on sale soon so I can savor the sweet creamy goodness of your Coffee Heath Bar Crunch. Mmmm…

Dear Tyler,

Do you want to stop by the store on your way home for some Ben and Jerry’s? Please??? Pretty, pretty please???

Dear Drew,

Happy Birthday! I’m sorry I wasn’t there to celebrate with you. But I told Tyler to tell you “happy birthday” very enthusiastically for me. I’m so glad you’re my brother-in-law. Oh, and thanks a lot for exposing Rylie to bacon. You are to blame if she starts begging for people-food now. But I think you’ve permanently established yourself as her favorite family member ever.

Dear Rylie,

Why are you pulling yourself across the floor on your side? You are so silly, puppy.

Dear Laundry,

Please get done soon. I need you. Tyler needs you. Rylie… doesn’t need you.

Dear Verizon,

Thanks for the new phone. I hope you have better service in the boondocks than Sprint does.

Dear Weekend,

You are always welcome here. Please come home soon. Feel free to stay a while.

Dear Blog Friends,

Thank you for reading. I’d still be writing to my Lion King Nala diary if it weren’t for you.

Yours Truly,

Me

 

Sale Alert!

This will be a quick post, but I wanted EVERYONE to know that Old Navy is having an awesome sale on cami’s!

Now, I used to not wear cami’s except to tuck into my pants to ensure that none of my unmeantionables showed when I bent over. Quite often they are still too low and revealing, even just to wear under a v-neck shirt. BUT, I have learned that if I cut the shelf bra out and tighten the straps all the way, the neckline is much more modest and serves the purpose of undershirt exactly to my liking.

Hurry! Grab your keys and your purse and high-tail it over there! Don’t worry about getting pulled over. The police officers will understand your emergency and probably personally escort you to Old Navy.

Or to your jail cell.

On second thought, maybe you shouldn’t speed too much.

“THAT’s What You’re Making For Dinner?”

Yes, hunny.

That is what I am making for dinner.

Here’s the scene:

Me, just home from work, getting ingredients out to start dinner. Computer open with the recipe and scrolled down to the first instructions which happen to have a picture of step 1 directly below them. I ask Tyler if he wouldn’t mind starting the dressing and he kindly responds that he will. Then he looks at the computer to see what he needs for the dressing and sees this picture:

Now, to my family who is reading this, you need not tell me what it looks like, I can read your minds even across the wireless void of cyberspace. I think Tyler was thinking the same thing.

I, however, didn’t realize that was the picture he was looking at. So… disappointed by his reaction:

Me: “You don’t think it looks good?”

Tyler: “No, I don’t think it looks good! Do YOU reall think that looks good???!!!”

Me: “Well, I thought it looked good to me. It sounded really good when I read what was in it too.”

Tyler: “THIS?!!!” (His voice getting slighly panicky)

Me: (Looking to see what looked so terrible about my recipe I picked out for dinner) *Laughing hysterically*

Then I scrolled the page down to this picture:

Much better, right? Tyler thought so too. We had a good time laughing off his relief.

It’s Chickpea Patties Salad with Lemon Tahini Dressing from Stephanie’s blog at Hope for Healing. And although Tyler was still a little apprehensive, he commented mid-meal that it was, ”Definitely not bad.” In fact, the patties were yummy enough to just pick up and eat on their own without all the healthy green stuff. This was by far the riskiest recipe I’ve ever tried, but I was quite pleased with how it turned out.

We definitely got a kick out of making this meal and I think I will definitely make it again sometime.

You know, sometime when you’re coming to visit. Waaaa haa haaa!

Ever, Only, All for Thee

I don’t have a lot of time this morning to post, but I wanted to share this hymn that we sang in church yesterday morning. I realized it is one of my favorites, but I haven’t heard it in a long time. If you are a long-time church goer, I’m sure it is familiar to you. If you are not, you should listen to it on youtube. It’s both beautiful and powerful… a humble and earnest surrender to the Lord. And we are never better off than when we’ve cast our cares and our selfish impulses into the hands of our Savior.

Take My Life and Let It Be

Frances R. Havergal, 1874

Take my life and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee;
Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love.

Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee;
Take my voice and let me sing,
Always, only for my King.

Take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee;
Take my silver and my gold,
Not a mite would I withhold.

Take my moments and my days,
Let them flow in endless praise;
Take my intellect and use
Every pow’r as Thou shalt choose.

Take my will and make it Thine,
It shall be no longer mine;
Take my heart, it is Thine own,
It shall be Thy royal throne.

Take my love, my Lord, I pour
At Thy feet its treasure store;
Take myself and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee.

Low-cal, Low-fat Onion Rings

Tyler was watching Dr. Oz the other day when they presented a new, healthier way to make onion rings. Mmmm…. onion rings… *angels singing*

The salty crunch of the fried batter followed by the soft sweetness of the vidalia onions. Who doesn’t enjoy a good onion ring? I mean, really people. I regret that I did not feature them in my post about my favorite veggies.  How could I forget onion rings???

Although I do find good onion rings well worth the occasional calorie binge, this recipe will satisfy your craving without monopolizing your allotted caloric allowance.

One caution, however. These are MUCH less greasy than your average onion ring, but no less messy. In fact, I would recommend eating them either outside or in the bathtub due to the sheer distance with which the crumbs project themselves upon every bite. I think some crumbs flew all the way behind the TV and on top of the fridge even. Oh, wait, no that’s dust.

Excuse me while I retrieve my feather duster….

*Ahem* Anyyywayyyyy… So here is the recipe from Dr. Oz’s website for making these awesome

Low-Cal, Low-Fat, Low-Grease, High-Mess Onion Rings:

Ingredients

Serves 4

4 large Vidalia onions cut into 1/2-in thick slices

2 cups skim milk

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups whole wheat panko breadcrumbs

4 large egg whites

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Non-stick cooking spray

3/4 cup Rocco’s Magnificent Mayonnaise or store-bought reduced-fat mayonnaise

1 tbsp liquid smoke

 Directions

Separate the onions into individual rings. Use only the larger rings for this recipe; reserve the smaller rings for another use. You should have 20 rings total. Lay the rings in a single layer in a large rectangular baking dish. Pour the milk over the rings and allow them to soak for about 20 minutes, turning them once so that all surfaces of the onion rings have been exposed to the milk. 

Preheat the oven to 425 deg F. Place a wire baking rack on each of two foil- lined baking sheets, and set them aside.

Put the flour in a shallow dish. Put the panko in a small dish. In a large bowl, whip the egg whites with a whisk until they are extremely foamy but not quite holding peaks. Working in batches, remove the onion rings from the milk and dredge them in the flour, shaking off any excess. Add the rings to the egg whites and toss to coat completely. Add the rings, a few pieces at a time, to the panko and coat completely.

Spread the onion rings out on the wire racks. Season the rings generously with salt and pepper, and spray them lightly with cooking spray. Bake until the panko is golden brown and crispy and the onions are tender, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise and the liquid smoke. Season to taste with liquid smoke. Serve the onion rings with the mayonnaise for dipping.

Nutrition Facts

4.7g fat

342 calories

14g protein

64g carbohydrates

10mg cholesterol

8g fiber

519mg sodium

 Wow, right?! And actually, the clean-up mess is fairly small. The real mess is only when you bite into them. They are more of a crumb-coated onion ring than a batter-based onion ring. But the flavor is the same and you can bite into them without having a slimy onion slip all the way out of the crispy coating. And the mayo recipe at the end? Also good. Liquid smoke is one of those items that you are reluctant to buy because you just don’t know if you’ll use it. But once you taste how much flavor it adds to burgers, bbq sauce, fajitas, marinades, dressings, etc…, you’ll be glad you got it.

Bon a petit!

Lazy Days

It’s been over a week since I last posted anything!

Hello??? (*echoing in dark empty void*) hello….ello…..

Friends???  

Are you out there????

I’m still here!!! I hope you are too! Life has been busy and exciting lately. This past weekend one of my college friends got married (cue wedding music please) and one of my college roommates, Sarah, flew all the way from Bolivia to come to the wedding and to stay with me!!! Okay, so she didn’t fly directly from Bolivia. But she teaches in Bolivia, and has family and friends dispersed all throughout the U.S. And I was exstatic to have her stay here with me. We had a blast with all of our old college friends, though we missed our other cohorts in crime, Anna and Jen. Someday we will all be reunited again!

Anyway, I’m not in much of an updating mood. I might make you jealous that your normally boring blog friend whose favorite past time is watching Monk episodes with her husband had such an interesting and exciting weekend. Actually, the events of my weekend were probably much more interesting for me to partake in than they would be for you to read about. Thus, I will spare you the details and get on with what I actually wanted to blog about.

Laziness.

Blehh.

I have come to the conclusion recently that I am lazy. Not just “I can be lazy sometimes” or “I’m feeling kind of lazy.” I will repeat these words, even as I cringe and thrash in utter horror at the sound of them: I am lazy.

Now don’t worry, I am not getting all guilt-ridden and down on myself and woe-is-me. I have just been convicted of how much laziness prevails over my time. How often I choose the easy thing over the next thing to be done. Rather than fold the laundry, empty the dishwasher, read my Bible, do my workout, or plan a healthy meal for dinner I open up my laptop and the laziness settles in. The laundry can wait. The dishes will be fine. I can read my Bible later. I’ll workout extra hard tomorrow. And I’m great with cereal for dinner.

And then there’s my relationships. Oh, I really need to call her. or I should see if people can get together this weekend. or I’ll email them back later. And I’m ashamed of how many times I have to ask Tyler to repeat himself because I ask him a question but don’t listen to his answer. And the guy listens and remembers every word I say. Seriously, folks, I’m amazed by how well he remembers the tiniest tidbits I will mention about work or my coworkers. “Yeah, I remember who So-and-so is, she’s the one with the little boy, such-and-such.” How does he do that???!!!

*Clears throat* *Getting serious now*

Laziness is easy for me because the consequences of laziness are often something I can live with. I am content with how my life is and don’t really feel like laziness is causing me to lose out on anything important.

Sometimes consequences are the best motivation. But how horribly cavalier of us to take Christ’s sacrifice and God’s grace for-granted. To disregard Him so completely as to challenge him to punish us before we will change. Must He treat us like children for the lesson to stick? When will we grow out of our childish ways and do the right thing because we love and follow our Savior who died for us? Real spiritual maturity is recognizing the magnitude of Christ’s sacrifice and the extent of God’s love when compared to our own undeservedness. And experiencing true joy because we can appreciate it more than ever.

Make a Bow – Take a Bow

We have 2 weddings and 1 baby shower to go to this summer. This weekend kicked off the celebrations, but not without some strategic gift-shopping. I decided since everyone was registered at Target, we could kill 3 birds with 1 stone, so before going to the store I logged onto their registries and planned out what to purchase for each couple. Then Tyler and I made record time, him printing off the registries while I shopped for something tasteful (i.e., tame)and cute for a bachelorette party coming up. Then we flew right threw the aisles, grabbed all of the items we needed, and then remembered on our way to the register that we needed cards and wrapping paper. I was so glad we remembered right then! One of my pet peeves is having to make multiple trips (ya know, like when you have 8 bags of groceries in the car and you know you can bring them all in in one trip, even if you have to lock the car door with your toe and unlock the apartment door with your teeth). Anyway, needless to say, this trip was a definite success.

A money saving tip for you and perhaps a fun creative project as well (if you like that sort of tedium): Don’t buy those fancy-shmancy bows that cost $1 each. Instead, buy a big roll of solid curling ribbon and use long skinny strips of wrapping paper to dress it up a bit. Like this:

Here’s the easy step-by-step to make a really spiffy bow:

1. Unroll 3-4 feet of curling ribbon and gently slide it down one blade of your scissors to make loose curls. Bunch it messily and tape it onto your package.

2. Carefully cut skinny strips of wrapping paper. The skinnier the better, but this can get frustrating if you try to go to fast and end up ripping it.

3. Cut those long strips into smaller strips about 9-12 inches. Varying lengths are okay.

4. VERY GENTLY slide those thin strips of wrapping paper over the blade of your scissors, which will give it curl.

5. Weave those curled strips of wrapping paper into your curling ribbon bow that you taped onto the package.

6. Stealthfully stick tape inside or underneath the ribbon bunch to secure any wrapping paper strips that don’t seem to stay in place.

7. Take a bow!

Cute, eh? My aunt taught this to me. It works magnificently and is so much cheaper than buying bows. Just make sure you’re not in too much of a rush. Gentleness is definitely key here. Happy Wrapping!

Like Riding a Bike

So back in February, Tyler and I went on a ski trip. In the week or so leading up to the trip, I would chat with donors coming into donate plasma and talk to them about their upcoming weekend and how we were going skiing. I would tell them that I was a little nervous, because I’d only been skiing once before and it was probably 14 years ago and they would kindly reassure me, “Noooo, it’s just like riding a bike.”

That was not ver reassuring.

See, I’m not really very good at riding a bike. In fact, unless biking is infinitely more convenient than walking or driving, a bike is really probably at the bottom of my list of options for transportation. Right down there with a camel.

Once in high school my science class went to these bike trails that were out in the woods. It was gorgeous scenery. And the trail was… tiny. As in, 3 inches wide. And root-y. And thick with brush and branches. So if you weren’t hunched over, you’d get flora caught all up in your face, but if you weren’t semi-standing, you’d have some nasty knocks from the bumpy trail. Needless to say, this was not a particularly enjoyable experience to me.

Since then, I have ridden my bike only as far as it took for me to get from our Family Camp campsite to the ice cream shop in town. And knowing there was ice cream at the end of our trip was really the only motivational element that persuaded me to jump on my barely-used bike in the first place. Ice cream is a powerful thing, ya know.

Other than that one rough ride, I really haven’t had a bad experience on a bike. But it shook all the confidence out of me like an old truck hitting chatter bumps on a dirt road. So whenever someone offers the option, “We could go ride bikes,” my mind immediately tries to conjure up some excuse not to ride bikes, along with some other more appealing option to me. Ya know, like riding camels or something.

Well my parents had planned on coming to church with us this morning and when I talked to my mom earlier this week she said those very words that run a shiver down my spine:

We were thinking after church we could go ride bikes.

The woman knows me how well and doesn’t remember that I can’t ride a bike???? I suppose she was never around when I was surrounded by friends wanting to ride bikes, stuttering for excuses of why not to ride bikes.

But rather than disappoint my parents, I decided to put on a brave face and pretend that riding bikes really is “just like riding a bike.”

And we had so much fun! The trail was like 10 feet wide and straight and smoothly paved and well shaded on this 85 degree day (a point which I tried bringing up in a failed attempt to dissuade my brave family members from venturing out on the bikes). It was beautiful and felt so refreshing with the wind breezing by. It did take me a few minutes to shift my gears correctly, but once I got that figured out, it was pretty much smooth sailing. We saw several deer on our trip too. One of them just stood there on the trail, barely getting out of our way as we approached and watching us as we rode past her.

It was a great time to spend with my husband and my family, and I’m eager to go again. And, ya know, I’m beginning to think I do prefer riding a bike to riding a camel.

You Asked for It

As a follow up to my Open Book post – an invitation to ask me anything — here are my answers to your queries: 

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

It’s so hard to pick one place! I suppose I would have to say Austrailia. I love their accents, their water looks beautiful, and — although I am afraid of fish — I think it would be awesome to snorkle near the Great Barrier Reef (can you do that???). And swim with dolphins. And go parasailing. And see kangaroos.

What is your favorite book (besides the Bible)?

At this moment, my favorite book that comes to mind is The Mysterious Benedict Society. No, silly. I know what you’re thinking… “Sounds like a scary cult story.” Not even close. It’s actually a kids book that is now a part of a The Mysterious Benedict Society series. The stories are so imaginitive and fun. I love the characters and the way their personalities and gifts are so pivitol to the story line. It speaks about how valuable diversity is (not just racial diversity) to allow people to work together to do great things.  And the book’s funny and intriguing too. I got Tyler to use it as his read-a-loud at school and the kids loved it.

What is your most embarrassing moment?

Ooo, boy… I’m not even sure. I’ve had so many, many incedents that I’m sure I have repressed some of them. But let’s see here if I can come up with one… there was the time that I ran over a curb trying to turn right at an intersection during driver’s training. Or the time that I had the hiccupps really REALLY loud in class and my professor made a comment about it. Or the time that I scored for the wrong team in basketball. Or the time that I went to my friend’s church in my way-too-small dress shoes with thigh-high nylons that I accidentally put on inside-out and ended up trying to hold up the whole time because the grippy bands were on the outside.  

Oh! I know! Ok, first I need to give you a mental picture of my steering wheel. It had four gaps in it that surrounded the horn/airbag: a wide gap on the top, a wide gap on the bottom, and two smaller gaps, one on the right and one on the left.

Notice I had just gotten gas the night before and realized in the parking lot the next morning that I needed to clear my odometer miles. So as I am turning out of the parking lot (think: turning the wheel 90 degrees so that the small gap is now at the top), I stick my hand through that gap in the steering wheel to push the button that clears it. And my hand gets stuck, because suddenly I am realizing that I need to straighten the car out from my turn, but my hand is still wedged in the dashboard. I can’t pull it out because the steering wheel is crushing it while my other hand tries to instinctively and desperately turn the wheel straight. Meanwhile my car begins to coast up onto the grassy mound of the college paper’s house/office lawn.

Finally, I (duh) brake, return my steering wheel to the 90 degree angle so that I could pull my hand out, and whip my head around to see who was watching. Satisfied that none of the school reporters were at the office yet, I cruise away, hoping and praying that there were no witnesses.

You’re feeling better about yourself now aren’t you? Yep, that’s what I’m here for.

Do you have any siblings?

I do have a sibling and a sibling-in-law.

Oh, you wanted to know what kind of sibling and sibling in law? The tall kind.  Hee hee, kidding. Well, they are both tall actually, but I’ll tell ya what you wanted to know.

I have one “little” brother Casey who is 21 and 6 foot 6 and is doing a journalism internship all the way in D.C. right now *sniff* Miss him!

And I have one brother in law, Drew, who is almost 20 and is like 6 foot 1 (he stole all the tall genes from Tyler).

And I couldn’t have asked for better brothers.  

Are you guys planning to have children, and when, if you don’t mind my asking?

Suprisingly this question was not asked by my mother or any other family member, but I know they are curious too! J Yes, we do hope to have children, 2 is the game plan, but ehhh, who knows. 4 at the most, as long as they are not alllll boys or alllll girls (one of us would go insane if either of those occurred).

When? Well… sorry to be vague, but I’ll just say that I told my family that after 5 years of marriage, THEN they can start bugging us about when we were going to have kids. We are almost 2 years married. So the plan is sometime in the next 3 years.

Toilet paper rolling from above or underneath?

Above. Somehow I always lose the end if it’s underneath.

Any crazy work stories?

Hmmm… let’s see. I’ve heard of pretty crazy things happening, but nothing too crazy has happened to me. (For those of you who don’t know, I am a phlebotomist – meaning I poke people with needles so that they can donate plasma which is a part of your blood).  I had a lady the other day ask me if her other arm was going to get some saline too. I explained to her that her veins would circulate the saline throughout her whole body.

Warning: This is slightly grusome. Early on when I was training, I had a “stat” (a scissor-like clamp) pop loose on my needle line. So when I poked the lady and unscrewed the cap at the end of the line, blood started squirting everywhere. She was not too happy. I now double check my stat to make sure it hasn’t popped loose.

What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?

As of this very moment, I would say cookies and cream sounds very good right now. But I also love cookie dough, mint chocolate chip, peanut butter cup, and the Ben and Jerry’s Cinnamon Bun and Coffee Heath Bar Crunch flavors. Can you tell I am an ice cream addict???

Thanks for your questions! You are now hereby sworn to secrecy and bound to a life of not mocking or blackmailing me for any of my answers.

An Open Book

I would like to offer my apologies for the severity of my weirdness earlier this week. I honestly was not under the influence of any drug, legal or illegal, nor had I been huffing cleaner fumes.

I realize for those of you who know me, my blogging personality seems completely different from my in-person personality. In person I am reserved but friendly. I am rather boring really. I don’t dance or sing, I am more of a morning person than a night person, and my favorite past time is watching Monk episodes. In my blog I am a little less inhibited. Though usually not quite as uninhibited as I was in my recent Musings of an Indoor Wife post. But I am going to blame it completely on a lack of sleep the night before.

But since we’re talking about my being an open book here in the blogosphere, I thought I would start my own Q & A Session, like what my good friend and blog mentor Anna is hosting over at her blog, Hope Road. Here is your opportunity to ask me any question that pops into your head.

Any question within reason, that is. I do reserve the right to not answer a question if I deem it *ahem* innappropriate. But I know none of you would ask me anything like that, now, would you?

So go ahead, ask away!